One Season Wonderful: Richard Benjamin & Paula Prentiss in 'He & She'

Opening balloons

There is something so sweet but sophisticated about 'He & She' starring Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss. The show only lasted one season. As an avid watcher of 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show', and while currently watching my grainy, poor-quality episodes of this rare show, I've noticed striking similarities between them. 

'He & She' is the direct predecessor of 'The MTM Show'. Mary Richards, Rhoda Morgenstern and every one of the WJM News crew in Minneapolis, (especially Ted Baxter), might not have existed if it weren't for Dick and Paula Hollister. Or Oscar North, a.k.a. Jetman. 

Dick and Paula at home tolerating the antics of Oscar/Jetman

As I'd mentioned in a previous post, even the interior of the New York City apartment where Dick and Paula live resembles the Minnesota lair of Mary Richards. At first, it's disarming to see the same windows, the front door in just the same place, the little platform and stairs leading to the door. And Dick or Paula, (especially Paula), frequently bounding toward the door in much the same way many of us MTM fans are accustomed to seeing Mary Richards doing in nearly every episode. 

Even Paula Hollister's physicality and style is a reflection of what was to come with Mary Richards. Long-limbed, she is usually wearing above-the-knee skirts or shift dresses with various levels of opaqueness in her hosiery; shoes with a slight heel. Her hair has that soon-to-be-exceedingly-famous flip. At a peripheral glance, as Paula rushes to the door in 'He & She', one can't help but think of Mary. 

Mary's apartment is nearly identical to Dick and Paula's

Paula's style and hair flip, similar to Mary's in Season 1

I also can't help but think it's a shame that 'He & She', despite being critically acclaimed and endearing to those who watched it when it aired, and receiving five Emmy nominations in 1968 (it won for best comedy writing, while Richard Benjamin, Paula Prentiss and Jack Cassidy were all nominated for their acting) –– as well as for just being all around great –– never had the chance to become a lengthier series we can now freely reference in our collective culture. 

'He & She' aired on CBS following the popular 'Green Acres'. It's been said that Richard Benjamin, for one, (and rightfully so), believes that having had the opposing energy of the city-life sophistication of 'He & She' following a show so completely different in comedic tone was detrimental to their ratings. (On a side note, it seems like CBS has had quite a history of this sort of problematic decision making, you'd think they'd have learned by now.)

TV Guide cover with 'He & She'

The show is a bubbly confection. But it is also very well-written and acted. I have found myself getting somewhat choked up by numerous supporting performances, whilst Dick and Paula stand aside, soaking in the moment with great empathy. The acting couple had been married in real life almost twice as long by 1968 as the fictional couple in the show. Their characters are presumably in their late-twenties and have been married for five years. They live in New York. Paula is from the south, as she is in real life –– and Dick is a born and bred New Yorker, just as he is in real life. 

A still from the show's adorable closing credits

Their onscreen chemistry –– and individual comedic timing –– are terrific. But having discovered some of the backstory of where their life together had led them until that point makes watching the show all the more intriguing. 

In some ways, art doesn't imitate life, since in the show Dick plays a cartoonist who's created the comic strip 'Jetman'. His 'Jetman' comic is now a TV show that stars the bombastic Oscar North, who directly inspires the Ted Baxter personality in 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show.' Jack Cassidy, who plays Oscar North, even appeared on 'MTM' as Ted Baxter's brother.

If it weren't for 'He & She', which was a little too sophisticated and ahead-of-its-time, would 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' have existed? Or later in the 90's, 'Mad About You'?  Of course, a major revolutionary element of the 'MTM' show was that they built the show solely around the female character, one who had never married and was making her way in the world without a male counterpart. Instead, she interacted with her friends, neighbors, and coworkers. So, The Mary Tyler Moore Show did up the ante, in that regard, forever changing television in 1970 when the first season aired. 

In any case, 'He & She' brought a fabulous precedent to TV and set the bar high enough for similar shows that followed to become as great as they were.

A still from the equally adorable opening credit

I will follow this with some clips of the show from the DVD's, recorded from TV reruns, that I painstakingly sought and happily found. But apologies in advance for the poor quality. Yet another result of this show having gone unrecognized is there hasn't been enough demand for it to have ever made it to DVD. (It never even made it onto videocassette!) I'll do my best to upload as much of it as possible so that more people can watch and enjoy it! :) Meanwhile, here is a CBS promo for the series.

Golden Anniversary: The Enduring Love of Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin

Seldom do we see celebrity couples in Hollywood who can withstand years (let alone decades) of commitment along with the pressures of their respective careers. Often cited as having succeeded in that challenging arena of their lives have been couples like Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. I recently noted the well-sustained marriage of Sam Elliot and Katharine Ross here on Retro Active Critiques.

The Golden Couple

Meanwhile, Katharine Ross' costar in the fabulous original version of 'The Stepford Wives', the enormously talented actress with a knack for playing goofy ladies, Paula Prentiss -- whose finely-tuned comedic timing I've loved in 'What's New Pussycat', 'The World of Henry Orient' and her numerous other film roles -- has had an even longer marriage to equally talented actor-director Richard Benjamin, who starred in two of my favorite films (both featured here) 'Goodbye Columbus' and 'The Last Of Sheila'. As individuals, they've both been significant to me in terms of their films. Together, they have appeared in at least three of my all-time favorites.

Richard Benjamin with Ali MacGraw 
in the wonderful 'Goodbye Columbus'

Richard Benjamin in the fabulous 'The Last Of Sheila'

Paula Prentiss with Katharine Ross 
in the equally fabulous 'The Stepford Wives'

The Stepford Wives' sad conclusion as they 
convene at the grocery store

Paula Prentiss with Peter Sellers in 'The World Of Henry Orient'

I have also recently ordered a very rare DVD copy (of a video copy) of a short-lived but groundbreaking TV show they starred in together called 'He And She', which has also had a mention here. I'm excited to watch it and will report back on that later!

"He And She" CBS promotional photos

Two decades into their marriage, in 1980, the funny couple even hosted Saturday Night Live together. There have been many couples who've appeared on SNL together, but I hadn't heard of a couple who shared hosting duties on that stage, equally.

Sharing hosting duties on Saturday Night Live

What I discovered in looking deeper into this magnificently lengthy marriage is there are aspects to their commitment to one another I couldn't have imagined. It's an incredible story, a saga of sorts, that really shook and surprised me.

Prentiss and Benjamin met at Northwestern University in 1958 before either of them had started acting professionally, before they became famous. This had to have helped in their longevity, since they were able to evolve with their relationship and fame and see one another from a perspective beyond their romantically-challenged profession(s). Prentiss, born Ragusa, was from San Antonio, Texas and it's been said that she wanted to become a doctor. Richard Benjamin was from New York City (born and raised) and had always wanted to be an actor. They both studied acting at school.

Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss in the early days

I found a People magazine article from 1976 that speaks volumes –– and opens up this story to new interpretation (not to mention my noticing how much more politically correct even writers who write for entertainment publications are today than they were back in 1976.) Here is one excerpt I'd like to share from the article that chronicled their life together until that point, having already been together for 15 years (they were married in 1961) because only this piece in its own time can capture the real graveness of how Hollywood can be a frightening place to exist. Or even coexist, as in their case (from People Magazine, 1976):

Their present plateau of success and serenity would have seemed unforeseeable just a decade ago when Paula experienced her harrowing mental breakdown. At the time she was in Paris filming What's New, Pussycat? while Dick was touring with Barefoot in the Park in Cincinnati. "One day during shooting," she recalls, "I just climbed up the ropes to the catwalk and started walking the beams. Very loudly and clearly I called down to everyone on the set, 'I'm going to jump.' A French technician grabbed me, and there I was, hanging by one arm."

Paula Prentiss in 'What's New Pussycat'

She came to in a Paris hospital and later transferred to the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic in New York. "It was horrendous. You're crazy because they say you're crazy," she says. "It was especially horrible because I couldn't figure out how to do what they wanted me to so I could get out." Dick took her to lunch once a month but usually found her so drugged up that "she wasn't Paula. I'd make believe everything was all right, but it was like taking a carrot out to lunch. What did I know about psychiatry? I was a Jewish boy, and in our house, if someone had a headache, no one worried about brain tumors or neurosis. It just meant you hadn't eaten enough."

Paula's crisis may have had some of its roots in the celebrity shock she sustained during her first years out of Northwestern University's drama school. She and Dick met there while studying under noted acting teacher Alvina Krause. Prentiss was born Paula Ragusa, an Italian from San Antonio who at a reedy 5'9" loomed over her classmates like a stork. Dick, a sardonic New York kid whose parents struggled in the rag trade, wowed Paula because she claimed on an earlier occasion he was the first New York Jew she'd ever seen. They started housekeeping together "before the pill," notes Dick, "when things were dangerous."

New York meets Texas

An MGM talent scout auditioned them but, ignoring Dick, signed Paula to a seven-year contract in 1960. "It was a life I hadn't picked," she says. "It was terrifying. I just allowed myself to be driven along." In less than a year, Paula cranked out three dizzy frivolities, beginning with Where the Boys Are. "I was such an idiot," Benjamin groans. "I accepted it all to be with the girl I wanted to be with." Even their marriage was arranged by the studio: Paula had to make a promotion junket, and in 1961 an unwed traveling companion was considered a no-no. They were forced to delay the ceremony before a New York judge for one hour so that the bride could log publicity mileage about the wedding with long-distance calls to Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons. "The only thing that woke us up," she reflects now, "was that crash landing in Paris."

She dropped out of films and into analysis, while Dick began his breakthrough as Ali McGraw's schlemiel in Goodbye, Columbus. Along the way, Paula found her best therapy was co-starring with him in a 1967 CBS series called He and She that approached an almost Lear-like level of sophistication before its time. It died after a single season. Still, Paula believes, "It was worth it after what we'd been through. By working together we learned to live with each other again."

These two go way back

Despite situations that would have been too much for most couples endure, they seem to have always persevered. I can only speak for myself here, but I find the idea of Prentiss having been signed to a seven-year contract with MGM –– at the start of the 60's, before so many social mores and messages in life (and subsequently, films) were about to change –– then being forced into marriage (ironically) to the man she loved to keep up appearances in terms of publicity, and where society still stood, and then being trapped in a mental institution because of a supposed 'breakdown' on set (I'm hesitant to believe she actually had one since she may have been temporarily immersed, as actors can be, in her role as a kooky, suicidal chick in the film 'What's New Pussycat'.) It's altogether terrifying. Seems like they managed to keep their heads, while keeping their feet planted on that shaky ground, to get past those heady times together and not fall apart. There are very few couples who made it through the multitude of changes happening in the 60's, 70's & all the way back until today. Let alone film stars.

Jack and Paula and Dick

Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss may not be considered 'stars' today. They may never be featured in People magazine again. I, for one, have gone from enjoying their work individually to having the utmost respect and admiration for them as an unsinkable pair who've navigated this world (and Hollywood) together, despite whatever they may have faced. It is now 2011, so they have been together for exactly half a century! Apart from their list of professional accomplishments and their marriage milestone, they have two grown children: Ross and Prentiss. 

Happy golden anniversary to Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss, an inspirational Hollywood couple if there ever was one.

The golden couple. Still solid, still smiling.

And an update: here is the opening for the absolutely wonderful 'He & She'. I've received the series (not the best quality, but okay) and I've been watching it with fervor. I am really excited to report back on this fabulously sophisticated 'one season wonder' in an upcoming post. Stay tuned...!

Retro Active Television

What really happens when you watch a classic TV series? It's like stepping into a time machine. A classic series can transport you back to the era when it was being aired, as if you are watching it along with its respective audience. Use your imagination, and you can be a part of that particular time. It is a heightened level of escapism. And that's Retro Active.

Here's a new discovery, both exhilarating and disappointing: "He & She". It ran from 1967-68 and received glowing reviews and several Emmy noms (it won for best writing in a comedy series for that year.) From what I've read, it was ground-breaking and set the bar high for the shows to follow with its style and sophistication. Unfortunately, it is not available on DVD, but on YouTube (somehow) there are two full episodes. To some degree this show seems to have inspired The Mary Tyler Moore Show. In fact, although set in New York, not Minneapolis, the apartment looks practically identical, so much that when the Paula character says, "This is my house" in the scene below, I'm a bit stunned since it seems more like Mary Richards' house to me... Of course that show, with MTM, would begin two years later and run for eight successful seasons.

As it turns out, critically acclaimed and award-winning shows (particularly for comedy writing - hint, hint "Arrested Development"?) were canceled abruptly and prematurely back in the day, as well. Watch the show for yourself, below, starring real-life couple - married since 1961, and still today, believe it or not - Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin. I should add, although Paula looks smashing, the patch on the arm of her dress in the clip is a bit odd.

Speaking of Retro Activity, and one season wonders...

"Gidget" ran for only one season in 1965 and is now showing on On Demand. Good for when you're in the mood for a very easy, breezy, innocent 60's surfer girl show - it's really one of a kind. Apparently it didn't develop much of an audience while it was aired, but soon after they pulled it and started airing reruns, it generated a cult following. It's actually pretty entertaining. (Terrible intro, though. Terrible.)

Onto other retro activity, namely fighting crime - and one show that did have its fair share of success, starting in the late 60's and well into the 70's. It could be referred to as "No Guns, Some Violence", but instead it was aptly named "The Mod Squad". It's been said that before the actors playing the squad were willing to sign on, they instigated a clause where their characters would never use guns. They were hippies after all, but this was incorporated nicely into the show. Thus, they never did use guns - but the fists do fly, and if any low-life totes a gun it gets wrestled and tossed away in the scuffle.

Below is the climactic fight scene from the first episode of "The Mod Squad". Linc and Pete's dive tackles are epic. They do them in every show, and the dives seem to get better, bigger, even swan-like as the series progresses. The following scene features their first attempts in which they manage to break up Julie's apartment and banister pretty good.

It's great to watch this series, on DVD, at night before bed. Very comforting, a good trip. Solid, as Linc Hayes would say.