Bea Benaderet Collection

Bea Benaderet
(1906 – 1968)

Today, it seems like Hollywood is unable to create anything new. Many of the most popular movie franchises are based on comic book characters who have been around for decades. TV is filled with programs which are based on movie titles and Hollywood seems to delight in cranking out pictures based on classic TV shows. Of course, developing material from one medium into another is nothing new, several of what are now considered classic television shows used characters, situations, titles and even stories which were first developed for radio.

Spin-offs can be even more confusing, although they do call for some more creative thinking on the part of their producers. The first successful spin-off occurred in 1941 when the character of Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve on the long-running Fibber McGee and Molly became popular enough to rate his own show. Although the characters occasionally made cameo appearances on each other's show, once The Great Gildersleeve broke ties with Wistful Vista, he was on his own. Fibber had a second spin-off when the McGee's maid Beulah got her own show.

In 1950, radio veterans Bea Benaderet and Gale Gordon were called upon to star in Granby's Green Acres, a summer replacement for Lux Radio Theatre. The premise was that Gordon's character was a former banker who buys a farm but knows nothing about farming, and deals with his scatterbrained wife who is even less prepared for country living. The program would be one of Ms. Benaderet's few starring roles on radio, but could also be called a spin-off, she and Gordon's characters were essentially the same ones they played on Lucille Ball's My Favorite Husband.

Before CBS-TV held it's infamous "rural purge" in the early Seventies, the network was enjoying a good deal of success with "homey" programing. Two of the most successful were The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction, both produced by Paul Henning. Henning called on Bea to play "Granny Clampett" in the pilot for Beverly Hillbillies, but the role went to the more comically caustic Irene Ryan. Benaderet had a recurring role as Cousin Pearl Bodine, and when Henning was tasked with creating a new show, she became the matronly lead as the manager of the Shady Rest Hotel on Petticoat Junction. Hoping to strike gold a third time, CBS called for a spin-off from Petticoat Junction, which Hennings turned over to his friend Jay Sommers who revamped his earlier creation, Granby's Green Acres, as Green Acres with Eva Gabor in Bea's old role. That meant that the spin-off from the show Bea Benaderet was starring in was the first show she starred in on radio.

Bea Benaderret had a long history in radio before television. Born in New York City, 1906, to a Turkish Jewish immigrant, her family moved to San Francisco when she was about four. She attended school at the St. Rose Academy, and she got her first exposure to radio at the age of twelve when KGO presented The Beggar's Opera with an all child cast. Her first paying job was as a "staff member" at KFRC, which meant she would be called upon to act, sing, write, and produce.

This background served her well when she moved to Los Angeles and joined the company of Orson Welles Campbell Theatre, which was built around the core of his Mercury Theatre Players. Her big break came when she created the character of switchboard operator Gertrude Gearshift for The Jack Benny Program.

Bea had a recurring role as Mrs. Carstairs on Fibber McGee and Molly and spent a season as Gildy's love interest as Eve Goodwin in The Great Gildersleeve. Bea also created the character of busy-body neighbor Blanch Morton for The Burns and Allen Show both on the radio and eight seasons on television. A similar role was what she played opposite Lucille Ball on My Favorite Husband. When Lucy and Desi created I Love Lucy for TV (essentially a spin-off of My Favorite Husband), Lucy wanted to continue working with Bea in the role of Ethel Mertz, but she was already committed to George and Gracie, and the role went to Vivian Vance.

Bea was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1967 and was forced to take a leave of absence from Petticoat Junction. It was generally thought that she would return to the show after treatment, but she passed away on October 13, 1968, at the age of 62. Her second husband, sound technician Eugene Twombly, suffered a heart attack and died on the day of her funeral four days later.

A Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1611 Vine St was dedicated in February 1960 honoring contributions to Television by Bea Bernadette.

See also: Female Comedians of the Golden Age of Radio