Dennis the Menace (1959 TV series)
| Dennis the Menace | |
|---|---|
CBS promotional title card for Dennis the Menace
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| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by | Based on the comic strip by Hank Ketcham |
| Starring |
Jay North Herbert Anderson Gloria Henry Jeannie Russell Joseph Kearns Gale Gordon Sylvia Field Sara Seegar |
| Theme music composer | William Loose John Seely |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 146 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Harry Ackerman |
| Producer(s) | James Fonda (1959-61) Winston O'Keefe (1961-63) |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Dariell Productions Screen Gems Hank Ketcham Enterprises |
| Distributor | Screen Gems (original) Sony Pictures Television (current) |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Picture format | Black-and-white |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | October 4, 1959 – July 7, 1963 |
Dennis the Menace is an American sitcom based on the Hank Ketcham comic strip of the same name and preceded The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday evenings on CBS from October 1959 to July 1963. The series stars Jay North as Dennis Mitchell; Herbert Anderson as his father, Henry; Gloria Henry as his mother, Alice; Joseph Kearns as George Wilson, Gale Gordon as George's brother, John Wilson, Sylvia Field as George's wife, Martha Wilson, and Sara Seegar as John's wife, Eloise Wilson.
Originally sponsored by Kellogg's cereals and Best Foods (Skippy Peanut Butter), the series was produced by Dariell Productions and Screen Gems.
The show follows the lives of the Mitchell family – Henry, Alice, and their only child, Dennis, an energetic, trouble-prone, mischievous, but well-meaning boy, who often tangles first with his peace-and-quiet-loving neighbor, George Wilson, a retired salesman, and later with George's brother John, a writer.
While the series was based on the Dennis the Menace comic strip, differences between the two are seen. On the sitcom and in the comics, Dennis is basically a good, well-intentioned boy who always tries to help people, but winds up making situations worse - often at Mr. Wilson's expense. In early episodes of the first season, far more disasters happened as a result of his actions than in later episodes. The character of Dennis was slightly toned down by the sixth or seventh episode. Instead of Dennis's dog Ruff, a smaller Cairn Terrier (per the episode "Miss Cathcart's Friend") named Fremont belonged to George and Martha Wilson. He did not appear during the fourth season, when John and Eloise Wilson moved in to 625 Elm Street.
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