The Terrible Catsafterme

SEASON 1 – ABC

Created by William S. Roberts and developed by Donna Reed and Tony Owen

Theme song: “Happy Days” by Irving Friedman, William Loose, Stu Phillips, and Hans J. Salter

• 001. Weekend Trip – 9/24/1958
  • Donna Stone (Donna Reed) fields the complaints from her children Mary (Shelly Fabares) and Jeff (Paul Petersen), who are upset because their father Dr. Alex Stone (Carl Betz) can’t spend time with them skiing or playing chess because his job as the Hilldale pediatrician keeps him so busy. Donna suggests a weekend getaway to Owens Mountain, but he can’t justify leaving his patients behind. When Donna arranges for their friend Bo Boland (Jackie Kelk) to cover his practice, Alex informs her that he is also testifying for his friend, bank manager George Heiser (Howard Wendell), who is trying to get out of a ticket. Donna then convinces Heiser that this could bring bad publicity to the bank, so he drops the case. Then Donna’s friend Marge Whitman (Louise Lewis) reminds her that Donna was supposed to host a luncheon that weekend, but Marge takes it over. Finally Alex’s patient Edmund Barclay (Hugh Corcoran) gets sick, and Alex can’t diagnose the issue. Donna figures out that he is avoiding school to steer clear of bully Sloppy Callahan who has just moved away. She visits Edmund and his mother (Alice Reinhart) and tells him the news about Sloppy, and suddenly his health is restored. Mary goes on ahead to the lake with the McLanes, but Jeff comes down with chicken pox and they decide to cancel the trip. Donna and Alex decide to not notify Bo that the trip was canceled so that they can have some time together in front of a fire after all. 1/29/14
• 002. Pardon My Gloves – 10/1/1958
  • Donna is starring in the community play The Doll’s House and is getting backhanded advice from her director Lydia Langley (Mary Shipp). Jeff keeps coming home with a black eye from fighting a kid at school who turns out to be Lydia’s son Chunky (Kim Charney). Donna quits the play but when she finds out that the reason Jeff is getting in the fight is because Chunky keeps insulting her acting – based on comments he’s overheard from his mother – so she re-joins the cast. In addition she teaches Jeff how to box, so that the next time he gets into a fight with Chunky, Jeff wins and makes him say that his mother is the best actress in the town…even better than his own mother. 1/29/14
• 003. The Hike – 10/8/1958
  • Dr. Stone has to cancel a camping trip with Jeff and his friends, in order to assist another doctor with a patient. Jeff is disappointed and none of the other fathers are available, so Donna steps in. Alex gives her some pointers on the trip, and she does seem like a fish out of water when it comes to erecting a tent and fishing. While the boys are out getting fish, Park Ranger Ferguson (Martin Smith) stops by and asks if she needs any assistance. When the boys return, she has erected the tent, a lean-to, and has a great Hunter’s Stew on the fire. Despite some noises in the night, Donna and the kids make it through the night, and they have a great time. When she gets home, Alex assumes that Ferguson had helped her put together the campsite, especially since he asked him to check on his wife. But it is finally revealed that Donna had hired a rental and catering service to put up the tent and make the stew. Scotty Marrow plays Pee Wee. Stephen Pearson makes his first appearance as Zack. 2/5/14
• 004. The Male Ego – 10/15/1958
  • Mary writes an prize-winning essay singing the praises of her mother, which is read to the parents and students at a school presentation. Alex feels a little bit slighted at first, but when various people – one of his patients and Mac the linen deliveryman (Sid Tomack) for example – continue praising Donna, he starts to feel even more unappreciated. Then he realizes that his kids are circumventing asking him permission for things, and a snooty tailor (Jack Straw) only seems to respect Donna’s suggestion that he buy a blue suit for his birthday. To rebel, he orders a gray suit. The final straw comes when Hank Cole (Alvy Moore) from the Daily Sentinel stops by to do a story on Donna and pushes Alex to the side. Things seem to go better at his birthday party, with testimonials given by his family and his friend Winfield Graham (Lawrence Dobkin), until the blue suit is delivered…just before he is called away to attend a sick baby. When he returns, he finds his family all waiting for him and they tell him how great it feels to have a father who everyone counts on. He thinks this is the best testimonial of all. 2/6/14
• 005. The Football Uniform – 10/22/1958
  • Donna is collecting for a charity auction and when Jeff donates a rocket model that his parents just bought him two weeks earlier, they decided it’s time to start denying some of Jeff’s purchasing requests. They start by refusing to buy him a football uniform, even when they find out that the team is going to get their picture in the paper. Jeff starts washing dogs to get the money and eventually raises $2.50. Donna prods the mother of high-schooler Tom Ellis (Robert McKenny) to donate his old uniform to the auction with the intention of Jeff bidding on it. Donna and Alex each match Jeff’s money unbeknownst to each other. At the auction, each parent thinks that Jeff only had $5.00, so when Jeff and another kid bid it up to $6.00, each steps in separately and manage to dive the bid up to $12, but Donna’s bid ends up getting him the uniform. As a sidebar, Donna and Alex each refuse to donate an ugly vase, thinking that it came from their mother-in-law. 3/9/14
• 006. The Foundling – 10/29/1958
  • When going out to get the morning milk, Donna finds a baby named Willie on the doorstep. She, Mary, Kathleen the maid (Fintan Meyler), and Tony Ferucci the milkman (Paul Picerni) all get attached to Willie and want to search for the mother, but Alex wants to turn the baby over to the police and forces Donna to call them. When Officer O’Connor (Don Hildreth) shows up, Alex softens and agrees to keep the baby while the police track down the mother. Donna searches for birth certificates, and comes across one for Guillermo Ferucci, and realizes that the baby belongs to the milkman. Donna confronts him and finds out that his wife died five months earlier and he was having trouble taking care of Willie. Donna agrees to keep Willie for a little bit, but then works toward setting Kathleen up to be the new Mrs. Ferucci considering the commonality of their love for Willie. 3/9/14
• 007. Three-Part Mother – 11/5/1958
  • Donna is prepared to attend the annual meeting of the medical society where Alex will be giving his speech, when suddenly it becomes important to Jeff that she attend his basketball game as he will be actually playing instead of sitting on the bench. Alex gives her the go-ahead to attend that, but then she is warned by their friend Woody (Ross Elliott) that her not attending might hurt his career among the other doctors. In addition, Mary now needs her mother to attend the meeting of a girls’ club that she just got accepted to. At her wit’s end, all of the family become accommodating and urge her to take care of the others, which makes her feel even more guilty. In the end, she is able to visit each of the three events – even if only for minutes at a time – in order to appease all. 6/3/14
• 008. Change Partners and Dance – 11/12/1958
  • Mary is lovesick for a teen named George Haskell (Jimmy Hawkins) to ask her to the prom, so Donna helps arrange to get hom to the house and practice dancing with Mary. After Donna helps teach him how to dance, he ends up asking Mary, but then she overhears him raving about her mother to his friends. When George brings candy for Donna as a sign of thanks, Mary is aghast and calls off the date. Donna then has Mary’s friend Betty (Dean Bliss) get George to come back to the house, and when he arrives, she dresses horribly and acts like a hag and speaks ill of Mary. George comes to Mary’s defense, which impresses Mary enough that she agrees to go to the dance with him. 6/3/14
• 009. Dough Re Mi – 11/19/1958
  • As new chairman of the hospital committee, Donna pledges to get famous concert pianist Anton Duval (Roger Til) to play a benefit concert to raise $2500. She jumps through many hoops to try to arrange to meet him, not knowing that he is the father of Antoniette (Reba Waters), a little girl who is pursuing Jeff. At one point Duval is in the Stone living room playing piano, but Donna yells at him to stop the racket, thinking that it is Mary playing. Donna’s arch rival Lydia runs into Duval and asks him to play the concert and is turned down, which gives her the opportunity to pitch her own idea for a fundraiser. Jeff has been trying to raise money for a new tackling dummy for his Bobcats football team. He agrees to a dinner date with Antoniette, and pleads with her father to play the concert, promising to marry his daughter. He eventually agrees, much to the delight of Donna, and to Jeff, who gets the tackling dummy for his hard work…and of course, to Lydia’s chagrin. 8/23/14
• 010. Guest in the House – 11/26/1958
  • A policeman (John Reach) brings over a little boy named David Barker (Charles Herbert) who had run away while being tended to at Jeff’s office. The boy is nearly incorrigible, and Colonel  Woodward (Stephen Courtleigh) from the  Penfield Military Academy he came from is all too happy to let the Stones keep him for Thanksgiving break, a suggestion made by Donna. Everyone in the house has difficulty getting through to him, but slowly come to realize that his father, Major Barker (John Bryant) is a cold man who believes in military-style punishment and has sent him to the school after he had been kicked out of several others. When the frustrated Major arrives at the Stone house to retrieve David, Donna reads him a letter that David had written detailing why he doesn’t think his father loves him. This gets through to the Major, and he tells David that he loves him unconditionally. The Barkers stay for dinner and are then on their way. 8/23/14 
• 011. The Baby Contest – 12/3/1958
  • Alex has a difficult time disagreeing with mothers of the babies he treats, when they brag on their babies. But when Helen Cooper (Anne Whitfield) hears his appeasing praises, she proposes that the ladies club have a baby contest event at their upcoming picnic. Alex is voted in as the judge, which Donna tries to event. He is afraid that the losing mothers will all hold it against him. Margaret Lang (Virginia Christine) is one mother who hopes to avoid the contest as she thinks her little boy Jimmy is homely and has ears that are too big. Donna has to butter up Alex to get him to go along with judging the contest, and the ladies immediately start buttering him up with gifts hoping that he’ll pick their baby. Per Donna’s advice, Alex actually chooses Jimmy. All of the other women are okay with this because they think Alex did it out of pity and are happy that it will make Mrs. Lang feel better. After the contest is over, Donna keeps buttering up Alex, and finally tells him that everyone voted to make the baby contest an annual event. Dorothy Morris is Shirley Watson. Gerry Lock is Myra Washington. Ruth Terry is Ruth Sterling. 9/20/14
• 012. The Beaded Bag – 12/10/1958
  • While dropping off a bracelet that needs a new clasp at Carter’s, Donna notes how saleslady Miss Winters (Mary Treen) will push items to husbands after their wives come in and tip them off. Donna has her eye on a a beaded bag that costs $65. Her friend Patsy Cole (Angela Greene) sees her at the store and wishes her an upcoming happy birthday and also vouches for the success of Miss Winters’ gift push. Patsy later has her son Bobby (Rickie Sorensen) in for a doctor visit with Alex and mentions the bag at Carter’s. Although Alex can’t get an answer from Donna about what she wants for her birthday, she does send him to Carter’s to pick up her bracelet. When he arrives, Miss Winters mentions the bag, which he buys and gives to her for her birthday – but when Donna receives it, she doesn’t appreciate Alex thinking that she schemed to get the bag, and returns it to the store. Mary tells her that no matter why he bought it, he did it out of love. Donna rushes back to Carter’s to retrieve the bag and finds Alex already there getting it back. He also buys her a pin to express his love, but keeps the bag to ‘abide by the rules’. Meanwhile, Jeff has to borrow money from Mary for his gift, but then feels like he will have to be her slave while in debt. Robert Nash is the ‘duped’ husband that Donna witnesses. 9/21/14 
• 013. The Busy Body – 12/17/1958
  • Donna’s boisterous Uncle Fred (Rhys Williams) flies in fresh from South Africa, and the kids invite him to stay with the family. His tall tales get on Alex’s nerves, and he quickly causes some commotion by interfering in a fight between Mary and her new boyfriend Mike, lambasting the Mayor Webster (Irving Bacon) for closing the park on Saturdays for lack of supervision so that Jeff and his friends have no place to play, and telling Alex’s patient Mrs. Adams (Ann Doran) that she has no cause to constantly think that her son Timmy is sick. Alex is ready to ask him to leave, but Donna works her magic by visiting the Mayor and Mike. Not only does she solve the problems of the park and the fight between Mike and Mary, but realizes that despite being overbearing, they respect the truth in his words. Even Mrs. Adams thinks that Uncle Fred was just speaking for Alex, and follows the advice of letting Timmy play in the park with the other kids. Uncle Fred flies out for Chicago. 10/23/14
• 014. A Very Merry Christmas – 12/24/1958
  • Donna is preparing for the holiday on Christmas Eve, but is distraught by the lack of Christmas spirit in the air. Her kids seem preoccupied with receiving as much as they’re giving, the deliverymen to whom she gives fruitcakes seem to scoff at the gift, and the department stores are a mad melee. While visiting Alex at the hospital, she stops by the children’s ward and finds out that the hospital has overlooked giving the kids a Christmas party. But her spirit is rejuvenated when she finds out that the janitor Charlie (Buster Keaton) has been handling the party for the last 32 years. Donna insists on helping him, even though it means breaking her family’s traditions, and she talks Charlie into dressing as Santa Claus. The family joins her at the hospital and brings gifts for the children. Donna gives Alex’s robe to Charlie. Alex leads the group in a rendition of Silent Night. Murray Alper is Joe; Butler Hixon is Dr. Florey. 10/23/14
• 015. Mary’s Double Date – 12/31/1958
  • The Junior Prom is coming up and Mary has three potential dates. She would prefer to go with Ernie (Bobby Burgess), the left tackle, but is unsure whether he will break up with his girlfriend before the dance or not. If not, she will go with Phil (Tom Brandt), the right tackle. The third choice would be Charlie (Buzz Martin), who dotes on Mary and is constantly underfoot. Ernie finally asks Mary and she agrees, but Donna accidentally accepts the date from Phil on Mary’s behalf when she get confused on which is the left and which is the right tackle. When Phil and Ernie both find out, they team up to both cancel on her. This leaves only Charlie, whom Donna has advised not to let Mary walk all over him. Charlie plays a little bit hard-to-get, but eventually they go together. Phil and Ernie each ask for a dance with Mary, and Charlie, now more aggressive and confident, allows them one dance between them. 11/22/14
• 016. Jeff’s Double Life – 1/7/1959
  • When nosy neighbor Mrs. Wilgus (Kathleen Freeman) informs Alex and Donna that Mary has thrown a party while they were out, reminding him that this could hurt his reputation as a doctor, Alex lectures both kids about the perils of humiliating him. Later Jeff takes a ride with Mary’s friend Tommy in a car that he ‘borrowed’ from his folks. They have an accident and run into a tree and both run from the police. Jeff ends up hurting his arm and, not wanting to tell his father nor embarrass him, visits a  new pediatrician who just moved into town, Dr. Barry (Peter Adams). Jeff confides in Mary, and she lets it slip to her mother…and Dr. Barry informs Alex, who is hurt and angered at first…but then realizes that kids make mistakes and makes sure to tell Mrs. Wilgus that they hope she will understand, but they are going to allow their kids to make mistakes. 11/22/14
• 017. Nothing But the Truth – 1/14/1959
  • David Barker calls Donna and hints that he’d like to be picked up from military school for his birthday…even though his birthday isn’t really for three weeks. Alex picks him up and brings him home, just in time for him to witness try to lie his way out of getting punished for shooting his air rifle at Mrs. Wilgus’ window. Mary mentions that boys who lie won’t go to heaven, which scares David. After he receives gifts and Donna offers to call his father long distance, he is forced to confess his lie. He tells of a boy named Snyder (Jimmy Fields) who was only going to invite the kids to his birthday party if they did his chores for him. He and a boy named Mousie Myers (Gregory Irvin) were the last holdouts. Donna forgives the lie and goes ahead with the party anyway, but it ends up being for all of the boys – including Snyder, whose parents couldn’t pick him up after all. Jeff gets his air rifle reinstated for being a good sport. The boys catch Alex and Donna in a lie when they make an excuse to get out of playing bridge with Mrs. Wilgus. 1/2/15
• 018. It’s the Principle of the Thing – 1/21/1959
  • A man named Mr. Popkin (Hans Conreid) visits Alex’s office with his son Joey (Bobby Crawford), and stubbornly will not allow Alex to give his son the medical treatments that he needs until he can come up with payment in full. Donna tries to help by hiring Popkin to do some odd jobs including fixing the wobbly kitchen table and re-wiring the house. He ends up ruining the table and nearly electrocuting himself on the wiring. Donna visits him and discovers that he is an inventor, who has created a mechanical toy rabbit, of which he has 300. Jeff and Mary attempt to peddle these on the street and are arrested. Donna attempts to sell them to Mr. Johnson (Richard Deacon) at Johnson’s Toy Land, but Popkin intervenes and the window display ends up getting wrecked. Just when Alex has reached the end of his rope, the arresting officer (David McMahon) shows up saying that all of the cops want to buy a rabbit, followed by Mr. Johnson who offers Popkin a contract to produce even more than the 300. Popkin is insulted by the deal…but ultimately accepts. Later he introduces a grill lighter to the Stones, which blows up in Donna’s face. 1/3/15
• 019. Jeff vs. Mary – 1/28/1959
  • When Jeff and Mary get into an argument and their parents take Mary’s side, Jeff, with the help of his friend Zack, is convinced that he is the victim of the ‘law of vanishing returns’ whereby the parents aren’t as interested in the younger kids, which mostly derives from Zack’s feelings of inadequacy around his older brother Lionel. When the family has a party for their Uncle Bo, Mary is allowed to stay up and play piano, while Jeff has to go to bed instead of doing his magic tricks. Jeff sneaks out with Zack and is caught by his parents. Jeff tells Bo what his concerns are and he passes them onto Donna and Alex. Donna has the idea to use the newly-installed intercom to let Jeff ‘overhear’ them saying great things about him. It doesn’t work though since Jeff leaves the room. However Zack hears it and berates Jeff for being so selfish. Jeff ends up apologizing, but the parents are baffled when Jeff claims he never heard their conversation. Still they agree to let him put on a magic show for them. They eventually realize that Zack had heard it and buy some of his useless spot remover. Pat McCaffrie is the electrician. 2/23/15
• 020. Have Fun – 2/4/1959
  • Mary has a crisis of confidence before a date with Herbie Shields (George Hamilton), which started out as a double date and ends up being just them. When she returns she bursts into tears because the date was so awkward. Donna tries to comfort her by telling her about her first date with Alex at a New Years Eve party. Alex seemed standoffish, and kept getting up to make phone calls, ultimately rushing over to talk to a friend instead of kissing her when the clock struck midnight. Alex then relates his side of the story, in which he was short on cash and couldn’t pay the bill. He was making phone calls looking for his friend Hooper (Sherwood Hooper) to help bail him out, spotting him right at midnight and rushing over to him to discreetly ask to borrow some money. Donna left thinking that Alex wasn’t interested in her, but Alex thought Donna had bailed on him because she didn’t like him. After Mary falls asleep, Herbie shows up at the door to return a handkerchief and privately tells Mary how awkward he felt on the date and he really wanted her to know how much he liked her. 2/23/15
• 021. Donna Plays Cupid – 2/11/1959
  • Off his feet for a slipped disc in his back, Bo’s girlfriend Connie (Joanna Lee) walks out on him when she gets jealous that Bo injures himself for carry a redhead across the golf course… plus she doesn’t like Donna bringing him his food. Donna decides to try to set up Bo with her friend Ceil Pennington (Susan Dorn), who has just broken up with her boyfriend Herbie Armbruster (Hal Baylor) for acting uninterested in marriage. She invites them both to a dinner, that proves to be awkward, as they both know they have been set up. Herbie shows up at Donna’s to ask her advice about getting Connie back, and then when she finds Ceil and Bo dancing, he blows his top and tells Ceil that she is going to be his wife. He wins her back, and Bo calls Connie. Donna still takes credit because Ceil at least gets back with Herbie, but still tries to think of someone else for Bo. 4/8/15
• 022. Love Thy Neighbor – 2/18/1959
  • Alex and Donna have dinner with their neighbors Wilbur (Howard McNear) and Celia Wilgus to celebrate their 20th anniversary. The two have been bickering all day because Celia thinks there is something going on with Wilbur and his secretary Miss Sanders (Maudie Prickett). Things get worse after dinner as they paly cards when Wilbur’s anniversary gift is delivered and it is a meat slicer. After the dinner, Celia shows up at the Stones’ house crying. Since Celia considers her her best friend, Donna reluctantly agrees to scope out the situation with Wilbur and Miss Sanders. Donna meets up with Wilbur for lunch at the Pompeian Room, but Donna’s lecture to him makes him think that it is her who is attracted to him. Wilbur is flattered but declares that Celia is the only woman for him. Celia and Wilbur are reconciled, and Alex has a good laugh when Wilbur tells him that he believes Donna is in love with him. Cosmo Sardo is the maitre d’. 4/9/15
• 023. The Report Card – 2/25/1959
  • Jeff brings home is report card which consists of nearly all C’s, with the exception of gym in which he got a B-plus. Donna is very dissatisfied with this, thinking that her son is more than average. Jeff is more interested in helping his friends repair their go-carts and participate in other activities. Meanwhile Mrs. Adams (Ann Doran) brings her sheltered son Philip (Harvey Grant) in for a check-up and laments that Philip has never gotten an A-minus, and he needs to be prepared for shocks of that nature in the real world. Donna and Alex attend a school open house and talk to Jeff’s teacher Miss Standish (Irene Vernon), who says that Jeff only excels in things in which he is interested. His parents then tell him that he has to come home after school and study rather than going over to his friends. Jeff finds a loophole in the rule and has his friend Zack (Stephen Pearson) bring his car to him. His friends all want to exclude Philip, but Jeff stands up for him and says he won’t help with the car unless they include him. Donna then understands that Jeff has many other talents besides academics. Jeff however does promise his mother that he will bring some of the C’s up if it makes her happy. 6/29/15
• 024. Boys Will Be Boys – 3/4/1959
  • David Barker claims to have gotten bitten by a the school mascot dog at military school, and Major Ryan (Carleton Young) brings him to see Alex to get checked. In reality, he was bitten by another boy named Sweeney, who warns him not to squeal. The Stones talk David into getting a shot if they will let him spend the night and then take him to a ball game on Saturday. Donna remembers after the fact that they have an appointment with the Hales that night, so she lets Jeff and David stay home alone. The boys end up eating a cake and staying up way past their bedtime watching a gangster movie called The Showdown, in which a gangster named Duke (Ric Roman) and his moll Mona (Darlene Fields) interrogate her ex-boyfriend Louie (John Harmon) and force his to squeal on a friend. When the parents get home, Jeff and David rush to bed, and Jeff warns David not to squeal. That night David has nightmares that he is being interrogated by Alex and Donna, who act like Duke and Mona. David is torn whether to squeal or lie, and Donna only tells him to do what his conscience tells him to. She knows however what the boys have done and confront Jeff, who admits it was his fault, despite David trying to take the rap. Alex can’t bring himself to take away their ballgame, so he simply says that they can’t stay home alone anymore. 6/30/15
• 025, The Ideal Wife – 3/11/1959
  • During a dinner party the Stones’ friends Harry and Ellen Marcy (Don C. Harvey, Frances Robinson) and Lester (Keith Richards) and Kate Brock (Gerry Lock) all fuss over what a perfect woman Donna is. Then when her kids make a fuss over what a great mother she is when she agrees to buy Mary a sweater and forgives Jeff’s debt, Alex talks her out of attending a play she wanted to see, and Mac the Hilldale Clearners deliveryman forgets one of her outfits, she finally blows her stack and feel unappreciated. She confronts all of the culprits and lays down the law… but soon when all of them bend over backward to please her, she starts to feel bad. She ends up getting Mary her sweater, paying back Jeff, and telling Alex they can skip the play to do what he wants. Alex says they can attend the play so that no one mistakes her for being ‘sweet’ again. 9/1/15
• 026. Mary’s Campaign – 3/18/1959
  • Mary is running for Vice President of her class and uses a go-getter campaign manager named Cathy Robinson (Gigi Perreau). Donna gets concerned when it seems that the campaign is being run on Mary’s appearance, clothes, and figuring out who owes Donna and Cathy favors. Mary’s opponent Betsy Cartwright (Melinda Byron) is quite capable of the job, but is rather homely in appearance. Alex warns Donna not to interfere, but to rely on the morals that they’ve taught her. While Donna is at the school visiting with the Vice Principal Miss Aldridge (Natalie Masters), she overhears the speech in which Mary simply tells the students to vote for the person who is most qualified, much to Cathy’s dismay. Mary ends up losing, but gains the respect of her parents by realizing that she was not being herself in the election. 9/1/15
• 027. The Flowered Print Dress – 3/25/1959
  • Donna is feeling somewhat ignored by Alex as they get ready to have dinner with newlywed intern Jim Berke (Keith Vincent) and his wife Carol (Olive Sturgess). She feels even more so when she sees how attentive Jim is to his wife, and how a comment about putting too much mayonnaise in the salad dressing leads to a fight, for which Jim then profusely apologizes. When they get home Donna quizzes Alex on what she had been wearing and he cannot remember, but recalls a flowered print dress that she hasn’t worn in a while. Donna cannot remember the dress he is talking about, and even more tension mounts in the house. Next they have dinner with Dr. Butler (Addison Richards) and his wife (Lillian Bronson) of 43 years, who consider the Stones to be a very young couple. When they get back home, Donna finally remembers the flowered print dress and digs it out of the attic: the dress that she was wearing when Alex proposed to her. She gets upset that he seems to wish they could go back 15 years, and they eventually begin shouting… and fighting pleases her finally. 11/27/15
• 028. April Fool – 4/1/1959
  • Teen heartthrob Buzz Barry (James Darren) is playing locally at the Civic Auditorium and Alex is able to secure tickets for Mary and her friends since he knows the auditorium manager Phil Martin (Ted Knight). When Buzz comes down with the measles, his manager Lou Vance (Jesse White) talks the Stones into letting Buzz hideout at their place while he recovers. Mary can’t keep it a secret and tells her friends Alice (Nancy Randall), Flo (Doreen Tracey), and Sue (Melinda Plowman), which causes a group of girls to bombard the house. Buzz isn’t happy about his anonymity being blown, so she has Jeff pose as Buzz and play it off as an April Fool joke. Donna starts to get irritate because Mary’s friends are now giving her the cold shoulder, and Vance is being pushy and demanding. When Buzz gets wind of her irritation, he has a heart-to-heart with her and agrees to play for Mary’s friends. Unfortunately the girls don’t show up before he has to leave much to the pleasure of Vance, but Buzz has his flight rebooked and shows up at the school dance and sings There’s No Such Thing. 11/27/15
• 029. The Parting of the Ways – 4/8/1959
  • When Mary’s friend Babs Keppler (Melinda Plowman) announces that her parents Jack (Pat McCaffrie) and Myra (Mary Lawrence) are separating, it reverberates through the Stone household. Donna starts to worry that the same thing could happen to them because of the family not spending enough time together. After just dismissing the kids when they needed attention, Donna suggests starting with giving them more time. The kids then dismiss them, but discuss it and begin to worry about their parents, and thus return the favor by giving them more attention by agreeing to play a game of Hearts. Jeff and Mary end up in a fight during the game, which leads to a fight between Donna and Alex. Meanwhile Babs has found out that her father had simply left for a business trip in Cleveland, but now gets the report from Mary about her folks fighting, and Babs passes it on to her mother. Myra comes to see Donna to support her, and each think that the other couple is getting a divorce. When Jack shows up at the Stone house having returned early from his trip, it becomes clear that they are not splitting up… and similarly it becomes clear that Alex and Donna aren’t splitting up. All that is clear is that Babs was the culprit in spreading the rumors all around. Jeff and Mary are satisfied that things have returned to normal when their parents blow off Jeff’s request to play Hearts again. 1/31/16
• 030. The Hero – 4/15/1959
  • Alex’s college friend Biff Jameson (Ben Gage) comes to town from New York while on a business trip with his firm Benson Wardwell along with his partner Harry (Tom Palmer). Biff was a former All-American football hero who scored a 70 yard touchdown in the 1941 Rose Bowl, and his company uses him to schmooze clients. Jeff is ultra excited to meet him, but while Biff puts on a happy front for the Stones, he later confesses to Donna that his largely unhappy in his work and his marriage to his wife Martha is on the rocks. The next day Biff hosts a football workshop for the neighbor kids, but injures his leg when he is tackled by Mary’s friend George. Alex accompanies Biff to a luncheon where Harry berates him for being late. Biff quits on the spot and tells the potential clients that his being in the Rose Bowl has nothing to do with the loans offered by his company. Based on how well Biff built up the confidence of Mary’s friend Stanley (Gordon Gebert), Alex suggest a local job as a youth counselor. Biff makes a call to Martha and pleads his case for them to relocate, and she appears receptive. 1/31/16
• 031. Do You Trust Your Child? – 4/22/1959
  • Helen Brooks (Florida Friebus) convinces Donna to give a speech about trusting in ones’ children, when Alex is unable to speak to the PTA. Donna agrees to it when Alex laughs at the notion, and soon the neighbors are flocking to Donna for advice. Helen tells her that her daughter Nancy (Roberta Shore) is dating a new boy named Leonard (Richard Tyler), who is a handful. Donna convinces Helen to let Nancy make the decision for herself, thinking the novelty or Richard’s radical speeches and belief in the empowerment of the youth will quickly wear off. It does… but in Nancy’s place soon comes Mary who has joined Nancy and Leonard on a double date. Donna soon starts questioning her own judgement and worries that Leonard might talk Mary into running off with him. Donna resorts to spying on Mary and Leonard during their date as he attempts to regales her with records of nature sounds… but it is all for naught, as Mary gets bored with him and sends him home. Donna and Alex temporarily lose their faith in Jeff as well, after they find out that some of his friends contributed to buying explosives and have started a fire. Jeff explains that he had borrowed money from his parents to help pay for a window he and Freddie broke. 4/12/16
• 032. Grateful Patient – 4/29/1959
  • When neighbor Wilbur Wilgus accidentally hits his wife Celia in the face with a golf club, Alex tends to her and brings her back to consciousness. Alex refuses to take payment, but soon Wilbur gives him an investment tip as his ‘repayment’. Meanwhile Donna is working on getting the couch re-upholstered with a persnickety salesman named Mr. Alexander (Jack Straw). Celia tries to open up Donna’s eyes to the decorating possibilities that Donna could get down if Alex could triple his money as Wilbur suggests he will. Alex agrees to invest $300 rather than the $10,000 that Wilbur suggests, and is hit with additional costs as well. Wilbur tells everyone that there is a party interested in buying the land, but insists that they hold out until it goes up even further.  As the family fantasizes about how rich they will become, Celia then forces Wilbur to tell them that the department store is now going to be built on the other side of town, rendering the land they bought practically worthless. The family is disappointed but learns to live within their mean. Alex needs to visit the Wilguses once more when Wilbur is hit with a golf club by Celia. Alex takes care of him, but refuses any further financial help. 4/12/16
• 033. The Testimonial – 5/6/1959
  • When Jeff’s friend Willie Pearson (Tommy Andre) hurts his are playing football, Willie’s mother insists on having Dr.  Matthew Jason (James Bell) onsite to oversee Alex’s caregiving of Willie. Dr. Jason tells Alex and Donna that he is getting ready to retire. Although he has claimed that before, he says this time it is for real. Donna thinks about all of the people Dr. Jason has helped and visits the City Council and convinces Mayor Dawson (Harry Cheshire) and vocal Councilman Wagner (Bruce Hayes) that the town should host a testimonial for Dr. Jason. However after Donna visits with Mrs. Jason (Olive Blakeney) and Dr. Jason separately, she realizes that both seem distressed about the retirement, and she fears that the testimonial might force him into a retirement that he really doesn’t want. On the way to the testimonial, Alex gets a call from Mrs. Douglas, one of Jason’s former patients. Donna suggests that Alex advise her to call Dr. Jason. At the testimonial, Dr. Jason shows up late after treating Mrs. Douglas’s son Jimmy. They continue on with the ceremony, dinner, and going-away gift, with the understanding that he’ll then announce that he’s not retiring after all. Stephen Roberts is Mr. Herman. 7/29/16
• 034. Miss Lovelace Comes to Tea – 5/13/1959
  • With Donna working as a campaign director on a fundraiser for Hilldale Federated Charities almost full time, and both Mary and Jeff not following through on helping with chores, Alex begins shopping for housekeepers to assist. The first one Mrs. Arbogast (Esther Dale) is run off by Jeff’s mouse Herman. A second interviewee Mrs. Lovelace (Estelle Winwood), an English widow, wins everyone over and is hired. Meanwhile the snooty Mrs. Westcott Trilling (Margaret Dumont) threatens to pull her support from the fundraiser if Donna doesn’t find a way to make it more dignified. Mrs. Lovelace turns out to be almost completely inept at housekeeping, forcing the kids to pitch in and help. With Donna tied up at the headquarters, she charges Mrs. Lovelace with entertaining Mrs. Trilling, whom she hopes to woo back to the campaign. When Donna arrives home and finds that the kids are doing all of Mrs. Lovelace’s chores, she hints to Mrs. Lovelace that there is no need for her now that the kids are handling the chores. Mrs. Lovelace leaves sullenly, but hands over a check for $500 that she got out of Mrs. Twilling… which is ten times what she normally gives. Donna is so impressed that she works on arranging for Mrs. Lovelace to become the new campaign director, so that Donna can come back home. Elisabeth Talbot-Martin is Florence. 7/29/16
• 035. Tomorrow Comes Too Soon – 5/20/1959
  • After a particularly rough night of getting the kids to bed, followed by a morning of further demands from the kids, Alex and Donna start to pine get a weekend by themselves. They nearly get it planned, but Alex has to postpone it for at least three weeks due to a patient needing his tonsils removed. When Mary asks to go on a weekend trip to her friend’s uncle’s farm, and then Jeff demands that he be allowed to go to his friend’s house for the weekend as well, this finally allows the folks a weekend alone. While eating out at a fancy dinner, they run into their friends Phil (Harry Ellerbe) and Patty (Joan Tompkins) and they tell the Stones to appreciate their kids while they’re still around as soon enough they will be leaving home. That night Donna has a dream that Mary brings home a boy named Jim Harper (Gary Troy) and they get engaged and married right away, and wakes up in a panic. Both parents are thrilled when the kids return from the weekend, and now have grown to appreciate the chaos they bring. 10/3/16
• 036. Advice to Young Lovers – 5/27/1959
  • Mary has a falling out with George Haskell when he asks her friend Babs Keppler on a date and gives her his science club pin. Donna relates a story via flashback of the time that she outsmarted a girl named Gloria, who had been making a play for Alex, by accompanying him on a rainy morning duck expedition, during which time she uses reverse psychology to lasso him in and get him to propose. Her point is that sometimes women have to scheme to get what they want, and she recommends that Mary take a sudden interest in Babs’s boyfriend Tooey, planning out a whole elaborate evening to make both Babs and George jealous. While waiting on Tooey to arrive for their ‘swapped date’, George shows up to explain that it was actually Babs aggressive fast talking that made him agree to go out with her, but that he really wants Mary to wear his pin, so he has bought her another one. Alex has to laugh that none of Donna’s scheming worked, although Mary still ended up with the boy she wanted. He and Donna then pontificate on how it might have been if they had married other partners. 10/4/16 
• 037. Operation Deadbeat – 6/3/1959
  • When Alex finds out that Jeff is in debt to Mary by $6.70, Alex pays her back and tells Jeff that he now owes him the money and wants him to find a way to pay it back, prompting Jeff to get a paper route. Meanwhile Donna realizes that a number of patients owe Alex money, and singles out Jesse Finsterwald (Alan Reed), their TV repairman who frequently sends reminder notices when they owe him money. Donna calls him over to check their TV in hopes of reminding him that he owes, and he ends up telling them their picture tube is broken. Instead of taking the hint, he sends them a bill for $51 to fix the TV. Ray McDonnell (William Keene) stops by to make a payment after being inspired by seeing Jeff working at the supermarket. Donna goes to see Jeff to find out why he is working two jobs, and runs into the butcher Mr. Folger (Perry Cook), who tells her that Mr. McDonnell has stopped coming to the supermarket because he’s run up a bill with him, so Donna passes off the money McDonnell paid her toward his account. The family starts to take pity on Jeff’s when he comes home drenched, and finds out that he’s working at the supermarket to pay off a window he broke while delivering papers. Alex agrees to raise his allowance, using the raise to pay off the money he owes him. Finsterwald finally takes the hint when he finds the bill inside the TV set and says that his wife had mailed the check… which had been in the envelope Donna tore up when she thought it was a bill reminder. Tony Miller is the checker. 1/4/17

SEASON 2

• 038. That’s Show Business – 9/9/1959
  • Mary is excited to be included in the upcoming school play, performing a dance number. When one of the other students, the shy stammering Kenny Bruce (Lee Aaker) approaches Mary and tells her that he is going to drop out because he doesn’t feel confident, she gives him a penny that she tells him was her lucky penny that cured her stage fright. Kenny continues on with the show, but Mary then becomes embarrassed when the teacher Mr. Cooper (Herbert Lytton) pairs her with him, with him being much shorter than she is. Initially she asks Mr. Cooper to switch the pairings, but then starts to feel bad and requests that they are left with the same partners. However she does drop a hint to Kenny that many male dancers wear lifts. Kenny takes this to heart and begins stammering again, but nonetheless has lifts made the day of the performance. It doesn’t go well when Kenny trips all over his feet and the lifts cause him to fall over into Mary, who is mortified. She is ready to leave town, but her parents insists that she allow Kenny to see her. He apologizes and return the lucky penny, but she gives it back to him and agrees to go on with the second night’s performance with Kenny – now without the lifts – as her partner. The second show is perfect. 1/13/17
• 039. Sleep No More My Lady – 9/16/1959
  • Alex and Donna head out on an early morning flight to New York City for a medical convention where Alex is going to give a speech, leaving the kids behind with Mrs. Harris. Donna has trouble sleeping on the plane, so Alex slips her a sedative, but then she takes two more on her own. by the time they arrive she is conked out and can’t keep awake during his speech. He is forced to carry her off the stage and his speech is cancelled. Donna feels terrible, but Alex is understanding. Then when Donna locks herself out of the hotel room and accidentally barges into the room of Dr. Elias Spaulding (Richard Gaines) who is running the convention. Spaulding is so put off by Donna’s behavior, that Alex decides not to even try and re-schedule his speech. Donna arranges it that Spaulding gets locked out of his room by getting the paper so she can explain how she made such a mistake, and to plead that he re-schedule the speech. On the flight home, Donna brags to the stewardess how well Alex’s speech was received. Jean Paul King is Dr. Brannon. Helen Bennett is Mrs. Spaulding. 4/10/17
• 040. A Penny Earned – 10/1/1959
  • Alex takes a ‘rate your wife’ quiz in the paper, and although Donna scores well, she seems to resent her perfect score in the thrift category. When the family is invited to a wedding, Alex tells Donna she can get a new dress, but she is perfectly happy to wear the same one she always wears. Meanwhile over at the Colliers’ house, husband George (Raymond Bailey) tells his wife Louise (Irene Hervey) that she can only get a new dress if Donna does. She promised to get one, but when she sees the $170 price tag, she backs down. When Alex laughs at her struggle, she insists that the family go out for an expensive dinner at Pierre’s. Only Alex can bring himself to order the filet mignon, while Donna and the kids stick with hamburger steak, which they don’t like. The joke is on all of them when Henri the maitre d’ (Jacques Scott) says the dinner is on him. Louise continues her campaign to get Donna to buy a new dress, and eventually she gives in. Alex is a bit taken aback when he finds the $240 price tag on it, but then Donna confesses that she actually merely died her old dress and upgraded it for $15, while Louise tricked George into buying her a $240 dress. Mary Carver is Miss Robbins. Christopher Essay is the waiter. 4/11/17
• 041. A Friend Indeed – 10/8/1959
  • Donna’s friend Fran Shaw (Ann Morriss) tells her that she thinks that Jeff is the nicest, most polite boy she’s ever met, and hopes that his good manners might rub off on her son Doug (Morris Lippert). Donna can’t see this side of Jeff, but thinks that Doug is the ideal polite boy. However Doug purposely vandalizes the nosecone from Jeff’s model airplane, and then offers to use the one from his own model. Donna is called in to see Jeff’s teacher Miss Ferguson (Doreen Lang), who indicates that Jeff vandalized a ruler with a remark about the teacher. Donna and Alex tell Jeff that they love him, but when they scold him for the ruler remark, he claims he didn’t do it… but refuses to divulge the real perpetrator. When Alex pays a house visit to tend to Fran’s daughter Virginia, he sees Jeff being polite, and Fran using Jeff as an example how Doug should behave. When an owl from a wildlife exhibit disappears and feathers are found in Jeff’s desk, Donna and Alex figure out that Doug is the one sabotaging Jeff. Alex blames Fran for fostering the resentment, so Donna invites Fran over so that she can witness Jeff’s normal boyish behavior… and also see hew own son at his most polite. It does the trick and Fran ceases to compare Doug with Jeff. 11/29/17 
• 042. The First Child – 10/15/1959
  • Alex is getting constant calls from new parents Joe (Dave Willock) and Louise Brandon (Alice Backes), and after being out nearly all night, Alex jokes with his family about getting another job when they prod him about all of their events he’s missed by being a doctor. Although he doesn’t have to be into work until later in the afternoon, he gets yet another call from the worrisome Brandons. Alex lectures them about being overly concerned, but as soon as he leaves their baby Norman begins crying, so she calls Donna looking for Alex, and off he goes again. Later Alex is forced to miss Jeff’s baseball game with the Bobcats when he has to work at the hospital, but when their team is clobbered, Jeff is glad he wasn’t there. That night Alex has a free night and takes Donna to the movies, and upon arrival gets the message that Mrs. Brandon is afraid that the baby swallowed something. He resists at first but then heads to the Brandons’ house where they’re afraid he has swallowed a diaper pin… which Donna ends up finding pinned to Mrs. Brandon’s blouse. Donna is enamored with the baby, and sympathetic to their worries. The next morning Donna wakes up, and now worried that the Brandon’s haven’t called in the middle of the night, she calls to check on Norman, and congratulates them on passing their first hurdle: sleeping through the night with waking up the baby to check on him. Jack Bryan is the theater manager. 11/29/17
• 043. Going Steady – 10/22/1959
  • Mary is busy avoiding a boy named Steven, and nursing her crush on Don Penner. She thinks she’ll have a better reason to approach him if Jeff agrees to go to his sister Meredith Penner’s (Sherry Alberoni). Jeff has no interest, even after Alex threatens that he won’t get the motor he wants for his birthday. Eventually he agrees to go when Mary gives him the money for his motor. However after rebuking Meredith during her original invite, she isn’t so quick to let him come to the party. Eventually he sweet talks her so well that she not only makes up with him, but now the whole school says that the two must be going steady. This embarasses him so much that he tries to back out of the deal, but Alex steps in and insists that he make good on his promise for Meredith’s sake. As Jeff trudges off to the party, Mary decides that Don is now a bore, and that Steven is now dreamy and is going to the dance with her. Jeff’s folks still make him go to the party, where he charms Meredith further much to his irritation. The next day at school Jeff is thrilled when Meredith breaks it off with him to go steady with Lester, whom she finds more dependable. Meanwhile Donna and Alex try to plan a party without inviting couples who don’t like each other. 8/5/18
• 044. The Neighborly Gesture – 10/29/1959
  • Jeff avoids mowing the lawn even though he’s been paid in advance for it, and then becomes further distracted when new neighbors Joe (Robert Nichols) and Eleanor Moody (Barbara Eiler) move in next door. He finds out that Joe is in the Air Force and was the recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and ends up staying at their house all day and not cutting the grass. The parents begins to feel like they are in competition with the Moodys. Jeff promises to cut the grass the next morning but winds up at the Moodys again. Alex sends Mary over to retrieve Jeff, but winds up spending the afternoon baking cookies with Mrs. Moody. Alex finally works himself into a jealous rage and demands that Jeff mow the lawn. Jeff finally mows the lawn, but when Alex wakes up from a nap, he finds that their lawn is only half-mowed, and Jeff is now mowing the Moody’s lawn. Alex is futher enraged, but gets some satisfaction when Jeff comes rushing home to tell Alex that Mr. Moody has fainted. He goes to help him and finds that he fainted when he saw Jeff cut his finger and the blood made him faint. Joe tells Alex how glad he is to meet him, how great their kids are, and how Jeff seems to talk about nothing but his father. Jeff explains that he was helping cut his lawn because Mr. Moody adjust the mower for him. The families all have a picnic together, but Jeff leaves to finish their lawn. 8/5/18
• 045. Nothing Like a Good Book – 11/5/1959
  • During a noisy argument between Mary and Jeff, Donna unwittingly accepts an invitation from the snooty Lydia Langley (Mary Shipp) for a social gathering. At the party, Lydia brags about her disdain for TV and the movies and brags about her affluent reading selection, as well as that of her son Christopher (Randy Preissman). Feeling as if she and her family aren’t being intellectually stimulated, Donna brings home the book War and Peace for herself, David Copperfield for Jeff, and a Tchaikovsky record for Mary. Her attempts at reading War and Peace aloud to the family meet with failure. She also inadvertently agrees to join Lydia’s book club and speak about the book, but with only a week to read it, she can only get through a small portion of it… and doesn’t understand much of what she reads. Alex agrees to accompany her to the meeting, during which she confesses that she didn’t come close to finishing the book. Alex then asks a smug Lydia for her to report on the book, but she can only come up with quoting what she saw in the movie version of it. Dr. Peabody (J. Edward McKinley) suggests they all play bridge instead, and Lydia’s husband Bartley (Frank Wilcox) and the other guests Ceil Pennington (Susan Dorn), and George (Fred Kruger) and Vera Platt (Margie Liszt) wholeheartedly agree. Christopher later comes over to watch the western show Gun Butt with Jeff. NOTE: The Langleys’ son Christopher is billed as “Christopher Cruikshank” in the credits. 2/21/19
• 046. Flowers for the Teacher – 11/12/1959
  • Donna is already irritated with Jeff for leaving his things scattered throughout the house, when more trouble ensues as Jeff comes home from school complaining about his new teacher Miss McGinnis (Marion Ross). She has made all of the boys stay after school for misbehaving, and act he considered unfair. The next day, Jeff feigns illness in order to stay home from school. His parents can clearly see through his ruse, but he wears them down into letting him stay home. Alex begins getting phone calls from several other parents asking him to look in on their sick sons as well. Donna goes to the school to meet Miss McGinnis and find out what is going on. She tells Donna that it was her first class, she was nervous, and that she hoped she wasn’t too strict but didn’t want things to get out of hand. She also saw Jeff as one of the class leaders. Donna comes home and tells Jeff that Miss McGinnis is quite a rookie and was scared and that she should be replaced. Jeff is flattered that she thought he was a leader, takes mercy on her, and realizes that the boys probably had it coming since the ringleader Lewis and the boys were obviously testing her. Jeff returns to school the next day and manages to lead the class to behaving for her. 2/22/19
• 047. All Mothers Worry – 11/19/1959
  • Jeff’s friend Philip Dorsey (previously Philip Adams in an earlier episode) is secretly playing on the Wildcats football team and changing his clothes everyday at Jeff’s house because he knows his mother Margaret will worry. Donna finds out, and while trying to decide whether to tell Margaret or not, she visits Donna’s house and find out for herself when Jeff and Phil come home. Donna tries to convince Margaret that there’s always a worry about your child getting hurt. Meanwhile the Los Angeles Rams are scheduled to play a pre-season game at the university stadium, and Alex and Jeff are excited to attend. An old classmate of Alex’s named Bert Rose (William Schallert) works public relations for the Rams and asks Alex to be their local doctor…gives him some free passes to see the team. Phil comes over to announce that he is quitting the team because he doesn’t want to worry his mother and give her more headaches, and he gets to tag along with Alex and Jeff to go see the Rams practice. The boys meet Coach Sid Gilman (himself), and meets players Jon Arnett, Les Richter, Bill Wade, and Don Burroughs (themselves). Jeff and Phil even run some plays with the players taking it easy on the boys. This gives Phil the confidence to tell his mother that he can play without getting hurt… until he runs into the goal post and hurts his shoulder. Jeff patches him off, but causes Margaret to worry more than ever. On the day of the game, Alex and Jeff head off to sit on the Rams bench, while Donna joins Margaret and Phil to watch the game on TV. When the Rams pull out a narrow win, Phil and Donna jump up and down with glee, while Margaret feels left out. Player Jon Arnett tells the announcer (Bob Kelley) that they are giving Phil the game ball, which causes him and Margaret to break down crying. Margaret realizes how important football is to him and asks Donna if she is holding him back. Donna assures her that all mothers worry, but that she should try worrying secretly. The players deliver Phil’s ball, and then stops by to give Jeff one as well and end up staying for dinner. 1/20/20
• 048. Jeff Joins a Club – 11/26/1959
  • Jeff is excited that he is going to be tested to see if he qualifies for entry into the FOOS (Friends of Outer Space), a neighborhood club with his friends, but he is irritated by a new kid named Walter Pearson (Tony Haig) who keeps following Jeff around. During their initiation, they are blindfolded and made to walk through a vacant lot that is disguised as being deep in the woods, until they come to their meeting tent. Walter keeps annoying the other boys by continually bragging about everything he owns. The two new recruits are also assigned the tasks of staying silent for six hours and staying up all night outside. Jeff goes through his paces, but in the end, both he and Walter are turned down. One of the boys, Pee Wee (Scott Morrow) visits Jeff a tells him that the reason he wasn’t let in the club is because no one liked Walter and they though he was friends with Jeff. When Jeff tells him that they are not friends, Jeff is let in after all. Donna runs into Walter’s mother and she tells Jeff how upset Walter is at being excluded. Jeff doesn’t care, and vows to tell Walter he doesn’t want to be friends. Before he can, Walter comes over and tells Jeff that he knows that no one likes him and that he is the reason that Jeff was denied. Jess says he’s going to be friends with Walter anyway and no one will tell him who he can be friends with. Donna suggests they start their own club, and they come up with the POOS (Pioneers of Outer Space). It’s just the two of them at their first meeting, but when Donna and Alex cook hotdogs and send the aroma over to the boys’ meeting tent, everyone jumps ship of the FOOS and joins the POOS. Jeff is even able to get them to help clean out the garage that has been promising to handle. Stephen Pearson is Zack. Randy Preissman is Robert. 1/20/20
• 049. The Punishment – 12/3/1959
  • The kids come home late one night, and Donna has no choice but to ground them for the weekend, which means that Mary will miss her friend Carol’s party and Jeff will miss fishing with Zack. They are upset, but when Alex returns home, they go rushing up to him with hugs and glee. Donna explains to him that they now hate dear old Mom for doling out the punishments, so Alex shows his solidarity by telling the kids he fully supports their mother… and throws in that she has hard days sometimes, making it sound as if the punishment had more to do with her temper than justice. Donna decides she will keep a list of all of the kids’ daily indiscretions and then hand it over to Alex when he gets home to hand out the discipline. He struggles with this, as the kids know the list came from Donna. From that point on, neither will bear the responsibility of punishing the kids, but when they start getting away with everything, it is quite unsettling to them. Alex comes to visit Donna at the hospital drug store where she volunteers and amidst an out-of-town customer (Lenore Kingston) and a new father (Robert Ellis), they decide that the hardship of being ignored has been worse on the kids than being punished and to bring home a pizza for the family. When they arrive however, they find that the kids have dressed up and prepared a fancy meal for them. They are touched and appreciative and vow to tell the kids about all of the good things they do, and not just the bad, but as hard as they try to justify lifting the weekend punishment, they decide not to. The kids accept this and admit that it will make them better people, but at the last minute Alex calls them back and tells them that there is a visiting Maharajah at West Point and as tradition dictates, he is permitted to rescind punishment on the cadets. Interpreting this loosely, Alex and Donna agree to apply this to the kids’ sentences. 5/5/20
• 050. A Difference of Opinion – 12/10/1959
  • Mary comes home from her friend Pat’s house, where she was forced to leave when her parents got into a screaming match. Jeff concurs that one of his friend’s parents are always arguing as well, and both agree how lucky they are that their parents seldom quarrel. While shopping later, Donna runs into her friend Phyllis Baker (Ann Rutherford) who implies that her husband Harry (Chet Stratton) thinks that the Stones don’t like them because they are always turning down their invitations. Donna makes several excuses, before being put on the spot to come over Friday and meet their madcap laugh-a-minute friends Rod (Hal Smith) and Elise (Holly Harris) and Fred (Renny McEvoy) and Joan (Alice Foote). When Donna mentions this to Alex, he blows his top because he can’t stand the way Harry laughs through his own jokes. However when the kids come in the room, they put a lid on their bickering. The more they try to stifle their arguing, the faster it escalates, but it is always put on hold when the kids are around. Eventually Alex can’t take Donna’s phoniness and has an outburst and agrees to go to the gathering. By this time Donna is so frustrated, she then declines to go. Eventually they get to the party where Alex is forced to fake-laugh at Harry’s jokes, and they are forced to endure watching Fred and Joan do the Cha-Cha. Fred even drags Donna along to try the dance. Alex makes an effort to laugh at the jokes on cue, but sometimes laughs too early. When they get home from the party, they bicker in their room about Alex’s attitude at the party, and the kids overhear them. In the middle of the night, Alex and Donna wake up and make up, and the next morning they are perfectly cheerful. The kids make a point to tell them that a little bit of fighting doesn’t upset them, but they were alluding to parents who fight constantly and in front of guests. Donna tells Alex that everyone considered him the highlight of the party, and she has invited them all over to their house… to which Alex cheerfully goes along. 5/5/20
• 051. The Homecoming Dance – 12/17/1959
  • Jeff is driving his mother crazy by continuously asking if he and his friend Eddie can sleep in the tent in their backyard over the weekend. When Donna continues to tell him no, he starts to work on his father which irritates her even more. Meanwhile Mary gets an invitation to attend a college homecoming dance at the state school Charter Heights 300 miles away from an ex-boyfriend Herbie Bailey (Tommy Ivo), who wants her to attend with his roommate Stan (Jay Strong). Again Donna is against it, but Alex a little bit softer on the idea. Donna has him have a talk with her about boys, but they just end up making plans to play golf together. Donna finally decides that they’ll allow her to go, but instead of her taking a bus, they decide to drive her up and stay at a hotel. Donna finally tells Jeff that he can stay at Eddie’s house and camp out while they are gone, but by now he doesn’t even want to camp out. While checking into the hotel, they overhear a college boy aggressively make time with a girl named Betty Smith (Suzi Carnell) and snatch her away from her boyfriend Dick (David De Haven). It turns out that the playboy is Herbie’s friend and Mary’s date Stan, causing Donna to worry even more. At the dance, Stan repeatedly tries to get Mary outside, but Herbie and others steer him away from her. Stan claims Mary is a square, while his other friends love the fact that he’s met a girl he can’t conquer. Donna can’t help herself and wants to peek in on the dance, but when Stan dances Mary outside again, they are forced to hide behind the bushes. They then get to hear Mary gently tell Stan that he seems to lack confidence by always needing to dominate girls. He accepts that, but when Mary realizes her parents are hiding nearby, she changes her tune and tells Stan she wants to elope with him, which both sares him off and freaks out the parents temporarily… until they realize she is on to them. When Mary gets back to the hotel, Donna apologizes to Mary for being overbearing. She also passes on asking why she was out until 1:30am, but Mary gladly volunteers that a group of folks got together and chatted… about their parents. 8/17/20
• 052. Lucky Girl – 12/31/1959
  • When Donna visits Alex’s office, she runs into Myra (Helen Conrad) the mother of little Donna, and Dorothy Elliot (Dorothy Kingston) the mother of young Betty, and they both rave about wonderful of a man Alex is. When Alex later agrees to cancel a bowling engagement and go to the theater to see She Stoops to Conquer with Donna, her friend Betty Murdock (Kristine Miller) again raves about how lucky she is to have Alex. This repeats again at the beauty parlor with not only with Helen the hairdresser (Gerry Lock), but with a woman (Margie Liszt) under the hair dryer. On the night of the play, Alex and Donna run into Betty and her friend Jane Lawrence (Mona Knox), and the women want to get Alex’s opinion on the play and every other play they’ve seen, with them and an enlarging group of women hanging on his every word and edging Donna out of the conversation. By the time she gets home, Donna is furious and begins taking it out on Alex, who has no defense since he’s done nothing wrong. The argument is halted when Alex gets called away to check on some sick children. While he is out, Jeff begins complaining of severe stomach pains. Donna calls around but cannot get hold of Alex, who received another house call while he was out. He eventually comes home and diagnosis Jeff as having overeaten. Donna is relieved that Alex cured their son, and now understands why all of the other mothers have such admiration for him since he’s cured their children too. Alex is sure to tell Donna how many of his friends are jealous of his marriage to her as well. Margie Liszt is the beauty operator. 8/18/20
• 053. The Broken Spirit – 1/7/1960
  • It seems everyone in the household has a beef with Jeff when he leaves Alex’s golf club in the driveway, ruins Mary’s pen, and leaves a bottle and banana peel in the couch cushions. After they all get on his case, he doesn’t seem to improve when he reads Mary’s diary and acts rudely at the table. Alex gives him even more grief to the point that he tells Jeff that he is bordering on being a criminal. That day on his paper route, he is also yelled out by his customer Mr. Barnhill (Raymond Hatton) for throwing the paper on his step, where it could potentially trip him. Jeff agrees to do better, but the next day he throws it right back on the step again. That night Jeff finds out from his father that Mr. Barnhill tripped on the stairs and now has a broken leg. Jeff feels guilty and scared, and tells his friend Timmy (Ronald Anton) that he is going to build up goodwill by going the extra mile to behave. When he starts doing constant chores and being helpful to everyone including Mary, his parents can’t believe their eyes. Donna starts to get worried that they’ve been too hard on him, and that his obedience has broken his spirit. Alex is reluctant to take back what he said, as he meant every word about Jeff’s behavior. Jeff saves up and buys some flowers to take to Mr. Barnhill, who is laid up in the hospital and seems to enjoy taunting the nurse Miss Cartwright (Virginia Stefan). Jeff even offers to work after school to help pay for the hospital bill, but Barnhill tells him that his cleaning lady left a broom on the cellar stairs that caused him to trip. Even though he spent quite a bit on the flowers, he tells Barnill that he was happy to do it. That night Donna gets a call from Barnhill, who tells her that Jeff was his only visitor since he has no family. Donna and Alex are proud of Jeff, even as his bickering with Mary starts to rage again upstairs. 12/4/20
• 054. The Secret – 1/14/1960
  • Jeff is listening in on  Mary’s phone calls, and he gets called out by both parents… but then gets blamed for eavesdropping when he’s actually talking to his friend Zach. That afternoon Mary’s friend Carol (Roberta Shore) stops by and shares an intimate secret with Mary: she engaged to her boyfriend Matthew Morgan (Michael Vandever), who is away at college in Los Angeles. Carol asks Mary to hold her engagement ring and relay letters from Matt so that her parents don’t find out. Mary agrees, but Donna becomes quickly suspicious when she sees her hiding something in her jewelry box, and then the letters start to arrive from Matt. Jeff takes it upon himself to check out the jewelry box and he finds the ring and shows his parents. Carol meanwhile plans to go to the school dance with Matt, but asks Mary to go with him, while she will go with Herbie and then they can switch dates at the dance. Mary feels terrible about not being able to tell her mother, while Donna is hurt that she isn’t sharing her ‘news’. Alex is chomping at the bit to meet Matt, and when he does, he quickly lays into him about getting married so young. Matt politely tells him that it doesn’t concern him, and as Alex is getting ready to boil, Carol shows up with Herbie, and it becomes obvious who the lovebirds actually are when Carol tells Matt that she finally told her parents the truth. Alex and Donna are relieved, and even more so when Matt tells them that he doesn’t plan to marry Carol until he finishes college, law school, and sets up his own practice. NOTE: Herbie is listed in the end credits as “Freddy.” 12/4/20
• 055. The New Mother – 1/21/1960
  • Jeff has agreed to watch his friend Eddie Garber’s dog Scraps for a few days while his family is out of town, and what’s more he is getting paid for it, but he still manages to shirk responsibility for taking care of the dog. Meanwhile, David Barker shows up at the house late at night and tells Jeff that he is being abused as Penfield Military Academy. Jeff sneaks him into the cellar, but when he carries the sleeping bag and a sandwich down there, Donna gets suspicious… especially when Colonel Woodward phones to tell her that David has ran away. Donna decides not to tell Alex, at least for the night, so that David can get a good night’s sleep in Jeff’s room. Donna wakes up to him crying, and gets the story out of him that his father had sent him a letter and through flashback, relates that the letter said that his father was remarrying a woman named Helen (Ina Victor) and that they were coming to see him. David thinks this means he is going home from the academy finally, but when they arrive, his father says that Helen suggested that he remain in place until after they are settled when the honeymoon is over. David is beside himself with grief, and this is why he runs away. In the present, Alex finds out that David is there and calls Colonel Woodward, who is with David’s father Major Barker. Donna insists that Barker wait until morning to come see David. When he arrives, he tells David that he is his first priority, and invites him to go fishing. He tells David that Helen broke it off with him because she thought that he was looking for a mother for David instead of a wife. Donna lays down the law with Jeff and tells him that he needs to take care of Scraps, no exceptions. 3/28/21
• 056. Just a Housewife – 1/28/1960
  • Newscaster Jerry Parker (Jerry Hausner) is doing interviews for the radio news segment Housewife’s Corner at McClure’s grocery store. When she hears another customer named Dorothy Burns (Elaine Riley) refers to herself as ‘just a housewife,’ and then Parker seems to make light of the fact that Donna is a housewife when he attempts to interview Donna. She takes up her grievance with Alex, but the only solution he can come up with is to strike the world ‘housewife’ from their vocabulary. Jeff exacerbates the situation by referring to Donna the same way. She even slams the door on a salesman who refers to her as a housewife. Later she hears another customer named Joan Standish (Eileen Harley aka Wallace Earl Laven) get mocked by Jerry Parker, so she interjects herself and forces him to define ‘housewife’ and then listing all of the roles that a housewife may play. Her speech takes off like wildfire all over Hilldale. Alex’s colleagues Dr. Jim Kane (C. Lindsay Workman) and Sam give him a hard time about it, while the nurse Miss Cartwright raves about the interview. Donna gets calls from all of her friend, invitations to speak at club meetings, and a visit from her friend Doris (Constance Moore), who thinks Donna is leading a crusade. Alex makes light of the whole thing, much to Donna’s irritation. Jeff Parker announces on the air that they will be changing the name of the show to the The Shopper’s Hour… but nevertheless, the next customer introduces herself as ‘just a housewife.’ The salesman returns to ask what housewives would prefer to be called, but when he says it’s because of some ‘screwy dame’ on the radio, he gets the door slammed in his face again. 3/28/21
• 057. The Free Soul – 2/4/1960
  • One afternoon a man shows up at the Stone residence and kisses Donna on her cheeks. He turns out to be Dan Harris (Myron McCormick), and old friend of Alex’s father. Dan has traveled to Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Alaska in search of oil and sheep farming. He regales the family with his tales of being a ‘free soul’ who does what he wants whenever he wants. Jeff is particularly enraptured by him, and even orders a hot dog and hamburger wrapped in a pizza from a frustrated soda vendor (Charles Wagenheim) just to prove that he too can do what he wants. Donna even catches some of Dan’s spirit and takes the day off from her chores to walk in the park and feed the elephants at the zoo. At the same time, Jeff, who has been wearing Dan’s hat since he arrived, leaves school after lunch because he didn’t feel like being there. Alex is furious but Donna admits how she took the day off as well, and asks that Alex go easy on him. Just then, Jeff’s friend Freddie Sutton’s mother (Aline Towne) stops by to tell the Stone’s that she doesn’t want to tell them how to parent, but Jeff lost his bike in a coin flip with Freddie and she wants him to come get the bike. Dan begins to sense that he has done some damage, so he asks Jeff to come to Africa with him now that he is a free soul. Jeff is gung ho, but when he sees that it is a reality that will happen within the hour, he starts to get cold feet. They all give Jeff an easy out when the remind him that he had promised his friend Zack that he’d help him plants some tomatoes for a project. Dan convinces him that a promise is more sacred than anything, including being a free soul. With that, Dan takes off for different pastures, leaving his hat behind for Jeff to keep. Alex admits that he too caught a bit of the bug, and skipped an important medical meeting to go to the movies. 7/23/21
• 058. The First Quarrel – 2/11/1960
  • Donna gets a visit by Alice Burke (Olive Sturgess), the wife of Alex’s colleague Jim (Keith Vincent). The two are new parents, and Jim has been a very doting husband and father, but recently the two have gotten into a fight because Jim told Alice after a party that she behaved silly by doing a Helen Morgan impersonation on the piano. She is furious and now considers him a beast. Donna advises her to go home and speak kindly to her and that he will likely apologize. As much as Alex wants Donna to stay out of it, Jim comes to Alex for advise as well, and Alex can’t hold his tongue and tells Jim to be careful about apologizing for their first fight because it will set a bad precedent for future arguments. Naturally, Alice reports Jim’s cool reception back to Donna, and she starts to believe that he is getting bad advice from someone. Eventually they each discover that the other is feeding advice to Alice and Jim. Furthermore, they get in argument about the outcome of their first quarrel as well, as neither can remember what it was about, but they disagree on the outcome. They decide to put their argument aside and to help the young couple by arranging for each of them to meet Alex and Donna at Luigi’s where they normally celebrate their monthly anniversary. As Alex and Donna wait at the restaurant, Donna gets a call from Alice, who tells her that the two made up on their own and want to spend the evening together so Jim can take photos of them. Alex and Donna decide to stay at Luigi’s for a romantic dinner themselves, and when Alex snaps his fingers at the waiter (Kevin Burke), they remember that this was what their first argument was about. They nearly slip into another argument, but then the violinist (Duci de Kerekjarto) come over and Alex is able to recall the song that was played on the night of their first argument. 7/24/21
• 059. A Place to Go – 2/18/1960
  • Jeff’s family gets irritated with him when he manages to spill Mary’s nail polish on her and both of his parents. Jeff goes to hang out with his friends Wilbur Keppler (Stephen Wootton) and another friend and look for something to do. When they can think of nothing, they decide to enter the old abandoned Willoughby house and make it into a clubhouse. Meanwhile, Donna and her Ladies Club friends Myra Keppler (Gerry Lock) and Eleanor Moody (Ann Morriss) and find a reason for their club to exist by finding a purposeful thing to do. The boys are caught by the police and brought to the station for breaking and entering. The call come in from Sgt. McDermott (Stafford Repp) to the Stone house, which gives Donna and her friends the idea to take on the cause of finding a youth center for the kids. They go to see Matthew Sarples (Lester Vail), who owns the Willoughby place and asks if he will done the house to the youths. He declines, but they realize that he is holding on to the property until the new highway goes in through that land. He agrees to loan the house for one year. Donna goes to the bank president George Heiser to get donations from the bank, but Heisier insists on donating his own money instead. After Donna accepts that, she asks that the bank also donate money. This somehow leads to him volunteering to help furnish the place. On the night of the opening of the youth center, none of the boys show up, so all of the adults are left to hang out alone. Later Donna criticizes Jeff and his friends for not showing up. He said that it now looks too much like a home they’re not allowed to mess up. Instead he and his friends spent the afternoon in a pipe at the dump, pretending to fly to the moon. Sarples then calls and asks if Donna will let him out of his promise to let them use the house for a year, as the highway is now going in earlier. She agrees to allow it if Sarples will move the house somewhere else… to the dump. 5/31/22
• 060. A Night to Howl – 2/25/1960
  • Mary begins reading poetry and is surprised that Donna is familiar with it as well. However, their conversation ends abruptly when Donna has to get dinner started, and Mary realizes that Donna has lost the romance of youth that she once had. Mary laments that she’s rather die young than lose the magic of life, and fall into the rut that her parents are now in. Donna tries to convince her that routine is necessary to run a family, but wonders of Alex may be feeling restless. When Mary tests her father to see if he really cares about what she did in school, she then accuses him of falling into a routine and being mindless after he comes home from work. He too begins to wonder if Donna is feeling confined by her life. He quickly tries to remedy it by asking her to go out to eat. They dress and head out of town to the Rustic Lodge to eat, but find that it is closed. They then go to a dead Italian restaurant, but the waiter (Mario Siletti) and Chef (Don Orlando) argue because Alex doesn’t want spaghetti and that is all they seem to have. They leave there and head over to a diner, thinking it might be romantic to eat like they did when they were courting. Mary is annoyed by an uncouth construction worker (Richard Reeves) watching a boxing match, and the counterman (Tom McKee) who takes no interest in them and serves them dry hamburgers. They leave there without eating as well. With nowhere left to go, they head back home, where they settle for old leftovers and watching an old movie on TV… only to find that the TV is broke, and that the kids went out. When Mary asks what they did, they romanticize the evening, which satisfies Mary into admitting that her parents really are romantic and exciting. 5/31/22
• 061. The Editorial – 3/3/1960
  • Jeff comes home and announces that he’s been named the new editor of the school paper. Alex comes home and says he’s about to be made head of the pediatrics at the hospital, pending Board approval. And Mary is fretting because her friends Patty and Susan are arguing over a boy named Ronnie, who she finds to be insipid at best. Jeff comes up with a his editorial which revolves around many of the teachers giving out too much homework. However, his teacher Mrs. Walters (Alma Platt) will not approve the article to be published, although she thinks it was quite well-written. Jeff is disappointed and bitter about being censored, and he thinks he has every right to print it, and remarkably Mary agrees with him. He decides to print the editorial himself using his friend Larry’s (Andy Kirk) printing press at his own expense, but once he starts handing these out, Mrs. Walters fires him from the newspaper. In rebellion, the next time Mrs. Walters tries to collect homework, Jeff simply says he is not prepared. He is joined by his friends Larry and Rick (Larry Hart). Mrs. Walters calls Donna to explain the situation to keep her informed, but ask that she not discuss it with Jeff at this point. Alex announces that he is going to see the Board the next day to discuss the pediatric appointment. Donna wants him to push for mothers and babies to be kept together after birth more, but he isn’t so sure. They also don’t agree with each other on Jeff’s situation, with Alex pretty adamant that he is handling it wrong, while Donna is more sympathetic to his cause. The next day at school, Patricia (Marylou Kenworthy) and the rest of the kids don’t turn in their homework. Alex comes home that night and announces that the pediatric appointment went to a semi-retired doctor Dr. Winston, who wanted the recognition. Jeff relates his issue to his father’s, but Alex explains that he can’t quit even those he doesn’t agree with the decision. He also explains how much of her own time Mrs. Walters puts into her job, but also can’t quit. The next day, Jeff is the only one to turn in his own homework. When Larry and Rick chastise him for quitting after starting the protest, he also explains that he can disagree with Mrs. Walters without quitting. He gets most of the kids to turn in the homework after all, much to appreciation of Mrs. Walters. Alex tells Donna that Dr. Winston agrees with Donna’s position on mothers and babies. Mary finally resolves her issues with Susan and Patty by going out with Ronnie herself. Michael Webber is Mike, the kid who represents the fourth grade. 9/25/22
• 062. The Gentle Dew – 3/10/1960
  • Alex is furious with Jeff because he paid him to clean his golf club, but the left them over at his friend Zack’s house when he used Zack’s buffing wheel. Then he finds out that Mary dropped from an A to a C in History because she kept putting off her homework and wound up turning in a paper late. He demands that the kids get their lives on schedule by showing up to meals on time, doing homework, and then going to bed at 9:30 every night. Donna then tells Alex that he might have been a little too strict, even though it was she who was initially the angriest at the kids. The next night Mary brings home a boy named Roger Durphy (Jan Stine), and wants to go out bowling and for burgers with him. She says she has already cleaned her room and completed her homework, so Donna has given her permission already. Alex is annoyed, but allows her to go, but demands that she be brought home at 9:30. Donna tells Alex that the two of them were invited to play Bridge with their neighbors Ben (Arthur Hanson) and Kay Wiley (Aline Towne). Alex is curious whether Mary knew they would be out that night, and wonders if Mary will come home at 9:30 or if she will be late. While they are playing Bridge, Alex claims that he controls his house by putting his foot down on the rules. However, he apparently doesn’t trust her, as he wants to run home to ensure that she got home. He and Donna get to the house just before 9:30, and she isn’t there. They wait around until around 10pm, until Donna starts to worry and Alex starts getting really angry. Donna calls Roger’s parents, and found out that they though Roger was over at their house. Alex runs over to the soda shop and find Roger there by himself. He says that Mary got mad at him when she bowled three gutter balls and he makes a comment about a girl named Darlene being more athletic, and walked out on him. Alex comes home more angry than ever, which causes a fight when Donna accuses him of not knowing how to handle his own children when he’s a pediatrician. Just then Mary comes downstairs in her night clothes, having arrived home and went to be around 9pm. The next morning, Donna tries to tell the kids that their father is a good man, but sometimes gets unreasonable when he gets nervous. The kids try to win him over, and Jeff offers to clean out the cellar. Alex says they’ll take the day to relax, so Jeff interprets that as saying he and Mary can go to the movies. Alex says they need to buckle down the next day, get organized, and back on a schedule. When he sees the looks in his family’s faces, he realizes he is outnumbered. 9/26/22
• 063. The Fatal Leap – 3/17/1960
  • Alex’s friend Jack Richards (Jack Albertson) rushes over to tell Alex that their mutual friend Maurice “Moose” Edwards (Charles Davis) is getting married. They find this amusing as Moose was Alex’s old college roommate in his freshman year… until he got kicked out of college as he lived the wild life. Donna isn’t amused at the humor they find in a man getting married, believing that they think this is a man’s apparent downfall. Later, while Donna is visiting the butcher Lou (Roy Wright), Jack’s wife Madeline (Florence MacMichael) comes in and talks about how excited Jack is that Moose is getting married, but not for the wedding but rather the bachelor dinner. Mary doesn’t think that Alex has even been invited to the affair since Alex hasn’t said anything. By the end of the visit, the ladies get their husbands stew meat instead of liver. Donna hints around that evening to see if Alex knows about the bachelor dinner, and it appears that he doesn’t, until he finally admits that he was invited that morning. Alex says he didn’t even want to bring it up since she has been so touchy about the subject but says that he doesn’t plan to attend. Donna realizes he is doing this to spare her feelings, so she insists that he go after all. On the night of the party, Donna doesn’t care for how jovial Alex seems as he gets ready, so once again he offers to stay home. She insists again that he go, and Madeline comes over to spend the evening with Donna. The entire night they worry about what the men are up to, resentful of the fact that women don’t have the same kind of rowdy fun that men do. Despite trying to avoid it, Donna starts reading the book The Bachelor’s Last Fling after Madeline goes home. Over at the party, they are all surprised to see that Moose had become a responsible, meek, and unassuming man in the days since they knew him. The guys attempt to tell some bawdy stories about a time that Moose pretended he was a Hollywood talent scout to a group of waitresses, but the humor is interrupted when Moose’s future father-in-law, the Reverend Dr. Wiggins (Sam Flint) shows up. Donna, at home in bed, dreams that Alex is living it up with dancing girls, until a cake is wheeled out and he finds her in it. When Alex arrives home, he tells Donna how boring the night was, and tells her that she can ask the Rev. Wiggins if she doesn’t believe him. 1/15/23
• 064. The Perfect Pitch – 3/24/1960
  • Jeff comes home from school, gung-ho to join the track team with his friend Greg (Tony Haig), but Donna learns something else new about him when he is able to identify the note of the doorbell and the telephone. He tells Donna that his music teacher told him that he has perfect pitch. She thinks that she and Alex should cultivate this talent, so she suggests that he start taking trumpet lessons with Mr. Barrie (Franco Corsaro). Jeff doesn’t have any interest in the trumpet, nor is he any good. Frequently while he is playing football or practicing for track, Donna calls him in to practice his trumpet. The noise of the trumpet is driving his father and sister crazy. Mr. Barrie won’t comment on Jeff’s talent but does suggest that the trumpet that Jeff has is rather old and worn. While Alex wants to help talk Donna into letting Jeff get some new track shoes, she suggests that they invest in a new trumpet. Meanwhile, Donna’s women’s club is having a dance and one of the members Myrtle manages to get the famous Larry Waggner Orchestra to play at the event for free. Donna and Alex have Larry (Jerry Lawrence) over for dinner, and they ask his opinion of Jeff’s trumpet. Jeff plays for him and then lets him examine the trumpet. Larry then proceeds to play the trumpet to perfection and tells Donna that even the best trumpet won’t play itself. He tells her that he sees no real talent for the trumpet in Jeff and if they force him to play, he may resent music all of his life. He also mentions that having perfect pitch and being musically talented are two different things, and that most musicians do not have perfect pitch. Donna finally sees the light and decides to let Jeff quit the lessons. The next day at breakfast, Donna notices a doodle that Jeff made while talking on the phone and thinks that he is a really talented artist, before quicly back-peddling when she sees the look on everyone’s face. NOTE: Mr. Barrie is named Mr. Tocari in the credits. 1/15/23
• 065. Pickles for Charity – 4/7/1960
  • Donna and Alex come home absolutely giddy from the great time they had at the Women’s Medical Auxiliary charity ball to raise money for the children’s hospital. Unfortunately, Donna’s bubble is burst when she gets a call from Laura, who tells her that they wound up with a $220 deficit. Donna calls a meeting of the ladies, and they figure out that each woman in the Auxiliary will need to earn $27 each to make up the shortage. Alex wants to simply write a check to cover Donna’s portion, but she would rather raise the money. That night at dinner, she gets the idea to sell her pickles since her family seems to think they are the greatest pickles in the world. The next day, Donna goes to the supermarket and asks the manager Mr. Ross for 150 pounds of cucumbers…and also some space in the store on Saturday to sell her pickles for charity. In order to repay her for all the work Alex has done for his family, he agrees to give her the space. Donna develops an assembly line in their kitchen, and Jeff and Mary help her package their homemade pickles. The three of them set up shop at the store, but Donna has to leave for a dentist appointment, so Jeff and Mary stay back and give out samples and attempt to sell the pickles. Unfortunately, the customers all seemed interested in sampling the pickles, but not in buying themselves a jar. They feel horrible and worry that their mother will be devastated when she returns to the store. When their father stops by to check on them and finds out that nothing has sold, he decides to buy them all, and then hand out the entire jars as free samples to the customers at the store. Donna has raised all of her share of the money with her pickles, but many of the other women have been less lucky at selling their wares. She tells Alex that she should buy 300 pounds of cucumbers and sell another couple rounds of the pickles. Donna then tells everyone that she’s joking and she knows that Alex has purchased them at all, and that he won’t have to be buying them all to spare her feelings. It turned out that they had given a free jar of pickles to her dentist’s assistant at the grocery store. 6/29/23
• 066. Mary’s Growing Pain – 4/14/1960
  • Jeff is heading off for a hike with his fellow scout members, and Mary is planning a ski trip with her boyfriend Roger Durphy, so Alex and Donna are looking forward to a day of doing nothing at home. However, when Roger shows up and says he will be driving up with Denise, a girl who just got a new car, and tells Mary that she’ll have to ride up with Tooey and Babs, she promptly refuses to ride with anyone and just would rather stay home. She goes through a crisis of confidence and starts hating herself and believing she it too ugly to be seen with Roger. Since she’s not leaving, Alex decides to go into work. There he sees his intern Lee Somers (Jack Hilton), and older nurse (Ann Seaton), and a young nurse (Abigail Shelton), who just had a patient send her flowers. When he gets home, he tells Donna and Mary that Dr. Somers will be stopping over to get some of his files to research a new virus. When Mary meets him, she develops a major crush on him. When Somers meets her, he starts telling her how much she reminds him of someone, but can’t put his finger on who it is. That night Mary dreams of Dr. Somers and helping him discover the formula of the new virus, as well as of him getting a Nobel Peace Prize, Pulitzer, Emmy, and other trophies and crediting much of his success to her as his wife. When she wakes up, she starts telling her mother that she wants to study medicine so she can understand her husband’s work. Donna tells her not to get carried away and that she is just mad at Roger, has been hurt before, and will get hurt again, but needs to move on. When Mary receives a flower delivery, she becomes convinced that they are from Dr. Somers, but when Alex arrives home, he tells Donna that he bought the flowers to cheer Mary up. Neither of her parents have the heart to tell her the truth about the flowers. When Somers shows up and asks Mary to go to see an Ingmar Bergman film, Donna looks for reasons to keep her from going. However, when Somers tells her that he finally figured out who she reminded him of – his kids sister – Mary runs upstairs to mope once again. However, when Donna shows Mary a picture of his sister, who had actually been Miss North Dakota, Mary is thrilled again. As she goes downstairs, Jeff returns from his hike, having received a lift from Roger, and he asks Mary to go to the movies. Mary tells him that she is already going to the movies to see a Bergman film, but then invites Roger to come along with them and he jumps at the chance. 6/29/23
• 067. Alex Runs the House – 4/21/1960
  • The family takes Jeff to the airport so that he can head off to Donna’s brother Bill’s farm. Mary can’t wait for the peace and quiet around the house, but Donna misses him immediately. As Mary plans to go out on a date with the dreamy Artie, Donna starts to worry about not receiving a telegram yet from Jeff indicating that he arrived safely. It finally arrives and she is relieved. A week later, Donna receives a letter from Jeff, but is disappointed that it is shorter than a telegram. Alex realizes how much she misses him, so he suggests that he fly up to see Jeff the next day rather than wait another week as originally planned. Donna worries that Alex and Mary won’t be able to get along for that long, but Alex assures her that they will be fine. Donna has lunch with her friend Wilma (Renee Godfrey), who suggests that Donna take Alex up on his offer, so that he can see how much he needs her. Not only does Donna commit herself to staying home, but she decides to make a pineapple upside-down cake for him from scratch rather than buying it from Peppy’s. However, after all of the extra work, Alex tells her not to buy the cake from anyplace other than Peppy’s. She then tells him that she made the cake but appreciates his honesty, so she didn’t go on slaving over the stove making a cake that he doesn’t like. She tells him her feelings aren’t hurt, but she suddenly decides to fly off to the farm that night. The first morning without Donna, Mary struggles through making breakfast, including the coffee. She promises to make it up at dinnertime… which turns out to be scrambled eggs after she burns the roast. When Mary accidentally makes a date with Roger and Artie for the same night, she has to go get her friend Kitty’s advice, leaving Alex with the dishes. Alex suggests that they will conserve energy by waiting for the dishes to pile up and simply do them once every four days. Once they reach the end of the four days, Alex suggests they take another day, and he purchases frozen TV dinners. Meanwhile at the farm, Donna and Jeff are enjoying the fresh air and food but are missing Alex and Mary. They decide to come early, so Alex has to be prepared to pick them up that very day. He tells Mary that he will handle the dishes, and she is shocked when she goes to her room to change and comes back to a perfectly cleaned kitchen. They pick them up and head straight to a restaurant for dinner. As they eat, Donna advises Mary to tell both dates that she wants to spend time with her mother since she’s just gotten home, and then she can re-schedule dates with both of them. Roger gets called away from dinner for a medical house call. When Donna goes to the kitchen to get Jeff a glass of milk, she finds the cupboards, stove, and washer all stuffed full of dirty dishes. Alex tries to sneak in when he gets home so that he can tackle the kitchen, only to find that Donna is still up. He tries to hide the cupboards from her. She laughingly tells him that since he got along so well without her that she plans to accept the delegate position for the PTA to go to Chicago, but he quickly stops her and says he’ll fight to keep her home. She tells him that it won’t be a hard fight because all she wants is to be wanted. 10/26/23.
• 068. The Career Woman – 4/28/1960
  • Donna gets a letter from her old classmate Molly Duncan (Esther Williams) that she was in town for a fashion show and would like to stop by and visit. Molly is now a successful clothes designer who was formerly engaged to a Duke but is now engaged to a small-town doctor in Calico named David Anderson (Richard Garland). Donna is a little nervous about seeing her since she is so chic and well-traveled. When Molly arrives, she is enamored by Donna’s house, family, and life, but admits that she doesn’t know if she can live that very-similar life with David. She sees how well life is for Donna, and thinks that if circumstances were all the same, she could be happy as well. Donna and Molly discuss their dreams, and Molly reminds Donna how she had always dreamed of becoming an actress but gave it all up to marry Alex. Donna tells Molly that she finally realized that that her domestic life was really her dream all along, and she has no regrets about choosing her family. Donna realizes that Molly’s visit is a test to see if she can hack it as a small-town doctor’s wife. While Donna and Molly are having lunch together, they run into Dr. Jim Folger (Don Burroughs), and it is obvious how respected the Stones are in town. After lunch, they meet up with Mary so that Molly can buy her a dress. The saleslady (Janet Lord) mistakes Mary for being Molly’s daughter, and Molly doesn’t argue. That night, the kids have plans, while the three adults head out to dinner. However, Alex gets a last-minute call that the Dorsey kid is sick, and Alex has to tend to him. Donna pretends to be furious that their plans are always getting cancelled due to Alex’s job, so Molly has to come to his defense and tells her that she must be willing to give up some things for her man. She then realizes the lesson being taught and decides to call David to come join them and tells him that she now wants to marry him. David flies 400 miles to meet up with Molly, so with Donna’s help, she prepares a big meal for him. After dinner, Molly and David talk privately… and David turns down her proposal, stating that had just been exposed to the warmth of marriage and family, and might night always feel that way. Alex put on his own act now and tells David that he agrees that Molly doesn’t have the qualities that it takes to be the wife of a doctor. David then rushes to her defense and says he wouldn’t marry anyone else but Molly. Morgan Jones is the waiter, John. 10/31/23
• 069. Jeff, the Financial Genius – 5/5/1960
  • Jeff and his friend Zack (Michael Montgomery) want to buy their own atomic reactor kit, but Jeff needs to pony up his share to go in on it which amounts to $7.85 that he doesn’t have. His father refuses to give him an advance on his allowance, so he immediately goes to his mother. When Alex finds out that he’s hounding Donna for the money as well, he puts his foot down on him doing in more borrowing. Furthermore, he discovers that Jeff not only owes money to everyone in the family, but to many of his friends and local businesses as well. Alex demands that all of Jeff’s future allowance money goes to repay all of his debts. Jeff delivers the news to Zack, and they discuss the movie The Man Who Came Back about a man in financial ruin that sold all of his stocks and bonds and then moved to Africa to start over. Inspired by the movie plot, Jeff decides to begin selling off his things as well. His parents start to become suspicious of what he is up to when Jeff asks what personal property he owns. They soon learn that Jeff is selling off many of his items at costs that are way below what they had paid for them. One of Alex’s patients, Mrs. Pruitt (Marjorie Winters) tells Alex that Jeff had traded a $25 to her son Alvin (Mike Peters). Alex confronts Jeff about some of the seemingly bad deals that he is making, but Jeff tells him that he has been trading his things for items that other kids needed, and then he can trade those items for more items, which will ultimately go to those he’s in debt to. Alex takes Jeff to the White Elephant Swap Shop to show him how bartering should be done. He is looking for an old coffee grinder to use as a lamp base for Donna, but when the shop owner Mr. Sprague (Herb Vigran) asks him if he’s interested in anything, Alex plays it cool and tells him that he’s just browsing. He has a plan to look at things in which he has no interest, and then will suddenly act like he might be interested in the coffee grinder. He thinks that Sprague will want to make the sale to him and sell it at a low price. However, Alex becomes distracted when he finds a leather case with the name Herndon embossed on it. Alex thinks it might belong to Abraham Lincoln’s old law partner since the item came from Springfield, Illinois. Mr. Sprague tells Alex that there is another man interested in it, so Alex winds up paying $25 for it in order to snag it. When he gets it home to look it over, it turns out that the item was owned by a different Herndon, one who was simply a hardware merchant. Donna decides that Jeff has learned his lesson and decides to advance him his allowance. Jeff then shows them how he got all of his stuff back by trading a pair of roller skates. In the process of bartering, he even got his mother the coffee grinder she had wanted. Seeing what a shrewd businessman Jeff has proven himself to be, they decide not to worry about his financial future anymore. 3/4/24
• 070. Mary’s Crusade – 5/12/1960
  • Mary laments to her mother that her friend Ellen Peters (Melinda Byron) hasn’t been asked to the school dance that is a week away. She thinks it is unfair of boys to judge her for being smart, but not as pretty as a girl like Melanie Miller (Carole Wells), who overuses the word ‘divine’. Mary decides to bring Ellen home and give her a makeover to make her more interesting to the boys. She also tells her that boys like to have their ego stroked and being made to feel macho. Mary then brings Ellen to the malt shop where Melanie is holding court with the boys, making a guy named Roy apologize to her, although he’s not sure why. When Don Morgan (Scooter Teague) shows up to see if Mary has decided if she’ll go to the dance with him, Mary directs his attention to Ellen and begins telling him how much Ellen likes sports cars. When he gets distracted by Melanie, Mary tries to introduce Bert Singleton (Carl Crow) to her. However, he too is distracted by Melanie. Mary goes home frustrated and vows not to go to the dance if Ellen doesn’t get a date. Jeff tells her that she’ll forget about Ellen if Bert asks Mary to the dance, but she maintains she’ll refuse him as well, even if he is the class president. However, the more she thinks about it, she starts to second-guess herself, and begins prodding her mother to see if she might give her ‘permission’ to break the promise. When Bert actually calls Mary to ask her to go to the dance, she tells him that she’ll have to think it over. That night, Ellen comes over to the house, and Ellen tells Mary that she can’t spend the evening of the dance with her because she has been asked to go to a friend’s birthday party. Mary is relieved that she didn’t have to decide to break her promise to Ellen and is now free to go to the dance with Bert. The next day, Donna runs into Ellen’s mother (Barbara Luddy), and when she mentions the birthday party that Ellen is attending, Mrs. Peters seems to have no knowledge of it. Donna then feels the need to tell Mary that Ellen only made up the party so that Mary could go to the dance without feeling guilty. Mary calls Bert and tells him that she can’t go to the dance after all. Although she knows she did the right thing, she is depressed about missing the dance. She realizes she can’t call Ellen to hang out either, since she’s supposed to believe she’s at a party. At the last minute before the dance, Ellen calls Mary and ask her if she can go to the dance with her after all. Ellen’s cousin Frank Pissel (Michael Eden) and his buddy Mort Rondell (Don Edmonds) are in town from Northwestern college and are excited to take the girls. Donna and Alex realize that Mary’s faith paid off in the end. 3/4/24
• 071. The First Time We Met – 5/19/1960
  • When Mary and Donna get into a conversation about arranged marriages, it leads to a discussion about how Donna and Alex first met. They have conflicting memories about how they met, but they recall it was at their friends Bill and Dorothy Sawyer’s house. Alex says that he was invited to dinner after they had just been married, and Donna ‘just happened’ to drop in. However, Donna says that Alex had commented on a picture of Dorothy ice skating with Donna, insisting that he get to meet her. They both send letters off to the Sawyers to try and find out the truth. Meanwhile, Alex introduces Donna to new hospital staff member Dr. Hank Landers (Bob Hastings), who happens to be a bachelor. The gears start turning in Donna’s head about who she might set him up with, but Alex tells her that he prefers to remain a bachelor so that she shouldn’t bother. On the evening that Landers comes to the Stone house for dinner, shortly after telling Donna that marriage isn’t in his timeline until he is at least forty, Donna gets a call from her friend Florence Kessler (Dorothy Klingston) who plans to stop by the house. Donna tries to insist that she didn’t have any matchmaking in mind, while Alex and Hank humor her. When Florence stops by, she does in fact introduce her to Dr. Landers, but then she reveals that she is already married. However, Florence then gets a bee in her bonnet to try and set her up with her cousin Vicki, which Donna again has to deny being any part of. While Donna is working in the hospital drug store, a nurse named Pat Archer (Kaye Elhardt) confesses that she really has a crush on Dr. Landers. When Landers nonchalantly asks Pat if she’d like to have a cup of coffee with her, Donna advises her to decline, so she does. Donna then says she guarantees that she will have a date with Landers to go to the bazaar. Later, when they have Dr. Landers over again, Donna mentions that she had asked Pat to go to the bazaar, but she said she had another date when she mentioned going with him. Landers is puzzled by this, especially when he asks Pat once again and she declines. However, when he nearly pleads with her to go, she finally agrees. After their night together at the bazaar, Hank gives Alex a message to give to Donna that he is now forty years old. Donna and Alex that Hank and Pat have a nice meeting story, although they still can’t agree on exactly what that is. Alex and Donna each get letters from the Sawyers, and both are disappointed that neither of their memories are correct. Alex then tells Mary the story as he now recalls it, and they agree it was a romantic way to meet… but after Mary is gone, Donna tells Alex that she saw the movie Spellbound, which he pulled the meeting story from. 7/15/24
• 072. The Gossip – 5/26/1960
  • When Donna’s friend Emily (Elisabeth Frasier) stops by to drop off some clothes for a rummage sale, Emily tells Donna that she has some gossip about their friend Margaret Harrison (Sheila Bromley) but cannot tell her what it is. During her visit, their friend Kay Watson (Maxine Cooper) calls to verify their dinner date, and tells her some news of her own, information that she had already gotten from Alex. Emily then becomes so curious about this news that she tells the gossip about Margaret getting a facelift. Later, when Donna tells this to Alex, he makes sure to remind Donna not to tell anyone that Kay is pregnant, as she intends to keep working up until she had the baby, and she faces being fired if her employer finds out that she is pregnant. Donna starts to panic since she knows she already told Emily and calls her to make sure that she doesn’t pass that information on. Donna is relieved when Emily tells her that she hasn’t told anyone, but when Mary comes home, she tells her that she heard from Emily’s daughter Julie about the baby. Donna again falls into panic mode and tries to think of a way that will keep her from facing Kay, but she and her husband Ralph (Gil Frye) are coming to dinner, that is impossible. All through the evening, Donna acts nervous and upset without revealing why. Alex tries to make Donna feel better by telling her that the subject of rumors seldom finds out about the actual rumor, but when Margaret Henderson stops by and mentions that there is a rumor going around about her facelift, this seems to negate Alex’s observation. At work, Alex’s colleague Jim mentions that men should be more patient with their wives, so Alex assumes he is having issues in his marriage… and proceeds to pass the info on to another doctor. Donna can take it no longer and decides to go confess to Kay about giving away her secret. When she arrives, Kay’s housekeeper Elsie (Almira Sessions) rushes Donna off, and before leaving, Donna is sure she sees Kay in the window. Donna thinks that Kay knows about her giving away the secret and will never speak to her again. Just then, Kay comes to see Donna and tells her that she noticed how strangely she was behaving and passed on some gossip that Donna might be having marriage troubles. Donna is ready to confess that it was her spreading gossip, but just then, Alex gets a call from Jim, accusing him of spreading rumors about his marriage. NOTE: Ralph and Kay Watson are named as “Ben and Kay Wiley” in the credits. 7/15/24
• 073. Love’s Sweet Awakening– 6/2/1960
  • The Stones’ neighbor Petey Handler (Ralph Reed) comes home from military school for a visit while on break. He had spent countless hours growing up at the Stone house eating them out of house and home. This time when he visits, for the first time, he notices Mary and quickly develops a crush on her. As a result, he starts to lose his appetite and mopes around the house. He tries to comb his hair and look more presentable to Mary when he comes over, but everyone in the family just asks him where he is going to have made himself up so nice. Petey’s mother Ruth (Jeanne Bates) starts to worry about him, so she comes in and asks Alex if he would examine him without Petey knowing. Under the guise of chatting with Petey, he manages to examine him in the living room, and he notices Petey’s heart rate skyrocketing when Mary comes in the room. He tells this to Ruth, who tells Petey’s father George (Dan Tobin), who then has a conversation with Petey in which he tells him that he once had a crush on one of his friend’s sister Myrtle. When he finally asked her out, he found that she was just as interested in him. Petey tries to follow this advice, but when he goes offer to offer to take Mary to the tennis matches, she only wants to discuss her problem in choosing a date for her friend Melanie’s (Carole Wells) party. Tired of Melanie thinking that she is so refined for spending time in Europe, Mary hopes to top Melanie’s choice of date. Donna then gets the idea that Petey needs to make himself more mysterious around Mary in order to get her attention and make her forget that she has known him for years. Petey then comes over in a hat and flashy jacket and starts talking to Alex about becoming a spy. When he mentions growing a mustache, both Jeff and Mary burst out laughing. Donna tries to give him a pep talk and caution him that most of the feelings one experiences while a teenager aren’t real, although they bring about as much pain as if they were. Petey resigns himself to believing that he’s just an average guy who could never capture the interest of Mary. Later, Mary has Melanie over, and Donna overhears Melanie bragging about dating a military man. She calls over to the Handlers’ place and finds out that Petey is heading back to the military academy. She asks him to stop by and say goodbye while he is in his uniform. When Melanie catches a look at him, she finds him handsome and alluring. Mary is surprised, but when Melanie asks if he will be busy for her party, Mary tells her that he is taking her to the party, which he gladly does. After Petey and Mary leave, Alex notices that all of the fruit, nuts, and candy are gone. They assume that Petey got his appetite back, but it turns out it was Jeff who ate it all. His parents start to hope that he falls in love soon. 11/18/24
• 074. The Wedding Present – 6/9/1960
  • Donna is planning a luncheon with the rich socialite Mrs. Barbara Manning (Harriet MacGibbon) and tries to solicit fashion advice from Alex, all the while complaining about what he is wearing. She is excited for the lunch, as she and her friend Louise Barnett (Molly Dodd) have helped decorate the children’s wing at the hospital, which was funded through Mrs. Manning’s generosity. Donna and Louise plan to meet her at the antique store to pick out some items for the wing and the go to lunch together. Donna and Louise tell each other that they are dressing casually, but then come dressed fancy, only to find that Mrs. Manning is dressed casually herself. They browse the antique store and are shown various items by the proprietor Mr. Jason (Tommy Farrell). Donna and Mrs. Manning agree on a lamp, while Louise initially disagrees, only to change her mind as soon as she hears Mrs. Manning’s opinion. Donna also mentions how much she likes a Dresden doll, and Mrs. Manning is certain that Donna has wonderful taste. She tries to talk Donna into buying it, but when Donna hears that it is $250, she balks. Mr. Jason tells her to take it home for her husband to look at it, and then if she decides not to buy it, Mrs. Manning says that she will purchase it herself. Donna takes it home, but when Alex comes home in a horrible mood after a woman driver has backed into his fender which will cost $75, Donna has Jeff hide the doll in the attic. Alex then gets a telegram from his Aunt Lettie, actually his mother’s cousin, that she will be by for a two-hour visit on her way to Chicago for the birth of her grandbaby. Alex realizes that they had better put the wedding gift that she got for them out to be on display so that they don’t hurt her feelings. Unfortunately, none of them know what she got for them. They all scour the attic to try and figure it out, but in the end, they simply put every tacky statue, pillow, and painting – plus the Dresden statue – that they find in hopes of putting out the right thing. With the living room now full of junk, Mrs. Manning and Mr. Jason stop by and see all of the tacky junk all over the place, causing Mrs. Manning to change her mind about Donna’s taste. After they leave, Alex tells Donna that Aunt Lettie isn’t coming after all, as the baby was born earlier than expected. She also tells them that she had planned to give them their wedding present since she never gave them anything originally. They both can only laugh at this, and Donna then pulls out the Dresden statue and tells Alex the whole story. Later, Alex tells Donna that she can keep the statue, but she tries to resist. He admits that Mr. Jason had actually had demand for a lot of the junk that they had put out, so they made an even trade for the statue. When Louise drops by, she is flabbergasted that Alex so willingly agreed to let Donna keep the statue, a story that Alex corroborates. Donna says that she got her statue, but it is likely that Louise got Mrs. Manning. 11/18/24

SEASON 7

• 219. Operation: Anniversary – 9/17/1964
  • Jeff is busy creating a lamp out of an old well pump for Dave Kelsey and plans to spend the $15 that he made by treating his parents to a fancy anniversary dinner at the Purple Door. He is able to plan the dinner, even negotiating with the restaurant to cover the $3 that he is short… but then finds out that his father has reserved a getaway weekend at an inn for his themselves. Dave offers to loan Jeff the money, but Jeff is adamant that he spends only his own money. Dave then suggests that Jeff create another well lamp, and Jeff decides that is what he will do. When Donna and Alex spots the lights going on and off in Dave’s garage, and notice a silhouette to boot, they start to call the police, but luckily Dave and Midge stop them from doing so and are forced to tell them that it is Jeff in there. He won’t tell them why, but he does tell them that they already spoiled one surprise when they threw him a curveball with their getaway trip. They then feel bad, and come up with the excuse that there is a call for rain over the weekend, so they can back out of going to the inn. Jeff then feels bad because now he doesn’t have the money to take them out to dinner. Dave tells Jeff that he had a friend that saw his lamp and was interested on one of his own, so Jeff continues to make the lamp he was already making, only now he will sell it for dinner money instead of giving it to his parents. All goes perfectly at the Purple Door dinner, with Jeff tipping the waiter to get the best seat, tipping the band to play his parents’ song, and ordering the food and wine for his parents. After the fabulous night, Alex gives Donna the gift that he got her… the well lamp that one of Dave’s ‘friends’ made for him. Eugene Borden in the Maitre d’. 1/23/22
• 220. Dad Drops By – 9/24/1964
  • Jeff is working on a filming a story about a woman whose fiancé was killed on the Titanic, with Donna playing woman, when Alex comes home and drops the news that his father Samuel J. Stone (Carl Betz) is coming for a visit. Alex arranges a meeting with his friends so that they can take over his medical assignments for several days, so he can keep his father occupied, and Donna and the kids won’t have to face his rather opinionated and annoying mannerisms. Unfortunately, Alex is called by his boss to help upstate with an virus epidemic that is being passed around. Meanwhile, Midge comes to see Donna in tears, because someone hit Dave’s car when it was parked on a street in front of a shop. At the same time, Samuel arrives at the Stone house up in arms because a woman driver hit the side of his 1928 Duesenberg. Dave meets Samuel first, and is inclined to take his side in the accident… until he finds out from Midge that it was her who was to blame, although she wasn’t actually driving the car when he hit it. Samuel plans to sue Midge, and gets hold of a lawyer and Mr. Mason (Rodney Bell), who runs a local antique car museum and offers to buy the car. With their father gone, everyone starts to tire of Grandpa’s antics, as he forces them to eat groats for breakfast, exercises every morning and causes dishes to fall out of the cupboards with the banging, and insists on cooling the house by keeping the windows open until everyone is freezing. Jeff is also surprised when he goes on a ride with his grandfather to the market and realizes what a terrible driver he is. He and Donna get the idea to have Jeff film him driving, while Donna drives Jeff and follows him. They then show the footage to Samuel, who is nearly on the edge of his seat as he reckless drives through town, drives on sidewalks, and nearly hits everyone in his path. He finally admits it is time to get rid of the car and take the train back home, so he offers it to Mr. Mason. Pride still won’t let him admit what a horrible driver he has become, so he blames Donna for recklessly driving near a crazy driver… himself. As he goes to head home the morning after Alex finally returns home, he gets in his Duesenberg and starts to drive, but then reconsiders and has Mr. Mason drive him to the train station after all. 1/23/22

SEASON 8

• 265. My Son, the Councilman – 1/6/1966
  • Jeff has been very involved with the Student Council at school, and he regularly debates politics with his friend Gerelda Schultz (Sheila James). She often gets advice from Zeke (John Qualen), an old man who sits in the park typing up notes to newspapers and giving students guidance and advice on their school work. One day he is lamenting that Woodrow Park, where he often sits on his bench and ‘works’, is going to be closed down by the current City Commissioner Timothy “Tiger” Trimmitt, who claims that the parks are drawing too many vagrants and undesirables. Trimmitt is currently running for Mayor unopposed, but he likes to espouse that he is willing to debate anyone anywhere. Gerelda gets the idea to have Jeff run for Mayor as an independent, since the laws concerning age limits were overlooked in setting the rules for independents. When two guys, Charlie and Hank (Buddy Lewis) show up to take away the Zeke’s bench, Gerelda refuses to get off the bench, and then when she is forced off by the movers, she jumps in their truck bed. Jeff tells her that if she gets off, he will agree to run. Gerelda and their classmates begin canvassing to get 500 signatures on a petition for Jeff to run, even getting them from Jeff’s reluctant parents. They then start hanging flyers all over town, especially near Trimmitt’s office. His secretary Mrs. Featherspoon (Pauline Myers) point the flyers out to a surprised and outraged Trimmitt. He has no idea who Jeff Stone is, so he starts asking around. Jeff comes to see him voluntarily and offers to withdraw from the race if he promises to leave Woodrow Park alone. When he refuses, Jeff decides to campaign full force. He even asks for a debate with Trimmitt on TV, and brings Zeke to the debate and tells his story. Surveys then indicate that Jeff stands to receive 48 percent of the vote. Jeff starts to get nervous that he might actually win, so he tells Gerelda that he wants to withdraw. She tells him to stick it out and that Trimmitt will be asking for a meeting with Jeff very soon. At that moment, Trimmitt calls and asks to see them, and then offers a tennis court and additional parking lot at the school. Jeff and Gerelda are adamant that Zeke’s bench be returned to the park, so Trimmitt finally and reluctantly agrees. Trimmitt has Zeke’s bench returned, and Jeff withdraws from the race. Geralda keeps her political aspirations open, and beings organizing Trimmitt’s campaign for him. Rickie Sorenson is Jack, the boy who tries to get Donna’s signature. Kathy Fields is Mary, another signature collector. Tiger Fafara is Charlie, the grocery store boy. Jean Cook, Jeanne Tatum, Fern Barry, and Helen Jay are the women taking the samples. 9/25/22

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 27th, 2000 at 11:22 am and is filed under Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.