ALL IN THE
FAMILY/CBS/1971-83
*(Rob Reiner/costar) Mike Stivic, a
know-it-all, Polish-American college student
married to the daughter of a bigoted New York
loading dock foreman. Mike's liberal political
persuasion was constantly at odds with his
father-in-law, Archie with whom he lived while
going to school. Their shouting matches over a
variety of social issues often ended with Mike
being called a "dumb pinko-Commie Pollock" or
a "Meathead". Once Archie proclaimed “Sticks
and stones will break my bones but your are
one dumb Pollock.“ When Mike finally received
his degree in Sociology, he moved to
California in 1978 with his wife, Gloria
(Sally Struthers) and his young son, Joey
(Jason & Justin Draeger), thus effectively
being written out of the script. During the
1982 season, he divorced his wife and ran off
to a commune to be a flower child. His wife,
Gloria resurfaced in a short-lived spin-off
GLORIA/CBS/1982-83 which dealt with her
struggles after the divorce.
ANGEL STREET/CBS/1992
*(Pamela Gidley/costar) Dorothy
"Dotty" Paretsky, a cigarette-smoking police
detective of Polish-Catholic descent working
for the Violent Crimes Unit of the Chicago
Police Department. Dorothy grew up in the
Polish Hill section of Chicago also known as
Angel Street. She was teamed with a
African-American female partner.
ANYTHING BUT
LOVE/ABC/1989-92
**(Holly Fulger) Robin Dulitski, a
dental hygientist and best friend of writer
Hannah Miller who owned the apartment building
in which Hannah lived. Robin has known Hannah
since she was five-years-old. They referred to
each other as Mrs. Schmenkman.
BANACEK/NBC/1972-74
*(George Peppard) Thomas Banacek, a
cool, suave Polish-American investigator who
assisted insurance companies in solving theft
and loss cases. His fees for his efforts
afforded him a luxurious home in the exclusive
Beacon Hill section of Boston, Massachusetts.
Banacek's mathematician father was born in
Warsaw, Poland. When he moved to American he
worked for an Insurance but after 20 years of
service he was replaced by a computer. His
son, Thomas remembers this little affront and
now says "I don’t; work for anybody, I work
for myself." Banacek charges 10% commission on
the value of any items recovered. George
Peppard was very popular with the Polish
viewing audience who reveled in his positive,
non-stereotypical persona. His character often
dropped a Polish proverb or two along the
trail of his criminal investigations. Some
examples: "There's an old Polish proverb that
says"..."Just because a dress is red satin,
doesn't mean it comes off easy"; "A truly wise
man never plays leap frog with a unicorn"; and
"Only someone with nothing to be sorry about
smiles at the rear of an elephant." The
BANACEK series was originally broadcast as a
rotating segment of the NBC WEDNESDAY MYSTERY
MOVIE. See also "Irish" section on MADIGAN.
BARNEY MILLER/ABC/1975-82
**(Maxwell Gail) Detective Stanley
"Wojo" Wojohowicz, a naive, but lovable
plainclothes police officer working at the
12th Precinct, a run-down police station
located in Greenwich Village in New York City.
Wojo was single, loved baseball and wore the
oddest color combinations when it came to his
shirts and ties.
BLUE THUNDER/ABC/1984
**(Dick Butkus) Officer Richard
"Ski" Butowski, a hulking policeman who
assisted special Los Angeles Police Department
unit responsible for "Blue Thunder," a high
-tech helicopter.
THE BOBBY VINTON SHOW/SYN/1975-78
*(Bobby Vinton) Bobby Vinton, a
popular Polish-American singer who starred in
his own musical variety show that featured
songs, comedy sketches and animated shorts.
Polish-Americans who had already dubbed him
the "Polish Prince" adopted his song "My
Melody of Love" as their anthem.
CHINA BEACH/ABC/1988-91
*(Marg Helenberger) Karen Charlene
("K.C.") Koloski, a civilian prostitute and
heroine addict (born in Kansas City) working
at the China Beach R & R facility in Da Nang,
Republic of Vietnam during the late 1960s. K
C. charges a $100 an hour and has type "O"
blood. During her stay in Nam she befriended
an Irish-American nurse named Colleen McMurphy.
In 1967 K. C. got pregnant with a child
fathered by General A. M. Miller. She later
gave up her baby (Karen) to a Vietnamese woman
as she said "until I get my life together."
Just before the Fall of Saigon, she retrieves
her child (played by Shay Aster) and tells her
to contact Boonie Lanier, a soldier who loved
her. Back in the states, Boonie raised Karen
as one of his own. K. C. went on to become the
owner of a diner and later a high powered
business woman. Christine Elise played Karen
during her college years.
C-16: FBI/ABC/1997-98
*(Eric Close) Special Agent John
Olansky, Polish-American leader of a maverick
squad of FBI agents based in Los Angeles.
Olansky and his loyal agents get the job done
by not"“going by the book."
COACH/CBS/1989-97
**(Bill Faberbakke) Dauber Dybinski,
a slowwitted student assistant who worked with
Coach Hayden and the Screaming Eagles Football
Team at Minnesota State University.
CRUSADER/CBS/1955-56
**(Brian Keith) Matt Anders, a
freelance writer of Polish descent who helps
people escape the oppressive hands of
dictatorships and Commuist regimes. Matt's
mother died in a Polish concentration camp
after the Polish government was overthrown by
Communists.
DELTA HOUSE/ABC/1979
*(Josh Mostel) Jim "Blotto"
Blutarsky, rowdy college transfer student
living Delta House a fraternity at Faber
College in Pennsylvania during 1962. Jim was
the younger brother of Bluto Blutarsky (played
by John Belushi), the guy who yelled "Food
fight!" in the movie "National Lampoon's
Animal House" (1978).
THE DREW CAREY
SHOW/ABC/1995-2004
**(Kathy Kinney) Mimi Bobeck,
overweight cosmetically-challenged secretary
of Polish heritage who worked at
Winfred-Louder Department Store in Cleveland.
Mimi is mean, vindictive, dresses in
outrageously colorful costumes and is the
thorn in the side of assistant director of
personnel, Drew Carey. Mimi later falls in
love with Drew’s brother Steve Carey and
(horror of horrors) Mimi becomes one of the
family. Mimi often calls Drew Carey a “pig”
and not surprisingly, her catchphrase is ”Bite
me, Pig.“
Mimi’s family heritage of
Polish is mentioned in the March 19, 1997
episode 42 "Two Drews and the Queen of Poland
Walk into a Bar" in which Mimi (a descendent
of Polish royalty) prepares to meet a
neighborhood man called the King of Poland
with hopes of becoming his queen.
Unfortunately, the Polish-American community
wasn't amused by the episode and references to
Mimi’s Polish heritage. In the June 3, 1997
issue of the PAC NEWS Connection Frank
Milewski, who heads the Anti-Bigotry Committee
remarked “The material was so defamatory that
we felt the issue had to be taken up
face-to-face basis...The problem rests on two
characters depicted as Polish on the March
19th episode of the Drew Carey series. One was
“Mimi Bobeck,” a clown-like caricature of a
Polish woman who has not been given any ethnic
identity until this particular show. The other
was “Stan,” a vulgar and repulsive individual
holding himself out to “King of Poland.” The
PAC concerns were based on similar complaints
in the past as the cancellation of the old
“Dick Tracy“ series by another network because
Asian and Hispanic communities objected to
characters named “Jo Jitsu“ and Go Go Gomez.”
Chris Hikawa, Vice President of Broadcast
Standards & Practices at ABC, initially
advised the Anti-Bigotry Committee that “This
storyline in no way denigrated
Polish-Americans. Mimi is clearly proud of her
Polish heritage and does not exhibit any of
the negative stereotyped traits which are the
basis of Polish jokes. We believe that the
program does not ridicule Polish-Americans and
regret that your were offended.” But later
Hikawa reached an agreement with the producers
of The Drew Carey Show to have the
episode entitled “Two Kings and a Queen”
edited for rebroadcast. The character of the
King of Poland will be eliminated from the
program." The PAC also proposed that ABC not
repeat the March 19th episode or put it into
syndication and stop identifying “Mimi” as
Polish. (Check out the related 1997 PAC
News Connection articles at http://www.polamcon.org).
Another character with a Polish surname is
Lewis Kiniski (played by Ryan Stiles), a
janitor at DrugCo Pharmaceutical Company. He
has known Drew Carey since they were kids
growing up in Cleveland. Lewis’ character can
be borderline philosophical but generally is
just down right stupid and “creepy.”
THE FACTS OF LIFE/NBC/1979-88
*(Nancy McKeon/costar) Jo
Polniaczek, a tom-boyish young lady of Polish
descent who loved to putter with automobile
and motorcycle engines. Alex Rocco played her
father, an ex-con who got enough money
together to send her to Eastland, a suburban
New York finishing school for women where she
roomed with a group of young girls of varied
backgrounds. The series followed their
development as friends. All four graduated and
lived with the school's former dietician where
they worked at her business (first a gourmet
shop and later a novelty shop). Claire Malis
appeared as Jo's infrequently seen mother,
Rose Polniaczek.
THE FATHER DOWLING
MYSTERIES/NBC/ABC/1989-91
*(Tracy Nelson/costar) Stephanie
Oskowski, a streetwise young women of Polish
descent who joined the convent and later was
to be known as Sister Steve. She taught at St.
Michaels and helped Father Frank Dowling solve
crimes in the city of Chicago.
GAVILAN/NBC/1982-83
**(Kate Reid) Marion Jaworski,
Polish-American supervisor at California's
DeWitt Institute of Oceanography who assigned
projects to a former CIA agent named Gavilan.
GIMME A BREAK/NBC/1981-87
*(Dolph Sweet) Carl Kanisky, a
beefy, widower police chief of polish descent
who lived in the suburban town of Glenlawn.
His family included Kari Michaelson as Katie;
Lauri Hendler as Julie; Lara Jill Miller as
Samantha "Sam"; Pete Schrum as Uncle Ed
Kanisky; and John Hoyt as Grandpa Stanley
Kanisky and Jane Dulo as Grandma Mildred
Kanisky. When the chief died (Dolph Sweet died
in real-life), Nell Harper, his black
housekeeper, took care of the children.
THE GEORGE CARLIN
SHOW/FOX/1994-95
**(Susan Sullivan) Kathleen
Rachowski, Polish-American owner of a pet
store in New York City where cabbie George
O'Grady got dog food supplies and got dates
with shop's attractive proprietress.
GLORIA/CBS/1982-83
*(Sally Struthers) Gloria Bunker-Stivic,
the ex-wife of Polish-American Michael Stivic
who abandoned Gloria to live on a California
commune on the sitcom ALL IN THE FAMILY.
Gloria now works in Upstate New York as a
veterinarian's assistant. Her little boy, Joey
Stivic was played by Christian Jacobs.
GRACE UNDER
FIRE/ABC/1993-1997
**(Casey Sander) Wade Z. Swoboda,
tall, blond, Polish-American police officer
living in Victory, Missouri next-door to
series title character (Grace). Also featured
was Nadine Swoboda, Wade,s wife. Wade is a
Vietnam veteran. He carried a silver cigarette
case for good luck. He once discovered that
his name was mistakenly displayed on the wall
of the Vietnam War Memorial. Later in the
series, Wade became a traffic helicopter
pilot.
HARDBALL/NBC/1989-90
*(Richard Tyson/costar) Joe "Kaz"
Kaczierowski, a streetwise cop of polish
descent who worked with his detective partner
at the Metro Division of the Los Angeles
Police Department. Kaz's mother, Beverly
Kaczierowski, was played by Patricia Harty.
HAWAIIAN HEAT/ABC/1984
*(Jeff McCracken/costar) Andy
Senkowski, a Chicago police detective of
Polish descent who relocates to Hawaii with
his partner Mac Riley and eventually become
undercover cops for Major Taro Oshira of the
Oahu Police Department. Also featured was
Shelley Winters as Andy's mother, Florence
Senkowski.
HENNESEY/CBS/1959-62
**(Henry Kulky) Max Bronsky, naval
orderly of Polish decent who was assigned to
the San Diego Naval Base in California. In the
fall of 1961 Max got promoted to Chief Petty
Officer. Also featured was Frank Gorshin as
Seaman Pulaski.
THE HEIGHTS/FOX/1992
**(Zachary Throne) Lenny Wieckowski,
Polish-American worker at the Seven Seas
restaurant who plays keyboard with a
blue-collar rock and roll band called The
Heights.
HILL STREET
BLUES/NBC/1981-87
**(Robert Prosky) Sgt. Stanislaus
Jablonski, a cynical police officer who
supervised the 7.A.M. roll call at Hill Street
station. After updating his fellow officers
about what was happening on the streets, he
left them with these parting words "Let's do
it to them before they do it to us."
Jablonski's predecessor Sgt. Phil Esterhaus
(now deceased) had ended each roll call with
"And, hey! Let's be careful out there."
HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS/SYN/1997-2000
*(Peter Scolari) Wayne Szalinsky, a
Polish-American research scientist who lives
with his lawyer wife, Diane in the town of
Matheson, Colorado, They share their home with
children Amy, a teenager and Nick, a boy
computer genius. Wayne’s ancestor “Lo Fat’
fought Ninjas.
HUNTER/NBC/1984-91
*(Darlanne Fluegel) Officer Joann
Molenski, a female policewoman of Polish
descent working with Detective Sergeant Rick
Hunter in the city of Los Angeles. Officer
Molenski replaced Officer Dee Dee McCall
during the 1990-91 season. She was killed
three months later.
KANE & ABEL/1985
(Miniseries)
*(Peter Strauss) Abel Rosnovski,,
wealthy businessman who created the world’s
largest chains of hotels. Before coming to New
York, Able [born in the Polish countryside]
spent many years working in Siberian prison
camp. Able now struggles to maintain his
business empire while doing battle with
William Kan, a wealthy Bostonian and Wall
Street banker. Abel’s relatives include
Alberta Watson as Zofia Rosnovski; and Kate
McNeil as Florentyna Rosnovski.
KAZ/CBS/1978-79
*(Ron Liebman) Martin "Kaz"
Kazinsky, an ex-cop, ex-auto thief, who passes
the bar exam and begins his career as an
attorney at the Los Angeles law firm of
Bennett, Rheinhart and Alquist.
KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT
STALKER/ABC/1974-75
*(Darren McGavin) Carl Kolchak, a
wisecracking journalist for the Chicago's
Independent News Service who usually returned
from his assignments with unbelievable tales
of vampire, werewolves, etc.
LAVERNE &
SHIRLEY/ABC/1976-83
**(David L. Lander) Lenny Kosnowski,
Milwaukee brewery truck driver (the dufus
sidekick of Squiggy Squiggman) who lived in
the same apartment complex as brewery
coworkers, Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney.
Lenny's family surname "Kosnowski" translated
into English means "Help! There is a hog in my
kitchen." His last name was "Kolowski" in
earlier episodes.
THE LIBERACE SHOW/NBC/1952
*(Wladziu Valentino, aka Liberace)
Liberace, popular pianist Wladziu Valentino
("Lee" to his friends) who starred in this
network musical variety program. A syndicated
version of the program was filmed from
1953-55; followed by THE LIBERACE
SHOW/ABC/1958-59; and then again he reappeared
in his own CBS network series in 1969. He
often played the song "I'll Be Seeing You" as
a closing number. Liberace, earned his
nickname "Mr. Showmanship" for his flamboyant
stage shows which included glittering
wardrobes studded in sequins and
rhinestone-covered pianos. Liberace, a child
prodigy, soloed at the age of fifteen with the
Chicago symphony orchestra. During the
Depression, he played his piano in nightclubs
to help his family (using his first stage name
of Buster Keys).To give his act a little more
class in the 1940s, he placed a candelabrum on
the top of his piano. The most flashy part of
his act was his wardrobe. Originally, he wore
a tuxedo with tails and later dressed in a
gold or plaid jacket while performing.
However, when his fans began to out dress him,
not to be outdone Liberace began wearing more
and more outrageous costumes which eventually
became an expensive joke costing an average of
$1,000,000 a year and weighing in excess of
100 pounds a piece. But with a reported salary
of $250,000 a week, he could afford it. Milton
Berle recalled Liberace once saying that one
of his red glittering jackets was actually
"20,000 fire flies in heat." Negative
critiques of his performances prompted
Liberace to invent his now famous quote "I
cried all the way to the bank." Years later he
remarked, "Remember the bank I cried all the
way to?...I bought it." Liberace debuted on
local Los Angeles television in 1951, followed
by a summer musical variety series His last
public appearance was on the 1986 Christmas
telecast of the syndicated talk show series
THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW. Liberace died in his
favorite Palm Springs home on February 4,
1987. The Riverside County coroner, Raymond
Carrillo ruled his death (originally listed as
congestive heart failure brought on by
inflammation of the brain) as being due to
complications brought on by the AIDS virus.
Memorial services were held at St. Anne's
Catholic Church in Las Vegas (a town where he
often played to sold-out performances). His
body was buried next to his mother, Frances
and brother, George in Forest Lawn Cemetery in
Los Angeles. In memory of the ever-smiling
performer whose appeal spanned all age groups,
the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce placed a
wreath on Liberace's star on the Walk of Fame;
and the Palm Springs City Hall flew their flag
at half mast. Artifacts of his career are now
displayed in The Liberace Museum in Las Vegas,
Nevada.
M*A*S*H/CBS/1972-83
**(John Schuck) Captain Walter
Koskiusko Waldowski, dentist stationed at the
4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital based in
Korea during the Korean War. Waldowski is
nicknamed “The Painless Pole” and widely known
as the ‘the best-equipped dentist in the
Army.” This Polish character although
appearing in the 1970 Robert Altman film
M*A*S*H never made it to the TV series
spin-off. In the film he planned to commit
suicide when he believed he was experiencing
“latent homosexuality” after not being able to
“get it on” with an Army nurse.
MAN WITH A
CAMERA/ABC/1958-60
*(Charles Bronson) Mike Kovac, New
York City photographer working freelance for
newspapers, insurance companies, etc. who
helped the police solve crimes. Other cast
included Ludwig Stossel as Anton Kovac, Mike's
father. Ludwig Stossel is remembered for his
of character "The Little Old Wine Maker" the
sweet little old spokesman for Italian Swiss
Colony wine who dressed in an Alpine hat and
lederhosen in a series of TV commercials in
the 1960s.
MATT HELM/ABC/1975-76
*(Lariane Stephens) Claire Kronski,
an attractive private practice attorney
working for Matt Helm, a former intelligence
agent turned private eye. Matt once described
Claire as "the most honest lawyer who ever
lived, but one of the sneakiest people I have
ever known."
