Many Happy Returns

1964-09-21 | en

Elinor Donahue Mark Goddard John McGiver

Comedy

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Seasons & Episodes

EP1 Many Happy Returns

Sep. 16,1964

Walter tries to talk customers out of demanding refunds.

EP2 Walter Meets The Machine

Sep. 24,1964

The store manager plans to replace Walter's complaint department with a computer.

EP3 It Shouldn't Happen To a Dog

Oct. 01,1964

Walter gives a puppy to his granddaughter as a present.

EP4 Bye, Bye Cupid

Oct. 08,1964

Mr. Sharp invites Walter to spend the weekend on his boat with his unmarried sister.

EP5 Burnley At the Bridge

Oct. 14,1964

Walter and Wilma try to keep the house from being torn down until her cat gives birth.

EP6 Joe's Place

Oct. 22,1964

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EP7 The Best Seller

Nov. 03,1964

Walter promotes an unsuccessful fraternity brother's books at the store.

EP8 Mother Burnley's Chickens

Nov. 12,1964

Walter babysits Harry's eight children.

EP9 Krockmeyer on Avon

Nov. 18,1964

Walter takes over the store's drama group after the director is fired.

EP10 East is West

Nov. 25,1964

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EP11 The House Divided

Dec. 02,1964

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EP12 The Fashion Show

Dec. 09,1964

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EP13 The Shoplifter

Dec. 15,1964

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EP14 The Surprise Visit

Dec. 22,1964

Walter thinks the staff needs a raise, but Mr. Sharp is actually looking to fire someone.

EP15 Taming of the Beast

Jan. 05,1965

Walter's plans to throw a surprise party for Sharp are nixed by Sharp's nephew.

EP16 No Nose is Good Nose

Jan. 13,1965

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EP17 Foster Father of the Bride

Jan. 19,1965

Walter comes to the rescue when Lynn becomes engaged to a soldier she has only known for a month.

EP18 The Diamond

Jan. 26,1965

Walter steps in when the father of Eddie Benson's fiancee tells Eddie he isn't good enough to marry his daughter.

EP19 Three on a Honeymoon

Feb. 02,1965

Walter mistakes two honeymooners for prowlers.

EP20 Pop Goes the Easel

Feb. 10,1965

Walter unknowingly gives Mrs. Sharp a valuable painting to use as scrap to practice her painting on.

EP21 The Krockmeyer Caper

Feb. 23,1965

Two crooks pursue Walter, who unwittingly has their stolen loot in his golf bag.

EP22 Big White Lie

Mar. 02,1965

Walter pretends to be Mr. Sharp in order to get a woman to merge her company with the store.

EP23 Idol Threats

Mar. 16,1965

A customer returns an ivory statue because she thinks it is cursed.

EP24 A Date for Walter

Mar. 23,1965

Walter learns the reason why Joe is always late to work.

EP25 The Woodsman

Mar. 30,1965

Walter volunteers to take two kids on a camping trip.

EP26 It's a Gift

Apr. 06,1965

Walter tries to stop a fight between Ralph and Ellie by ordering an inexpensive bracelet.

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Many Happy Returns is an American situation comedy that ran on CBS for twenty-six episodes, from September 21, 1964 to April 12, 1965, under the sponsorship of General Foods. The Tagline of the show was Krockmeyer's Appreciates Your Patronage.

Many Happy Returns Audience Reviews

Tetrady not as good as all the hype

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

raher One of the running jokes in the show was the minor speech impediment of one of the characters (Mickey Manners's Joe Foley, IIRC). One of the store's regulations was that, after every interaction with a customer, the employee was expected to say, "Krocmeyer's appreciates your patronage." Foley always had a particularly difficult time with this sentence.Another source of comedy was that the return desk was expected to ask the customer why he/she was returning the item, and to try to convince the customer to keep the merchandise anyway. I got the impression that this was actually a major function of the department, to _discourage_ actual returns. Thus I was a little confused when the plot of one episode was that the store considered replacing the returns employees with a computerized system in which customers would simply drop unwanted merchandise in a bin, insert the receipt in a slot, and automatically get their money back (with a recorded "Krocmeyer's appreciates your patronage").

theowinthrop 1964, in retrospect, was a dismal television year, and among the numerous failures was this sitcom. It is notable only because it was the only time that that fine comic character actor John McGiver had the lead in a television show. McGiver was Walter Burnley, the head of a department store's returns department (hence the title). He was constantly facing pressure from his boss Owen Sharp (Russell Collins) regarding the rules and regulations of the department store - basically it was a battle of who was really running the department. McGiver normally was the winner of these struggles.I can't recall the episodes too well today - the show was not that great, though McGiver and the cast did what they could do. One episode was interesting and remains in my mind. Mickey Manners played Joe Foley, one of the clumsy staff in McGiver's department. In one episode he was in an amateur production of Romeo and Juliet in the lead role. But he could not get a hang on the Shakespearean language and poetry. McGiver tries to train him how to appreciate Shakespeare, but he can't get through. Then, he gets an idea. Manners knows how to mouth the lines. McGiver reads the role of Romeo out of sight of the audience while Manners acts it. As McGiver had a clear, marvelous speaking voice, it suddenly became apparent that had he looked handsomer than he did he might have had a career in such plays. Only at the end, when Manners is about to take his poison, does he (rather than McGiver) say the last line of Romeo. It was an interesting episode, and (to me) remains the most memorable episode of that show.