Writer-comedian Bill Dana, whose character Jose Jimenez had a very successful career on records and in nightclubs following its creation on The Steve Allen Show, brought him to life for this series. Jose was a Mexican immigrant who worked as a bellhop at the Park Central Hotel.
Not only did he work there, it was practically his entire world: he lived in special bachelor quarters provided for hotel employees, ate in the hotel kitchen, and had social contact only with employees and guests of the hotel.
In his goodhearted naivete he saw only the good in the people around him. His biggest problems were his fellow bellhop Eddie, who was constantly trying to get him to wise up; the less-than-understanding hotel manager Mr. Phillips and the not-too-brilliant hotel detective Byron Glick. (Glick was played by Don Adams and you could say the role was something of a dry run for his classic turn as Maxwell Smart in Get Smart.
Walter Mitty-like dream sequences were occasionally when the producer felt the need to move out of the hotel.
production details
USA | 30 minutes | Broadcast 22 September 1963 – 17 January 1965
Theme Music: ‘Jose Ole’ by Earle Hagen
cast
Bill Dana
Danny Thomas
Don Adams
Jonathan Harris
Ted Bessell
Amzie Strickland
