Susie (also known as Private Secretary) is an American situation comedy that aired from February 1st, 1953 to September 10th, 1957 on CBS, alternating with The Jack Benny Program on Sundays at 7:30pm EST.  The series stars Ann Sothern as Susan Camille “Susie” MacNamara, devoted secretary to handsome talent agent Peter Sands, played by Don […]

Susie (also known as Private Secretary) is an American situation comedy that aired from February 1st, 1953 to September 10th, 1957 on CBS, alternating with The Jack Benny Program on Sundays at 7:30pm EST.  The series stars Ann Sothern as Susan Camille “Susie” MacNamara, devoted secretary to handsome talent agent Peter Sands, played by Don Porter.

Susie MacNamara (Sothern) was a former stage actress (and a WAC veteran of WW2 and also a single woman as well) who worked as the private secretary for theatrical agent Peter Sands (Porter) at the fictional New York theatrical agency, International Artists Inc.  Susie’s honest, good-natured attempts to help Mr. Sands, especially in romantic matters, always led to comedic complications.  Susie was usually assisted by her best friend, Violet “Vi” Praskins (Ann Tyrrell), the office’s nervous and bumbling receptionist. In guest appearances, Jesse White played Mickey “Cagey” Calhoun, a chief competitor and loudmouthed agent business rival to Susie’s boss.  One of the show’s trademarks was the set decoration portraying a 1950’s state-of-the-art executive office, with stylish decor, IBM typewriters and the latest office telephone gear from Western Electric.  There were occasional references to a young actress, never seen, who was a client of Mr. Sands, named Harriet Lake (Sothern’s real name).

In an unusual move, Private Secretary also had two brief runs on another network.  During the summers of 1953 and 1954, reruns from the recent season were shown on NBC as a summer replacement for Your Hit Parade, with the series resuming new shows on CBS each fall.  Private Secretary, Your Hit Parade, and Jack Benny were all sponsored by Lucky Strike Cigarettes, its parent company American Tobacco Company had some financial interest in all three programs and their respective network time-slots.

The series was renewed for a sixth season, but Sothern walked out in a contract dispute with producer Jack Chertok, ending the series’ run.   Sothern, along with several cast members, went on to star in another weekly series, The Ann Sothern Show, from 1958–61.

Sothern reprised the character of Susie MacNamara for the premiere episode of The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show (later shown in repeats as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour).  In this installment, entitled “Lucy Takes a Cruise To Havana” (which was originally a 75-minute episode), Sothern appeared opposite Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley, Hedda Hopper, Rudy Vallee, Cesar Romero and Keith Thibodeaux.

Before Private Secretary went into syndication, the opening title sequence and series name were changed. The series, which was sponsored by American Tobacco for Lucky Strike cigarettes during its original run, featured the companies sponsor I.D. in the opening title sequence which could not be aired in syndication. An animated title sequence was made featuring a cartoon “Susie.”

The series’ name was also changed when producer Jack Chertok withheld the rights to the show’s original title in hopes of replacing Sothern with another actress in the title role.  Chertok released Susie into syndication in the fall of 1957.  The original title sequence has not been viewed since Private Secretary’s original run.