I think all you have to say is The Courtship of Eddie’s Father and a lot of us immediately hear Harry Nilsson singing “People let me tell you ’bout my best friend.” It may be one of those cases where the theme song has lasted just as long in our memories as the show itself.
The series premiered in 1969 and ran for three seasons on ABC, always on Wednesday nights, although ABC moved the time around. Bill Bixby played widowed father Tom Corbett and six-year-old Brandon Cruz was Eddie, the little matchmaker who figured Dad needed some help finding a new wife.
Something I didn’t know was that the story had already been a 1963 movie with Glenn Ford and Ron Howard, which itself came from a 1961 novel.
The relationship between Bixby and Cruz apparently wasn’t just television magic either. Cruz has said they spent weekends and vacations together away from the set, going to places like Palm Springs, Big Bear and the beach. He remembered Bixby bringing stability to his life and said Bixby deliberately didn’t want him learning how to “act” too much because he wanted Eddie’s reactions to stay natural.
Then there’s Mrs. Livingston, played by Miyoshi Umeki. I never realized as a kid that I was watching an Oscar winner. Umeki had made history with Sayonara as the first Asian performer to win an acting Academy Award, and Eddie’s Father ended up being her final regular acting job.
And whatever happened to little Eddie? Here’s one I certainly wouldn’t have predicted — Brandon Cruz became a punk rocker, singing with Dr. Know and later performing as lead singer for the Dead Kennedys. From “Best Friend” to punk rock is quite a trip!
The show only gave us 73 episodes, but between Bixby, Eddie, Mrs. Livingston and that wonderful Nilsson theme, it left a pretty big memory behind.
Do you remember watching it Wednesday nights, or did you discover Eddie and his father later in reruns?