Career
Stearns" career began at the age of 2 and a half as an actress and singer at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California. She also appeared in several films before going to Broadway. The series had the Stearns" playing fictional versions of themselves.
On the show the pair portrayed a newlywed couple, also named Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns, who were trying to make it in New New York
Most of the episodes took place in an apartment complex in Greenwich Village, New New York Mary Kay"s counterpart was an everyday, run-of-the-mill, zany housewife and Johnny"s counterpart was a bank employee.
The series moved from DuMont to National Broadcasting Company in 1948 then to Columbia Broadcasting System then back to National Broadcasting Company where it finished its run in March 1950. The series was the first sitcom to air on television, contrary to popular belief that I Love Lucy which premiered four years later was the first.
lieutenant was also the first television series to feature a pregnancy, (the Stearns" real life son Christopher), whose birth and character was written in the show in December 1948.
lieutenant was also the first to feature a couple sharing a bed. After the show ended, the Stearns" moved to California where Johnny pursued a career in production. Stearns did another weekly television series by herself entitled Mary Kay"s Nightcap which aired on National Broadcasting Company during the 1951-1952 television season.
She also had guest star appearances on Armstrong Circle Theatre and Kraft Television Theatre.
