In October 1960, NBC television tried to promote interest and find a sponsor for a version of L. Frank Baum's
The Magical Monarch of Mo, starring Groucho Marx. Groucho had scored a success earlier in the year with a TV version of Gilbert & Sullivan's
The Mikado, and the network felt the time was right for an hour long fantasy story that could possibly develop into a weekly series. With the long running series of Marx Brothers comedies, and Groucho's previous run as the host of
You Bet Your Life, the project must have looked like a sure-fire hit.
This is a promotional pamphlet created to try and sell the idea to potential sponsors. For $200,000 you could be the single sponsor of the hour long show! A number of interesting points are brought up; the success of
The Wizard of Oz, which had then been shown twice on television, and the high ratings for other TV fantasy productions such as
Peter Pan, Cinderella, Babes in Toyland and
Pinocchio. Groucho's Q-rating (a scale measuring a performer's popularity) was high, with 93% audience familiarity.
Shirley Temple's
Storybook specials are referenced several times, not surprisingly as they were produced by Henry Jaffe Enterprises - the same production team proposing
Mo. The script for the initial show was co-written by Frank Gabrielson, who had adapted
The Marvelous Land of Oz for Shirley Temple earlier that season. According to the promotional booklet:
"Integrated into the Gabrielson - (Robert) Dwan script will be elements from MAGICAL MONARCH OF MO teleplays that have been written by Gore Vidal and Joseph Schrank for subsequent use, should this property evolve into a series."
Clearly plans were being made for a ongoing project! (As it happens, David Maxine has a copy of the Gore Vidal script, which apparently reads as a one time story rather than a series). And what would this show be like?
"Enacting the dual role of THE MAGICAL MONARCH OF MO and a modern, henpecked husband with three unmarried daughters and a mischief-minded nine-year-old son, Groucho will be transported from today's world and its problems into the mythical paradise created by Baum."
"...This is a magical land into which Groucho and his family enter when the realities of his frustrating daily existence drive him to seek refuge in fantasy .... "
"Groucho's land of Mo reflects the limitations of the real-life character he portrays. As its Monarch, he transforms Mo into his own private Utopia, complete with cigar trees, money weeds and beautiful blondes, but is unable to dispense with his "family," which accompanies him to his new realm in the slightly more palatable guise of his Queen, three unwed princesses and a brash juvenile court magician."
Hmmm..... it never happened.