History Series / DennisTheMenace

* PapaWolf: Deconstructed. In one episode, Dennis is dealing with a bully and comes home with a black-eye. His dad and Mr. Wilson encourage him to stand up for himself and fight back. They then end up worrying about having to deal with the bully's very angry father when Dennis gives him a black-eye in return. Things change however as it's revealed that the bully lied about a few things such as saying that Dennis was a foot taller than him ("Look at the way his hair sticks out in back"), and conveniently left out the fact that he hit Dennis first. The bully's father then turned his anger on his own son upon discovering this.

** "My Four Boys": Mr. Wilson enters an essay contest, hoping to win a huge cash prize. However, one of the rules of the contest states that the entrants have to be parents, so Mr. Wilson pays Dennis and his friends to pretend to be his children. [[spoiler:After loads of bribery and a visit by an angry motorist whose care was damaged by the kids, the judge of the contest drops by and reveals that the grand prize was a pair of shoes for wach of the children.]]
** "Aunt Emma Visits the Wilsons": And upon doing so, she takes an instant liking to Dennis, causing Mr. Wilson to fear that she would make Dennis her heir instead of him. So he spends the episode being unusually nice to Aunt Emma, while she spends most of her time hanging out with Dennis. [[spoiler:In the end, all Dennis gets is a plastic sword... But Mrs. Wiilson ends up getting all the money.]]

** "The Stock Certificate", where Mr. Wilsom gets the namesake item worth $500 and hides it in a phone book, which is later thrown away. Mr. Wilson spends the rest of the episode trying to get the certificate back, but [[spoiler:it turns out Dennis already took out the certificate, using it to decorate his treehouse.]]

** Although to be fair, John wasn't completely a clone of George. Being slightly younger, he was still working as a free-lance writer and not the cranky retiree that George was. John seemed to accept Dennis more as an equal, and even conspired with him in a few episodes. The characterizations of Martha and Eloise Wilson on the other hand were indistiguishable.
** The two episodes filmed between Kearns' last episode and Gordon's first were obviously rewritten with two {{Suspiciously Similar Substitute}}s: Grocer Mr Quigley [[BaseballEpisode coaches Dennis's Little League Team]], and Uncle Ned - who previously was a health nut who drove George crazy with exercise and fitness - now is in such bad health that he suddenly gets exhausted as he prepares his flower garden for a neighborhood contest.

* ShaggyDogStory: "Dennis and the Rare Coin"; Mr. Wilson pays $250 for a rare gold coin, and mistakenly gives it to Dennis, who uses it to make a wish at a water fountain. Mr. Wilson attempts to get the coin back and he gets arrested for it. [[spoiler:The coin turned out to be a fake, and virtually worthless.]]

* BaseballEpisode: With Special Guest Star Sandy Koufax AsHimself.

%%* FreeRangeChildren

---> '''Mr. Wilson''': I'm sorry, Alice, I was only trying to help.
---> '''Dennis''': Jeepers, Mr. Wilson! You sound just like me!
---> '''Mr. Wilson''': I do?! Jeepers!
---> '''Dennis''': Great Scott!

* UmpteenthCustomer: An episode revolves around Mr. Wilson trying to be this to win a shopping spree.

* AdaptationDeviation: Dennis does not own Ruff the dog in the television version, while George Wilson acquires a terrier named Fremont.

* CatchPhrase: For Dennis: "Heyyyyyy, Misssssster Willllllllllllson!", "Good ol' Mr Wilson", "Hellooooo, Mr. Wilson!", "Jeepers!", and "I was only trying to help!" For Mr. Wilson: "Oh, Great Scott!"
** Lampshaded at the end of one episode when Dennis and Mr. Wilson briefly take on each other's roles when Alice comes downstairs and sees the ruined kitchen drapes:

* ChildHater: Mr. Merrivale, the grumpy florist, who frequently chases Dennis and Tommy out of his flower shop.

* CrossOver: Jay North made a guest appearence in an episode of ''The Donna Reed Show'' as Dennis. Apparently the Mitchells and the Stones live in the same neighborhood.

* FreeRangeChildren

* [[JustEatGilligan Just Eat Dennis]]

* LuckyRabbitsFoot: A good and bad luck variant in "The Lucky Rabbit's Foot". In it, Dennis has a lucky rabbit's foot which he believes will help him pass the test. With recent bad luck John Wilson has been having, Dennis offers to let him borrow the foot. Mr. Wilson, however, doesn't believe in such superstition and doesn't take the foot. Immediately thereafter, his bad luck continues when something jams his lawnmower, and he runs over his garden hose with the mower. Meanwhile, Mr. Wilson urges Dennis to trade his lucky rabbits' foot to him as an experiment to prove one is as good as another. When Dennis has the worthless one, he wants his original back. After Mr. Wilson and Henry squabble over trying to buy it, Dennis sees that the rabbits' feet aren't so lucky if they cause disagreement between Mr. Wilson and Henry.

* MaintainTheLie: In one episode John Wilson fears a glamorous movie star will feel he is too old to write her life story, so he enlists Henry Mitchell to meet with her as him instead. [[HilarityEnsues Cue the hilarity]] when both Alice and Eloise come home early.

* NotNowKiddo
* ParentExMachina
* PutOnABus: Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, after Joseph Kearns died suddenly in 1962, during the third season. As production of new episodes for the 1961-1962 season was still ongoing, the following changes took place over the next several months, continuing into the fall 1962 season:

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Gale Gordon replaced Joseph Kearns as George Wilson's brother John for the final season after Kearns passed away. Oddly enough, Gordon resembles the newspaper image of George Wilson much more than Kearns did.

* AdaptationDistillation: Dennis does not own Ruff the dog in the television version, while George Wilson acquires a terrier named Fremont.

* LuckyRabbitsFoot: An episode called "The Lucky Rabbit's Foot". In it, Dennis has what he thinks is a lucky rabbit's foot. With recent bad luck John Wilson has been having, Dennis offers to let him borrow the foot. Mr. Wilson, however, doesn't believe in such superstition and doesn't take the foot. Immediately thereafter, his bad luck continues when something jams his lawnmower, and he runs over his garden hose with the mower.

--> '''Mr Wilson''': I'm sorry, Alice, I was only trying to help.
--> '''Dennis''': Jeepers, Mr Wilson! You sound just like me!"
--> '''Mr Wilson''': I do?!?! Jeepers!
--> '''Dennis''': Great Scott!

A 1959–63 Creator/{{CBS}} sitcom, based on [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS Hank Ketcham's comic strip of the same name]]. The cast includes Jay North as Dennis Mitchell; Herbert Anderson as his father, Henry; Gloria Henry as his mother, Alice; Joseph Kearns as George Wilson, and Sylvia Field as Martha Wilson, and Gale Gordon as John Wilson.

* DemotedToExtra: Joey was Dennis' best friend in the comics, but he was pushed to the background.

-->-- '''Dennis Mitchell''', calling his 'best friend' Mr George/John Wilson, who generally mutters [[LittleNo "Oh, no..."]] to himself in response.


A 1959–63 Creator/{{CBS}} sitcom, based on [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS Hank Ketcham's comic strip of the same name]]. The cast includes 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 John Wilson, and Sylvia Field as Martha Wilson.

''Dennis the Menace'' is a US television series based on [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS the Hank Ketcham comic strip of the same name]]. The show aired from 1959 to 1963 on Creator/{{CBS}} and 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 John Wilson, and Sylvia Field as Martha Wilson.

* CrankyNeighbor: George Wilson, in everyone else's eyes.

** In "The Lucky Piece", George offers Dennis a good luck coin instead of money for mowing the lawn. Alice and Martha get together and secretly make the good luck happen for Dennis to teach Mr. Wilson a lesson, with Dennis finding a compass and scout's pocketknife in a box of cookies, which Alice and Dennis bought. The wives make arrangements for the malt shop to call Dennis and tell him that he won some free milkshakes which they paid for, and George offers to buy the lucky coin from Dennis, only to regret throwing it away when a hobo finds it and a ham falls out of a meat truck.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Gale Gordon replaced Joseph Kearns as George Wilson's brother John for the final season after Kerns passed away. Oddly enough, Gordon resembles the newspaper image of George Wilson much more than Kerns did.
** Although to be fair, John wasn't completely a clone of George. Being slightly younger he was still working and not the cranky retiree that George was. John seemed to accept Dennis more as an equal, and even conspired with him in a few episodes. The characterizations of Martha and Eloise Wilson on the other hand were indistiguishable.

* DoesNotLikeChildren: Mr. Merrivale, the grumpy florist, who frequently chases Dennis and Tommy out of his flower shop.
** Downplayed with Mr. Finch, the pharmacist, who is considerably a bit more patient, whenever Dennis and Tommy aren't causing mischief in his pharmacy.

* CatchPhrase: For Dennis: "Heyyyyyy, Misssssster Willllllllllllson!", "Good ol' Mr Wilson", "Jeepers!", and "I was only trying to help!" For Mr. Wilson: "Oh, Great Scott!"
** Lampshaded at the end of one episode:

* CrossOver: Jay North made a guest appearence in an episode of ''TheDonnaReedShow'' as Dennis. Apparently the Mitchells and the Stones live in the same neighborhood.
** Spring Byington appears in one episode as herself visiting her niece, the mother of one of Dennis's friends. Although playing herself, Dennis refers to her by the name of her character from ''DecemberBride''. (Which is somewhat ironic, as Jay North would grow up to resent the fact that everyone thought of him as Dennis, making it next to impossible to find post-''Dennis'' acting work.)

* IAmSpartacus: In Season 4's "The New Principal", Dennis's new principal puts him in detention after he is framed by Johnny Brady signing Dennis's name to a picture that Johnny drew; John Wilson, Mr. Finch the pharmacist, and Mr. Quigley the grocer come to the school claiming to be Henry Mitchell so they can convince the principal of Dennis's innocence. By the time Henry shows up, the principal dismisses all of them and Dennis gets to play in the baseball game.

* LuckyRabbitsFoot: An episode called "The Lucky Rabbit's Foot". In it, Dennis has what he thinks is a lucky rabbit's foot. With recent bad luck Mr. Wilson has been having, Dennis offers to let him borrow the foot. Mr. Wilson, however, doesn't believe in such superstition and doesn't take the foot. Immediately thereafter, his bad luck continues when something jams his lawnmower, and he runs over his garden hose with the mower.
* MaintainTheLie: In one episode John Wilson fears a glamourous movie star will feel he is too old to write her life story, so he enlists Henry Mitchell to meet with her as him instead. Cue the hilarity when both Alice and Eloise come home early.

** Although to be fair, John wasn't completly a clone of George. Being slightly younger he was still working and not the cranky retiree that George was. John seemed to accept Dennis more as an equal, and even conspired with him in a few episodes. The characterizations of Martha and Eloise Wilson on the other hand were indistiguishable.

* ThirdPersonPerson: Opie the Fix-it Man in "Dennis and the TV Set".

* MaintainTheLie: In one episode John Wilson fears a glamourous movie star will feel he is too old to write her life story, so he inlists Henry Mitchell to meet with her as him instead. Cue the hilarity when both Alice and Eloise come home early.

** Spring Byington appears in one episode as herself visiting her niece, the mother of one of Dennis's friends. Although playing herself, Dennis refers to her by the name of her character from ''DecemberBride''. (Which is somewhat ironic, as Jay North would grow up to resent the fact that everyone thought of him as Dennis, making it next to impossible to find post ''Dennis'' acting work.)

* CatchPhrase: For Dennis: "Heyyyyyy, Misssssster Willllllllllllson!", "Good ol' Mr Wilson", "Jeepers!", and "I was only trying to help!". For Mr. Wilson: "Oh, Great Scott!"

* GenreSavvy: George Wilson. In one episode Wilson and the Mitchells decide how to approach Dennis to solve that week's problem. After they reach a solution Alice asks Wilson what he's thinking about and George says he's just trying to figure out how this solution will eventually backfire.

** The two episodes filmed between Kern's last episode and Gordon's first were obviously rewritten with two [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute SSSs]]: Grocer Mr Quigley [[BaseballEpisode coaches Dennis's Little League Team]], and Uncle Ned - who previously was a health nut who drove George crazy with excersise and fitness - now is in such bad health that he suddenly gets exhaused as he prepares his flower garden for a neighborhood contest.

* BillingDisplacement: For the first three years, the credits featured Jay North by himself, and then one screen with three credits in the order of Herbert Anderson (Henry), Gloria Henry (Alice), and Joseph Kerns (Mr Wilson). When Gale Gordon joined the cast, he became the second person to be credited, followed by Anderson and Henry.

* NotAllowedToGrowUp