Car 54, Where Are You? (1962)

 

As we documented in our post on the 1961 episodes of Car 54, Where Are You?, the series rose and fell with the fortunes of its creator and original writer and director Nat Hiken. Hiken was a tormented workaholic who only became more stressed the more successful he became, because of the self-imposed burden of maintaining or exceeding what he had already accomplished. As with his other hugely successful TV sit-com The Phil Silvers Show, the same pattern played out on Car 54 over the course of 1962. Hiken wrote or is credited with coming up with the story for 28 of the 30 episodes for Season 1, during which the show rated #20 in the Nielsen charts. Even the two episodes for which he is not credited as writer bear his trademark penchant for oddball plot developments, and cast members such as Charlotte Rae later revealed in interviews that Hiken was very much a hands-on boss. In an interview with Robert Klein for the 2011 DVD release for Season 1, Rae recalled how Hiken took a break from writing in his office to come down to the set and give her detailed instructions during the episode "Toody and the Art World" (February 11, 1962) about how to organize and put away pieces of string, wrapping paper, and other detritus to demonstrate that her character Sylvia Schnauser never throws anything away. But beginning with Season 2, Hiken rarely appears in the writing credits--only 7 times in 30 episodes--and the quality of the material generally suffers as a result, with a few exceptions. The causes of this reduction of output, according to Rae and fellow cast member Hank Garrett in the Klein interview, were Hiken's stress level now that he had a hit on his hands and the frustration of working with Joe E. Ross, who was never prepared for filming, couldn't remember his lines, and felt he didn't need to since he was now a big TV star who was entitled to stay out late and get smashed regardless of how it affected his performance the next day.

Not that every Hiken-authored script is a masterpiece. The above-mentioned episode, "Toody and the Art World," is based on the by-then shopworn joke about modern art being incomprehensible and pretentious, though on Car 54 Hiken adds the twist that Toody appears to be the only one who understands and appreciates it. Though Garrett cites it as one of his favorite episodes, "Boom, Boom, Boom" (January 14, 1962) has a pretty simplistic premise in which comedian Jan Murray, playing himself, is driven crazy by the 53rd Precinct's barbershop quartet, which seems to follow him everywhere. And "What Happened to Thursday?" (February 18, 1962), which Klein seems to favor, borrows the plot from the 1944 Ingrid Bergman film Gaslight but turns it into a comedy in which Toody and Muldoon try to convince the Schnausers it is not Thursday because that is the day they always get into shouting arguments in their apartment that inevitably result in a call to the police. On another series, any of these episodes might be a highlight, but on Car 54 there are many superior episodes that make them seem dull by comparison.

For example, "Toody's Paradise" (January 28, 1962), while also germinated from a feature film, The Captain's Paradise, which Lucille Toody has just seen, spins it into a series of ever-escalating assumptions of marital infidelity that ensnares much of the 53rd Precinct. "How Smart Can You Get?" (February 25, 1962) presents a hilarious attempt by Toody to appear more intellectual because he is afraid Muldoon thinks he is a clod (which, of course, he is) after they are assigned a college-educated recruit who is able to discuss Voltaire and Leonard Bernstein with Muldoon, while Toody can only ramble on ad nauseum about which member of the New York Yankees is the most nonchalant, a topic that only Hiken could dream up. Toody's approach to increasing his intellect is to read the encyclopedia, starting at the beginning, so that the next day he tries clumsily to steer the conversation to the topic of aardvarks. And in "The Beast Who Walked the Bronx" (March 25, 1962) the entire precinct is scared into cleaning and filing like they never have before when Capt. Block goes on vacation and is temporarily replaced by Capt. Burkholtz, whom the rumor mill in the Records Department claims is a former Nazi general when in reality he was deemed too soft-hearted to lead a precinct full-time and was assigned years ago to man the Lost and Found Department, where he tends his pet fish and makes sure that everyone who shows up looking for something lost goes home with something, even if it isn't what they actually lost. The final episode of Season 1, "I Love Lucille" (April 22, 1962) is both a dig at I Love Lucy and at Joe E. Ross, whose penchant for strippers and what even Rae calls "bimbos" whom he would want to put on the payroll must have irked Hiken no end. In this episode Lucille decides to get a Marilyn Monroe-like makeover in order to attract Gunther's attention, since he spends an entire party they have just attended preoccupied with another officer's blonde niece. Of course, rather than solving her problem it only creates a new one because Gunther is so jealous of her being taken away from him that he forbids her from leaving the apartment or talking to anyone.

But the first half of Season 2, with only 1 script penned by Hiken, doesn't measure up, as many of the plots rehash earlier stories or themes or rely on celebrity cameos to garner attention. "Hail to the Chief" (September 16, 1962) uses stock footage of John F. Kennedy in an episode in which Toody and Muldoon are selected to drive him from the airport to a public speaking engagement, only they never pass muster when a Secret Service agent discovers that Muldoon gets car sick whenever the president's name is mentioned. "One Sleepy People" (September 23, 1962) is a thin slapstick affair premised on Muldoon and Lucille joking about being attracted to each other and then each being afraid that the other actually is, culminating with Dick Powell introducing an episode of his TV show with the identical plot. And "Toody and Muldoon Sing Along With Mitch" (October 14, 1962) features Mitch Miller judging a talent contest of city employees with the 53rd sending a--you guessed it--barbershop quartet with Muldoon and Toody, who can't sing but thinks someone else in the group is the one off key. This last episode, while starting off stale does improve toward the end in what must have been a Hiken addition in which Toody has a dream wherein he has his tonsils removed and becomes a magnificent singer performing in Pagliacci which drives Muldoon to suicide when he sees what an inferior singer he now is. The retreads continue with "Occupancy, August 1st" (October 21, 1962) wherein Molly Picon is brought back from Season 1 as Mrs. Rachel Bronson, who the boys have to persuade to move out of her longtime apartment in a 1961 episode, only now she has moved into her new apartment before the building is finished. And "Remember St. Petersburg" (October 28, 1962) recycles the scamming psychic trope already used in Season 1's "The Gypsy Curse."

Though Hiken is not credited as scriptwriter for "Toody Undercover" (November 11, 1962), the episode bears his usual trademark of Gunther Toody's blue-streak babbling, only this time he actually knows what he is talking about, reciting facts and figures about various businesses and banks on his beat which persuades a group of mobsters who just moved to town that he is a criminal mastermind. In a typical Hiken touch, Toody is actually much more competent as a crook than as a policeman, though he is able to get the mobsters to surrender to police as part of a harebrained scheme to break into Fort Knox by being incarcerated at Fort Leavenworth, a plot so absurd that the dim-witted mobsters assume it must be genius.

We also mentioned in our post on the 1961 episodes that despite Hiken's subversive subjects of bumbling cops, incompetent city bureaucrats, and pretentious artistes, his plots always end up where they started with the status quo in place. But they also reflect the Sisyphus-like futility of human endeavors, a la Scottish poet Robert Burns' famous line about the best laid plans of mice and men. The previously mentioned "What Happened to Thursday?" is one such episode: Toody and Muldoon try to break the cycle of the Schnausers getting into loud arguments every Thursday evening by convincing them that Thursday is Friday only to be foiled when Lucille Toody takes Sylvia Schnauser to a movie Thursday afternoon to take her mind off what day it is and the movie turns out to be Gaslight, convincing Sylvia that her husband's insistence that Thursday is actually Friday is a sinister plot like in the movie. "The Auction" (April 1, 1962) chronicles the officers of the 53rd's efforts to get Capt. Block something truly memorable for his 25th wedding anniversary. When they discover he is a collector of antiques and that his most prized possession is an Aleutian Ceremonial Chair for which he has never been able to acquire the matching chair to complete the set, they try to find and buy it, not realizing that he has decided to sell it to buy his wife the piano she has always wanted. Through a series of twists and turns, they actually succeed in getting his original chair back and the matching one he has always wanted, while his wife also gets her piano, but their success if due to pure dumb luck. In "A Man Is Not an Ox" (September 30, 1962), a researcher in the police medical department believes that Toody and Muldoon need to be split up because they have become like two people with a single brain, only pairing them with other officers creates more problems than it solves. This topic of splitting Toody and Muldoon is also broached in different settings in "The Sacrifice" (January 7, 1962) when Toody believes he is holding Muldoon back from seeking a promotion to sergeant out of loyalty to their 10-year partnership, so he provokes an argument to make Muldoon want to leave him. And in "How Smart Can You Get?" the inspector who runs the rookie training program believes Muldoon needs to be paired with someone of equal intellect, but when that happens Muldoon and his smart rookie get too engrossed in their intellectual discussions and completely ignore robberies and other crimes happening right in front of them. "Pretzel Mary" (December 2, 1962) shows Toody and Muldoon trying to help the titular character, a pretzel hawker, whom they assume is destitute, by getting her all new furniture for the dilapidated shack she lives in, not realizing that she is actually an eccentric millionaire who hides all her cash in her old furniture. In a nutshell, any attempt to do something nice for someone else usually results in more harm than good, suggesting that it is best to leave well enough alone. Unfortunately, the restless and stressed-out Nat Hiken could not follow his own advice and be content with having created one of the best sit-coms of his era.

The Actors

For the biographies of Joe E. Ross, Fred Gwynne, Beatrice Pons, Paul Reed, Al Lewis, Nipsey Russell, Hank Garrett, and Frederick O'Neal, see the 1961 post on Car 54, Where Are You?

Charlotte Rae

Born Charlotte Rae Lubotsky in Milwaukee on April 22, 1926, Rae was the daughter of a tire salesman, over whose shop the family lived for her first 10 years, while her mother was a childhood friend of future Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. When Rae was 10 the family moved to Sherwood, Wisconsin where Rae attended high school and performed in dramatic productions. She also performed with the Children's Theatre of Wauwatosa, the Port Players (a professional summer stock company), and on the radio. After completing high school she attended Northwestern University in Chicago where she became friends with fellow students Cloris Leachman and Paul Lynde. Initially intending to be a dramatic actress, Rae later credited Lynde with introducing her to comedy when he got her a role in a musical comedy during her sophomore year after she had just finished performing in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. She left Northwestern before graduating and moved to New York but at first wasn't sure how to break into show business until she saw Wally Cox and Alice Pierce performing satirical sketches in nightclubs, so she developed her own routine which eventually garnered the attention of theatrical producers and led to work on the stage. She made her television debut in 1951 playing Rapunzel on an episode of Once Upon a Tune. That same year she married composer John Strauss, who would go on to compose the theme for Car 54, Where Are You? and win a Grammy for his work on the soundtrack for Amadeus. The couple had two sons, Larry and Andrew, who was autistic, suffered from epilepsy, and died of a heart attack in his 40s in 1999. Though Rae and Strauss remained married for 25 years, they divorced in 1976 after he revealed to her that he was bisexual and had had affairs behind her back. She made her Broadway debut in 1952 in Three Wishes for Jamie and played the role of Mrs. Peachum in the 1954 revival of The Threepenny Opera as well as originating the role of Mammy Yokum in Li'l Abner in 1956. Meanwhile, she continued appearing on TV anthology programs before coming to the attention of Nat Hiken when she was cast in a guest role in a 1955 episode of The Phil Silvers Show. That year she recorded her one and only LP, Songs I Taught My Mother. She was brought back for a second episode of The Phil Silvers Show in 1958, around the same time she met and impressed Norman Lear when both worked on The Colgate Comedy Hour. In 1961 she was cast as Hilda Furman in the daytime soap opera From These Roots, which starred Audra Lindley and future Soap star John Mandan. That same year she made her first appearance on Car 54, Where Are You? playing a bank teller in "Get Well, Officer Schnauser." Hiken obviously liked what he saw because beginning in 1962 she was cast in the recurring role of Schnauser's wife Sylvia, a role she would play 10 times, including several in which she was the main focus of the episode, such as "What Happened to Thursday?" (February 18, 1962), "The Courtship of Sylvia Schnauser" (March 25, 1962), and "A Star Is Born in the Bronx" (November 25, 1962).

After Car 54 ended in 1963, Rae found occasional television work on anthologies and The Defenders but had greater success on the stage, where she received Tony nominations for her supporting role in Pickwick in 1966 and her leading role in Morning, Noon and Night in which she played three different roles in 1969. That same year she broke into feature films with a supporting role in the Tony Randall comedy Hello Down There. That led to a string of additional feature films in the early 1970s, most notably playing Woody Allen's mother in 1971's Bananas. That year also marked the first of 14 appearances as Molly the Mail Lady on Sesame Street, which would run through 1972. More TV guest spots followed in 1972 including two as Aunt Charlotte on old friend Paul Lynde's The Paul Lynde Show. Her next big break came when she was reunited with Lear on a 1974 episode of All in the Family. Lear would then cast her as one of the principals in his 1975 sit-com Hot L Baltimore playing the erratic Mrs. Bellotti. That year she also reunited with old friend Leachman by appearing as a guest on an episode of Phyllis. In 1978 Rae was used as the bait by NBC president Fred Silverman to get Lear to produce a new sit-com, Diff'rent Strokes, by casting her as housekeeper Edna Garrett. As her character became more popular with viewers, she proposed a spinoff in which Garrett leaves the Drummond household to become housemother at a private girls' school, and thus The Facts of Life was born and Rae became a leading TV star, garnering an Emmy nomination in 1982. However, after 7 years of hit ratings, Rae felt her character had run its course and the girl characters she was mentoring were less in need of her guidance, so Garrett was married off and moved to Africa to join the Peace Corps with her new husband (played by Robert Mandan) at the beginning of Season 8, her spot in the cast to be filled by Leachman, playing Garrett's sister Beverly Ann Stickle. Rae still took occasional TV guest spots on programs such as St. Elsewhere, Murder, She Wrote, and 227, but she also embarked on a new career in voicework for animated productions, such as the feature film Tom and Jerry: The Movie and TV series The Itsy Bitsy Spider, 101 Dalmatians: The Series, and The Brothers Flub. She also returned to the stage in 1989, playing the lead role in a Chicago production of Driving Miss Daisy and a Los Angeles production of Into the Woods. She appeared three times as Mrs. Gump on Sisters in 1994-95 and four times as Roxanne Gaines on ER in 2008 as well as appearing in feature films as Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess With the Zohan, Jim Gaffigan's Love Sick Love, and Meryl Streep's Ricki and the Flash, her last film role in 2015. Rae's family had a history of pancreatic cancer, as her mother, sister, and uncle all died from the disease. Rae was diagnosed with it in 2009, but after six months of chemotherapy announced she was cancer free. However, in 2017 she was diagnosed with bone cancer at age 91, at which time she pondered whether to seek treatment or, in her words, just live life. She died on August 5, 2018 at the age of 92.

 

Bruce Kirby

Bruno Giovanni Quidaciolu was born in New York City on April 28, 1985, and is probably best known as the father of his actor son Bruno Kirby, who died of leukemia at the age of 57 in 2006. The elder Kirby studied under Lee Strasburg at the Actors Studio on a scholarship for 9 years, according to his son and acting teacher John Kirby, after being inspired to pursue acting by Frank Sinatra's performance at the Paramount Theater in New York. Taking acting lessons by day, Kirby worked evenings at the Bon Soi Night Club as a utility man between headliners such as Kaye Ballard and Alice Ghostley. He also MC'd, sang, and waited on tables, earning the nickname "The Singing Waiter." He was then lured by impresario Julius Monk to perform at his Plaza 9 Room at the Plaza Hotel as head Maitre'D and doorman. He broke into television on a 1955 episode of the drama anthology series Goodyear Playhouse and the following year made the first of two appearances on Nat Hiken's The Phil Silvers Show. John Kirby also recalled at the time of his father's death that the elder Kirby would bring the whole family along when he worked in summer stock productions of theatrical pieces such as Bye Bye Birdie with Van Johnson and Gypsy with Jane Morgan. When Hiken was casting for Car 54, Where Are You? he found a small supporting role for Kirby as Officer Kissell, appearing 7 times in that role after two earlier appearances in other roles in Season 1.

But Kirby's career was just starting to get rolling, as he would log over 100 more film credits over the next 45 years, beginning with bit parts on The Defenders, The Patty Duke Show, and I Dream of Jeannie. In 1965 he appeared on Broadway in Diamond Orchid and would return 19 years later after Arthur Miller saw him in a Los Angeles production of A View From the Bridge and cast him as Uncle Ben in the 1984 production of Death of a Salesman starring Dustin Hoffman. Meantime, Kirby appeared three times as Bill Trumbull on The Mothers-in-Law starring his old headlining friend Kaye Ballard in 1968. He broke into feature films playing an unnamed doctor in 1970's Catch-22 and a year later got his first named feature role in Don Knotts' How to Frame a Figg. But the bulk of his work during this era was one-off guest spots on series such as Hogan's Heroes, Bonanza, and Room 222. Beginning in 1973 he made 6 appearances as Sgt. Al Vine on Kojak which was followed by the recurring role of Capt. Harry Sedford on the cop comedy Holmes and Yoyo. In 1974 he made the first of 6 appearances as gullible Sgt. George Kramer on Columbo, and in yet more cop roles played Det. George Schmidt 9 times on Shannon in 1981-82 and Chief Edward Stanmore on Hunter in 1987-88. In feature film work, he played Arthur Godfrey against Jessica Lange's Patsy Cline in 1985's Sweet Dreams and then had one of his more memorable features roles as Mr. Quidaciolou in Stand By Me the next year. His next recurring TV role was playing D.A. Bruce Rogoff on L.A. Law in 13 episodes between 1986 and 1991. He even played a few different roles on Days of Our Lives between 1995 and 2000. As son John Kirby said posthumously, he was always working. After appearing on The Sopranos and in the Oscar-winning feature Crash in 2004, Kirby squeezed in a few more credits before finally retiring from acting in 2009. He died on January 24 of this year, 2021, of undisclosed causes at the age of 95.

Mel Stewart

Born in Cleveland on September 19, 1929, Milton Stewart (credited throughout his acting career as Mel or Melvin Stewart) began his acting career as a teenager with a neighborhood theater group in his hometown. He later moved to New York not only to pursue an acting career but also one in music. He was an accomplished saxophonist who at various times played with such icons as Charlie Parker and John Coltrane during his New York years. He made his Broadway debut in a 1957 production of Langston Hughes' Simply Heavenly, and that same year narrated the poem "Scenes in the City" by Hughes and Lonne Elder for Charles Mingus' LP A Modern Jazz Symposium of Poetry and Music. His first film role was an uncredited one in John Cassavetes' feature Shadows in 1958, and he had another uncredited spot the following year in Odds Against Tomorrow. In 1960 he was in the Broadway production of The Cool World and had a small, unnamed part as a con man when the show was made into a feature film in 1963. In 1961 he recorded an album of selections from Hughes' play for Smithsonian Folkways titled The Best of Simple, the same year he made the first of 7 appearances as Officer Julie Garfield, the 53rd Precinct dispatcher on Car 54, Where Are You?

After Car 54, Stewart continued appearing in Broadway productions such as The Counting House and My Mother, My Father and Me as well as New York-based TV shows such as Naked City and The Defenders and feature films like Greenwich Village Story. In the latter 1960s he relocated to San Francisco and joined the ensemble The Committee, which appeared on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour 5 times in 1968-69. The move to California also opened up opportunities in Hollywood-based television such as Julia, That Girl, and The Bold Ones and feature films like The Landlord, Cry Uncle, and Trick Baby. His next recurring role was as Henry Jefferson on All in the Family, providing a Black counterpart to Carroll O'Connor's Archie Bunker, which was followed by a regular role as Sgt. B.J. Bryant on the short-lived World War II comedy Roll Out in 1973-74. Besides occasional guest star roles on series such as Harry O, Marcus Welby, M.D., and The Rockford Files in the mid-1970s, Stewart landed another regular role as Mr. Gibson in the prison-based TV comedy On the Rocks in 1975-76. This was followed by a regular role as Marvin Decker on the Bewitched sequel Tabitha in 1977-78. In 1980 he scored another regular role in another single-season sit-com One in a Million starring Shirley Hemphill. The next few years included a string of TV movies and TV guest spots before Stewart landed his longest-running regular role as section chief Billy Melrose on The Scarecrow and Mrs. King, which ran from 1983-87. Stewart continued to find regular if not prolific work on TV and in feature films through the remainder of the late 1980s and early 1990s, appearing on Matlock, Heartland, and In the Heat of the Night in addition to movies such as Dead Heat, Bride of Re-Animator, and his last credit Made in America starring Whoopi Goldberg. But the multi-talented Stewart was even busier off-screen, founding the Bay Are black theater group Black Actors Now Through Unity, teaching acting at San Francisco State University (Danny Glover was a student), and achieving a 3rd-level black belt in aikido and opening a martial arts school for inner city youth. Eventually he moved from San Francisco to Pacifica because of allergies, and in 1996 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's from which he died at the age of 72 on February 24, 2002.

Jack Healy

As we noted in our post on the 1961 episodes for Car 54, Where Are You?, show creator Nat Hiken had an affinity for rough-hewn faces from other walks of life, and Jack Healy was just such a character. Never really trained as an actor, he was once boxer Rocky Graziano's manager, which is probably where Hiken met him since Hiken had cast Graziano in a regular role on The Martha Raye Show. Born in 1904, Healy had no real acting career other than a couple of uncredited appearances on The Jackie Gleason Show and in the feature film I Am a Camera before Hiken cast him as Pvt. Chet Mullen on The Phil Silvers Show in 1955. He appeared in 134 episodes through 1959, then had another uncredited part as a hotel proprietor in the feature The Hustler in 1961 before Hiken tapped him again to play Officer Rodriguez on Car 54, Where Are You? That was the extent of his acting career, and as for other aspects of his life, even his obituary in the New York Daily News had nothing to add other than he died on July 14, 1972 at the age of 68.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 1, Episode 16, "The Sacrifice": Nancy Donohue (Nancy Bennet on The Doctors) plays Muldoon's sister Cathy. Philip Bruns (shown on the left, played George Shumway on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and Dr. Porchenko on General Hospital) plays her psychology instructor Mr. Benedict.

Season 1, Episode 17, "Boom, Boom, Boom": Jan Murray (shown on the right, stand-up comedian who hosted Songs for Sale, Sing It Again, All Star Summer Revue, Jan Murray Time, Dollar a Second, Charge Account, and Chain Letter)plays himself. Gerald Hiken (cousin of Nat Hiken, appeared in Uncle Vanya, The Goddess, Invitation to a Gunfighter, and Reds) plays butcher Mr. Katz. Leon Janney (Ed Gorten on Hawk and Clayton Pike on The Edge of Night) plays psychiatrist Dr. Strum. Toni Darnay (Franny Brennan on As the World Turns and Vivian Hendryx on The Doctors) plays a hospital nurse.

Season 1, Episode 18, "Toody & Muldoon Crack Down": Gilbert Mack (the voice of Johnny Jupiter, B-12, and Major Domo on Johnny Jupiter and Dick Strong on Gigantor) plays fruit seller Callucci. Gerald Hiken (see "Boom, Boom, Boom" above) returns as Katz the butcher. Heywood Hale Broun (Cappy Randall on The Doctors) plays a police researcher. Jake LaMotta (shown on the near left, legendary middleweight boxer who was the subject of Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull, appeared in The Hustler, The Runaways, and Mob War) plays a seaman on the docks.

Season 1, Episode 19, "Toody's Paradise": Will Hussung (Henry Anderson on The Doctors and Mr. Keyes on The Edge of Night) plays special assignment chief Inspector Kleinmetz. Elisabeth Fraser (appeared in The Man Who Came to Dinner, Dear Wife, Young at Heart, Two for the See Saw, and The Glass Bottom Boat and played MSgt. Joan Hogan on The Phil Silvers Show, Mildred Hogan on One Happy Family, and Miss Warner on McKeever & the Colonel) plays Toody's undercover partner Officer O'Brien. Paul O'Keefe (shown on the right, played Dr. Dan Stewart and Tom Hughes on As the World Turns and Ross Lane on The Patty Duke Show) plays their undercover son. Florence Anglin (Felicia on One Life to Live) plays Toody's former classmate Bertha Krantz. Martha Greenhouse (appeared in Up the Down Staircase, Bananas, and The Stepford Wives) plays Lucille's sister Rose Henderson.

Season 1, Episode 20, "How High Is Up?": Sorrell Booke (D.A. Ira Newton on The Guiding Light and Boss Hogg on The Dukes of Hazzard) plays new Police Commissioner Harper. Alice Beardsley (played the switchboard operator on The Edge of Night and Rose Honnicutt on Search for Tomorrow) plays his wife Gloria. Shari Lewis (shown on the left, Emmy-winning ventriloquist who voiced the characters Lamb Chop, Hush Puppy, and Charlie Horse and hosted Kartoon Klub, Shariland, The Shari Lewis Show, and The Shari Show) plays Muldoon's date Melinda Walsh.

Season 1, Episode 21, "Toody and the Art World": Seven Darden (shown on the right, appeared in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round, The President's Analyst, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, and Battle for the Planet of the Apes and played Dr. Noah Wolf on Take Five) plays abstract artist Karpathia. Shepperd Strudwick (starred in The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe, All the King's Men, and A Place in the Sun and played Victor Dalby Lord on One Life to Live) plays gallery owner Gordon Pennington.

Season 1, Episode 22, "What Happened to Thursday?": Jim Boles (shown on the middle left, appeared in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, The Trouble With Angels, Angel in My Pocket, The Love God?, and The Apple Dumpling Gang and  played Joe on One Man's Family) plays a Schnauser neighbor. Athena Lorde (shown on the far left, wife of Jim Boles, appeared in Angel in My Pocket, How to Frame a Figg, Skin Game, and Fuzz, and played Judith Richardson on One Man's Family and Betty Matthews on The Greatest Gift) plays another neighbor. Martha Greenhouse (see "Toody's Paradise" above) returns as Rose Henderson.

Season 1, Episode 23, "How Smart Can You Get?": Nicholas Saunders (shown on the right, played Sgt. Ross on Martin Kane, Capt. Barker on The Phil Silvers Show, and Chief Bradley on All My Children) plays rookie police officer trainer Lt. Cushman. Gerald Hiken (see "Boom, Boom, Boom" above) returns as Katz the butcher. Richard Roat (Dr. Jerry Chandler on The Doctors, Leonard Cooper on Generations, and Prof. Henry Moore on Days of Our Lives) plays Officer Garfield.

Season 1, Episode 24, "Today I Am a Man": Nicholas Colasanto (shown on the left, appeared in Fat City, Family Plot, and Raging Bull and played Ernie "Coach" Pantusso on Cheers) plays Muldoon's friend in the Army Marty. Bob Hastings (Lt. Elroy Carpenter on McHale's Navy, Tommy Kelsey on All in the Family, and Capt. Burt Ramsey on General Hospital) plays police Officer Sanders. Howard Freeman (appeared in Girl Crazy, The Blue Dahlia, The Snake Pit, and Million Dollar Mermaid) plays nightclub patron Mr. Parker. Ruth White (appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird, Hang 'Em High, Charly, Midnight Cowboy, and The Reivers and played Bessie Bookbinder on The Magic Cottage) plays his wife.

Season 1, Episode 25, "No More Pickpockets": Wally Cox (shown on the right, appeared in State Fair, Fate Is the Hunter, The Boatniks, and The Barefoot Executive, played Robinson J. Peepers on Mister Peepers and Hiram Holliday on The Adventures of Hiram Holliday, and voiced Underdog on Underdog) plays pickpocket Benny Featherton. Dana Elcar (appeared in Fail Safe, The Boston Strangler, The Maltese Bippy, and The Nude Bomb and played D.A. Andrew Murray on The Edge of Night, Dr. Zack Fuller on The Doctors and the Nurses, Sheriff George Patterson on Dark Shadows, Lt. Shiller on Baretta, Col. Thomas A. Lard on Black Sheep Squadron, and Peter Thornton on MacGyver) plays the police van officer. Billy Sands (Pvt. Dino Papparelli on The Phil Silvers Show, Harrison "Tinker" Bell on McHale's Navy, Monte "Bang Bang" Valentine on Big Eddie, and Harry on Webster) plays a hot dog vendor.

Season 1, Episode 26, "The Beast Who Walked the Bronx": Howard Freeman (shown on the left, see "Today I Am a Man" above) plays soft-hearted police Capt. Burkholtz. Heywood Hale Broun (see "Toody & Muldoon Crack Down" above) plays his assistant Simpson. Maurice Brenner (Pvt. Irving Fleischman on The Phil Silvers Show) plays Officer Kramer in the Records Department. Eugene Roche (appeared in Cotton Comes to Harlem, Corvette Summer, Foul Play, and Oh God! You Devil and played Frank Flynn on The Corner Bar, Jimmy Hughes on Good Time Harry, E. Ronald Mallou on Soap, Bill Parker on Webster, Luther H. Gillis on Magnum, P.I., Pat Callahan on Lenny, I.F. Woolstein on Julie, and Eric, Jr. on Dave's World) plays a Record Department officer.

Season 1, Episode 27 "The Courtship of Sylvia Schnauser": John Gibson (Ethelbert on Crime Photographer, the chaplain on The Phil Silvers Show, and Joe Pollock on The Edge of Night) plays marriage officiate Judge Collins. Billie Allen (WAC Billie on The Phil Silvers Show and Ada Chandler on The Edge of Night) plays Mrs. Dave Anderson.

Season 1, Episode 28, "The Auction": Paul Lipson (shown on the right, played Patsy the Bookie on The Phil Silvers Show) plays auctioneer Pete.

Season 1, Episode 29, "Quiet! We're Thinking": Frank Campanella (shown on the left, appeared in The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, Heaven Can Wait (1978), The Flamingo Kid, and Dick Tracy and played Mook the Moon Man on Captain Video and His Video Rangers and Paczka on Skag) plays police special assignment Lt. L. Kogan. Paul O'Keefe (see "Toody's Paradise" above) plays the Toodys' nephew Marvin. Carl Ballantine (Lester Gruber on McHale's Navy and Max Kellerman on One in a Million) plays the Toodys' brother-in-law Al Henderson. Martha Greenhouse (see "Toody's Paradise" above) returns as Rose Henderson.

Season 1, Episode 30, "I Love Lucille": Phil Leeds (appeared in Rosemary's Baby, Don't Drink the Water, and Beaches and played The Kid on Double Rush, Uncle Mel on Everybody Loves Raymond, and Judge Dennis "Happy" Boyle on Ally McBeal) plays beautician Julius. Erik Rhodes (shown on the right, appeared in The Gay Divorcee, Charlie Chan in Paris, A Night at the Ritz, Top Hat, and Mysterious Mr. Moto) plays movie producer J.J. Jones.

Season 2, Episode 1, "Hail to the Chief": Simon Oakland (shown on the left, starred in Psycho, West Side Story, and Follow That Dream and played Inspector Spooner on Toma, Tony Vincenzo on Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Brig. Gen. Thomas Moore on Black Sheep Squadron, and Sgt. Abrams on David Cassidy - Man Undercover) plays Secret Service Agent Cordner. Billy Sands (see "No More Pickpockets" above) plays Quackenbush, a man arrested for insisting he can fly with a rig made up with window shutters for wings.

Season 2, Episode 2, "One Sleepy People": Dick Powell (shown on the right, starred in Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, Going Places, Hollywood Hotel, Murder, My Sweet, and The Bad and the Beautiful and hosted Zane Grey Theatre and The Dick Powell Theatre) plays himself. Marie Wallace (Megan Todd on Dark Shadows, India Bishop Delaney on Another World, Johnsie Lafite on Guiding Light, and Molly O'Day on One Life to Live) plays Nicholson's date Sheila. Patrick Horgan (Gilles Cobham on The Gentle Falcon, Dr. John Morrison on The Doctors, and Thatcher Ross on Ryan's Hope) plays TV movie character Ashley. Patricia Cutts (appeared in Wishing Well, The Man Who Loved Redheads, and The Tingler and played Charlotte Dean on Spyder's Web) plays TV movie character Pamela.

Season 2, Episode 3, "A Man Is Not an Ox": Ned Wertimer (shown on the left, appeared in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Mame, and The Strongest Man in the World and played Ralph Hart on The Jeffersons) plays police medical researcher Dr. Meisner. Mickey Deems (Mack on Mack and Myer for Hire and Nails on Hizzonner) plays Officer Charlie Fleischer.

Season 2, Episode 4, "Schnauser's Last Ride": Dort Clark (shown on the right, appeared in Bells Are Ringing, The Loved One, and Skin Game and played Sgt. Klauber on Mickey) plays a craps game organizer. Mickey Deems (see "A Man Is Not an Ox" above) returns as Officer Charlie Fleischer.

Season 2, Episode 5, "Toody & Muldoon Sing Along With Mitch": Mitch Miller (shown on the left, A&R director for Columbia Records and host of Sing Along With Mitch) plays himself. George S. Irving (Charles Sweetzer on The Dumplings and Forrest Turner on Ryan's Hope, was the narrator on Underdog, and voiced Running Board on Go Go Gophers) plays Toody's Uncle Igor. Mickey Deems (see "A Man Is Not an Ox" above) returns as Officer Charlie Fleischer.

Season 2, Episode 6, "Occupancy, August 1st": Molly Picon (shown on the far right, legendary Yiddish actress, appeared in Come Blow Your Horn, Fiddler on the Roof, The Cannonball Run, and Cannonball Run II) plays stubborn apartment building tenant Mrs. Rachel Bronson. Charles Nelson Reilly (shown on the near right, played Claymore Gregg on The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Horatio J. Hoodoo on Lidsville, Randy Robinson on Arnie, and Uncle Croc on Uncle Croc's Block, was a frequent performer on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, and voiced Disembodied Omnipotent Ruler of Cats on Spacecats and Killer on All Dogs Go to Heaven: the Series) plays architect Hilton Hartford Harlow. Dana Elcar (see "No More Pickpockets" above) plays construction boss Gunderson. Michael Conrad (Lt. Macavan on Delvecchio and Sgt. Phil Esterhaus on Hill Street Blues) plays construction worker Kadowski. John Alexander (appeared in Arsenic and Old Lace, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and Winchester '73) plays the building commissioner. Heywood Hale Broun (see "Toody & Muldoon Crack Down" above) plays Health Inspector Herbert Willoughby.

Season 2, Episode 7, "Remember St. Petersburg": Fay DeWitt (shown on the left, appeared in I'll Take Sweden, The Shakiest Gun in the West, How to Frame a Figg, and Harper Valley P.T.A. and played Shirley on Good Samaritans) plays fraudulent fortune teller Madame Sonya. Paul Lipson (see "The Auction" above) plays her boss. Larry Storch (appeared in Bus Riley's Back in Town, The Great Race, Airport 1975, and S.O.B., played Cpl. Randolph Agarn on F Troop, Charles Duffy on The Queen and I, Duke Farentino on The Doris Day Show, and Spencer on The Ghost Busters, and voiced Koko the Clown in dozens of TV shorts as well as Out of the Inkwell, Phineas J. Whoopee on Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales, The Joker on The Batman/Superman Hour, Drac, Ratso, and Ghoulihand on Groovie Goolies, Drac Ratso, and Hagatha on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Marlon, Chuck White, Fleetwood, and others on The Brady Kids) plays co-conspirator Pinky. Maurice Brenner (see "The Beast Who Walked the Bronx" above) plays defrauded customer Alvin Brooks. Don Keefer (starred in Death of a Salesman, Hellcats of the Navy, and Sleeper and played George on Angel) plays police psychiatrist Dr. Mitchell.

Season 2, Episode 8, "That's Show Business": House Jameson (host of Inner Sanctum and played Sam Aldrich on The Aldrich Family, Dr. Bert Gregory on Another World, and Nathan Bunker on The Doctors) plays railroad mogul Mr. Van Wyck. Larry Storch (shown on the right, see "Remember St. Petersburg" above) plays recurrent drunk Charlie. Ben Hayes (Don Weldon on Our Five Daughters, Davey Hansen on The Edge of Night, and Dr. Joseph Werner on Guiding Light) plays an actor in a play with Muldoon's sister. David Hurst (appeared in The Maltese Bippy, Hello, Dolly!, and Kelly's Heroes and played Dr. Lanz on The Doctors) plays playwright Robin Stuart.

Season 2, Episode 9, "Toody Undercover": Bruce Gordon (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Untouchables) plays mobster boss Biggy Bigelow. George Mathews (appeared in Pat and Mike, The Man With the Golden Arm, and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and played Chick Rogers on Glynis) plays his lieutenant Patsy Peru. Barnard Hughes (appeared in Hamlet, Midnight Cowboy, TRON, and The Lost Boys and played Dr. Bruce Banning on Guiding Light, Wilfred Hollister on The Secret Storm, Mr. Barton on As the World Turns, Dr. Joe Bogert on Doc, Max Merlin on Mr. Merlin, Francis Cavanaugh on The Cavanaughs, and Buzz Richman on Blossom) plays police sting coordinator Inspector Henderson. Al Nesor (appeared in Li'l Abner, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, and Andy) plays mobster Teddy Moran. Barney Martin (shown on the left, appeared in The Producers, Charly, and Deadly Weapon and played Jack Terwilliger on The Tony Randall Show, Napa and Sonoma on Zorro and Son, Ray on Sydney, Stan Baker on Life Goes On, Pete Peters on Daddy Dearest, and Morty Seinfeld on Seinfeld) plays out-of-town mob boss Fats Borderman.

Season 2, Episode 10, "I Hate Captain Block": Patricia Bright (shown on the right, played Pat Murphy on It's Always Jan and Edith Berman on The Edge of Night) plays Capt. Block's wife Claire. Heywood Hale Broun (see "Toody & Muldoon Crack Down" above) plays parrot owner Thompson. James Karen (appeared in Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster, Hercules in New York, The China Syndrome, and Poltergeist and played Dr. Burke on As the World Turns, Major Wymore on The Powers of Matthew Star, Justice Michael Bancroft on First Monday, and Patrick Kirkland on Ned and Stacey) plays a new bird owner.

Season 2, Episode 11, "A Star Is Born in the Bronx": Kenny Delmar (shown on the left, announcer on radio for The Fred Allen Show, starred in It's a Joke, Son! playing Senator Beauregard Claghorn, the inspiration for cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn, and voiced The Hunter and was the narrator on King Leonardo and His Short Subjects, voiced Yakety Yak and Commander McBragg and was the narrator on Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales, was the narrator on The Beagles, and voiced Col. Kit Coyote on Go Go Gophers) plays cookie mogul Colonel Culpepper. David Doyle (Ted Atwater on The New Dick Van Dyke Show, Walter Fitzgerald on Bridget Love Bernie, John Bosley on Charlie's Angels, Frank Macklin on Sweet Surrender, and was the voice of Grandpa Lou Pickles on Rugrats) plays advertising executive Dutton. John Gibson (see "The Courtship of Sylvia Schnauser" above) plays his Vice President Babcock. Sammy Smith (Sammy on The Patty Duke Show) plays grocer Sam. Lu Leonard (Gertrude Reilly on Jake and the Fatman) plays one of his customers.

Season 2, Episode 12, "Pretzel Mary": Larry Storch (see "Remember St. Petersburg" above) returns as Charlie the drunk. Jane Rose (shown on the right, appeared in Summertime, Flipper, and I Walk the Line and played Sarah Dale on Love of Life, Becky Winkle on Somerset, Audrey Dexter on Phyllis, and Mrs. Selby on Co-ed Fever) plays a mother pushing a stroller in the park. Bernie Allen (comedian who at various times partnered with Steve Rossi and Redd Foxx, appeared in The Producers and Raging Bull) plays a man walking in the park. Teddy Hart (appeared in Three Men on a Horse, After the Thin Man, Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm, and Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation) plays junk dealer Mr. Connor. Paul Lipson (see "The Auction" above) plays junk dealer Pig. Mel Ruick (Dr. Barton Crane on City Hospital) plays Pretzel Mary's accountant Maxwell.

Season 2, Episode 13, "142 Tickets on the Aisle": Betty Garde (appeared in The Lady Lies, Call Northside 777, Cry of the City, Caged, and One Desire and played Mattie Lane on The Edge of Night and Miss Tyler on As the World Turns) plays actor Clarissa Hawthorne. Janis Hansen (shown on the left, played Sally on The Rounders and Gloria Unger on The Odd Couple) plays the actor playing Johnny Scout. Eugene Troobnick (Stavros Kouperakis on Guiding Light) plays the ticket seller for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Joe Silver (appeared in Shivers, You Light Up My Life, and Deathtrap and played Max Spier on Coronet Blue, Jack Stewart on Fay, and Elliott Silverstein on Ryan's Hope) plays a newsstand customer.

Season 2, Episode 14, "Stop Thief": Roger C. Carmel (shown on the right, played Roger Buell on The Mothers-in-Law) plays TV director Cochran. Dan Frazer (Capt. Frank McNeil on Kojak and Lt. McCloskey on As the World Turns) plays his assistant director. Alan Manson (appeared in The Rain People, Bang the Drum Slowly, and Cafe Society (1995), and played Ken Emerson on The Edge of Night) plays actor Blakely. Patricia Bright (see "I Hate Captain Block" above) returns as Capt. Block's wife Claire. Ossie Davis (appeared in No Way Out, The Cardinal, The Hill, Do the Right Thing, and Bubba Ho-Tep and played Oz Jackson on B.L. Stryker, Ponder Blue on Evening Shade, Judge Harry Roosevelt on The Client, and Erasmus Jones on Promised Land and Touched by an Angel) plays police Officer Omar Anderson.

Season 2, Episode 15, "Je T'Adore Muldoon": Katherine Helmond (shown on the near left, appeared in The Hospital, Family Plot, Time Bandits, and Brazil and played Jessica Tate on Soap, Mona Robinson on Who's the Boss?, Doris Sherman on Coach, and Lois Whelan on Everybody Loves Raymond) plays Block's wife's niece Betty Lou Creco. Jean Stapleton (starred in Damn Yankees, Bells Are Ringing, and Up the Down Staircase and played Edith Bunker on All in the Family and Archie Bunker's Place and Jasmine Sweibel on Bagdad Cafe) plays Mrs. Muldoon's friend Mrs. Duggan. Lainie Kazan (starred in Lady in Cement, One From the Heart, My Favorite Year, Beaches, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding and played Rita on Tough Cookies, Claire Steiner on Karen's Song, Maria Portokalos on My Big Fat Greek Life, and Maxine Rosen on Desperate Housewives) plays a brunette Muldoon flirts with at a nightclub bar.