Jay North

 

 

Jay North, who died yesterday at age 73, was one of the scores of child television stars from 60 years ago who could not outgrow their characters. Some did not survive to see adulthood.

Domestic comedies like Dennis the Menace were the staple of Kennedy-era America. They offered gentle humor as counterpoint to hard-boiled crime dramas and dusty westerns. Performers became household names because there were so few networks creating product, and North along with the child stars of Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, My Three Sons, Donna Reed, Family Affair, etc. were familiar faces, plastered on the cover of TV Guide. They were members of our mediated community.

It's tragically ironic that these shows so often created upheaval in the lives of young people on the screen.

North, who reported suffering abuse at the hands of his guardians, was Dennis Mitchell for four seasons from '59 to '63 and finally moved on from the towhead in overalls to star in a very different and wholly unsuccessful TV adaptation of the motion picture Maya, in which he starred in 1966. North was one of two young lads, the other being a Hindu boy played by Sajid Khan, traveling India on the back of the eponymous pachyderm.

I remember little about the series except feeling at the time that it reminded me of another NBC series, Tarzan (1966-1968), and the CBS jungle show of the same period, Daktari (1966-1969). Looking back, I guess I would describe them as "white folks in the wild."

By all reports, North was a good guy with a good heart. He served in the Navy, briefly, and did some TV and stage work, guest appearances and such, but finally became a correctional officer for juveniles in the Florida prison system.

I hadn't thought about Dennis Mitchell in years. Reports like this make me wistful but then I recognize I never actually knew Jay North, just what the entertainment factory showed me he was. But I suppose that's true for everyone. We're so much more than what's on the outside.