My DVD set has put together two of the series best episodes. The set doesn't have the shows in order, so I'm seeing the series all scattered. The previous episode, The Antique Shop was wonderful and so is this one. Together they make up for some of the really bad episodes I've seen.
Here we see Sapphire finding an old diary from when she met George. She begins reading portions out loud to George and her mother. She gets upset seeing how even from the beginning, George never wanted to take her anywhere, just stay home all the time. She complains about it.
The next scene is George walking down the street finding a wallet. When he finds it has no money, he says, "Empty...must belong to a married man." Inside the wallet are two tickets to a big ballet for that night. Knowing the ballet is not his style, he decides to present them to Sapphire and her mother and the two women are delighted with George-for the time being.
Meanwhile, a man is shown telephoning the police about having his pocket picket, losing his ballet tickets and $245 in cash. The police go to the theater to see if anyone is using the tickets-the man knows exactly what row and seat numbers they were, and they find George's women in the seats.
Now George is getting up the next morning and he tells Andy how the women came home after he went to bed and were gone when he got up. Andy reads a story in the newspaper about a near riot at that ballet but only as he continues reading the whole story do they realize that the people being arrested were Sapphire and Mama. George goes down to visit them right away and tries to explain, but the women are quite mad at him.
He borrows $245 from his friends and goes to pay the man who lost it, so he will drop the charges. He mentions that he knows how much it was because that morning he took $250 out of the bank and right after that bought a $5 shirt at a certain clothing shop. He tells George this in giving him $5 in change because George didn't have the exact amount.
Meanwhile, Amos runs into a buddy who he figured would be at work, but his friend says the store is closed every morning this week for inventory. Of course, it's the same shop where the man said he bought the shirt.
Amos rushes to the police station and they wind up phoning George to tell him to do whatever he can to keep the man there until they arrive, because he's a crook. This sets up the key scene. To keep the man from leaving for his train, Andy faints and is lying right in front of the door, with George insisting that it's too dangerous to try to move him.
The crook leaves the room for a moment, and Andy moves a bit, deciding to take out the ever-present cigar and stuffs it in his pocket. Of course, this leads to complications when his clothes catch on fire, but the police arrive in time and George gets back the money he was lent.
As for the $5 change he got, George gives it to his wife so she can buy two tickets so they can see the ballet they didn't get to see the day before. And, due to something totally unexpected by George, and me, even this good deed backfires, but I won't spoil this funny ending bit.
Oh how I wish all the episodes had been like this. I refer to him only as George here because the only trickery he used was to catch a crook. When he is doing his con man act, I call him by his nickname. George was totally likeable in this episode and the way they read the newspaper story about the wild goings-on when the police tried to arrest the ladies was much funnier than if we had seen it.
There was also a real funny bit where George is trying to tell Andy about what the ballet is like, "It's somethin' like the opera with the yellin' and the screachin' taken out of it." I think he nailed it.
I don't think I'm being too generous in giving this one a 10 also-definitely one of the series best-maybe even # 1.
Here we see Sapphire finding an old diary from when she met George. She begins reading portions out loud to George and her mother. She gets upset seeing how even from the beginning, George never wanted to take her anywhere, just stay home all the time. She complains about it.
The next scene is George walking down the street finding a wallet. When he finds it has no money, he says, "Empty...must belong to a married man." Inside the wallet are two tickets to a big ballet for that night. Knowing the ballet is not his style, he decides to present them to Sapphire and her mother and the two women are delighted with George-for the time being.
Meanwhile, a man is shown telephoning the police about having his pocket picket, losing his ballet tickets and $245 in cash. The police go to the theater to see if anyone is using the tickets-the man knows exactly what row and seat numbers they were, and they find George's women in the seats.
Now George is getting up the next morning and he tells Andy how the women came home after he went to bed and were gone when he got up. Andy reads a story in the newspaper about a near riot at that ballet but only as he continues reading the whole story do they realize that the people being arrested were Sapphire and Mama. George goes down to visit them right away and tries to explain, but the women are quite mad at him.
He borrows $245 from his friends and goes to pay the man who lost it, so he will drop the charges. He mentions that he knows how much it was because that morning he took $250 out of the bank and right after that bought a $5 shirt at a certain clothing shop. He tells George this in giving him $5 in change because George didn't have the exact amount.
Meanwhile, Amos runs into a buddy who he figured would be at work, but his friend says the store is closed every morning this week for inventory. Of course, it's the same shop where the man said he bought the shirt.
Amos rushes to the police station and they wind up phoning George to tell him to do whatever he can to keep the man there until they arrive, because he's a crook. This sets up the key scene. To keep the man from leaving for his train, Andy faints and is lying right in front of the door, with George insisting that it's too dangerous to try to move him.
The crook leaves the room for a moment, and Andy moves a bit, deciding to take out the ever-present cigar and stuffs it in his pocket. Of course, this leads to complications when his clothes catch on fire, but the police arrive in time and George gets back the money he was lent.
As for the $5 change he got, George gives it to his wife so she can buy two tickets so they can see the ballet they didn't get to see the day before. And, due to something totally unexpected by George, and me, even this good deed backfires, but I won't spoil this funny ending bit.
Oh how I wish all the episodes had been like this. I refer to him only as George here because the only trickery he used was to catch a crook. When he is doing his con man act, I call him by his nickname. George was totally likeable in this episode and the way they read the newspaper story about the wild goings-on when the police tried to arrest the ladies was much funnier than if we had seen it.
There was also a real funny bit where George is trying to tell Andy about what the ballet is like, "It's somethin' like the opera with the yellin' and the screachin' taken out of it." I think he nailed it.
I don't think I'm being too generous in giving this one a 10 also-definitely one of the series best-maybe even # 1.
