List of Dennis the Menace (1959 TV series) episodes

Dennis successfully eludes a babysitter (whom he has never met) and sneaks out of the house and goes to a cowboy movie that his parents also go to while Joey, pretending to be Dennis, is left with the babysitter. Madge Blake appears as Mrs. Porter the babysitter.

Dennis and Tommy fix a fallen street signpost but fail to notice they've put it up with the street names facing in the wrong direction. Because of the mix up, Mr. Wilson gets a pool dug in his yard instead of it being re-seeded. Suddenly, everyone in the neighborhood wants to be Mr. Wilson's friend.

Henry and Mr. Wilson have a fishing trip planned and are trying to keep Dennis from finding out. Dennis however knows something is up when he sees a package delivered to the house that has fishing stuff in it and so it turns out to be a long night for Dennis as he won't rest until he finds out what's in the package. Eventually he figures it out and so Henry and Mr. Wilson end up taking Dennis along after all.

Dennis tries to fix up his Grandpa Perkins (James Bell) with Miss Cathcart and other ladies in the neighborhood. Miss Cathcart takes an interest in him, sings for him, and pretty much makes him miserable. Robert B. Williams appears as Mr. Dorfman the Mailman.

Mr. Wilson helps an old neighbor sell his house. He tries to talk a retired couple with no children into moving in next door, which almost works until Dennis and his friends come bursting into Mr. Wilson's house and the couple see how loud things will be. So, what happens is the window repair man is moving in next door, and he has 4 kids, which is not what Mr. Wilson wanted at all.

Mr. Wilson returns from a camping trip, inspiring Dennis and Tommy to camp out in the backyard. That night, Mr. Wilson mistakenly thinks the circus train has crashed and the animals have escaped, but the noises are only the Mitchells' neighbors, the Meltons (Dave Willock & Jenna McMahon), playing a sound-effects record for Henry and Alice.

Dennis thinks his father is broke, so he sells bottles in an attempt to make some extra money while informing the neighborhood of the Mitchells' dire straits.

Dennis hopes to meet Whip Crawford, his cowboy idol, after Mrs. Webster (Isabel Randolph) tells Dennis that Whip will be in the community pageant. Whip doesn't want to be in the play because he claims his feet hurt, so he tries to dodge Mrs. Webster and everyone else. Dennis, who doesn't give up, does everything he can to get Whip Crawford in the play including going to his hotel room and talking to Whip himself which in the end works.

Dennis has a tree house that hangs over Mr. Wilson's back yard. Mr. Wilson is not thrilled about it because he thinks that Dennis up in the tree house will scare all the birds away. Mr. Wilson attempts to teach Dennis about bird watching. Dennis takes care of a sick bird, which proves to be the first of its species ever found in their region, prompting a visit by an excited bird club official, Mr. Pomeroy (Maurice Manson).
Note: This is the first of only two appearances in the series of Tommy's father, Mr. Anderson, although he is mentioned in many episodes spanning the show's entire run. Mr. Anderson, who is played by Lee Millar, also appeared in the third-season episode, "Dennis and the Pee Wee League."

Mr. Wilson pays $250.00 for a rare gold coin from a con artist that turns out to be a fake coin. Mrs. Wilson, without realizing what it is, lets Dennis take it to use in a wishing well, which was the town fountain. Mr. Wilson gets arrested for wading in the fountain looking for his coin. Mr. Wilson wishes that Dennis would go on vacation for a week and his wish comes true in the end when he learns that Dennis is going to his Grandpa's for a week. Notes: While at the police station, Dennis mentions on his last visit he was given ice cream. He was referring to an early episode that already had been made, but was not aired until later the first season, called "Dennis Runs Away."

The Mitchells are having a party to entertain one of Henry's clients, Mr. Purdy (Grandon Rhodes), but people are having trouble finding the house. Dennis finds an open house sign and puts it in the front yard and soon the house is over run with people who think that the house is for sale.

Mr. Wilson is plagued by a duck that Dennis adopted when its original owner moved away. At first Dennis hides the duck from his parents, but when Mr. Wilson complains about the damage caused to his garden and himself, Dennis reluctantly admits to having the duck. His father helps Dennis build an enclosure for the duck, but Mr. Wilson continues to have problems with Dennis' new pet -- and begins to scheme how to get rid of it even if Dennis and his parents won't.

Dennis and a bunch of other town boys are collecting papers for a charity and the prize for the boy who collects the most papers is a Silver dollar. When Mr. Wilson gets word of that, he looks up the value of the Silver dollar and finds it's worth $600. He is determined to make sure that Dennis wins the prize so that he can get the silver dollar.

Dennis needs to earn some money to buy some pet mice. Dennis goes to Mr. Wilson's house to see if there's any job he might have for him to do. While there, one of the mice gets out of the cage. Dennis catches the mouse, but messes up George's chess board. Meanwhile, Henry hires a sitter for Dennis for that evening. George tells Henry that he's having dinner with chess champion Monsieur Boucher and his wife, Madame Boucher (Hanna Landy). The problem is that they brought their son Michel with. George arranged for a babysitter for Michel. Henry suggests Michel stay with Dennis. Henry and Mr. Wilson mistakenly both cancel their respective sitters. Michel is dropped off at the Mitchell house. Another misunderstanding causes the boys to be left alone. Dennis decides to be the babysitter. The Mitchell's and their guest run into George and the Bouchers at the same restaurant. There they discover that both sitters were cancelled. They race back to the house only to find everything is OK. Dennis gets paid the money he needs for the mice.

Ed and Catherine Driscoll (Arthur Hanson & June Dayton) are new neighbors, but problems arise as their phone is on a shared line with the Mitchells. Henry gets angry at Mr. Driscoll for monopolizing the line, not realizing that Dennis and his friends actually were the ones using it, and furthermore that Mr. Driscoll is a valued client of Henry's company.

Dennis has nobody to play with after Joey goes home. With everyone else busy, and since nobody can drive him, he decides to walk to his grandfather's house but is stopped by the police. At the police station, he refuses to tell his name, is given ice cream, and causes further havoc including putting cement in Mr. Wilson's bowling ball and accidentally handcuffing an officer.

Alice will be out of town for a while to take care of her injured father. Dennis gets his mother some earrings for a going-away present. Misunderstanding something Mr. Wilson says, Dennis hides his present on Mr. Wilson's closet shelf. Martha finds the present and thinks it's for her, as it's a special day. Not knowing what special day it is, George can't bring himself to tell Martha the gift is not for her. George tells Dennis what happened and says they'll get his mother other earrings. Back at Mr. Finch's store, Dennis can't find earrings that he likes as much as the ones he bought before. Dennis says he'll just have to get the earrings back from Mrs. Wilson. Mr. Finch then railroads George into buying an expensive bottle of perfume for Dennis. Dennis comes home with the present just as Henry's mother shows up to fill in for Alice. The Wilson's come by the say goodbye to Alice. Dennis explains to Henry about the mix up with the earrings and Martha overhears it. Martha confesses that when she saw the gift, she thought it was for a special occasion that she forgot about. Dennis almost causes another mix-up, but everything works out.

Mr. Wilson is mixing up a new plant food. Dennis is arguing with Margaret about what to name one of his frogs. Tommy wonders if they'll ever like girls when they're older. Dennis and Tommy watch as George feeds one of his plants the new food. Dennis accidentally steps on that plant while chasing a frog. The boys get an identical, but much larger, plant from Tommy's yard. They replace it in the flower bed without Mr. Wilson knowing. When Mr. Wilson sees the plant, he is convinced that the new miracle plant food he invented is the cause of the growth. He calls Mrs. Schooner from the garden club and wants some members to come over and see it. Tommy tells Dennis that his mother wants her plant back. Tommy then puts George's original plant back in its place. The garden club come by and see the smaller plant and think George was lying to them. But, they'll give him another chance and let George put more food on it. Dennis goes to Mr. Merrivale (Will Wright) and tries to buy another plant with Dennis's frogs. The boys do make a deal with Mr. Merrivale and get the plant. The garden club come back later, see the larger plant and congratulate George. Dennis comes by and tells the club what really happened. The club members just laugh the whole thing off. Jonathan Hole as Mr. Trumble.

Dennis learns that Mr. Wilson would've liked to have had his name in the newspaper. Dennis and Tommy start their own newspaper, "The Mr. Wilson News", in which they write about Mr. Wilson's daily activities. They overhear George playfully telling Martha that he'd give $20 for a raccoon coat like the one he had in college. The boys put that in their paper and then tell Mr. Krinkie (Charles Seel), who prints the information in the local newspaper. George and Martha are going away for the day. A man (Jess Kirkpatrick) comes by the Wilson house with a racoon coat and sees Dennis. Dennis gets into the house and lets the man in to leave his name and number. In no time, the Wilson household is overflowing with raccoon coats from sellers from all over town. When George comes home, he can't believe what he's seeing. He tries calling all the people, but no one will come for their coats. Chuck Long (Jimmy Hawkins), a young man, comes by and would like to buy one of the coats. Soon, George is able to unload all the coats and the young men will pay the original owners. The local TV news does a story about all the high school boys with the coats and George gets to be on TV.

George and Henry purchase a house as an income property from real estate agent Mr. Bowers (Harvey Korman). After the men leave, Bowers calls his mother, Mrs. Bowers (Kitty Kelly), and tells her he sold the broken down old house of hers. Sgt. Mooney (George Cisar) tells George and Henry that a fast talking real estate agent sold a haunted house to a couple of unsuspecting guys. George, Henry and Mooney speak with Bowers and his mother about getting their money back. The sale was done legally and there's nothing George and Henry can do. They go to the house and the Tramp (Harold Gould) that's been living there hides in the basement. Dennis and Tommy come by and say they'll look for the ghost. Pretending to be a ghost, the Tramp talks to the boys through the duct-work. Dennis tells Henry about the ghost. Henry and George decide to sleep inside to prove that it isn't haunted. That night it starts to storm. George and Henry hear something outside. Sgt. Mooney comes in the house and the men throw a sheet over him. The noise wakes the Tramp in the basement and he makes eerie noises through the duct-work. Dennis and two friends arrive at the house covered in sheets and look through the basement window. This frightens the Tramp and he runs upstairs and is discovered by George, Henry and Mooney. The Tramp says he'll be leaving for Florida.

Mr. Wilson criticizes the very small, artificial Christmas tree the Mitchells bought from Mr. Quigley (Willard Waterman). He insists they visit land owned by a friend of his and cut down a real tree. They get to the land and Dennis finds a nice looking but very large tree. George goes to cut it down, but his axe breaks on the first swing. Dennis has his Scout axe with him. It takes some doing, but they get the tree cut down. While lifting the tree, George's coat, with his car keys in it, gets knocked into a well. A man named Wilbur (Marshall Kent) comes by and claims this was his land. He's lying and makes George pay for the tree. Wilson, Henry, and Dennis carry the tree on a bus, breaking a window and annoying the incredulous driver and passengers. Once home, Mr. Wilson proceeds to prune the tree and really makes a mess of it. Figuring that George would goof up somehow, Mr. Quigley brings by the little tree that Henry returned earlier. Everyone sings "Silent Night". Louise Lorimer as Dowager. Fiona Hale as Gladys Pickett.

Dennis' school is putting on a show about all nations. Each student has to ask someone to represent a different nationality to be in the play. Dennis would like to represent Scotland but his mother is a mixture of English, Welsh and Danish. Henry is part Irish and French, so his parents decline to participate. So Dennis asks Mr. Wilson, who has Scottish ancestors, but he is not interested, either. Dennis then asks Mr. Angus MacTavish (Tudor Owen), who accepts. Once Mr. Wilson finds out there are prizes involved, he wants to be in it. Dennis asks Mr. Krinkie to decide between Angus and George after they each put on a performance. George tells Krinkie that he is expecting a letter proving his Scottish ancestry. Dennis and Tommy hear George with bagpipe player Mr. Campbell. When George and Mr. Campbell step away for a moment, Dennis loses his bubble gum in one of the bagpipe pipes. George comes back and tries to play the bagpipes. The bubble gum expands and pops on George's face. It's time to perform in front of Krinkie. George sings a song then dances with some women in Scottish attire. Krinkie picks George. A letter arrives stating that Mr. Wilson is actually Irish. Angus now gets to represent Scotland. Dennis suggests Mr. Wilson can represent Ireland instead, but mailman O'Reilly (Emory Parnell) is already doing so!

It's Mr. Wilson's birthday and he decides to leave Dennis a gold watch in his will. Dennis brings some friends to George's house to see the watch. Dennis says it will be a long time before he gets the watch because Mr. Wilson has plenty of years left. But Tommy and Chuck keep making comments about George's age. George's back starts to bother him. Dennis brings over various medicines and a book on how to keep one's health. Soon after, Mr. Wilson begins to feel old and is convinced that he has a short time to live. Dennis goes to Mr. Phillips (Ray Teal), an attorney, to have a will drawn up so he can leave his favorite things to Mr. Wilson. Meanwhile, George calls for the Doctor (Hardie Albright). The Doctor tells Martha there's nothing wrong with George. Dennis asks Henry what he can do to make Mr. Wilson feel young. That evening, Martha has a surprise birthday party for George. George still feels old, but Mrs. Weatherby insists on dancing with him. It's the end of the party and everyone has left except the Mitchells. George feels great and has one last dance. Despite it being very late, Dennis comes by. Dennis gives Mr. Wilson a copy of his will as a birthday gift. He is so touched that he gives Dennis the watch.

George is expecting a visit from his Uncle Ned (Edward Everett Horton), a rocking-chair addict. George tells Henry that the last time Ned visited, he was extremely feeble. When Ned arrives, he is active, fit, and energetic. The next day, Ned gets Henry and George up very early to start his exercise program. Later in the day, George comes by to pick up Henry for more exercises, but Henry refuses to go. Alice makes Henry go. This time Ned has gym equipment set up in George's yard. Ned shows the men a routine he expects them to do on the parallel bars. Dennis sells tickets to a bunch of neighborhood boys to watch Henry and George work out. As the two struggle to keep up, they plot a way to end the exercises. They buy a set of fake barbells. Ned is quite impressed with George and Henry's weight lifting skills and agrees to end his program. But then Dennis comes by and lifts the barbells. Ned is not upset that he'd been fooled, but now the exercising will continue.

Mr. Wilson plans to have a quiet evening at home with his coin collection. The Mitchell's are going out for the evening and have a sitter for Dennis. Dennis surprises his parents when he brings over Seymour to stay the night because his parents couldn't find a sitter. Margaret comes by and tells Alice that her sister, who was to be the sitter, can't make it. Alice calls Martha but she also has plans for the evening. Despite his objections, Martha volunteers George to be the sitter. Alice tells Dennis that Margaret will be staying with him and Seymour. George shows Dennis and Margaret a rare dime that he has. Seymour wants some candy. Seymour finds Mr. Wilson's rare dime, goes down the street and buys a candy bar from a vending machine. George, Dennis and Margaret find Seymour by the machine. When George learns that Seymour took his dime, he shakes the machine until all the coins come out. The children see a policeman (John Astin) coming and run off. The policeman arrests George. The children go to Mr. Martin's (Kirk Alyn) house where the Mitchell's are for the dinner party. Henry and Dennis go to the police station and explains things to the Sergeant (Charles Fredericks). George is allowed to go, but then he finds out the Sergeant used his dime for the stations candy machine. George winds up buying the candy machine.

Mr. Wilson hopes to get into the Pioneer Club. One of the perks of being a member is the free use of a mountain cabin for the whole summer. Dennis comes by and tells George that the leader of his Junior Pathfinders club can't be in their Indian demonstration today. Dennis asks George to take his place, but George says he can't. Mr. Judd (Lloyd Corrigan) and Mrs. Schooner from the Pioneer Club come by to see George. At first George doesn't make a good impression with Mr. Judd. Mr. Judd, who is very into Native Indians, see the arrowheads that Dennis left. Thinking they are George's, he volunteers George to be the replacement Indian chief for the Junior Pathfinders. George has to start a fire by rubbing together two sticks in a department store window. Fearing he might not be able to start the fire, Mr. Wilson has his cousin Fillmore, a chemist, put something on the sticks to insure a fire. When Mr. Judd arrives before George can get what he needs from Fillmore, George sends Henry to get the stuff. The demonstration is about to start and Henry just makes it. George rubs the sticks, but instead of a small fire, the whole place fills with smoke. Fire Chief Dooley (Roy Engel) calls in the fire department. George believes he's ruined his chance to be in the Pioneer Club. Later, Mr. Judd tells George that the arrowheads turned out to be very special. Because George donated them to the club, George will become a member of the Pioneer Club.

Mr. Wilson installs his own burglar alarm after a series of burglaries in the neighborhood by the Stocking Bandit. Dennis tells George that he thinks George's new neighbor, Marvin Sweetzer, is the Bandit. George dresses up in a disguise and goes outside to see if his dog Freemont would start barking. Alice calls the police. Sgt. Mooney arrives and finds out it's just George. Later, George starts to believe that Marvin is the Bandit. Dennis and George go looking around the outside of Marvin's house. Dennis drops his water pistol into the basement window and goes inside to get it. There he finds a lot of costume jewelry which Marvin sells. George sees it and thinks it's real. While trying to get the suitcase full of jewelry out the window as evidence, George falls into the basement. Marvin and Lillian come home and hear a noise in the basement. Because their phone isn't hooked up yet, Marvin goes to the Mitchell house to call the police. While trying to get out, George gets stuck in the basement window. Sgt. Mooney shows up to find George again. All misunderstandings are straightened out and the real Bandit is eventually caught. Hal Hopper as Lou.

Mr. Wilson is going on a trip and won't be able to coach the town's pee-wee baseball team. Otis Quigley, though lacking experience, tells Dennis and Tommy that he'll volunteer to coach the team. He hopes it will help advertise his store and improve sales. Dolly Quigley (Florence MacMichael) thinks her husband is crazy as he knows nothing about coaching. Otis visits the Mayor (Lyle Talbot) and asks about new uniforms for the boys. The Mayor knows that Sandy Koufax will be in town to visit his Aunt. The Mayor agrees to give the team new uniforms if Quigley can get Sandy and the Dodgers to play an exhibition game in town. Otis is working with the team when Sandy comes by. Sandy makes a suggestion about Dennis' pitching and Quigley, not knowing who Sandy is, tells him to mind his own business. The boys all crowd around Sandy and Otis feels unneeded. Later, Otis goes to Sandy's Aunt Harriet's house to apologize to him. Otis accidentally hits Sandy with a baseball bat. The next day, Quigley gets a call from the Mayor, who is furious with him. Dennis tells Otis that the team still needs him. At the next practice, Quigley is nervous around Sandy and the kids begin to question if he can really coach their team. That is until Quigley hits a home run off Sandy. The Mayor comes by and asks about the exhibition game. Sandy says he'll see what he can do, but only if his good friend Otis is made Chairman of the Welcoming Committee.

Because of something Dennis did to Margaret's doll, he has to play house with her for the rest of the day. George's Uncle Ned Matthews visits while George is out east settling an estate. He decides to plant flower bulbs to win a flower contest in the summer and beat Mrs. Hawkins (Lucille Wall), who won last year. Uncle Ned hurts his back. Dennis comes by and tells Ned how his older friend Jerry Simmons got into a fight with his girlfriend Helen Franklin (Cheryl Holdridge). Ned hopes to get Jerry to plant the bulbs. Ned tells Jerry that hard work will keep his mind off of Helen and Ned will pay him. Ned helps Dennis avoid having to play with Margaret. Jerry tries to work but keeps thinking of Helen and gets nothing done. Mrs. Hawkins comes by and claims that George's dog Freemont dug up her bulbs. Ned and Dennis go and talk to Helen. Dennis convinces her to make up with Jerry. Something Dennis later says causes Helen and Jerry to break up again. Helen offers to plant the bulbs, but she plants them all upside down. Jerry and Helen make up again and Dennis winds up having to spend an evening with Margaret.

George's brother, John (Gale Gordon), comes to stay with Martha while George is out of town. John is a writer, but he's having trouble working without his old seat cushion, which he forgot to pack. He tries several other cushions but none are just right. Isabel Tolliver (Elvia Allman), president of the Ladies Literary Circle, comes by to meet John. She invites John to lecture at the club's next meeting. John tries to tell her how busy he is, but she won't take no for an answer. Meanwhile, Dennis tells Tommy that he'll make John a cushion. Dennis covertly gets John's measurements and then goes to Quigley's market to get some goose feathers. What Quigley has turns out to be chicken feathers. John meets Quigley and doesn't make a good first impression when he accidentally makes a mess in the store. Dennis is able to get goose feathers from Margaret, but he has to play house with her first. Dennis comes by the Wilson house with John's cushion. But before he can give it to him, Isabel arrives. Something Dennis says, gets John out of having to do the lecture. Dennis then gives John the cushion. It feels like his old cushion and John is able to start writing. Templeton Fox as Mrs. Nolan.

It's been 8 months since Henry and George bought their rental house and it still has no occupant. Before he went on his trip East, George sold half his interest in the house to John. Dennis tells his parents about Gifford Kelly (Mickey Sholdar), the school bully. Alice wants Dennis to try and make friends with Gifford. Later, Henry tells John that a woman is interested in the house, but her husband wants to see it. Dennis comes home with black eye. Henry gives Dennis the go-ahead to fight back next time. John teaches Dennis how to fight and Dennis gives him a black eye. Dennis winds up giving Gifford a black eye. Mr. Kelly (Richard Reeves), Gifford's father, calls the Mitchell house wanting to speak with Henry. Henry isn't there, but John is and he takes the call. Mr. Kelly thinks he's talking to Henry and John and him get into an argument. Mr. Kelly says he's coming right over. When Henry hears the name Mr. Kelly, he realizes that's the man that was interested in the house. Mr. Kelly and Gifford arrive and John pretends to be Henry. Dennis and his friends are watching and Dennis comes in to say that Gifford started the fight. Henry comes in the room, things get straightened out and Mr. Kelly still rents the house.

John tells Martha that he'll be playing golf with Dr. Fred Ferguson. Martha suggests that the Doctor check John out as he hasn't been sleeping well and it may be his nerves. Dennis wants to join an older boys' club run by a boy named Walter Hooper (Billy Hughes), but he doesn't want Dennis in. Mrs. Hooper tells Walter that he should let Dennis join. Walter comes up with a plan that if Dennis doesn't pass an initiation, he can't join. Dennis visits John while he's practicing his putting. Something Dennis does causes John to do a lot of damage in the house. Hoping it will be too hard, Walter has Dennis find a goat, a derby hat and a bugle. Dennis finds a goat and puts it in John's garage. John goes in the garage, sees the goat and then tells Fred about it. Walter comes by and takes the goat out. John and Fred find nothing in the garage. Fred tells John they should skip the golf game and Fred wants to check John out. Henry sees the goat in his yard and puts it back in John's garage. John goes into the garage, sees the goat with a derby on and tells Fred. Walter once again takes the goat out. John and Fred again find nothing in the garage. John questions his sanity and goes to lay down. The goat winds up back in the garage. Fred goes into the garage and sees the goat wearing the derby with a bugle in its mouth. Dennis explains everything to John and John calls Fred. Nurse Jackson (Molly Dodd) tells John that Fred isn't felling well. Dennis and some of the boys from Walter's club decide to start their own club.

Henry, John, Otis Quigley and Lawrence Finch are going to sing as a Barbershop quartet at an upcoming community picnic. Jack Brady (Laurence Haddon) and Tiny Hawkins (Russ McCubbin) challenge Henry and John Wilson to compete against them in the sporting events at the picnic. Henry and John are practicing for the competition and John sends Dennis to the market to get him out of the way. At Quigley's market, Dennis winds up making a mess. It's the day of the picnic and the quartet perform. Then it's time for the boys competition. Because of some things Jack inadvertently does, Johnny Brady loses several contests. It's time for the men's competition. The Brady team and the Wilson team are tied, with the egg toss being the winning event. When Henry gets his hand stuck in a pickle jar, Dennis must fill in. Dennis and John win, but because Dennis used a hard boiled egg. They must now tell Brady. When Jack realizes that the two teams now wind up tied for first place, he doesn't get upset.

Alice is going to bake a cake for John Wilson because he's all alone in the house. Outside, John and Mrs. Elkins get into a fender bender with their cars and John blames her for the accident. Dennis learns that John is writing a magazine article about voodoo. John shows him a voodoo doll and explains how to put a hex on someone and mentions Mrs. Elkins. Dennis, Tommy and Margaret visit Mrs. Elkins and tell her about the hex John put on her. She doesn't believe it but then some strange occurrences and odd accidents happen. Meanwhile, John tells Alice he was thinking of throwing a party to meet his new neighbors. He wants to show some films of tribal ceremonies that he has. Plus, he'll send invitations with little voodoo dolls attached to them. Word starts to spend in the neighborhood that John is a witch doctor. Mrs. Elkins asks Sgt. Mooney to investigate John. John wears his witch doctor outfit to show Dennis and Henry. Mooney comes by, looks through the front window and sees John. John tells Henry that everyone he sent invitations to has turned him down. Dennis gets all his friends to go to John's party. Mrs. Elkins sees some children going into John's house and gets Sgt. Mooney and the parents to come over. They realize everything is perfectly innocent and join the party. Adrienne Marden as Mary Trimble.

Sen Yuen (Cherylene Lee), a girl from British Hong Kong, is staying with the Wilson's for a couple days while her father is upstate on business. John met Mr. Yuen when he was doing a magazine article in Hong Kong. Alice wants Dennis, Tommy and Seymour to go and meet her. Dennis becomes a fast friend of Sen Yuen and invites her over to his house. Later, Dennis gets dressed up and has a lunch of Chinese food with Sen Yuen at the Wilson house. Dennis cons John into buying banana splits for him, Tommy, Seymour and Sen Yuen at the malt shop. Margaret comes in and she is clearly not happy about Dennis and Sen Yuen. Sen Yuen gets a stomach ache from eating too much ice cream and Dennis brings her flowers. The next day, Dennis brings Sen Yuen some more flowers and she gives him a kiss. Sen Yuen leaves the room and John tells Dennis that Chinese girls often marry very young. And the parents of Chinese children often sign marriage contracts when the children are young. When Sen Yuen says that her father will be coming by later, Dennis leaves. Dennis misunderstands something that Henry says about Mr. Yuen and contracts and leaves the house. Mr. Yuen and Sen Yuen arrive at the Mitchell's and Dennis is no where to be found. Eloise mentions to Henry and Alice what John said about parents arranging their children's marriage. Dennis and Margaret show up. Dennis tells Sen Yuen that he can't marry her as he's engaged to Margaret. Things get straightened out and everyone has a laugh about it.

Dennis overhears part of a conversation between John and Eloise in which they are arguing about the card game they played with the Mitchell's last night. Dennis doesn't know they're talking about cards. Meanwhile, Miss Esther Cathcart (Mary Wickes) and Miss Lucy Tarbell (Alice Pearce) are talking about old boyfriends. Dennis comes by wanting to cut Esther's grass. He tells the ladies about the Wilson's discussion and they misunderstand and think the Wilson's are splitting up. Esther and Lucy go by the Wilson house. They see Eloise getting into a car with a suitcase that John wanted repaired. They hear Eloise tell John they shouldn't be partners anymore, referring to the card game. Each woman now sets their sights on being John's girlfriend. Rumors around the neighborhood begin to fly about the Wilson breakup. Esther and Lucy each enlists Dennis to find out more about John's situation. Esther is at the beauty parlor and tells Mabel Simms that Eloise left John and how handsome John is. Eloise is in another room and overhears her. Eloise then asks beautician Katherine Prescott (Viola Harris) for a complete make-over. Lucy brings John some fried chicken and then Esther brings some pies. John has no idea what's going on. Eloise arrives elegantly dressed up. Things get straightened out and John forgives Dennis for starting the trouble. Helen Kleeb as Mrs. Drum.

Dennis is looking forward to pitching in the baseball game against Middlebury the next day. Dennis and Mr. Spivey (Leslie Barrett), his school's new principal, get off on the wrong foot after the principal takes a remark about his height the wrong way. He threatens to kick Dennis off the baseball team if he observes any further impudence. Johnny Brady wants Dennis off the team, so he draws an unflattering picture of Mr. Spivey on a paper with Dennis' name on it. This results in Dennis being kicked off the team. Miss Elmore, Dennis' teacher, asks if his father could come to school to vouch for him. Dennis tells her that Henry is out of town. Margaret tells Mr. Quigley and Tommy tells Mr. Finch what happened to Dennis. John learns from Dennis what happened. John and then Mr. Quigley go to see Mr. Spivey pretending to be Dennis' father. To straighten things out, Mr. Spivey takes the two men to see Dennis. Mr. Finch then shows up claiming to be Henry. Dennis admits that none of the men are his father. Meanwhile, Henry comes home early and goes to pick up Dennis. When he realizes what the men did to help Dennis, Mr. Spivey puts him back on the team. The men and Dennis leave. Henry shows up and introduces himself to Mr. Spivey. Mr. Spivey thinks he's just another man trying to help Dennis and gets a confused Henry to leave.

Mr. Wilson's editor wants him to write an article about the changing behaviors of modern children. The editor wants John to spend a day doing things with children. John refuses to do the assignment. But, when he is reminded about a luncheon with Mrs. Elkins to raise money for cats, John decides to write the article. John tells Dennis he's going to play with him and his friends. Surprisingly, Dennis is not thrilled about the idea. John tells Dennis, Tommy and Seymour to treat him not as an adult, but as another child and call him Tuby. They play in the park and then John buys ice cream for everyone. Margaret and Lillian come by and John winds up jumping rope with the girls. A photographer from the newspaper takes a picture of John and then John has to buy it off of him so it doesn't get printed. The boys play catch and John misses the ball which goes into a fountain. While John is in the fountain getting the ball, Sgt. Mooney comes by and gives him a $5 ticket. John pays the ice cream man to stop driving around the neighborhood. They then go burrow riding. Mrs. Elkins comes by to collect $25 from John for the cats. It's turning out to be an expensive day for John. That evening John throws a weenie roast for the kids. While starting the fire for the grill, Dennis accidentally burns all of John's notes that he took during the day. Dennis suggests that John spend the whole next day with the boys.

Mr. Krinkie (Charles Seel) asks Mr. Wilson to take over an advice-to-the-lovelorn newspaper column for a few weeks. John thinks he will have every single woman in town happily married by the time he finishes. And he will be paid $2000 if the column is a success. John pays Dennis to put up flyers advertising the "Ask Jane Butterfield" column. But John doesn't want anyone to know he is writing the column. Miss Esther Cathcart and Miss Lucy Tarbell are both after Sgt. Mooney. Miss Cathcart is upset when Lucy tells her that she had lunch with Mooney and he's coming back for dinner. Esther later calls Police Chief Doyle (Stafford Repp) complaining about prowlers and wants him to send over Mooney. Dennis figures out that both Esther and Lucy have written to Jane Butterfield for advice on how to get Mooney. He then tells John what he found out. John gets a letter from Mooney asking Jane Butterfield how he can get rid of two women chasing him without hurting their feelings. John suggests that Mooney tell the women he has four ex-wives that he is sending alimony to. And he would like a fifth wife to help with his six children. Mooney tells this story to Esther, but she doesn't care and considers the two now engaged. While Esther answers her phone, Mooney runs out of the house. Esther goes to talk to Chief Doyle about Mooney's ex-wives and how she's now engaged to him. Mooney tells Doyle it was all a story he got from Jane Butterfield. Doyle calls Krinkie to complain. Krinkie drops the column and John, having already spent the money he thought he was going to get, is only paid $50.

Note: This episode marks the final appearance in the series of Mary Wickes, who played Esther Cathcart, and the second and final appearance of the fourth season by Alice Pearce as Lucy Tarbell.

Dennis is dreaming that he is an astronaut circling the earth in a capsule and Mr. Wilson is in charge of mission control. John is named chairman of a saving-stamps campaign for the Junior Astronauts. He's trying to come up with a slogan that will encourage children to buy the stamps. Dennis suggests running a contest and the student that collects the most stamps wins a trip to Cape Canaveral to meet an astronaut. Mr. Sylvester (C. Lindsay Workman), from the Treasury Dept., comes by to see how John is doing. Dennis mentions to Mr. Sylvester the idea for a contest and Sylvester is all for it. But Sylvester says there's no money allocated for the trip. Dennis says John will pay for it and John reluctantly agrees. After a couple weeks, Dennis and Johnny Brady are leading the contest. Dennis is doing odd jobs to earn money to buy more stamps. But then Dennis comes down with the Chicken Pox and has to stay in bed. He is disappointed that he won't win the contest and get to meet an astronaut. Mr. Sylvester tells John how pleased they are in Washington over the success of his contest idea. John asks Mr. Sylvester for a favor. Mr. Sylvester visits Dennis and tells him he has something that will make him feel better. Henry turns on the TV and Project Mercury spokesman "Shorty" Powers says hello to Dennis. Shorty tells Dennis that he will make him a full fledged honorary astronaut. Mr. Sylvester gives Dennis an official astronaut pin.

Stretch Nichols, the school basketball team's star player, gets teased about his worn-out clothes and shoes by Johnny Brady. Mr. Brady brags to Mr. Quigley about how Johnny is going to lead the team to victory in the upcoming game. Stretch tells Dennis that he's decided to quit the team and get an after-school job. When Mr. Quigley hears that Stretch quit he bets Mr. Brady that the team will lose. A sympathetic Dennis persuades Mr. Quigley to help by buying Stretch new clothes and giving him an after-school job making deliveries. Stretch starts to feel better about himself and rejoins the team in time for the big game. Dennis invites Stretch and Mr. Quigley over for dinner. When Stretch shows up, he's limping because his feet are sore from the new shoes. Henry and Mr. Quigley take Stretch over to see Coach Gilmore (Bob Hastings). Stretch's feet are so swollen that he can't put on his gym shoes. The basketball game has started and Stretch is still soaking his feet. It's the fourth quarter and the home team is losing. Dennis suggests that Stretch play barefoot. Stretch leads the team to a victory and Quigley gladly pays off on his bet.

Dennis and his friends ask John to join their club and it would only cost him $7. He tells the boys to leave. Mr. Griffin (Harvey Korman) calls to inform John that he won a slogan contest for a soap company. John tells Eloise that the contest required the entrants to be parents. John lied and said he had four sons and Mr. Griffin says he wants to come by to meet them. John hopes to pass off Dennis and his three friends as his own children. He invites the children over to his house for a party the next day. The boys will come to his party if John joins their club, which he does, but only pays them $2. The boys gather some old wood planks to build their clubhouse. Seymour drops one in the street. A car drives over it and gets four flat tires. The boys are at the party at John's house and he has bought them a lot of cake and ice cream. Eloise happens to run into Mr. Burrows, who's car got the flat tires. He asks about four boys and she directs him to her house. John tells the boys he wants to play a joke on a friend and they have to pretend to be his sons. Mr. Burrows comes to the house and John thinks he's from the contest people. Mr. Burrows demands John pay for the tires. The boys are disappointed with John when they find out the real reason he wants them to pretend to be his sons. They want to leave. John offers to pay the boys if they stay. Mr. Griffin shows up and tells John that he won the 268th prize which is a pair of shoes for each of the boys. John thought he was going to win a large sum of money, but the day instead cost him a lot of money.

Property taxes have risen, and Mr. Wilson thinks the reason is that the school is wasting money on nonessential programs and luxuries. John has a letter printed in the newspaper with his complaints. Mr. Sparks (Harold Gould), the principal, invites John to spend the day as a regular student. John will be in Dennis' class with teacher Miss Williams. John shows up late to class. He gets sent to the principal's office for criticizing the way Miss Williams teaches history. John comes back to class and sees Dennis doing the Twist with Margaret. Dennis then has John dance with Margaret. The class then works on a math problem and John gets the wrong answer. Dennis tells John where he made his mistake. The class is dismissed for lunch. Seymour is Lunch Monitor and he makes John pick up all the papers in the yard. Dennis comes out to get John. Dennis tells him that Seymour tricked him and Seymour was actually supposed to clean the yard. Next it's time to study the solar system. John is the Earth and has to revolve around Dennis, who is the Sun. John gets dizzy and falls down. School is over and John is lying down on his couch. Mr. Andrews is at the house reassessing John's property tax. Mr. Sparks comes by and John tells him he'll have some more complaints about the school to put in the paper. Thanks to Dennis spotting a mathematical mistake that Mr. Andrews made, John's tax will be lower than it was before. John also has to admit that the school is doing some things right. John gets a F's on his report card.

Mr. Wilson and Mrs. Elkins are each running for president of the Birdwatchers Society. The first mockingbird of spring has made its nest in Mr. Wilson's backyard, and its chirping keeps him up at night. When Mrs. Elkins finds out that John has removed the mockingbird's nest, she believes she has the upper hand. However, thanks to Dennis, John comes up with some incriminating evidence against her.

In the series finale, Mr. Wilson's Aunt Emma visits and takes an instant liking to Dennis. This causes Mr. Wilson to fear that she will make Dennis her heir instead of him. John becomes more and more worried as Aunt Emma and Dennis spend more and more time together. In the end, Aunt Emma leaves a pirate sword to Dennis and all her money to Eloise.