The Patty Duke Show

infobox television
show_name = The Patty Duke Show


caption =Opening sequence of "The Patty Duke Show"
rating =
format = Sitcom
runtime = 30 minutes
(per episode)
director = William Asher
creator = Sidney Sheldon
starring = Patty Duke
William Schallert
Jean Byron
Paul O'Keefe
Eddie Applegate

country = USA
network = ABC
first_aired = September 18, 1963
last_aired = May 4, 1966
num_seasons = 3
num_episodes = 104
list_episodes =
imdb_id = 0056778
tv_com_id = 1743

"The Patty Duke Show" is an American sitcom which ran on ABC from September 18, 1963 until May 4, 1966, with reruns through August 31, 1966. The show was created as a vehicle for rising star Patty Duke, who had recently won an Academy Award for "The Miracle Worker". A total of 104 episodes were produced, most written by Sidney Sheldon.

Production

Filming locations

"The Patty Duke Show" was, atypically for the time, filmed in New York and not in Hollywood. This was done because Duke was only 15 when the series began, and California's strict child labor laws curtailed the number of hours that child actors could work. New York, by contrast, did not have such stringent laws, thus allowing producers to devote more time to the production—a distinct advantage, since Duke effectively carried the show. [cite book |title=Call Me Anna: The Autobiography of Patty Duke |last=Duke |first=Patty |coauthors=Turan, Kenneth |year=1988 |publisher=Bantam Books |location= |isbn=0-553-27205-5 |pages=116 ] Duke was to turn 18 during the 1965-66 television season; consequently ABC wanted to shift the show's production to Hollywood. To the network's displeasure, Duke was reluctant to make the move; at the time, she was in the midst of breaking off her relationship with her managers, who were insisting upon the move. Nonetheless, a few of the last shows were in fact filmed on the West Coast.

Music

The show's theme song, which has since been parodied many times over in pop culture, illustrates the two girls' differences:

"Meet Cathy who's lived most everywhere, from Zanzibar to Berkeley Square; But Patty's only seen the sights a girl can see from Brooklyn Heights - what a crazy pair! But they're cousins, identical cousins all the way; one pair of matching bookends, different as night and day. Where Cathy adores a minuet, the Ballet Russe, and crêpes Suzette; our Patty loves to rock 'n' roll, a hot dog makes her lose control - what a wild duet! Still they're cousins, identical cousins and you'll find they laugh alike, they walk alike, at times they even talk alike. You can lose your mind ... when cousins are two of a kind!"

Visual effects

The dual role for Duke challenged special effects for its time, considering television special effects were rare in the early 1960s, particularly for a sitcom. When special effects weren't practical, child actress Rita McLaughlin was used as Duke's double (almost always seen only from behind). [cite book |title=From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century |last=Mansour |first=Davod |year=2005 |publisher=Andrews McMeelPublishing |location= |isbn=0-740-75118-2 |pages=355 ]

Characters and cast

Patty Lane (Patty Duke) was a normal teenager living in the Brooklyn Heights section of New York City, who loved boys, ice cream, and sleepovers. In the first episode, her "identical cousin" Cathy Lane (also played by Duke) arrived in the United States from Scotland to live with Patty's family. The remarkable physical resemblance that Patty and Cathy Lane share to each other is explained by their fathers being identical twin brothers. A split screen was used when the "cousins" had to appear in the same scene. Rounding out the cast was William Schallert as Patty's father Martin Lane, Jean Byron as Patty's mother Natalie Lane, Paul O'Keefe as Patty's brother Ross Lane, and Eddie Applegate as Patty's boyfriend, Richard Harrison.

In the pilot episode only, Mark Miller played Patty's father and Charles Herbert played Patty's brother. The pilot episode was not aired as such, but parts of it were used in the last episode of the first season with the Schallert and O'Keefe in their respective roles.cite book |title=Screen Sirens Scream!: Interviews with 20 Actresses from Science Fiction|last=Parla|first=Paul|coauthors=Mitchell, Charles P.|year=2000|publisher=McFarland |isbn=0-786-40701-8|pages=29]

Special guest stars included singing duo Chad and Jeremy, teen heartthrob singers Frankie Avalon and Bobby Vinton, Sal Mineo, and Sammy Davis Jr..

Plot

Patty's father, Martin (Schallert, who also played Cathy's father in a handful of episodes), was the managing editor of a fictitious newspaper, the "New York Chronicle"; Cathy's father also worked for the Chronicle as a foreign correspondent. It was Cathy's father's wish that she complete her secondary schooling in the United States before she would be allowed to return to Scotland. Cathy was much more worldly, and the aggravations that came from the two girls' very different personalities set the tone for much of the sitcom.

Reception

Already a budding star in her own right, Duke was further thrust into the public consciousness through the show. As the series went on, her star power from the series allowed her to enter the realm of popular music, releasing a Top Ten single, "Don't Just Stand There", in 1965. [ [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=379&cfgn=Singles&cfn=The+Billboard+Hot+100&ci=3070327&cdi=8814114&cid=08%2F21%2F1965 The Billboard Hot 100, "Don't Just Stand There"] ]

Cancellation

Although the series was still very popular during its final season and getting high Nielsen ratings, ABC decided not to renew it for the '66/'67 season on the basis that filming it in color would have been prohibitively expensive (at the time all three networks were switching their entire prime time lineups to color production).

Duke wrote in her memoir "Call Me Anna" that United Artists, which produced the series (as well as "The Miracle Worker"), refused ABC's demand for a switch to color. Duke suspected, but never knew for sure, that United Artists executives said no as "a negotiating ploy" with the hope that ABC would respond with an offer to pay it more money for the series. In the end, however, ABC decided not to renew the series. [cite book |title=Call Me Anna: The Autobiography of Patty Duke |last=Duke |first=Patty |coauthors=Turan, Kenneth |year=1988 |publisher=Bantam Books |location= |isbn=0-553-27205-5 |pages=167 ]

In 1999, CBS aired the TV movie "The Patty Duke Show: Still Rockin' In Brooklyn Heights", which reunited most of the original cast, including Duke, Byron, O'Keefe, Schallert, and Applegate. In "Still Rockin"', Patty and Richard married after high school, had a son, and were amicably divorced (though toward the end of the movie, they reconcile). Cathy is a widow living in Scotland and has a teenage son. Most of the plot revolves around Patty's old rival Sue Ellen's plans to buy Brooklyn Heights High School, raze it, and replace it with a mall, which is opposed by Patty, Cathy, and the rest of the family.

yndication and DVD Release

"The Patty Duke Show" was rerun on Nick at Nite from 1988 until 1992. In 1995, Nick at Nite showed one episode of the series during their 10th anniversary celebration. In 2005, both Nick at Nite and TV Land aired an episode of "Patty" in honor of Nick at Nite's 20th anniversary. "The Patty Duke Show" has not been syndicated by any other channels since Nick at Nite dropped it from its lineup in 1992.

To date, there are no plans to release "The Patty Duke Show" on DVD.

ee also

* "The Parent Trap"
* "Double Trouble"
* "Sister, Sister"
* "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody"

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0056778|title=The Patty Duke Show
*Tv.com show|id=1743|title=The Patty Duke Show