MovieChat Forums > The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959) Discussion > The Hair

The Hair

posted 15 years ago by schappe1
9 replies | jump to latest

In "The Great TV Sitcom Book" by Rick Mitz, (1980, Richard Marek Publishers), it says of his show:

"In the first episode of 'The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis' in 1959, the color of Dwayne Hickman's hair changed from light brown, (at the beginning of the show), to blond by the end show's end. Throughout the years-and the show ran for four of them- his crew cut grew out and the color would eventually change back to brown."

I've been watching a collection of 36 selected episodes on DVD from Nostalgia Family Video and I noticed this, too. Obviously, the dark brown he wears for the series' last three seasons is Hickman's natural hair color and they decided his hair color didn't matter. Hickman is a very handsome man. The question is: in which hair color does he look better- or maybe the word is most "distinctive". I like the blonde Dobie of the first year better than the dark brown Dobie of the subsequent seasons but think the light brown look of the premiere, (which was presumably also the pilot), is the most striking look. He really does look like a bronzed statue of young American manhood.

But maybe that's why they let him change to his natural hair color. Perhaps he looks too good at the beginning and no one would believe that he has trouble getting girls. The Dobie of the last three seasons is more "average" looking and maybe that's what he needs to be.

[–] datsafact 15 years ago

When Max Shulman first created Dobie Gillis his character was a blond. Dwayne's hair would fall out when he started to bleach his hair. On a side note the sponsers for Dobie Gillis did not want Dwayne to be too identified from his character Chuck from "Love that Bob". Dwyane was on the verge of quitting the series when he told Max Shulman that he would have a bald Dobie instead of a blond Dobie. They decided to let Dwayne grow back his natural brown hair for the remainder of the series.

[–] CarolTheDabbler (576) 2 years ago

... the sponsors for Dobie Gillis did not want Dwayne to be too identified from his character Chuck from "Love that Bob".

I just checked, and you're right -- "Chuck" had really dark hair: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047752/mediaviewer/rm4004419329/?ref_=tt_md_1

[–] CarolTheDabbler (576) 2 years ago

... and come to think of it, maybe that's why I keep thinking it was Darryl who played Chuck? (I tend to remember Dobie as blond-ish.)

[–] shemp56 14 years ago

I always hated the blond hair. Dobie's head looked like a dirty tennis ball. He looked so much better when his natural hair grew out. By the way MeTV in Chicago has started reruning "Dobie Gillis". I'm taping them!

[–] BoomerMovieFan 13 years ago

The first episode of "Dobie" was shown on MeTV this morning, so I decided to see if this "hair" topic was addressed on the IMDB boards.

One of the other posters mentioned the original character in the Dobie stories was a blond, so the TV character was, too. The cynic in me says, however, it had more to do with making Dwayne look like a teenaged high school student when he was actually 24/25 when the show began. (Bob Denver was twenty-four.)

Another poster mentions Dwayne Hickman's hair started falling out. I remember that also happened to the cast of Life With Father. In keeping with the story, they had to dye their hair red...although a couple may have already had red hair.

Also, did anyone else notice, Frank Faylen's hair was blond in the beginning and later became darker?

[–] leader-7 13 years ago

More than likely, Frank Faylen's hair was white -- since when the show started he was 74 years old -- and they probably dyed it to make him appear younger.

[–] schappe1 13 years ago

...was born 12/5/05 and would have been 53 when the show started in September 1959.

The past is a series of presents. The present is living history we are privileged to witness

[–] Noirdame79 10 years ago

It's also obvious that some of the episodes that aired later in the first season were actually shot earlier, such as the last aired episode that Tuesday Weld appeared in, "The Big Sandwich" - Hickman's hair color and style is the same as it was in the first few episodes (being dark blonde/light brown and a bit longer on top), as is Weld's - in her previous three episodes her hair was a lighter shade of blonde and much longer.

[–] 10 years ago

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