Synopsis
The series stars Cummings as a dashing young Hollywood photographer, Air Force reserve officer, and ladies' man, Bob Collins. The character's interest in aviation and photography mirrored Cummings' own in real life, with his character's name the same as the role he played in the film You Came Along (1945). The series also stars Rosemary DeCamp.
The Bob Cummings Show was important in the development of several careers. Its creator, producer and head writer was Paul Henning, later producer of major 1960s hits such as The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres. Regulars in the show included Ann B. Davis, who twice won Emmy Awards for playing Schultzy. Henning apparently remembered cast members Nancy Kulp and Joi Lansing favorably, as both had roles on The Beverly Hillbillies, Miss Kulp as Miss Hathaway (secretary to banker Milburn Drysdale – a character similar to the one she appeared as (Pamela Livingston) on Cummings' show) – and Miss Lansing as Gladys. A decade after The Bob Cummings Show left the air, Davis went on to play the housekeeper Alice in The Brady Bunch; in the 1995 film The Brady Bunch Movie, which featured another actress playing Alice, Davis reprised the role of Schultzy for a cameo that suggests the character went on to become a truck driver.
Perhaps the biggest career boost was received by young Dwayne Hickman, a student at Loyola University in Los Angeles, who appeared as Bob's nephew and became a favorite with young women in the audience. After The Bob Cummings Show ended, he was cast as the lead in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.
This program represented the height of Cummings' television career. Although he made many further appearances as a guest star and again starred in two other series in the early 1960s, The New Bob Cummings Show and My Living Doll, he never again achieved the success on television that he had with The Bob Cummings Show.
Read more about this topic: The Bob Cummings Show