Althouse: "I may take a swipe at you myself," says the teacher, Mr. Pomfritt, walking into the classroom....

May 9, 2016

"I may take a swipe at you myself," says the teacher, Mr. Pomfritt, walking into the classroom....

... just as Milton Armitage (Warren Beatty) is telling Dobie "I'll kill ya":

From my all-time favorite TV show "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis." What kind of teacher could insult the kids like that. Oh, I loved Mr. Pomfritt — along with Maynard and Thalia and Dobie and the rest. And I'm sad to see that the actor who played him, William Schallert, has died (at the age of 93). He was also Patty Duke's father, and "Star Trek" fans know him as Nilz Baris, the under secretary in charge of agricultural affairs for the United Federation of Planets in “The Trouble With Tribbles.”

21 comments:

madAsHell said...: When Patty Duke died, several commenters noted that William Schallert was still alive.

I'm thinking we might have cursed him. It's like the football announcer stating that the field goal kicker has connected on the last 93 attempts, and then the kicker misses!!; 5/9/16, 1:14 PM
damikesc said...: Years before my time...but I'm also a big fan of Dobie. Bob Denver was infinitely better as Krebs than friggin' Gilligan.; 5/9/16, 1:45 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: That guy was in everything!
Some people are born looking fatherly/looking avuncular, I guess.; 5/9/16, 1:48 PM
virgil xenophon said...: Funny thing. Dobie Gillis and the Dick Van Dyke show followed each other on the same night (iirc) Dobies show was highly topical while Van Dyke purposely kept all references to time of year, political and other current events out of the show. At the time as a teenager I thought both were funny but Dobie far funnier mainly because I was of the generation they were "tuned into". Now we may see the wisdom of the Van Dyke approach. His show is still timeless and seemingly "fresh" by dealing with broadly generic "parenting" and work-related problems while Dobbie is hopelessly "dated" by its more specific references to current events of the day as if visited via time machine. As a result the Van Dyke show has been much more widely syndicated thru the years than has Dobies show..; 5/9/16, 3:15 PM
William said...: It's possible to admire the hotness of Tuesday Weld and not feel a bit creepy about it. Sadly she came of age in an era when there were no topless photos or leaked sex tapes.; 5/9/16, 3:23 PM
rcocean said...: Yeah, he seemed to be in EVERYTHING. I remember him from "Lonely are the Brave" as Mathau's deputy and numerous appearances on "the Odd Couple".

Here's a snippet from an on-line interview:

Q: You’ve been a part of a lot of beloved television programs as either a regular character or a semi-regular character. What was your first solid acting gig?

A: "That would be Dobie Gillis. Before that I worked on Phillip Marlow where I played a 45-year-old cynical Jewish police sergeant. The only thing cynical was the guy who cast me because I wasn’t 45 or Jewish, but that sly, slightly sarcastic humor was something I could do. That really suited me. That was kind of a helpful thing. But that same year I was on Dobie Gillis. I was the second choice. I was often the second choice. I was the second choice for The Patty Duke Show too."; 5/9/16, 3:28 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Ha! Perfectly creased pants! David Brooks'd love that guy Beatty's playing.; 5/9/16, 3:48 PM
Roughcoat said...: I loved the Dobie Gillis show. Remember Dobie's father, the inimitable Frank Faylen, growling, "I'm gonna kill that boy." And Maynard G. Krebs: "Work? WORK??!!

My favorite characters were Chatsworth Osborne Jr. and his mother. "Dobie-doo." And: "He's such a nasty boy."

Hilarious.; 5/9/16, 3:56 PM
Ron said...: I know him as the "You're in good hands with Allstate" insurance guy; 5/9/16, 4:15 PM
Graham Powell said...: He was very good as the mayor in "In The Heat of the Night", who was fairly sympathetic to Virgil Tibbs.; 5/9/16, 4:19 PM
dgstock said...: One deathless line of his from TMLODG is with me forever: "Where is the other fop?"; 5/9/16, 4:34 PM
khematite said...: And Schallert died knowing that his (tv) junior college student Zelda Gilroy, had gone on (in real life) to attend Harvard Law School and serve in the California state legislature. Today, she's a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.; 5/9/16, 5:04 PM
virgil xenophon said...: I have the Dobie Gillis show to partially thank for acing my SATs. Remember when Zelda Guilroy kept saying to Dobie that they were fated to fall in love and marry. To which a highly resistant-to-the-idea Dobie would ask "upon what basis?" Zelda would always ans the question by replying: "Propinquity Dobie, Propinquity." (the endearing mutual attraction effect of being physically near someone constantly)

Well, one of the questions on the vocab sec. of the 1962 SATs was the definition of "propinquity!" At the time I LOLed quietly to myself when I saw the question: "The test-makers evidently watched a lot of popular tv too!" I would never have known that ans if not for the Dobie Gillis show! :); 5/9/16, 5:16 PM
Danno said...: I keep Maynard G. Krebs in mind as a lifestyle to emulate in my retirement.; 5/9/16, 5:32 PM
jimmy said...: Hey
Law Professor Althouse:

Did whoever invented DOBIE GILLIS ever sue ARCHIE COMICS for copyright infringement, or did ARCHIE Ever Sue Dobie Gillis for the same.
Isn't one a rip off of the other?
I don't know anything about intellectual property.; 5/9/16, 6:45 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: In this clip, Dobie is getting a lesson on affirmative consent. And the teacher is prepared to enforce the societal norm.; 5/9/16, 6:50 PM
Ann Althouse said...: @jimmy

I think both relate back to Andy Hardy.; 5/9/16, 7:02 PM
M Jordan said...: Do yourself a favor, all of y'uns, and Google "Love Is a Fallacy," a short story by Max Shulman, the creator if "Dobie Gillis." It's one of the best short stories I ever read ... or taught in my 35 years of teaching English.; 5/9/16, 7:42 PM
zefal said...: William said...

It's possible to admire the hotness of Tuesday Weld and not feel a bit creepy about it. Sadly she came of age in an era when there were no topless photos or leaked sex tapes.
5/9/16, 3:23 PM

Tuesday Weld was asked in an interview "How she left Hollywood" and she answered, "I think it was in a Buick."; 5/9/16, 9:02 PM
William said...: If you were handicapping the future success of the actors seen in that scene above, I think you would pick Tuesday first. She was extraordinarily beautiful. She made some good movies, but nothing iconic. There's no great Tuesday Weld scene. Warren Beatty had the fab career. Poor Bob Denver. He apparently never got the big residual checks. I read in Wiki that he was still making personal appearances as Gilligan near the end of his life. Plus he's dead which eliminates all chances for a comeback.; 5/9/16, 10:42 PM
Popville said...: Easily my all-time favorite Dobie Gillis episode was "The Face That Stopped the Clock", where Maynard gets a job ("work!") after he falls in love with a sku of "Buddha with clock in stomach" statues that Dobie's dad ordered for his store but can't sell. Krebs takes on the impossible task of selling them. Us warped kids called it the ultimate meld of eastern & western.

Years later (early 70's), crawled all over eastern NC cheapo/thrift/mega stores searching for such an item, or a sitting Buddha statue where I could insert a watch/clock face. #fail, tho an epic search.; 5/10/16, 1:38 AM