1950's sitcom Dobie Gillis

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis aired from 1959 to 1963 on CBS. The show starred Dwayne Hickman and Bob Denver and was about the adventures of a girl-crazy American teenage boy.

Max Shulman was a successful writer when he created Dobie Gillis, who was the star of a series of short stories. These stories were published in an anthology called The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. In 1953, the stories were turned into a film called The Affairs of Dobie Gillis. Then in 1959 the TV series came along. Shulman was somewhat involved with the series, writing the theme song.

CAST

Dwayne Hickman as Dobie Gillis

Bob Denver as Maynard G. Krebs

Sheila James as Zelda Gilroy

Frank Faylen as Herbert T. Gillis

Florida Friebus as Winnie Gillis

Tuesday Weld as Thalia Menninger

Warren Beatty as Milton Armitage

Steve Franken as Chatsworth Osborne , Jr

Doris Packer as Mrs. Chatsworth Osborne, Sr



Maynard was Dobie’s beatnik best friend, his voice rose 2 octaves when he said the word “work?” Thalia was a beautiful girl, she was really out of Dobie’s league. She was very greedy and Dobie was always broke. Milton Armitage was more her speed, rich and handsome. Both characters only lasted for a year. In 1960, Chatsworth was Dobie’s rival for girls. He was rich and rather less handsome than Warren Beatty. His mother called him a “nasty boy.”

Dobie was always chasing one girl or another, but one girl was always chasing him. Zelda was realistic about Dobie’s shortcomings, but she wanted him anyway. She tolerated his chasing other girls, Zelda knew she would get him in the end. She liked to crinkle her nose at Dobie and invariably he crinkled his nose right back.

Dobie regularly talked to the audience, often while he was next to a statue of Rodin’s Thinker in the local park. Dobie lived with his parents above the family grocery store. His mother was sweet, his father less so; he regularly said “one of these days, I’m gonna kill that boy.”

When the series started Dobie was in High School, but during the course of the story, he and Maynard enlisted in the Army and then Dobie started at the local junior college. Dobie continued to chase girls, Maynard continued to be a slacker and avoid work whenever he could.

There was a reunion movie that established that Dobie was now a partner in the family grocery store and was married to Zelda. Maynard was still a slacker. The movie aired in the 1980’s. There was a pilot made for a new series in 1977. But “Whatever Happened to Dobie Gillis?” didn’t last, only a pilot was aired. Dobie as a responsible adult was much less interesting than as a goofy teenager.