The Bill Dana Show

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The Bill Dana Show
Dana as José Jiménez, 1964.
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Danny Thomas
Written by	Jack Elinson Charles Stewart Garry Marshall Jerry Belson Ray Singer Dick Chevillat Howard Ostroff
Directed by	Sheldon Leonard Coby Ruskin Danny Thomas Stanley Z. Cherry Al Lewis Theodore J. Flicker Howard Morris Jerry Paris Jay Sandrich
Starring	Bill Dana Jonathan Harris Gary Crosby (1963-'64) Maggie Peterson (1964-'65) Don Adams
Theme music composer	Earle Hagen
Opening theme	"Jose's Theme"
Composer	Irving Szathmary
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	42
Production
Executive producer	Sheldon Leonard
Producers	Howard Leeds (season 1) Jack Elinson (season 2)
Production location	Desilu Studios
Running time	24 mins.
Production company	Amigo Productions
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 22, 1963 (1963-09-22) – January 17, 1965 (1965-01-17)
Related
Make Room for Daddy

The Bill Dana Show is an American comedy series starring Bill Dana and Jonathan Harris that aired on NBC from September 22, 1963 to January 17, 1965. The plot follows the daily lifestyle of Latin American José Jiménez, as a bellhop in a New York City hotel.

The series was a spin-off from Make Room for Daddy, which showed the character of José as an elevator operator before he became a bellhop.

The hotel was practically José's entire world; he lived in special bachelor headquarters provided for hotel employees, ate in the hotel kitchen, and had social contact only with employees and guests of the hotel. In his goodhearted naivete, 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 José to wise up; the less-than-understanding hotel manager Mr. Phillips (Jonathan Harris, who would soon play Dr. Smith on Lost in Space) and the bumbling hotel detective Byron Glick (Don Adams, in a predecessor to the character he would play on Get Smart). In the second season, Maggie Peterson played Susie, a waitress in the hotel's coffee shop.

Walter Mitty-like dream sequences were occasionally used to extricate José from the hotel environment.

Dana did a cameo as José Jiménez on an episode of Batman. He introduces himself to Batman and Robin by saying "My name- José Jiménez". This episode was titled "The Yegg Foes in Gotham" and originally aired on ABC on October 20, 1966. It was the last time Dana played José Jiménez on network television, though he still occasionally performed the role on records and on stage.

Bill Dana was a close friend and collaborator of Don Adams. It was Dana who helped Adams develop his William Powell impression into a character. Dana further brought Adams onto The Bill Dana Show in virtually the same character he would later play on Get Smart. The "Would You Believe" routine, which Dana created, was seen first on Dana's series, though Dana never received credit nor compensation for creating Get Smart with Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, another perfomer whom Dana brought to television on The Steve Allen Show.

The Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody also featured a haughty hotel manager and a more comical Hispanic bellman.

The series, sponsored by Procter & Gamble, premiered on September 22, 1963 and ran for a season-and-a-half, before its run ended on January 17, 1965 (the following week, it was replaced by Branded).

The Bill Dana Show received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Comedy at the 16th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1964.^[1]

• 16th Primetime Emmy Awards

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Bill Dana Show.

• The Bill Dana Show at IMDb