Dennis the Menace: Season One

The Complete First Season 1959 1960, All 32 Original Episodes


The comic misadventures of television’s most well-meaning but misguided boy are back! The lovable Dennis Mitchell (Jay North) left a trail of chaos throughout his suburban neighborhood. Yet along with his friends and classmates Tommy (Billy Booth) and Margaret (Jeannie Russell), Dennis managed to pry his way into the hearts of millions from week to week. Based on the long-running comic strip by Hank Ketcham, this beloved CBS television series (1959 1963) stayed true to form, as Dennis’s youthful curiosity always managed to get him into heaps of trouble . . . especially with his crotchety old neighbor Mr. Wilson (Joseph Kearns). Herbert Anderson and Gloria Henry starred as Dennis’s parents who were always on hand with love and guidance but not necessarily the required supervision.

Here for the first time on DVD are all 32 uncut episodes from the first season of Dennis The Menace!

The first season of Dennis the Menace, a black-and-white sitcom based on the comic strip by Hank Ketcham that ran on CBS from 1959 to 1960, featured an energetic, curious young boy who was simply a magnet for mischief. Dennis (Jay North) is essentially a good boy who always wants to be right in the middle of whatever's going on in his suburban neighborhood and has an insatiable desire to "help" his friends and neighbors. His loving, but exasperated parents (Gloria Henry and Herbert Anderson) never seem quite able to anticipate what kind of trouble Dennis might get into next, but one can bet that it will probably have something to do with their grouchy neighbor Mr. Wilson (Joseph Kearns). Whether it's planting flowers, pouring a concrete walk, camping out in the backyard, finding a buyer for a neighbor's house, or talking on the neighborhood (telephone) party line, Dennis always seems to inadvertently make a mess of things. In some ways, this sitcom is surprisingly timeless in its portrayal of a young boy and his abundant energy and overwhelming sense of curiosity, but details like the prevalence of cap guns and shooting games in Dennis's play, firecrackers tossed casually into the garbage and incinerator, and the stereotypical portrayal of a "woman's role" are startling reminders of how much has changed since the late 1950s and early 1960s. Bonus features include a 2010 interview with Henry and Jeannie Russell (Margaret) about everything from casting to the weekly shooting schedule and various troubles on the set; a 2007 audio-only radio interview with Henry and Russell; the 1960 Donna Reed Show episode "Donna Decorates," which guest-starred Dennis the Menace; and the original show promo, credits, and commercials. --Tami Horiuchi

I met Hazel recently when she asked me to help her cross the road. I'd often seen her shuffle past the house, and speculated that she might be heading to the post office to collect her pension, or to the shop to pick up cat food or some such thing. She seems so frail and elderly, I'm always slightly relieved to see her walk back past the house. The day we met she was laden down with bags and trying to cross a busy Cathedral Road. I offered my arm but she took my hand instead and we crossed the road together. I started making small talk, talking louder than I would have ordinarily as I'd assumed that besides being elderly she was probably also deaf. I shouted that it must be difficult for her to cross that particular road and she replied that it was, but that she had to make the journey as she'd needed to hand in an essay at the university. I was taken aback a little bit but she went on to explain that although she had a degree already, she was now doing a higher degree in science and had been trying to complete it for several years. We talked (and held hands) for the rest of the journey, and when I dropped her home I concluded that I should probably make fewer assumptions about people in future.

Hazel - taken a few years ago.

Hazel was very ill last month, losing weight and having breathing difficulties and epileptic fits. She was diagnosed as having an overactive thyroid which was causing a rapid hearbeat and fluid build-up in her chest. She is now on Felimazole thyroid tablets, and frusemide diuretics, and she is much better. She has started putting on some weight, the fits have stopped and her breathing is normal again.