1 9 6 3 – 1 9 6 4 (USA)
32 x 30 minute episodes
In this single-season comedy series from NBC, Imogene Coca played Grindl, a highly efficient, well-organised domestic worker who was constantly put upon by a world that seemed determined to make life difficult for her.
Grindl (pictured below right) worked for Foster’s Temporary Employment Service, and each week she found herself assigned a different job by Mr Anson Foster (James Milhollin).
Mostly, she did housekeeping work, but she was – at one time or another – a maid, a laundress, a bank teller, a bookshop clerk, a ticket-taker at a theatre, a babysitter, a vacuum cleaner salesperson, a cook . . . and anything else that Foster could find for her to do.
Almost every week, Grindl’s latest job somehow involved great peril from counterfeiters, teenage thugs, bank robbers, mad bombers, kleptomaniacs, and even the infamous “Moon Killer.”
Grindl screened on Sunday nights on NBC at 8:30 PM between 15 September 1963 and 13 September 1964. The show had two different openings – one in which Grindl was seen walking down the street holding her ever-ready umbrella; the other was animated with Grindl featured in a maid’s uniform.
Sponsors included Gleem Toothpaste, Lilt Home Permanents and Thrill Dishwashing Liquid.
Imogene Coca died on 2 June 2001, at the age of 92. She had been suffering for some time with Alzheimer’s disease.
Grindl
Imogene Coca
Anson Foster
James Milhollin