Last month’s death of Hollywood producer Garry Marshall brought back memories of the many hit television shows and movies he created or directed: “Happy Days,” “Laverne & Shirley,” “Mork & Mindy,” “Pretty Woman” and “The Princess Diaries.” Early in his television producing career he created a show about a father and daughter who worked together as pediatricians in Hawaii. The show was called “The Little People” and later “The Brian Keith Show.” This month we look back on this early-1970s television series.
The star was Keith, an actor who got his start acting in Western movies and television shows. His stoic demeanor was always a hit with fans who saw the honesty in the roles he portrayed. He would appear in nearly a dozen pictures produced by Disney Studios. In 1966 he became a television star in “Family Affair,” a hit show for CBS for five seasons.
In 1972 Marshall came up with the idea for “The Little People.” NBC quickly approved the project, but on one condition set forth by Keith. He wanted the show to be produced in Hawaii and not at a Hollywood studio back lot along with California beaches posing as Hawaii beaches. Once NBC gave the approval, a Warner Bros. production team was sent to Honolulu to scout filming locations. The Otani estate at 3139 Diamond Head Road was chosen as the home of the series.
Keith was already a part-time Hawaii resident. “I love living there and that’s where I want to work,” Keith said in a 1973 interview with the Boston Herald. His wife, Victoria Young, was born in Honolulu and would also star in the series as Puni, a receptionist at the children’s free clinic.
“Hawaii is home to us and doing the show there is like working in the backyard,” Keith said. “When I see ‘Hawaii Five-0’, I enjoy the beautiful scenery. If it were done in Cleveland, it would be just another cops and robbers show.”
In fact, Keith vowed to quit the series if production ever decided to move back to California.
Keith was cast as Dr. Sean Jamison.
“We will deal with various physical as well as emotional ailments of the little people. But each episode will be laced with humor and will reveal Dr. Jamison as a warm, concerned physician who is as completely taken with his profession as he is with life,” Marshall told the Honolulu Advertiser in a 1972 interview.
Actress Shelley Fabares was cast as Dr. Anne Jamison. Fabares was a longtime cast member of “The Donna Reed Show” and had acted in many television shows and movies, including three with Elvis Presley.
“The Little People” made its network debut on Sept. 15, 1972, with the Hawaii premiere six days later on KHON, then an NBC affiliate.
Local actors and celebrities from the entertainment and news fields appeared on the series in guest roles: Zulu, Phil Arnone, Moe Keale, Kwan Hi Lim, Lucky Luck, Doug Mossman, Seth Sakai, Elissa Dulce Hoopai and Joe Moore. Hollywood actors Merlin Olsen, Pat Morita and Dick Van Patten also guest-starred. Many of the children used as extras or who had speaking parts were local kids. “We don’t use professional children on our Hawaii show,” Keith told the Boston Herald.
For the second season a few changes were made, and the title was changed to “The Brian Keith Show” to reflect the star of the series.
“The title of ‘The Little People’ made it seem like a story of leprechauns,” Marshall told the Herald. “Since we’re moving to a later time period, we’re going to change from the heart-warming, family sort of thing to more funny situations. We’re going after an even wider audience and a more adult approach. We’d like to get out of the office more, so that we can do more things.”
Actress Nancy Kulp from “Beverly Hillbillies” fame and actor Roger Bowen were added to the cast in the second season.
The show was canceled in 1974, with a total of 48 episodes produced. The show has rarely been seen in syndication since its cancellation. Keith died in 1997 at the age of 75.
AJ McWhorter, a collector of film and videotape cataloging Hawaii’s TV history, has worked as a producer, writer and researcher for both local and national media. Email him at flashback@hawaii.rr.com.
