Customer Reviews

The Patty Duke Show: Season One

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Celebrations should be thrown at local `shake shops' with rock 'n roll blasting on the juke box for the first-ever DVD release of The Patty Duke Show!

The series was one of the best and most beloved Classic TV comedies from the 1960's. Shout!Factory is continuing its string of great Classic TV releases (including Father Knows Best, My Three Sons and The Donna Reed Show) by presenting the complete first season of this iconic series on DVD for the first time.

The Patty Duke Show aired on ABC beginning Sept. 18, 1963. It lasted 105 episodes spanning three seasons - all in glorious black and white!

One year before, Ms. Duke had won an Academy Award® for her portrayal of the blind, deaf and mute Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker (at the time, she was the youngest person to have won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress). As a result, she was chosen for her own self-titled vehicle, which featured her in not one, but two prominent roles.

The series followed Patty Lane (Ms. Duke), a `normal' 60's teenager living in the Brooklyn Heights section of New York City, who loves boys, ice cream, and sleep-overs. Her father is the managing editor of the New York Chronicle. In the unaired Pilot, her "identical cousin" Cathy Lane (also portrayed by Duke), whose father also works for the Chronicle as a foreign correspondent, arrives in the U.S. from Scotland to live with Patty's family and attend secondary school.

The series was extremely popular with both teens and their parents, turning Ms. Duke into an early teenaged idol.

As an adult, Ms. Duke has documented her long struggle with mental illness. The brilliant star sadly disclosed that she also suffered abuse during the years this series was produced. As a result, there is a genuine darkness beneath the fictitious veneer of these sweetly, innocent episodes. It is a true testament to her talent and very hard work that none of that was conveyed on screen. In my opinion, this series should still be enjoyed to honor her performances, for which Ms. Duke rightly received an Emmy nomination. (She is also the former wife of wonderful actor John Astin. The couple's son, Sean Astin, is also an actor.)

All 36 half-hour episodes and the unaired pilot are expected to be included in this DVD boxed set, presented on six discs (to provide background material as needed, clips from the Pilot had been utilized through "flash-back" scenes describing Cathy's arrival in the U.S.).

Special features are expected to include interviews with cast members, plus a featurette on the series. The show was created by William Asher, who also created and produced Bewitched; and Sidney Sheldon, who created a host of thrillers but also I Dream of Jeannie in the 1960's and Hart to Hart in the 1990's.

In addition to Ms. Duke, the core cast included William Schallert, who played Patty's father, Martin Lane; Jean Byron as Patty's mother, Natalie Lane; Paul O'Keefe portrayed Patty's sister, Ross Lane; and Eddie Applegate, who portrayed Patty's boyfriend, Richard Harrison in 70 episodes.

Schallert has one of the longest careers in TV and also film, and remains active in his 80's. (Incredibly, there was almost no hit TV show - in all genres - from the 60s through the 80s that he did not appear.)

The dual role played by Ms. Duke presented special effects challenges for the low-tech 60's, as they were rarely ever used in sitcoms of the day. (A VERY notable exception was the daytime gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows.)

In each episode of this series, Ms. Duke appeared as both characters in the same frame through the use of a split screen effect. To complement these effects, child actress Rita McLaughlin was used as Ms. Duke's double (almost always seen only from behind).

First Season episodes are: The Pilot; The French Teacher; The Genius; The Elopement; House Guest; The Birds and the Bees Bit; The Slumber Party; The Babysitters; The Conquering Hero; The President; Double Date; The Actress; How to Be Popular; The Song Writers; The Princess Cathy; Christmas Present; Auld Lang Syne; Horoscope; The Tycoons; Author! Author!; The Continental; Let 'Em Eat Cake; Going Steady; Are Mothers People?; The Con Artist; The Perfect Teenager; Chip Off the Old Block; The Wedding Anniversary Caper; Pen Pals; A Slight Case of Disaster; The Friendship Bit; Patty, the Foster Mother; Drop Out; Leave it to Patty; The Little Dictator; The Working Girl; and The Cousins.

"Cousins," was the unforgettable series theme. The music was composed by Sid Ramin, while the lyrics that stayed in your head like a causality loop, was written by Robert Wells. For those not old enough to have the song still playing in their aged noggins, here it is:

Meet Cathy, who's lived most everywhere,
From Zanzibar to Barclay Square.

But Patty's only seen the sights
A girl can see from Brooklyn Heights--
What a crazy pair!

But they're cousins,
Identical cousins all the way.
One pair of matching bookends,
Different as night and day.

Where Cathy adores a minuet,
The Ballet Ruses, and crepe Suzette,
Our Patty loves to rock and roll,
A hot dog makes her lose control--
What a wild duet!

Still, they're cousins,
Identical cousins and you'll find,
They laugh alike, they walk alike,
At times they even talk alike--

You can lose your mind,
When cousins - are two of a kind!

Here's hoping the remaining two seasons are quickly released.

What an unbelievable year 2009 has been for putting THE BEST 1960's television shows on dvd sets, and now added to this list FINALLY is "The Patty Duke Show"! Previously this year, Shout!Factory released "Peyton Place" and "Room 222", and the quality of the film on these two sets is like night and day. I contacted Shout! to find out if this "Patty Duke Show" dvd set will be beautifully restored and clean like "Peyton Place" or if it will be fuzzy and grainy like "Room 222". Shout! said they are putting out a good print of "The Patty Duke Show", and I hope "good" means really good like in Peyton Place good! They would not be more specific about the quality, so we will see when it's released on September 29, 2009.

"The Patty Duke Show" was tailor made for oscar-winning Patty Duke to play two teenage identical cousins going through High School together in Brooklyn Heights, New York. Patty Duke plays Patty Lane, who lives with her newspaper editor father, Martin Lane (William Schallert), her mother Natalie Lane (Jean Byron) and her younger brother Ross Lane (Paul O'Keefe). Patty has a steady boyfriend Richard Harrison (Eddie Applegate). Patty's father Martin, has a brother Kenneth Lane, who is a globe-trotting journalist, who happens to have a daughter named Cathy Lane (Patty Duke) who not only looks exactly like Patty , but is Patty's exact age. Cathy comes from Scotland to live with her Uncle Martin's family in Brooklyn Heights, New York. Even though Cathy and Patty look alike, sophisticated Cathy is nothing like her cousin Patty, who is the typical American teenager in 1963.

"The Patty Duke Show" ran for only 3 seasons from 1963 to 1966. The show featured some great guest stars over these years, some of my favorites being Frankie Avalon (in this first season), Chad and Jeremy, Sammy Davis Jr., Sal Mineo, Robert Goulet, Troy Donahue and Paul Lynde (also in this first season). Patty Duke played both cousins Patty and Cathy Lane and the technology used for Patty Duke to play 2 people on the screen at the same time, was quite primitive in 1963. They would shoot in split screen when the cousins were together facing the camera, and you can see the "line" where the two films are spliced together in almost every shot like this. A double was used when the cousins were talking face to face, so you would see Patty Duke's face and the double's back of her head. In a few of these first seasons episodes, the face of the double was accidentally briefly glimpsed! Martin Lane, Patty's father played by William Schallert, was such a well liked tv father, he was voted #39 in TV Guide's 50 Greatest Dad's of All Time. The show's unaired Pilot premiered in 1963 and was set in San Francisco, instead of Brooklyn Heights, New York, and father Martin Lane and brother Ross Lane were played by different actors. In this unaired pilot, Mark Miller played Martin and Charles Herbert played Ross. Sadly, even though Shout!Factory advertised everywhere that this first season would include the rare Pilot, they did not include it, and I hope this was a bad oversight and that they keep to their word and include it in Season 2!

Here are the First Season's Pilot and 36 Episodes:
0. (1963) PILOT-Cathy moves in with her Uncle's family.
1. (9-18-1963) THE FRENCH TEACHER-Patty has a teacher crush.
2. (9-25-1963) THE GENIUS-Patty alters a test (Paul Lynde guest stars).
3. (10-2-1963) THE ELOPEMENT-Martin thinks Patty is marrying Richard.
4. (10-9-1963) THE HOUSE GUEST-Aunt Pauline's visit bothers Cathy.
5. (10-16-1963) THE BIRDS AND THE BEES BIT-Ross gets a girl's invitation.
6. (10-23-1963) THE SLUMBER PARTY-Spy Ross tapes and blackmails Patty.
7. (10-30-1963) THE BABYSITTERS-Patty babysits to make money.
8. (11-6-1963) THE CONQUERING HERO-Cathy tutors a basketball player (Charles Nelson Reilly guest stars).
9. (11-13-1963) THE PRESIDENT-Patty and Cathy compete for President.
10.(11-20-1963) DOUBLE DATE-Patty doubles for Cathy (Margaret Hamilton guest stars).
11.(11-27-1963) THE ACTRESS-Patty and Cathy both want to be Cleopatra.
12.(12-4-1963) HOW TO BE POPULAR-Cathy doesn't want to be a wallflower (Frankie Avalon guest stars).
13.(12-11-1963) THE SONGWRITERS-Patty plagiarizes a poem to Richard (Jimmy Dean guest stars).
14.(12-18-1963) THE PRINCESS CATHY-Cathy gets a proposal.
15.(12-25-1963) THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT-Patty has a wonderful surprise.
16.(1-1-1964) AULD LANG SYNE-Cathy's father Kenneth Lane gets fired.
17.(1-8-1964) HOROSCOPE-Patty and Cathy make double money in astrology.
18.(1-15-1964) THE TYCOONS-Patty and Cathy become dress makers.
19.(1-22-1964) AUTHOR!AUTHOR!-Patty gets a book published.
20.(1-29-1964) THE CONTINENTAL-Martin gets transferred to Paris.
21.(2-5-1964) LET 'EM EAT CAKE-Patty and Cathy re-bake Natalie's contest cake which they ate (Margaret Hamilton guest stars).
22.(2-12-1964) GOING STEADY-Patty accepts Richard's ring to go steady.
23.(2-19-1964) ARE MOTHER'S PEOPLE?-Natalie feels unappreciated.
24.(2-26-1964) THE CON ARTIST-Cathy purchases a vacuum cleaner (Estelle Parsons guest stars).
25.(3-4-1964) THE PERFECT TEENAGER-Patty takes a modeling class (Kaye Ballard guest stars).
26.(3-11-1964) CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK-Patty's editor job turns tabloid.
27.(3-18-1964) THE WEDDING ANNIVERSARY CAPER-Ross enters Patty in a Beautiful Teens Contest in order to win a prize for their parents anniversary.
28.(3-25-1964) PEN PALS-Patty's penpal is superior to Richard.
29.(4-1-1964) THE FRIENDSHIP BIT-Patty may be jealous of Cathy.
30.(4-8-1964) A SLIGHT CASE OF DISASTER-Cathy borrows Patty's dress.
31.(4-15-1964) PATTY,THE FOSTER MOTHER-Patty adopts a Korean boy.
32.(4-22-1964) THE DROP OUT-Patty drops "dropout" Richard.
33.(4-29-1964) LEAVE IT TO PATTY-Patty poses as Cathy to get Cathy's pop star friend to perform at their dance.
34.(5-6-1964) THE LITTLE DICTATOR-Cathy is student principal and has to discipline Patty in class.
35.(5-13-1964) THE WORKING GIRL-Patty works at the Shake Shop.
36.(5-20-1964) THE COUSINS-Patty and Cathy reminisce.

BONUS MATERIAL INCLUDED:
Shout! Factory has confirmed that they are including a nice retrospective featurette on this First Season, which is based on the brand new interviews they just finished with the entire cast, all except for "Mom" Natalie Lane played by the late Jean Byron.

Shout! Factory also confirmed that the episodes are not cut up or shortened, as they are running the original full 25 minutes per episode.
I originally watched "The Patty Duke Show" when it premiered in 1963, and I enjoy it just as much now as I did back then! Even with the primitive 1963 special effects of seeing Patty's double's back of her head (and a glimpse of her face in this first season), and the splicing lines on the middle of the film, the show still holds up today with it's family warmth and charm. A huge thank you Shout!Factory for finally putting the long-awaited and wonderful Patty Duke Show on dvd!

Like everyone else here (and elsewhere!) I'm absolutely OVER the moon about the news of this release! If any show deserves to be made available to the masses, this is certainly one at the top of the list.

Tuning in, you'll see a very well-crafted show that focused on situations and people as opposed to jokes. I once read somewhere that The Patty Duke Show did for teenagers what the Dick Van Dyke Show did for sitcoms in general and I can see what the writer meant. The comedy and characters are genuine, the performances are grounded in reality, meaning you'll view the characters acting and reacting in believeable ways that aren't racheted up in the usual sitcom styles.

One thing that is quite amazing about the character of Patty is that she is not at all a 2 dimentional cut-out. Amazingly, the writers had Patty as a person who could be at various turns, kind, manipulative, sweet, egotistical, nice, a fire storm, caring, fierce, vulnerable...in other words, Patty was played like a human being with faults galore but virtuous to the core. Cathy too (especially during the first 2 seasons) could be someone to contend with. For the most part, she was the sweet one for sure, but she was also the practical realist who was the one who kept Patty grounded with loving reprimands when needed. On rare occasions, she could take a rather unexpected turn and outmaneuver Patty when the situation called for it with astonishing results! Above all, neither girl was a wallflower- each was resourceful and never ever played to the idea of a girl being helpless without a guy around, in fact, they often were the ones to take charge of situations and if all else failed, well, Mom and Dad were there to step in- and isnt't that what family is all about?

What I found amazing is despite the comments I read in Ms. Duke's autobiography about her acting on the show, the young actress does a incredible job of creating two distinct characters. Even in the smallest details- such as how each one expresses gladness or anger, Ms. Duke never allows one trait of one character to cary across to the other. Watching movies or other shows featuring one actor playing two characters, many times the performances come across more of as a gimmick than anything, but you never get the impression when watching Ms. Duke switching between playing Cathy and Patty.

A note about the split-screen effects. Too many times people will comment on how limited or "pre-historic" the technology was then and how you can easily detect the effects of the split screen. Well, the split screen effect wasn't anything new by the time The Patty Duke Show aired. In fact, the whole double exposure method which allowed one person to play multiple parts had been in existence for quite some time, being used in movies a good 20 or so years before this show.

If anything, the effect is even more impressive now when you consider all the planning it took to ensure shadows from one characters movements didn't cross the "barrier" of the shot. Notice also in many of those scenes, Patty and Cathy are sitting at the same table, or on the same bench and in one shot from the 2nd season, there is an incredible set up that had Cathy sitting on a chair and Patty, at one point places a hand on the back of the same chair- it makes you wonder if they had to bolt those pieces of furniture down somehow- if anything moved even one fraction, the viewer would easily note the chair being higher on one side of the frame than the other!

I hope the release of the DVD will bring a whole new shipload of fans to this stellar show!

I am so tired of and annoyed with all the pre-release "reviews" Amazon permits. Most of us know what the show was all about or we wouldn't have looked up this item in the first place. What we want to know is, how is this DVD presentation and is it worth purchasing? I have the DVD set in my possession right now, and there are 36 epsiodes in this complete first season set, not 26 (presumably just a typo on Amazon's part), but there is no pilot episode included as advertised. There are bits of the pilot interspersed in the last episode of the season as flashbacks, but that hardly counts. Great show, nice transfer, nice episode notes and (limited) trvia, interesting cast reminiscences. I'm glad to own it.

I used to love watching The Patty Duke Show on "Nick At Nite" back in the day. That being said I was excited to learn that this series was being released on DVD. I was also excited to learn that it was being issued by Shout Factory, since they do a superior job re-issuing classic TV on DVD. Shout Factory did a really good job with both the audio and video transfers. The black and white picture seems balanced and looks restored to eliminate any dirt or spots on the film. Though I cannot be 100% sure, all of the episodes appear to be uncut and open and close with the theme song. The ending always closes with the original United Artists Television vintage logo. Though I have not gotten to view it yet, the bonus features include "All New Interviews With The Cast" on disc 6 (I have only watched up until disc 2 so far).

The packaging is nice. the box shows Patty and Cathy against a green vintage patterned background. The one thing that irks me though is that on the front and back of the box it refers to the set as "The Complete First Season", while on the side of the box it says "Season One" as it does on all six discs, all three cases, and the enclosed booklet. I just think it should have been consistent as either "Season One" or "The Complete First Season".

The booklet is a nice addition too. These days you don't seem to get a booklet included anymore unless it is promoting other releases from the same company. The booklet provides a brief synopsis for each show, production number, airdates, guest stars (if any), starring, writing, music, producer and director credits as well as any trivia for that episode. There are also a bunch of pictures scattered throughout. Each slim case holds two discs in it and on the back show the episode title as well as the original airdate. The three cases are color coded as either purple, blue or pinkish, as are the discs that go in them. The front of each case has the exact same color picture of Patty Duke wearing a blue and green dress against a gold background. It's a good picture, but I wish they put a different picture on each case if for nothing more than variety. One thing that I was disappointed in was that Shout Factory did not include the original unaired pilot episode, which is mentioned in the booklet as trivia for the episode "Cousins" which used parts of it for flashback footage.

I hope Shout Factory continues to release all three seasons of The Patty Duke Show, but for now you get +/- 15 hours of enjoyable Patty Duke to make you lose your mind!

After buying several other DVDs of television shows from my youth I bought this one with apprehension on two levels. One is the quality - will it be carefully restored and uncut as advertised (many times the described restoration process has been exgaggerated) and two - will the shows still be enjoyable enough to watch through and enjoy. Well - this does not disappoint on both counts!

I found the episodes to be complete (at least I could not detect any cutting) and the picture and sound quality is very high (of course based on something filmed 40+ years ago). A bigger surprise is the quality of the episodes themselves. Granted it is dated - but the acting is excellent - a real warm, interactive ensemble cast, and the writing is solid with themes that are as pertinent as they are today -love, jealousy, envy, worries, family, money, etc. True that the issues may have been dealt with simplicity at times, but at the same time it was a nice change from the salacious ways sitcoms deal with similar issues today.

In Patty Duke's autobiography she generally dismisses the show. I have to disagree - her acting talent remains undiminished with time. This DVD will not disappoint!

Back in the late 90's when it became clear that the compact nature of DVD's would allow many TV shows to be released in their entirety I have been waiting for this one.

The Patty Duke Show was before my time. I had never heard of it until the late 80's, when it came to Nick At Nite. I had started to watch the channel more and more and developed a liking for older TV. It took about a couple episodes of Patty Duke to completely hook me. So much so I recorded the shows on tape. Since tape was more expensive back then, I kept recorded them in the 6 hour speed.

I was able to get most of the run of the show with the first 2 runs on Nick At Nite. That turned out to be important because after the second run, they went from editing about a minute out of the show to about 3 minutes (from 24 to 22 minutes from the original 25). The more edited versions of the show were the ones that were shown most of the time the show was on Nick At Nite.

And of course, when it came time for Nick At Nite to let go of The Patty Duke Show, it pretty much dropped off the face of the cable universe.

After that, I'd sometimes watch and would trade from those Patty Duke tapes but as my video set ups got better, the tapes looked worse.

Then came DVD and it soon became clear that DVD was a great way to get some more revenue action out of those older shows. I was only happy to get them as they came out. Still, there was one show that was always passed over.

That would be The Patty Duke Show. I had heard rumors throughout the years that a video release was being talked about. Years ago when they released Green Acres and Mr. Ed, I had heard that MGM was impressed by the sales and was prepping Patty Duke for some sort of release (either full season sets or best of).

But that iron cooled and it never happened. Some people point to the fact that studios are more reluctant to release black and white classic TV unless they are certified classics (like I Love Lucy or The Honeymooners) but whatever the reason, not much was ever heard about a release.

Until now, season one of The Patty Duke Show finds it's way to DVD from SHOUT!

It's a fantastic release with a couple caveats.

The transfers are variable in quality with some shows looking better and sharper than others. This is not a big problem as all of them are nice and watchable but they do reflect the fact that the transfers are not as up to date as the ones done for some old shows.

The sound on the shows can also be a bit wonky. Some episodes have distortion and level problems. It can be somewhat distracting and/or require you to increase the volume but it's not too much of a problem beyond that.

All the shows appear uncut with the possible exception of How To Be Popular. It runs about a minute shorter then the average of the rest of the episodes and appears to have an artificial fade out after Cathy sparks a family fight with her attempts at honesty. The 24 minute version from Nick At Nite cuts off even before that so we may never know if that is simply how the show was or if there was a small deletion for whatever reason.

Finally, it has to be explained that The Patty Duke Show had the sponsor tag announcements built into the opening credits and the final tag scene of the episode. At the end of the tag, the announcer would say "The Patty Duke Show was brought to you by..." and then they would run film of the sponsor.

Some people remember watching the show syndicated on local stations on a 16mm film chain and these sponsor tag announcements would be partially or entirely shown (shown without the sponsor, of course. The announcer would say "brought to you by..." and it would go to commercial or closing credits).

A Best of laser disc set came out a while ago that has 8 episodes intact with some commercials and all the sponsor tag material.

But on this DVD set, just as had been done with Nick At Nite the sponsor announcements were taken out and all the last scene tags have artificial fade outs before the announcer. This is why the music at the end of the tag sometimes seems to be cut short. There is no deletion of episode dialog, only the announcer that is on the end of the tag act.

I had hoped that these would be retained on DVD but it must be realized that the transfers were prepared by MGM originally for the syndication market and those are the ones that stand for DVD. Again, no big deal but I had held out a hope those moments would be kept for DVD.

As for the show itself, besides it's huge enjoyability it's also groundbreaking. Not only in having the youngest lead ever at the time in Patty Duke but also in the way the show was.

If you look at most family sitcoms of the time, Ozzie and Harriet, Father Knows Best or Donna Reed, the daughters were demure and entirely traditionally ladylike. Nothing wrong with that, to be sure, but a little variety might be in order.

Now, here comes The Patty Duke Show. Cathy Lane was more in line with Betty "Princess" Anderson and Mary Stone but she was a sidekick. The one out in front was Patty Lane, an impulsive, alternately brilliant, alternately scatterbrained, resourceful, hip minded, ambitious free spirit who tackles things at 100 miles an hour (with an occasionally fiery temper to punctuate her usual sweet perkiness).

Also contrary to the time, Patty was often shown to be somewhat sloppy, with her hair disheveled and dressed in untucked shirts and pants. Although most of the time, she was as put together as Cathy in the dress and hair sense, they allowed her a bit a sloppiness that was unusual for girl on a TV show.

Oftentimes, Patty would proceed like a teenage Lucy Ricardo, hatching schemes to get that dress that the parents won't pay for or getting a head of a studio to see her at the high school play. She would get an impulse and tackle it in a stream of consciousness fashion. That was new.

You wouldn't find Mary Stone plunging head first into turning a popular dress of her friend's into a business or pumping out a book that makes War and Peace look like a pamphlet when she learns about another teenage writer.

Cathy was a great counter balance for Patty and often had a few surprises of her own. Cathy is basically polite, level headed and well mannered and not as outgoing as Patty. They also allowed Cathy to be jealous sometimes and to outmaneuver Patty when she thought it was important.

Patty Duke plays both girls to a turn. It never seems that one character intrudes into the other. You soon forget that it's only one talented lady playing the two (even with the sometimes awkward efforts to hide the face of Patty's double in non split screen shots).

The writing for this show fulfilled the fun loving requirements for shows like this but also managed to work in a few bits of genuine emotional effectiveness here and there.

Bottom line, shows like Gidget, The Brady Bunch and even more recent ones like Hanna Montana owe a lot to The Patty Duke Show. From the overall dynamic to even some of the story lines. The more outgoing and take charge nature of Patty Lane was a clear departure of how teenage daughters were usually portrayed in TV land as was the general acknowledgment of youth pop culture and slang.

Season one of The Patty Duke Show has some of the best episodes of the series. Some of the best include (but are not limited to):

The French Teacher: Patty falls quick for a older substitute French teacher. When he gets wise to it, the teacher asks for help from Patty's dad to discourage her in an elegant and non hurtful fashion.

The President: Both Patty and Cathy get nominated for class President and it goes from friendly rivalry to a knock down drag out.

Double Date: Cathy accidentally gets Patty's flu shot and is confined to bed for Patty's party. In order to keep Cathy's date, Patty quick changes between Cathy and herself all throughout the party (much to Richard and Cathy's date's confusion). But what is she going to do when both Patty and Cathy is entered in the dance contest?

The Actress: Patty watches Cathy try out for the part of Cleopatra in the school play but ends up getting the part when the director wants her to read too. But when Patty's scheme to get a studio head to see her act in the play is successful, she psycho-semantically loses her voice.

The Princess Cathy: Patty loses what they both think is a foreign exchange student to Cathy. He actually is a prince and soon asks Cathy to marry him.

Author!Author!: Patty sets out to write the greatest book by a teenager ever.

The Perfect Teenager: When she fails a good teenager quiz in a magazine, Patty has a crisis of confidence and enrolls in modeling school.

Patty The Foster Mother: Patty becomes a foster mother to a Korean boy but accidentally ends up adopting him for real.

Today, most fans of the show and Patty Duke know of the problems Patty Duke had during the 60's due to her having an undiagnosed mental illness and from her being managed by a controlling and sometimes abusive couple. This probably led to her being dismissive of The Patty Duke Show initially, most notably in her first book. Can you blame her? She initially had no say about what the show would and would not be and one of the controlling mechanisms of her managers was to put down her acting work.

In recent years, Patty Duke has been able to actually see some of the shows (where she really didn't have the chance before) and has come to believe that she did some good work and that the show was worthy.

Also with the retrospective on the DVD set, you see that she was able to find solace in bonding with the cast members of the show as sort of a surrogate family (William Schallert, especially).

I am glad Patty Duke has found her way to embracing the series and to see it as a positive during her troubled time.

This is the best season of all 3, and since I haven't seen this show since February of 1992 on Nick at Nite, I miss the classics that they showed just like this show. It was never shown on TV Land, and it probably never will, because they show all the garbage shows from the 90's and the 2000's, and their channel is becoming a joke in my opinion. I have never met Patty before, but I think she was a very creative, and super actress. She used to sing once in awhile on the show, and she had a beautiful singing voice, and if I would have been in my teens back when her show was airing on ABC, I would have written her a fan letter every week, and I know I would have had a serious crush on her. The show had a great cast of Characters surrounding her, William Schallert (her Papoa Martin), Jean Byron (her mom with one of the greatest smiles ever), her brother Ross, her boyfriend Richard, her hated rival Sue Ellen & John McIver as Martin's editor. There is even an appearance by Phylis Coates as Martin Lanes secretary in the 2 part Christmas episode. The staff who put this DVD set together did a great job with the audio and video editing, and I give everybody who worked on this a 20+. I can't wait for Season's 2 & 3 to be released, I'm also waiting for Warner Bros/DC & FOX to get their act together so I can finally see BATMAN again.

Malcolm MALKAMANIA Wildman
46 years young
1976 Oakland Raider Fanatic, HULKAMANIAC & Patty Duke Fanatic 4 LIFE!!!

With so many, what I consider minor shows coming out, it is good to see a solid classic finally out. I hope that the other two seasons come out soon. There has been much said that the missing pilot is on this set, but it is not. The show is great as it was in its original form. There is a "card" like shuffling sound on the menu that brings up the episodes so I don't know if this is minor defect in the processing, but it is minor and doesn't detract from the enjoyment. It was good to see interviews with the surviving cast. Great classic show and great entertainment.

I grew up watching this really cute series when it was in syndication as a teenager myself, and only wish today's teens had more programs of its quality and sense of genuine fun. "The Patty Duke Show" always reminded me of Disney's "The Parent Trap," which starred another favorite Haley Mills.

The series portrays the story of two identical cousins, Patty and Cathy Lane. Cathy, the daughter of a globe trotting journalist, comes to live with her aunt & uncle, Martin & Natalie Lane. They have a daughter, Patty, who's the same age as Cathy and her absolute spitting image. However, aside from looks, these two teenage girls are completely opposite in personality, taste, and life experiences.

Patty Duke charmingly captures the dual roles of the cousins and manages to make the viewer think that there are actually two different teenagers here. There are some great special effects for that era when the 'two of a kind' cousins appear together on screen. Whether realistic or not, the show had a great story idea with a variation on the identical twins with contrasting personalities theme. Making them cousins with totally different childhood experiences, the screenwriters could make this pair of look-a-likes seem really diverse.

In fact, their "personality" and "culture clash" forms the basis of the series. Since Patty and Cathy are such opposites, they have trouble understanding each other. The urbane, sophisticated Cathy is a quiet and serious young lady, who has been living in Scotland with her father and has traveled abroad in Europe. Patty is a typical peppy, outgoing, and very social American teenager living in Brooklyn Heights. Cathy is studious and scholastically excellent, while Patty receives average grades and is more concerned with fashions, fads, friends, fun, and slumber parties than with schoolwork. Cathy's taste in music runs to classical, while Patty likes to bop around to the rock & roll music of that era. Even their taste in food...well, Cathy prefers gourmet cuisine, while Patty chooses hot dogs, ice cream, and junk food.

Although jealousy and conflict arise (always humorously conveyed of course), it's much like a sibling relationship. Underneath it all, the cousins really do care about one another and sometimes even conspire together to pull off pranks or get themselves out of scrapes. (Typically Patty gets into the scrape and Cathy must help her out of it!) Also, the cousins are not actually that different in some important ways. Patty desires popularity and Cathy at least some sense of acceptance. And of course both young ladies are interested in BOYS. Patty would accurately be described as boy crazy, and kept a steady relationship with one boy in particular, Richard Harrison (Eddie Applegate), while Cathy conveys her interest a bit more subtly. The girls don't always go for the same type, but in one episode, I recall the pair are actually rivals for the attentions of the new boy next door.

Patty's father, Martin Lane, is managing editor of a fictitious New York newspaper, the New York Chronicle, for which Cathy's father (Martin's brother) works as a foreign correspondent. The two brothers are identical twins, presumably explaining their daughters' close physical resemblance. Cathy's father wants her to complete high school in the States before returning to Scotland.

The father in this series really stands out in my mind these many years later. William Shallert is absolutely wonderful in the role of Patty's father, Martin Lane, the classic kind & caring American dad who's often at his wit's end over his teenage daughter's antics. This actor also plays Cathy's father in a few of the episodes. Natalie Lane, as Patty's mother is also perfectly cast and manages her scenes beautifully.

"The Patty Duke Show" was always entertaining and I always enjoyed seeing what kind of "caper" Patty would get into and then watch as Cathy would figure a way out of it. There are many classic teen "story lines" featured, including parties, dating, school football stars, teachers, baby sitting, kid brothers, and peer rivalry. Patty spars with her own younger brother, Ross, (Paul O'Keffe) and must also cope with an annoying school rival, Sue Ellen (Kitty Sullivan). I'm very excited to see Season 1 of "The Patty Duke Show" finally making it to DVD and hope the following Season 2 and 3 won't be too far behind! Here are the Episodes featured in Season 1:

The Patty Duke Show - Season 1 - 1963-64

01- Pilot- The original pilot for the series was never aired. It was shown as a flashback in the final episode of season one.


02- The French Teacher- There is a new French teacher at school, André Malon. Patty falls in love with Malon. Her attitude toward school and her grades suddenly improve.


03- The Genius- The school is testing the students for IQ. Patty's results give her a score of 185. Is she a real genius or has Patty been tampering with the computer?


04- The Elopement- Patty and her mother are planning a surprise for her father, Martin. They are arranging a weekend at the fishing lodge where her parents spent their honeymoon. Patty and her friend Richard go to the license bureau to get a fishing license for the surprise. J.R. Castle, Martin's boss, sees Patty at the license bureau. He leads Martin to believe that Patty and Richard are planning to elope.


05- House Guest- Aunt Pauline has frequently sent gifts to the Lane household that are usually stored in the basement. When the family learns that this spinster Aunt is coming for a visit they quickly transport the gifts into the living room. The visit results in pandemonium as the controlling matriarch tyrant takes over the running and feeding of the household.


06- The Birds and The Bees Bit- Ross has been talked into going to a dance with a sweet Southern Belle. He does not know what to do or how to act. Patty and Cathy try to teach Ross all he needs to know about women in two days.


07- The Slumber Party- Patty and Cathy have a "Slumber Party." Kid brother Ross uses the time wisely to tape record a private conversation at the party. He shrewdly uses the information gathered to blackmail the girls. His parents wonder why he is suddenly being treated like a king.


08- The Babysitters- When Mr.. Lane refuses to pay for an evening gown for Patty, she decides to go into the babysitting business.


09- The Conquering Hero- Patty is a faithful fan of the school basketball team. This season is the best in the school's history and they have a shot at the all league trophy. The star of the team finds out that his family will be moving in the middle of the season to Michigan. Chaos erupts when Patty suggests he live with her until the end of the basketball seasons.


10- The President- Patty and Cathy are both talked into running for president of the Girls' League. Once the campaign starts with what were once reluctant candidates, it isn't long until the girl's become mudslinging competitors.


11- Double Date- Cathy is excited about a special date planned with Craig. They are going to a party. Cathy becomes ill on the eve of the party from getting a flu shot meant for Patty. To make up for Cathy missing this important date, the girls decide that Patty needs to pass herself off as Cathy at the party. This means Patty has two dates, Richard and Craig, for the same evening.


12- The Actress- The high school is putting on a lavish version of "Anthony and Cleopatra". Cathy is excited about the play and desperately wants the lead. Patty could care less about a Shakespearean production. The director decides he needs Patty's talents for the lead role.


13- How To Be Popular- It is hard to be the cousin of the popular Patty, so Cathy decides that it is time for her to win more friends. She writes to Aunt Jane, a lonely heart columnist. The advice she gets leads to disaster.


14- The Song Writers- Patty is afraid she is losing Richard to her archrival Sue Ellen. She copies a poem from a book and uses it to woo Richard back. Richard shows Cathy the poem. They both love it. Cathy sets it to music. To surprise Patty, Richard enters the completed piece in a Jimmy Dean Songwriter Contest.


15- The Princess Cathy- There is a new exchange student at school. Cathy starts dating him and they quickly fall in love. He is a from a royal family and proposes marriage. Will Cathy become Princess Cathy?


16- Christmas Present- Cathy is excited as Christmas approaches. Her father is going to join her for the holidays. The day before Christmas Martin learns that Cathy's father, a foreign correspondent, has been imprisoned in a foreign country. How can he break the news to her the day before Christmas?


17- Auld Lang Syne- Martin's brother Kenneth sets out to write his autobiography, but discovers writing a book to be more difficult than he imagined.


18- Horoscope- Patty becomes an astrologist in order to earn money to buy her mother, Natalie, a birthday present.


19- The Tycoons- When all the girls like the dress that Cathy made, she and Patty decide to go into business.


20- Author! Author!- Patty writes a novel presenting the viewpoint of the American teenager and immediately gets a publishing contract.


21- The Continental- Martin learns that he is being transferred to Paris. The family is excited at first, then they realize how much they love and appreciate their present home.


22- Let `Em Eat Cake- Natalie makes the mistake of leaving her cake in the church bazaar on the kitchen table unattended. The girls find the cake and eat it.
Afterward they're afraid they will be in trouble so they try to bake a substitute.


23- Going Steady- Patty and Richard decide to go steady. When their parents find out, they try to break it up.


24- Are Mothers People?- Natalie Lane begins to feel unwanted and devises a plan to get even with her family for the uncaring way they have been acting.


25- The Con Artist- Cathy buys a vacuum cleaner for Natalie's birthday. She discovers that the smooth talking salesman has sold her a product that is too expense for her to handle the cost. Patty decides to help her out with the situation by unloading the vacuum on "some other sucker."


26- The Perfect Teenager- Patty flunks a psychology exam at school. She concludes that she is a flop as a teenager. To overcome her deficiencies, she decides to enroll in a course for teen-age models.


27- Chip Off The Old Block- To increase the circulation of the school paper, Patty uses scandalous stories which infuriate the school principal.


28- The Wedding Anniversary Caper- In order to buy a gift for his parents wedding anniversary, Ross enters Patty's photo in a teenagers beauty contest.


29- Pen Pals- Patty answers a pen pal ad in a teen-age magazine. She receives beautiful letters from her new pen pal. She loses interest in her boy friend Richard but is unaware that her poetic correspondent is really her very own Richard.


30- A Slight Case of Disaster- Patty buys an expensive dress that she intends to return after she makes her arch rival Sue-Ellen jealous. Cathy gets a stain on it making it impossible for Patty to return the dress.


31- The Friendship Bit- Patty discovers that she is allergic to Cathy.


32- Patty, The Foster Mother- Patty unknowingly signs papers to adopt a Korean orphan.


33- Drop Out- Patty's boyfriend Richard decides he should quit High School and get a job. Patty's family try to talk him out of the idea.


34- Leave It To Patty- Patty is campaigning to get the position of chairwoman for the class prom. When Patty finds out that Cathy knows the rock and roll star Binky Bristol, she decides she can win the position by promising to supply this celebrity for the class prom.


35- The Little Dictator- Cathy has earned the position of student principal for a week. Patty gets in trouble at school and thinks that Cathy will cover for her. Cathy decides to be fair and is forced to send home a bad report on Patty. Patty is angered by the report and declares war on her cousin.


36- The Working Girl- Patty gets a job at the local ice cream parlor. The job proves to be more than Patty can handle.


37- The Cousins- Patty and Cathy reminisce about Cathy's arrival in the Lane household.

Now bring on Season 2!!