Dennis The Menace: The E! True Hollywood Story

[stevearino]

Christmas Morning, 1990: An episode of a short-lived Daytime version of A Mark Goodson Production of "To Tell The Truth" is telecast on the NBC Television Network.

The Panel for the Day were, in order: Fred Burrows (real name of actor Orson Bean), regular Panelist Peggy Cass, actor Chris Lemmon (Jack's son), and regular Panelist Kitty Carlysle.

At episode's end, a Segment called "One On One" was Played--as it was at the end of each episode hosted by Lynn Swann (succeeding British TV Personality Gordon Elliott after the 1st several weeks), who hosted the Telecast (later succeeded as host by Game Show legend Alex Trebek). That day, Barbara Cohen, a woman from El Toro, California, was selected to play "One On One" from the Studio Audience.

At the start of the Segment, Lynn Swann introduced a Guest known as Mr. X.

Mr. X had 2 Stories to tell, only one of which was true; in the first Story, Mr. X claimed to be Hank Ketcham, the Creator of "Dennis The Menace," while in the second Story, he claimed to be Johnny Marks, the writer of the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

As Hank, when asked, among other questions, by Chris Lemmon what inspired the character of "Dennis The Menace," his response: "My Son." When asked by Orson Bean what the name of Dennis's neighbor was, his response: "George Wilson." To which Lynn Swann jokingly quipped, "He's in an Asylum right now."

As Johnny, when asked by Peggy Cass whether the song was written for the TV special or if the song was written first and the show came later, Mr. X responded something interesting: "It was written from a book by Robert May, in 1949, and was given away by the Montgomery Ward Company as a Freebie." When asked by Orson Bean who his favorite artist to record "Rudolph" besides Gene Autry the Original, Mr. X responded: "Bing Crosby."

At Segment's End, Barbara had to guess which Story was True--"Dennis" or "Rudolph"--and she guessed by his knowledge and sense of humor alone that he was the man who created "Dennis The Menace," to which host Lynn Swann asked: "What is your True Story, Mr. X?" To which Mr. X responded: "To Tell The Truth, my name is Hank Ketcham and I created Dennis The Menace." Barbara was subsequently awarded $500 for answering correctly.

In a post-game Interview with Lynn Swann, Hank mentioned that he'd had a new book out called "The Merchant of Dennis," featuring 40 Years of "Dennis The Menace" comic books up to that time combined with a Memoir of his first 70 Years on Earth.

The life and career of Henry King "Hank" Ketcham was quite a Colorful One.

Born on March 14, 1920 in Seattle, Washington, Hank was the son of Weaver Vinson Ketcham and Virginia King Ketcham; after Graduating High School at age 17 in 1937, Hank enrolled at the University of Washington, only to Drop Out of College a year later at age 18.

His great-grandfather, James Weaver, TWICE ran for President on Third Party tickets, losing BOTH times; after Dropping Out of College, Hank, then an aspiring Animator, admittedly applied for a job to work for Walt Disney, and though he was initially turned down, Walter Lantz gave Hank a chance, and after leaving Walter Lantz, Hank went to work for The Walt Disney Company on such Disney Classics as "Pinocchio," "Fantasia" and "Bambi" as well as Donald Duck shorts as an Animator.

After leaving Walt Disney behind, Hank voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942, during which by Day he worked as a Navy Photographic Specialist and by night created his first Comic Book Series, "Half Hitch," for the Saturday Evening Post, which ran for 2 years in the Post until early 1945, when the War ended and like so many other Military men, Hank was Honorably Discharged from the Navy--as was "Half Hitch" from the Saturday Evening Post, only to be brought back for a short run in the 1970s.

By the time World War II ended, Hank and his wife, Alice Mahar, were expecting their first child. The baby boy, Dennis Lloyd Ketcham, was born in November 1945 to Hank and Alice.

One fateful day, while working as a freelance cartoonist, in October 1950, Hank and Alice's son, Dennis (by this time just shy of 5), made a mess in his bedroom instead of napping, leading Alice to say to Hank, "Your son is a Menace," inspiring Hank, by this time already creating a comic book series inspired by Dennis, to name the Comic Book "Dennis The Menace," which made its debut in 18 newspapers on March 12, 1951, as Hank noted in 1990.

In 1958, future "Bewitched" creator Sol Saks decided to adapt "Dennis The Menace," with Hank's permission, into a live-action TV sitcom for Screen Gems Television, the TV subsidiary of Columbia Pictures; later that year, 7-year-old Jay Waverly North, Jr. (born on August 3, 1951 in Los Angeles, California) was cast as Dennis "The Menace" Mitchell, age 5.

Joining Jay in the Principal cast were character actor Herb Anderson (born on March 30, 1917 in Oakland, California; died on June 11, 1994 in Palm Springs, California at age 77) as Dennis's father, Henry Mitchell, an Engineer with Trask Engineering in the fictional town of Hillsdale, Kansas, where the sitcom was set; Gloria Henry (born on April 2, 1923 in New Orleans, Louisiana and still very much alive at age 95) as Dennis's mother, Alice, a typical '50s Sitcom Housewife; and character actor Joe Kearns (born on February 12, 1907 in Salt Lake City, Utah; died on February 17, 1962 at age 55 in Los Angeles, California) as Dennis's neighbor, the retired Mr. George Wilson, as well as Sylvia Field (married to Ernie Truex) as George's wife, Martha.

The Pilot for "Dennis The Menace" was filmed in late 1958 on the Columbia Pictures lot in Burbank, California; atypical of the rest of the show, Dennis behaved intentionally very badly by sneaking off to the movies his parents were seeing, a Glenn Ford movie, and getting away with it. How?! By having his friend Joey MacDonald (Gil Smith), a character holdover from the Comic Book series, pretend to be Dennis while the real Dennis was at the Motion Picture.

After viewing the Pilot, Screen Gems bought the series concept, with the CBS Television Network picking up the Series for the Fall 1959 TV season; shortly afterwards, Hank Ketcham faced personal tragedy in his life when his wife Alice died of a Massive Stroke in early 1959, leaving Hank a Widower raising Dennis alone--until Hank married again, this time to Jo Anne Stevens, for 17 years in Geneva, Switzerland until THAT marriage ended in Divorce.

CBS and Screen Gems both decided that, for the regular series, Dennis's antics needed to be toned down by having Dennis become a Good Little Boy with every Intent on doing good, but for everything he does to be a disaster, like the Comic Book series.

Tragedy also befell the cast of "Dennis The Menace" on February 17, 1962, when shortly after filming "Dennis's" 100th Episode, Joe Kearns, age 55, suffered a Massive Stroke.

According to a 2011 interview with Gloria Henry for the 1st-season DVD release of "Dennis The Menace," Joe Kearns thought it'd be a great idea to start a Metrocal Diet where he ate nothing but Metrocal for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner; instead, Joe had a Massive Stroke and died Hours later at age 55, with Production temporarily being Shut down.

Eventually, Joe was replaced by Charles Aldrich, Jr. (born on February 20, 1906 in New York City, New York; died on May 30, 1995 at age 89 of Lung Cancer in Escondido, California), known professionally as Gale Gordon, who joined the cast as Mr. John Wilson, George's brother, a guest of Mrs. Wilson's until the start of the Fall 1962 TV season, when it was explained that George and Martha had moved away, selling the house to John, who brought his own wife, Eloise (Sara Seegar), as if he'd always been the sole Mr. Wilson (by comparison, Gale Gordon looked more like the original Mr. Wilson in the "Dennis" comic books than Joe Kearns).

By this time, however, CBS decided to cancel "Dennis The Menace" after 4 successful seasons due to Jay North being determined as "too old" to continue as "Dennis The Menace."

The final original episode, "Aunt Emma Visits the Wilsons," aired on CBS on July 7, 1963; reruns subsequently aired from 1963-1965 on NBC, as well as Nickelodeon, TV Land, and most recently Antenna TV, which airs "Dennis" weekday mornings at 10 A.M. ET. as of 2011.

After his marriage to Jo Anne Stevens ended, Hank Ketcham moved back to his adopted hometown of Carmel, California where he married his 3rd and final wife, Rolande Praepost, with whom he had 2 other children, Scott and Dania (Dennis's half-siblings).

Hank retired from "Dennis" in 1994, shortly after the success of the 1993 Theatrical movie version with Walter Matthau as Mr. Wilson, handing the reins over to the due of Marcus Ferdinand and Ron Hamilton (known collectively as Ferdinand and Hamilton); after a long battle with Prostate Cancer, Hank Ketcham passed away on June 1, 2001 at age 81.

What became of Jay North, you ask? After his parents divorced when he was very young (by age 4, he never saw his father, Jay North, Sr., alive again), Jay's maternal aunt, Marie Hopper, and her husband, Hal, became his Legal Guardians; as Jay himself soberly noted on talk shows such as "Geraldo" and "Sally Jesse Raphael," Jay was regularly abused by his aunt and uncle, who'd take turns hitting him hard in his Chest and other areas where it wouldn't show in Public; after his brief 2nd marriage ended in 1991 after 3 months to a Yugoslavian woman named Rositia, Jay, by this time age 40, left his native Los Angeles and relocated to Lake Butler, Florida, where he now works as a Corrections Officer; he and his wife, Cindy Hackney (a local Caterer), are the proud parents of 3 daughters--their eldest born before their 1993 wedding. In 1990, shortly after the Suicide of Rusty Hamer, then age 42, Paul Petersen, a childhood Classmate of Jay's at the Columbia Children's School located on the Studio lot where "Dennis" was filmed, was Concerned that Jay was going down the same path of Suicide.

Paul referred Jay to a local Los Angeles Psychologist who Specialized in former Child Stars and Actors dealing with Emotional Pain, and Jay credits Paul, now the founder of A Minor Consideration, an Organization specializing in Troubled Youth in the Los Angeles Area, in helping him get through the Pain his aunt and uncle caused him for all those years.

Besides Jay North, Gloria Henry and Jeannie Russell (a.k.a. Dennis's nemesis Margaret Wade on the '50s sitcom "Dennis The Menace") are still very much alive, as is Gil Smith, who as of 2018 is now a California-based Commercial Photographer.

[Coffeecup]

Interesting. I did see a To tell the Truth episode of Hank. It could have been in the 1960's.. I did read somewhere Hank lost his wife around the time Dennis the Tv series was on the air. As for Jay North, I am glad he has found happiness with a wife and 3 daughters. He would have about age 49 with first child.

[stevea]

Yes, all very interesting. They kind of left Hank Ketcham high and dry--according to Wikipedia, he died 6/1/2001 at 81 years of age.

He had retired from drawing the comic in 1994, but it is drawn by other artists and continues today.

Sad what happened to Jay North. I had heard/read bits and pieces, but this kind of fills in the blanks. Glad he's doing OK now.