The Bill Dana Show
| The Bill Dana Show | |
|---|---|
Dana as Jose Jimenez, 1964.
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| Genre | Comedy |
| Created by | Danny Thomas |
| Written by | Jack Elinson Charles Stewart Garry Marshall Jerry Belson Ray Singer Dick Chevillat Howard Ostroff |
| Directed by | Sheldon Leonard Coby Ruskin Danny Thomas Stanley Z. Cherry Al Lewis Theodore J. Flicker Howard Morris Jerry Paris Jay Sandrich |
| Starring |
Bill Dana Jonathan Harris Gary Crosby (1963-'64) Maggie Peterson (1964-'65) Don Adams |
| Theme music composer | Earle Hagen |
| Opening theme | "Jose's Theme" |
| Composer(s) | Irving Szathmary |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 43 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Sheldon Leonard |
| Producer(s) | Howard Leeds (season 1) Jack Elinson (season 2) |
| Location(s) | Desilu Studios |
| Running time | 24 mins. |
| Production company(s) | Amigo Productions |
| Distributor | SFM Media Service Corporation |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Picture format | Black-and-white |
| Audio format | monaural |
| Original release | September 22, 1963 – January 17, 1965 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Make Room For Daddy |
The Bill Dana Show is a United States comedy series starring Bill Dana and Jonathan Harris. The plot follows the daily lifestyle of Latin American Jose Jimenez, as a bellhop in a New York City hotel.
The show was a spin-off from Make Room For Daddy, which showed the character of Jose as an elevator operator before he became a bellhop.
The hotel was practically Jose's entire world; he lived in special bachelor headquarters provided for hotel employees, ate in the hotel kitchen, and had social contact only with employees and guests of the hotel. In his goodhearted naivete he saw only the good in the people around him. His biggest problems were his fellow bellhop Eddie (Gary Crosby), who was constantly trying to get Jose to wise up; the less-than-understanding hotel manager Mr. Phillips (Jonathan Harris, who would soon play Dr. Smith on Lost in Space) and the bumbling hotel detective Byron Glick (Don Adams, in a predecessor to the character he would play on Get Smart). In the second season Maggie Peterson played Susie, a waitress in the hotel's coffee shop.
Walter Mitty-like dream sequences were occasionally used to extricate Jose from the hotel environment.
Dana did a cameo as Jose Jimenez on an episode of Batman. He introduces himself to Batman and Robin by saying "My name- Jose Jimenez". This episode was titled "The Yegg Foes In Gotham" and originally aired on ABC on October 20, 1966. It was the last time Dana played Jose Jimenez.
The show, sponsored by Procter & Gamble, premiered on September 22, 1963 and ran for a season-and-a-half, before its run ended on January 17, 1965 (the following week, it was replaced by Branded).
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