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  • mark.waltz14 September 2021
    Warning: Spoilers
    Yes, Anaheim.

    According to this TV special hosted by Henry Fonda, in 1962, the location of the happiest place on Earth was indeed the perfect place to bring up a family. Whether or not that was true cannot be determined, but this all star cast TV special is sensational. You get some of the original cast of Broadway's "Bye Bye Birdie" including Dick Van Dyke, Paul Lynde and Michael J. Pollard, along with Kathryn Grant, AKA Mrs. Bing Crosby, as the mother, Bonanza Dan Blocker as one of the crazy uncle (Lynde is the other) and Carol Lynley of "The Poseidon Adventure" as the younger sister. Van Dyke is dad and Pollard the older brother, and grandma Verna Felton will bibbity bobbity boo her way into your heart. She is simply adorable.

    A series of sketches (which includes a dozen other minor actors) gives an indication of what family life was like in 1962. There is an ironic sketch involving a place to hide phones from dad, an interesting look into the future some 40 years before cellphone addiction became a topic of conversation. Van Dyke gives us a preview of his old man act from "Mary Poppins", and Lynde and Blocker play different variations of the uncles we dread seeing at the holidays.

    But it's the cute as a button Felton who steals the program, every bit as adorable as Helen Hayes would be eight years later in "Airplane!" Fonda is a memorable host and narrator, reading a letter that discusses the teens of the time in a way that made me think of Lynde singing "Kids". It has a very funny twist though so don't go into it thinking that this is the generation gap. A well made TV special from a troubled time that obviously created some much needed laughter.