I met Jay North, along with his Dennis The Menace co-star Jeannie Russell (who played schoolmate Margaret), over 25 years ago at one of the Hollywood Shows where former stars meet fans and sign autographs. The actor died of colorectal cancer April 6 at his home in Florida. He was 73.
North was one of several former child stars who attended the Hollywood Collectors Show in 1998. This was one of those nostalgia events where autograph seekers could meet stars from the past — and where the stars from the mid-20th century who missed out on meaningful residuals could pick up some often much needed cold, hard cash.
Several of TV’s “boomer buddies” attended that particular show, including a few who are no longer with us. Signing behind tables at the Beverly Garland Hotel in North Hollywood were Ken Osmond (Eddie Haskell) and Frank Bank (Lumpy Rutherford), both from Leave it to Beaver; Jon Provost, who was on Lassie; Johnny Crawford, a former Mouseketeer who was also on The Rifleman; Erin Murphy, who played Tabitha on Bewitched; Jonny Whitaker, Jody on Family Affair; the actors who played Spin and Marty on The Mickey Mouse Club, David Stollery and Tim Considine; and Paul Petersen from The Donna Reed Show.
Not all of them had happy memories of their days as child actors. North, in particular, described it as a bruising experience. Petersen had heard so many horror stories he went on to create a group that advocated on behalf of underage actors called A Minor Consideration. North, who Petersen got to know from attending these autograph shows in the ’90s, bonded with Petersen and became an active participant in the group.
An only child raised by a single mother, North grew up in Hollywood and did not have to travel far to begin his career. It helped that his mother worked as the secretary to the West Coast director of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. He got an agent and began auditioning, landing on a local kiddie show at age six. Soon he could be seen on everything from the game show Queen for a Day to The Milton Berle Show.
He was still just six in 1958 when he beat out hundreds of other boys to play the lead in Dennis the Menace. Based on a popular comic strip by Hank Ketcham, North’s reddish hair was dyed platinum to match the little monster seen in the funny pages. I read the strip when I was a young lad and thought even back then that the actors all looked exactly like their cartoon characters. Bespeckled Herbert Anderson especially looked a lot like the dad in the comic strip; another dead ringer was Joesph Kearns as grumpy neighbour Mr. Wilson. (Okay, poor choice of words. Kearns died before the start of season four, replaced by ever-reliable if not as good a physical match Gale Gordon.)
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On during the same black and white era as Leave it to Beaver, the series lasted four seasons. North became famous and saw his salary jump from US$500 a week to a reported fourth season high of US$3,500 a week (worth $37,000 in 2024 dollars according to a Toronto Star report).
North was a lot luckier than many other child stars. His fortune was not looted by family members. His mom had all his earnings smartly invested, some of it in real estate. He was in just about every scene, however, back when seasons ran as long as 39 episodes a year. Between cramming in occasional movie roles and shooting dozens of cereal commercials, North was one exhausted pre-teen by the time the series finally ended in 1963.
Making the job even even less fun was the fact that his on-set gaurdianship was left to his aunt and uncle, the Hoppers. They turned out to be exacting taskmasters. According to North, who opened up about things years later, his aunt in particular would abuse him verbally and physically.
A lot of this came out around the same time that the former child star became involved with Petersen’s A Minor Consideration. The big wake up call was the suicide death of Rusty Hamer, one of North’s peers as the wise-cracking kid on The Danny Thomas Show. Despondent, among other reasons, after his childhood stardom did not lead to adult success, Hamer shot himself in January of 1990, age 42.
North did go on to other roles after Dennis the Menace. Besides guest starring on dozens of shows such as My Three Sons, he was proud of his work on “Maya,” a 1966 MGM family film shot on location in Northern India. He played a teen who teamed up with an Hindu boy; togther the rode around in search of adventure on an elephant. The following year, that movie was spun off into a TV series, also shot on location. North was briefly able to taste fame as a teen idol before the series, up against The Jackie Gleason Show and The Dating Game, was cancelled after one season.
After finally finishing high school, North found work doing voice-overs for The Banana Splits Hour and The Pebbles and Bam-Bam Show, among other projects. Dinner theatre followed, as did a stint in the navy. He got in on the joke about his child star credentials in later years, on an episode of The Simpsons and especially on the 2003 feature “Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star” starring David Spade.
It was the last film not only for North but also for fellow former child stars Tony Dow (Leave it to Beaver) and Adam Rich (Eight is Enough). Leif Garrett, Barry Williams, Corey Feldman, Emmanuel Lewis, Dustin Diamond and Danny Bonaduce also appeared in the film.
A third marriage was the charm for North, who settled with his wife in Lake Buttler, Florida. Condolences to his friends, relatives and surviving former mates including ringlet-wearing Russell as Margaret, who told me way back at that Hollywood Show that, unlike Dennis, North was never really much of a menace.
