Our Man Higgins

For the Lee Morgan composition, see Cornbread (album).

Our Man Higgins is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from October 3, 1962, to May 17, 1963.

Our Man Higgins
Stanley Holloway and Regina Groves (1962)
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Paul Harrison
Starring	Stanley Holloway Audrey Totter Frank Maxwell Ricky Kelman K.C. Butts Regina Groves
Theme music composer	Frank De Vol
Composer	Frank DeVol
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	34
Production
Producer	Paul Harrison
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	First Company of Writers Screen Gems
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	October 3, 1962 (1962-10-03) – May 17, 1963 (1963-05-17)

Synopsis

Our Man Higgins follows the adventures of an English butler who is inherited by a suburban American family, along with a quarter-century-old silver service valued at $50,000. Higgins answers to Duncan and Alice MacRoberts, whose children are Tommy, Dinghy, and Joanie MacRoberts.^[1]

It's Higgins, Sir was previously a 13-episode NBC radio comedy series in 1951, created and produced by Paul Harrison, and written by Harrison and Rik Vollaerts. Harry McNaughton read the starring role of Higgins in that series, broadcast on Tuesdays at 9 P.M. (as Bob Hope's summer replacement). ^[2]

Cast

• Stanley Holloway as Higgins^[1]
• Regina Groves as Joanie MacRoberts^[1]
• Audrey Totter as Alice MacRoberts^[1]
• Ricky Kelman as Tommy MacRoberts^[1]
• Frank Maxwell as Duncan MacRoberts^[1]
• K.C. Butts as Dinghy MacRoberts^[1]

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	"It's Higgins, Sir"	Richard Murphy	Richard Murphy	October 3, 1962 (1962-10-03)
2	"A Servant of the People"	Unknown	Unknown	October 10, 1962 (1962-10-10)
3	"Lady of Leisure"	Unknown	Unknown	October 17, 1962 (1962-10-17)
4	"Surprise Party"	Unknown	Unknown	October 24, 1962 (1962-10-24)
5	"From the Forest Primeval"	Unknown	Unknown	October 31, 1962 (1962-10-31)
6	"The Rules of the Road"	Earl Bellamy	Alvin Sapinsley	November 7, 1962 (1962-11-07)
7	"Five Will Get You Ten"	Unknown	Unknown	November 14, 1962 (1962-11-14)
8	"Birthday Party"	Unknown	Unknown	November 21, 1962 (1962-11-21)
9	"Higgins' Little Helper"	Unknown	Unknown	November 28, 1962 (1962-11-28)
10	"Butler Father"	Unknown	Unknown	December 5, 1962 (1962-12-05)
11	"Golf Partner"	Unknown	Unknown	December 12, 1962 (1962-12-12)
12	"The Three Faces of Higgins"	Unknown	Unknown	December 19, 1962 (1962-12-19)
13	"Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Sullivan"	Unknown	Unknown	December 26, 1962 (1962-12-26)
14	"Manchester Minstrel"	Unknown	Unknown	January 2, 1963 (1963-01-02)
15	"The Milkman Cometh"	Unknown	Unknown	January 9, 1963 (1963-01-09)
16	"The Broken Statue"	Unknown	Unknown	January 16, 1963 (1963-01-16)
17	"A Bunch of Forget-Me-Nots"	Unknown	Unknown	January 23, 1963 (1963-01-23)
18	"Prom Girl"	Unknown	Unknown	January 30, 1963 (1963-01-30)
19	"The Royal and Ancient Game"	Unknown	Unknown	February 6, 1963 (1963-02-06)
20	"My First Friend"	Unknown	Unknown	February 13, 1963 (1963-02-13)
21	"The Long, Long Saturday"	Unknown	Unknown	February 20, 1963 (1963-02-20)
22	"Higgins' Understudy"	Unknown	Unknown	February 27, 1963 (1963-02-27)
23	"Black Thursday"	Unknown	Unknown	March 6, 1963 (1963-03-06)
24	"Half a Higgins"	Unknown	Unknown	March 13, 1963 (1963-03-13)
25	"Conflict of Interest"	Unknown	Unknown	March 20, 1963 (1963-03-20)
26	"Higgins and the Hillbilly"	Unknown	Unknown	March 27, 1963 (1963-03-27)
27	"The Reluctant Handicapper"	Unknown	Unknown	April 3, 1963 (1963-04-03)
28	"Meet Aunt Sadie"	Unknown	Unknown	April 10, 1963 (1963-04-10)
29	"Will the Real Mr. Hargrave Please Stand Up?"	Unknown	Unknown	April 17, 1963 (1963-04-17)
30	"Delinquent for a Day"	Unknown	Unknown	April 24, 1963 (1963-04-24)
31	"The Education of Harry Barker"	Unknown	Unknown	May 1, 1963 (1963-05-01)
32	"Who's on First?"	Unknown	Unknown	May 8, 1963 (1963-05-08)
33	"Love is Dandy"	Unknown	Unknown	May 17, 1963 (1963-05-17)
34	"The Dance"	Unknown	Unknown	May 24, 1963 (1963-05-24)

Guest stars

Don Drysdale Stuart Erwin Reginald Gardiner Connie Gilchrist Sylvia Field Paul Hartman Julian Holloway Edward Everett Horton Bernie Kopell

Cheryl Miller Roger Mobley Slim Pickens Stafford Repp Roy Roberts Kurt Russell Martha Stewart Dick Wessel Mary Wickes Dick Wilson

Scheduling

Our Man Higgins, co-sponsored by General Motors' Pontiac division and American Tobacco, aired on ABC at 9:30 P.M. Eastern on Wednesdays^[3] opposite The Dick Van Dyke Show on CBS and the second half of Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall on NBC. Higgins followed another one-year ABC series Going My Way, starring Gene Kelly, Dick York, and Leo G. Carroll, in a television version of the 1944 Bing Crosby film.^[4]

Production

Harrison and Harry Ackerman were the show's producers.^[1] Directors included Richard Murphy, and Frank De Vol directed the music.^[5] Its 34 episodes were recorded on film and included a laugh track.^[3]

Critical response

A review in the trade publication Variety said that the show "took off slowly" in its premiere episode but showed promise of improvement with better establishment of characters.^[5] The review commended Holloway's work but said that the American family need to be made more appealing. It also suggested that the show's language seemed to have "more of a Broadway than a suburban flavor".^[5]