Episode 137
America's First Reality TV Family? Ozzie and Harriet
☕️ Say thanks with a cup of coffee 😁
The Nelson family's legacy, stemming from their groundbreaking television show "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," revolutionized the portrayal of real families on screen and paved the way for future sitcoms.
Scott and Jen dive into the fascinating history of this iconic family, exploring their impact on American pop culture and the entertainment industry. Jenn shares her personal journey visiting the Nelsons' Los Angeles gravesites, connecting with the family's history in a meaningful way.
They discuss how the show, which ran for an impressive 14 years, blended real-life elements with scripted comedy, making it a unique staple of American television.
🎥 Video from their Los Angeles home
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Transcript
So as I'm crossing the border, the ladies ask me, what are you here for?
Speaker A:What are you here in Canada for?
Speaker A:And I said, I'm here to see Nelson.
Speaker A:And she goes, what's that?
Speaker B:Welcome to Talk with History.
Jen:I'm your host Scott, here with my wife and historian Jen.
Speaker A:Hello.
Jen:On this podcast we give you insights to our history Inspired World Travels YouTube channel Journey and examine history through deeper conversations with the curious, the explorers and the history lovers out there.
Jen:Now Jen, I realized after the new year that I kind of buried the lead on one of the most obvious changes for Talk with History and that was our podcast cover art change.
Jen:So if you're first time listener you wouldn't notice but our podcast cover art has kind of evolved over, over the years and I think we've hit a spot now that really hits the sweet spot on what this podcast is and that is traveling to historic locations, getting out there and experiencing history.
Jen:Yes, it kind of has a little bit of Indiana map, world map vibes to it.
Speaker A:Jones.
Jen:Indiana.
Jen:Yeah, Indiana Jones.
Jen:So just wanted to kind of call that out.
Jen:So for our longtime listeners, I'd be curious to let you to hear your guys thoughts in an email or maybe comment on Spotify.
Jen:But I did put some polls out there and it was one of the more popular ones for listeners on YouTube compared to past ones and other options.
Jen:The Nelson family revolutionized television by bringing the first real American family into our living rooms.
Jen:And they were actually related in real life.
Jen:But their legacy extends far beyond their groundbreaking show, the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
Jen:Today we'll take you on a journey through Hollywood history as we visit the places where these pioneering TV family lived, loved and now rest.
Jen: From: Jen:What made their show unique wasn't just its important impressive 14 year run, but the fact that it started a real family playing versions of themselves.
Jen:Ozzy and Harriet.
Jen:Nelson, along with their sons David and Ricky or Eric, created the blueprint for every family sitcom that would follow.
Jen:In this episode, we're going to explore their former Hollywood Hills home, how they got started, where many of the shows exterior shots were filmed, their Hollywood home and visit the final resting places of Ozzy, Harriet, Eric and David.
Jen:Through these locations, we'll uncover the lasting impact this family had on American pop culture, television, history and the entertainment industry as a whole.
Jen:All right, Jen, so the Nelsons have been an interesting topic between you and I for quite some time, even before you kind of had the idea and opportunity to go visit their grave sites and their Hollywood home.
Jen:One of the things that you said on the video, and the video is out already if you're listening to this podcast, is that when we first met, you didn't realize that I had been told multiple times throughout my life by people of a particular age that I reminded them of Ricky Nelson because I kind of have the same shaped face.
Jen:And I never really knew what that meant because I hadn't seen the show.
Jen:So let's talk about Ozzy and Harriet Nelson, how they started and really who they are to pop culture.
Speaker A:Sure, we laugh about it because I kind of grew up on Ozzy and Harriet, the Adventures of Ozzy and Harriet, because my family were early adopters to the Disney Channel.
Speaker A:And if you had cable, you could buy the Disney Channel, opt for the Disney Channel.
Speaker A:Kind of like HBO when it first came out.
Speaker A:So when I was young, my parents opted for the Disney Channel because we were little.
Speaker A:At one of the filler shows was the Adventures of Ozzy and Harriet.
Jen:That's so funny.
Speaker A:And so I watched all of them as a kid, and so I felt like I grew up with them too.
Speaker A:Even though I was a different generation.
Speaker A:I felt like I grew and grew up with them because David and Ricky started on the show as young boys and grew up on the show.
Speaker A:You saw them all the way through grade school, all the way into college and beyond, where they had jobs and wives and eventually children on the show.
Speaker A:So it was just so neat for me to see that and kind of grow up with them.
Speaker A:And I always wanted to go there.
Speaker A:I always wanted to go to their house.
Speaker A:I always wanted to go and see them.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And it was just so neat to kind of find this and do this.
Speaker A:But one of the other funny stories about this and the.
Speaker A:And Nelson in general is we were living in Erie, Pennsylvania, and I saw Nelson was giving a concert in Niagara Falls.
Speaker A:And this was like a day before they shut down the border for the pandemic.
Jen: ,: Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And I had to cross the border to go into Niagara Falls to see Nelson.
Speaker A:Nelson is Ricky Nelson's two sons.
Speaker A:They're a gunner and Matthew.
Speaker A:And they were kind of popular in the 80s or early 90s.
Jen:They had a couple songs.
Jen:I actually recognized some of those songs.
Speaker A:And they are long blonde hair and kind of have that rock and roll look to them.
Speaker A:But this concert was a tribute concert to their father.
Speaker A:So they played a lot of Ricky Nelson songs and memories of Growing up with their dad.
Speaker A:And so as I'm crossing the border, the ladies asked me, what are you here for?
Speaker A:What are you here in Canada for?
Speaker A:And I said, I'm here to see Nelson.
Speaker A:And she goes, what's that?
Speaker A:And I told her, I'm here to see Ricky Nelson's sons.
Speaker A:Nelson, they're a musical group and they're performing.
Speaker A:And she was like, I have no idea what you're talking about.
Speaker A:So when I went in, I'm about the same age of the, his, his sons, Gunner and Matthew.
Speaker A:They're a little older than me, but I'm about the same age as them.
Speaker A:And so when I went in there I had a front row ticket.
Speaker A:But if, I don't know if they, I looked down but I was like the youngest person there and.
Speaker A:But I knew all the songs, I knew what they were saying.
Speaker A:And for me it was just really special.
Speaker A:I wanted to hear them talk about their dad and their memories.
Speaker A:Plus I liked their music too.
Speaker A:But that was really special for me.
Speaker A:So then to be able to go find the house and then find the final resting place of this original TV family was really important to me.
Jen:So those are kind of our personal ties to some of our personal stories about the, the Nelsons and why it was fun for you to kind of go out there and do this.
Jen:But to step back.
Jen:The Ozzie and Harriet got a start on radio.
Jen: Ozzie and Harriet starting in: Speaker A:Yeah, so Ozzy and Harriet met.
Speaker A:Ozzie was a big band leader.
Speaker A:He was a big band leader in the 30s and Harriet was a singer and she sang in his band.
Speaker A:And that's how they started.
Speaker A:And then they got married and they started to do the radio show like you said, a kind of about their antics as a married couple.
Speaker A:And they had hired two young boys to play their sons actors.
Speaker A:And that was great until Bing Crosby had his real life son on a radio show.
Speaker A:And when David and Ricky heard Bing Crosby's real son, they asked their parents, can we be on the radio show?
Speaker A:And so that's kind of how they brought their real sons into the story.
Jen: I think that was right around: Jen:So they had been doing the radio show for a few years and then they made the jump over to television.
Jen:Now this was what was interesting and I would encourage folks to go and watch the video because I put together a timeline of when this show was on tv kind of with other famous, well known television families of the 50s and later on in the 60s, because this show was on for 14 years.
Jen: e Lucy technically started in: Jen:Right.
Jen:Even though I don't know if her.
Jen:She had started on radio, but I don't know if it was as I Love lucy.
Jen: But that TV show started in: Jen: ted less than a year later in: Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And Lucy, remember, she's not using her real last name.
Speaker A:Desi isn't using his real name at all.
Speaker A:And even though they document the birth of their son, they don't document the birth of their daughter, who is older, and it's not played by their real son.
Speaker A:So the Nelsons are using their real names, their real family, and they even are filming in front of their real house.
Speaker A:I call them America's first TV reality family because even though you're not seeing their real life, some of their real life is playing into the storylines.
Speaker A:It is really them.
Speaker A:It is really the house and the sets are based on their real house.
Speaker A:And they kind of introduce themselves in the beginning.
Speaker A:It very much has a vaudeville fill to it.
Speaker A:So if you ever saw like George M.
Speaker A:Cohan or Yankee Doodle Dandy, when the Co Hands introduced their family, My father thanks you.
Speaker A:My mother thanks you.
Speaker A:That's how they introduced them in the beginning of the show.
Speaker A:Here's Ozzy playing the part of Ozzie.
Speaker A:Harriet.
Speaker A:Here's Harriet playing the part of Harriet.
Speaker A:Harriet Nelson.
Speaker A:And so they kind of go through each one and introduce themselves and then all stand together like a vaudeville act would do.
Speaker A:And that's how they start their show.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:And if you think about it, this is really the.
Jen:The evolution of who's making the transition from vaudeville, from Broadway, from those kind of traveling shows to television that are now bringing this kind of entertainment into people's living rooms.
Jen:So this was 19.
Jen:They kicked it off.
Jen:They ran for 14 years.
Jen:And there's other shows that come on during this time and again.
Jen:Go watch the video because it's like Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows.
Speaker A:Best and the Donna Reed Show.
Jen:The Donna Reed Show.
Jen:And so all these shows are coming and going while this is doing its 14 year straight run.
Jen:And part of what kept this show running was really Ricky Nelson.
Jen:And I think to your point, the fact that this is a real life family and they were kind of interweaving some of what's actually going on in their lives into the show.
Jen:So the rock and roll him kind of breaking out with this rock and roll career that started on tv and he continued after the show.
Jen:Their wives.
Jen:Right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Jen:So.
Speaker A:So you get to See them grow up.
Jen:Yeah.
Speaker A: So it's starting in: Speaker A:And people are like, how is that Ricky?
Speaker A: He's born in: Speaker A:So you can think he's 12, David's 16 when they start and then if it's running now for another 14 years, you're seeing them grow up to be, I mean he's 26, David's almost 30.
Speaker A:You're going to see them growing up through high school and they're good looking boys and then they get married to good looking women.
Speaker A:And the women are a part of the show, their real life watch wives.
Speaker A:And even though they don't document the births of Ricky's children, they document the births of David's children.
Speaker A:And so it gets to the point where it hits the late 60s and in the 60s you're going to start to get this youth revolution.
Speaker A:You're going to get the feminist movement.
Speaker A:And people don't want to see these cookie cutter families anymore on tv.
Speaker A:They want more of the all in the family.
Speaker A:And these people kind of pushing the envelope.
Speaker A:So the Nelson's kind of go off the air then.
Speaker A:But I think they had this 14 year staying power.
Speaker A:They filmed 435 episodes and that's still a record because they do evolve with Ricky Nelson's career.
Speaker A:Now Ricky Nelson, the youngest of the two boys, plays guitar and sings and he does it on the show.
Speaker A:And this is right when rock and roll is starting to hit.
Jen:I was reading some stuff that some families weren't happy about him playing, you know, playing this rock and roll on tv.
Jen:And so I think Ozzy and Harriet actually went out of their way to write into the show where they again on the show are defending their son playing rock and roll music.
Jen:So they're kind of working their real life kind of the feedback they're getting from audiences and they're taking that and they're writing it into the show, kind of defending him.
Jen:But I think to your point, I mean he basically became a breakout star just before or right around the same time that Elvis came on.
Speaker A:So Ricky is younger than Elvis and he's coming onto the scene really when Elvis is hitting his military service.
Speaker A:So Ricky is able to kind of capitalize on that time while he's gone.
Speaker A:But what's interesting is like you said, they've write it into the show that he performs at the College parties that he's going to college at.
Speaker A:So he's a frat boy.
Speaker A:He's in his fraternity, and they have sock hops with the sorority girls.
Speaker A:And what's the entertainment?
Speaker A:Ricky Nelson will play guitar with his band.
Speaker A:It's all shot from the waist up, and he just sings one song.
Speaker A:But those songs were really put onto records and then really sold.
Speaker A:So Ozzy was so smart about this, is he would make sure that the song was cut on a record.
Speaker A:So when people saw it on their televisions, they could run down to the store and buy it.
Speaker A:And that's how Traveling man and hello Mary Lou become such big songs at the time.
Speaker A:And so he's really is the first one to do this kind of cross.
Jen:Between TV and music.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And they even say that Ozzy.
Speaker A:Ozzy produces all the shows.
Speaker A:Even though he looks like he's dumbfuddled in the back, like a father, doesn't know what's going on.
Speaker A:He is the brains behind the entire show.
Speaker A:He's producing every epis.
Speaker A:Now, when Ricky Nelson sings Traveling man, he cuts in silhouettes of the.
Speaker A:The towns he's singing about, like, Waikiki and Hong Kong.
Speaker A:It's kind of like overlaid on Ricky Nelson's face.
Speaker A:They say it's the first music video ever made.
Speaker A:So I thought that was pretty cool.
Jen:Yeah, no, there were some really interesting things that I learned in this.
Jen:Right.
Jen:And then obviously, you.
Jen:When you got out to Los Angeles, you got to go visit the actual home.
Jen:So I don't think people.
Jen:Some people may not realize if you would watch the show growing up or at any time.
Jen:A lot of the stuff was filmed on a Hollywood lot on a set.
Jen:But the actual shots of the house from outside where it was there, was their actual home.
Speaker A:So, yes, the beginning, the opening sequence of them introducing themselves is their actual house.
Speaker A:And then the sets are built in remnants of what their real house looked like.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:So.
Jen:So just like Jimmy Stewart's house in Pennsylvania.
Jen:You can go see it, you can address, you can watch our video, and you can go drive by.
Jen:It's.
Speaker A:It's gated now, so it's owned.
Speaker A:It's privately owned.
Speaker A:And you're not really supposed to park on the street, but I kind of parked and put my blinkers on and then ran across the street and I stood on the porch.
Speaker A: But it's a: Speaker A:If you stand to the side, you can see the red door.
Speaker A:And it looks just like it and this was their home.
Speaker A:I mean, they lived there their entire life.
Speaker A:Ozzie Nelson will actually pass away in that house.
Speaker A:And Harriet will live there well into late in age where she actually will sell the house and then move to.
Speaker A:They had a house on Laguna beach that they would vacation at, and she goes to that house and stays there for the rest of her life.
Speaker A:But when they sold the house not too long ago, Ricky had written his name or carved his name into the door, the closet door.
Speaker A:And they've never painted over it or fixed it.
Speaker A:And it's kind of like you can still see Ricky Nelson's name in there.
Speaker A:So they preserve the history in that house, who's ever owned it as well.
Speaker A:So to be able to stand there and to stand on there from Forge, you'll see me kind of geek out a little bit because I'm super excited to be there in the midst of this history, this American family who really made history on television.
Jen:It really kind of like the first true.
Jen:I think, to your point, TV family, you know, for America, there was I Love Lucy.
Jen:I think this would fit more cleanly in that TV family category.
Jen:So I looked up some interesting facts about the adventures of Ozzy and Harriet.
Jen:The show, right, goes on for a very long time, still holds a record for certain, you know, how many episodes, you know, in front of a live audience and everything like that.
Jen: So until: Jen:It was surpassed by the Simpsons, right?
Jen:The Sims has been on for forever now.
Jen:The show frequently employed the performance technique known as breaking the fourth wall in a comedic way, right?
Jen:So they're breaking their.
Jen:Instead they stop talking to each other and start talking directly to the camera, which, if you think about that back then, that was probably a little more Broadway esque, but still not a common practice back then.
Jen:So I thought that was really interesting that they would break that fourth wall.
Jen: And then in: Jen:And then it ran for another four years after that.
Jen:I think it still held the record as the longest running show and performed in front of a live audience until It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Jen: Passed it in: Speaker A: No,: Jen:2021.
Speaker A:Although it still retains the record in terms of total episodes produced at 435.
Speaker A:And I also want to stress that this show is about nothing.
Speaker A:So it is kind of a Seinfeld esque show, because what are the episodes About.
Speaker A:It could be about nothing.
Speaker A:It could be about, where are the cookies?
Speaker A:Where's my book?
Speaker A:Where's my jacket?
Speaker A:This girl thinks I said something, but I really didn't say that.
Speaker A:I need to tell her the truth, and I need to find her.
Speaker A:And to Scott's point about breaking the fourth wall, I've been watching a bunch of episodes recently, and they're on Amazon prime.
Speaker A:And at the end of every episode, whoever is kind of like the main character of that episode will look at the fourth wall and kind of raise their eyebrows and.
Speaker A:Or put their arms up and go, I don't know.
Speaker A:It's like they know you've been watching their lives for the past 30 minutes, and they're kind of like letting you know that they saw you or they knew you were there.
Jen:Yeah.
Jen:You're a character.
Jen:Right.
Jen:In the story with them.
Jen:And one of the other things that I like talking about Seinfeld is nobody ever really knows if Ozzy has a job.
Speaker A:Yes.
Jen:Because they never.
Jen:They never talk about his job.
Speaker A:Movie.
Jen:There was a movie that said that he was, like, worked in marketing or something.
Speaker A:Advertising.
Jen:Advertising.
Jen:One of the things, from a storytelling perspective, what that does is it lets the person who's watching it kind of project their own selves onto that person when there's less specifics.
Jen:So any father who's watching this show with his family could.
Jen:Could picture probably himself as Ozzy because they never talked about his job.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And what I liked about the real lives, David and Ricky is they're kind of breaking this perfect boy mold.
Speaker A:Now.
Speaker A: David Nelson gets married in: Jen:Playboy Playmate.
Speaker A:Playboy Playmate.
Speaker A:She's beautiful.
Speaker A:She's on the show.
Jen:And.
Speaker A: And Ricky will get married in: Jen:Kristen.
Speaker A:Kristen.
Speaker A:But they call her Chris Harmon.
Speaker A:I say Hansen in the show, but it's Harmon, which you'll know.
Speaker A:Her brother is on ncis.
Jen:Mark Harmon.
Speaker A:Mark Harmon.
Speaker A:But they get married because she's pregnant in real life.
Speaker A:That's why her kid.
Speaker A:Their first daughter Tracy, is never shown on Ozzy and Harriet because it wouldn't make sense with the timeline.
Jen:They were so famous at that point, put two and two together.
Speaker A:So it's interesting how David and Ricky kind of buck the system here a little bit in their own way.
Speaker A:David will go on to have two boys with June.
Speaker A:They get divorced, and then he'll marry a woman named Yvonne and he'll adopt her three children.
Speaker A:Rick and Chris Harmon will have four children.
Speaker A:They have Tracy Then the twins, Gunner and Matthew, who become Nelson.
Speaker A:And then a son, Sam.
Speaker A: They also divorce in: Speaker A: lane crash on New Year's Eve,: Speaker A:When I found their graves.
Speaker A:Ozzie and Harriet are buried beside each other in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Speaker A:But Ricky is buried about two rows back by himself.
Jen:He's probably 10ft away.
Speaker A:10Ft away.
Speaker A:And they're all buried pretty close now.
Speaker A:David opted to be buried at Westwood Cemetery.
Speaker A:Who.
Speaker A:Which I had been to before.
Speaker A:That's where Marilyn Monroe is.
Speaker A:That's where Betty Page is.
Speaker A:That's where Dean Martin is.
Speaker A:Lots of famous people, Natalie W.
Speaker A:And he also chose to be cremated.
Speaker A:Now people wonder, why did David Nelson choose to be away from the rest of the family?
Speaker A:He is the last to pass of the three of them.
Speaker A:And some people wonder about their lives growing up.
Speaker A:And how much did they have to lose of their childhoods to do this show?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:David never really talked about that.
Speaker A:One thing I did notice, though, is that David's middle name is Oswald, which is Ozzy's real name.
Speaker A:However, on his tombstone, it says David Ozzie Nelson.
Jen:Interesting.
Speaker A:And I find that interesting because he's using his father's stage name.
Speaker A:And I don't know if that's an ode to his dad and who his dad was.
Speaker A:So people would recognize.
Speaker A:If you go to the grave, it says David Ozzie Nelson.
Speaker A:You would go Ozzie Nelson if you didn't know it was David.
Speaker A:Although.
Speaker A:And on Ozzy's grave, it's Oswald Nelson.
Speaker A:And then if you go to Ricky Nelson's grave, it's Eric Hilliard Nelson.
Speaker A:And the Hilliard is Harriet's maiden name.
Speaker A:So it's interesting how it's family names, which we're used to.
Speaker A:That's kind of what we did with our children as well.
Speaker A:But if you didn't know Ricky Nelson's name, you might bite.
Speaker A:Walk right by the Eric Nelson and not even know that was him.
Jen:I thought it interesting.
Jen:I was glad you got to go do it.
Jen:People have even commented, like, how excited you were to stand on their porch, which you've done that a couple times over.
Jen:Yeah, a couple videos.
Jen:So it was very cool.
Speaker A:Yeah, it really was a dream come true for me.
Speaker A:And I know I had some people I actually, like, smile at Ricky Nelson's grave.
Speaker A:And some people are kind of asked me, how can I smile at someone's grave?
Speaker A:And I do that because I think about his life.
Speaker A:I think about the joy he brought.
Speaker A:I love Ricky Nelson and I enjoy just watching him on the television show, and so when I smile at his grave, it's because I'm remembering his life and I'm not really focused on his death.
Jen:While the the Adventures of Ozzy and Harriet may have started as just another family show, starting a year after I Love Lucy, it became a cultural phenomenon that transformed television forever.
Jen:Not only did it set the standard for family sitcoms, but also launched the music career of Brick Nelson and showed America what a real family looked like both on and off screen.
Jen:The Nelson family's legacy lives on through their contributions to entertainment, their pioneering approach to reality based television, and their lasting impact on American pop culture.
Jen:Their Hollywood home and final resting place serve as reminders of their incredible journey and the mark they left on television history.
Jen:Their story teaches us that sometimes the most powerful entertainment isn't about fantasy or fiction.
Jen:It's about showing real life, real relationships and real families, even if they happen to be on tv.
Speaker B:This has been Walk With History production.
Speaker B:Talk With History is created and hosted by me, Scott Benny.
Speaker B:Episode researched by Jennifer Benny.
Speaker B:Check out the show notes for links and references mentioned in this episode.
Speaker B:Talk with History is supported by our fans@thehistoryroadtrip.com our eternal thanks to those providing funding to help keep us going.
Jen:Thank you to Doug McLiberty, Larry Myers and Patrick Benny.
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