The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis

This show was groundbreaking. No other show captured the generation gap of this era quite like Dobie Gillis.

First, it portrayed life from a teen's perspective in the age of Father Knows Best. In the early seasons, Dobie was a high school student consumed with only getting a pretty girl to be his girlfriend. Usually, it was Thalia Menninger who had expensive tastes. The conflicts usually resulted from the fact that Dobie was always broke and never wanted to work. He would always try to get money from his dad, but Herbert T. Gillis was not the type to give someone something for nothing. Also, Dobie, despite being a highly likable boy, was far from an exemplary student, which meant girls realized that his future was not promising.

Second, Dobie's parents were probably the most realistically portrayed of any TV parents from that era. Herbert T. Gillis was a hard-working, but loud-mouthed and had a blustery personality. He openly declared his teenage son a "lazy bum who would wind up living off the county" because he wouldn't work. The first season he would often respond to his disapproval of Dobie's actions by saying, "I gotta kill that boy. I just gotta." This was mildly controversial in that era and that line was later dropped. Instead, he would just be speechless with a bewildered expression that pretty much said he wanted to kill his son. Despite, his outbursts, Mr. Gillis was basically good hearted, but the generation gap between father and son was obvious and portrayed with humorous results. Dobie's mom, Winnie Gillis, was nice, but too nice, and counterbalanced Herbert by doting on her son and letting Dobie get away with not working in the family grocery store. Third, the writing and editing were superb. The writing contained a wit not found in other shows of that era.

HERBERT: Son. Your mother's a wonderful woman. Dobie: She a gem. HERBERT: She's one in a million. Dobie: She's a princess. MAYNARD: She's a warden.

The editing was great, because as a scene would close, it would set up the next scene and instantly cut to the next scene where a character would respond in the exact opposite manner to how that scene was being set up.

MR POMFRITT- You talk to your father, Dobie. I'm sure he'll want you to stay in college. (instant pan to the next scene with Mr. Gillis closeup): MR. GILLIS: You have got to quit school. (After explaining to Dobie and his mom, that Dobie wasn't taking any courses that would help him in the real world at school, and that he was supporting Dobie's lifestyle): (shouting)Wise up, son. Get a job.

Fourth, the cast contained several well portrayed eccentric characters. In addition, to Dobie, Thalia, and his parents, there were:

Chatsworth Osbourne, Jr.- a rich, spoiled, and party time brat who was quite likable and funny. He was often in competition with Dobie for a beautiful girl.

Maynard G. Krebs- Gilligan with a gotee. Always wore a scraggly sweatshirt with holes, loved jazz and bee-bop, would shirk when the word "work" was mentioned, and an even worse student than Dobie.

Zelda Gilroy- was a smart, brainy, scheming, and an unattractive girl who loved Dobie and was always outsmarting him by sabotaging his romances with more attractive girls.

Mrs. Osbourne- was Chatsworth's mother who called her son, "you nasty boy." She was a tyrant, who stirred things up with her son, Dobie, Maynard, and Mr. Gillis. Maynard called her "Your dragonship."

Mr. Pomfritt- was Dobie and Maynard's high school teacher and later professor in college. He played most of their teacher/professors and taught just about every subject that there was. He, like other teachers portrayed on the show, weren't the Leave it to Beaver type teachers. They often complained about being underpaid, under-appreciated, and the "younger generation."

I think the best parts of this series were seasons 1 and the first half of 2 (before they made ill-advised decision to put Dobie and Maynard in the army) and season 3. By season 3, Dobie and Maynard are in college. At this point, Dobie has matured. He does work in his father's store while going to school, but unfortunately, he is taking mostly liberal arts courses and is becoming an idealist. There were a lot of young, cute actresses appearing on the show each week in this season as Dobie's romantic interests. The show also began to focus more on Maynard and Herbert Gillis. Maynard was a beatnik character when the series began, but was becoming more a clownish type character with a gotee at this point. The silly and sometimes humorous and other times ridiculously over the top conflicts between these two were kind of a preview of the Gilligan/Skipper escapades that would be down the road. Personally, I prefer this show and Maynard's character over Gilligan. By season four, Dwayne Hickman had outgrown Dobie, and much of the episodes focused on his cousin, Duncan (Dunkie) Gillis and Maynard's silliness. In fact, Dobie seemed like the only character that wasn't eccentric at this point. Unfortunately, the too many of the episodes were becoming a little over the top at this point. Despite much of the last season, and the last half of the second, this show has a special charm that stands out from most of the others from that era. Some of the material is obviously dated by today's standards, but overall I think this show and the basic premise holds up quite well. I hope they make this entire series available on DVD soon. From what I understand, there are currently copywrite issues.

An engaging teen-age comedy, thanks to solid casting, more than the usual 1950's imagination, and a willingness to ridicule our national obsession with greed. Dobie's (Hickman) an ordinary teen from a modest background, with a grouchy grocer dad and a sweet-tempered mom. In short, besides a warm personality, he doesn't have much going for him. The trouble is that the girls he's constantly falling for at school are all looking for money or status, which Dobie doesn't have. Doesn't sound humorous, does it.

But thanks to clever scripts, rapid-fire dialog, and Bob Denver as the hopelessly dim beatnik, Maynard, it's funny as heck. The best entries are the early ones, where Dobie tries to win the affections of that greedy little vixen Thalia Meninger (Tuesday Weld). Weld is simply perfect as a cute blonde snot who keeps reminding Dobie of how ordinary he is, while she looks for a rich guy instead. Not many series, serious or otherwise, were willing to raise this sort of class envy on TV, but this one does. Poor Dobie. His only consolation is talking to the camera and ruminating over his girl problems. Cleverly, there's a statue of The Thinker in the background as he speaks to us. That way we know what he's saying is what he's thinking without the script having to tell us so. It's a good imaginative touch breaking the wall between character and viewer. I believe this break with convention is the only TV instance of that day.

But Weld was too good and soon went into movies. So Dobie goes through other similar cuties for whom, in humorous fashion, he's still not good enough. I love the silly poetic way Dobie addresses his reluctant lady friends. Stuff like: "My perfume of India" or "You shine like the stars of my mountain". It's perfect for conveying the show's facetious touch.

The trouble is that after the first year or so, the premise became too predictable, plus the boys are looking a little old for high schoolers. So Dobie and Maynard join the army, but the hijinks are not nearly as funny. As a result, they're soon out of uniform and back in town, enrolled in college where Dobie can resume his problem with girls. Note too how much larger Denver's role becomes as the series continues. Clearly, however, as good as some episodes are, by that time the writers were running out of variations on the old premise. So, in what appears desperation, they try out ill-advised fantasies like Dobie and Maynard as loony South American revolutionaries. By 1963, the series had clearly run its course.

Nonetheless, it's hard to say enough about the supporting cast that had so much to do with the show's success. Frank Faylen as dad Gillis is often over the top but fits right into the show's usual snappy pace. Then there's Florida Friebus as long-suffering mom Gillis, the one character not exaggerated for laughs. And, of course, there's little Sheila James as plain Jane Zelda, smart as heck but hopelessly stuck on Dobie, while forced to put up with his constant rejections. And finally, there's Steve Franken as spoiled rich kid Chatsworth Osborne Jr. who's constantly getting in Dobie's way, flaunting his superiority. (Warren Beatty was the original rich snob, but like Weld, went quickly into the movies.)

Now, if you think about it, the ideas here of romantic rejection, social climbing, and a talentless Dobie could quickly sour if not handled correctly. So it's to the credit of the cast, writers and directors, that they kept the material as light and humorous as they did. And especially to Hickman who made the hapless Dobie so likable without becoming sappy. All in all, for at least a year, this was arguably one of the best, most imaginative shows on TV, and still merits revival.

Generations will remember him as Gilligan, and that one-gag show did have some funny moments, but Bob Denver better deserves recognition for playing Maynard G. Krebs in this little gem of a series. Although the show never did precisely represent the Zeitgeist of the times it portrays, and, in this post-modern age of irony, more than a little of it seems dated, it really was memorably funny.

It's remarkable to realize that Dobie – the quintessential pre-hippie teenager – is working awfully hard to convince girls to do something that's really pretty innocent. This is a guy looking for love, first and foremost – in the form of affection and caring. It's not as if he were trying to talk the beautiful Thalia into bed, mind you. "Dobie," in the words of the show's theme song, "wants a girl to call his own. Is she short, is she tall, is she fat, is she small, is she any kind of dreamboat at all? No matter – he's hers and hers alone; 'cause Dobie has to have a girl to call his own." How sweetly corny! And chaste, too! Not a hint of sex!

A good cast helped this show succeed. Tuesday Weld was more than just a pretty face; she was a surprisingly good actress. The young Warren Beatty was good, too. Dwayne Hickman created Dobie as a likable cipher, and Frank Faylen and Florida Friebus (her real name, not a Max Schulman creation) were convincing and comical as the 1950s parents from hell. Perhaps Sheila James' take on Zelda as Miss Walking Encyclopedia was a little over-the-top, and that nose-wrinkling shtick got a little old, but it worked. The superb character actor William Schallart shone as the English teacher Mr. Pomfritt (recalling the European nomenclature for French fries, "pommes-frites"), who never got to lecture about his favorite poet, William Wordsworth, because the end-of class bell would ring.

And then there was Maynard.

Dobie: "Zelda, I don't think that will work." Maynard: "Work!?!" Dobie: "Maynard!" This oft-repeated exchange became something of a catch phrase in certain circles (mine included), as the beatnik Krebs made America realize that it's much more important to play the bongos in a coffee house than hold down a job of any sort. Without Maynard, there would have been no Fonzie, no Bob Dylan, no Allen Ginsburg, no Beatles – well, maybe that's an overstatement. But Bob Denver was the one of the first actors to show the TV audience that people can be hip and likable at the same time. And what a natural he was in the role.

Of course, none of these characters existed in real life. Real beatniks, like Jack Kerouac's Dean Moriarty, were far less likable and wholesome than Maynard. Tuesday Weld's troubled private life was much closer to a real-life situation than her portrayal of the gold-digging beautiful blonde. And nobody could be as non-libidinous as Dobie. These characters are of the same generation as the lusty characters portrayed in the movie "Animal House," after all. But this show was a fine, amusing and memorable little TV confection.

i enjoyed this show in middle school and junior high (first runs)and it's still funny now. the writing is clever (max shulman is brilliant), the actors are good comedians, and the issues of looking for love but being too shy are still pertinent. (it's an idealized version. this is about the 50's. but the goofiness is deliberate, and it works.)

Now all you Wodehouse fans don't have a cow...

Dobie is not a copy of Bertie. Bertie comes from money, Dobie's parent run a Mom-an-Pop grocery store. Bertie has a continental charm, Dobie has a corn-fed earnestness. Bertie spends all of his time running from women, Dobie spends all of his time chasing girls. Bertie has Jeeves, Dobie has Maynard G. Krebs, and I think that says it all.

Though I enjoyed the series when I saw it as a kid (first run), I didn't really get much of the sweet heartache of the show until I was in high school and trying to catch the attention of my own Thalia.

Thing that I loved: Episodes opening with Rodin's "The Thinker" and Dobie trying to think his way out of his current situation...Dobie addressing the camera...Maynard's reaction to the word, "Work!"

Let me encourage anyone who can to get the short story collection by Max Schulman. It is a complete delight and gave me a real appreciation for how well the TV show adapted the tone and snap of the book.

Shulman also wrote "Rally Round the Flag, Boys" and "The Tender Trap" both made into enjoyable movies.