To Rome with Love - Season 1

"To Rome With Love," a situation comedy series starring Johin Forsythe as an American college professor living in Rome with his three young daughters, premiered Sunday, Sept. 28, 1969 (7:30-8:00 p: m.) in color on the CBS Television Network. Kay Medford, popular comedienne of stage and movies, is costarred as the professor's older sister. Featured as the daughters are Joyce Menges, Susan Neher and Melanie Fullerton. The series concerns the adventures that befall Professor Michael Endicott (Forsythe) when he decides on a change of scene for his girls following their mother's death. He takes a job teaching at the American Overseas School in Rome. There the family finds itsef in a constant whirl as it adjusts to new ways and people. As Professor Endicott, Forsythe has the task of not only keeping track of his lively daughters but also handling such problems as the "generation gap" and getting a settled home life in a bustling Italian neighborhood. Forsythe is a veteran of two previous television series, "Bachelor Father" and "The John Forsythe Show." He has starred on Broadway and i n many motion pictures, including "The Trouble With Harry," "In Cold Blood" and "Topaz." Miss Medford, as Aunt Harriet, provides a steadying influence on the girls but has her own problems in the foreign atmosphere. Miss Medford won an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress in the movie "Funny Girl" and has played in numerous Broadway musicals and motion pictures. The oldest daughter, Alison, 16, is played by Miss Menges, a former television and magazine model who is a newcomer to acting. The middle girl, Penny, 9, is portrayed by red-haired freckled Susan Neher as the family tomboy. She was a featured player on "The Accidental Family" television series and has made many television guest appearances. The Endicott "baby" is 6- year-old Mary Jane, nicknamed Pokey, played by Melanie Fullerton. She is a blue-eyed strawberry blonde, cuddly and engagingly frank. Little Melanie has modeled and played a guest role on "High Chaparral." To Rome With Love" was created by Joan O'Brien. Its executive producer is Don Federson and the producer is Edmund Hartmann, who were in similar capacities for the "Family Affair" and "My Three Sons" series on the CBS Television Network.

Harriet, Professor Endicott's sister, arrives in Rome and is horrified to find Penny under arrest and strangers sharing the family bath.

An American teacher mistakes Mike Endicott for an Italian and he lets her think he is one. He eventually invites her for an outing.

Aunt Harriet fights a losing battle as she attempts to shape the family and neighborhood to American customs.

After a long wait for a telephone, the Endicott family finally gets one.

The girls try to hide their feelings, but Mike realizes they are homesick and decides to move back to Iowa.

Lots of changes in a poignant story on "To Rome with Love." Elaine is the American widow of an Italian actor. She is a decorator who suggests John Forsythe and family can indeed have a modern bathroom, with the plumbing they are now using returned to the public bathroom. Additionally, they redecorate the apartment Iowa-style when she makes Forsythe see he is really running away from memories.

Alison is so fascinated by the carefree life of a hippie American girl that her father reluctantly lets her go.

Mike Endicott looks up a girl he knew in Rome during the war and finds she is a wealthy countess now.

To impress Alison, a romantic young student pretends he is a wealthy man-about-town. He pawns his belongings to show off.

Quite a touching episode with Aunt Harriet (Kay Medford) suddenly and reluctantly finding what may be some romance in her life. He is a doctor who has been called to treat Pokey. He proves a good doctor, has a great bedside manner with kids and a courtly, winning way with Harriet. But she gets a big, big surprise on their first real, dress-up date.

A pleasant, fairy-tale kind of story in which Mike (John Forsythe), at the library, meets a beautiful Italian trying to place a telephone call to Waco, Texas. She's Anna Maria Alberghetti playing a famed ballerina, La Bella Eleanora, and they have a brief romantic fling that puts a twinkle in his eyes and makes his daughter Alison dream of her own kind of dreams.

To Rome With Love continues its pleasant ways. A young count, a student at Mike's school, is enchanted with Alison. She winds up being invited to the opening of the Rome Opera, but she really doesn't have anything to wear. Mike (John Forsythe) decides this is one moment that must be right for his daughter; so, he moonlights to buy her the dream dress she has admired.

Little Melanie Fullerton, as Pokey, gets a major share of this episode when she gets lost in the Eternal City trying to find her way to the Fountain of Trevi to retrieve a coin she tossed in it. Seems the coin may be valuable, and it belongs to Penny. But little Pokey only took it so that she could keep Alison, whose boyfriend is going back to Iowa, from being sad. You know the legend: toss a coin in the fountain, and you return to Rome.

Penny gets a crush on an Italian boy and decides to give up her tomboy ways and become beautiful so he'll notice her.

Prof. Endicott's troubles with a smitten student lead him to the girl's mother, a jet-setter who tries to win him away from staid parenthood into her glamorous world. 

Endicott's problems as technical adviser on an Italian Western are nothing compared to the difficulties attending 10-year-old Penny's crush on the handsome star.