Beane's of Boston - WBBM-TV (Complete Pilot Broadcast, 5/5/1979) 📺
0 views • Sep 18, 2023
Here's the complete show of an unsold pilot called "Beane's of Boston," about the goings-on at a small department store in that city, that aired over WBBM Channel 2.
Sorry for the crackly-picture - but hey, Channel 2 was crackle-y.
This was based on a long-running British TV series, "Are You Being Served?," that ran in Britain on the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) between 1972 and 1985, and in Chicago was a frequent staple on WTTW Channel 11 in the 1980's and '90's.
The stars of this ultimately misbegotten Americanized version were John Hillerman (a few years before "Magnum, P.I.") as Mr. Peacock, Charlotte Rae as Mrs. Slocombe, Alan Sues (former regular on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In") as Mr. Humphries, George O'Hanlon, Jr. (son of the longtime voice of George Jetson on "The Jetsons") as Franklin Beane, Larry Bishop as Mr. Lucas, Lorna Patterson (a few years before playing the title role in the TV series version of "Private Benjamin") as Miss Brahms, and Tom Poston ("The Bob Newhart Show," "Newhart" et al.) as Mr. Beane.
The production was by the same team (including Garry Marshall) responsible for such hits as "Happy Days" and "Laverne & Shirley."
Brag-o-Factoid: Apparently, neither the UCLA Film & Television Archive, The Paley Center for Media, The Museum of Broadcast Communications, or even The Library of Congress has a copy of this. Guess who does though? The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (www.FuzzyMemories.TV), that's who.
(Completionist Department: See a promo for the show which we also found, here: https://youtu.be/Xto_IkYya_0)
Includes:
Station ID / promo for "The Best of CBS" presentation of "Terror on the 40th Floor" for 10:45pm (voiceover by Jerry Harper)
Animated "CBS Special Presentation" graphic bumper
Opening titles, with illustrations of the building as it looked over the years while the credits showed, and an opening theme(!) sung by Poston in his Beane character
Executive Producers - Garry K. Marshall, Tony Marshall
Commercial: Kentucky Fried Chicken - "It's So Nice to Feel So Good About a Meal" (watch for the Colonel himself at the end) - (C) 1978
Commercial: Avon nail polish - "Color Never Looked So Good" - (C) Avon Products 1979
Act I, with credits on main crew at beginning:
Supervising Producers - Bill Idelson & Sheldon Bull
Produced by David Croft & Jeremy Lloyd (the creative team behind the original "Are You Being Served?")
Written by David Croft, Jeremy Lloyd, Bill Idelson, Sheldon Bull
Directed by Jerry Paris
Commercial: Wella Balsam Conditioner - with Cheryl Ladd
Commercial: Mazda GLC Hatchback (voiceover by ??)
Promo for "The CBS Tuesday Night Movies" presentation of "Anatomy of a Seduction" at 9:00pm / 8:00pm Central (voiceover by ??)
Act II
Commercial: Kellogg's Graham Crackos - with George the Milkman
Commercial: Keebler Chocolate Chip Cookies
Promo for "The Wild, Wild West Revisited" and "The Johnny Cash Spring Special", for Wednesday, May 9th (voiceover by ??)
Ending credits, with promo for upcoming showing of "Take a Hard Ride", after "Newsbreak" (voiceover by ??):
Associate Producer - Jeffrey Ganz
Also Starring:
Morgan Farley as Mr. Granger
Guest Starring:
Don Bexley as Mr. Johnson
Dana House as Ingrid
Director of Photography - Robert G. Hager, A.S.C.
Art Director - Jim Claytor
Film Editors - Ed Cotter, Robert E. Platz
Unit Production Manager - G. C. Rusty Meek
Assistant Director - Dick Bremerkamp
Second Assistant Director - Steve Cragg
Set Decorator - Anthony D. Nealis
Technical Coordinator - Ray deVally, Jr.
Hair Stylist - Shirley Kirby
Make-Up - Bruce Hutchinson
Script Supervisor - Dorothy Aldworth
Casting/Dialogue Coach - Bob Hoffman
Men's Costumer - Bob Harris
Women's Costumer - Violet Alford
Music Editor - Steve Danforth
Sound Effects Editor - Gene Wahrman
Recorded by Glen Glenn Sound
Music by Don Peake
Song "Beane's of Boston" - Written by David Croft & Jeremy Lloyd
Created by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd
Based on "Are You Being Served" originally telecast by the British Broadcasting Company[sic]
Copyright (C) MCMLXXIX by Paramount Pictures Corporation
Henderson Production Company, Inc. In Association With Paramount Television - A Gulf+Western Company
This aired on local Chicago TV on Saturday, May 5th 1979.
About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:
The MCCTv (FuzzyMemoriesTV) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s to early 80s, mostly) recorded off of TV (in Chicago or other cities now too); things which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. Even though (often) short clips are displayed here, we preserve the entire broadcasts in our archives - the complete programs with breaks (or however much is present on the tape), for historical preservation. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to DVD, please e-mail [email protected] Thank you for your help!