Secure Immaturity

When I was a young lad I used to watch The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. All I remember about it was that Gilligan was in it with an evil-Spock goat and The Thinker statue. So while perusing my seemingly endless selection of channels I stumbled upon Turner Classic Movies and, upon looking at their schedule, came across The Affairs of Dobie Gillis. I was unaware such a movie existed and I was curious if a)it was any good, b)it had anything to do with the series, and c)would provide a sort of backward nostalgia for me.

And The Affairs of Dobie Gillis is kind of like your grandfather’s Van Wilder (starring a guy who even has Van in his name, Bobby Van) because it is basically doing crazy stuff in college but under the guise of 1950s America and it’s rating board. So what you have is a very innocent romp of college life. But all the Van Wilder staples are there: hot chicks (Debbie Reynolds lookin’ damn fine and her sidekick Barbara Ruick), hijinks, disrespectful parents and teachers, and even law breaking. And even love. Awwwww.

This is my first real exposure to Bobby Van, who plays the enigmatic Dobbie Gillis, a freshman college student who is interested in chasing girls around. He has no motivation to work or do anything of substance with his life except have fun. Naturally, and ironically, he meets the most dedicated girl in all existence, a girl quite fittingly called Pansey (Reynolds), who wants to do the college motto right: ‘learn, learn, learn. . .work, work, work’. Dobie becomes good friends with fellow slack off Charlie (Bob Fosse, THE Bob Fosse) and the girl Charlie wants (but sadly, she wants Dobie) named Lorna (Ruick). What starts out as quite a chore for Dobie, chasing around the hardest worker in town, ends up becoming a blessing as Pansey wants to break out from the oppressive bonds of learning, learning, learning and working, working, working. Hijinks ensue.

Dobie Gillis is definitely a star. Girls love him and men want to be him. Even with his outdated outfits, his strange lexicon, and absolute craving for non sexual fun, Dobie is pretty awesome and Bobby Van, much like Gene Kelly, makes a guy who can dance and sing not seem lame (look, I like the dancers and singers like the next person but. . .you don’t add cool too often when describing them). It is nice to see such a wholesome hero whose primary quest is innocent fun and pure and simple love. Call me a softy.

But let’s not paint Dobie as a complete angel here. One of my favorite things about Dobie Gillis is his amazing ability to commit non-violent crimes (both legal and ethical) and get away with it. Van Wilder would blush compared to the rap sheet Gillis piles up. Gillis’ activities include and are not limited to:

• Plagiarizing previously written essays to pass off as his own
• Stealing treasury money to buy upwards of 7 complete dinners
• underage visitation of bars, nightclubs, and jazz hang outs
• staying out past curfew
• not leaving room for the holy ghost while dancing
• breaking and entering a lab (also trespassing)
• staying overnight with a female
• making harassing phone calls INCLUDING creating a fake identity to avoid detection
• possible kidnapping (under investigation)
• unwittingly making people order magazine subscriptions under the false guise of buying concert tickets
• being communist (what the hell, it was the 50s. . .I’ll throw it in there)
• destruction of property

But then again, I don’t blame Dobie Gillis. He goes to school in which sadistic German-esque teachers exist to make sure life is a living hell for anyone that is not German-esque. It’s terrifying. Dobie Gillis is just too much fun for the teachers! And Pansey, the lovely girlfriend of Dobie, is equally a menace though not out of malicious intent. She is an absolute disaster when it comes to chemistry and has almost burned down the school lab at least seven times. And she has an almost maniacal desire to mix chemicals. . .future unibomber that one: learn, learn, learn. . .blow up, blow up, BLOW UP!’

All joking aside, The Affairs of Dobie Gillis is a lovely little comedy that has small musical elements thrown in probably because it was expected more then anything else. The songs are decent if unmemorable but the dancing is excellent and fun to watch. Bobby Van is a talent I will look out for in future classic production while Debbie Reynolds, who seemingly aged backward in this role compared to her appearance and demeanor in 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain, was someone I wish I appreciated more in the more mainstream appearances I’ve seen her in: lovely girl and fabulous, innocent little actress.

So if you haven’t seen the TV series or the film that inspired it and you love musicals/comedies/1950s film, then I highly recommend The Affairs of Dobie Gillis. It is a charming and fun film that, while not gracing the halls of cinema greats, is worth a peek.