Our Miss Brooks, Vol. 1

OurMiss Brooks was a highly popular radio sitcom that was eventually adapted for both television and film. It starred Hollywood film andNew York stage veteran Eve Arden, who specialized in playing the wisecracking friend. She often did it better than anyone else, receiving an Oscar nomination for the 1945 film Mildred Pierce. Since her skill with the wicked one-liner was beginning to lead to typecasting, Arden signed on for the lead in radio’s OurMiss Brooks to find a new image.

The series centers on Connie Brooks, a sharp-witted, lovable English teacher at fictional Madison High School. Between gentle wisecracks, Miss Brooks dotes on nerdish student Walter Denton, played by Richard Crenna, and frequently locks horns with crusty, cranky principal Osgood Conklin, played by Gale Gordon. Many plotlines revolve around Miss Brooks’ longing for Philip Boynton, the school’s bashful biology teacher.

The radio series lasted until 1957, having already made a successful jump to television in 1952 where Arden won a Primetime Emmy for Best Female Star in a Regular Series.

Episodes include “Snap Magazine’s Model American Teacher”; “Stretch Snodgrass and the English Exam”; “Peanuts, the Great Dane”; “Arguments, Arguments”; “Christmas in July”; “Mrs. Davis’ Pensacola Popovers”; “Miss Brooks Takes the Blame”; “Chaperone for the Cereal Bowl Game”; “Connie’s Letter to ‘Sandy Clawsss’”; “Babysitting for New Year’s Eve”; “Professorship at State U”; and “Making Dinner for Mr. Boynton.”