Sitcoms Online Photo Galleries - Bill Dana Show: Cast Photo

The Bill Dana show was a spinoff of the Steve Allen Show and Make Room For Daddy as Bill Dana had originated the character Jose Jimenez on both shows. This series aired on NBC from September 1963 until January 1965 and produced 42 episodes. Amazingly I recently got a cheap VHS copy of this show for $1 at a local grocery store. I have to admit that though the quality was bad the show was still funny. Its to bad this show didn't last longer. Then again if it had Don Adams who co-starred in it may not have landed the role of Maxwell Smart in Get Smart and that would have been a real shame.

Writer-comedian Bill Dana, whose character Jose Jimenez had a very successful career on records and in nightclubs following its creation on The Steve Allen Show, brought him to life for this series. Jose ( Bill Dana), was a Mexican immigrant who worked as a bellhop at The Park Central Hotel. Not only did he work there, it was practically his entire world; he lived in special bachelor quarters provided for hotel employees, ate in the hotel kitchen, and had social contact only with employees and guests of the hotel.In his goodhearted naivette he saw only the good in the people around him. His biggest problems were his fellow bellhop Eddie ( Gary Crosby), who was constantly trying to get him to wise up, the less then understanding hotel manager Mr. Phillips ( Jonathan Harris, later Dr. Smith of Lost In Space fame ), and the not to brilliant hotel detective Byron Glick ( Don Adams, later Maxwell Smart on Get Smart ). Walter Mitty-like dream sequences were occasionally used to extricate Jose from the hotel environment.

For the Official Website of Bill Dana go to http://www.bill-dana.com/pages/classicphotos.html

To watch the opening theme of The Bill Dana Show go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4vDcx2V0PA&feature=related