The Patty Duke Show and the American Sixties: Hot Dogs and Crepes Suzette

Author/Contributor(s):	Flinn, Caryl
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Date:	04/28/2026
Binding:	Paperback
Condition:	NEW

The popular 1960s The Patty Duke Show featured acting sensation Patty Duke playing identical teen cousins, one all-American, one from Britain. Using production history, interviews, archival research, readings of individual episodes, and analysis of the many tie-ins, the authors demonstrate how the series, typically written off as a silly sitcom, engages with social preoccupations of the time, such as the rise of teen culture and the decline of the male-led nuclear family. They illuminate how Cathy, the English cousin, aligns with Kennedy-era eagerness to embrace US global citizenship; yet the show's centering on all-American Patty keeps domestic norms front and center.