The Aldrich Family

The Aldrich Family was a popular situation comedy focusing on the antics and predicaments of teenager Henry Aldrich. The show was immensely popular and gave rise to a series of movies.

The show started on radio as a series of sketches on Rudy Vallee's radio show. Henry was based on a minor character in a Broadway play that caught Vallee's attention. From there, the sketches moved to Kate Smith's radio show; they were eventually spun off into a half-hour show that ran from 1939 to 1953.

An attempt to move the show to television in 1950 met with limited success. The TV show lasted until 1953, and was harmed when one of the actors was caught up in the "Red Scare" of the early 1950s.

Series description provided by Frank Bell.