What is “Car 54, Where Are You”?
A: Car 54, Where Are You? is an American sitcom.
When did it air?
A: It aired on NBC from September 1961 to April 1963.
Filmed in black and white, the series starred whom?
A: Joe E. Ross as Gunther Toody and Fred Gwynne as Francis Muldoon.
They were two mismatched New York City police officers
who patrol what?
A: The fictional 53rd precinct in The Bronx.
Car 54 was their what?
A: Patrol car.
The series had a rotating group of directors, including
whom?
A: Al De Caprio, Stanley Prager, and series creator Nat Hiken.
Filming was done both on location and where?
A: At Biograph Studios in the Bronx.
The series follows what?
A: The adventures of officers Gunther Toody and Francis Muldoon assigned to
Patrol Car 54.
Toody is short, stocky, nosy, and what?
A: Not very bright, and he lives with his loud, domineering wife Lucille.
College-educated Muldoon is very tall, quiet, and more
what?
A: Intellectual.
A shy bachelor, he lives whom?
A: His mother and two younger sisters and is reluctant to get married.
Much of the series is set where?
A: In the station house.
Commanding officer Captain Block (Paul Reed) order his
men to do what?
A: To answer neighborhood police calls or investigate baffling cases that
have stymied the force at large.
Toody and Muldoon often blunder into these cases,
encountering the criminals how?
A: Accidentally and proceeding on a wrong assumption.
By sheer perseverance, inadvertence, and luck, Toody
and Muldoon do what?
A: Bring each case to a successful conclusion.
Many of the scripts were written by Nat Hiken, who won
what?
A: An Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Emmy Award for his work
on the series.
Hiken had previously produced what?
A: The Phil Silvers Show in New York; it was a
military comedy with Silvers
(as Sgt. Bilko) and his gang of comical soldiers.
Joe E. Ross and Fred Gwynne had featured roles on what?
A: The Bilko show, and Beatrice Pons was hired to reprise her old role of
Ross's wife.
What other veterans from the Bilko show were hired?
A: Paul Reed, Al Lewis, Charlotte Rae, Jimmy Little, Jack Healy, and
Frederick O'Neal.
Some supporting players on Car 54 were so well received
that they were what?
A: Brought back for additional episodes.
Molly Picon played Mrs. Bronson, a what?
A: An enterprising matron who made life miserable for city authorities but
always adhered strictly to the law, forcing her whims to be accommodated.
Larry Storch played Charlie, the town what?
A: The town drunk, whose constant scrapes with the police compelled Toody
and Muldoon to rehabilitate him.
Gene Baylos was the hapless Benny the Bookie, whose
attempts at swearing off
gambling always what?
A: Involved Toody and Muldoon.
Car 54 was originally sponsored by whom?
A: Procter & Gamble.