The Baileys of Balboa

Dang, someone beat me to this! Here I have been trying to think of obscure TV shows or films to be the first person to comment upon! Oh well.

I'm a big Paul Ford fan but I don't think I ever really watched this during its brief life.

It probably ran against something my 9-yr-old self found more compelling. Or worse, ran against something the rest of my family wanted to watch.

I wish re-run channels like TVLAND would run obscure, never syndicated shows like this more often. Heck, imagine a day devoted to following Judy Carne thru her many shows. Or her ex-husband, Burt Reynolds, thru HIS many shows!

I remember this show very well. I never missed it. I love Paul Ford. The episode I remember best was a Halloween special in which someone tried to scare them by dressing up like Dracula and swooping in to declare "I stopped by to borrow a cup of blood!" At the very end, the little boy from next door (played by Clint Howard, who went on to "Gentle Ben" and played a small (adult) alien in Star Trek's "The Corbomite Maneuver") showed up in his Dracula costume for Halloween and said "My mother sent me over to borrow a cup of -- SUGAR." I was very taken with Balboa and Newport Beach as they were shown on the program and I always wanted to go there. Well, today I did! I wouldn't mind living there myself except it's probably very expensive and I'd end up combing the beach for a living too.

I love saying things are before my time, but being from Newport Beach CA, I have heard a lot about this show. Yes, the premise was the snobby Yacht Club people vs the Bailey family. Pretty good "reality" as Newport/Balboa has grown from a fishing town to a verrry upscale yacht harbor type town--reputedly the largest pleasure boat harbor in the world.

The premise of THE BAILEYS OF BALBOA reflects this, as the Paul Ford family in the show is gradually being put into conflict with the rich yachting set.

OH, and interesting post about Sterling Holloway living and shopping on Balboa Island....but the stores are on Marine Avenue, not Balboa Avenue, as Balboa Avenue runs the opposite way and mainly accesses houses.

Holy cow, does anyone even remember this one? Evidently unavailable in general circulation (hmmm, any trade tapes out there?), it is certainly a lost gem of TV land of the 60s. If memory doesn't fail me, Paul Ford is the patriarch of a goofball family that make its living off the wharves of San Francisco Bay. Their main source of income is the sale of a unique item at their shanty restaurant of "Bailey's Smoked Fish-On-A-Stick" though they always seemed to be dirt poor (er, or fish poor, as it were) and cooking up get-rich-quick schemes to get around the fact of their ineptitude at making an honest living. Any series, albeit short lived, that has Judy Carne as a regular and Rachel Welch as a walk-on is fine by me!

When I was in college from 1971 - 1975 I met a divinity student named William (Bill) Morris. Bill was a big man - very tall and very heavy. His choice of a career in the ministry was not his first choice. He had been an actor. In fact, he appeared in many productions at my college, including one that I was in. Bill and I once were talking about his acting career, and he mentioned that a decade earlier he had appeared (usually in crowd scenes) in television sit-coms. He appeared in HANK and he appeared in THE BAILEYS OF BALBOA. Well, it was nothing to write home about - not like being in the cast of say THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, THE GOLDEN GIRLS, M.A.S.H., or ALL IN THE FAMILY, but it was of interest. After all, he worked with Paul Ford, Sterling Holloway, John Dehner, and Judy Carne (in THE BAILEYS). He recalled having one line of dialogue with Ms Carne's character. Judy Carne is the daughter of the snobbish Commodore Wyntoon (Dehner) who wants to see the Bailey family driven off the Balboa wharfs (Wyntoon wants them reserved for the local yacht club he heads). Ms Carne is in love with Paul Ford's son. However, there is a body of would-be romeos, members of the yacht club, including Bill, who want to date Ms Carne. After some situation in the plot of the episode leads to her and Mr. Ford's son having a big argument, Ms Carne is in the mood for anything. Bill's character goes over to her and asks her if she'd like to go out on a date. Hitherto she has told him to get lost. Now she says "Yes!". Bill just looks stupified, and his jaw drops.

I have never seen any episode of THE BAILEYS since 1964, and the episode I vaguely recall was not worth much as a memory. But I have vivid memories of Bill Morris as a consummate professional actor on the stage at my college. I am sure he gave his all for that little minute of celluloid magic. Bill eventually got his divinity degree, but he died in the 1980s. He's not a great or famous name, but he was a good actor, and I feel this is as good a place to mention him as any. Rest in peace Bill.