Hank

I remember this show well from my childhood, along with the other TV sitcom Camp Runamuck. I was in 5th grade when this show came out and watched every episode. It was funny, and to this day every once in awhile, the show's catchy theme pops into my head and I try to remember the lyrics. I saw the lyrics elsewhere on this site or another only today and can finally see what they are, because I had long forgotten them. I liked the show because Hank was always a positive guy, doing his best to take care of his sister, get a good education and better himself. Of course, all the running around, the costume changes and his efforts to get an education on the sly kept me entertained. I too remember the last episode when he was caught, but in the end, it had a happy ending. Being just a kid who really loved the show, I watched knowing it was the final episode and stayed glued to the tube through the closing credits and the last run of the theme song. Isn't it something how some shows touch you and are remembered fondly in your memory as you're growing up? By the way, the notion of somebody repeatedly slipping into classes without paying, etc. isn't so far-fetched. It was recently in the newspaper here in Southern California about some guy attending several college courses to learn, yet he was never enrolled in them. I can't remember the rest of this true incident, but it did happen.

I remember this show from watching the original broadcasts when I was pretty young, only I did not correctly remember the title. I recall the sub-theme that Hank could run so fast that the athletic coach wanted to know who he was, there was a certain implied irony (he was a natural athlete and could probably have attended college on a scholarship if he wasn't so preoccupied with auditing for free and running away). Long ago I tried to remember what the show was called and I confused the title with another show of the era so I probably doubly confused folks when I was reminiscing.

Anyhow, the show made a positive impression on me and I too had the problem of no one else having seen or remembered it until I did a Google search and stumbled upon it here.

Wow! I finally managed to stumble onto the name of this show and found a web site with clips. I recalled this show years later when at college, mentioning that it was the first time I had heard of the term "auditing a course". No one recalled it, and some implied I imagined the whole thing. A couple of times in the 80's, I wrote TV newspaper columnists about the show and had my article printed saying they could be no help. I was starting to think the show was a dream!

Anyway, I enjoyed the short run of "Hank". It was somewhat like the more popular "Dobie Gillis", but with more positive role models.

to all "Hank" fans, I seem to recall the theme song going something like this:

He's up with the sun, And he's got the college singing, As he goes off on another swinging day.

There're jobs to be done, Or errands to run, He's A - Number One - OK!

He'll drive, clean your clothes, Be a butler or a porter, If it means another quarter in the bank.

He'll get his degree, His Phi Beta key, And get 'em both for free, That's Hank.

I'm doing this all from a memory that's 34 years old, so I may make some mistakes. What I remember about this delightfully funny program is:

Hank and his sister are orphans. They don't wish to be put in an orphanage, so Hank uses makeup and disguises to fool the authorities into believing that they are being cared for by an adult. Hank's scheme snow balls as he is forced to lie and pretend to be all sorts of people in order to keep the charade going without being caught. All the while, Hank is trying to get himself a good education (pretending to be someone he's not) so that he can better support his sister and remain independent.

I don't remember how long this series ran, but it is one of the very few that I can recall that actually had a closing episode.

Hank, in a zany and furious attempt to disguise himself as several people at once -- being one person in one place and then switching costumes, personas, and rooms at break-neck speed -- Hank is finally caught and his terrible secret revealed, much to the amazement of all. It is decided that Hank has shown tremendous resourcefulness and is granted his wish to remain in college and preserve his family, under the guardianship of one of the adults who knows him...one of his professors, I think.

As a child, I found this show extremely funny, maybe because I wished my own brothers were as nice as Hank. Oh well....