Dennis the Menace The New Principal (1959–1963) watch online HD

Dennis is happy to meet his school's new principal, Mr. Spivey. In speaking to the class, he tries to lower a rolled-up map next to the blackboard, but cannot reach the handle. Dennis (sitting in the front row) jumps up to get him a stool and is immediately in trouble with the Spivey who is way too sensitive about his height.

Dennis is supposed to pitch for the school baseball team in tomorrow's big game. His longtime rival, Johnny Brady, is the number two pitcher. He schemes to get Dennis out of the way by taking a paper Dennis had turned in to the teacher with his name on it and drawing a cartoon poking fun at the Mr. Spivey's height. He stuck it on a bulletin board and when the Spivey found it, he told Dennis he had to miss practice after school that night to write a punish lesson on the blackboard. More importantly, he was off the team. He didn't believe Dennis' denial.

Word got around what had happened and three men who knew Dennis well each decided to pose as his father (knowing Henry was out of town and couldn't talk to the principal himself) to talk him into changing his decision. Mr. Wilson was first, followed by Mr. Quigley, then Mr. Finch (with Charles Lane old enough to be his grandfather).

The combined efforts of the men forced Spivey to realize that he must have been wrong and he did change, telling Dennis he was back on the team. After everyone leaves, Spivey is visited by the real Henry Mitchell, just back from his business trip. Henry barely can introduce himself when Spivey brushes him out the door, not wanting to deal with another phony Mr. Mitchell.

We were given reason to dislike Mr. Spivey right at the start when he was asking a few students to name a great American and Dennis said "Mickey Mantle." Not only did Spivey indicate a total dislike for sports at all, but he didn't even know who Dennis was talking about. As a huge baseball fan, I was appalled.

The fun was the three men all trying to pretend to be Dennis' father. There was also an early scene with Quigley trying to show Dennis his curve ball with window-shattering results.

Dennis Mitchell (I mean, as portray'n by Jay North) was never a "menace". That was always just a piece of malicious slander. He was always not only spiritually good, but spiritually perfect--and that is what earned him his nickname--from jealous onlookers who always throw their darts at the perfect (as one of the Psalms says)--like "Mr. Wilson" in this series (both of the actors--but most especially Joseph Kearns--who portrayed Mr. Wilson), and, like Donna Reed in the episode of her own series (Season 3, episode 3, called "Donna Decorates", Sept. 29, 1960) in which Jay as Dennis is a guest-character. He does nothing wrong, ever, at any time--but she--Donna Reed--does everything wrong--and then turns around and winces, as though the paint can that she herself had just dropped and spilled on the floor, was Dennis's fault (just because he was there on the premises), or as though the drapery that she herself had put up incorrectly, was Dennis's fault (again--just because he was merely there on the premises)--and a half-dozen similar instances of a malicious person mistaking his or her own rampant malice and jealousy for an innocent person's "fault"--and this is the way it is, through the entire "Dennis the Menace" series. But in this one episode of that series that I am reviewing here, which, I say above, is the most important episode in the entire series--"The New Principal", Season 4, episode 7, Nov. 11, 1962--the truth about what Jay North really is, is allown to shine through the usual thick layers of malice that surround the lad almost all of the time throughout the entire four seasons of the series (with the sole exception of this one episode). In this episode, his new principal unfairly goes about to "punish" him, and the "punishment" is that he is depriven of his position as pitcher on the baseball team. His father is out of town on a sales or business trip. Every grown man who knows him--the storekeeper, the pharmacist, and even Mr. Wilson who is ordinarily quite contemptuous and mean to him--and who hears from him (and the boy tells it merely casually) what the principal did--resolves that he will be his stand-in "father" just for the purpose of going down to the school that day and interceding with that principal (since the actual father is out of town). Each of the three men goes to the principal--not expecting to find the other two men there, too--each of whom has introduced himself as being "Dennis's father". Why is it the most important episode in the entire series?--because it is the episode--the only episode--that allows the lad's true nature to shine forth and be seen by all--in other words, the only episode in which it is seen that this boy was actually a saint, worthy not only of no contempt from any grown-up at any time, ever, but worthy of solemn devout veneration, at all times--and that is why each of the three men was impelled to do as he did, and in doing so, glorified the boy as being the perfect saint that he in fact always was (And just by the way: this episode echoes one of Margaret Mary O'Brien's youthful cinemas of sixteen years earlier--the best cinema--it just so happens--ever to be produced by Hollywood.)--Margaret Mary Bernetta-Titlebaum