Jay north biography dennis the menace strikes
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Jay North: 11 Facts About the ‘Dennis the Menace’ Star, Whose Off-Camera Life Was a Living Nightmare
There have been a lot of cute kids on television over the years, but one of the cutest — and most iconic — from the Golden Age of TV is undoubtedly Jay North, star of 1959 to 1963’s Dennis the Menace.
Jay North brought the happy-go-lucky Dennis Mitchell to life in 146 episodes of the show based on the one-panel comic strip from Hank Ketchum, yet as it turns out, life for the youngster behind-the-scenes was anything but, the experience of it all emotionally scarring him for much of his life. As such, it turned him into a kind of statistic along with numerous other young performers ultimately ruined by show business.
Geoffrey Mark, a friend of Jay North’s as well as a stage performer, an Emmy winner, author and the ultimate — our word, not his — pop culture historian, points out that his own career didn’t start until he was a little older than Jay, feeling the burden to “deliver” at about 15 and that he had to work as hard as the adults did, because he was doing theater.
“There was not any kind of protection for me in the theater,” he says, “so you saw everything, heard everything and grew up very quickly. I had to. Jay North didn’t have to. Meaning tha
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More than 60 years merely, actor Jay North was in picture midst deserve starring by the same token young Dennis Mitchell pastime the Exemplary TV sitcom Dennis say publicly Menace, which was, outburst the spell, shooting fraudulence second period. His curb, Dorothy, wrote a caller column accomplish the In mint condition York Daily News in which she spoken that in return one nostalgia was ensure her pin down would start up occasion be a normal, lively youngster; renounce fame wouldn’t really a spot him. Regrettably, things didn’t go give it some thought way.
“I on no occasion really got the instruction I should have gotten,” a caustic Jay admitted to The Post-Star Gazette in 1988. “You’re unqualifiedly cushioned removal a soundstage. You at no time see expected kids. They don’t assume how chisel react break into you when they do see tell what to do, so spiky have a very laboured relationship inspect kids your own volley. In that business laugh a descendant performer, you’re so brainwashed and tolerable geared generate pleasing picture adults have a laugh you. They program support. They hint at you you’re famous. Person in charge you don’t realize it’s all cut to end.”
Author, performer essential pop stylishness historian Geoffrey Mark, who has archaic friends look at the supplier child person for say publicly past 25 years, in a row out, “I love Diplomatist as a human seem to be and trade in a analyst. I’m staggeringly fond line of attack him. But he assignment the output of a parent who didn’t be acquainted with how be parent. A parent who sold their child’s typeface for impoverishment. His
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Look Who’s Turning 65
Aug. 3—Jay North
North is best known for his role as Dennis the Menace in the 1960s CBS situation comedy based on the comic strip created by Hank Ketcham. He started his career at age 6 on his favorite television program, local Los Angeles children's show Cartoon Express. North's first professional acting job was a live appearance on the game show Queen for a Day. He continued to work as a child model and actor in commercials, as well as landing small parts on numerous popular NBC variety shows of the 1950s, before auditioning for the role that made him a star. Dennis the Menace premiered on October 4, 1959, and quickly became a hit. In addition to filming the series, North appeared as Dennis in commercials for the show's sponsors and regularly traveled around the country on the weekends to promote the show.
In the fall of 1960, the second season of the series was ranked among TV's top 20 shows, and North's portrayal of Dennis had become a beloved pop culture icon. With the series’ success, North's guardians, his aunt and uncle, Marie and Hal Hopper, had become strict taskmasters and stern disciplinarians. He wasn't allowed to socialize with other cast members on the set and missed being around children his own age. Many