''The Patty Duke Show'' is an American television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

created by

Sidney Sheldon Sidney Sheldon (February 11, 1917 – January 30, 2007) was an American writer. He was prominent in the 1930s, first working on Broadway plays, and then in motion pictures, notably writing the successful comedy ''The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer ...

and

William Asher William Milton Asher (August 8, 1921 – July 16, 2012) was an American television and film producer, film director, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prolific early television directors, producing or directing over two dozen series. Wit ...

. The series ran on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

from September 18, 1963, to April 27, 1966. The series was developed as a vehicle for teenage star

Patty Duke Anna Marie "Patty" Duke (December 14, 1946 – March 29, 2016) was an American actress and mental health advocate. Over the course of her acting career, she was the recipient of an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, three Primetime Emmy Aw ...

, who had won an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

the previous year. Duke starred in dual roles of "twin cousins" Patty and Cathy Lane. The series co-starred

William Schallert William Joseph Schallert (July 6, 1922 – May 8, 2016) was an American character actor who appeared in dozens of television shows and films over a career spanning more than 60 years. He is known for his roles on ''Richard Diamond, Private ...

Jean Byron Jean Byron (born Imogene Audette Burkhart; December 10, 1925February 3, 2006) was an American film, television, and stage actress. She is best known for the role of Natalie Lane, Patty Lane's mother in ''The Patty Duke Show''. She was also know ...

Paul O'Keefe Paul O'Keefe (born April 27, 1951) is an American actor best known for his work as Ross Lane, the younger brother of Patty Duke's character Patty Lane in the television series ''The Patty Duke Show'' and for the movie '' The Daydreamer''. Born i ...

, and

Eddie Applegate Edward Robert "Eddie" Applegate (October 4, 1935 – October 17, 2016) was an American television actor, best known for his work in the 1960s, most notably in the role of Richard Harrison, the boyfriend of Patty Lane on ''The Patty Duke Show''. ...

. A total of 104 black-and-white episodes, plus an unaired pilot, were produced by

United Artists Television United Artists Television (UATV) was an American television production/distribution studio of United Artists Corporation that was formed on New Year's Day (January 1), 1958. The company is remembered for producing series such as ''This Man Dawson ...

. ABC abruptly cancelled the series after three seasons.

Premise

Patty Lane (Duke) is a normal, chatty, rambunctious teenager who (according to the theme song lyrics) lives in the

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south, an ...

section of New York City (although the setting and characters resemble the more simple and wholesome Middle America). Her father, Martin Lane (

), is the managing editor of the ''New York Daily Chronicle''; Patty affectionately addresses him as "Poppo." Her "identical paternal cousin," Cathy Lane (also played by Duke), is sophisticated, brainy and demure; her father Kenneth (also played by Schallert) is Martin's identical twin brother. Since the widowed Kenneth is often away for as a foreign correspondent for the ''Chronicle'', Cathy moves to the United States to live with Patty's family – which also includes her mother Natalie (

) and brother Ross (

) – and to attend Brooklyn Heights High School with Patty and her boyfriend Richard (

). While the girls are physically identical, their style, tastes and attitudes are nearly opposite, which is responsible for some of the comedic situations on the show. Though the character of "Cathy" received first billing over the character of "Patty" in the show's opening credits, virtually all episodes centered around Patty's misadventures, with Cathy often only playing a minor supporting role. The remarkable physical resemblance that Patty and Cathy share is explained by the fact that their fathers are identical twins. While Patty speaks with a typical American accent, Cathy speaks with a general European accent; not surprisingly, however, both cousins are able to mimic each other's voice. Patty and Cathy have an additional identical cousin,

Southern belle Southern belle () is a colloquialism for a debutante in the planter class of the Antebellum South. Characteristics The image of a Southern belle is often characterized by fashion elements such as a hoop skirt, a corset, pantalettes, a wide-b ...

Betsy (also played by Duke), featured in the season two episode "The Perfect Hostess."

Episodes

Cast

as Patty Lane and Cathy Lane ** Duke also "guest-starred" as Betsy Lane in the episode "The Perfect Hostess" (1965) *

as Martin Lane ** Schallert also had a

dual role A dual role (also known as a double role) refers to one actor playing two roles in a single production. Dual roles (or a larger number of roles for an actor) may be deliberately written into a script, or may instead be a choice made during produc ...

as Kenneth Lane in three season one episodes, and as Uncle Jed in a season three episode *

as Natalie Lane, Patty's mother *

as Ross Lane, Patty's brother *

as Richard Harrison, Patty's boyfriend

Rita McLaughlin Rita Walter ( McLaughlin; March 8, 1951 – December 25, 2022) was an American actress, best known for her role as Carol Deming on the popular soap opera '' As the World Turns'', which she played from May 1970 to December 1981. Originally cre ...

served as a double for Duke in the third season, but was never credited. In the series' unaired pilot episode, Mark Miller and

Charles Herbert Charles Herbert Saperstein (December 23, 1948 – October 31, 2015), known as Charles Herbert, was an American child actor of the 1950s and 1960s. Before reaching his teens, Herbert was renowned by a generation of moviegoers for an on-screen ...

played Martin and Ross Lane, respectively.

Major recurring

* Kitty Sullivan as Sue Ellen Turner (seasons 1-2), Patty's frenemy. She was replaced by Roz and Monica Robinson in the third season. **

Cindy Williams Cynthia Jane Williams (born August 22, 1947) is an American actress and producer, known for her role as Shirley Feeney on the television sitcom ''Happy Days'' (1975–1979), and '' Laverne & Shirley'' (1976–1982). Early life Williams was b ...

portrayed Sue Ellen in ''Still Rockin' in Brooklyn Heights'' when Sullivan was unavaliable. *

John McGiver John Irwin McGiver (November 5, 1913 – September 9, 1975) was an American character actor who made more than a hundred appearances in television and motion pictures over a two-decade span from 1955 to 1975. The owl-faced, portly character ac ...

as J.R. Castle (season 1), Martin's boss at the ''Chronicle''. He is not shown or mentioned after the first season. *

David Doyle David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

as Jonathan Harrison (seasons 1-2), Richard's father who is a construction engineer. * John Spencer as Henry (seasons 1-2), one of Patty's classmates. * Kelly Wood as Gloria (season 2), one of Patty's friends. *

Marcia Strassman Marcia Ann Strassman (April 28, 1948 – October 24, 2014) was an American actress and singer. She played Nurse Margie Cutler on ''M*A*S*H'', Julie Kotter on ''Welcome Back, Kotter'', and Diane Szalinski in the film ''Honey, I Shrunk the Kid ...

as Adeline (season 2), one of Patty's classmates. * Robyn Millan as Roz (season 3), one of Patty's classmates. * Laura Barton/

Kathy Garver Kathleen Marie Garver is an American actress most remembered for having portrayed the teenaged orphan, Catherine "Cissy" Davis, on the popular 1960s CBS sitcom, ''Family Affair''. Before that, she was cast by Cecil B. DeMille in the film ''T ...

as Monica Robinson (season 3), Patty's rival. She replaces the Sue Ellen Turner character.

Notable guest stars

Jean-Pierre Aumont Jean-Pierre Aumont (born Jean-Pierre Philippe Salomons; 5 January 1911 – 30 January 2001) was a French actor, and holder of the Légion d'Honneur and the Croix de guerre 1939–1945, Croix de Guerre for his World War II military service. Ea ...

("The French Teacher" 1963) *

Ilka Chase Ilka Chase (April 8, 1905 – February 15, 1978) was an American actress, radio host, and novelist. Biography Born in New York City and educated at convent and boarding schools in the United States, England, and France, Chase was the only child ...

("The House Guest" 1963) *

Alan Mowbray Alan Mowbray (born Alfred Ernest Allen; 18 August 1896 – 25 March 1969) was an English stage and film actor who found success in Hollywood. Early life Mowbray was born in London, England. He served with distinction in the British Army in W ...

("The Actress" 1963) *

Joan Copeland Joan Maxine Kupchik ( Miller; June 1, 1922 – January 4, 2022), known professionally as Joan Copeland, was an American actress. She was the younger sister of playwright Arthur Miller. She began her career during the mid-1940s, appearing in thea ...

("Are Mothers People?" 1964) *

Susan Anspach Susan Florence Anspach (; November 23, 1942 – April 2, 2018) was an American stage, film and television actress, who was best known for her roles in films during the 1970s and 1980s such as ''Five Easy Pieces'' (1970), '' Play It Again, Sa ...

(as Susan: "Cathy, the Rebel" and "Will the Real Sammy Davis Please Hang Up?" 1965) *

Frankie Avalon Francis Thomas Avallone (born September 18, 1940), better known as Frankie Avalon, is an American actor, singer, and former teen idol. He had 31 charting U.S. ''Billboard'' singles from 1958 to late 1962, including number one hits, "Venus" an ...

("How to Be Popular" 1963; "A Foggy Day in Brooklyn Heights" 1965) *

Kaye Ballard Kaye Ballard (November 20, 1925 – January 21, 2019) was an American actress, comedian, and singer. Early life Ballard was born Catherine Gloria Balotta in Cleveland, Ohio, one of four children born to Italian immigrant parents, Lena (née Nac ...

("The Perfect Teenager" 1964) *

James Brolin James Brolin (, born Craig Kenneth Bruderlin; July 18, 1940) is an American actor. Brolin has won two Golden Globes and an Emmy. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 27, 1998. He is the father of actor Josh Brolin. He is ...

("Patty Meets the Great Outdoors" 1965) * Roger C. Carmel ("Author! Author!" 1964) *

Kim Carnes Kim Carnes (; born July 20, 1945) is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, she began her career as a songwriter in the 1960s, writing for other artists while performing in local clubs and working as a sess ...

("Patty Meets the Great Outdoors" 1965) *

Jeremy Clyde Michael Jeremy Thomas Clyde (born 22 March 1941) is an English actor and musician. During the 1960s, he was one-half of the folk duo Chad & Jeremy (with Chad Stuart), who had little success in the UK, but were an object of interest to American ...

("Patty Pits Wits, Two Brits Hits" 1965) *

Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...

("Will the Real Sammy Davis Please Hang Up?" 1965) *

Jimmy Dean Jimmy Ray Dean (August 10, 1928 – June 13, 2010) was an American country music singer, television host, actor and businessman. He was the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand as well as the spokesman for its TV commercials. He became ...

("The Songwriters" 1964) *

Troy Donahue Troy Donahue (born Merle Johnson Jr., January 27, 1936 – September 2, 2001) was an American film and television actor and singer. He was a popular sex symbol in the 1950s and 1960s. Biography Early years Born in New York City, Donahue was ...

("Operation: Tonsils" 1965) *

Dick Gautier Richard Gautier (October 30, 1931 – January 13, 2017) was an American actor, comedian, singer, and caricaturist. He was known for his television roles as Hymie the Robot in the television series ''Get Smart'', and Robin Hood in the TV comedy s ...

("Anywhere I Hang My Horn Is Home" 1966) *

George Gaynes George Gaynes (born George Jongejans; May 16, 1917 – February 15, 2016) was a Finnish-born American singer, actor, and voice artist. Born to Dutch and Russian-Finnish parents in the Grand Duchy of Finland of the Russian Empire, he served in the ...

("The Perfect Hostess" 1965) *

Robert Goulet Robert Gérard Goulet (November 26, 1933 October 30, 2007) was an American and Canadian singer and actor of French-Canadian ancestry. Goulet was born and raised in Lawrence, Massachusetts until age 13, and then spent his formative years in Cana ...

("Don't Monkey with Mendel" 1965) * Margaret Hamilton (as Maid: "Double Date" 1963; "Let 'Em Eat Cake" 1964) *

George S. Irving George S. Irving (born Irving Shelasky; November 1, 1922 – December 26, 2016) was an American actor known primarily for his character roles on Broadway theatre, Broadway and as the voice of Heat Miser in the American Christmas television spe ...

("Let 'Em Eat Cake" 1964) *

Peter Lawford Peter Sydney Ernest Lawford ( Aylen; 7 September 1923 – 24 December 1984) was an English-American actor.Obituary ''Variety'', 26 December 1984. He was a member of the " Rat Pack" and the brother-in-law of US president John F. Kennedy and sen ...

("Will the Real Sammy Davis Please Hang Up?" 1965) *

Paul Lynde Paul Edward Lynde (; June 13, 1926January 10, 1982) was an American comedian, actor and game show panelist. A character actor with a distinctively campy and snarky persona that often poked fun at his barely closeted homosexuality, Lynde was well ...

("The Genius" 1963) *

Sal Mineo Salvatore Mineo Jr. (January 10, 1939 – February 12, 1976) was an American actor, singer, and director. He is best known for his role as John "Plato" Crawford in the drama film ''Rebel Without a Cause'' (1955), which earned him a nomination f ...

("Patty Meets a Celebrity" 1965) *

Estelle Parsons Estelle Margaret Parsons (born November 20, 1927) is an American actress, singer and stage director. After studying law, Parsons became a singer before deciding to pursue a career in acting. She worked for the television program ''Today'' and ...

("The Con Artist" 1964) *

Neva Patterson Neva Louise Patterson (February 10, 1920 – December 14, 2010) was an American actress. Early years Born on a farm near Nevada, Iowa, Patterson was the daughter of mailman George Patterson and seamstress Marjorie Byers Patterson. After gradua ...

(as Miss Mason: "The Tycoons", 1964, and Miss Moore: "My Cousin the Heroine" 1965) *

Charles Nelson Reilly Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

("The Conquering Hero" 1963) *

Sara Seegar Sara Seegar (born Sarah Wall Seegar; July 1, 1914 – August 12, 1990) was an American actress. A performer on stage, film, radio, and television, she may best be remembered for her role as Mrs. Wilson in the 1962–63 season of '' Dennis the M ...

("The Greatest Speaker in the Whole Wide World" 1966) *

Frank Sinatra Jr. Francis Wayne Sinatra Group note. (; January 10, 1944 – March 16, 2016), professionally known as Frank Sinatra Jr., was an American singer, songwriter, and conductor. He was the son of singer and actor Frank Sinatra and his first wife, Nancy ...

("Every Girl Should Be Married" 1965) *

Jean Stapleton Jean Stapleton (born Jeanne Murray; January 19, 1923 – May 31, 2013) was an American character actor, character actress of stage, television and film. Stapleton was best known for playing Edith Bunker, the perpetually optimistic and dev ...

("The Raffle" 1965) * Chad Stuart ("Patty Pits Wits, Two Brits Hits" 1965) *

Daniel J. Travanti Daniel J. Travanti (born Danielo Giovanni Travanti; March 7, 1940) is an American actor. He is best known for playing police captain List of Hill Street Blues characters#Main characters, Frank Furillo in the television drama series ''Hill Stree ...

("Block That Statue" 1964) *

Bobby Vinton Stanley Robert "Bobby" Vinton (born April 16, 1935) is a American former singer and occasional actor, who also hosted his own self-titled TV show in the late 1970s. As a teen idol, he became known as "The Polish Prince", as his music paid trib ...

("Patty and The Newspaper Game" 1965)

Production

Origins

Following her

-winning role in ''

The Miracle Worker ''The Miracle Worker'' refers to a broadcast, a play and various other adaptations of Helen Keller's 1903 autobiography '' The Story of My Life''. The first of these works was a 1957 ''Playhouse 90'' broadcast written by William Gibson and st ...

'', ABC became interested in developing a series starring Duke. The network enlisted writer

to develop a vehicle for Duke. Sheldon asked Duke to spend a week with his family at their home to generate ideas. During this time, he noticed that Duke had two distinct sides to her personality (later in life she would be diagnosed as

manic-depressive Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

), and so came up with the concept of identical paternal cousins with contrasting personalities. According to Duke, he successfully captured her personality in the two characters. In development, Cathy was initially from Scotland. Duke learned a true Scottish burr for the Cathy character. However, Duke's accent was done "so well they couldn't understand me", concerning producers that the viewers would not like or understand her with such a profound accent. Upon going into production for the series, Cathy had a "general European" background and accent. The pilot episode was filmed on New Year's Day 1963 at the

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...

. Several differences in the pilot included the series being set in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

; and Mark Miller and

portraying Martin and Ross Lane, respectively.

Seasons One and Two

Even before ordering the series, it was understood that production would shift from Los Angeles to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In the previous decade, New York had dominated national network production. By the early 1960s, new formats and innovations such as coaxial cable service, film and video tape allowed for the industry to move to the West coast with the film industry. By 1963, most scripted programming was based in Hollywood, while New York served production for game shows (''

What's My Line ''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelis ...

''), soap operas (''

As The World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...

''), and late night shows (''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...

''). However, at 16 years old, Duke fell under California's strict child labor laws (known informally as the Coogan laws named after famed 1920s child actor

Jackie Coogan John Leslie Coogan (October 26, 1914 – March 1, 1984) was an American actor and comedian who began his film career as a child actor in silent films. Charlie Chaplin's film classic ''The Kid'' (1921) made him one of the first child stars in the ...

), which curtailed the number of hours that child actors could work. Since New York did not have such stringent laws at the time, and Duke already resided in

Manhattan, New York Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, the network relocated production of the series to

Chelsea Studios Chelsea Studios, also known as Chelsea Television Studios, is an American television studio and sound stage located at 221 West 26th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Hist ...

and moved the series location to

. Upon the series order, Miller declined to move on with the series. Schallert was hired after reading for producers, and reuniting him with his Byron, his co-star from ''

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis ''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis'' (also known as simply ''Dobie Gillis'' or ''Max Shulman's Dobie Gillis'' in later seasons and in syndication) is an American sitcom starring Dwayne Hickman that aired on CBS from September 29, 1959, to June 5 ...

'' (which had ended the season before). Sheldon and Asher wrote and produced the series, with Duke's managers John and Ethel Ross also serving as associate producers. According to Duke and others, the cast and crew members were unaware of their abuse of her. William Asher initially served as producer. However, before going on the air, he had failed to finish a full-length episode. As a result, ABC assigned

Robert Costello Robert Costello (1921-2014) was an American TV and film producer, writer, and director. His productions include ''The Patty Duke Show'' (briefly), ''Dark Shadows'', ''The Adams Chronicles'', '' The Secret Storm'', ''Ryan's Hope'', '' Another Worl ...

to produce, though he only remained until the twenty-fifth episode. Following his departure, frequent director Stanley Prager took over for the remainder of the first season, as well as the second season.

Visual effects

The

for Duke challenged

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wor ...

for its time, considering that television special effects were rare in the early 1960s, particularly for a sitcom. In all episodes, Duke appeared as both characters in the same frame through use of a

split-screen Split screen may refer to: * Split screen (computing), dividing graphics into adjacent parts * Split screen (video production), the visible division of the screen * Split Screen (TV series), ''Split Screen'' (TV series), 1997–2001 * Split-Scree ...

effect. The technically ambitious

traveling matte Mattes are used in photography and special effects filmmaking to combine two or more image elements into a single, final image. Usually, mattes are used to combine a foreground image (e.g. actors on a set) with a background image (e.g. a scenic ...

process was also used from time to time, particularly in the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

. To complement these effects, child actress

was used as Duke's double (almost always seen only from behind). To differentiate the two characters to the viewing public, the character Patty wore a flip-fall hairpiece, while Cathy's character wore a more conservative turn-under hairstyle.

Season Three and cancellation

Midway through the second season, Duke celebrated her eighteenth birthday and fired the Rosses as her managers. As Duke was now old enough to work longer hours, ABC wanted to shift the show's production to Los Angeles. Duke initially was against the idea, but eventually agreed. With the move came new sets and new exterior shots, the latter of which seemed to place the home in an unnamed suburban neighborhood instead of Brooklyn Heights. During the second season, Duke had become romantically involved with assistant director Harry Falk, and married him during the third season. He was able to direct one of the final season three episodes – in which Patty and Richard contemplate getting married – which Duke said in hindsight "was not a good idea." The series was cancelled due to disagreements between ABC and

(UATV) over filming the series in color. ABC wanted all of its shows for the upcoming 1966–67 season to be in color, while UATV claimed filming ''The Patty Duke Show'' in color would be too expensive. The series continued airing reruns on ABC in primetime until August 31.

Music

The show's theme song, "Cousins," which has since been parodied many times over in pop culture (including ''

Rocko's Modern Life ''Rocko's Modern Life'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Nickelodeon. The series centers on the surreal life of an anthropomorphic Australian immigrant wallaby named Rocko and his friends: the eccentric steer ...

'' where it was parodied as the theme song to "The Bloaty and Squirmy Show"), illustrates the two girls' differences: "...where Cathy adores the

minuet A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''. The term also describes the musical form that accompa ...

, the Ballet Russe and

crêpes Suzette Crêpes Suzette () is a French dessert consisting of crêpes with ''beurre Suzette'' (), a sauce of caramelized sugar and butter, tangerine or orange juice, zest, and Grand Marnier, triple sec or orange Curaçao liqueur on top, flambéed tables ...

, our Patty loves her

rock 'n' roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

, a

hot dog A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced Hot dog bun, bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener (Vienna sausag ...

makes her lose control..." The song was performed by a five-voice

vocal ensemble A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

called "The Skip-Jacks," which featured actress and ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'' model

Stella Stevens Stella Stevens (born Estelle Eggleston; October 1, 1938) is a American former actress. She began her acting career in 1959 and starred in such popular films as '' Girls! Girls! Girls!'' (1962), '' The Nutty Professor'' (1963), ''The Courtship of ...

Reception

Already a budding star in her own right, Duke was further thrust into the public consciousness through the show. As the series went on, her star power from the series allowed her to enter popular music, appearing on two episodes of ''

Shindig! ''Shindig!'' is an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles,PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' wrote that although the show's episodes are occasionally very predictable, "it's all in good fun".

Ratings

William Shallert later stated that, in the third season, the series ratings plummeted after being pitted against ''

Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series, created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. The series was inspired by the 1812 novel ''The Swiss Family Robinson.'' The series fo ...

''.

Syndication and home video

Repeats of ''The Patty Duke Show'' entered local markets as early as September 1966, days after exiting ABC prime time. It remained a mainstay of daytime independent station programming well into the 1970s. A new generation of viewers was introduced to the series by

Nick at Nite Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, ET/Pac ...

cable, broadcasting a lengthy five-year prime time run from September 19, 1988, to August 30, 1993. On June 30, 1995, Nick at Nite showed one episode of the series during their 10th anniversary celebration. In 2005, both Nick at Nite and

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cla ...

aired another episode of the series in honor of Nick at Nite's 20th anniversary. In 2008,

This TV This TV (also known as This TV Network and alternately stylized as thisTV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by Allen Media Broadcast Networks, LLC, part of the Allen Media Group division of Entertainment Studios. Originally fo ...

began airing ''The Patty Duke Show'' as part of an early morning classic TV block. Prior to this, the show had not appeared in national syndication since Nick at Nite dropped it from its lineup in 1993. As of 2019, episodes aired on Saturday and Sunday. Reruns of ''The Patty Duke Show'' were seen on

Antenna TV Antenna TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Antenna TV's programming and advertising operati ...

from 2013 until 2015 as part of that channel's regular programming schedule. From November 4, 2013, to April 6, 2014, ''The Patty Duke Show'' aired back-to-back episodes every day from 1:00–2:00pm ET; from April 7, 2014, to August 29, 2014, ''The Patty Duke Show'' aired back-to-back episodes weekday afternoons from 2:00–3:00pm ET; from September 1, 2014, to April 3, 2015, the show aired back-to-back episodes weekday mornings from 6:00–7:00am ET; from April 6, 2015, to September 11, 2015, it aired back-to-back episodes Monday-Friday from 9:00–10:00am ET. From January 4, 2016, to September 2, 2016, the series aired weekday mornings at 6:00am–6:30am on

MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...

. The show can currently be seen on

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...

Reunions

The Patty Duke Show: Still Rockin' In Brooklyn Heights

On April 27, 1999, the thirty-third anniversary of the ABC cancellation of ''The Patty Duke Show'', rival network

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

aired the television film ''The Patty Duke Show: Still Rockin' In Brooklyn Heights'', which reunited Duke, Schallert, Byron (in her final on-screen role before her death in February 2006), O'Keefe and Applegate. The film was meant to be a backdoor pilot to a revival of the series, though these plans never came to fruition. In the film, Patty and Richard married after graduating high school, and had a son Michael (Alain Goulem) before an amicable divorce after nearly 27 years of marriage. Michael is married with a teenage daughter Molly (

Jane McGregor Jane McGregor (born 1983) is a Canadian actress, known for her roles in '' Slap Her... She's French'' (2002), '' Flower & Garnet'' (2002), and '' That Beautiful Somewhere'' (2006), as well as her recurring role on the television series ''Robson ...

). Patty works as the drama teacher at Brooklyn Heights High School. Cathy is widowed and living in Scotland with her teenage son Liam McAllister (Kent Riley). Martin and Natalie moved to Florida after Martin retired from ''The New York Daily Chronicle''. The film revolves around a Lane family reunion, where the family bands together against the plans of Sue Ellen Caldwell (portrayed present-day by

, since original portrayer Kitty Sullivan was unavaliable) to tear down the high school for a shopping center. Patty and Richard also confront their continued feelings post-divorce, reconciling by the end of the film. Several clips of the original series were shown as flashbacks. Kitty Sullivan is shown in one of these flashbacks.

Social Security campaigns

In 2009, Duke reprised her dual roles from the show in a

public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...

(PSA) for the

Social Security Administration The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government that administers Social Security (United ...

, in which Patty asked Cathy about where she got her information about how to get Social Security benefits and other questions, such as how to apply online. The PSA was targeted toward

baby boomers Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. Th ...

who were born or who grew up in the 1960s. In 2010, the surviving cast reprised their respective roles in a series of PSAs, again for the Social Security Administration.

DVD releases

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

has released all three seasons of ''The Patty Duke Show'' on DVD in Region 1.

References

External links

* *
Season 1 DVD review and production notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patty Duke Show, The 1963 American television series debuts 1966 American television series endings 1960s American sitcoms American Broadcasting Company original programming American teen sitcoms Black-and-white American television shows Brooklyn in fiction English-language television shows Television series about cousins Television series about teenagers Television series by United Artists Television Television series by MGM Television Television series created by Sidney Sheldon Television shows filmed in New York City Television shows set in Brooklyn