Betty Hutton Show, The (Goldie)

1 9 5 9 – 1 9 6 0 (USA)
30 x 30 minute episodes

Goldie Appleby (Betty Hutton) is a former showgirl-turned-manicurist who accepts a dinner invitation from Mr Strickland (David White), a customer who also happens to be a lonely millionaire.

When he passes away suddenly later that night, he leaves everything to her in his will, and she finds herself the head of the Strickland Foundation, the owner of his $60 million Park Avenue estate with a maid called Rosemary (Jean Carson) and a butler called Hollister (Gavin Muir), and the legal guardian to his three orphaned children: 12-year-old Roy (Dennis Joel) who attends the Ezra Taft Preparatory Day School for Boys; 17-year-old socialite Pat (Gigi Perrault), who attends the Blair Academy for Girls, and Nicky (Richard Miles) who loves sports cars.

Goldie also inherits the family’s lawyer Howard Seaton (Tom Conway).

Goldie relinquishes her job and her apartment on West 41st Street and moves to the Park Avenue duplex, where her attempts to adjust to her newfound wealth, status, and three children are at times overwhelming. Her former roommates, Lorna (Joan Shawlee) and Rosemary (Jean Carson), appear occasionally.

Rosemary works at the Pelican Club in Manhattan; Lorna is a beautician at the Mid Manhattan Salon, and while the girls are the best of friends, they constantly bicker. Rosemary is somewhat flakey and likes to spend money (except she never has any), while Lorna, on the other hand, is cheap – “She is tighter than Jayne Mansfield would look in Gary Cooper’s sweater,” says Goldie.

Goldie’s catchphrase is “Cuck-oo” (pronounced “coo-coo”) which she says when something strikes her fancy.

Episodes aired on Thursday nights at 8.00 pm on CBS. Sponsors included Post Cereal and General Foods.

Goldie Appleby
Betty Hutton
Nicky Strickland
Peter Miles
Pat (Patricia) Strickland
Gigi Perreau
Roy Strickland
Dennis Olivieri
Howard Seaton
Tom Conway
Hollister 
Gavin Muir
Lorna
Joan Shawlee
Rosemary
Jean Carson

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