I'm watching the Lost In Space episode "War of the Robots" and the character of Penny Robinson is nowhere to be seen until the set up for the next episode. They don't even mention her. Anyone know why she's absent? Was Angela Cartwright sick or doing something else?
I don't know, but it's unlikely she was doing something else. She might have been sick. It's probably just that any scenes she had were cut for time, either before or after shooting.
Also shows made around that time ran a total of 50 minutes without commercials. Over the years that time has slowly been reduced as more and more ad time is being used. Now an hour long show will usually run 40 minutes without commercials.
I checked her IMDB page, and there are some possibilities. One that caught my eye was an appearance on an anthology series called The Danny Thomas Hour, that ran between 1967-1968. I don't know if that coincides with the Robots show, but Thomas had played her on-screen dad many years earlier. It looks like the episode was possibly an unsold pilot or a special, as it was called "Make More Room for Daddy" and she plays the same character. Angela became a popular star on the original show, at age 6. She also shows up on My Three Sons and The John Forsythe Show during LiS's run perhaps, though both of those are dated as 1965.
if my Lost In Space Forever guide were handy i'd consult it. but if you enjoy the series and don't have a copy of that book i suggest getting it.
Thing is, there were a lot of family shots with all the Robinsons, except Penny. It's like she was Chuck Cunninghamed for that episode.
Even IMDB says she's not in the episode, which aired 9 February 1966. Angela's a year younger than me, so maybe she was starting high school and taking the SAT tests.
It says in Wiki on her bio that her and Mumy are writing a book together. I wonder what that's going to be about.