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.

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.

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.

Note: 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 winds up babysitting a little boy who is a guest of the Wilsons after his father and Mr. Wilson mistakenly both cancel their respective sitters.

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.

George and Henry purchase a house as an income property and later find out that it is known to be haunted. Unable to get their money back, they sleep inside to prove that it isn't haunted. Dennis and friends join them and talk to the ghost. Noises they repeatedly hear are finally found to be from a squatter in the basement trying to scare them away.

Dennis' school is putting on a play about all nations. Each student has to ask someone to represent a different nationality to be in the play. Dennis asks Mr. Wilson to represent Scotland, but he is not interested. Dennis then asks Mr. 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 after they each put on a performance. A letter arrives stating that Mr. Wilson is actually Irish.

It's Mr. Wilson's birthday and he decides to leave Dennis a gold watch in his will. Soon after, Mr. Wilson begins to feel old and is convinced that he has a short time to live. Dennis in return, goes to Mr. Phillips (Ray Teal), an attorney, to have a will drawn up so he can leave his favorite things to Mr. Wilson. 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 rocker-chair addict. When Ned arrives, he is active, fit, and energetic. Ned forces George and Henry into a fitness program. As the two struggle to keep up, they plot a way to end the exercises.

Mr. Wilson plans to have a quiet evening at home with his coin collection. His plans change when Henry needs a sitter for Dennis. Mr. Wilson is talked into being a sitter for Dennis, Margaret, and Seymour. Seymour finds one of Mr. Wilson's rare dimes, goes down the street and buys a candy bar from a vending machine. John Astin appears as the policeman who arrests Wilson trying to retrieve his valuable coin from the vending machine.

An Indian fire-starting demonstration is to take place for Dennis' Junior Pathfinders club, but the person who is to do perform the demonstration hurts his back. Mr. Wilson, trying to get into the Pioneer Club, is volunteered to be the replacement Indian chief and has to start a fire by rubbing together two sticks. 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. This leads to an unexpected result.

Mr. Wilson installs his own burglar alarm after a series of burglaries in the neighborhood. Dennis and Mr. Wilson think the new neighbor is the stocking bandit. While trying to prove the neighbor is the bandit, Mr. Wilson gets stuck in their basement window.

Mr. Quigley, though lacking experience, is named coach of the town's pee-wee baseball team, hoping it will help advertise his store. The mayor agrees to give the team new uniforms if Quigley can get Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers to play an exhibition game in town. 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.

George's Uncle Ned visits while George is out of town. He decides to plant flowers to win a flower contest in the summer, but he hurts his back. Dennis gets an older friend named Jerry to help Uncle Ned, but Jerry keeps thinking about his ex-girlfriend Helen (Cheryl Holdridge) and gets nothing done. Helen makes up with Jerry and helps with the bulbs, but she plants them all upside down.

George Wilson's brother, John, comes to stay with Martha while George is out of town. John is a writer, but has trouble working without his old seat cushion. Dennis makes it his goal to make a cushion for John. Dennis also helps John get out of speaking at a lecture. Elvia Allman appears as Isabel Tolliver, a woman who wants John to lecture at her Literary Club.

After being picked on by Gifford Kelly (Mickey Sholdar), the school bully, Alice makes Dennis promise not to fight. As a result, the bully gives Dennis a black eye. Henry gives Dennis the go-ahead to fight back next time. John Wilson teaches Dennis how to fight and Dennis gives Gifford a black eye. The man that Henry and John hope to rent their investment house to turns out to be Mr. Kelly (Richard Reeves), the bully's father, creating an awkward situation.

Dennis wants to join an older boys' club run by a boy named Walter Hooper (Billy Hughes), but in order to do so, he has to go through an initiation. Walter has Dennis find a goat, a derby hat and a bugle. Dennis stores these things in Mr. Wilson's garage. John sees these things and begins to question his sanity, because as fast as Dennis and others put this stuff in the garage, Walter takes them out. John Wilson is planning a round of golf with Dr. Fred Ferguson, but he tells the doctor what he sees. Dr. Ferguson believes John is hallucinating until he sees the goat himself.

Mr. Brady (Laurence Haddon) and Tiny Hawkins (Russ McCubbin), an employee at his store, challenge Henry and John Wilson to compete against them in the sporting events at an upcoming community picnic. 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 inadvertently used a hard boiled egg. They must now tell Brady.

John Wilson is writing a magazine article about voodoo. Dennis gets the wrong idea and tells the whole neighborhood that John is a witch doctor. Some strange occurrences and odd accidents convince his new neighbors that he really is a witch doctor and is out to hex them. John hosts a party to meet all his neighbors, but everyone is afraid to show up. Dennis makes sure that things work out.

Dennis becomes a fast friend of Sen Yuen (Cherylene Lee), a girl from British Hong Kong, who is staying with the Wilsons. Margaret becomes jealous of Dennis' attention to her. After Sen Yuen kisses Dennis, Mr. Wilson tells Dennis that Chinese girls often marry very young. When Mr. Yuen comes by, Dennis tells everyone he can't marry Sen Yuen as he is already engaged to Margaret.

Dennis overhears and repeats part of a conversation between John and Eloise in which they decide to no longer play cards together. Rumors around the neighborhood begin to fly that the Wilsons are splitting up. Miss Cathcart and Miss Tarbell (Alice Pearce) get a makeover and make a play for Mr. Wilson, each hoping to be his girlfriend. Each woman enlists Dennis to find out more about Mr. Wilson's situation.

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. With Henry out of town, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Finch and Mr. Wilson each go to see Mr. Spivey pretending to be Dennis' father.

Mr. Wilson hangs out and plays with Dennis and his friends for the day to gather information for a magazine article about the changing behaviors of children. That evening Mr. Wilson 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.

Mr. Wilson takes over an advice-to-the-lovelorn newspaper column for a few weeks. He thinks he will have every single woman in town happily married by the time he finishes. However, complications arise when he unwittingly gives advice to two women - Miss Cathcart and Miss Tarbell - who are out to catch the same man, Sgt. Mooney. Stafford Repp appears as Police Chief Doyle.

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.

Mr. Wilson is named chairman of a saving-stamps campaign for the Junior Astronauts. As chairman, he arranges a contest at Dennis' school in which the student who collects the most stamps wins a trip to Cape Canaveral to meet an astronaut. Dennis and Johnny Brady are leading the contest, but then Dennis comes down with Chicken Pox and can't continue. But, Dennis does get a special message that makes him feel better. Guest appearance by Project Mercury spokesman "Shorty" Powers as himself.

Stretch Nichols, the school basketball team's star player, quits the team after being teased about his height and worn-out clothes one time too many by Johnny Brady and some of the other players. 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, so that Stretch will feel better about himself and rejoin the team in time for the big game. Despite sore feet from the new shoes, Stretch leads the team to a victory. And Quigley gladly pays off on his bet. Bob Hastings appears as Coach Gilmore.

Mr. Wilson enters an essay contest that requires the entrants to be parents. He hopes to win a large sum of money. When he wins the contest, he tries to pass off Dennis and his friends as his own children. Mr. Wilson assumes the contest judge (guest star Harvey Korman) is calling at his door, but it proves to be instead an angry motorist whose car the children had damaged. When Mr. Griffin, the contest judge, finally arrives, it turns out the prize is a free pair of shoes for each of the boys.

Property taxes have risen, and Mr. Wilson thinks the reason is that the school is wasting money on nonessential programs and luxuries. So the principal invites Mr. Wilson to spend the day as a regular student. Harold Gould guest stars as Dennis' principal.

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.