Our Man Higgins

Our Man Higgins
Starring	Stanley Holloway Audrey Totter Frank Maxwell Rickey Kelman, K.C. Butts Regina Grove
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	34
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	October 3, 1962 – May 17, 1963

Our Man Higgins is a 34-episode situation comedy, the story of an English butler -- portrayed by My Fair Lady star Stanley Holloway (1890-1982) -- who is inherited by a suburban American family, resulting in what later became known as a "culture clash". The program offered new episodes on ABC television from October 3, 1962—May 17, 1963. Summer reruns followed until September 11.

Higgins answers to Frank Maxwell (ca. 1917-2004) and Audrey Totter (born 1918), who played Duncan and Alice MacRoberts. Our Man Higgins is similar to the format of the NBC comedy Hazel starring Shirley Booth (1898-1992) as Hazel Burke, an overbearing maid to Harold and Dorothy Baxter, played by Don DeFore (1913-1993) and Whitney Blake (1926-2002).

Higgins, a Screen Gems Production, aired at 8:30 Eastern on Wednesday opposite The Dick Van Dyke Show on CBS and the second half of Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall on NBC. Higgins followed another one-year ABC series Going My Way starring Gene Kelly (1912-1996) in a television version of the 1944 Bing Crosby film.

Joining Holloway, Maxwell, and Totter were Rickey Kelman, K.C. Butts, and Regina Grove, who portrayed the children, Tommy, Dinghy, and Joanie MacRoberts, respectively.

In the premiere episode "It's Higgins, Sir", future film star Ryan O'Neal was the guest star "Archie", two years before he rocketed to national attention as Rodney Harrington in the prime time soap opera Peyton Place, also on ABC. "It's Higgins Sir" was originally the name of the radio program in England which became the basis of the television series.

In the second episode "Servant of the People" on October 10, Higgins expresses qualms about publicizing the MacRoberts family heirlooms in the newspaper. In the third segment "Lady of Leisure" on October 17, Alice feels useless as Higgins takes over the running of the MacRoberts household. In the January 23 episode "A Bunch of Forget-Me-Nots", Alice is nominated for "Homemaker of the Year", and the selection committee is expected for a visit on a day when the house is in a mess.

In the February 13 episode, "The Royal and Ancient Game", Duncan and his neighbor, Bruce MacDermott, played by character actor Roy Roberts (1900-1975) decide to settle a business matter by pitting their sons against each other in a golf match. Duncan, however, does not know that Higgins has been coaching young Jamie MacDermott, played by Roger Mobley. In "Conflict of Interest" on March 20, with Frank Ferguson as a guest star, Duncan MacRoberts wants a park converted into a parking lot. On April 24 in the episode "Delinquent for a Day", Higgins is unable to keep the house neat while Duncan and Alice are away. Kurt Russell guest starred. as "Bobby". The last episodes were "Love Is Dandy" on May 8 with Mary Wickes as Higgins' cousin, who falls for a con man, and The Dance" on May 17.