|
Synopsis: "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" was a situation
comedy which ran on CBS from 1959 to 1963. The television series and
some episode scripts were adapted from a 1951 collection of short stories
with the same name, written by Max Shulman, that also inspired the 1953
film The Affairs of Dobie Gillis. A follow up novel, I was a Teen-Age
Dwarf, appeared in 1959.
In the TV series, teenager Dobie Gillis (played by Dwayne Hickman) aspired
to have popularity, money, and the attention of beautiful women. He
didn't have much of any of these qualities in abundance, and the tiny
crises surrounding Dobie's lack of success made the story in each weekly
episode. His partner in crime was beatnik wannabe Maynard G. Krebs (played
by Bob Denver); to say he missed the point on many things would be putting
it mildly. This program was from Martin Manulis Productions in association
with 20th Century Fox Television; creator Shulman also wrote the theme
song.
Each episode began and ended with Dobie pondering his problem, posing
à la "The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin. In fact, he was usually in a park
on a bench with a reproduction of the famous statue immediately behind
him.
Dobie's two main antagonists were popular rich kids Milton Armitage
(portrayed by a young Warren Beatty) and, after Beatty's departure,
Armitage's cousin Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. (played by Steve Franken),
and homely busybody Zelda Gilroy (portrayed by Sheila James); the former
Dobie hated as he had all that Dobie wanted, and the latter Dobie despised
because she was hopelessly in love with him and he was annoyed by her
advances. Dobie himself was hopelessly attracted to wealthy, distant
blonde Thalia Menninger (Tuesday Weld), as well as an endless number
of other beautiful women. (Future "Batgirl" Yvonne Craig appeared on
the series, in several different roles.)
As a high school student, Dobie lived at home with his parents in the
show's early years, and his interaction with his parents was a source
of much of the humor. His mother was very caring and perhaps tended
to baby her son a little too much; his father, a grocer, was a very
proud, somewhat belligerent World War II veteran who would often, on
the slightest provocation, remind his listeners, "I was in the Big One-W
W Two!" or declare "I've gotta kill that boy!", but was deep down a
good and decent man. In later years, Dobie moved on from high school
to S. Peter Pryor Junior College, surrounded by many of the same people;
in between, he and Maynard (along with Chatsworth) even did a brief
stint in the peacetime U.S. Army. (The Vietnam War was still of a minor
concern to most Americans when the series ended.)
This program, like several others from roughly the same period, was
probably more popular as a late-afternoon rerun than it had ever been
in prime time and is probably remembered as well as it is for that reason.
The program even spawned two sequels, the pilot Whatever Happened to
Dobie Gillis (1978) and TV movie Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis (1988).
In these, Dobie had married Zelda. The later of which took its title
from the Sam Peckinpah film, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and
its plot from the play The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt.
In real life, after largely retiring as an actor, Dwayne Hickman spent
many years as an employee of CBS in the programming department, at one
point being its vice president. He also worked as a television director.
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis was a major influence on the characters
for another successful CBS program, the Saturday morning cartoon Scooby-Doo,
Where Are You!. Scooby writer Mark Evanier noted that "Fred was based
on Dobie, Shaggy on Maynard, Velma on Zelda and Daphne on Thalia." Similarities
have also been noticed between the Dobie Gillis characters and The Archies
(Dobie and Archie, Maynard and Jughead, Zelda and Betty, Thalia and
Veronica, Chatsworth and Reggie), which may or may not be coincidental.
(Synopsis courtesy Wikipedia)
The Cast:
Dwayne Hickman as Dobie Gillis
Bob Denver as Maynard G. Krebs
Frank Faylen as Herbert T. Gillis
Florida Friebus as Winifred "Winnie" Gillis
Sheila James Kuehl as Zelda Gilroy
William Schallert as Mr. Leander Pomfritt
Tuesday Weld as Thalia Menninger (1959-1960)
Warren Beatty as Milton Armitage (1959-1960)
Tommy Farrell as Riff Ryan (1959-1960)
Yvonne Lime as Melissa Frome (1959-1960)
Darryl Hickman as Davey Gillis (1959-1960)
Doris Packer as Clarice Armitage (1959-1960)/Mrs. Chatsworth Osborne,
Sr. (1960-1963)
Michael J. Pollard as Jerome Krebs
Steve Franken as Chatsworth Osborne, Jr (1960-1963)
Robert Paget as Dr. Burkhart (1961-1963)
Jean Byron as Mrs. Ruth Adams (1959-1960)
Richard Clair as Lt. Merriweather (1961)
Raymond Bailey as Dean Magruder (1961-1963)
Bobby Diamond as Cousin Duncan Gillis (1962-1963)
Marjorie Bennett as Mrs. Blossom Kennedy (1959-1961)
David Bond as Trembly (1960-1963)
John Lee as Charlie Wong (#2) (1960-1962)
The Lettermen as Themselves (1963)
Joyce Van Patten as Maude Pomfritt
James Yagi as Charlie Wong (#1) (1959-1960)
Production Credits:
The Episodes:
Season
One Episode Guide
Season Two Episode Guide
Season Three Episode Guide
Season Four Episode Guide
|
