"Mona McCluskey" (1965) TV series 1965-1966

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

16 September 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A beautiful Las Vegas chorus girl, who is the star of the show, marries an Air Force sergeant, who insists that they live on the little amount of money he makes, and not the thousands of dollars a week that she makes.

Plot Keywords:

Military | Airforce | Character Name In Title

Cast

Juliet Prowse	...	Mona McCluskey / ... (26 episodes, 1965-1966)
Denny Miller	...	Mike McCluskey (26 episodes, 1965-1966)
Bartlett Robinson	...	Frank Caldwell (26 episodes, 1965-1966)
Herbert Rudley	...	General Crone (26 episodes, 1965-1966)
Robert Strauss	...	Sergeant Stan Gruzewsky (26 episodes, 1965-1966)
Elena Verdugo	...	Alice (26 episodes, 1965-1966)

Also Known As:

"Presenting Mona McCluskey"

Runtime:

30 min (26 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

McCadden Productions

Not Worthy

Juliet Prowse came along way too late as the era of big budget movie musicals was coming to an end. 20 years or even 10 years earlier she would have had a career to rival that of Cyd Charisse.

This series Mona McCluskey was something so unworthy of her talents as a dancer it's frightening. In 1965 the American public wouldn't buy the notion that a movie star, not a chorus girl as the show's page indicates would marry an army sergeant and then be forced to live on the base on his pay.

The same premise was being used at the time in Bewitched where Darrin did not want Samantha to use magic. But Samantha always had to, mainly to save him from her side of the family. It didn't work at all in Mona McCluskey though.

There actually was such a precedent and it didn't work out. Carole Landis during World War II married a GI and that was part of the plot of Four Jills In A Jeep. The marriage didn't work out though and this series with Denny Miller as the GI sergeant didn't work either.

I imagine Juliet Prowse just took what she could and maybe this was the best thing offered her. That woman wasn't beautiful, she was drop dead gorgeous. She was an incredible dancer, see her in her first two films Can-Can and GI Blues and know what I'm talking about.

She was engaged for a while to Frank Sinatra, but they never got hitched. Still in Can-Can she was the inspiration for Frank to sing one of his best movie songs, Cole Porter's It's All Right With Me. It's the musical highlight of the film.

Too bad there weren't more Can-Cans in her future, just Mona McCluskey.

Years ago I met her outside the NBC studio in Brooklyn and she gave me an autograph. I remember her as a gracious and beautiful woman. She should have had a more substantial career.