Been watching old episodes of Dennis the Menace

Joseph Kearns really made that show. It went downhill fast after his death.

I want to be Mr. Wilson when I retire. He had the most active and fulfilling life for a retired person. He had so many different hobbies and interests and projects.

I, too, used to watch this all the time on Nickelodeon...and yes the Joseph Kearns episodes are the best.

Kearns was proud of his organ

Dennis the Menace (1959-1963 TV series)

This show was one of my earliest childhood television memories.

Jay North went on to voice teenaged Bamm-Bamm Rubble on Saturday morning tv.

There's a Dennis the Menace/Donna Reed Show crossover, where Donna babysits Dennis.

I had no idea r6

Here is something interesting I picked up.

In one episode, Dennis hides a gift in Mr. Wilson's closet. Mr. Wilson's wife stumbles upon it and thinks the gift is for her.

As she opens the closet door, someone on the laugh track says "Uh oh!" -- exactly the same way Lucy's mother would say when Lucy was about to get into trouble. (If you've watched I Love Lucy with any regularity you know what I mean.) There's no way it is anyone else.

So apparently the ILL audience laughter was turned into laugh tracks?

Yes exactly r1

Jay North went nude in a movie, that slut.

Jay didn't like being a child star. The show typecast him and after it ended, he continued to get work for a few years, but by the late 60s, all he could get is voice work for cartoons.

"Lane's Friend Hooks Up with Dennis the Menace"

Supposedly in 1988.

True story ?

Btw that's not Jay North below.

Jay North was physically abused by his parents. If he flubbed a line he was spanked and other abuse.

His story reminds me of Patty Duke's unfortunate upbringing.

[quote] he continued to get work for a few years, but by the late 60s, all he could get is voice work for cartoons.

Not entirely true. He didn't work as much, but he had on screen roles all the way into the mid 80's when he retired from the industry. Until he was coxed out of retirement for 2003's "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star".

[quote] Jay North was physically abused by his parents

He was mistreated by his aunt and uncle (mainly the aunt). His mother had asked them to oversee him while he worked so she could continue to work as a secretary at the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. His parents divorced when he was 4 and he never saw his father again. Nay never told his mother how badly his aunt and uncle were treating him as he didn't want to upset her.

Sal Mineo fucked him - after he was legal......

coxed should have been "coaxed".

Jay North always creeped me out. Really obnoxious as an actor with his shout-y style, and the obviously fake platinum hair.

The shout-y voice was at the request of ghe director, who told 8 year old Jay to "talk younger" and was affected for the character of Dennis.

Never knew his hair wasn't that naturally blond .

From the link @ r12 :

[quote]Jay did not remember his years on Dennis the Menace fondly. Although his fellow cast members treated him well, he was terrorized by his caretaker aunt and uncle, physically and emotionally abused when he missed a cue or flubbed a line. He was beaten, slapped, burned with a cigarette, locked in a closet.[quote]

I was surprised to learn that Joseph Kearns died 5 days after his 55th birthday. He always seemed such a persnickety old man.

In the I LOVE LUCY episode 'The Kleptomaniac' he's a positively youthful 45 but he just seems old to me.

The real Dennis Ketcham on whom the comic strip was based had it even worse than Jay North.

[R21], Can you say more, please?

Hank and Dennis Ketcham became estranged and he seemed to disappear off the face of the Earth almost. Dennis resented being the namesake of a comic strip.

Jay North was wrong to play Dennis. He didn't physically resemble him, the outfits he wore weren't similar enough to the cartoon and finally TV Dennis wasn't a menace, he was just plain old annoying.

The REAL Dennis the Menace is English

[quote]In the I LOVE LUCY episode 'The Kleptomaniac' he's a positively youthful 45 but he just seems old to me.

Everyone was back then. I always thought, "Archie and Edith look ancient," though they were supposedly in their late 40s. Oscar, Felix look like their ten or twenty years older, even Murray and Lou Grant look ten years older.

How long did they intend to keep this show on the air for? Even if Joseph Kearns hadn't died, it would look silly of Dennis to still be doing the same stuff with Mr. Wilson as a teenager if they'd gone on until, say, 1966.

R25 well, let's just say the [italic]other[/italic] Dennis the Menace is English.

I agree the Kearns episodes were better, but I think that's because Jay North was still young and cute. When the show ended he was 12-13 years old.

R24 it's true he wasn't the same physical type as his cartoon namesake, but he was cute and the camera loved him, and he had a certain spark that worked. Same with Joseph Kearns. Not the same physical type at all, but he really worked in the role.

Dennis' dad really captured the look of the cartoon, though. To a slightly lesser degree, but still pretty close to the drawings, were Mrs. Wilson and Dennis' mom.

Pedo comic

gay

I wasn't going to post this, but since this thread has now officially hit the gutter, my post seems tame.

I always thought Dennis' dad was kind of sexy, and the body language between the two men in this panel is hot.

I have a different caption in mind, though.

Gale Gordon actually looked more like the comic strip Mr. Wilson than Joseph Kearns did.

I was also creeped out by Jay North. He would’ve been good in a Twilight Zone episode.

I don't see the creepy aspect.

I hated Kearns as a kid. If you followed the series you could see that he was many things that would never pass muster in a similar series today. He was a liar, a cheat, and an attempted thief. Mr. Wilson had no problem with lying to get what he wanted. He also repeatedly tried to cheat Dennis and many others to get something meant for them for himself. If something fell into his hands he really wanted to keep even though he knew it belonged to someone else he would do everything in his power to hide the fact that he had it. I well remember the episode where a lady was giving away a silver dollar coin to the neighborhood kid who collected the most newspapers for charity drive. Wilson (a numismatist) got a look at the coin and knew it was worth upwards of $600.00 and he set out to get it for himself. He offered his garage to Dennis and his friends to store all their newspapers. In return he would give the winner a $1 bill and they would turn the coin over to him. Of course he didn't tell a soul the coin was worth a lot of money. Until he was basically shamed into revealing its true worth when the lady turned it over to Dennis. Wilson then guiltily told her he wanted the coin and would pay the charity $600.00 for the coin. This was just one of many cheats and scams Wilson attempted to pull on people.

The gall!