Complete credited cast: | |||
Debbie Reynolds | ... | Pansy Hammer | |
Bobby Van | ... | Dobie Gillis | |
Barbara Ruick | ... | Lorna Ellingboe | |
Bob Fosse | ... | Charlie Trask | |
Hanley Stafford | ... | George Hammer | |
Lurene Tuttle | ... | Mrs. Eleanor Hammer | |
Hans Conried | ... | Professor Amos Pomfritt | |
Charles Lane | ... | Chemistry Professor Obispo | |
Archer MacDonald | ... | Harry Dorcas | |
Kathleen Freeman | ... | 'Happy Stella' Kowalski | |
Almira Sessions | ... | Aunt Naomi |
Grainbelt University has one attraction for Dobie Gillis - women, especially Pansy Hammer. Pansy's father, even though and maybe because she says she's in dreamville, does not share her affection for Dobie. An English essay which almost revolutionizes English instruction, and Dobie's role in a chemistry lab explosion convinces Mr. Hammer he is right. Pansy is sent off broken-hearted to an Eastern school, but with the help of Happy Stella Kolawski's all-girl band, several hundred students and an enraged police force, Dobie secures Pansy's return to Grainbelt. Written by Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
I caught this film in the pre-dawn hours of an insomniac night recently, and found it reasonably diverting, although certainly no cinematic treasure. It does, however, contain genuine buried treasure for anyone interested in dance history, especially fans of Bob Fosse. The future Triple Crown of entertainment winner (Tony, Emmy, and Oscar in the same year) has a dance solo in this little movie which is positively searing, absolutely mind-bending in its virtuosity...and that's as seen in 2006. In its original release that sequence must have snapped the jaws of any member of the audience who'd ever taken a dance class. The man was simply fantastic, making Bobby Van, a decent hoofer himself, look like a club-footed spaz. I'd watch the storyless antics of Van's Gillis again just to see that number. By the way, I have read the original Dobie Gillis novel by Max Shulman, and it is very funny, as well as substantially earthier than any film or TV version of the story. If you see it in the library, give it a try.