Dobie Gillis

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Dobie Gillis

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis is a classic sitcom of the late 1950s. If on the surface the show seems unassuming and standard early sitcom fare, just below the surface is a show that breaks new ground in television. Two significant aspects set it apart from the other shows of that era and make it watchable and influential well into the 1990s. First is the show's focus on teenagers. Second is the addition of a new type of character in the form of Maynard G. Krebs, the outsider.

Dobie Gillis is a teenager in small-town America; the plot revolves around Dobie's life and thoughts. In the course of the show Dobie graduates from high school, briefly joins the army, and returns to the same town to attend college. The show was adapted from Max Shulman's short stories of the 1930s and was updated for the teenagers of the 1950s. It premiered in September of 1959 and ran until 1963. The main characters were Dobie Gillis (Dwayne Hickman), the forever-girl-chasing and money-short lead; his best friend and side-kick Maynard (Bob Denver) the cool jazz beatnik; Dobie's hardworking father Herbert T. Gillis (Frank Faylen); and Zelda Gilroy (Sheila James), who was determined to marry Dobie one day.

Before Dobie there had been teenagers in television shows but always in secondary roles and usually within the confines of a very structured family—e.g., The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Father Knows Best. While there were occasional episodes dealing with teenage issues, they were usually reserved for comic relief or family homilies. Dobie Gillis offered an entirely different way of viewing the subject. Although most of the stories deal with the basic trials and tribulations of teenage life—getting a date, getting money, and getting out of work—they are taken seriously; each show starts and ends with Dobie speaking to us from a pose near a replica of the Rodin sculpture known as "The Thinker." In this way, we are told that the problems of money, girls, and work are important to the youth.

Dobie's world includes several recurring characters who provide the basic themes for the show. His father runs the Gillis Grocery Store and cannot understand his son (he continually tries to instill in him the need for hard work), while his mother (Florida Friebus) attempts to mediate between father and son. In the beginning of the series Tuesday Weld plays Thalia Meninger, Dobie's dream girl whom he hesitates to pursue because he does not have money. As one might expect, there are several rivals who do have money—Milton Armitage (Warren Beatty), followed by Chatsworth Osborne Jr. (Stephen Franken). It is their presence that generates many of the show's conflicts.

As the series unfolds a more striking character also takes form, that of Maynard. Maynard is the classical beatnik: he has the goatee, the ripped sweatshirt, the love of jazz, and the "like" vocabulary. He seems out of place in this little town, and that is the point. Maynard (played by Bob Denver, later of Gilligan's Island) is Dobie's "good buddy" and he is loyal to him to the end. While Dobie dreams of money so that he can get the girls, Maynard has no need for either. His mannerisms and clothes make him stand out from everyone, and his simple ways and shuddering at the thought of work seem to hold him apart from the suburban dream. Maynard sets a standard for every other outsider with a message in shows to come.

Despite the concentration on themes of money and dating, or perhaps because of it, the show occasionally slides into uncharted areas. Dobie tends to think and speak about life in terms of big questions or, more accurately, he tends to make whatever he is thinking about seem big. Dobie, like many teenagers, is in search of many things, including an understanding of himself and the world in which he lives.

The impact of this show extends far beyond the 1950s. Shows that centered on teens and tried to gather the baby-boomer-market would be a staple from the 1960s on. The outsider beatnik character could easily metamorphose into to the hippie of the 1960s or even to "The Fonz" of Happy Days. Dobie has since resurfaced in two sequels; a 30-minute pilot for a revival of the show in 1977 named What Ever happened to Dobie Gillis?, and a reunion movie in 1988 called Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis.

—Frank E. Clark