Bill Dana Maggie Peterson Bill Dana Show 1964

''The Bill Dana Show'' was an American comedy series starring

Bill Dana William Szathmary (October 5, 1924 June 15, 2017), known as Bill Dana, was an American comedian, actor, and screenwriter. He often appeared on television shows such as ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', frequently in the guise of a heavily accented Boli ...

and

Jonathan Harris Jonathan Harris (born Jonathan Daniel Charasuchin, November 6, 1914 – November 3, 2002) was an American character actor whose career included more than 500 television and film appearances, as well as voiceovers. Two of his best-known roles w ...

that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

from September 22, 1963 to January 17, 1965. The plot follows the daily lifestyle of

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-e ...

José Jiménez, as a

bellhop A bellhop (North America), or hotel porter (carrier), porter (international), is a hotel employee who helps patrons with their luggage while check-in, checking in or out. Bellhops often wear a uniform (see bell-boy hat), like certain other Page (a ...

in a

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 ...

hotel. The series was a spin-off from ''

Make Room for Daddy ''The Danny Thomas Show'' (titled ''Make Room for Daddy'' for its first three seasons) is an American sitcom that ran from 1953 to 1957 on ABC and from 1957 to 1964 on CBS. Starring Danny Thomas as a successful night club entertainer, the show ...

'', which showed the character of José as an elevator operator before he became a bellhop.

Synopsis

The hotel was practically José's entire world; he lived in special bachelor headquarters provided for hotel employees, ate in the hotel kitchen, and had social contact only with employees and guests of the hotel. In his goodhearted naivete, he saw only the good in the people around him. His biggest problems were his fellow bellhop Eddie ( Gary Crosby), who was constantly trying to get José to wise up; the less-than-understanding hotel manager Mr. Phillips (

, who would soon play Dr. Smith on ''

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 ...

'') and the bumbling

hotel detective A hotel detective is a person in plain clothes hired to monitor the security of a hotel and investigate various security, morality, or rule violations therein. They are distinct from uniformed security guards employed by a hotel. Hotel detecti ...

Byron Glick (

Don Adams Donald James Yarmy (April 13, 1923 – September 25, 2005), known professionally as Don Adams, was an American actor. In his five decades on television, he was best known as Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) in the television situation comedy '' G ...

, in a predecessor to the character he would play on ''

Get Smart ''Get Smart'' is an American comedy television series parodying the secret agent genre that had become widely popular in the first half of the 1960s, with the release of the ''James Bond'' films. It was created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, an ...

''). In the second season,

Maggie Peterson Margaret Ann Peterson (January 10, 1941 – May 15, 2022) was an American actress and singer. She was best known for playing Charlene Darling on '' The Andy Griffith Show''. She also played the character of Doris in the episode "A Girl for Goo ...

played Susie, a waitress in the hotel's coffee shop.

Walter Mitty Walter Jackson Mitty is a fictional character in James Thurber's first short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", first published in ''The New Yorker'' on March 18, 1939, and in book form in '' My World—and Welcome to It'' in 1942. Thurber ...

-like dream sequences were occasionally used to extricate José from the hotel environment. Dana did a cameo as José Jiménez on an episode of ''

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939. I ...

''. He introduces himself to

and

Robin Robin may refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including: **European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'') ** Bush-robin **Forest r ...

by saying "My name- José Jiménez". This episode was titled "The Yegg Foes in Gotham" and originally aired on ABC on October 20, 1966. It was the last time Dana played José Jiménez.

Series run

The series, sponsored by

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

, premiered on September 22, 1963 and ran for a season-and-a-half, before its run ended on January 17, 1965 (the following week, it was replaced by '' Branded'').

Awards

''The Bill Dana Show'' received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Comedy at the

16th Primetime Emmy Awards The 16th Emmy Awards, later known as the 16th Primetime Emmy Awards, were presented on May 25, 1964. The ceremony was hosted by Joey Bishop and E. G. Marshall. Winners are listed in bold and series' networks are in parentheses. The top shows o ...

in 1964.

Episode list

Season 1 (1963–64)

Season 2 (1964-65)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bill Dana Show, The 1960s American sitcoms 1963 American television series debuts 1965 American television series endings 1960s American workplace comedy television series American television spin-offs Black-and-white American television shows English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series set in hotels Television shows set in New York City