The Patty Duke Show was a sitcom which ran on ABC from September 18, 1963 until the final episode aired on May 4, 1966. The show was created as a vehicle for rising star Patty Duke, who had recently won an Academy Award for The Miracle Worker.

Patty Lane (played by Duke) was a normal teenager living in the Brooklyn Heights section of New York City, who loved boys, ice cream, and sleepovers. In the first episode, her "identical cousin" Cathy (also played by Duke, in a dual role that challenged special effects on television at the time) came over to the United States from Scotland to live with Patty's family.

Patty's father, Martin (played by William Schallert), was the managing editor of the fictitious New York Chronicle; Cathy's father also worked for the Chronicle as a foreign correspondent. It was Cathy's father's wish that she complete her secondary schooling in the United States before she would be allowed to return to Scotland. Cathy was much more worldly, and the aggravations that came from the two girls' very different personalities set the tone for much of the sitcom. The show's theme song, which has since been parodied many times over in pop culture, illustrates the two girls' differences: Cathy adores the minuet, the Ballet Russe, and crepes suzette, while Patty loved to rock 'n' roll; a hot dog "made her lose control."

Also seen was Patty's mother Natalie (played by Jean Byron ) and Patty's brother Ross (played by Paul O'Keefe ).

Already a budding star in her own right, The Patty Duke Show allowed Duke to stay in the public consciousness. As the series went on, her star power from the series allowed her to enter the realm of popular music, releasing a Top Ten single, "Don't Just Stand There", in 1965.

External links

• The Patty Duke Show from TV Tome
• The Patty Duke Show from the Internet Movie Database