I was nine years old and a new comedy show was on the air. The show was named for it's star, but the fact was that the public knew the star from his "stage"/"television" persona - it really should have been called "The Jose Jimenez Show".
Some stereotypes are not meant to be offensive, but eventually are considered that way. Bill Dana created a character named "Jose Jimenez" on the old Steve Allen TONIGHT show. The character was part of Steve Allen's regular troop of characters, frequently popping up in his "Man on the Street" interviews. There was the nervous Don Knotts, constantly shaking at the interviewer and his cameraman, and saying "Noop" instead of "Nope". There was Louis Nye as "Gordon Hathaway", the overly smooth hipster who always addresses his questionnaire as "Stevarino". Tom Poston was a slow witted type, constantly having problems with the questions. The long forgotten (unjustly I felt) Dayton Allen would begin his complicated answers with, "WHY NOT!!". And there was Dana, using a "Mexican" accent as "Jose Jimenez", who in a quiet and gentle manner would try to answer the question in his broken English, frequently making a ridiculous point that most of us never thought of.
Dana's opening line "My nam' Jose Jimenehs...' became a minor catch phrase of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Unfortunately it would go the way of the "Frito Bandito" and other Latino stereotypes after about 1967 or so. As a partial backlash from the more vocal Latino community (being spurred on by the Civil Rights movement, as were feminists, gay rightists, and other minorities), these figures - even if meant as relatively harmless - were seen as bad as "Amos and Andy" were. So the characterization was doomed anyway. Therefore, in retrospect, Mr. Dana getting his own television show may be considered his high point.
I have to agree it was not a well written show, and it really only gets a "6" from me because of the performances of it's three main leads: Dana, Gary Crosby, and Jonathan Harris. Occasionally Don Adams added his comic abilities, but he did not appear as frequently. Set in a hotel, Dana/"Jimenez" and Crosby were bellboys, and Harris the hotel manager. Although one of the other comments suggested Harris like "Jimenez", in truth he found "Jimenez" constantly getting into his hair due to his involvement with Crosby's wild schemes. Crosby would usually have a scheme that would get him a date or some money, and would ask "Jimenez" to assist him, and "Jose" would reluctantly be drawn into it, but would find his own ass in a sling as a result. But he would drive the pompous Harris (honing the domineering tones of Dr. Zachary Smith quite well) up the wall.
In one episode that I can recall, Crosby's scheme deals with hiding a large animal (an elephant I believe) in the hotel without Harris finding out. He convinces "Jimenez" to help "gaslight" Harris, making him believe he is hallucinating or failing to see things (one of the funny bits in the episode is Harris repeatedly trying to act as though nothing is happening to him, but also holding onto walls and banisters to support himself in his illness!). The climax is that Dana and Crosby and the elephant are on the hotel's sun roof when Harris comes upon them. Harris is wondering what the elephant is doing on the roof when they convince there is no elephant, but the distant Empire State Building. Remembering previous hallucinations he has had, Harris is buying this, when some other people turn up on the roof, and ask him what the elephant is doing there. "Oh, that's not an elephant, but the Empire State Building!" he announces, before it dawns on him that they are seeing the same thing he just thought he saw.
It was, as another account on the thread suggests, bad writing that hurt the show. It was not that the show could not rise, but it rose above due to the three or four leads. Dana is actually a good character actor (you may recall he had a running role on THE GOLDEN GIRLS as Estelle Getty's younger brother...and he was quite funny in the role). In one episode his so-called stereotype actually showed some gumption. An episode dealt with the problem that "Jose" and Gary Crosby have with a spoiled heiress at the hotel. Besides the normal demands she puts on their service, she's mean enough to play humiliating pranks on them for her and her friends entertainment. Finally, "Jose" actually (if in his gentle manner) tells her off to the extent of being a spoiled brat. In the episode Harris has tried to keep the staff in line about accepting this brat's behavior until she leaves, so when "Jose" tells her off he lectures "Jose" about not insulting the guests. As it turns out, the girl's father shows up and thanks "Jose" for not being like so many other employees: being too obsequious to his bratty daughter. Harris of course is amazed by this turn about.
It was not a great series, but it certainly had a few good moments due to its leads. It also showed us (briefly) that Gary Crosby had some of his dad's acting talents (his manipulations of "Jose" remind me of Bing's manipulations of Bob Hope in the ROAD pictures). Unfortunately, unlike Harris, Adams, and Dana there was no real follow up for Gary, who made news before he died by trashing his old man in a memoir.
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