We are strolling back to 1952, the year I was born and the year America first saw the "Adventures Ozzie and Harriet" on TV. It had been a radio show before that...however when I was a little girl and first noticed Ricky Nelson I thought he was the only boy in the world that didn't have cooties!!

For 14 years we watched Ozzie, in his alpaca cardigan and Harriet, with her ever ready pot of coffee and a plate of brownies. Boomers grew up with Ricky and David.

When asked if this was a realistic view of family life, the answer is a resounding no. Their idea of a life crisis was having two chairs mistakenly delivered to the house.

Speaking of the house at 522 Sycamore Road, Hilldale, the set was an exact replica of their real life home in Hollywood. If you remember all those scenes in the kitchen, that's because up until 1956, Hotpoint, the sponsor, was displaying their products! After that, you probably recall more outdoors scenes.
Did you notice the cameras around everyone's necks?
Yup, Kodak became the sole sponsor.

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet was the real-life Nelson family on the air, with all the little adventures that an active middle-class American family might have, and two young boys growing up before their parents' and the television audience's eyes.
The Nelsons lived in Hillsdale at 522 Sycamore Road. On TV Ozzie had no defined source of income, and always seemed to be hanging around the house. His job was unknown for the TV show because Ozzie Nelson felt that it broadened his base of people who could identify with him.

Ricky has been bugging his father to let him sing a tune on the show. So on April 10,1957 in "Rick the Drummer" he covered Fat's Domino's "I'm Walkin." The song shot to the top of the charts.
In the early episodes the stories revolved mainly around the four Nelsons, with only a few friends and neighbors, most notably Thorny Thornberry, who regularly offered Ozzie bits of ill-timed advice. Later, as the boys began to date, a succession of girlfriends began to appear.
In time both David and Ricky were married, and both real-life wives (June and Kris) appeared on the show.

From the outset, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet had a nostalgic feel, resembling Ozzie's 1920s youth in New Jersey more than 1950s Los Angeles. The picket-fenced neighborhoods, the corner drugstore and malt shop featured weekly in this slow-paced half-hour infiltrated American culture at a time of social unease and quiescent distress.
In reality, most 1950s fathers were working ten-hour days and commuting long-distances to isolated suburbs. For the Nelsons, however, Ozzie was always home, neighbors still chatted over the back fence, and downtown was a brisk walk away.
The Nelsons presented an America that never was, but always wished for, and through their confusion of reality and fantasy worked to concoct an image of American life that is, to this day, mistakenly claimed not only as ideal, but as authentic.

I don't know about the rest of you but my Mother never wore pearls when she cooked or cleaned house but it sure made a pretty picture for those of us out in TV Land.

The tradgedy is that not even the Nelson's had such and idealic life in their real home, as we know now they were just people.
(Note: While doing this research I found two different addresses for their house on the show 522 and 822, so I just picked one)

Passings:

Ozzie Nelson died in 1975 of cancer

Rick Nelson died 1985 in a plane crash
Harriet died in 1999 of congestive heart failure.
(I choose the song you are listening to over the "Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" theme song because it just seemed to fit, hope you all like it)

See you next time I'm out for a stroll, I may need a parasol, it sure is hot out!

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