Don Weis's The Affairs of Dobie Gillis

The Affairs of Dobie Gillis was one of two small-scale musicals that Don Weis made in 1953, the other being the charming I Love Melvin.  It was filmed in black-and-white, as MGM was phasing out musicals, starred Debbie Reynolds, Bobby Van, Bob Fosse and Barbara Ruick and was based on Max Shulman's novel, which was also the basis for the later TV show.  The four stars were all good (Bob Fosse) to mediocre (Barbara Ruick) dancers who danced with enthusiasm to Alex Romero's Bob Fosse-influenced choreography, especially the dance to Al Rinker and Floyd Huddleston's "You Can't Go Wrong by Doing Right," a popular song that one also hears Audrey Totter perform, in a very different interpretation, in Gerald Mayer's The Sellout (1952).

The film takes place at Grainbelt University and is in the tradition of the campus musical, which goes back to Good News in 1930, in the early days of sound.  One interesting thing about Weis's film is that some of it actually takes place in the classroom and there are no athletes to be seen.  There is even a discussion with a pompous English professor, played by Hans Conried, about whether one should take a descriptive or prescriptive approach to the English language.  The professor starts out hostile to Gillis but is eventually taken in by his plagiarized essay, the plagiarism never being caught or punished. The students work hard to meet deadlines after goofing off most of the semester.  The climax comes in a desperate attempt to raise money for a literary magazine with a fund-raiser starring Stella Kowalski's all-girl band (Stella is played by the formidable Kathleen Freeman, who appeared in many Jerry Lewis movies).  The students all struggle with finances, even at one point buying books in bulk to sell to students.  Though the film is played for comedy it is also serious in its tensions between students and their parents, their love affairs and their financial struggles.

1953, when Weis made two musicals, was also the year that Elvis Presley did his first recording at Sun records.  The traditional musical was coming to an end, replaced by Presley's insipid films, as dancers Bobby Van and Bob Fosse returned to the stage. Don Weis directed a few more graceful films (The Adventures of Hajii Baba, 1954 and The Gene Krupa Story, 1959) and then turned to television.