About this season
Harrigan and Son is an ABC sitcom about a father-and-son team of lawyers, played by Pat O'Brien and Roger Perry as Jim Harrigan, Sr., and Jim, Jr. In supporting roles, as secretaries, are Georgine Darcy as Gypsy and Helen Kleeb as Miss Claridge. The series aired 34 episodes at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Fridays from October 14, 1960, to September 29, 1961. It preceded ABC's cartoon series, The Flintstones. Its competition was the second half of the CBS Western, Rawhide. For the first half of the season, Harrigan and Son aired opposite the detective series Dan Raven, starring Skip Homeier. The series premiere is titled "Junior Joins the Law Firm". The finale is called "The Testimonial". Harrigan and Son was owned and produced by Desilu Production. A running gimmick in the show consisted of Harrigan, Sr., commenting on some situation in Latin, Harrigan, Jr., replying, "Which means?", and Harrigan, Sr., translating his comment, usually humorous, into English. The closing of show featured O'Brien and Perry, in silhouette behind the credits, singing the old George M. Cohan song, "Harrigan".
Episodes (34)
1. Junior Joins the Law
Aired 14 October 1960 • 30 min
James Jr. prepares to fight to defend a contested will. James Sr. tries to convince him it would be wiser to settle out of court.
2. Young Man's World
Aired 21 October 1960 • 30 min
The young men assuming the management of Pyramid Industries have some ideas about expansion that founder Lionel Wilton doesn't like.
3. Harrigan vs. Harrigan
Aired 28 October 1960 • 30 min
It's Harrigan vs. Harrigan when senior discovers that junior has taken the case of a well-known accident faker named Gimpy.
4. Mother Was a Nightclub Singer
Aired 4 November 1960 • 30 min
When James Jr. dates Monica Nelson, a nightclub performer, father disapproves-unaware that his son is mixing some business with his pleasure.
5. Pay the Two Dollars
Aired 11 November 1960 • 30 min
Junior thinks his case in a small New England court is all sewed up, until he finds out that the judge, the bailiff and the defendant are all cousins.
6. A Matter of Dignity
Aired 18 November 1960 • 30 min
A shabby character named Nippy is highly insulted when an artist paints him as a derelict. He implores the Harrigan firm to take legal steps to have the painting removed from an exhibition.
7. Miss Claridge Finds Romance
Aired 2 December 1960 • 30 min
Miss Claridge finds romance, and her daydreaming is cutting down her typing speed too much to suit Harrigan Sr. Things don't get any better when her dream man, Tracy Oakhurst, is suspected of being a swindler.
8. There's No Fool Like an Old Fool
Aired 9 December 1960 • 30 min
Actress Lillian Lovely's performance bowls James Sr. over (she reminds him of his late wife), but the critics don't think much of Lillian's acting. So Senior comes to her defense-with a libel suit.
9. Pipes are Pipes
Aired 16 December 1960 • 30 min
Matt Collins' company is being sued. The charge: producing a defective water heater. Matt wants to make a settlement, but Harrigan believes he's got nothing to fear in court.
10. Junior Becomes Senior
Aired 23 December 1960 • 30 min
Mr. Nibley was hired to exterminate the bugs in an apartment house, but the owners have proof that the little creatures are still there. For reasons of his own, Harrigan lets Junior take the case.
11. Non Compos Mentis
Aired 30 December 1960 • 30 min
Tilly Cortland is a will-changing millionairess who dominates the first half of the show delightfully. Harrigan and son busily try to settle the estate in the second half, and mediate between a dog and a cat over a $10,000 legacy.
12. Junior Goes Society
Aired 6 January 1961 • 30 min
An attractive member of high society named Cynthia drops in to take an old friend, Miss Claridge, out to lunch. When Junior see Cynthia, he's smitten.
13. Junior's Other Job
Aired 13 January 1961 • 30 min
Junior's interviewed on TV after he wins an important tax case. It turns out to be good publicity.
14. Poor Little Rich Guy
Aired 20 January 1961 • 30 min
Grant Hazelton, playboy and college chum of Junior's, asks the latter to handle his legal affairs. Harrigan Sr. doesn't like Hazelton much, and likes him even less when he starts dating Gypsy.
15. My Fair Lawyer
Aired 27 January 1961 • 30 min
Neighbor Harold Calvin sues Harrigan Sr. for damages. Seems smoke from Harrigan's fireplace got in Calvin's eyes, nose and throat.
16. Shall We Dance?
Aired 3 February 1961 • 30 min
Charlie Finley, after 20 years of marriage wants to divorce his wife. It seems she's spending too many evenings at a local dancing school.
17. The Magnificient Borough
Aired 10 February 1961 • 30 min
Senior's old friend Gimpy talks the lawyer into investing in his taxi. Then Gimpy has a difference of opinion with a fare, one Bruce Langley, and blackens the man's eye. Langley is Harrigan's client!
18. You Can Fight City Hall
Aired 17 February 1961 • 30 min
The city has condemned shoemaker Silas Marner's property, and nobody wants to take the man's case.
19. The Comeback
Aired 27 February 1961 • 30 min
Junior visits night court to attend to a routine matter and finds a familiar face. A distinguished gentleman is charged with being drunk and disorderly-none other than Junior's old law teacher, Professor Walter Grant.
20. The Comics
Aired 3 March 1961 • 30 min
Buddy Wilson and his wife Bernice have worked up a nightclub act and want the Harrigan firm to have it copyrighted. Then Buddy's father shows up and tells Harrigan Sr. that he used all the material years ago in vaudeville.
21. 100 Proof
Aired 10 March 1961 • 30 min
Patrick O'Toole is arrested for drunken driving. But he tells Harrigan Sr. that he took the pledge a long time ago, and hasn't fallen off the wagon since.
22. They Were All In Step But Jim
Aired 17 March 1961 • 30 min
Actress Lillian Lovely, a Hungarian citizen, is facing deportation for failing to renew her visa. She wants Harrigan Sr. to help her right away, but senior has plans for the St. Patrick's Day parade that afternoon.
23. The Manly Art
Aired 24 March 1961 • 30 min
A boxer named Brennan tells Harrigan Sr. that he won his last fight too easily. But there's no way to prove that the fight was fixed. Junior comes up with the idea of posing as a fighter.
24. A Ticket to Albany
Aired 31 March 1961 • 30 min
Junior becomes a candidate for a state Senate seat. Harrigan Sr., unaware of this, endorses the candidate of the opposition party.
25. The Man Who Wouldn't Stay Dead
Aired 7 April 1961 • 30 min
Robert Fenton has changed his name and leads an inconspicuous life. When a scandal sheet columnist digs up the past and prints it, Fenton threatens the man with violence. This doesn't help Fenton's case much when the journalist is found dead.
26. Harrigan vs. Harvard
Aired 14 April 1961 • 30 min
Junior prevails upon Harrigan Sr. to agree to address a graduating class at Harvard Law School.
27. Senior Goes to Hollywood
Aired 21 April 1961 • 30 min
Senior goes to Hollywood on his vacation, and visits a movie studio. He notices some errors in legal procedure on one set where they're filming a courtroom drama-so he decides to offer some advice.
28. The Case of the Missing Case
Aired 28 April 1961 • 30 min
Fern Williams, Junior's latest girlfriend, is quite high up on the social register. But this doesn't mean she's immune to an anti-social compulsion -kleptomania.
29. Hans is Hot
Aired 5 May 1961 • 30 min
30. Hello-Goodbye
Aired 12 May 1961 • 30 min
A series of legal setbacks convince Harrigan Sr. that it's time to retire. But the most practical place to write his memoirs seems to be right in the office-with his old staff.
31. The Legacy
Aired 19 May 1961 • 30 min
Senior has known Rose Kowalski ever since she was a tot. Now she's a nightclub singer and wants to legally change her name to Renee Collins. Mrs. Kowalski asks Harrigan to persuade her daughter to change her mind.
32. Roommates
Aired 26 May 1961 • 30 min
While Senior's apartment is being renovated, Junior invites his Dad to spend a week at his apartment. The first evening, Junior and his girlfriend Gail are thinking romance-while Senior recites "Casey at the Bat."
33. On Broadway
Aired 22 September 1961 • 30 min
The first of two new shows before this series leaves the air. Merrill Davis, a long time client of Harrigan Sr., is known for his miserly ways.
34. The Testimonial
Aired 29 September 1961 • 30 min
A group of Senior's clients (who got legal service although they couldn't afford the fee) get together to show their appreciation by arranging a dinner for him.