FAVORITE DADS..... AFTER ROBERT YOUNG WAS, "FATHER KNOWS BEST", TOM BOSLEY WAS, "HAPPY DAYS", MR. C. ..........

Three years before Ward, June, Wally, and the Beav, premiered on, "Leave It To Beaver", in 1957, movie actor Robert Young began co-starring as, "Jim Anderson", with Jane Wyatt, in another 1950's television chestnut, "Father Knows Best".  For six seasons viewers tuned in weekly to see the exploits of the Anderson clan, the cast which included Elinor Donahue, Billy Gray, and Lauren Chapin.  Like Leave It To Beaver, Father Knows Best, was typical 1950's fare of family life, presented with a focus on the dad's role in the home.  Fast forward two decades later to 1974, and a television series that was a retrospective on family life in the 1950's, "Happy Days", began an eleven year run, and enter stage actor Tom Bosley, who co-starred in the show's ensemble cast  as, "Mr. C.".  As,"Howard Cunningham", Tom Bosley portrayed the typical bread winner husband father: fair, firm, fun loving, always the hands on father figure.  "Marion, Richie, Joanie, Chuck, the Fonz, Potsie, Ralph, Chaci, and Roger", could always depend on Mr. C., to address their problems and meet the needs they brought to him, lovingly and unconditionally.  Much like, "Father  Knows Best", did in the 1950's.  Tom Bosley, died this week at age 83, after a lifetime as an actor in the theater and on television. He won a Tony Award on Broadway for his role in "Fiorello", the broadway show about legendary New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.  After playing Mr. C. on "Happy Days", for eleven seasons he went on to play Sheriff Amos Tupper, on, "Murder She Wrote", and Father Dowling in the, "Father Dowling Mysteries". He, was like Robert Young, who transitioned from the Broadway stage, to a well received, more than 100 films, movie career - to television, and who after being Father Knows Best for six seasons on tv, after an initial five years on radio, returned to television in 1968, as the venerable, Emmy Award winning, "Marcus Welby, M.D.".  Robert Young continued acting until age 81, and died at 91 years old in 1998.  And so, I  salute the 'Jim Andersons' and 'Howard Cunninghams', on television and in real life, for their constancy and concern for their families, an example all fathers, should take seriously and fulfill..........Looking To The Past, As We Shape The Present, With Hope-filled Anticipation Of The Future, Of Fathers Who Are Faithful To Fulfilling Their Responsibilities,   Fr.  Troy