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

The Books

posted 2 years ago by CarolTheDabbler (575)
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Max Shulman apparently wrote two books' worth of Dobie Gillis short stories, the first one being of course The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, and the second (published to coincide with the show's premiere) called I Was a Teenage Dwarf.

The first one is available on Amazon in various forms, including Kindle ($2). I've begun reading it, and will list the similarities and the differences below, as I go along:

Similarities:
Dobie is a teenage student, being supported (though not in the style he'd like) by his father.
He's crazy about girls.
Both Thalia Menninger and a Zelda-like character appear in the fourth story, "The Sugar Bowl."

Differences:
Most glaringly, so far there's no Maynard.
Dobie is enrolled at the University of Minnesota, rather than being in high-school at first.

I'll post more as I read further.

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[–] mikethemartian (6774) 2 years ago

I never knew there were novels until fairly recently. As well as early movie adaptations. I always assumed it had started with the TV series.

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[–] kwestmo (4385) 2 years ago

Please keep us updated. Thanks.

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[–] CarolTheDabbler (575) 2 years ago

As they say in Minnesota, you bet!

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[–] CarolTheDabbler (575) 2 years ago

Differences:
"Everybody Loves My Baby" (the fifth story) reveals that Dobie's father (Dobie calls him "the governor") is a newspaper editor in Koochiching County in far-northern Minnesota, rather than owner of a small grocery store (apparently located in the same town as S. Peter Pryor Junior College), as in the TV show. Also, his name is Arthur W. Gillis, rather than Herbert T. To compound matters, in the very next story ("Love of Two Chemists") his father runs a bakery.

As Shulman warned us in his Note at the front of the book, the stories have very little continuity!

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[–] CarolTheDabbler (575) 2 years ago

In the very next story ("The Face Is Familiar But ---"), Dobie describes himself as having been "the senior-class poet of the Salmon P. Chase High School, Blue Earth, Minnesota." That's another real place, but it's in extreme southern Minnesota, as far as you could get from the aforementioned Koochiching County without leaving the state. While attempting small talk with his date's father in that story, Dobie says "Starve a cold and stuff a fever," which I believe is the opposite of one of Maynard's favorite sayings.

In the next story ("The Mock Governor"), Dobie mentions "Professor Pomfiritt’s political science class." The spelling may be a Kindle typo, but in any case that's another TV character who originated in the stories.

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[–] CarolTheDabbler (575) 2 years ago

Yup, by the end of that story, the class is being taught by a correctly-spelt "Professor Pomfritt." William Schallert would be proud.

It just occurred to me that "Pomfritt" sounds an awful lot like "pommes frites," which is French for "French fries." And unlike most of the other surnames in the book or the TV show, I cannot find evidence that anyone is actually named "Pomfritt." Hmm, one episode of the Dobie Gillis show is titled "Goodbye, Mr. Pomfritt, Hello, Mr. Chips." Please note that "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" is a 1939 movie about a school teacher -- and that the British refer to French fries as "chips." Well, that one went right over my head for decades, didn't it?

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[–] FilmBuff (7261) 2 years ago

Shulman made a number of name jokes like that in his books.

As an aside, the two Dobie Gillis books are funny, but, in my opinion anyway, not his best books. Barefoot Boy With Cheek, his debut novel, is my favorite of all his books, with Sleep Till Noon a close second. The former is a still-relevant, spot-on while simultaneously absurd, depiction of college life. The latter is just plain hilarious.

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[–] CarolTheDabbler (575) 2 years ago

Shulman made a number of name jokes like that in his books.

Do you happen to recall any others from his "Dobie Gillis" stories?

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[–] FilmBuff (7261) 2 years ago

As far as I know, he only wrote two Dobie Gillis books.

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[–] CarolTheDabbler (575) 2 years ago

Sorry, I wasn't very clear. I meant to say, do you recall any other name jokes from the stories in his Dobie Gillis books? Or from the TV show?

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[–] CarolTheDabbler (575) 2 years ago

In the very next story ("The Face Is Familiar But ---"), Dobie describes himself as having been "the senior-class poet of the Salmon P. Chase High School, Blue Earth, Minnesota."

In "Boy Bites Man," he had (also?) been yearbook editor at that same high school, in that same town. I am amazed!

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[–] CarolTheDabbler (575) 2 years ago

"Everybody Loves My Baby" (the fifth story) reveals that Dobie's father['s] ... name is Arthur W. Gillis, rather than Herbert T.

In the final story ("You Think You Got Trouble?"), Dobie's father is named Herman, which is a whole lot closer to Herbert. And he owns a grocery store! Also, Dobie lives with his parents in Cherokee Heights ("a low-rent district on the south side of St. Paul") while attending the University.

Well, that's the end of The Many Loves, and I'm gonna take a break. My suspicion is that Teenage Dwarf will be a whole lot more like the TV show.

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[–] CarolTheDabbler (575) 2 years ago

My suspicion is that Teenage Dwarf will be a whole lot more like the TV show.

Well, I lost that bet pretty quick! In the first chapter, Dobie tells us that his father is a doctor. On the other hand, his name is finally Herbert (which, come to think of it, was also my pediatrician's name). But on the other other hand, the two of them like to sit under a big oak tree overlooking the ocean (so I'm guessing we're not in Minnesota any more).

I should point out that this book (unlike the first) is organized chronologically, with Dobie being only 13 in the first chapter, so it starts out from an early-teen point of view.

In the second chapter (at age 14), Dobie tells us that he has a younger brother named Dan (whereas in the show he briefly had an older brother named Davey). But then he says "What I wanted was a girl of my very own," which is practically a quote from the show's theme song. Later on in the chapter his parents enroll him in "a military academy on the banks of the Monongahela, three hundred miles from [his girlfriend]." That river places him in western Pennsylvania, south of Pittsburgh, so the aforementioned ocean must be the Atlantic, and you'll be glad to hear that after one semester he returns to his home (which judging by the aforementioned 300 miles, is somewhere between New York City and Virginia Beach).

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[–] CarolTheDabbler (575) 2 years ago

I must say, I'll be ecstatic when Dobie finally regains his late-teen ability to write well. Right now he ends a lot of lists with "... and like that," and is forever saying things like "should of" ("could of," "would of," etc.) instead of "should've" or "should have."

In chapter 4 (when Dobie is 15), Milton Armitage moves in across the street.

And (oh, be still, my heart!) in chapter 5 Dobie turns 16 and sometimes says "could have" (though other times he still says "could of"). Also, his mother's first name is revealed to be Winifred (AKA "Winnie"). So yes, I think the author is kinda sneaking up on the Dobie and the situation that we know from the show. OK, in chapter 7, Zelda Gilroy shows up (sitting next to him in class, of course), and a mere six weeks later she proclaims her love for him, stating that they are "victims of propinquity,” just like in the show (which is where I learned the word "propinquity").

The final two chapters find Dobie at ages 21 and 30. He meets the girl in the former and is (mostly) happily married to her in the latter.

Still no Maynard.

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