"The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" (1959) TV series 1959-1963

Creator:

Max Shulman

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Release Date:

29 September 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family

Plot:

Dobie Gillis is an average teenager living in average Central City with an average desire--girls! He lusts after many nubile women...

Plot Keywords:

Cult TV | Cult Favorite | Monologue | Breaking The Fourth Wall | Sitcom

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Dwayne Hickman	...	Dobie Gillis (147 episodes, 1959-1963)
Bob Denver	...	Maynard G. Krebs (142 episodes, 1959-1963)
Frank Faylen	...	Herbert T. Gillis (110 episodes, 1959-1963)
Florida Friebus	...	Winifred Gillis / ... (88 episodes, 1959-1963)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

What did the middle initial in Maynard G. Krebbs, stand for? In one episode, and one only, someone asked this question, Maynard stated that the "G" stood for Walter. His explanation was that his mother "didn't spell too good".

Quotes:

[repeated line]
[whenever anyone mentions work]
Maynard G. Krebs: WORK?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Catalina Caper (#3.4)" (1990)

Bob Denver R.I.P.

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.