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Many pop culture enthusiasts fondly remember Friday’s prime-time line up on
ABC TV during the 1970-71 season as one of the best.
Those lucky enough to tune in during this period witnessed classic TV
history in the making. Many beloved
favorites joined forces for that magical night, which included The
Brady Bunch, That Girl, Love
American Style, This Is Tom Jones
and the premiere of The Partridge Family.
If for some reason you did miss the ultimate in classic TV scheduling,
you would have also missed out on the original run of one other captivating
sitcom. Sandwiched between the time
slots that provided home to two families, the Bradys and Partridges, was the
Everett family that made up the cast of the short-lived series Nanny
and the Professor.
The driving force
behind the show was the magic provided by Miss Phoebe Figalilly, better known as
Nanny, played by Juliet Mills. As
seen in the first episode, Nanny arrived unannounced from England and accepted
the job as housekeeper and governess to the family’s three children, Hal
(David Doremus), Butch (Trent Lehman), and Prudence (Kim Richards), and their
widowed father, Professor Harold Everett (Richard Long).
She instantly warmed the hearts of everyone, including millions of
faithful viewers. Gifted with
mysterious abilities, Nanny became the focal point of each episode by displaying
her amazing With only
fourteen different items made, finding any of them can be challenging.
A great item to start a collection with is the Cartoon Kit made by Colorforms in 1970.
The box lid sports a unique illustration of the cast, including the
family pet dog Waldo, and guinea pig Myrtle.
The box contents include a backdrop featuring the house den and backyard,
instruction booklet, and 36 small figural plastic pieces, which stick to the
backdrop assembling the complete cast with a few accessories. Don’t hesitate picking one up if it is missing pieces.
The toy kit is rarely found complete.
A boxed set in average condition will sell for about $40 to $50.
Collectors
might have an easier time locating one of the three different coloring books
made by Saalfield in 1971. The
contents of each book contain distinctive illustrations of the cast with
captions that place them in similar situations as the TV series.
Two of the books have cast photo covers which are always more desirable
to collectors than illustrated versions. The
third book has an illustrated cover and pictures Nanny in front of the
Everett house with the three children peering out the window.
This book varies with both a green house and blue lettering or a yellow
house with red lettering. Dealers
will usually note if the book contains all the pages and the amount of coloring
it contains. These
conditions can greatly change the value of the book.
A mint book can run double the cost of one marked with crayons or missing
pages. A mint Nanny and the Professor coloring book will sell in the $35 to $45
range. Paper
dolls are another class of collectibles that can be found in a variety of
conditions. Some may be cut or
punched out from the original sheets while other remain William
Johnston was a master at writing TV tie-ins.
He has written hundred of original novels based on TV series from the
1960s and 1970s. Some of his
highlights include The Brady Bunch, The
Munsters, The Flying Nun, Get Smart,
Happy Days, and three titles for Nanny
and the Professor. Although
each book contains the caption “based on the delightful ABC-TV series,”
these books are far from delightful and have little to do with the series other
than the characters placed in the stories.
The stories are beyond fantasy and included storylines that deal with
spies stealing secret formulas for rocket fuel and a magical blue box that
controls household appliances and causes havoc to department store computer
systems. The issues get scarcer by number, causing the value for the
first book to start at $10 and number three to jump to a value of $25. Some of the
last items to check off your Nanny
list are two comic books and view-master reels. The comic book stories are far more similar to the TV series
than the paperback books and are more entertaining to read, since they are
accompanied by a slew of hilarious illustrations. The view-master reels are based on an actual episode entitled
“Nanny on Wheels.” Because the
comic books can very greatly in condition, their values will range from $15-$35
while the view-master set always seems to sell near $40. CLICK
HERE
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