Colonel Humphrey Flack

Colonel Humphrey Flack is an American sitcom that ran from October 7, 1953, to July 2, 1954, on the DuMont Television Network, then revived from 1958 to 1959 for first-run syndication.^[1]

Colonel Humphrey Flack
Also known as	The Fabulous Fraud The Adventures of Colonel Flack The Imposter
Directed by	John Rich Seymour Robbie
Starring	Alan Mowbray Frank Jenks
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	39 (original DuMont run) 78 (total)
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Desilu (revived series)
Original release
Network	DuMont
Release	October 7, 1953 (1953-10-07) – 1959 (1959)

The series also aired under the titles The Fabulous Fraud,^[2] The Adventures of Colonel Flack, and The Imposter.

Overview

The series is about a con man who defrauded rich people, then gave some of the money to the needy. Colonel Humphrey Flack starred British actor Alan Mowbray as the Colonel, and Frank Jenks as his sidekick, Uthas P. ("Patsy") Garvey. The TV series was based on a popular series of short stories by Everett Rhodes Castle^[3] published in The Saturday Evening Post.^[2]

The pilot for the series aired on May 31, 1953, on an episode of the ABC Album/Plymouth Playhouse.^[4] Episodes of the program were initially broadcast on Wednesdays from 9 to 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time. It January 1954 the show was moved to Saturdays from 10 to 10:30 p.m. E. T. In May 1954 it was moved to Fridays from 10:30 to 11 p.m. E. T.^[2]

When the series was revived in 1958, it was retitled Colonel Flack. The 39 episodes (all remakes of the original 39 episodes) aired from October 5, 1958, to July 5, 1959, in syndication.^[5] The syndicated programs were made by Desilu Productions and featured Mowbray and Jenks in their original roles.^[6]

Critical response

A review in TV Guide noted that the program succeeded as a situation comedy "without benefit of any husband-and-wife team, precocious children, etc." It also complimented Mowbray's and Jenks's portrayals of their characters.^[3]

Steven H. Scheuer, in a "TV Kenotes" column, described Mowbray's portrayal of Flack as "engaging" and said that his performance created "solid competition" for other TV shows.^[7]

Episode status

At least 12 episodes of the DuMont series are in the collection of the UCLA Film and Television Archive^[8] and two episodes are at the Paley Center for Media.

See also

• 1953-54 United States network television schedule
• List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
• List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts