I used to watch this show when I was very young and I remember the characters. Lori Nelson left and being young at the time I didn't understand why she wasn't on any more. But I found the show very funny and wish one of those sub-channels would run it today. I was familiar with the leads having seen them in a lot of film and television and the chemistry was good. Lisa Gaye was brought in as a new character, good idea that they didn't re-cast the Lori Nelson part. Semi-regular parts were taken by Jimmy Cross and Joseph Kearns. I always wondered why Ms Nelson left the series, met her a few years ago at one of those nostalgia shows and should have asked her at the time. Merry Anders who left us 3 years ago worked in a lot of films in the 60's and Lisa Gaye was the sister of Debra Paget, Teala Loring and Frank Griffith, all of whom were in films and of course Barbara Eden. Have to get the DVD of this series.
8 Reviews
NYC 400 - #319 - "How to Marry a Millionaire"
DeanNYC1 May 2024
Warning: Spoilers
"How to Marry a Millionaire" began life as a play by Zoe Atkins called, The Greeks Had a Word for It. Several movies were made based on it, including "Three Broadway Girls." But this sitcom's most direct ancestor was the Cinemascope motion picture of the same name, starring Betty Grable, Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Monroe, released in 1953.
The story of this small screen adaptation of that film is simple. Three twentysomething women: Greta Hanson (played by Lori Nelson in Season One of the series - replaced by Gwen Kirby played by Lisa Gaye in Season Two), "Mike" McCall (played by Merry Anders), and Loco Jones (played by Barbara Eden) are intelligent, friendly, capable and determined, and, who frankly have very expensive taste for the late 1950s, are each seeking their method of succeeding: finding a millionaire to wed.
To accomplish this challenging task, they decided to pool their money and resources and rent a swank penthouse apartment (pictured in exterior shots as being located just off Columbus Circle, on Central Park South) so they can appear affluent themselves, and attract the kind of wealth their budgetary demands required.
Of course, putting up this front is expensive itself, and the three women were constantly having monetary issues of their own, either making the rent on this fabulous apartment, covering the cost of their designer label wardrobe from every department store in town, or being able to afford food for their usually empty pantry, despite the fact that they all made a decent living and would probably have succeeded in their own careers if they weren't so intent on this scheme.
Each episode of the program began with an unseen male announcer, describing, very much like the announcer would narrate for the show "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" three decades later, some fantastic location as seen on the screen, like the French Riviera or Miami Beach or a luxury item like an expensive yacht or automobile that only someone with great wealth could afford. The narration is interrupted by a woman's voice who states that there IS another way to afford it. You can marry it, which immediately lead to the show's opening titles.
Barbara Eden became something of the breakout star of the series, her first regular role on a television show, primarily because Loco was myopic and needed to wear glasses to see properly, but never wanted to be seen wearing them by her suitors, so she frequently removed them and then had the issues of bumping into the furniture or in some cases, other men, along the way. Eden's physical comedy and sprightly delivery as the most sweet and innocent of the three ladies of the program made her a favorite. In fact, in the second season of the show, Barbara was elevated from being listed third in the credits to first.
New York played a part because there were no end of potential candidates for the women to attempt, there was no end of their hand-to-mouth existence (of all things! Their "impoverished wealth!") because they were constantly on the edge of eviction as they would manipulate their finances to try to finagle their way around paying one bill this week and paying another, the next.
Though there was a potentially gauche element to the concept, especially for that era, there also was a kind of collective strength these women were displaying. They were doing all of this without any help, other than the support they gave each other, kind of the first mainstream example of "Girl Power" on the small screen!
Clearly this wasn't really a "How to" instructional, but much more a cautionary tale against trying this method! In some ways it was a precursor for the Road Runner cartoons (albeit those were produced by Warner Bros. And this was a 20th Century Fox production). All the time, effort and money Wile E. Coyote poured into catching that Road Runner never seemed to pay off.
But even that wasn't true in this scenario, as original castmember Lori Nelson's character allegedly succeeded in marrying a Gas Station owner and moved out west, which explained the need for a new roommate, as actress Lisa Gaye joined the show.
Maybe the message was: anything CAN happen in New York!
The story of this small screen adaptation of that film is simple. Three twentysomething women: Greta Hanson (played by Lori Nelson in Season One of the series - replaced by Gwen Kirby played by Lisa Gaye in Season Two), "Mike" McCall (played by Merry Anders), and Loco Jones (played by Barbara Eden) are intelligent, friendly, capable and determined, and, who frankly have very expensive taste for the late 1950s, are each seeking their method of succeeding: finding a millionaire to wed.
To accomplish this challenging task, they decided to pool their money and resources and rent a swank penthouse apartment (pictured in exterior shots as being located just off Columbus Circle, on Central Park South) so they can appear affluent themselves, and attract the kind of wealth their budgetary demands required.
Of course, putting up this front is expensive itself, and the three women were constantly having monetary issues of their own, either making the rent on this fabulous apartment, covering the cost of their designer label wardrobe from every department store in town, or being able to afford food for their usually empty pantry, despite the fact that they all made a decent living and would probably have succeeded in their own careers if they weren't so intent on this scheme.
Each episode of the program began with an unseen male announcer, describing, very much like the announcer would narrate for the show "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" three decades later, some fantastic location as seen on the screen, like the French Riviera or Miami Beach or a luxury item like an expensive yacht or automobile that only someone with great wealth could afford. The narration is interrupted by a woman's voice who states that there IS another way to afford it. You can marry it, which immediately lead to the show's opening titles.
Barbara Eden became something of the breakout star of the series, her first regular role on a television show, primarily because Loco was myopic and needed to wear glasses to see properly, but never wanted to be seen wearing them by her suitors, so she frequently removed them and then had the issues of bumping into the furniture or in some cases, other men, along the way. Eden's physical comedy and sprightly delivery as the most sweet and innocent of the three ladies of the program made her a favorite. In fact, in the second season of the show, Barbara was elevated from being listed third in the credits to first.
New York played a part because there were no end of potential candidates for the women to attempt, there was no end of their hand-to-mouth existence (of all things! Their "impoverished wealth!") because they were constantly on the edge of eviction as they would manipulate their finances to try to finagle their way around paying one bill this week and paying another, the next.
Though there was a potentially gauche element to the concept, especially for that era, there also was a kind of collective strength these women were displaying. They were doing all of this without any help, other than the support they gave each other, kind of the first mainstream example of "Girl Power" on the small screen!
Clearly this wasn't really a "How to" instructional, but much more a cautionary tale against trying this method! In some ways it was a precursor for the Road Runner cartoons (albeit those were produced by Warner Bros. And this was a 20th Century Fox production). All the time, effort and money Wile E. Coyote poured into catching that Road Runner never seemed to pay off.
But even that wasn't true in this scenario, as original castmember Lori Nelson's character allegedly succeeded in marrying a Gas Station owner and moved out west, which explained the need for a new roommate, as actress Lisa Gaye joined the show.
Maybe the message was: anything CAN happen in New York!
Barbara Eden Was No Marilyn Monroe . . .
macheath4812 May 2004
. . . but she made the show. Young, beautiful and the quintessential "dumb blonde" you hear about so often, Barbara Eden made this series work.
The entire show was fast and sweet and quite enjoyable. It loosely followed the movie and provided some laughs.
Filmed in black and white, with the canned laugh track fully operational, it followed the exploits of three young ladies - Mike, Loco and Greta - as they tried to snare themselves three very rich husbands. They could hardly afford to eat (and yet, in each episode, they wore more designer clothes per minute then you'd see on any Paris runway), but they managed to afford a penthouse apartment on the right side of the track. As this was not shown on network television, they never benefitted from syndication or a reunion special but as it was so sweet and funny, I sort of wish there could be one.
The entire show was fast and sweet and quite enjoyable. It loosely followed the movie and provided some laughs.
Filmed in black and white, with the canned laugh track fully operational, it followed the exploits of three young ladies - Mike, Loco and Greta - as they tried to snare themselves three very rich husbands. They could hardly afford to eat (and yet, in each episode, they wore more designer clothes per minute then you'd see on any Paris runway), but they managed to afford a penthouse apartment on the right side of the track. As this was not shown on network television, they never benefitted from syndication or a reunion special but as it was so sweet and funny, I sort of wish there could be one.
An Obscure Series Now Available
JordanThomasHall18 January 2018
"How to Marry a Millionaire" began airing in syndication on October 1957 as one of the first series based on a feature film. It marked the fifth series filmed by 20th Century Fox, who made a number of series based on their films. The sitcom ran for 52 episodes over two seasons. It wasn't widely seen then and remains a rather obscure series, only recently made available in a nice but no-frills, inexpensive MOD release of both seasons.
The series stars Barbara Eden ("I Dream of Jeannie") in her first recurring television role as Loco Jones. Rounding out the starring roles are Merry Anders as Mike McCall and Lori Nelson as Greta Hanson (replaced in season two by Lisa Gaye). Like the popular film it was based on, three lovely young ladies move to Park Avenue in New York City determined to find a rich husband. The episodes follows their misadventures trying to meet someone while at the same time avoiding eviction from their posh penthouse. There were some interesting guest stars throughout the series (Morey Amsterdam, Richard Deacon, Ted Knight, and especially Werner Klemperer, twice). The series was canceled after 13 episodes of its second season.
Reflecting upon the series after just watching every episode, "How to Marry a Millionaire" had moments of fine comedy writing, but was more often than not predictable- a mere footnote of 50s sitcoms. When you have a talent like Morey Amsterdam disappear in his lone appearance, you have to question the writing. For a long stretch of the series it felt predictable like "Gilligan's Island", without much comedy. (You know they're not going to achieve their goal when you're watching an episode.) But, there are episodes I'll enjoy watching again and as a fan of classic television, I'm happy to have it in my collection.
The clear pleasure was the zany comedy of Barbara Eden's beautiful but ditzy Loco. Nearly all of the comedy came from her. ("For the Love of Art" was a favorite. In one scene, Loco is trying to impress without her glasses and browsing through an art gallery admiring how realistic this one painting was... She was unknowingly looking out the window.) Merry Ander's Mike was given virtually no character development, just a straight-faced de facto leader of the trio. Lori Nelson's Greta was also a serious character, but given more to be likable. In short, for the characters of Mike and Greta, landing a millionaire was no laughing matter. I liked the gorgeous Lisa Gaye's brief, but wholesome character. Thanks for the entertainment girls.
The series stars Barbara Eden ("I Dream of Jeannie") in her first recurring television role as Loco Jones. Rounding out the starring roles are Merry Anders as Mike McCall and Lori Nelson as Greta Hanson (replaced in season two by Lisa Gaye). Like the popular film it was based on, three lovely young ladies move to Park Avenue in New York City determined to find a rich husband. The episodes follows their misadventures trying to meet someone while at the same time avoiding eviction from their posh penthouse. There were some interesting guest stars throughout the series (Morey Amsterdam, Richard Deacon, Ted Knight, and especially Werner Klemperer, twice). The series was canceled after 13 episodes of its second season.
Reflecting upon the series after just watching every episode, "How to Marry a Millionaire" had moments of fine comedy writing, but was more often than not predictable- a mere footnote of 50s sitcoms. When you have a talent like Morey Amsterdam disappear in his lone appearance, you have to question the writing. For a long stretch of the series it felt predictable like "Gilligan's Island", without much comedy. (You know they're not going to achieve their goal when you're watching an episode.) But, there are episodes I'll enjoy watching again and as a fan of classic television, I'm happy to have it in my collection.
The clear pleasure was the zany comedy of Barbara Eden's beautiful but ditzy Loco. Nearly all of the comedy came from her. ("For the Love of Art" was a favorite. In one scene, Loco is trying to impress without her glasses and browsing through an art gallery admiring how realistic this one painting was... She was unknowingly looking out the window.) Merry Ander's Mike was given virtually no character development, just a straight-faced de facto leader of the trio. Lori Nelson's Greta was also a serious character, but given more to be likable. In short, for the characters of Mike and Greta, landing a millionaire was no laughing matter. I liked the gorgeous Lisa Gaye's brief, but wholesome character. Thanks for the entertainment girls.
Dreadful.
jromanbaker4 September 2020
I was curious about this series, so I watched a few episodes. It was after all based on the first Cinemascope film of the same title directed by Jean Negulesco. That was no masterpiece but enjoyable, but what I saw was pitifully badly acted especially by Barbara Eden in the Marilyn Monroe role, and both Merry Anders and Lori Nelson were almost as bad. If this is an example of American family viewing of 1957 then I am sorry America was so hypocritical in what ' families ' should see. A threesome of gold diggers seeking rich men is not exactly a subject for families - or was it ? The series probably had no realisation that it was leading the way into ' normalised ' prostitution. As for the direction I noticed none and it was visually drab. The original film was at least witty and well acted. Was this a true example of television of the time ? If it was then I am happy true cinema survived.
Not quite the same after Greta left.
judy_a29 October 2004
Greta was my favorite. While Barbara Eden, as Loco, was very funny and a bit daffy, and Mike, played by Merry Anders, seemed like the one in charge when little disagreements arose, there was something about Greta that really appealed to me. She was very pretty, soft-spoken, and very likable.
This was a show that anyone could watch. Nothing offensive back in those days. If you liked the movie "How to Marry a Millionaire", then you'd like this series.
I was only seven years old when this series premiered, but I never missed it. I was always home in front of the TV, waiting for it to come on. After Lori Nelson left, it just wasn't the same. I really missed her.
I wish somebody would find the old film or find any other way to give this series back to the fans. I'd love to see it again. I can remember a few of the episodes from start to finish, and I can actually visualize them as though I were sitting in front of my TV watching them right now.
Gee, I really miss some of the old series that were on when I was a child!
This was a show that anyone could watch. Nothing offensive back in those days. If you liked the movie "How to Marry a Millionaire", then you'd like this series.
I was only seven years old when this series premiered, but I never missed it. I was always home in front of the TV, waiting for it to come on. After Lori Nelson left, it just wasn't the same. I really missed her.
I wish somebody would find the old film or find any other way to give this series back to the fans. I'd love to see it again. I can remember a few of the episodes from start to finish, and I can actually visualize them as though I were sitting in front of my TV watching them right now.
Gee, I really miss some of the old series that were on when I was a child!
Great series that left too soon
EDBAYES8 May 2005
This was one great TV show. Entertaining, funny, serious and mischievous all rolled into one. Too bad someone can't come up with the shows and make them available. The same goes for 'Jamie' starring Brandon De Wilde. Another show that was made for total home viewing with moral values.
Comedy can be funny without certain words. Just look at all the shows that are in rerun compared to those in prime time spots that are just moving wherever the wind takes them.
So if you're out there and you have these shows on tape, etc... take it some place and make them available to the public.
They are just 2 of many good shows that need to be brought hack and put into the mainstream so the younger generation can see what family values were really all about.
Comedy can be funny without certain words. Just look at all the shows that are in rerun compared to those in prime time spots that are just moving wherever the wind takes them.
So if you're out there and you have these shows on tape, etc... take it some place and make them available to the public.
They are just 2 of many good shows that need to be brought hack and put into the mainstream so the younger generation can see what family values were really all about.
The Story of 3 Girls wanting to marry wealthy millionaires.
Great-410 October 1999
"How to Marry a Millionaire",a light,bright syndicated comedy story of 3 girls on a merry man hunt search for Meeting wealthy millionaires in the hopes of marrying a wealthy millionaire with any schemes they could think of so,help them Fort Knox.
See also
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