New Spotlight: Glynis

This month’s Spotlight is about CBS sitcom Glynis, which starred Glynis Johns as a harebrained mystery writer who keeps getting mixed up in her lawyer husband’s cases. Keith Andes played the husband. Critics weren’t impressed and CBS canned the series after only four episodes had aired. Ultimately, all 13 episodes were broadcast between September and December 1963.

There were a few things I couldn’t fit into the Spotlight so I’ll mention them here:

  • Had the series continued, plans were underway to add a new character, the father of Glynis Granville to be played by the father of Glynis Johns, actor Mervyn Johns.

  • One of the two sponsors for the series, either Ralston-Purina and R.J. Reynolds, mailed stockholders a photograph of Glynis Johns enticing them to watch Glynis alongside their dividend checks.

  • The UCLA Film & Television Archive has a copy of the pilot as aired on Vacation Playhouse, complete with commercials for Lux, Swan Dish Soap, and Jell-O.

  • Speaking of the pilot, co-star Keith Andes did not like it for some reason and was happy to see it air during the summer months.

  • Finally, least one critic loved the pilot. Patricia Costa of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle had this to say:

    Throughout the half hour the tempo was lively, the dialogue original and spirited and the plot unencumbered by the usual mystery tale rules.

    I may be prejudiced because she’s a favorite of mine, but the actress in the role of Glynis Granville was pert and charming without the cuteness which sometimes afflicts such characterizations.

    I wonder what she thought of Glynis when it premiered considering all the changes made after the pilot was completed.

You can read the Spotlight here.


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