Love American Style
 “Love seen from all sides; young and old, rich and poor,
unmarried, just married, long married and multi married”.
Love
American Style was an hour-long television anthology which
originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974.
For the
1971 and 1972 seasons it was a part of an ABC Friday prime-time
line-up that also included The
Brady Bunch, The
Partridge Family, Room
222, and The Odd Couple.
Each episode consisted of a series of one-act plays with love
in the title : Love and the Practical Joker, Love and
the Legal Agreement, Love and the Hot Pants, Love
and the Hippie Girl, Love and the Pill . . .
All episodes were unrelated,
featuring different characters, stories and locations, although
the show
often featured the same actors playing different characters in
many episodes. In addition a large and ornate brass bed was a
recurring prop in every house in every story.
In between the stories there were terrible skits featuring the
loveless loser Lamar, played by Stuart Margolin, the actor who
later became Angel in The Rockford Files.
Charles Fox's delicate yet hip music score, featuring flutes,
harp, and flugelhorn set to a contemporary pop beat, provided the
"love" ambiance which tied the stories together as a
multifaceted romantic comedy each week.
Love American Style was a wonderful vehicle for ABC
sitcom stars to stretch their abilities, and also soon became a
haven for washed-up old actors of the Cesar Romero and Rudy Vallee
variety. Other notable guest stars included Sonny and Cher,
Phyllis Diller, Paul Lynde, Milton Berle, Tiny Tim, Jacqueline
Susann and Burt Reynolds.
The intro song was sung by
The Cowsills. It was released as a single but failed to make the
charts.
Love, Love, Love
Love, American Style
Truer than the Red, White and Blue
Love, American Style
That's me and you
And on a star spangled night my love
(My love come to me)
You can rest you head on my shoulder
Out by the dawn's early light, my love
I will defend your right to try
Love, American Style
That's me and you
TRIVIA NOTE
The pilot episode of Happy Days actually first appeared
as a segment of Love American Style entitled Love and
the Happy Day. It featured Ron Howard and Anson Williams as
Richie and Potsie.
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