Big John, Little John

Big John, Little John is an American Saturday-morning sitcom, produced by Sherwood Schwartz, which starred Herbert Edelman as "Big John" and Robert "Robbie" Rist as "Little John". The show first aired on September 11, 1976, on NBC, and ran for one season of 13 episodes.^[1] The series was produced by Redwood Productions in association with D'Angelo-Bullock-Allen Productions. In the United Kingdom, it was shown on BBC1.

Big John, Little John
Big John (Herb Edelman), from the opening credits
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Sherwood Schwartz
Starring	Herb Edelman Robbie Rist Joyce Bulifant
Theme music composer	Richard LaSalle
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producers	Raymond S. "Ray" "R. S." Allen William P. D'Angelo Harvey Bullock Sherwood Schwartz
Producer	Lloyd J. Schwartz
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production companies	D'Angelo-Bullock-Allen Productions Redwood Productions
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 11 (1976-09-11) – December 4, 1976 (1976-12-04)

Plot summary

Little John (Robbie Rist), as seen in the opening credits.

The show's main character was a forty-year-old middle school science teacher named John Martin (played by Edelman). While vacationing in Florida, he drinks from a spring which turns out to be the legendary Fountain of Youth sought by Juan Ponce de León. The water changes him into a twelve-year-old boy (played by Rist), and back again.

The changes occur spontaneously and without warning. Because Martin only sipped the water, the changes are recurring and not permanent; according to legend, had he taken a full drink, he would be age twelve permanently. Only his wife, Marjorie (Joyce Bulifant), and son, Ricky (Mike Darnell), know his secret, though Martin's students (who befriend him as "Little John") and his boss, principal Bertha Bottomly (Olive Dunbar), do become suspicious that something unusual is going on. The Martin family explain the younger John as their nephew, staying with them. Throughout the series, "Big John" unsuccessfully tries to find a cure for his predicament, but his experiences as "Little John" often give him insight into what his students are facing.

To make the two actors resemble each other more closely, Rist's blond hair was dyed brown, while Edelman wore a hairpiece that partially covered his baldness, though was absent during the credits sequences. Edelman and Rist appeared together in 1977, on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon.

Cast

• Herb Edelman - Big John Martin
• Robbie Rist - Little John Martin
• Joyce Bulifant - Marjorie Martin
• Mike Darnell - Ricky Martin
• Olive Dunbar - Bertha Bottomly
• Kristoff St. John - Homer
• Cari Anne Warder - Valerie
• Stephen H. Cassidy - Stanley

Rist had previously worked on Schwartz's The Brady Bunch during its final season (1973–1974), as the Bradys' cousin, Oliver.

Episodes

Nº	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	"A Sizeable Problem"	Gordon Wiles	Lloyd J. Schwartz, Sherwood Schwartz	September 11, 1976 (1976-09-11)
While on a trip to Florida, John Martin stumbles upon the legendary fountain of youth. Willing to test the waters, John sips a handful of the liquid. The consequences are unforeseeable, for he begins to revert to his childhood on certain times that are neither predictable nor controllable, causing many problematic situations for John and his family.
2	"Peter Panic"	Gordon Wiles	Philip Taylor	September 18, 1976 (1976-09-18)
Big John is cast as Captain Hook in his school's production of Peter Pan, while Little John ends up having to play Peter Pan at the same time.
3	"Very Little John"	Wes Kenney	Bruce Kalish, Ron Sellz	September 25, 1976 (1976-09-25)
John tries a new formula in the laboratory that he hopes will cure him from his conversions.
4	"The Great Escape"	Gordon Wiles	William Freedman, Albert A. Schwartz	October 2, 1976 (1976-10-02)
John Martin is detained when a sheriff demands his ID and he cannot produce it. He gets his freedom when his personality changes in prison.
5	"Big Scare, Little Scare"	Gordon Wiles	Ron Friedman	October 9, 1976 (1976-10-09)
John has summoned Mr. Boswell, Stanley’s dad, to account for his son’s continuous tardiness to class for five days. Boswell explains that the boy is afraid of crossing in front of the Crabtree mansion, an abandoned house that neighbors believe it to be haunted. John decides to find out who’s behind the Crabtree ghost. Guest stars: Don "Red" Barry (Mr. Crabtree), James Deuter (Mr. Boswell)
6	"Big Shot / Little Shot"	Ross Bowman	Alan Dinehart, Herbert Finn	October 16, 1976 (1976-10-16)
It is vaccination day at the school and John turns into a man and he gets vaccinated. Meanwhile, as the kid, he's invited to join the school basketball team. Then at the end of the episode, he becomes the kid again and the other teachers take him to get vaccinated again, much to his chagrin.
7	"Time for Change"	Gordon Wiles	Lloyd J. Schwartz	October 23, 1976 (1976-10-23)
John believes he has discovered the secret of the Fountain of Youth, so he calls a press conference to announce his discovery — but his "discovery" shows no signs of panning out as he had believed.
8	"The Principal Who Came to Dinner"	Wes Kenney	Mark Fink	October 30, 1976 (1976-10-30)
Big John's voice in Little John's body and vice versa puts not only Martin in a squeeze but his family as well.
9	"Bully for You"	Gordon Wiles	Sam Locke, Paul Roberts	November 6, 1976 (1976-11-06)
Stanley is again late for the class. The teacher is speaking to his students about the importance of facing up bullies. This leads to trouble for Little John when he's threatened by the class bully, Gasey.
10	"Off the Wall"	Gordon Wiles	Ben Gershman, Harry Winkler	November 13, 1976 (1976-11-13)
John is assigned to find who is behind the vandalism inflicted on the school walls.
11	"The Missing John"	Gordon Wiles	Bruce Howard	November 20, 1976 (1976-11-20)
Little John receives a severe reprimand for having played unwillingly a joke on the school principal.
12	"Speak for Yourself, John"	Gordon Wiles	David P. Harmon	November 27, 1976 (1976-11-27)
Because of the arrangements for the annual Thanksgiving dance that is held at the school, Ms. Bottomly proposes to Professor Martin that he be one of the chaperones. At the same time, Little John is chosen by his female classmate as companion for that day.
13	"Abracadabra"	Norm Gray	Jerome Zucker, Davis Samuel Zucker, James S. Abrahams	December 4, 1976 (1976-12-04)
In order to arrange a show for the school annual party, one of Martin's students prepares a set of different magic tricks.

Home media

The complete series was released on DVD (for Regions 1 and 2) in 2009 by Fabulous Films.

References

1. Woolery, George W. (1985). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series. The Scarecrow Press. pp. 63–64. ISBN 0-8108-1651-2.

External links

• Big John, Little John at IMDb
• Big John, Little John at 70s Live Action Kid Vid website