Slattery's People

Slattery's People is a 1964–65 American television series about local politics starring Richard Crenna as title character James Slattery, a state legislator, co-starring Ed Asner and Tol Avery, and featuring Carroll O'Connor and Warren Oates in a couple of episodes each. James E. Moser was executive producer. The program, telecast on CBS, was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

Slattery's People
Crenna with guest star Ed Wynn, 1964.
Genre	Drama
Created by	James E. Moser
Starring	Richard Crenna Ed Asner Tol Avery
Theme music composer	Nathan Scott
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	36
Production
Executive producer	James E. Moser
Producer	Matthew Rapf
Production companies	Bing Crosby Productions, in association with Pendick Enterprises and the CBS Television Network (filmed at the studios of Desilu)
Distributor	Viacom Paramount Television CBS Paramount Television CBS Television Distribution (current)
Release
Original network	CBS
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	September 21, 1964 (1964-09-21) – November 26, 1965 (1965-11-26)

Slattery's People is mainly notable for having been one of the few American television series spotlighting the travails of local politicians, a topic that other programs of the period mainly avoided. Episodes opened with the following admonition: "Democracy is a very bad form of government. But I ask you never to forget: All the others are so much worse."^[1]

Many television critics highly praised the series. Many politicians also approved of the program. U.S. Representative James C. Corman said in a Congressional Record statement on September 30, 1964, “I am pleased that they have taken the high road to show a legislator’s life, and have not pandered to sensationalism or unreality to stimulate an audience following.” This series was a major career change for Crenna. Following more than a decade as a lead actor in two popular network comedies, Our Miss Brooks and The Real McCoys, his role as Jim Slattery opened doors for later guest appearances in several dramatic programs and feature films.

Moser's script for the pilot ("Question: What is truth?") was printed as an appendix in Teleplay; an introduction to television writing by Coles Trapnell.

Television composer Nathan Scott wrote the theme music for Slattery's People.^[2]

Guest stars

• Philip Abbott in "Question: What is Honor? What is Death?"
• Joan Blackman as Pat Allison in "Question: Remember the Dark Sins of Youth?"
• Russ Conway in "Question: Bill Bailey, Why Did You Come Home?"
• Don Keefer as George Farnum in "Question: What Did You Do All Day, Mr. Slattery?"
• Joyce Meadows as Gert in the episode "Question: Is Laura the Name of the Game?"
• John M. Pickard as Vance Durant in "Question: How Long Is the Shadow of a Man?"
• Judson Pratt as Harry Daniels in "Question: How Impregnable Is a Magic Tower?"
• Robert F. Simon in "Question: What Did You Do All Day, Mr. Slattery?"
• Joan Tompkins as Dorothy Ralston in "Question: What Time Is the Next Bandwagon?"
• Arthur Hill as Dr. George Allison and Michael Constantine as Paul Hungerford in "Question: Remember the Dark Sins of Youth?"
• Ed Wynn as Ezra Tallicott on "What Ever Happened to Ezra?"
• Tommy Sands in "Question: Why the Lonely, Why the Misbegotten?"
• Ricardo Montalban as Rodriguez in "Question: What Became of the White Tortilla?"
• Claude Akins as Dr. Roy Kirk and Barbara Eden as Lucrezia Kirk in "Question: When Do We Hang the Good Samaritan?"
• Forrest Tucker as Bill Bailey in "Question: Bill Bailey, Why Did You Come Home?"

Episode list

Season 1 (1964–65)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"Question: What is the Truth?"	Lamont Johnson	James E. Moser	September 21, 1964 (1964-09-21)
2	2	"Question: Why the Lonely, Why the Misbegotten?"	Unknown	Barry Trivers	September 28, 1964 (1964-09-28)
3	3	"Question: Remember the Dark Sins of Youth?"	Unknown	Dean Riesner	October 5, 1964 (1964-10-05)
4	4	"Question: Whatever Happened to Ezra?"	Unknown	Unknown	October 12, 1964 (1964-10-12)
5	5	"Question: What Are You Doing Out There, Waldo?"	Unknown	Unknown	October 19, 1964 (1964-10-19)
6	6	"Question: What Became of the White Tortilla?"	Sydney Pollack	Jack Guss & William P. McGivern	October 26, 1964 (1964-10-26)
7	7	"Question: Where Vanished the Tragic Piper?"	Unknown	Anthony Lawrence	November 2, 1964 (1964-11-02)
8	8	"Question: Is Laura the Name of the Game?"	Unknown	Norman Katkov	November 9, 1964 (1964-11-09)
9	9	"Question: What is a Genius Worth This Week?"	Unknown	Jack Guss	November 16, 1964 (1964-11-16)
10	10	"Question: What is Honor, What is Death?"	Unknown	William P. McGivern	November 23, 1964 (1964-11-23)
11	11	"Question: Do the Ignorant Sleep in Pure White Beds?"	Unknown	Unknown	November 30, 1964 (1964-11-30)
12	12	"Question: Which One Has the Privilege?"	Unknown	Norman Katkov	December 7, 1964 (1964-12-07)
13	13	"Question: How Long is the Shadow of a Man?"	Unknown	Bob & Wanda Duncan	January 1, 1965 (1965-01-01)
14	14	"Question: What is a Requiem for a Loser?"	Unknown	Jack Guss	January 8, 1965 (1965-01-08)
15	15	"Question: What Did You Do All Day, Mr. Slattery?"	Unknown	William P. McGivern	January 15, 1965 (1965-01-15)
16	16	"Question: How Do You Fall in Love with a Town?"	Unknown	Unknown	January 22, 1965 (1965-01-22)
17	17	"Question: Does Nero Still at Ringside Sit?"	Unknown	Dean Riesner	February 5, 1965 (1965-02-05)
18	18	"Question: How Do You Catch a Cool Bird of Paradise?"	Mark Rydell	Michael Zagor	February 12, 1965 (1965-02-12)
19	19	"Question: When Do We Hang the Good Samaritan?"	Unknown	Bob & Wanda Duncan	February 19, 1965 (1965-02-19)
20	20	"Question: Is Democracy Too Expensive?"	Robert Gist	S. Lee Pogostin	February 26, 1965 (1965-02-26)
21	21	"Question: Did He Who Made the Lamb Make Thee?"	Richard C. Sarafian	William P. McGivern	March 5, 1965 (1965-03-05)
22	22	"Question: Who You Takin' to the Main Event, Eddie?"	Unknown	Unknown	March 12, 1965 (1965-03-12)
23	23	"Question: What's New in Timbuctoo?"	Unknown	Unknown	March 19, 1965 (1965-03-19)
24	24	"Question: Bill Bailey, Why Did You Come Home?"	Unknown	Stanford Whitmore	April 2, 1965 (1965-04-02)
25	25	"Question: What Time is the Next Bandwagon?"	Unknown	Preston Wood	April 9, 1965 (1965-04-09)
26	26	"Question: What's a Swan Song for a Sparrow?"	Robert Gist	Jack Guss	April 16, 1965 (1965-04-16)

Season 2 (1965)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
27	1	"A Sitting Duck Named Slattery"	Unknown	Preston Wood	September 17, 1965 (1965-09-17)
28	2	"He Who Has Ears, Let Him Bug Someone Else"	Unknown	David Rintels	September 24, 1965 (1965-09-24)
29	3	"How Impregnable is a Magic Tower?"	Unknown	Sheldon Stark	October 1, 1965 (1965-10-01)
30	4	"The Unborn"	Unknown	Pat Fielder	October 8, 1965 (1965-10-08)
31	5	"Rally Round Your Own Flag, Mister"	Unknown	David Karp	October 15, 1965 (1965-10-15)
32	6	"What Can You Do with a Wounded Tiger?"	Unknown	Bob & Wanda Duncan	October 22, 1965 (1965-10-22)
33	7	"The Hero"	Unknown	Preston Wood	November 5, 1965 (1965-11-05)
34	8	"Of Damon, Pythias and Sleeping Dogs"	Unknown	Unknown	November 12, 1965 (1965-11-12)
35	9	"The Last Commuter"	Marc Daniels	David Karp	November 19, 1965 (1965-11-19)
36	10	"Color Him Red"	Unknown	Pat Fielder	November 26, 1965 (1965-11-26)

See also

Quentin Durgens, M.P., a similar Canadian TV series that aired around the same time.

References

1. "- YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
2. Burlingame, Jon (2010-03-03). "Nathan Scott, 94, scored TV shows - Composer's credits included 'Dragnet,' 'Lassie'". Variety. Retrieved 2010-03-10.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Slattery's People.

• Slattery's People | Television Obscurities
• Slattery's People at IMDb