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Bill Dana Show, The

Comedy Series

About This Show

From Wikipedia:

The Bill Dana Show was a United States comedy series starring Bill Dana and Jonathan Harris. The plot followed the daily lifestyle of Latin American, Jose Jimenez, as a bellhop in a New York hotel. The show, sponsored by Procter & Gamble, premiered on 22 September 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).

The hotel was practically Jose'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 Jose to wise up; the less-than-understanding hotel manager Mr. Phillips (Jonathan Harris, who would soon play Dr. Smith on Lost in Space) and the bumbling hotel detective Byron Glick (Don Adams, in a prototype to the character he would soon be playing on Get Smart. In the second season Maggie Peterson played Susie, a waitress in the hotel's coffee shop.

Walter Mitty-like dream sequences were occasionally used to extricate Jose from the hotel environment.

The show was a spin-off from "Make Room For Daddy", which showed him to be an elevator operator before he became a bellhop.

Dana did a cameo as Jose Jimenez on an episode of the "Batman" TV series. He introduces himself to Batman and Robin by saying "My name- Jose Jimenez".

 

People Who Talked About This Show

  • Bill Dana
  • Jay Sandrich
  • Jonathan Harris
  • Ruth Engelhardt
  • Sam Denoff

Featured Content

Watch a clip from The Bill Dana Show "What Elephant?" originally aired October 18, 1964:

Resources

Link to Bill Dana's official website

YouTube video player - HTML5 compatible.

People Talking About This Show

  • Bill Dana
    • Bill Dana on getting a call from Sheldon Leonard that NBC had greenlit The Bill Dana Show without a pilot or a script
      Clip begins at: 08:45
    • Bill Dana on replacing Gary Crosby with Don Adams on The Bill Dana Show, as Byron Glick, the hotel inspector
      Clip begins at: 11:43
    • Bill Dana on the relationship between his character "Jose Jimenez" and Don Adam's "Byron Glick" on The Bill Dana Show
      Clip begins at: 16:54
    • Bill Dana on why the Bill Dana Show was cancelled after 42 episodes
      Clip begins at: 21:00
  • Sam Denoff
    • Sam Denoff on writing for The Bill Dana Show
      Clip begins at: 26:09, Duration: 00m 34s
  • Ruth Engelhardt
    • Business affairs executive Ruth Engelhardt briefly on coming up with the joint-venture company names for the producers of The Bill Dana Show (Amigo Productions) and The Dick Van Dyke Show (Calvada Productions)
      Clip begins at: 24:50, Duration: 01m 01s
  • Jonathan Harris
    • Jonathan Harris on being cast on The Bill Dana Show as "Mr. Phillips"
      Clip begins at: 18:24
  • Jay Sandrich
    • Jay Sandrich on directing The Bill Dana Show; and on honing his directing skills
      Clip begins at: 25:38
    • Jay Sandrich on directing a few episodes of the Bill Dana Show before it was to be cancelled; working with Don Adams on that set and later on Get Smart
      Clip begins at: 18:10
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