Marriage, The

1 9 5 4 (USA)
8 x 30 minute episodes

“The National Broadcasting Company’s sponsorship of this program constitutes no endorsement of the opinions, philosophies, stubbornness or confusion of the persons represented therein. However, with the conviction that marriage remains the most popular arrangement between two friendly people, NBC takes pleasure in presenting one of the most distinguished couples of the American theatre – Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn as Liz and Ben Marriott in a new dramatic series, The Marriage.”

This live sitcom had also been on radio and was set in the Gramercy Apartments in New York City.

As a summer replacement for Martin Kane, Private Eye, it starred real-life married couple Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy as Ben and Liz Marriott, who had been married for 17 years. They met and fell in love at a New Year’s Eve party in 1935 that was held in a brownstone in Greenwich Village.

Ben was a partner in the fairly successful law practice of Burns and Marriott, and Liz was a former buyer for Hunt’s Department Store but became a housewife when the kids – ten-year-old Pete (Malcolm Broderick) and 15-year-old Emily (Susan Strasberg) – came along.

Emily attended Grant High School, and her parents were very strict about her dating. While she was allowed to date boys, Ben and Liz preferred that she bring her dates to the house (where a typical date would consist of “listening to the phonograph and popping
corn”).

Peter was interested in building model cars and reading comic books. Both children were quite obedient and good at school.

This show may have been extremely short-lived, but it was very historically significant. It was among the first prime-time television shows broadcast in colour.

The series was to have begun its run on 1 July 1954, but Jessica Tandy was ill, so the debut was delayed one week.

Cronyn and Tandy made a brand new filmed pilot episode in 1957, attempting to bring the series back to prime time but to no avail.

Ben Marriott
Hume Cronyn
Liz Marriott
Jessica Tandy
Emily Marriott
Susan Strasberg
Peter Marriott
Malcolm Broderick