Our Miss Brooks

Our Miss Brooks was a sitcom starring Eve Arden, which ran on CBS radio (1948-57) and television (1952-56). The title character is Connie Brooks, a benevolent, wisecracking English teacher at Madison High School who deals with her surrounding cast of characters including her overbearing principal Osgood Conklin, her cheerful but not-so-studious pupil Walter Denton, her landlady Mrs. Davis, and her desired love interest, biology teacher Philip Boynton.


 * Absent-Minded Professor: Mr. Boynton
 * Book Dumb: Walter
 * Catch Phrase: Walter's "Hiya, Miss Brooks!", Conklin's "...now GO" when trying to get rid of someone.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Mrs. Davis. She sometimes forgets what she's saying in the middle of a sentence.
 * Cordon Bleugh Chef: Mrs. Davis is creative with her recipes.
 * Damned By Faint Praise: A Snap magazine reporter "compliments" Miss Brooks' clothes: "That's a very nice suit...One can tell at a glance that it's worn you for years."
 * Deadpan Snarker: Miss Brooks is one of the queens of this trope, as are many of Eve Arden's characters in other works.
 * Dean Bitterman: Mr. Conklin
 * Delayed Reaction: Mr. Conklin does this often for comedic effect
 * Don't Explain the Joke: Mr. Boynton tells terrible jokes, sometimes he has to do this to find the humor to begin with.
 * Dream Sequence: Usually with Brooks dreaming about Boynton sweeping her off her feet or in some magical fairy tale, then the alarm clock ruins it all.
 * Dumb Muscle: Stretch
 * Even the Guys Want Him: Walter has at least once said Mr. Boynton is "tall, dark, handsome..." as well as "Boy, is he good looking!"
 * High School
 * Hot Scientist: Biology teacher Philip Boynton.
 * Jingle: the advertisements:
 * "Brush your teeth with Colgate/Colgate dental cream/It cleans your breath (what a toothpaste)/While it cleans your teeth."
 * "Dream girl, dream girl/Beautiful Luster Cream girl/You owe your crowning glory to/A Luster Cream shampoo."
 * Large Ham: Mr. Conklin
 * Last-Name Basis: Brooks, Boynton, and Conklin always address each other formally, even outside of school.
 * Long List: usually when Mrs. Davis describes recipe ingredients
 * The Movie: in 1956
 * No Indoor Voice: Mr. Conklin
 * Oblivious to Love: Mr. Boynton
 * The Other Darrin: Jeff Chandler played Mr. Boynton in the first few radio seasons, then was replaced by Robert Rockwell on both radio and TV.
 * Retool: In the fourth season of the TV series, Madison High was razed to make room for a freeway, Miss Brooks and Mr. Conklin went to work for a private school, and Walter and Harriet disappeared from the show along with Mr. Boynton (although the latter would eventually return).
 * The Rival: Miss Enright, the other, more glamorous English teacher after Mr. Boynton's affection.
 * Running Gag: many, including Mr. Conklin's huge sneezes and the 'glug' greeting of Boynton's pet frog Mc Dougal. Miss Brooks' car was always in the shop (see Women Drivers for the reason of the week).
 * Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Walter, which makes him sound much more intelligent than he really is.
 * Sneeze of Doom: Mr. Conklin has some whoppers. The TV version of the sneezes had powerful fans blow objects all over the set.
 * Sound to Screen Adaptation
 * Two-Teacher School: Brooks and Boynton; there was also Brooks' rival Miss Enright and occasional visits from other teachers.
 * What Could Have Been: Shirley Booth and Lucille Ball were considered for the role of Miss Brooks before it was finally given to Eve Arden.
 * With This Ring: The movie ends with Boynton finally proposing to Brooks.
 * Women Drivers: Miss Brooks' car was always broken down or broken in some way (forcing her to take lifts in Walter's jalopy). She is portrayed as someone who doesn't pay the best attention on the road, sometimes barely missing pedestrians by swerving and hitting something on the side of the road.