Dennis The Menace (1959 TV Series) - First Season

First Season

With CBS seeking to replace the hit show it had lost when it allowed Leave It To Beaver to migrate to ABC, a pilot episode titled Dennis Goes To The Movies was filmed late in 1958. Dennis was clearly younger, and his speech, the tone of his voice, and his character had obviously not been as developed as in episodes later in the 1959–1960 season. On this episode, Dennis indeed causes a lot of destruction such as burying a hose (installing an automatic sprinkler system), trying to repair a leg on the kitchen table and causing the whole table to collapse, almost knocking Mr. Wilson off the ladder but causing him to ruin his shoes as he steps in a can of paint, among other things. Dennis' father and mother then announce that they are going to the movies to see a western (that Dennis wanted to see "all his life") and Dennis would be getting a babysitter. The problem is none of the babysitters in the area would help out because of his mischief. The Mitchells find an elderly lady, Mrs. Porter (Madge Blake), who had never met Dennis. Dennis then switches places with Joey and sneaks out to the very same movie his parents are seeing. Joey stays home, while Mrs. Porter thinks he is Dennis. Meanwhile, Dennis causes havoc at the theater, even demanding that the projectionist to repeat a scene. His parents suspect that Dennis is there causing these problems. So they call Mrs. Porter at the house, and she assures them that Dennis has been well behaved. Dennis' parents say, "It sounds like she is talking about some other child." Little did the parents know they were right. Dennis beats his parents home and is in bed by the time they return. But he makes noises trying to borrow Mr. Wilson's ladder to climb back into his upstairs bedroom window. This causes Mr. Wilson to go outside to see what is wrong and then be arrested for armed robbery when he is found with Dennis' toy gun (which in those days much more closely resembled a real gun). The very last scene where Joey jumps into bed with Dennis was filmed in the Summer of 1959 in order to make the episode long enough.

In early 1959, several other episodes were filmed including "The Fishing Trip," "Dennis Gets A Duck," "Dennis Runs Away," "The Cowboy," "Open House," (where Margaret made her debut, this episode was made prior to "The Sign Post" but aired after) and "Dennis Becomes a Babysitter" (where Margaret also appears). At that point, CBS consented to take the program to run at 7:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday evenings after Lassie. After viewing these episodes, CBS determined that they wanted Dennis toned down because of fear that his actions would encourage children watching to try some of these things.

Several weeks before the series was to debut, the episode "The Sign Post" was made in which Tommy made his debut. Margaret, who appeared in two episodes that were made before but aired after also appeared along with Joey. In this episode, Dennis and Tommy put back a street sign that a motorist knocked down, but the sign has the streets in reverse. As a result, construction workers mistakenly begin digging for a swimming pool in Mr. Wilson's back yard, causing havoc. In this episode, Dennis is very much toned down from the pilot episode, and his switching of the sign post is done with innocent good intentions. For that reason, after the pilot aired as the first episode, "The Sign Post" aired and after that "Fishing Trip" which was the second episode aired. After that, newly made episodes aired mixed in with the initial batch made earlier in 1959, which explains why "Dennis Runs Away", which was the fourth or fifth episode was run later in the first run, and shows an obviously younger Dennis as in the earlier episodes. Also another clue this episode was earlier was the fact on the episode "The Fountain" Dennis at the police station states the last time he was there he got ice cream cones. That took place on "Dennis Runs Away," which was made prior to "Fountain," but which aired later in the season. Joey was gradually phased out in season one, and was not a part of the second season. Dennis' friend Stewart appeared in only a few episodes in the first season and was played by Ron Howard (who would soon after become Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show). Jay North appeared as Dennis Mitchell in one 1960 episode of The Donna Reed Show, "Donna Decorates." Dennis, apparently a neighbor of Donna Stone, visits Donna while she is decorating her house and causes mayhem with his usual antics.