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Starring Peggy Wood & Judson Laire
Season 5 (CBS) (1953-54)
Episode Guide compiled by The Classic TV Archive  [Updated Jan 2019 TA]
with contributions by:
Jim Brent, R.B. Huggins, Tom Alger, Robert P. Alexander, Randy Watts
references:
TV Guide /   Library of Congress (telnet://locis.loc.gov)
Internet Movie Database (https://us.imdb.com)
UCLA Film and Television Archive

##################### Mama ###################
############## season 5 1953-54 ##############
#################### (live) ##################
 CBS Fridays 8:00 pm EST
(04Sep53-02July54)

5.01 [190] Mama: (episode title not known)
04Sep1953 CBS
Katrin decides to become a breadwinner during her summer vacation. [JB]

5.02 [--] Mama: (episode title not known)
11Sep1953 CBS
Los Angeles: 17Sep1953 LA KNXT-2 Thurs. 7pm
Synopsis 1:
Dagmar envies a schoolmate whose father is a glamorous, well-traveled engineer, but it's Mama who finally helps her daughter's little friend. [JB]
Synopsis 2:
Dagmar envies the girl down the street whose dad is a world-traveling engineer. However, it turns out the dad is really in prison.
[Long Beach Independent]

5.03 [--] Mama: (episode title not known)
18Sep1953 CBS
Los Angeles: 24Sep1953 KNXT-2 Thurs. 7pm
Synopsis 1:
Nels opens a charge account at the local department store and stocks up on a too generous supply of clothing in order to impress the girls at school. [JB]
Synopsis 2:
Nels opens a charge account at a men’s shop and buys a whole new wardrobe in order to impress a young lady. When he cannot pay
the bill it is time for “Mama” to step in. [Long Beach Independent]

5.04 [--] Mama: (episode title not known)
25Sep1953 CBS
Los Angeles: 02Oct1953 KNXT-2 Fri. 8pm
Synopsis 1:
Katrin enters business college and meets an interesting man. [JB]
Synopsis 2:
Katrin learns that all the copy-book maxims and words of wisdom of philosophers do not guarantee a road to success during
"Mama" on KNXT (2) at 8 p. m. Show has moved from Thursday. [Long Beach Independent]

5.05 [--] Mama: GUNNAR'S AUNT
02Oct1953
Confusion reigns when Mama's brother-in-law Gunnar promises to care for his Aunt Ingeborg, who is due to arrive from Norway. [JB]

5.06 [--] Mama: (episode title not known)
09Oct1953
Papa, who sometimes thinks his family is ashamed of his being a carpenter, is invited to join an exclusive businessmen's lodge. [JB]

5.07 [--] Mama: (episode title not known)
16Oct1953
Dagmar goes to her first military Ball after much preparation. [JB]

5.08 [--] Mama: (episode title not known)
23Oct1953 CBS
Aunt Jenny is certain that she is not long for this world. [JB]

5.09 [--] Mama: SPEEDING UP PAPA
30Oct1953 CBS
Papa is worried about his job when an efficiency expert visits his company. [JB]

5.10 [--] Mama: MAMA AND THE MATINEE IDOL
06Nov1953 CBS
Los Angeles: 13Nov1953 KNXT-2 Fri. 8pm
Synopsis 1:
Katrin, Trina and Aunt Jenny go to the theater to see a popular idol but Mama meets him on a shopping trip. [JB]
Synopsis 2:
Trina and Aunt Jenny head for the theater but Mama gives her tickets to Katrin. Then Mama meets the matinee idol.
[Long Beach Independent]

5.11 [200] Mama: (episode title not known)
13Nov1953 CBS
Los Angeles: 20Nov1953 KNXT-2 Fri. 8pm
Synopsis:
Tonight at 8 p. m. on KNXT (2) marks the 200th performance of the popular scries "Mama" starring Peggy Wood.
The program started more than four and a half years ago and still has its original cast.
In the show tonight Mama has to show Trina and Gunneris that she still knows how to raise children. [Long Beach Independent]

5.12 [--] Mama: PAPA'S SPEECH
20Nov1953 CBS
Los Angeles: 27Nov1953 KNXT-2 Fri. 8pm
Synopsis:
Faced with the duty of making a speech at the annual Fathers-and-Sons Dinner of the Sons of Norway, Papa goes into isolation.
[Long Beach Independent]

5.13 [--] Mama: MAMA AND KELSO'S SILVER SHEENO
27Nov1953 CBS
Los Angeles: 04Dec1953 KNXT-2 Fri. 8pm
Synopsis 1:
Pap's old friend, Kelso, turns up with a new scheme and wants Mama to help him promote it. [JB]
Synopsis 2:
One of Papa's old friends turns up ready to interest him in another fly-by-night scheme. [Long Beach Independent]

5.14 [--] Mama: (episode title not known)
04Dec1953 CBS
Dagmar becomes an ardent stamp collector and financier. [JB]

5.15 [--] Mama: SUPER-EFFICIENCY [Salamanca NY Republican Press]
11Dec1953
Katrin attempts to "systematize" her boss and winds up looking at her walking papers. [JB]

5.16 [--] Mama: (episode title not known)
18Dec1953
Mama tells a tale of Christmas in Norway to Dagmar.
Note: Most likely this was the annual Christmas episode
"The Night the Animals Talked." [JB]

5.17 [--] Mama: (episode title not known)
25Dec1953
Papa helps the Sons of Norway celebrate the holiday season.

5.18 [--] Mama: KATRIN'S HOPE CHEST
01Jan1954 CBS Fri
Script by Kay Arthur.
Guest cast:
Arthur Walsh,
Joyce van Patten
Synopsis:
Katrin faces her first broken romance. [JB]

5.19 [--] Mama: INGEBORG’S CRIME
08Jan1954 CBS Fri
Script by Jerome Ross.
Guest cast:
Alice Frost,
Anne Seymour
Synopsis:
Ingeborg has trouble collecting a prize she believes she has won. [JB]

5.20 [--] Mama: T. R. & THE BUTTERCUPS
15Jan1954 CBS Fri
Los Angeles: 22Jan1954 KNXT-2 Fri. 8pm
Script by Gail Ingram.
Guest cast:
Gage Clarke, Lois Bolton, Barbara Myers
Synopsis:
T.R.'s teacher insists that he play a buttercup in the school play, but T.R. wants to talk about striped zebras. [JB]
Synopsis 2:
Papa’s backbone gets a needed stiffening thanks to a little boy who’s forced to make a choice between buttercups and zebras.
[Long Beach Independent]

5.21 [--] Mama: NELS AND THE NOB HILL BALL
aka NELS AND THE NOB HILL PARTY (TV Index)
22Jan1954 CBS Fri
Los Angeles: 29Jan1954 KNXT-2 Fri. 8pm
Script by Gordon Webber.
Guest cast:
Naomi Riordan, Nan McFarland, Perry Fiske, Harold Kennedy
Synopsis:
Romance makes a gate-crasher out of Nels when he deserts a family party to go to the Grand Cotillion. [Long Beach Independent]

5.22 [--] Mama: SUBSTITUTE MAMA
29Jan1954 CBS Fri
Script by Gail Ingram.
Guest cast:
Janet Parker, Joseph Boland, Richard Trask

5.23 [--] Mama: MAMA AND THE WILD MAN
05Feb1954 CBS Fri
MAMA AND THE WILD MAN
Script by Palmer Thompson.
Guest cast:
Robert Byrn, Liam Sullivan, Bill Erwin

5.24 [--] Mama: DAGMAR'S BRACES
12Feb1954 CBS Fri
Directed by Sidney Lumet.
Script by Gail Ingram.
Guest cast:
Janet Parker, Richard Trask, Gene Francis, Raymond Bailey, Frieda Altman.
Synopsis:
Dagmar must have braces on her teeth. [JB]

5.25 [--] Mama: KATRIN AT THE EXPOSITION
19Feb1954 CBS Fri
Directed by Sidney Lumet.
Script by Turner Bullock.
Guest cast:
Joyce Van Patten, Betty Sinclair, Alex Clark
Synopsis:
Katrin takes a job at the San Francisco Exposition. [JB]

5.26 [--] Mama: DAGMAR AND SERSEN
26Feb1954 CBS Fri
Script by Jerome Ross.
Guest cast:
Glen Burris, Janet Parker, Irene Moore
Synopsis:
Dagmar plans her future with a man twice her age when she misinterprets is interest to be a romantic one. [JB]

5.27 [--] Mama: PAPA'S NEW JOB
05Mar1954 CBS Fri
Script by Gordon Webber.
Guest cast:
John Seymour, Joe Sullivan, G. Albert Smith, Jock MacGregor.
Synopsis:
Papa decides to augment his income by selling insurance in his spare time. [JB]

5.28 [--] Mama: AUNT JENNY AND THE STREETS OF PARIS
aka JENNY AND THE STREETS OF PARIS (TV Index)
12Mar1954 CBS Fri
Script by Jerome Ross.
Guest cast:
Pat Poole, Herbert Anderson
Synopsis:
Mama turns to blackmail when Aunt Jenny makes her angry. [JB]

5.29 [--] Mama: THE 23RD PSALM
aka THE TWENTY-THIRD PSALM (TV Index)
19Mar1954 CBS Fri
Script by Prank Gabrielson.
Guest cast:
Muriel Kirkland, Judson Rees
Synopsis:
Mama talks bluntly to the mother of one of daughter Dagmar's friends. The discussion centers on the problem of developing confidence in a teenage boy. [JB]

5.30 [--] Mama: DAGMAR, QUEEN OF THE GOLDEN GATE
26Mar1954 CBS Fri
Script by Jerome Ross.
Guest cast:
Anne Mary Tallon, Jason Robard
Synopsis:
Dagmar is chosen schoolgirl queen of the San Francisco fair. [JB]

5.31 [--] Mama: MAMA'S CINDERELLA NIGHT
02Apr1954 CBS Fri
Script by Palmer Thompson.
Guest cast:
Blair Davies
Synopsis:
An old beau of Mama's jogs the family into the realization that Mama likes to dance. [JB]

5.32 [--] Mama: PAPA AND THE GREAT MAN
09Apr1954 CBS Fri 8pm
Script by Jerome Ross.
Guest cast:
Russell Hicks, Paul Roebling, Russ Dearborn
Synopsis:
Nels comes to admire a famous surgeon's skill and tends to underestimate his father's carpentry abilities. [JB]

5.33 [--] Mama: MAMA IN SUNDAY SCHOOL
aka MAMA AND SUNDAY SCHOOL (TV Index)
16Apr1954 CBS Fri 8pm
Script by Jerome Ross.
Guest cast:
Alice Frost, Carl Frank, Patty McCormack, Jerome Collamore
Synopsis:
When Mama is recruited to teach Sunday school, her story on miracles has lasting effect on little Ingeborg. [JB]

5.34 [--] Mama: PAPA AND SERSEN
23Apr1954 CBS Fri 8pm
Script by Jerome Ross.
Guest cast:
Glenn Burris as Sersen
Pat Breslin
William Lee
Synopsis:
The Sons of Norway give a citation to Papa but he becomes annoyed when Sersen is not on hand to congratulate him. [JB]

5.35 [--] Mama: MAMA AND EXPOSITION FEVER
30Apr1954 CBS Fri
Script by Gail Ingram.
Guest cast:
Ruth Hammond, Nancy Pollock, John Howes
Synopsis:
When her children suggest that she find a creative outlet, Mama revives her interest in concert singing. [JB]

5.36 [--] Mama: PAPA'S GUILY SECRET
07May1954 CBS Fri
Script by Palmer Thompson.
Guest cast:
Matt Crowley,
Clifford Owen
Synopsis:
Mama does not know that Papa has cosigned a bank note for a friend. A summons arrives demanding that Papa make good his signature. [JB]

5.37 [--] Mama: NELS AND THE SUNDAY SCHOLAR
14May1954 CBS Fri
Synopsis:
Nels tutors a girl who wants to become a doctor. When her father discovers that Nels' visits concern medicine instead of marriage,
there is trouble for all. [JB]

5.38 [--] Mama: THE FAMILY FEUD
21May1954 CBS Fri
Script by Jerome Ross.
Guest cast:
Carl Frank, Alice Frost
Synopsis:
Mama's daughters, Katrin and Dagmar, cause family discord when their aunts, Jenny and Trina, give them lessons in sisterly love.
Uncle Gunnar tries his best to restore harmony. [JB]

5.39 [--] Mama: MAMA AND THE MAGICIAN
28May1954 CBS Fri
Script by Turner Eullock & Virginia Redcliffe.
Guest cast:
Darren McGavin, Nellie Burt, Dortha Duckworth
Synopsis:
Mama befriends a hungry man who turns out to be a magician who can make things disappear. When he performs at a church benefit,
it's hard to tell where magic ends and robbery begins. [JB]

5.40 [--] Mama: KATRIN, GIRL OF TOMORROW
04June1954 CBS Fri
Script by Palmer Thompson.
Guest cast:
George Petrie, Joyce Van Patten, Alice Frost, Virginia Brian
Synopsis:
Katrin's boss asks her to model the latest style in swimsuits in a fashion show. Aunts Trina and Jenny attend the showing
and are shocked by Katrin's daring performance.

5.41 [--] Mama: T.R.'s NEW HOME [UCLA]
aka T. R.'S HOME [TV Index]
11June1954 CBS Fri
Script by Gordon Webber
Guest cast:
Frieda Altman
Synopsis:
When T.R. Ryan's father is scheduled for a two-year stay in South America, he makes plans to put his son in a children's home.
The Hansens are disturbed by T.R.'s grief and make their own plans for his future. [JB]

5.42 [--] Mama: DAGMAR'S DIARY
18June1954 CBS Fri
Script by Jerome Ross.
Guest cast:
Patsy Campbell, Janet Parker
Synopsis:
When T.R. Ryan picks up Dagmar's diary to practice his reading Mama discovers that the youngest Hansen dislikes her English teacher.
Mama tries to find out why. [JB]

5.43 [--] Mama: KATRIN THE BOHEMIAN
aka KATHRYN & THE BOHEMIAN (TV Index)
25June1954 CBS Fri
Script by Kay Arthur
Guest cast:
Ruth Gates, Sylvia Farnham
Synopsis:
Katrin grows bored with the quiet life at home. She goes off for a trial visit to the bohemian life of her friend Babette
and the others on Telegraphy Hill. [JB]

5.44 [--] Mama: NELS AND THE SUMMER CAMP -aka- NEL'S SUMMER CAMP [UCLA]
-aka- NELS AT SUMMER CAMP (TV Index)
02July1954 CBS Fri
Script by Turner Bullock.
Guest cast:
Kevin Coughlin, Patricia Barry, David Orrick, Corydon Erickson, Brian Dunne, Richard Olsen
Synopsis:
There's confusion for the Hansen household when Nels tries to organize the little boys for whom he will be a summer camp counselor.
T.R. Ryan is one of the charges who must be sent off safely. Mama tries to lend a hand. [JB]
Synopsis 2:
Nels learns about child psychology at Summer camp. [NY Times]
(Last Show of  Season 5)

[--] 9Jul1954 CBS - start of Summer replacement series “Pantomime Quiz” (9Jul54 through 27Aug54).

"Mama” returned for its sixth season on 03Sep1954. 

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