It may sound crazy to argue that this is one of the funniest episodes in this or any other series and, at the same time, that there is an underlying theme of pathos, but it's true. Well -- Charlie Chaplin managed to do it once in a while, and Billy Wilder. Why shouldn't a couple of sitcom writers trip over the same splendid alembic? Al comes home from work with a big smile and reveals that a shoe groupie has been patronizing his store daily. Peggy is jealous and orders the two kids, Bud and Kelly, to hide in the store and spy on him all day. Al arrives and, while his kids peep at him, he throws his jacket aside, takes a deep breath, spreads his arms expansively, and declares, "Open for business!" Then he sits on a foot stool in the empty store, buries his face in his hands, and doesn't move a muscle for five hours.
A fat lady puts a momentary end to his despair by giving him a chance to rebut her claim that the shoes she bought yesterday are cheap because they split at the seams. They're like an elevator, Al explains, there's a two-ton wait limit. How about if I nail them to the soles of your feet? That will give you more traction in front of the ice wagon.
Then the groupie enters, and she's a meal in a short skirt. She's brought a tray of muffins for Al and begs him breathlessly to tell her stories about shoes. Half way through a story, she moans, "Don't stop now." Bud and Kelly are uncertain about telling Peggy. When Peggy demands to know what went on, Bud looks thoughtful and ponders the problem. We hear his voice over as he turns things over in his mind, then thinks: "I wonder what Kelly's thinking." The camera pans to Kelly's giddy face and we hear HER voice over -- a cartoon voice sputtering, "Cheery beery jelly bean, Bullwinkle." Bud finally tells Peggy that nothing happened. Al sat there for hours, then a fat lady came in, and that was all. "Yeah," adds Kelly, "and then a beautiful woman came in and Daddy ate her muffins." I won't go on with this, I don't think, because the second half doesn't have the ontological significance of the first, and because I don't want to spoil any more gags, but it's significant that when Al gets home, Peggy demands to know what happened. "What happened? Oh, I graduated from high school, lost the will to live, and here I am."
A classic episode with, perhaps unwittingly, a darker undertone that doesn't for a moment make it any less hilarious.
A fat lady puts a momentary end to his despair by giving him a chance to rebut her claim that the shoes she bought yesterday are cheap because they split at the seams. They're like an elevator, Al explains, there's a two-ton wait limit. How about if I nail them to the soles of your feet? That will give you more traction in front of the ice wagon.
Then the groupie enters, and she's a meal in a short skirt. She's brought a tray of muffins for Al and begs him breathlessly to tell her stories about shoes. Half way through a story, she moans, "Don't stop now." Bud and Kelly are uncertain about telling Peggy. When Peggy demands to know what went on, Bud looks thoughtful and ponders the problem. We hear his voice over as he turns things over in his mind, then thinks: "I wonder what Kelly's thinking." The camera pans to Kelly's giddy face and we hear HER voice over -- a cartoon voice sputtering, "Cheery beery jelly bean, Bullwinkle." Bud finally tells Peggy that nothing happened. Al sat there for hours, then a fat lady came in, and that was all. "Yeah," adds Kelly, "and then a beautiful woman came in and Daddy ate her muffins." I won't go on with this, I don't think, because the second half doesn't have the ontological significance of the first, and because I don't want to spoil any more gags, but it's significant that when Al gets home, Peggy demands to know what happened. "What happened? Oh, I graduated from high school, lost the will to live, and here I am."
A classic episode with, perhaps unwittingly, a darker undertone that doesn't for a moment make it any less hilarious.