Joe and Mabel

Joe and Mabel is an American comedy series about a cab driver and his girlfriend^[1] that began as a 1940s radio program^[2] and was later broadcast as a television series during portions of 1955 and 1956.

Radio

The radio version of Joe and Mabel debuted on NBC on February 13, 1941, and ended on September 27, 1942. During that time it was broadcast intermittently, rather than regularly.^[3] Characters in the program and the actors who portrayed them are shown in the table below.

Character	Actor
Joe	Ted de Corsia[3]
Mabel	Ann Thomas[3]
Mike	Walter Kinsella[3]
Mabel's brother	Jackie Grimes[3]
Mabel's mother	Betty Garde[3]

Howard Nussbaum was the director, and Irving Gaynor Nieman was the writer.^[3]

Television

Nita Talbot portrayed Mabel Spooner in the TV version of Joe and Mabel.

Joe and Mabel began on CBS television on September 20, 1955, and ran "for only a few weeks", then returned on June 26, 1956, and ran until September 25, 1956.^[4]

The trade publication Variety reported in 1956 that episodes of the series "made last year were tossed out the window, for they didn't pass muster with the high brass. CBS started all over again this season."^[5]

The show's premise was that Mabel was eager to marry cab driver Joe. He loved her but was reluctant to commit to marriage. Joe and his friend Mike (also a cab driver) often hung out at a diner, where Harry worked at the counter.^[6]

The program's characters and the actors who portrayed them are shown in the table below.

Character	Actor
Joe	Larry Blyden[4]
Mabel	Nita Talbot[4]
Mabel's mother	Luella Gear[4]
Mabel's brother	Michael Mann[4]
Mabel's friend, Dolly	Shirl Conway[4]
Mike	Norman Fell[7]
Harry	John Shellie[6]

Ezra Stone, Daniel Petrie, and Paul Bogart were directors. Alex Gottlieb and Bogart were producers, and Marlo Lewis was executive producer. Writers were Harold Flender, Lucille Kallen, James Lee, Irving Gaynor Neiman, Harvey Orkin, Aaron Ruben, Jerry Ryan, and Phil Sharp. Sponsors were Pharmaceuticals, Incorporated, (for Sominex, Serutan, and Geritol) and Carter Products (for Arrid and Rise).^[6] The 30-minute episodes were filmed in black-and-white with a laugh track.^[6]

References

• Radio portal
• Television portal

1. Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946 – Present, 1st Edition, pages 307-308, Ballantine Books, 1979
2. J. David Goldin, The Golden Age of Radio, page 115, Yesteryear Press, 1998
3. Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 372. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3.
4. McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 434. ISBN 978-0-14-02-4916-3.
5. "The Saga of 'Joe & Mabel'". Variety. March 14, 1956. p. 25. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
6. Leszczak, Bob (2012). Single Season Sitcoms, 1948–1979: A Complete Guide. McFarland. pp. 94–95. ISBN 9780786493050. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
7. Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 536. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.