Stanley (Tv Series)

Buddy Hackett as Stanley Peck in 1956-1957 situation comedy, Stanley

Before she hit stardom, Carol Burnett played Celia Howard, the girlfriend of Stanley Pec in the 19-episode series.

Stanley is an American situation comedy television series starring Buddy Hackett (1924-2003), Carol Burnett, and the voice of Paul Lynde (1926-1982). Stanley aired only nineteen episodes on NBC from September 24, 1956 to March 11, 1957.^[1] The program was produced by Max Liebman (1902-1981), who had previously produced Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows. The series was co-sponsored by American Tobacco Company and Toni home permanents.​

Stanley revolved around the adventures of the namesake character Stanley Peck as the operator of a newsstand in a posh New York City hotel. Burnett played his girlfriend, Celia Howard, and Lynde voiced the unseen hotel owner, Mr. Fenton, who never appeared on camera but could frequently be heard giving orders to his staff.^[1]

As was the case with several such programs, but a declining number, even at this early stage of network television, Stanley aired live. Several episodes of the series, preserved on kinescope film, are known to exist. The program aired on Monday at 8:30 p.m. EST opposite the popular Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts on CBS and the long running The Voice of Firestone on ABC. After nineteen weeks of low ratings, Stanley was canceled at mid-season, replaced by Dale Robertson (1923-2013) in Tales of Wells Fargo, a western which ran on NBC for the next five and a half years. On February 16, 1964, Hackett and Burnett were reunited on CBS' "What's My Line?" A blind-folded Hackett recognized his former co-star's voice who appeared as that evening's mystery guest. After briefly discussing their short lived roles on Stanley, Hackett exclaimed, "That's the one the Nielsen guys threw off the air for us!"​

In the show's introduction, the following line was recited: "You think you've got troubles. Stanley, he's got troubles!"​

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