Charlotte Rae Interview re "Car 54" - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

PracTz · 06-20-2017, 12:45 PM

The Emmy TV Legend Interview with her was taped in November,2016 and it covered a wide range of subjects- though mostly concentrated on the 1980's series "FoL".

However; for a few minutes she DID talk about "Car 54" and it had some interesting insights. No surprise that Miss Rae and Al Lewis got along like a house on fire and had 'rehearsed' their arguing in an empty studio to get into the right frame for their comedic onscreen first brawl as the Schnausers.

Miss Rae had high praise for him as well as the late producer Nat Hiken but sadly claimed that Joe E. Ross's habits and stunts became so unpleasant for all concerned that Mr. Hiken pulled the plug on the entire show.

Surprisingly, Miss Rae claimed that Mr. Hiken was so enthralled with her and Al Lewis's characters that he intended to do a spinoff series with them after "Car 54" but she said that that only didn't happen due to Mr. Hiken's early death. However; Mr. Hiken wouldn't die until 1968 -five years after "Car 54" was over and by that point Mr. Lewis had already performed his iconic role of Grandpa on "The Munsters" (and I seriously doubt he had any interest in returning to his former less force-of-nature role at that time)so I'm wondering if it may have simply been a vague pipe dream on Mr. Hiken's part to Miss Rae that he had little or any actual intention on following through. Sadly, there are probably as many lights in Hollywood as there are producers' promises that never get off the ground for a variety of reasons.

Bd25 · 09-06-2017, 01:06 AM

Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=jVSzbzKduAc

06-20-2017, 12:45 PM	#1
PracTz Member Senior Member Join Date: Jul 14, 2002 Location: United States of America [Happily Living in the 20th Century] Posts: 2,711	Charlotte Rae Interview re "Car 54" The Emmy TV Legend Interview with her was taped in November,2016 and it covered a wide range of subjects- though mostly concentrated on the 1980's series "FoL". However; for a few minutes she DID talk about "Car 54" and it had some interesting insights. No surprise that Miss Rae and Al Lewis got along like a house on fire and had 'rehearsed' their arguing in an empty studio to get into the right frame for their comedic onscreen first brawl as the Schnausers. Miss Rae had high praise for him as well as the late producer Nat Hiken but sadly claimed that Joe E. Ross's habits and stunts became so unpleasant for all concerned that Mr. Hiken pulled the plug on the entire show. Surprisingly, Miss Rae claimed that Mr. Hiken was so enthralled with her and Al Lewis's characters that he intended to do a spinoff series with them after "Car 54" but she said that that only didn't happen due to Mr. Hiken's early death. However; Mr. Hiken wouldn't die until 1968 -five years after "Car 54" was over and by that point Mr. Lewis had already performed his iconic role of Grandpa on "The Munsters" (and I seriously doubt he had any interest in returning to his former less force-of-nature role at that time)so I'm wondering if it may have simply been a vague pipe dream on Mr. Hiken's part to Miss Rae that he had little or any actual intention on following through. Sadly, there are probably as many lights in Hollywood as there are producers' promises that never get off the ground for a variety of reasons.

09-06-2017, 01:06 AM	#2
Bd25 Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Oct 14, 2016 Posts: 20	Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=jVSzbzKduAc