Dobie Gillis and Burt Muskin

 I think it was the babysitter who introduced my four-year-old brain to Dobie Gillis (The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, CBS-TV 1959-63).  At that age, I was also watching Perry Mason, the great crossroads itself, so I was more likely to become a fan of the faces on that show, like Jeanette Nolan or Robert H Harris, than single-out any of the ones who strutted/fretted through Herb Gillis's store, or Mr Pomfritt's classroom.  (Warren Beatty?!  He probably thought the show's about him.)

One thing about 60-some years of following these people, you can still go back and identify familiar faces for the first time.  There's a lot of people you just don't know the names of; you still cry out in ignorance, "It's that guy!", or "It's that gal!"  And trying to place them, when you see their mug pop up on your late-nite or Internet Archive TV.  Who is that guy?  He must have been on Mason half a dozen times!  

Like that guy on the left.

Seven Days in May, with Martin Balsam, Kirk Douglas and Whit Bissell (about whom we'll have much more to say later, never fear).  Everyone knows them.  But that one guy- he was usually a friendly, one-of-the-boys, George Babbitt-type, whose sole interest was getting everyone relaxed and drinking.  Never knew his name.

Until he turned up in Dobie Gillis, a month ago.

Charles Watts

Sometimes, you know their name, and it's still a surprise.

Mel Blanc

And sometimes, they turn up in something else, and do a great job.  

Chatsworth Osborne- I mean Steve Franken- in The Party.

But what are we to make of this?

It's not a surprise to see Burt's name on the credits.  Penultimate gummer and geezer extraordinaire, who graced hundreds of programs with his singular, senior presence.  Burt's one of my heroes because he started late in show biz, and still accumulated an impressive 201 IMDB credits over 25 years, or about one gig a month with summers off.  

But who is "Burt Muskin"?  Is this in fact Burt Mustin, on this episode of Dobie?  Perhaps it's a different, younger, wilder person.

Nope.  

 

 Evil twin?

 Probably not.

 Must be a typo.  Oh well.

When this week's question comes right down to it, we're still left with the realization that there was a time when Burt Mustin himself, breaking into show-biz at the age of 66, couldn't get them to spell his name right.  Yet he now owns the title, That One Old Guy.  Persistence pays off.