This week’s mystery program was “Queen of the Orange Bowl,” which aired Jan. 13, 1960, on the CBS anthology show “U.S. Steel Hour.” With Anne Francis, Johnny Carson, Glenda Farrell, Frank McHugh, Elizabeth Wilson and Robert Elston. Adapted for television by Bob Van Scoyk from an original story by Roger Squire.
Directed by Paul Bogart. Executive producer George Kondolf.
“Queen of the Orange Bowl” was restored from 2-inch videotape by UCLA and is available online.
I’m always looking for new sources of mystery photos and a vintage TV show seemed like an interesting choice. The last TV shows I did were “Dark Shadows” and “Johnny Staccato” in 2016 after some random episodes of “Perry Mason.” So “Queen of the Orange Bowl” it was.
I’m of the age where I remember Johnny Carson from “The Tonight Show” and “Who Do You Trust?” so I was curious as to whether he could act. The answer is: Johnny Carson plays Johnny Carson. The same mannerisms, the same gestures. It’s exactly what he did on “The Tonight Show” thousands of times. Notice that top billing goes to Anne Francis, who began in radio, and had done “Bad Day in Black Rock” and “Blackboard Jungle” in1955 and “Forbidden Planet” in 1956.
Bob Van Scoyk’s script (from an original by Roger Squire) is dated and stage-y and it could have easily been plucked from “An Evening of One-Acts.” An advertising copy writer (Johnny Carson) with an impoverished imagination, and a beautiful, talented kindergarten teacher passing as a beatnik (Anne Francis) go through some amusing bumps on the road to romance from his pushy mother (Glenda Farrell), but the outcome (the marriage bureau at City Hall) is never in doubt.
“Queen of the Orange Bowl” was dated even when it aired in 1960 and was praised as welcome relief from the gritty psychological dramas of the day. It’s very New York, with typical lines like “This is Rochester, not Greenwich Village” and “Come back to your job at the grocery store.” Beatniks, who in real life had been supplanted by what would become the hippies, are still fodder for satire.
The show was well-received (Update: Radio-TV Mirror said it was the program’s highest-rated episode), and Carson was cast in “The Girl in the Gold Bathtub,” by Van Scoyk, which aired in May 1960. In November, 1960 Anne Francis did another show for the “U.S. Steel Hour,” “The Yum Yum Girl,” directed by Bogart and written by Van Scoyk, opposite Robert Elston, who played Carson’s co-worker in “Queen of the Orange Bowl.”
Trivia note: In a syndicated interview with Steven H. Scheuer to publicize “Queen of the Orange Bowl,” Carson said he had no interest in doing a late-night television show and was perfectly happy with “Who Do You Trust?”
Carson said: “I wish they’d leave me alone. One of the main troubles with this industry is that as soon as somebody is successful everybody looks for carbon copies. Jack Paar [then host of “The Tonight Show”] is a personality not a format and you can’t imitate a personality.”
ps. The commercials for furniture made of steel are amazing.
For Monday, we have a mystery gentleman.
Update: This is Robert Elston.
For Tuesday, we have a mystery woman. Her companions have been temporarily cropped out due to insufficient mysteriousness and will appear later in the week.
Update: I have now re-cropped the photo to show Wednesday’s mystery woman.
Update 2: I have now re-cropped the photo to show Thursday’s mystery woman.
Update 3: I re-cropped the photo for Friday to show our mystery leading man.
Update: This is Glenda Farrell, Nancy Kovack, Elizabeth Wilson and Johnny Carson.
For “Hm Wednesday,” we have this mystery woman.
Update: This is Elizabeth Wilson, who played Roz in “9 to 5,” Mrs. Braddock in “The Graduate” and Marge Newquist in “Little Murders.”
We also have this mystery bartender. His companions have been cropped out due to insufficient mysteriousness and will appear later in the week.
Update 1: I have re-cropped the photo to show Thursday’s mystery gent.
Update 2: I re-cropped the photo to show Friday’s mystery leading man.
Update: This is Johnny Carson, Frank McHugh and Al Lewis (Officer Schnauser and, yes, Grandpa Munster).
Brain Trust roll call: L.C. (mystery show and mystery cast), Jenny M. (Tuesday’s mystery woman), Howard Mandelbaum (mystery show and air date, plus all mystery guests), Roget-L.A. (Tuesday’s mystery woman, wrong production) and Bob Hansen (Tuesday’s mystery woman and mystery medium).
For “Aha Thursday,” we have this mystery couple.
Update: This is Frank McHugh and Glenda Farrell.
Brain Trust roll call: Tucson Barbara (mystery program and all mystery guests), Howard Mandelbaum (Wednesday’s mystery guests), Funky PhD (mystery program, Tuesday’s mystery woman and Wednesday’s mystery guests), David Inman (Wednesday’s mystery bartender), Beach Gal (mystery program, plus air date and all mystery guests, plus mystery leads), Mike Hawks (mystery program and all mystery guests), Bob Hansen (Wednesday’s mystery bartender), Chrisbo (Wednesday’s mystery bartender), Roget-L.A. (mystery program, plus air date, and Wednesday’s mystery guests, plus their future movie and TV roles), Sylvia E. (mystery program and all mystery guests), Megan and Thom (mystery program and all mystery guests), Sarah (mystery program and Wednesday’s mystery bartender), Blackwing Jenny (mystery program and Wednesday’s mystery bartender), Benito (Wednesday’s mystery bartender and his future TV role), Anne Papineau (Wednesday’s mystery bartender) and Bruce Reznick (mystery program, Wednesday’s mystery bartender and mystery leads’ future TV roles).
Note to Benito: Yes, 2-inch videotape.
For Friday, we have our mystery leading woman.
Update: This is Anne Francis, future Honey West.
And our mystery leading man.
Update: And Johnny Carson.
Brain Trust roll call: Tucson Barbara (Thursday’s mystery guests), Sylvia E. (Monday’s mystery gent, Wednesday’s mystery woman and Thursday’s mystery guests), Chrisbo (mystery program and Thursday’s mystery gent), Beach Gal (Thursday’s mystery guests), Mike Hawks (Thursday’s mystery guests), Megan and Thom (Thursday’s mystery guests), Howard Mandelbaum (Thursday’s mystery guests), David Inman (mystery program and Thursday’s mystery guests) and Benito (Thursday’s mystery guests).
ladailymirror.com 
I think it looks like a young Rene Auberjonois,
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A good guess, but Rene’s screen debut was several years away. 🙂
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Yikes. I remember that face, but have zero idea.
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Well you did something a little different here! This is The US Steel Hour, Queen of the Orange Bowl (1960) w/ Johnny Carson, Anne Francis, Glenda Farrell, Nancy Kovack, Robert Elston, Frank McHugh.
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Nancy Kovack
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U.S. Steel Hour: “Queen of the Orange Bowl” (1/13/1960)
Monday: Robert Elston
Tuesday: Nancy Kovak
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Nancy Kovack in Cry for Happy (1961)
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I think Tuesday’s woman is Nancy Kovack. It looks like this is from a TV broadcast/kinescope, but I don’t know the show.
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The United States Steel Hour – “Queen of the Orange Bowl”
Mon – Robert Elston
Tues – Nancy Kovack, Elizabeth Wilson
Wed – Elizabeth Wilson, Al Lewis
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Elizabeth Wilson; Al Lewis
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Al Lewis as the mystery bartender; United States Steel Hour: Queen of the Orange Bowl. Wednesday’s mystery woman is Elizabeth Wilson; Tuesday’s is Nancy Kovack.
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Mary Ann Mobley as one of Tuesday’s mystery woman, and Al Lewis today?
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US Steel Hour, “Queen of the Orange Bowl”.
Monday – Robert Elston.
Tues – Nancy Kovack
Wed – Elizabeth Wilson and Al Lewis
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I bet for Thurs we have Glenda Farrell and Frank McHugh, with Anne Francis and Johnny Carson on Fri. This episode aired Jan 13, 1960.
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Andre Baruch, Nancy Kovack, Elizabeth Wilson and Al Lewis in QUEEN OF THE ORANGE BOWL on the United States Steel Hour.
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I think the Wednesday guy is Al Lewis.
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That barkeep looks like Al Lewis
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Oops! Our Monday man is Robert Elston not Andre Baruch. Pardon my blooper.
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Elizabeth Wilson (Roz in 9 to 5) and Al Lewis (Grandpa Munster) in “Queen of the Orange Bowl”, which aired 13 January 1960 as part of The U.S. Steel Hour
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The U.S. Steel Hour
Mr. Lewis confirmed my initial Tuesday guess for me today. I got stuck on Tuesday with “… I’m pretty sure that’s the woman who is married to Zubin Mehta, Nancy ‘someone’.”
Not sure of the episode yet, but:
Monday – still working on him.
Tuesday – Nancy Kovack
Wednesday – Al Lewis
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Our show is Queen of the Orange Bowl from The United States Steel Hour. Monday’s guest is Robert Elston. Tuesday’s is Nancy Kovack. Today’s guests are Elizabeth Wilson and Al Lewis.
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The bartender is Al Lewis, so l’ll guess it’s “Queen of the Orange Bowl” (1960).
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Al Lewis as the bartender; United States Steel Hour-“Queen of the Orange Bowl”?
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Looks like Al Lewis aka Grandpa Munster today. PS These look like video clips
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On Wednesday, Al Lewis?
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I’m going to guess that the episode is “Queen of the Orange Bowl”.
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Is this Al Lewis in “Queen of the Orange Bowl”? If so, then Honey West and Art Fern await on Friday!
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Thurs – Frank McHugh, Glenda Farrell
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Guessing that Monday’s young man is Robert Elston, but that’s an IMDb guess based on his age.
Elizabeth Wilson
Thursday Glenda Farrell and Frank McHugh.
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Frank McHugh Thursday in Queen of the Orange Bowl?
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Thurs.- Frank McHugh and Glenda Farrell
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Frank McHugh and Glenda Farrell together again.
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Today’s mystery guests are Frank McHugh and Glenda Farrell.
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Frank McHugh, Glenda Farrell.
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Frank McHugh and Glenda Farrell today, making this “Queen of the Orange Bowl.”
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Stalwarts Frank McHugh and Glenda Farrell later in their careers
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Anne Francis, Johnny Carson
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This was fun. Mr. Johnny Carson and Ms. Anne Francis have such baby faces.
My family took in a LOT of anthology series fare when I was growing up. US Steel’s programming had some real gems.
Looking forward to the Saturday breakdown.
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Anne Francis; Johnny Carson.
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Fri – Anne Francis and Johnny Carson
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Mystery leading lady: Anne Francis. She was great in Bad Day at Black Rock. Mystery leading man: Johnny Carson.
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Anne Francis and Johnny Carson.
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“Queen of the Orange Bowl,” from US Steel Hour. Robert Elston Monday, Nancy Kovack Tuesday, Elizabeth Wilson and Al Lewis Wednesday, Frank McHugh and Glenda Farrell Thursday, Anne Francis and Johnny Carson today.
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