Valentine’s Day

1 9 6 4 – 1 9 6 5 (USA)
34 x 30 minute episodes

This black-and-white ABC comedy depicted the life of debonair, handsome young New York publishing executive Valentine Farrow (Tony Franciosa in his only sitcom role).

Val was continually being chased by beautiful girls, both in and out of his office at 50 Park Avenue, where he was senior nonfiction editor at the publishing firm of Brackett and Dunstall.

Libby Freeman (Janet Waldo) was his pretty and efficient secretary, Molly (Mimi Dillard) his receptionist, and O.D. Dunstall (Jerry Hausner), his nervous boss.

At home – in his brownstone bachelor pad on 23rd Street – Val’s cook, housekeeper and valet was the scrounging, poker-playing conman “Rocky” Sin (Jack Soo), who had been his best buddy since their army days and had saved his life in Korea. Now, he was his chief confidante and bottle-washer.

Living in the basement of Val’s elegant East Side townhouse was Mr Fipple (Eddie Quillan), the handyman.

After a series of amorous adventures, Valentine finally fell in love with a pretty research assistant at Brackett and Dunstall in the last episode. The series didn’t return for a second season, however.

Guest stars included Marlo Thomas (pre-That Girl) in ‘Follow the Broken Pretzel’ – a spy caper involving top-secret papers which turned out to be merely recipes; Mamie Van Doren playing herself in ‘Yen Ku Horowitz’ – in which a female stand-up comic tried to get a part in Ms Van Doren’s next picture; George Gobel as Delmore Link – who had written a book about the game of poker in an episode called ‘The Hottest Game in Town’; and the Cleveland Browns great Jim Brown in a cameo appearance where he attempted to get an old friend’s book published in ‘For Me and My Sal’.

Opera singer Helen Traubel also guested, as Val’s mother, Muriel Farrow.

Valentine’s Day aired on Friday nights at 9:00 pm. Sponsors included Excedrin, Goodyear, General Foods and Breck Shampoo.

Valentine Farrow
Tony Franciosa
Rockwell “Rocky” Sin
Jack Soo
Libby Freeman
Janet Waldo
Molly
Mimi Dillard
O.D. Dunstall
Jerry Hausner
Grover Cleveland Fipple
Eddie Quillan

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