East Side West Side (TV series)

Synopsis

The series centers on Neil Brock (Scott), a New York City social worker employed by the private agency Community Welfare Service. His secretary is Jane Foster (Tyson), though Diana Sands played this role in the pilot, which aired as the seventeenth episode; Sands later played a different character in episode seven, earning an Emmy nomination. Tyson was the first African-American actor to hold a regular role in a television drama.

Brock's supervisor at the agency is Frieda 'Hecky' Hechlinger (Wilson). Episodes address inner-city topics, often controversial; the first two episodes involve Brock investigating a prostitute and her child, followed by a statutory rape case. Brock frequently feels frustrated by insufficient resources and the many problems he cannot solve. He resigns to work for progressive New York state congressman Charles W. Hanson (Chiles), becoming a congressional consultant with a broad mandate.

Hanson's staffers Mike Miller (John McMartin) and Bowen Munro (Henderson Forsythe) join the cast. Wilson and Tyson quickly depart, returning for only one more appearance. Barbara Feldon and Jessica Walter each appear in single trial episodes, but their characters are dropped without explanation.

Conception and development

East Side/West Side began as a vehicle for George C. Scott, who had recently gained prominence through acclaimed theater and film work. In January 1962, CBS and United Artists announced preparations for an hour-long drama starring Scott, to launch in the 1963–1964 season. Scott disliked the planned show and threatened to cancel his agreement. CBS president James Aubrey introduced Scott to independent producer David Susskind, who turned to playwright Robert Alan Aurthur for a script.

Aurthur offered an unproduced script, My Three Angels, about three inner-city social workers, and rewrote it for Scott, renaming the project East Side/West Side—a reference to the two halves of upper Manhattan divided by Central Park. The protagonist, Neil Brock, is a tough, impatient case worker. With approval from Aubrey and Scott, Susskind produced Aurthur's pilot script, 'It’s War, Man', about a teen gang killer.

The series' central location is the Community Welfare Service, a private agency serving as home base for three social workers. Scott stated the setting was chosen to get his character out of the office and onto New York's real streets. In November 1962, Susskind met with the New York City Social Work Recruiting Committee and announced plans for a series about social work. In January 1963, Bertram Beck, Executive Director of the National Association of Social Workers, informed his organization and requested story ideas; Beck served as consultant and technical adviser.

Social context

During the 1950s, the Eisenhower Administration held that economic growth would reduce inequalities and resolve social problems through progressive taxation, welfare services, mass education, and the G.I. Bill. By the mid-1950s, some questioned whether growth alone distributed benefits as expected. In 1962, Michael Harrington's The Other America exposed a 'new' poor—the sick, disabled, elderly, minorities, and female-headed families—who had not benefited from postwar prosperity.

In January 1963, Dwight Macdonald's article 'Our Invisible Poor' in The New Yorker summarized studies asserting that mass poverty persisted and was linked to race, concluding that only the federal government could reduce poverty. Between 1961 and 1964, federal grants funded community agencies to combat poverty through education, youth programs, and social services. John F. Kennedy's 1960 campaign raised poverty awareness; his administration established the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime, sponsoring employment and anti-discrimination programs.

The Area Redevelopment Act (1961) and Manpower Development and Training Act (1962) provided federal funds. These efforts culminated in Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty. An episode featuring an African American couple in Harlem was blacked out by CBS affiliates in Shreveport, Louisiana, and Atlanta, Georgia, primarily for racial reasons.

Did You Know?

• The series received eight Emmy Award nominations in 1964, including a win for Outstanding Directorial Achievement for Tom Gries.
• The episode 'Who Do You Kill?' explored the aftermath of a child's death from a rat bite in a Harlem slum.