Review: The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis by Max Shulman

If the TV show starring Dwayne Hickman and Bob Denver is what comes to mind when The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis is mentioned, perhaps you’ll be surprised to learn, as I was, that the show was actually based on a series of short stories published in Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Saturday Evening Post, Today’s Woman, and American Magazine. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I requested a copy of this book for reviewing purposes. Part of me was expecting more along the lines of the TV show that debuted in 1959 or even, perhaps, a book along the lines of Kathryn Forbes’ Mama’s Bank Account.

The stories, like the TV show, focus on Dobie’s interest in the fairer sex and juggling life, college, and women. The eleven stories in this collection, originally published between 1945 and 1951, are full of humor that everyone can relate to. I found myself laughing often as Dobie found himself getting into screwball situations in order to get closer to the women in each story.

And what women they are! There’s Clothilde Ellingboe, who has a shortcut for Dobie when it comes to his college coursework so he can spend more time with her. And Fannie Jordan, who manages to snatch Dobie away from Thalia Menninger so he can go to the prom with her instead. And “Mary Brown,” the girl whose name Dobie never learned. Then there’s Pansy Hammer, the girl whose father made her transfer to an out-of-state college so she couldn’t see Dobie anymore. The girls majoring in home economics and journalism and political science. And Bonnie Willet, who decided to make changes in her life on the same day Dobie needs to take his Egyptology final. Every one of them somehow gets Dobie to start thinking with his hormones instead of his brain. Ain’t love grand! (And aren’t the readers lucky?)

Author Max Shulman was a humorist who, it is said, influenced the comedy of Woody Allen and Bob Newhart. Open Road Integrated Media is representing the writings of Max Shulman as eBooks. Along with The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, a follow-up Dobie Gillis collection – I Was a Teenage Dwarf – and seven novels are now available for readers to enjoy.

Rating: 5 (very enthusiastically given) Stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Open Road Integrated Media (through NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.