Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.
For the history of Dennis the Menace, check out the post here.
Hank
Ketcham was inspired by the antics of his son, Dennis, to
create the comic strip Dennis the Menace.
The strip followed young Dennis as he inadvertently caused chaos for the
adults in his life through his well-meaning intentions. The strip became
immensely popular, and it wasn’t long before Hollywood came calling.
Dennis with his parents (front) and the Wilsons (back).
The first adaptation of the strip
was a sitcom for CBS,
who were looking to replace Leave it to Beaverafter
losing it to ABC,
produced by Dariell Productions and Screen Gems.
Like the strip, Dennis (Jay
North) was a well-intentioned mischievous boy whose antics
often came at the expense of his long-suffering neighbor, George Wilson (Joseph
Kearns). Dennis, at first, was more directly responsible for
the trouble he caused, but that was toned down at the network’s request to
avoid imitable behavior among younger members of their viewing audience. Herbert
Anderson and Gloria
Henry portrayed Dennis’ parents Henry and Alice, and Sylvia
Field played George’s wife, Martha. Missing was the
Mitchells’ dog, Ruff, who was replaced by the Wilsons’ dog, Fremont. Other
characters included Dennis’ best friend Tommy Anderson (Billy
Booth); Margaret Wade (Jeannie
Russell, cast at North’s suggestion), who had a crush on
Dennis though he found her annoying; Sergeant Harold Mooney (George
Cisar), a local policeman that took great pleasuring in
ruining Mr. Wilson’s day; Otis Quigley (Willard
Waterman), the local grocer; Miss Esther Cathcart (Mary
Wickes), a spinster that threw herself at every man she
could; and Grandma Mitchell (Kathleen
Mulqueen), Henry’s mother who stayed with them briefly while
Alice was away taking care of her father (a cover for Henry being on maternity
leave). Ron
Howard portrayed another of Dennis’ friends, Stewart, for
six episodes before he was cast to star in The Andy Griffith Show.
The replacement Wilsons.
Dennis
the Menace began on October 4, 1959 and ran for a total of four seasons.
North would also reprise the role for appearances on The Donna Reed Show, The Red Skelton Hour,
and in the film Pepe.
After the filming of the 100th episode, Kearns died
suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage. For the remainder of the third season,
George was said to be out east settling an estate, and his brother, John (Gale
Gordon), was staying in his house as a guest. John,
interestingly enough, bore a stronger resemblance in appearance and personality
to the Mr. Wilson of the comic strip than George did. For the final season, the
original Wilsons were written out as having moved away, with John buying their
house with his wife, Eloise (Sara
Seegar). At the end of the season, CBS ultimately decided to
cancel the show as North, approaching 12-years-old, was getting too old to
believably be involved in the antics of the character. The show entered reruns on
NBC Saturday mornings
later that year before going into syndicated reruns in 1965. In the 1980s, it
began to make the rounds on various cable networks including Nickelodeon,
TV Land
and Antenna TV,
and on the streaming service Hulu.
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