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In The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Dobie's best friend is Maynard G. Krebs, as played by Bob Denver. Maynard is a beatnik, loves jazz, and is quite out of touch with reality. I don't remember any hints or indirect references to him using drugs. In the 1960s, Hanna-Barbera created Scooby Doo, Where Are You? and the main characters were based on the four main characters of the first season of Dobie Gillis. (Freddie was based on Dobie, Shaggy on Maynard, Daphne on Thalia Menninger, and Velma on Zelda.)

Many people point out that Shaggy shows all the signs of being a heavy pot smoker (always hungry, always eating, but never gaining weight, talks to his dog all the time...), but I've never seen any hints that the character he was based on, Maynard G. Krebs, was supposed to be on drugs.

Granted, this was the 1950s, so the producers could not make direct references to drug use in a family show, but there never seemed to be even indirect references or indications of drug us.

Was there ever any indication Maynard used drugs? Were there ever comments from producers or writers or actors that it was assumed but not shown?

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When I watched those shows in rerun as a child, I saw the odd behaviours for what they were: odd behaviours. I rarely laughed at them but I understood that it was a comedic send-up. That drugs were referenced would have to have been in my socializing as a teenager and at that point, watching Scooby Doo or Dobie Gillis wasn't a goal. In my memory of the shows, the odd behaviours are just that. Perhaps it's because by the 1980's, drug use was no longer an eccentricity but a graphic, horrible plague rendering drug references of the 1950's and 1960's antiquated.

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    This is more speculation than answer. Generally answers have something verifiable, like a source. – Meat Trademark Jun 25 '18 at 17:32
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There never was any implication, but like you said, they couldn't even vaguely hint at such a thing, even if they wanted to considering the time of the shows airing, and standards and practices at the time.

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    After watching some of the older TV shows on MeTV, and some of this is since I asked the question, I've noticed that some shows, such as Peter Gunn, make clear references to drug addiction and such. I'm not a TV historian, but it looks to me like in the 1950s TV shows got away with more and toward or in the 60s, that there was more avoidance of controversial topics. That didn't really change until Miami Vice hit in the 1980s. I don't know if Dobie Gillis was done in a time they could have somehow referenced drug use or not. – Tango Dec 4 '16 at 5:27

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