Now obviously in real life, Joseph Kearns' death was the reason George and later Martha were written out of the show.
But just for fun's sake, within the show's universe, the Mitchells and certainly John and Eloise had to keep in touch with George and Martha to some extent, right? Probably through letters or telegrams because long-distance calls were pretty expensive in those days. Dennis was so close to George growing up that I can't imagine they wouldn't exchange letters or maybe even a phone call now and then. And maybe after the series was over, they came back and visited?
Have wondered on and off about how the rest of the characters' lives went, fictionally of course, after the summer of 1963 and this was part of that for me.

Fairly good question (to say nothing of Henry and Alice Mitchell- the Original Wilsons longtime adult neighbors).

Well, if their brother, sister-in-law and former neighbors DID keep in touch with the Original Wilson, they sure kept quiet about it!

After a few episodes the "newness" of John wore off, with Henry making a comment once, John, we've known each other a long time. Huh? A couple of months?

For some reason when characters leave or the actor dies in this case, after a few episodes it's like the person never existed. George Wilson, Bub on My Three Sons, Chuck on Happy Days. I said "for some reason"--I'd like to know the reason. It wouldn't be hard to write in a few lines about the former character.

Yeah I never liked that line either Steve. In "You Go Your Way," one of the local women remarks "well I always did like him" about John and that was shortly after he and Eloise moved there. (On top of that, she was one of the women leading the concern about John in "Dennis and the Witch Doctor" just two episodes earlier.)
The line that always makes me cringe, and I can't remember the episode, is "for me there's only one Mr. Wilson and you're him." It was sometime in the middle of the fourth season. I always thought it was so unnecessary and an insult to Joseph Kearns' memory.

Right, that's a Dennis line, of all people. I remember it from recently, and it is cringe-worthy.

Exactly. I should have mentioned Dennis delivered that line!
It reminds me of how The Office noticeably avoided mentions of Michael Scott for a while after his departure. Once the show was ending, there were more but they took pains to distance themselves from him in the episodes immediately following his departure and for most of the next season.
DTM took the opposite approach.
It is a fun mental exercise to think how the characters' lives develop as they got older. Within the show universe, it is easy to envision George and Martha coming back to visit at some point and maybe live there again.

Yeah I never liked that line either Steve. In "You Go Your Way," one of the local women remarks "well I always did like him" about John and that was shortly after he and Eloise moved there. (On top of that, she was one of the women leading the concern about John in "Dennis and the Witch Doctor" just two episodes earlier.)
The line that always makes me cringe, and I can't remember the episode, is "for me there's only one Mr. Wilson and you're him." It was sometime in the middle of the fourth season. I always thought it was so unnecessary and an insult to Joseph Kearns' memory.

Consider that Jay North has said that the late Mr. Kearns was the adult he was closest to on the set and was very upset about his death, I can't imagine that he didn't loathe having to depict Dennis saying that line!

Yes, he had no problems with Mr. Gordon and even appreciated the chance to work with him again (as Mr. Mooney's openly mean nephew Wendell ) in 'The Lucy Show' but Mr. North didn't have the same bond as he had had with Mr. Kearns.

Heh. I'll have to look for that episode.
I've only seen a few DTM actors in roles after the show. Gloria Henry was in an episode of Hazel in 1963 or 1964 and I think she had some minor roles in the 80s and even into the 90s.
Sylvia Field was in an episode of Hazel in '62 or '63 and I think retired from acting around 1980. I also remember Herbert Anderson playing a doctor during the first season of the Brady Bunch. He'd gone quite gray by then.

Jay was in a My Three Sons recently and I didn't recognize him--saw his name in the credits.
After all I've read about his tragic treatment in the DTM years, I'm glad to hear that his life appears to be normal now.

On the show you can kind of "feel" the relationship between Kearns and North. I'm sure the loss hit him hard.

Gloria Henry was also on a season 3 episode of Father Know Best, around 1957. And Herbert Anderson has been in tons of roles.

After a few episodes the "newness" of John wore off, with Henry making a comment once, John, we've known each other a long time. Huh? A couple of months?

For some reason when characters leave or the actor dies in this case, after a few episodes it's like the person never existed. George Wilson, Bub on My Three Sons, Chuck on Happy Days. I said "for some reason"--I'd like to know the reason. It wouldn't be hard to write in a few lines about the former character.

Not to mention Flo from Alice, she was a HUGE part of the show but was never mentioned again.

I'm guessing it's because they want the audience to accept the NEW character and not make them feel nostalgic for the departed ones by bringing them up and dwelling on the past. Though I thought Dennis mentioned "the OTHER Mr. Wilson" a couple of times

Yeah, it seems like the original Mr Wilson REALLY DID love Dennis, even though he was often annoyed by him. I thought it was sweet in the Christmas episode, he wanted Dennis to have a good Christmas with a real tree and all.... John Wilson seemed to really despise Dennis most of the time

Dennis only referred to George in that specific manner in the second episode of the fourth season. George and Martha were both mentioned by name for the last time in the first episode of season 4, and after that references were few and far between. Neither of them ever are mentioned by name for the rest of the series, and Martha wasn't mentioned directly or indirectly again.
The last clear reference to George is when John says he'd bought from the house "from my brother."
Even in the last episode of the third season, everyone acts like George and Martha are completely out of the picture and John is there to stay. I guess the show was trying to get viewers ready for how the fourth and final season would look.

.... John Wilson seemed to really despise Dennis most of the time

In all fairness so did George. But I do agree they did have their share of nice moments (such as when George gave Dennis the watch or when Dennis brought George gifts from the drug store contest). And in those moments it appeared Jay really liked Kearns.

The line that always makes me cringe, and I can't remember the episode, is "for me there's only one Mr. Wilson and you're him." It was sometime in the middle of the fourth season. I always thought it was so unnecessary and an insult to Joseph Kearns' memory.

Just heard it at the end of "Wilson's Allergy."

The only thing with telegrams is, they made Mr. Wilson very nervous! I remember one instance, Season 3, EP 9, where Martha brings him a telegram that was just delivered, and he said: "A telegram?! Oh, dear! A telegram!" as his shaky hands opened the envelope. I was surprised he didn't ask Martha to bring him his nerve medicine!

The only thing with telegrams is, they made Mr. Wilson very nervous! I remember one instance, Season 3, EP 9, where Martha brings him a telegram that was just delivered, and he said: "A telegram?! Oh, dear! A telegram!" as his shaky hands opened the envelope. I was surprised he didn't ask Martha to bring him his nerve medicine!

In the days before phone service plans,long distance phone calls were VERY expensive and so telegrams were more often used to convey urgent news to friends and family - but even those were expensive enough that most non-wealthy folks only used them to notify the families and loved one's of deaths. Hence if Mr. Wilson had come from a struggling family, he would have considered getting one more likely than not the equivalent of getting a death notice!

Interesting Audrey Meadows said that only time Jackie Gleason insisted she do a scene over as Alice was when Alice was going to the door to get a telegram- and he felt Miss Meadows was being too nonchalant and casual about it before he explained to her that Alice (being from a struggling working class background) would have associated getting a telegram with a death notice or other urgent but bad news . Miss Meadows ultimately agreed with him on that since he himself had come from that background while her family had been much more comfortable when she was growing up.

They wanted to continue the series so glad they introduced a whole new character as John Wilson and not just have him play George. Like keeping Samantha’s husband but with a whole new actor when York was too sick to continue. Dick York was the best Darren.

I never knew that Jay North and Kearns had a very close friendship but so glad to hear it. You can actually feel their admiration for each other and they worked well together. I can’t imagine how devastated little Jay was to hear his friend had passed away but I can only hope someone helped him through it. I’m sure it wasn’t his wicked aunt and her husband. I’m so hoping that Jay is happy now as he gave us so much happiness as Dennis.

I've seen a few specials where he has guested as an adult, and it seems he has a happy life now in Florida. Of course he has horrible memories of those years, between the aunt and the show bigwigs.

It's a shame he can't come to see what a great little actor he was.

After a few episodes the "newness" of John wore off, with Henry making a comment once, John, we've known each other a long time. Huh? A couple of months?

For some reason when characters leave or the actor dies in this case, after a few episodes it's like the person never existed. George Wilson, Bub on My Three Sons, Chuck on Happy Days. I said "for some reason"--I'd like to know the reason. It wouldn't be hard to write in a few lines about the former character.

I can say that Dennis The Menace handing the departure of the original Mr. Wilson much better than most series, such as that terrible final season of Hazel.

I can say that Dennis The Menace handing the departure of the original Mr. Wilson much better than most series, such as that terrible final season of Hazel.

It had to be a bad time for everyone involved. Production-wise they had to come up with that brand new animated opening, modify some scripts, and write other new ones, all in a shorter time than normal.

Agree with both of you. The points raised here are the same ones I felt even as a kid 35 years ago, that once they got into the fourth season the show made the mistake of acting like John had been around a lot longer than he actually had.
At the same time, I commend them for occasionally making direct and indirect nods to George during the fourth season. As a lighthearted comedy they didn't want to invoke too many mentions of George and inevitably remind viewers of Joseph Kearns' death, but I wish there he and Martha hadn't been forgotten totally by the middle of the fourth season.

The best thing that could have been done with the series after the passing of Kearns was a recasting of all the parts for the start of season four, in every sense of the word the show would be starting over. Jay at 11 years of age was much too old to play Dennis, a hellraising 5 or 6 year old not yet at the age of reason. Changing the look of Dennis and quieting him down to adjust for the fact that he was older did too much damage to the series premise.

Agree with both of you. The points raised here are the same ones I felt even as a kid 35 years ago, that once they got into the fourth season the show made the mistake of acting like John had been around a lot longer than he actually had.
At the same time, I commend them for occasionally making direct and indirect nods to George during the fourth season. As a lighthearted comedy they didn't want to invoke too many mentions of George and inevitably remind viewers of Joseph Kearns' death, but I wish there he and Martha hadn't been forgotten totally by the middle of the fourth season.

Agreed, most sitcoms of the era weren't very concerned with continuity, no doubt they couldn't imagine us analyzing the she's 50-60 years later.