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(pictured) Elizabeth Cheshire and Cliff De Young
Sunshine aired from March until June 1975 on NBC.
Set in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sunshine was the story of a young widower and his daughter trying to make ends meet. Sam Hayden ( Cliff De Young), whose wife had died of cancer, left him to care for Jill ( Elizabeth Cheshire), her five-year-old daughter by a previous marriage. Sam was a composer and along with his two friends, Weaver and Givits ( Bill Mumy, Cory Fischer), a member of a singing trio. With his musical career not generating much money, Sam sought all sorts of odd jobs to hlp support Jill and himself. He also tried to be both mother and father to Jill, who was always on the lookout for a likely candidate to marry her father. Helping Sam out, in addition to his two long-haired partners, was his neighbor and friend Nora ( Meg Foster). The easy and contemporary lifestyle led by Sam and Jill was cheered by some and condemned by others , and caused concern among those who felt it was not good for Jill's warefare. The title of the series referred to Jill's mother's favorite song.
The half-hour series was based on a journal excerpted in the Los Angeles Times by Jacquelyn M. Helton who died of bone cancer at age 20. She left these recordings behind for her 2 year old daughter Jill. The story was then made into a CBS TV movie called "Sunshine" which was shown on November 9, 1973 with Cliff De Young, Bill Mumy, Corey Fischer, Meg Foster and Lindsay and Sydney Greenbush ( of Little House on the Praire fame) as Jill. A TV movie sequel, " Sunshine Christmas" aired on December 12, 1977 on NBC with De Young, Mumy, Foster, and Cheshire recreating their TV roles.
The series was produced by George Eckstein for Universal Television.
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