Review: Our Miss Brooks

Richard Crenna

Our Miss Brooks is usually a fun show. I enjoy very much the characters of Mr. Conklin (played so well by Gale Gordon as the slow-burn school prinicpal) and Richard Crenna as student Walter Denton, who is, I think, very typical of a teen in the 1950's rather than the 1940's.

Eve Arden holds down the spot as the show's anchor and star as she plays English teacher Connie Brooks. I don't dislike her but neither do I like her. I don't feel one way or another about her - and I am actually kind of ambivalent about the entire show, sans the Conklin part.

There are some annoying things about the show, mainly goofy Mrs. Davis, Miss Brooks' landlady (who seems to have the early stages of dementia) and her even more annoying cat, Minerva -- and the feline's lusty meow gets on my minervas.

Eve Arden (left) and Jane Morgan (as Mrs. Davis)

All the other characters are fine, none of them really stand out. Phillip Boynton, the science teacher, is always the frightened prey of Miss Brooks and the show's sound effects man must have had a field day coming up with all of the animal sounds when Boynton was on there. The frog sound, for instance, is just ridiculously too loud and annoying for my tastes.

The show was geared to the 1940's teen so why should I be complaining? I'm not really, as "Our Miss Brooks" is a show I listen to regularly and enjoy somewhat. It's not my favorite but it's not bad either. The sound quality, by in large, is pretty good, so no complaints there either.