| Car 54, Where Are You? | |
|---|---|
 Opening title sequence | |
| Also known as | Car 54 |
| Genre | Sitcom Police comedy |
| Created by | Nat Hiken |
| Directed by | Al De Caprio Nat Hiken Stanley Prager |
| Starring | Joe E. Ross Fred Gwynne |
| Theme music composer | Nat Hiken John Strauss |
| Opening theme | "Car 54, Where Are You?" |
| Composer | John Strauss |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 60(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producers | Nat Hiken Billy Friedberg |
| Cinematography | J. Burgi Contner George Stoetzel |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company | Eupolis Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | September 17, 1961 (1961-09-17) – April 14, 1963 (1963-04-14) |
Car 54, Where Are You? is an Americansitcom that aired onNBC from September 1961 to April 1963. Filmed in black and white, the series starredJoe E. Ross as Gunther Toody andFred Gwynne as Francis Muldoon, two mismatchedNew York City police officers who patrol the fictional 53rd precinct inThe Bronx. Car 54 was theirpatrol car.
The series had a rotating group of directors, including Al De Caprio,Stanley Prager, and series creatorNat Hiken. Filming was done both on location[1] and atBiograph Studios in the Bronx.[2]
The series follows the adventures ofNew York City Police Department officers Gunther Toody (Joe E. Ross), badge #1432, and Francis Muldoon (Fred Gwynne), badge #723 and #1987 in early episodes, assigned toPatrol Car 54. Toody is short, stocky, nosy, and not very bright, and he lives with his loud, domineering wife Lucille (Beatrice Pons). College-educated Muldoon is very tall, quiet, and more intellectual. A shy bachelor, he lives with his mother and two younger sisters. He is reluctant to get married.
Much of the series is set in the station house, with commanding officer Captain Block (Paul Reed) ordering his men to answer neighborhood police calls or investigate baffling cases that have stymied the force at large. Toody and Muldoon often blunder into these cases, encountering the criminals accidentally and proceeding on a wrong assumption. By sheer perseverance, inadvertence, and luck, Toody and Muldoon bring each case to a successful conclusion.
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 30 | September 17, 1961 (1961-09-17) | April 22, 1962 (1962-04-22) | |
| 2 | 30 | September 16, 1962 (1962-09-16) | April 14, 1963 (1963-04-14) | |
Many of the scripts were written by Nat Hiken, who won an "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy"Emmy Award for his work on the series.
Hiken had previously producedThe Phil Silvers Show in New York; it was a military comedy with Silvers (as Sgt. Bilko) and his gang of comical soldiers. Hiken recruited many of the Bilko alumni for this new series. Joe E. Ross and Fred Gwynne had featured roles on the Bilko show, and Beatrice Pons was hired to reprise her old role of Ross's wife. Other veterans from the Bilko show were Paul Reed, Al Lewis, Charlotte Rae, Jimmy Little, Jack Healy, Frederick O'Neal, Martha Greenhouse,Bob Hastings,Billy Sands, andGerald Hiken.
Some supporting players onCar 54 were so well received that they were brought back for additional episodes.Molly Picon played Mrs. Bronson, an enterprising matron who made life miserable for city authorities but always adhered strictly to the law, forcing her whims to be accommodated.Larry Storch played a gypsy husband, and Charlie, the town drunk, whose constant scrapes with the police compelled Toody and Muldoon to rehabilitate him.Gene Baylos was the hapless Benny the Bookie, whose attempts at swearing off gambling always involved Toody and Muldoon.Carl Ballantine appeared as Al, Toody's imperious brother-in-law, who commanded instant obedience from his wife, Rose (Martha Greenhouse).
Interiors were filmed atBiograph Studios, Inc. at 807 East 175th Street, inThe Bronx,New York City, New York.[3] Exteriors of the precinct building were shot outside the Biograph Studios building,[4] within the territory of New York's 48th Precinct.[5]
So that they would not be mistaken for actual police cars during location filming, the cars used for the series were painted dark red and white,[5] which appeared as the proper shade of gray onOrthochromatic black-and-white film to replicate NYPD cars of that era, which were black and green, with a white roof and trunk.[6]
Three cars were used as the title vehicle during the series: a 1961Plymouth Belvedere during most of the first season, followed by a 1962, and later a 1963,Plymouth Savoy.[citation needed]
The theme song's lyrics were written by series creator, writer, and occasional director, Nat Hiken, with music byJohn Strauss.[7]
There's aholdup inthe Bronx,
Brooklyn's broken out in fights;
There's atraffic jam inHarlem
That's backed up toJackson Heights;
There's aScout troop short a child,
Khrushchev's due atIdlewild;
Car 54, Where Are You?
The line "Khrushchev's due at Idlewild" refers toSoviet leaderNikita Khrushchev. In September 1960, a year before the series began, Khrushchev flew to New York's Idlewild Airport (nowJohn F. Kennedy International Airport) to attend theUnited Nations General Assembly.
Car 54, Where Are You? originally aired Sunday evenings, 8:30–9:00 p.m. on NBC, followingWalt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and precedingBonanza. The network run ofCar 54 was sponsored byProcter & Gamble.
Several New York-based celebrities, includingHugh Downs,Mitch Miller,Jan Murray, andSugar Ray Robinson, appeared as themselves. Among others cast in various episodes are:
Car 54, Where Are You? was nominated for fourPrimetime Emmy Awards, earning one.
Car 54, Where Are You? was first syndicated byNBC Films in January 1964.[8] It began airing on the cable channelNick at Nite in 1987 and ran on the network until 1990. It was seen for less than one year on the short-livedHa! Channel in 1990–1991 and also aired on anotherViacom-owned cable channel,Comedy Central, in the early 1990s. In 2016, the show aired early Sunday mornings onMeTV until its removal in September 2017.[9] It also previously aired Monday through Friday on its sister networkDecades until Decades was retooled toCatchy Comedy on March 24, 2023. It made its return to Catchy as of January 4, 2025, airing early Sunday mornings at 5am & 5:30am ET.[10]
Car 54, Where Are You? was made into a1994 film, shot mainly inToronto, starringJohn C. McGinley as Muldoon,David Johansen as Toody, andRosie O'Donnell as Toody's wife Lucille. Though made in 1990, it was not released until 1994 due to the bankruptcy ofOrion Pictures.[11] Original cast members Al Lewis and Nipsey Russell appeared in the film, which underperformed both critically and commercially upon release.
In the early 1990s,Republic Pictures Home Video released some episodes onVHS.[citation needed]Shanachie Entertainment announced in late 2010 it was releasing season one onDVDRegion 1 on February 22, 2011.[12] The second and final season was released on April 24, 2012.[13]
The show's theme song is parodied as “Mario, Where Are You?” in anAtari commercial forMario Bros.[14]
In the 1966 filmMunster, Go Home! Herman Munster (also played by Fred Gwynne) starts calling for police agencies, eventually yelling, “Car 54, where are you?”
