It starts out with a rather creepy development, Chip and his steady Polly discover this middle aged man following them to/from his home and their hangouts. When they find him having trailed them back to Casa Douglas,Polly gets scared and while Chip gets annoyed and calls for backup from the Douglas men and Uncle Charley [who brings a baseball bat along] who get him to fess up that he's a detective but refuses to say who hired him. Meantime, Chip is becoming more keen on Polly's idea of eloping but is honest enough to want to approach Steve with this before going through. Steve urges him to at least talk things through with Polly's dad Mr. Williams before doing anything drastic. Chip tries to take Steve's advice but then Mr. Williams decides to try to rake Chip over the coals via reading off a report he's gotten on Polly's rather blah activities with one 'R.D.' who Chip and Mrs. Douglas realize means Chip himself and Chip puts together that it was Mr. Williams who hired the detective to tail Polly. Mr. Williams tries to give Chip the 3rd degree but Chip refuses to sit down for his elder and gets furious with Mr. Williams for him having scared Polly like that and refuses to back down before storming off. I think it's the angriest I can recall Chip ever getting ! Mrs. Williams also joins her daughter's steady in being outraged over her husband's treatment of their daughter! Mr. Williams is lucky that it was Chip and not Robbie who'd courted Polly inasmuch with Robbie's temper, he'd have likely not left a wall standing in the Williams house by the time he finished venting over the detective trailing them!

Chip decides that it's now or never and fetches Polly to join him but leaves a note (in crayon ) for Dodie to give to Steve and Barbara explaining his actions. Barbara happens upon the note when she comes home from the movies to kiss her young daughter then shows it to Steve who admits he'd given his permission to the young couple. Then Mr. Williams calls Casa Douglas at 4AM and invites himself over still in his bedclothes! There Steve shows Mr. Williams the note and Mr. Williams insists on trying to get the young couple's union annulled but is thwarted when not only Steve fesses having his his permisson but also MRS. Williams admits having given her OWN notorized permission. Steve and Barbara try to console the Williams patriarch but he's not having it. Then Steve realizes that via the elopement, he's now related to Mr. Williams.

A fairly good late episode and it helped that Ronne Troup was quite believable playing an 18-year-old girl desperate to get out from under her overwhelming father's thumb- despite actually being 25 at the time!

When I've seen this episode in the past I've wondered why Mrs. Williams hadn't told her hubby she gave the notarized permission. Why she hadn't told him before the 4 a.m. L. R. meeting in Casa Douglas. Then I noticed her surprised look when Steve and Barbara mentioned Steve had granted permission. So she probably had figured Chip wouldn't have gotten permission when she gave hers. I also wondered if Polly getting her mother to give her permission was a cut scene.

Norman Alden had many character roles, but Tom Williams is one of his best. He did a superb job of playing a real jackass. Amazing Polly turned out so even-tempered growing up with him.

Yes, the Chip character (other than the real little kid) was always very even-tempered. And he (rightfully) lost his cool when he found out Williams has them tailed.

Good catch, stevea!

I imagine that Mrs. Williams put forth her permission to Polly (and Chip) as a means of trying to give the couple leverage. IOW, so they COULD try to reason with Mr. Williams and for all the adults to plan a traditional ceremony months in advance but without Mr. Williams being able to veto their plans as they HAD gotten Mrs. Williams's permission. I guess she didn't think Steve would have given it on his own but she wanted leverage.

I also think it was interesting watching her go from the rather intimidated wife of Mr. Williams to FINALLY standing up for herself and, more importantly, for Polly and I believe the revelation that he'd hired a detective to follow their courting daughter was the last straw for her to throw off being docile. Hence, the reason WHY she only revealed it after Mr. Williams invited the two of them to Casa Douglas was to let Mr. Williams himself as well as the more reasonable Douglases know she was going to be more like a mother bear from now on rather than revert being a doormat. IOW, the Douglases would have been witnesses AND insurance that Mr. Williams would not be able to attempt to force her to backtrack as opposed to her having no witnesses besides him to her declaration.

While there may have been a cut scene of Polly having gotten permission. I think the way it played out with nothing onscreen on Polly's part to indicate she'd gotten maternal permission when she and Chip scampered away AND with Mr. Williams threatening annulment upon news that Steve had given his permission, it was more satisfying to see that the wind COULD be taken out of Mr. Williams's sails permanently. Up to the moment of her revelation, the viewers had had nothing to indicate that there was anything that could stop Mr. Williams bulldozing Polly's and Chip's plans & happiness and that ultimately Chip, Polly and Mrs. Williams (as well as the other Douglases) would have had nothing more than impotent rage over his paying for a spy on the couple rather than him getting his comeuppance for doing so!

Curiously, while every other Douglas regular had at least a line or two to contribute- even Robbie, Katie and Dodie, for reasons unexplained ERNIE was completely absent but for a single offscreen reference. It would have been interesting to have found out whether he'd have been impressed by Chip's resolve or tried to intellectually talk his older brother out of it!

Margaret Williams really did "awaken." She always knew what a hold Tom had on Polly, and when he revealed that HE had hired the detective, she may have snapped (and as mentioned, Chip certainly did). So when Polly asked for HER permission--notarized--she might have said to herself, aha!, I'll show him, I'll do this. It will do no harm, since the Douglases will never give permission.

Another thing that surprised me was when Chip pulled right up in front of the house for the elopement. He didn't know Tom was out bowling, but he probably wasn't thinking too straight at that point.

Yes, I thought of Ernie during the pow wow at the Douglases'. Surely old nosy Ernie would have awakened and listened in on that. Or he would have appeared in the hall earlier when Chip left the note with Dodie. For reasons unknown, he was absent in this episode.

And Tom still proves himself a jerk, and rude, when he refers to Polly marrying the first guy that comes along.

And, despite what Tom did, after the newlyweds got settled in their dorm two episodes later, Polly still cared--deeply--that her "papa" was snubbing her. And Chip nobly goes and sees him and is spurned. But Tom shows he has a heart and shows up at the dorm, ostensibly to call the auto club for his broken down car, and eventually confesses the real reason.

All the opening-of-season arcs were very well-written by head-writer George Tibbles--this is one of my favorites.

Chip was fairly passive with Mr. Williams, until he found out he hired the detective. That’s when you knew for sure how much he loved Polly.

Norman Alden played the character so well. His scenes should be studied by current and future actors on how to play an unlikable jerk.

Mr. Williams was right to want to stop his very green little girl from getting married. She had the mentality of an 11 year old not a grown woman and had no business getting married so very young and so obviously before she was ready. Even Chip should have done the right thing and stuck to his guns to wait before they get married as he first wanted till Polly worked her tears on him.

Good for Mr. Williams. And his lousy wife deserved to be kicked out of his castle for her stab in the back despicable action. :)

Oh, right. Who wouldn't hire a private detective to tail his daughter and her boyfriend? Any normal, sensible father would do that.

If he hadn't done that they wouldn't have eloped.

The really thick one in this whole story was Steve. He was totally in the dark. Barbara had it nailed almost from the beginning.

Tom Williams was an overprotective father. Polly mentioned he did this to all of her boyfriends. Sure, eloping at 18 is a very risky move, and most people are adults only physically and legally, not so much mentally. However, Polly truly was miserable living there, and that was part of the reason of the elopement. The other part was true love. As mentioned, Barbara noticed it just by watching.

While Hazel Anyday made a somewhat valid point about Polly being a bit green to be rushing into marriage. Someguy made a good argument about WHY she was so desperate to find an escape. Her overwhelming father Mr. Williams really went too far when he hired that detective and, no I don't think Mrs. Williams deserved to be thrown of said castle for standing up for her daughter. If anything Mr. Williams needed to be crowned with the nearest mace for letting his galloping obsession with his daughter's love life become downright unhealthy ( and even squares like Steve and Uncle Charley could see this) and not recognizing that via the bragging about his surveilance to Chip, he sealed Polly's fate as afterwards Chip felt compelled that he (Chip)HAD to get her OUT of there! Let's not forget that Chip not only had to overcome his lifelong training of being politely deferential to adults but also the fact that Mr. Williams was clearly taller & broader than himself and could have beaten Chip to a pulp. Yet, despite ALL those odds, Chip was NOT going to sit or back down re letting Mr. Williams have it re his outrage over his actions having scared Polly.

Let's also not forget that when Chip came over to spirit Polly away, she mentioned that Mr. Williams was off the premises due to being HIS bowling night. However; she didn't say that MRS. Williams wasn't there so it's likely that she HAD seen her mother, told her mother her intentions and Mrs. Williams had given Polly the notorized permission as insurance for buying time to plan a wedding months in advance but Polly wasn't about to forgo striking when Chip's iron was hot so she went for the elopement. I imagine that Mrs. Williams was sound asleep when Polly amscrayed until Mr. Williams came home from his gutter balls and discovered Polly wasn't there so he woke her up but Mrs. Williams had no idea where Polly had gone much less believed that she HAD eloped (and I think Polly likely kept her mother in the dark over her plans so she [Mrs. Williams] would NOT be blamed).

Oh, and it seemed he'd done this sort of thing with her previous flames so Chip was NOT 'the first guy' as he put it.

And yet, even after ALL that in which Mr. Williams cut her off after her elopement, Polly missed her 'Papa' and wanted a reasonable bond with him- and Chip was gallant enough to swallow his own pride to be willing to attempt to broker a peace which Mr. Williams initially rejected. Thankfully, Mrs. Williams let him know in no uncertain terms that she wouldn't cover for him and he'd be entirely on his OWN if he kept up this snit! Yeah, the story arc ended on a conciliatory note but I kind of wish that we had seen the Williamses the last two seasons after all this- and whether Steve (and especially Uncle Charley and Robbie) actually became friends if not just civil acquaintances with Mr. Williams.

One last thing I'd like to add. I thought it was interesting how the Williamses' daughter (and future Mrs. Chip Douglas) was called Polly inasmuch that in 1970 and even by Mr. MacMurray's youth, it was considered somewhat old-fashioned for humans and mainly used for parrots. I know her actual given name was Pauline but I think it would have been cool had at least Chip called her 'Lena'. It's interesting,too, that Mr. Williams seemed to be the ONLY person outside the occasional teacher who used Chip's given name of Richard until he finally compromised to accept Polly's marital status.I can't even recall Steve, Bub or Uncle Charley using it even when getting mad at one of Chip's stunts!

Pauline was a fairly common name in the early 1900s through the late 20s. By the early 50s, it had fallen out of favor. With Tom being an old fashioned guy, perhaps he chose the name. Polly is a form of Pauline, so I understand that aspect of it. Maybe I am overthinking this.

I think you're all overthinking this.

Bottom line, Mr. Williams was absolutely right. Polly pressured Chip into marrying her, if he hadn't she would have glommed on to the next sucker (if you'll recall she was going to break up with him when he didn't want to get hitched, we all forget that?). Polly was too young to make any decisions for herself her father was the right one to make any and all decisions. Her mother should have been tossed out of Mr. Williams' castle for daring to object to the lord and master and if they had done as Mr. Williams commanded all would have lived happily ever after. Oh, and Steve didn't have a clue. :crazy:

There, I think that sums it all up rather neatly. Thank me.:wave:

Hazel Anyday,

If all the other adults including Steve and Uncle Charley believed that Mr. Williams was being unhealthily obsessed with his daughter's dating life and went too far via hiring a detective, then I have to ask exactly what would Mr. Williams have had to have done for you to say 'He went TOO far! He was being unhealthy' over this. At least give us what your definition of what 'too far' and or 'unhealthy' would have been.

Oh, and I'd like to remind you that the adult Williamses were US American citizens in the mid to late 20th century with both of them having the right to vote their entire adult lives rather than Mr. Williams being the 19th century King of Siam or Araby whose word was unquestioned law with all the females in the family home including his wife supposed to not even object to anything he said or did. The days of Mr. Williams being able to send his daughter to a nunnery or arrange a marriage against his daughter's wishes without Mrs. Williams being able to do a thing about either were long gone- along with buggy whips and bustles.

Oh, if you think we're overthinking this. Does that mean you'd have no problem with us believing you were underthinking this?

You did give me a laugh Practz, you are sincere if not hopelessly tolerant.

Hmm, what's too far? Well, chopping off Mrs. Williams head on the block? Maybe. Uh, dipping Polly in tar and then Mr. Williams breaking his duck feather pillow on top of her and have her then parade up and down the block where Chip lives. That would be a well deserved punishment and then Mr. Williams could accept Polly back into the castle. All worthy actions on Mr. Williams, the lord and master of his domain. And certainly understandable by any reasonable huming bean.

All joshing aside, I still think Mr. Williams was correct. You can chase all the butterflies but the duties of the King must be performed as Mr. Williams knows. The only objection I have is Mr. Williams didn't go nearly far enough. Both the insubordinate wife and Polly should have been flogged.:)

Hazel Anyday,

Thanks for answering my query. OK, I'll grant that you don't seem to think Mrs. Williams deserved the death penealty for standing up to Mr. Williams and you don't think Mr. Williams was entitled to carry it out. I guess I should be thankful for that small concession on your part.

However; you seem to overlook that Mr. and Mrs. Williams were US citizens in the latter half of the 20th century and Mr. Williams was by NO means a king (oh, and I'd like to remind you that holding any noble titles is illegal for US citizens). Moreover; there were laws against domestic violence in this country which would have made it ILLEGAL for him to have attempted to flog Mrs. Williams and their daughter AND for him to have attempted to tar and feather Polly would have been considered quite cruel (yes, I know that this has been treated as somewhat a joke by some in our nation's early history but hot tar burns to at least blisters AND it's next to impossible to get rid of feathers applied as such- I'm talking it would take weeks if not months to do so).

Oh, I have actually come to tears in laughter, Practz.:rotflmao: I have to thank you, I haven't laughed this hard in weeks. And twice yet today. You are great. I congratulate you on your complete sincerity and commitment to sticking to the harsh realities of today's society.

As for me, I still like all my appropriate recommendations for poor sweet Mr. Williams. But reading you pour cold water on my wonderful thoughts leaves me with only one wistful sigh. Ah, :rolleyes:flogging, tarring, feathers galore from a new "My Pillow", (sigh) they must have been fun times. Surely though you can't object to Mr. Williams doing this to Mrs. Williams.:whip Never even has to lay a hand on her.

I guess that's why they were called the good old days.:wave:

Even though we seem to completely disagree re which of the Williamses were right and who should have done what, I'm glad my replies amused you, Hazel Anyday.

BTW, just WHO were those supposed 'good old days' good for anyway?

P.S. I can't imagine that Mr. Williams would have liked you calling him 'sweet' under any circumstances- and he likely would have invited you to the nearest parking lot to explain why!

I think it’s obvious Polly pressured Chip into marriage. Williams hiring the detective was too far.