Oh yes, that was a very funny episode - awesome! When kindly old shop owner, Mr. Feigenbaum, whom Mrs. Bronson had matched with Joan Crawford, tells Toody that him and Joan were gonna spend six months living out in Beverly Hills and the other six months living in the back of his store, well, that was hilarious! As Mr. Feigenbaum tells Toody, "...and as soon as Joan and I are settled, we'll have you and Mrs Toody over for dinner". Imagine, just imagine, if Joan Crawford made a guest appearance, just a minute or so, on Car 54. The last scene of this 'fantasy' episode would have her and Feigenbaum, welcoming the Toodys, to the back of the shop! From what I understand, Joan Crawford, in real life, at that time in the early 1960s, had a reputation as a tough old bird. So, of course, that sure is a fantasy episode. But, if it ever took place .......... sorta like George Steinbrenner making that appearance, for real, on "Seinfeld" - wow!
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awrobel
8 years ago
I can see we're like-minded in regards to what is funny. Just recently I came upon MeTV , a Jersey stations ,that airs shows from the past and they were playing Car 54 episodes. Having loved the show in my youth I thought I give the show a try once again. The result found me in spasms of laughter I haven't had in years. For example, the night I viewed this particular episode I literally found myself bursting out in laughter repeatedly just recalling the premise as I went to bed. Like when Molly Picon ingratiates herself with the detective whose sent to investigate her operation, and then when it appears he speaks a bit of French having him return to his superiors only to announce that he was planning to marry Brigitte Bardot. I'm almost beginning to laugh as I recount the scene. The old cleaning lady who was planning to leave her job because she was being setup with Charles Boyer! Help ! Nat Hiken was a genius and the cast of that show was nothing short of brilliant ! As a young boy I spent my summers in the Catskills and Jewish comedian were my earliest and fondest memories of comedy. Car 54 epitomized that type of humor those comedians employed. Simply put take a ridiculous premise draw the audience in and hammer it home. Of course this was no easy task and the skill with which it was performed was the nature of artistry. The end result was a formula for humor that is timeless. The only reason this show would be dated is because few people today are familiar with the celebrities being named. Yet all a writer need do is replace Joan Crawford with Kim Kardasian and then have the audience picture a poor slob bringing her back to his grocery in The Bronx after their honeymoon and you've got hilarious written all over it !
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nufsaid16 (629)
2 years ago
This show was truly hilarious, and the humor actually still holds up, even though the show's dated now, but still fun to watch. I'd heard of Car 54, but never actually saw it until last year, and got hooked on it. The fact that both the main actors who later starred on The Munsters starred together in this show first (and were friends in real life) made it even more interesting to watch because I finally got to see both of them without their makeup on for once. What I like about the show is that it takes a situation, exaggerates the hell out of it as much as it possibly can, then goes crazy with it. Like the episode where a thief steals Toody's identity, pretends to be him, and has all the pickpockets on the streets arrested. Or when Toddy and Muldoon are told they spend too much time together, and try their damndest to stop doing so, and they only end up doing crazier things because of that.
Another cool and interesting thing about this show---it's one of the very few shows from that era in which you see both white and black police officers working in the same unit, which makes it even more unique----the only other show I've seen from that era with a black policemen was Peter Gunn, even though he was only on there for about eight episodes. And all three of the black officers would later become famous in their own right---a young Ossie Davis, a young Nipsey Russell, and Frederick O' Neal (the oldest one) was already a name in his own right at that time. The show's creator/producer, Nat Hiken---his previous hit show, The Phil Silvers Show, was also slightly integrated--there were always a few black officers in that show, too. In fact, some of the cast from the Phil Silvers show wound up on Car 54, Where Are You? which is also fun to see if you like both shows.
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