Topper Meets the Ghosts (1953)

Season One, Episode 1

[@SallySallySallySally]

Thanks for posting this! Married-in-real-life Robert Sterling (35 years old here) and Anne Jeffreys (29 years old here) met each other in 1949 in New York when both were performing in different plays. Their marriage two years later lasted 55 years until his death in 2006. Leo G. Carroll was 66 years old here and had already been acting for over 40 years. He was one of the most successful character actors in Hollywood and worked constantly until shortly before his death in 1972 at age 85.

[@DennisMSulliva]

WOW!

[@user-ct3lz9ho4j]

Thanks for this info. Good to know they had good long lives.

[@susanstanley5098]

Enjoyed so much as a kid, and still at 70

[@lemorab1]

I loved this show as a little kid in the early 1950's. I don't remember ever seeing the origin story of how TV George and Marion and Neal all became ghosts, or how Cosmo and Henrietta Topper got the Kirby house. We heard about the avalanche, but I never saw it happen. Finally, after all these many, many years! Thank you!

[@jamesmiller4184]

Yeah! If we missed one back then, we'd likely never see it. The casting on this one was perfect. Anne Jefferies was gorgeous as was Neal as a dog. "My Little Margie" we were also watching at this time.

[@srothbardt]

Read the novel.

[@kennethdegruchy5503]

Yes Ann Jeffries was my first heart throb at the tender age of about 5 when I watched the show in syndication on WNEW TV in NY.@@jamesmiller4184

[@kindredspirit3875]

Ditto! 74

[@hlnbee]

And I Married Joan!

[@roseyc.5846]

I LOVED this show. I was just a kid, but, I loved it. 🤗❤️

[@5ivestring]

Brings back such great memories

[@Downecker]

I'm 74 and remember Topper very well! Great times growing up in the 50's and classic TV ! Find some photos of Ann Jeffries . A VERY GORGEOUS woman! A " 10 " anytime!😊

[@user-ct3lz9ho4j]

Always loved these ghosts! The TV show came before the movies for me. Grew up in mid 1940s to mid 1960s and enjoyed this show very much then and now. THANK YOU!

[@lonniebishop7778]

So, THAT'S how it all began. In any case, another tv classic is rescued for all to enjoy.

[@PuffKitty]

I wondered why the dog was named Neil; it seemed so odd to me lol 🐶

[@jamesmiller4184]

Now . . . if ONLY someone might find all the Jackie Gleason items OTHER than The Honeymooners! Of all of Jackie's characters, it was that mad-cap playboy, the pride AND envy of all of the New York 400, who was my viewing fave! Talk about class, savoire faire et bon vivant 'man about town' style -- he had it all !! One kiss as bestowed upon any lucky lady . . . and she was toast, burned to an over exhilarated crisp!!

[@user-qo3jh9mn1t]

I'm amazed at how much of this episode I remember. I use to watch it every day after school.

[@hcombs0104]

I used to watch this all the time circa 1963 as a five year old.

[@kennethdegruchy5503]

Me too but I was a 5 year old in 1959 watching it in syndication on WNEW TV ch 5 in NY. I do recall this first episode vaguely

[@RandyStalding]

I never missed an episode of Topper back in the 50's. Hopalong Cassidy, Sgt Preston of the RCMP and Zoro were on our black and white TV about the same time. Of course, we also watched Amos n Andy before the NAACP had it abolished.

[@howardkerr8174]

I watched this as a kid in the early 60s, I always thought George and Marion were so sophisticated and urbane. I never knew Topper met the Kirbys before their skiing accident.

[@evilmothericebearkillerbir6016]

watch the topper 3 movies

[@patriciafeehan7732]

They were wealthy socialites and Topper was their Banker. The Kirby’s owned a fancy race care and loved to go racing down country roads. They died in a car accident leaving Cosmo Topper as their heir. That was the movie with Cary Grant.

[@evilmothericebearkillerbir6016]

ya i seen all 3 when i was a kid late night tv like 3 in the morning i am 56 now so

[@sandybruce9092]

I remember watching this at that time too!!! Loved this show!

[@maxinemccartney5284]

❤

[@user-oj5bw7sl8p]

What a lovely old movie! Thank you so much for sharing it with us!

[@PuffKitty]

Thanks a million for taking the time to upload this wonderfully clear first episode of Topper 🎩! I can't believe I got a chance to see it 🤗 PS: your channel content is pretty good too 📺 ☺️

[@rickhaydan3433]

I loved this show. None of today's ghost shows are nearly as sophiticated or humorous.

[@doraran2138]

First saw this on some obscure cable channel in the '90s along with I Married Joan, My Little Margie, Original Dragnets, Highway Patrol, and Sheriff of Cochise. The writing on this pilot episode as well as timing of dialogue is excellent. So many double entendres with more 'adult' humor for 1950's. Early TV of late '40s early '50s was aimed at a more sophisticated, upper class audience due to cost of TVs and old shows reflect that.

[@john-brady]

Not a bad print. Thanks for posting this - it’s a ‘crucial’ episode to the series… Long live Thorne Smith…. !

[@jimmymiller77]

This was one of my favorite tv shows. Thanks so much for posting such a "Clastic"

[@marthagilbert3459]

It is a classic show.

[@skreety0455]

My first intro to Leo G Carroll.... Loved the series😊

[@jaxwest6703]

Really enjoyed this show, liked it better than the movie which doesn't happen often,, btw Anne Jefferys was one of the most beautiful women that ever graced the screen.

[@dysfunctional_vet]

i think i saw all of these episodes so long ago and loved them i had forgotten them until the title pulled up. a simply tiime and real good comedy

[@ex-engineer6657]

Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

[@ellenchavez2043]

I lived the movie with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne as the Kirbys. Leo G Carroll played Topper. Billie Burke (Glenda, the Good Witch from the Wizard of Oz) played his wife. It's hilarious!

[@akrenwinkle]

Constance Bennett. She was an enormous star, billed over Cary Grant.

[@user-qo3jh9mn1t]

The female lead was actually Constance Bennett. But Cary and Irene made some of my all time favorite movies together. The Awful Truth and My Favorite Wife. Great movies.

[@akrenwinkle]

@@user-qo3jh9mn1t "My Favorite Wife" was remade as "Move Over, Darling" with Doris Day in the Irene Dunne part. Irene's even mentioned in it.

[@jamesmiller4184]

Nice try Ellen and a very easy little mistake to make. I would have thought and said that same.

[@georgemoore7186]

and Leo G Carroll wasn't in the Topper movies with Cary Grant, that was Roland Young, Roland Young made Topper movies with Cary Grant(only in the first movie) and Constance Bennett(in the 1st and 2nd movie,but not the 3rd) Roland Young then carried on and made a 3rd Topper movie with Joan Blondell which I thought was the best of them all

[@Old-Time-Fun]

How very delightful ! This was one of my favorite shows while it was broadcast but I never saw this before ! I'd love to see a detailed description of how the special effects were accomplished -

[@gracieallen8285]

This was a favorite show of mine in the 50s

[@sandrarice4197]

I love Topper movies. I never knew there was a tv show called Topper. Thank you for posting. Blessings.❤

[@sandybruce9092]

And I didn’t know there were movies!😄🥴😄. Till I got older!!!

[@estoy1001]

Books as well: 'Topper' and 'Topper Takes a Trip' by Thorne Smith, 1926 & 1932, respectively.

[@susancorvalan6765]

I watched this on TV as a child. The TV screen was about 10” diameter and round! The image was fuzzy. But the joy was great.

[@markgregorio377]

What a 'find'! This is a fun series! This must have been a big hit then! It is for me.

[@alfredpambuena6874]

I too watched this show...one of the best shows on TV at that time...

[@curtisdaniel9294]

A later role for Leo G Carrol was Mr Waverly. The Boss of Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin - Robert Vaughan and the Late and Marvelous David McCallum, aka Ducky on NCIS. ❤😊

[@RetiredSchoolCook]

❤ 📺 Great old tv show 📺 Thank you 📺 👍 Oct . 13 , 2023

[@jamesgraham948]

very nice video quality and the full 25 minute version, all of the versions I have seen have been cut down to 22 minutes , I wish someone would put the Pilot and other episodes on DVD, only a small number of episodes are out there and it would be nice to see a complete and unedited set.

[@JENDALL714]

It seems that the avalanche scene coming down is cut out for some reason.

[@adiconstantin4598]

@@JENDALL714 maybe to keep it as a comedy 🙂

[@kenr4709]

I watch this in the 50s and I love the show back then it actually got me interested in ghosts. I loved the show. 25:27

[@jeraldbaxter3532]

Normally, I dislike remakes, but this one is enjoyable. The actress who plays Mrs. Topper is not quite in Billie Burke's league, but she comes within a hair's breadth.

[@richardvillafana8111]

Used to come on everyday after I got home from school in the 60's.

[@MissouriPenny]

Watching for the 1st time at 58 ....on January 2024

[@davidbaise5137]

Yep, that’s Lee Patrick, Mrs. Topper aka “Effie” in the Maltese Falcon.

[@CarolE.Johnson]

😎Say, I remember watching this show as a child! Leo went from "Topper" to "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." WoW! Everything changes. 😊 🏁♥ EnJoy the show! C'ya, CJ-4-JC always

[@reg9831]

Cosmo Topper ❤

[@celesasheldon6931]

This actress is gorgeous 😂

[@phylis3917]

Been waiting forever! Favorite when you g. 😅. Keep happy all 💕

[@curtisdaniel9294]

"Why Cosmo..." pretty Racy for 1953!😊😊

[@fromthesidelines]

Oiginally telecast on October 9, 1953. Most of the episode was later reworked into the second season episode "Topper Tells All".

[@psychedelicpython]

I wasn’t born until 1963. This show came out 10 years before I was born. Now I’m 60 and enjoying the Topper shows. Better late than never. 😁

[@jamesmiller4184]

@@psychedelicpython Gosh, that's too bad. Well, it is just as you say.

[@hf6150]

Thought of this show tonight while pondering the current CBS comedy "Ghosts". Same idea, reworked 70 years later.

[@srothbardt]

Great show based on a nice novel . I forget the author. Leo G Carroll is great in anything, such as “North by Northwest “. Same story was used for the movie with Cary Grant

[@rpgober3048]

Love it!

[@jamesnorris1272]

And how about a little trivia for everyone to chase down: 'Cosmo' was 'Mr. Waverly' on 'The Man From Uncle,' and 'George' was the Executive Officer on board the submarine 'Seaview' in the movie 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea' with Walter Pidgeon and Barbara Eden. 'Henrietta' had a part in the movie: 'The Five Faces of Doctor Lo' with Tony Randall and Barbara Eden!

[@user-mw8xd1pg8g]

I was 2 in '53. God I feel old. If you were out doing something and somebody phone you, they would have to call back. My mother's arm was my safety device in the car. If I had a place on this earth for approx. 100 years I would choose to be born in 1867 (end of civil war and entering reconstruction) and die in 1967 (summer of love). Horses and dirt roads through super highways and flight. AND too old for either World War! Seems so quaint. My little Margie, The Betty White Show ('52 - '54), The Peoples Choice (with Jackie Cooper and Cleo the talking basset hound '55 - '58) and so many more. Car 54 where are you, The Life of Riley and a little later Hollywood Squares. Paul Lynde joke, (center square) ... When a man falls overboard from a boat into the water, what do you shout, MAN OVERBOARD. When a woman falls overboard into the water what do you shout, FULL SPEED AHEAD! Now we're stuck with the kardashians, house wives of wherever. "Reality" programs are crap. We've had a lot of good shows too.

[@stevehartman1730]

Saw topper as a 3 yr old.

[@jamesmiller4184]

Chic and stylish was this one. One does not get that very often THESE days!

[@valeriemoore2762]

I also watched this as a, kid. George Cerby played by Carry Grant in original movie. Topper and wife played by same actors. O,

[@gljm]

I would love to see the second episode or any of the other episodes that Stephen Sondheim was one of the writers for.

[@prudencehorvath8466]

Actually there are is another version of topper with Gary Grant and Carol Lombar where they get into a car accident . I loved all the toppers as a kid and still do.

[@alanstrong55]

Saw the show briefly on TV in 1967. Got no further chance after that.

[@jamesmiller4184]

NOW, your luck has finally arrived !! Congratulations, Alan!

[@liz6cats280]

A home costing $16,000 in 1953 would be $184,442.85 today, according to the inflation calculator. If they paid the agent's price of $28,000, that would be $311,247.30. Seems like this house would fetch more than that.

[@pauldouglas4158]

I was 7 and thought this was a great show

[@alvindimes4729]

The gentleman in the top hat! I'm sure its Mr Waverly from the Man From Uncle. 😮

[@loveheals1020]

Nicknamed my Leo "Topper"

[@GirGir183]

why does it have "not for broadcast" in the corner?

[@kennethdegruchy5503]

I wonder why the the actual snow falling from the avalanche was cut. If the show was cut for time to get in more commercials it seems odd that they would cut out such a pivotal scene. Maybe a film editor needed some stock footage of an avalanche and grabbed it from this show.

[@ta192utube]

Always wondered why Hollywood, post-Hayes, didn't jump in with both feet on Smith's work. His stuff gets really raunchy for its day, but would make for some good R rated comedy movies in the last 1/2 century. For those not familiar with the overall Topper series, George goes off to do his own thing, Cosmo ditches his wife and he and Marian become a VERY busy item...

[@joeharris3878]

The Topper tv show was shown y again ears later, probably around 1960 . I watched it I guess 4 or 5 and realized that ghosts are real, but not spooky.

[@josephcollins6033]

LYLE TALBOT!!!!!

[@kazprado5356]

Do you have a classic commercial of Max Factor in the 50's?

[@larryaldrich4351]

George and Marion made being dead look like fun.

[@hlnbee]

My parents bought houses in the 50’s for $10,000, $15,000 and $16,000.

[@Stickhandler1515]

😊😊😊😊

[@rentslave]

The Seattle Mariners have a good rookie pitcher named George Kirby.

[@psychedelicpython]

Too funny! I live in Washington State.

[@Downecker]

George Kirby was a stand up comedian from the 60's !

[@ajmarr5671]

end music be George M. Cohan Yankee Doodle Dandy!

[@mfb3042]

As good as the original movie.

[@nickjames3049]

Very casual and relaxed regarding their demise weren't they? 😕

[@im1who84u]

13:53 So............. Ghost have shadows?

[@AngusMacKinnon-xm5ko]

FANTASTIC. This was my favourite show back in 1955. I have the full disk set but I have unfortunately misplaced them. Time to turn the house upside down!

[@jamesmiller4184]

YES! I'd say. Let us know when and where found.

[@AngusMacKinnon-xm5ko]

@@jamesmiller4184 I certainly will mate. From memory they cost me around AUD $50.00 about 10 years ago.

[@jamesmiller4184]

@@AngusMacKinnon-xm5ko Very good! Down under, I see that you are. Were these broadcast there so early as then? Assuming it as-so, I am happy to know the most worthy series got around and, that you Angus were able to view it first-run as I did. Cheerio !!

[@AngusMacKinnon-xm5ko]

@@jamesmiller4184 Hello James. Yes my friend, I first watched this show on with Channel 7 or Channel 9 in Melbourne Australia as far back as 1961. I remember this being on in the UK back in 1955 when I saw a couple of episodes but subsequent to emigrating to Australia arrive here on Sunday 23 April 1961, that's when I watched the series for a brief period of time before the show was cancelled about 12 months later. I never forgot the show and always kept a lookout for the series when I came across it about 10 years ago. I jumped at the chance to buy the set which looked like a copy taken off the TV however; I didn't care; I was happy to buy it. As you well know James, TV back in the 1950s was an innocent time. TV was introduced into Australia in 1961. The shows then were FANTASTIC. I even have the full run of THE LIFE & LEGEND OF WYATT EARP starring Hugh O'BRIAN. I have the full series and watched it about four times thus far. I love those old shows. The other series I watched in 1961 was "THE REAL MCCOYS" with Walter Brennan, Richard Crenna and Kathleen Nolan puls a Scottish actor Andy Clyde. That series was NEVER repeated after it ended but I was able to lay my hands on the full serie. Cheer my friend,

[@DennisMSulliva]

They were a beautiful couple, especially her. Their three children?

[@georgemoore7186]

I am always fascinated by how we perceive death, obviously when we die our clothes die with us, why do Ghosts always wear clothes? While on the subject of things I don't understand, Why do aliens from other Planets all wear the same uniform???....... and why doesn't Earth have a Uniform, how embarrassed are we going to be when the Aliens come for a visit and we are in shorts and singlet etc and they're all dressed up?

[@curtisdaniel9294]

27 000 $ today (2023) would barely get you some new cars! 😂❤

[@noraarico1313]

Why is there a laugh-track in this video?

[@LLewis-vu9qf]

Nora -- that's what the networks did with comedies back then and for many years thereafter. Guess they didn't trust the audience to laugh without 'encouragement'. 😊

[@srothbardt]

It’s TV

[@Telephonebill51]

Damn, this was way back in the days of My Little Margie and December Bride. Heady times, heady times...

[@celesasheldon6931]

Ha ha how to's and process isnt allowed 😅

[@greendeane1]

It makes one realize who pathetic laugh tracks are...