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No Time for Sergeants

No Time for Sergeantsis a 1954 best-selling novel byMac Hyman,which was adapted into a teleplay onThe United States Steel Hour,a popular Broadway play and 1958motion picture,as well as a 1964 television series. The book chronicles the misadventures of a countrybumpkinnamed Will Stockdale who is drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II and assigned to the U.S. Army Air Forces. Hyman was in the Army Air Forces during World War II.

No Time for Sergeants
First edition cover
AuthorMac Hyman
LanguageEnglish
PublisherRandom House
Publication date
October 1, 1954[1]
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint

Adaptations in other media

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Ira Levinadapted Hyman's novel for a one-hour teleplay that appeared as an episode onThe United States Steel Hourtelevision series in 1955. An expanded version appeared on Broadway at theAlvin Theatrelater that year. In 1958, a film version was released.

Television adaptation (1955)

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Main article:No Time for Sergeants (United States Steel Hour)

Ira Levin's adaptation of the novel appeared live on March 15, 1955, on the anthology seriesThe United States Steel Hour.It starredAndy Griffithas Will Stockdale,Harry Clarkas his nemesis and inadvertent mentor Sergeant Orville King, as well asRobert Emhardt,Eddie Le Royand Alexander Clark. Akinescoperecording of the broadcast is available.

Broadway play

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An expanded version of the play, written byIra Levin,opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on October 20, 1955, produced byMaurice Evansand directed byMorton DaCosta.Griffith reprised his role,Myron McCormickplayed Sgt. King,Roddy McDowallplayed Will's army buddy Ben, andDon Knottsmade his Broadway debut as Corporal Manual Dexterity. Scenic designer Peter Larkin won aTony Awardin 1956, and Andy Griffith was nominated for a Tony for Best Featured Actor. The play ran for a total of 796 performances, closing on September 14, 1957.

Motion picture

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SeeNo Time for Sergeants (1958 film)

No Time for Sergeantswas filmed and released byWarner Bros.in 1958. The film was directed byMervyn LeRoyand starred Griffith, McCormick, Knotts, and most of the rest of the original Broadway cast. Warner Bros. contract starsNick Adams(as Stockdale's fellow draftee Benjamin B. Whitledge) andMurray Hamilton(as Irving S. Blanchard) joined the cast.

Television series

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No Time for Sergeants
GenreSitcom
Based onNo Time for Sergeants
by Mac Hyman
Starring
ComposerGeorge Duning
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No.of seasons1
No.of episodes34
Production
Executive producers
Cinematography
  • Robert Hoffman
  • Jacques R. Marquette
Editors
  • Byron Chudnow
  • Milt Kleinberg
Running time30 min
Production companies
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseSeptember 14, 1964(1964-09-14)–
May 3, 1965(1965-05-03)

No Time for Sergeantscame to the small screen in Fall 1964. By this point, Griffith and Knotts were both established as stars ofThe Andy Griffith Showand were no longer available. The television seriesNo Time for SergeantsstarredSammy Jacksonwho had had one line in the film version.[2][unreliable source?]When Jackson read that Warner Bros. was going to produce a television sitcom version ofNo Time for Sergeants,he wrote directly toJack L. Warner,stating that he was the best choice for the role and asked Warner to watch a certain episode of the seriesMaverickas proof. Ten days later, Jackson was told to come to the studio to test for the role.[2]Jackson won the role over several actors, including the better knownWill Hutchins,aWarner Bros. Televisioncontract star who formerly played the sympatheticSugarfootand had been in theNo Time for Sergeantsfilm.[3]

UnlikeJim Nabors'sGomer Pyle(ofThe Andy Griffith Showspin-off of the same name,inspired byNo Time for Sergeants), Jackson's Stockdale was not unintelligent. He possessed a considerable amount ofcommon sensegained from experience, which he frequently brought to bear during the run of the series.

  • His knowledge of farming leads him to give a better image interpretation analysis of an aerial photograph than Air Force Intelligence.
  • The Air Force attempts to demonstrate the efficiency of its survival training by pitting an Air Force survival trained group against an untrained group including Stockdale in the wilderness. Stockdale, with his backwoods knowledge, takes charge and gives his party a comfortable time similar to being in a resort, while the trained group barely survives.
  • Stockdale accepts latrine details as challenges rather than punishments and impresses the drill sergeant by how well he cleans the latrine.
  • Stockdale demonstrates another more appealing quality over Gomer Pyle when he unflinchingly takes punches to his stomach from a karate expert with a smile and a good-natured lecture to his assailant[4]until Stockdale ends his lecture by knocking the karate expert through a window.
  • Stockdale has no reservations about drinking alcohol. However, the drill sergeant's attempts at getting him drunk fail, with the implication that Stockdale has built up a tolerance for alcohol from a lifetime of drinking moonshine whiskey.

Part of theWilliam T. Orr-produced stable ofWarner Bros. Televisionprograms, the series was produced byGeorge Burns's production company. It preceded Burns' ownWendy and Mesitcom (which starred Burns andConnie Stevens) on ABC's Monday night schedule. However, oppositeThe Andy Griffith Show,the series headlined by the original star of all the earlier versions ofNo Time For Sergeants,it was trounced in the ratings and only lasted one season. It was shown in the UK onITVfrom 1965 to 1969.[citation needed]

Andy Clyde,formerly ofThe Real McCoys,had a supporting role in the television series as Grandpa Jim Anderson.Ann McCrea,while appearing as a regular onThe Donna Reed Show,was cast as Amelia Taggert in the 1964 episode "O Krupnick, My Krupnick".

Episode list

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Nº Title Directed by Written by Air date
1"The Permanent Recruit"Richard CrennaWilliam Burns, John L. Greene, Elon Packard and Norman PaulSeptember 14, 1964(1964-09-14)
2"Blue's Wild Yonder"Leslie H. MartinsonUnknownSeptember 21, 1964(1964-09-21)
3"Bloodhounds Are Thicker Than Water"Leslie H. MartinsonUnknownSeptember 28, 1964(1964-09-28)
4"Grandpa's Airlift"Leslie H. MartinsonUnknownOctober 5, 1964(1964-10-05)
5"Two Aces in the Hole"Jeffrey HaydenUnknownOctober 12, 1964(1964-10-12)
6"The Spirit of 75"Sidney LanfieldSeaman Jacobs&Ed JamesOctober 19, 1964(1964-10-19)
7"Bully for Ben"Leslie H. MartinsonUnknownOctober 26, 1964(1964-10-26)
8"Will Gets a Right-Hand Man"Leslie H. MartinsonUnknownNovember 2, 1964(1964-11-02)
9"Have No Uniform Will Travel"Leslie H. MartinsonUnknownNovember 9, 1964(1964-11-09)
10"The Farmer in the Deal"Jeffrey HaydenSeaman Jacobs & Ed JamesNovember 16, 1964(1964-11-16)
11"Will Goes to Washington"Hollingsworth MorseSeaman Jacobs & Ed JamesNovember 23, 1964(1964-11-23)
12"The $100,000 Canteen"Hollingsworth MorseUnknownNovember 30, 1964(1964-11-30)
13"O Krupnick, My Krupnick"Charles R. RondeauUnknownDecember 7, 1964(1964-12-07)
14"Do Me a Favor and Don't Do Me Any"Sidney LanfieldSeaman Jacobs & Ed JamesDecember 14, 1964(1964-12-14)
15"Stockdale's Island"Charles R. RondeauUnknownDecember 21, 1964(1964-12-21)
16"Stockdale's Millions"Charles R. RondeauUnknownDecember 28, 1964(1964-12-28)
17"Two for the Show"Charles R. RondeauUnknownJanuary 4, 1965(1965-01-04)
18"The Living End"Charles R. RondeauUnknownJanuary 11, 1965(1965-01-11)
19"My Fair Andy"Charles R. RondeauUnknownJanuary 18, 1965(1965-01-18)
20"Stockdale, General Nuisance"Leslie H. MartinsonUnknownJanuary 25, 1965(1965-01-25)
21"Too Many Stockdales"UnknownUnknownFebruary 1, 1965(1965-02-01)
22"A Hatful of Muscles"UnknownUnknownFebruary 8, 1965(1965-02-08)
23"Where There's a Way, There's a Will Stockdale"UnknownUnknownFebruary 15, 1965(1965-02-15)
24"It Shouldn't Happen to a Sergeant"UnknownUnknownFebruary 22, 1965(1965-02-22)
25"How Now, Brown Cow"UnknownUnknownMarch 1, 1965(1965-03-01)
26"The Case of the Revolving Witness"UnknownUnknownMarch 8, 1965(1965-03-08)
27"The Sergeant's Kimono"UnknownUnknownMarch 15, 1965(1965-03-15)
28"Stockdale of the Stockade"UnknownUnknownMarch 22, 1965(1965-03-22)
29"Will's Misfortune Cookie"UnknownUnknownMarch 29, 1965(1965-03-29)
30"The Day Blue Blew"UnknownUnknownApril 5, 1965(1965-04-05)
31"Whortleberry Roots for Everyone"UnknownUnknownApril 12, 1965(1965-04-12)
32"Andy Meets His Match"UnknownUnknownApril 19, 1965(1965-04-19)
33"Target: Stockdale"UnknownUnknownApril 26, 1965(1965-04-26)
34"The Velvet Wiggle"UnknownUnknownMay 3, 1965(1965-05-03)

Comics

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The four comics inspired byNo Time For Sergeants

ADellFour ColorIssue 914comic bookversion of this story, illustrated byAlex Tothand published in July 1958, follows the movie's narrative. Three follow up issues in the 1960s tied into the short-lived TV series that starred Sammy Jackson. Greg Theakston's Pure Imagination releasedThe Alex Toth Reader, v2in 2005. The art has been reproduced from the originals by a process that has been come to be known as Theakstonization, a process by which the original comics have the color leached out, leaving only the black and white line art, which then is reproduced to appear exactly as it did at the time of original publication. One of the stories offered is the original movie adaptation.

References

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  1. ^"Books Published Today".The New York Times:21. October 1, 1954.
  2. ^abTelevision Heaven Forum - 60's Comedy set in US Air Force
  3. ^p.138 Lamparski, RichardWhatever Became Of -? Eight Series1982 Crown Publishers
  4. ^Television: The New Season - TIME
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