The Patty Duke Show: The Complete First Season
Miley Cyrus has nothing on Patty Duke. In fact, on viewing the new DVD release of The Patty Duke Show: Season One, it quickly becomes apparent how much both Miley and Hannah Montana owe to Patty Duke and her 60’s sitcom. The double role played by the same young actress, the preposterous wigs and a kicky theme song.
Ask any gay Boomer about the Patty Duke Show and it’s quite likely he’ll burst into the theme song complete with dance moves. Albeit, dance moves somewhat hazily remembered from the opening credits. Still, this is television when theme songs mattered, 1963, and who wouldn’t remember a theme song that includes such classic lines as:
Where Cathy adores a minuet,
The Ballet Russes, and crepe suzette,
Our Patty loves to rock and roll,
A hot dog makes her lose control --
What a wild duet!
This DVD release of Season One contains minimal bonus material, as in one. That said, the video quality of all 36 episodes is above average and the packaging is well done. The episodes are listed on the back of each case and there’s a booklet with episode description, photos from the show, and guest star notations
The one true video extra is a featurette entitled "A Look Back at The Patty Duke Show" which features new interviews with all of the surviving cast members; William Schallert, Paul O’Keefe, Eddie Applegate, and Patty Duke. Mostly a series of individual talking heads interviews, their all-too-brief commentary is interspersed with relevant and charmingly chosen clips.
Patty Duke’s interview contains one very surprising throwaway revelation. The writer Sidney Sheldon saw something in young Patty Duke that seemed to intuit her eventual diagnosis of bi-polar disorder. Rather than sending her to a doctor then and there, he wrote it into the sitcom’s premise of identical-but-very-different cousins. Hilarity ensues?
The show itself remains a charming, innocent time capsule when parents (Dobie Gillis’ affable William Schallert and the fetching, wry Jean Byron) were still adults and acting out meant trying to act older and more mature. The Lanes are a very sweet family visited by many of the great character of 60s culture, including Paul Lynde, Kaye Ballard, Margaret Hamilton and Frankie Avalon.
The Shout! Factory’s release is mostly for the true fans of the show, but Boomers might try to hook their kids or grandkids with the Miley connection. Future seasons would be greatly enhanced by commentary from the original stars.
