Stanley revolved around the adventures of the namesake character (Hackett) as the operator of a newsstand in a posh hotel in New York City, the Sussex-Fenton.
Burnett played his girlfriend Celia, and Lynde voiced the unseen hotel owner Mr. Fenton, who never appeared on camera but frequently could be heard giving orders to his staff.
As was the case with several such programs (but a declining number, even at this early stage of network television), Stanley was aired live.
The program aired on Monday nights at 8:30 pm EST opposite the popular Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts on CBS and the long-running The Voice of Firestone on ABC.
After 19 weeks of low ratings, Stanley was canceled mid-season and replaced by Tales of Wells Fargo, a western which ran on NBC for the next five and a half years.