section_path: Career/Dennis the Menace
section_name: Dennis the Menace
paragraph_text: Dennis the Menace
  
  Dennis the Menace premiered on CBS on Sunday, October 4, 1959, and quickly became a hit with audiences. North was paid US$500 (equivalent to about $5,400 in 2024) per episode, his strawberry red hair was bleached platinum blonde for the role, and the 8-year-old was instructed to "shave" a year off his age when speaking with the press. His mother continued to work at AFTRA full-time, and hired business managers to invest his earnings. In a 1993 interview with Filmfax magazine, North spoke highly of his mother, saying: "I want to make it very clear about one thing. I never supported my mother during. She earned her own money from AFTRA. She never lived off my earnings. I know that sometimes happens with child actors, but it was not true in my situation."
  
  While his mother worked, her sister Marie Hopper and brother-in-law actor-composer Hal Hopper served as his on-set guardians during filming for Dennis the Menace. In addition to filming the series, he appeared as Dennis in commercials for the show's sponsors, Kellogg's cereals, Best Foods mayonnaise, Skippy peanut butter, and Bosco chocolate milk, and regularly traveled around the country with his aunt and uncle on the weekends to promote the show. These obligations, combined with the required three hours a day of school, took their toll on him, and by the end of the first season, the 8-year-old had begun to feel the pressures of being the lead star of a popular show.
  
  In late 1960, the second season of the series was ranked among TV's top 20 shows, and his portrayal of Dennis had become a beloved pop culture icon. He made crossover guest appearances as Dennis on such television shows as The Donna Reed Show and The Red Skelton Hour, and in the feature film Pépé. That year, North recorded The Misadventures of Dennis the Menace soundtrack stories on LP, and an LP album of songs titled Jay North – Look who's singing!. With the success of the series, the Hoppers became strict taskmasters and stern disciplinarians. He was not allowed to socialize with other cast members on the set and missed being around children his own age. He ate alone in his dressing room. His only opportunity to relax was the occasional "free day" when he could play baseball with other children or when his uncle would take him to see horror films. His favorite films at that time were The Pit and the Pendulum and Village of the Damned.
  
  By late 1961, the series was in its third season, and North was earning $2,500 (equivalent to about $26,000 in 2024) per episode. The show remained in the top 20, but North had grown tired and frustrated with the pressures of carrying a hit show and the long work hours. Complicating matters was his relationship with his aunt Marie. Many years later, North revealed that his aunt physically and verbally abused him when he made mistakes on the set or did not perform to her standards. He said if he failed a line, she would take him behind the set and beat him. For years, it was too painful for him to watch reruns. His mother and the rest of the Dennis the Menace cast were unaware of the abuse, and he concealed his unhappiness due to threatened retribution from his aunt. In a 1993 interview, North's childhood co-star, Jeannie Russell, said, "If Jay says she abused him in private, then I'm inclined to believe it. The sheer demands of being in every scene all by itself had to be extremely stressful. Any extra pressure from would have made it unbearable." In 2007, she said: "'The show comes first.' This was the ethic that we were raised in. Had I seen any abuse or any horrible upset on Jay's part, I would have noticed. It would have impacted me. It would have upset me terribly."
  
  By the fourth season, North was earning $3,500 (equivalent to about $37,000 in 2024) an episode; but by 1962, the 11-year-old had begun to outgrow the character's childish antics. This, combined with the unexpected death of the actor who played Dennis' foil, Mr. Wilson (Joseph Kearns), near the end of season three, had changed the dynamic of the show. During his interview with Filmfax, North recalled: "Between the pressures of the business and Joe's dying, I became very serious, very morbid, and very withdrawn from the world. I was the antithesis of the little kid that I played on the television show." By the end of the fourth season, ratings were down, and in early 1963, to his relief, Dennis the Menace was canceled.
  
  Dennis the Menace premiered on CBS on Sunday, October 4, 1959, and quickly became a hit with audiences. North was paid US$500 (equivalent to about $5,400 in 2024) per episode, his strawberry red hair was bleached platinum blonde for the role, and the 8-year-old was instructed to "shave" a year off his age when speaking with the press. His mother continued to work at AFTRA full-time, and hired business managers to invest his earnings. In a 1993 interview with Filmfax magazine, North spoke highly of his mother, saying: "I want to make it very clear about one thing. I never supported my mother during. She earned her own money from AFTRA. She never lived off my earnings. I know that sometimes happens with child actors, but it was not true in my situation."
  
  While his mother worked, her sister Marie Hopper and brother-in-law actor-composer Hal Hopper served as his on-set guardians during filming for Dennis the Menace. In addition to filming the series, he appeared as Dennis in commercials for the show's sponsors, Kellogg's cereals, Best Foods mayonnaise, Skippy peanut butter, and Bosco chocolate milk, and regularly traveled around the country with his aunt and uncle on the weekends to promote the show. These obligations, combined with the required three hours a day of school, took their toll on him, and by the end of the first season, the 8-year-old had begun to feel the pressures of being the lead star of a popular show.
  
  In late 1960, the second season of the series was ranked among TV's top 20 shows, and his portrayal of Dennis had become a beloved pop culture icon. He made crossover guest appearances as Dennis on such television shows as The Donna Reed Show and The Red Skelton Hour, and in the feature film Pépé. That year, North recorded The Misadventures of Dennis the Menace soundtrack stories on LP, and an LP album of songs titled Jay North – Look who's singing!. With the success of the series, the Hoppers became strict taskmasters and stern disciplinarians. He was not allowed to socialize with other cast members on the set and missed being around children his own age. He ate alone in his dressing room. His only opportunity to relax was the occasional "free day" when he could play baseball with other children or when his uncle would take him to see horror films. His favorite films at that time were The Pit and the Pendulum and Village of the Damned.
  
  By late 1961, the series was in its third season, and North was earning $2,500 (equivalent to about $26,000 in 2024) per episode. The show remained in the top 20, but North had grown tired and frustrated with the pressures of carrying a hit show and the long work hours. Complicating matters was his relationship with his aunt Marie. Many years later, North revealed that his aunt physically and verbally abused him when he made mistakes on the set or did not perform to her standards. He said if he failed a line, she would take him behind the set and beat him. For years, it was too painful for him to watch reruns. His mother and the rest of the Dennis the Menace cast were unaware of the abuse, and he concealed his unhappiness due to threatened retribution from his aunt. In a 1993 interview, North's childhood co-star, Jeannie Russell, said, "If Jay says she abused him in private, then I'm inclined to believe it. The sheer demands of being in every scene all by itself had to be extremely stressful. Any extra pressure from would have made it unbearable." In 2007, she said: "'The show comes first.' This was the ethic that we were raised in. Had I seen any abuse or any horrible upset on Jay's part, I would have noticed. It would have impacted me. It would have upset me terribly."
  
  By the fourth season, North was earning $3,500 (equivalent to about $37,000 in 2024) an episode; but by 1962, the 11-year-old had begun to outgrow the character's childish antics. This, combined with the unexpected death of the actor who played Dennis' foil, Mr. Wilson (Joseph Kearns), near the end of season three, had changed the dynamic of the show. During his interview with Filmfax, North recalled: "Between the pressures of the business and Joe's dying, I became very serious, very morbid, and very withdrawn from the world. I was the antithesis of the little kid that I played on the television show." By the end of the fourth season, ratings were down, and in early 1963, to his relief, Dennis the Menace was canceled.