S1.E22 ∙ Man in a Trench coat

[Tankeryanker]

What the heck is happening in this episode? I watch it on youtube and its dark and blurry so I can't see, but it also has a lot of people in it and I am not sure who is doing what to whom.

Can someone explain it?

[stevea]

I read the description on the List of episodes on Wikipedia. It makes no sense to me. Some guy is following Robbie, and it turns out to be the brother of one of his girlfriends.

[biffbronson]

I believe to some extent this episode was inspired by the popularity of 77 Sunset Strip; unfortunately I found the music to be too heavy-handed and distracting, unlike that show's nice production.

Robbie is going steady with Vivian. But at the same time, he's surreptitiously going out with Judy. Rob is paranoid he's being followed and will be found out; he's been reading a lot of mystery paperbacks, which meets with some disapproval from Steve. There's quite a bit of time spent dealing with what appears to be a stolen hubcap, but Rob's specific involvement is unclear at first when he's seen with Judy and the removed hubcap.

Someone wearing a trenchcoat does appear; Rob and Mike give chase one night but are unable to "head him off," with Mike actually landing on top of Rob unintentionally instead.

Vivian and Judy each (separately) receive anonymous notes telling them the writer has info of interest to them, and to meet him/her in the basement of the Douglas house. When each goes down there, they meet and are very icy toward each other. Then Jean Pearson and her father come down, followed by Rob, and then Mike. (Judy is clearly turned on when she sees Mike.) It turns out Mike wrote the notes, to get everyone together and "straighten" everything out.

Mike says a Mr. Collins - the trenchoat man - saw Rob putting a hubcap back on Mr. Pearson's car, and mistook Rob for stealing it -- and since then was following Rob. In a wild scene, after Vivian turns off the lights, Rob and Mike catch the trenchcoat man, who turns out to be Vivian's brother Andy -- she employed him to find out about Rob's relationship with Judy. Again the hubcap, Andy was almost caught "borrowing" one for a scavenger hunt. Vivian and Rob make up, while Judy goes off with Andy. Rob decides at the end to get rid of the mystery paperbacks.

Vivian and Andy are siblings with the surname Gibson, so the "Mr. Collins" reference is confusing, as clearly Vivian "hired" Andy to follow Rob & Judy.

There's much more about this episode I find unfavorable than good. Chip's extremely annoying plinking of the piano, Mr. Pearson as an unsufferable grouch, and all of the very dark nighttime scenes. Overall a confused mess of an episode, highly unusual, and it's surprising that Peter Tewksbury would have any involvement in it.

[biffbronson]

Addenda:

I see that an IMDb user has given this ep a "perfect" rating of 10/10, which is totally startling given the confusing storyline. Maybe a better print for viewing would make it more enjoyable, but the "Film Noir" aspect the reviewer loves seems hardly well-adaptable to a humorous family sitcom. (I have the DVD with this ep, but it's in storage and I didn't watch the entire season on there.) There are some laughs in this episode, but not enough for my taste. I do agree that the guest actresses are compelling.

Anyway, here are some things I wanted to point out:

It was Collins who saw Rob with the hubcap, but it's confusing that both he and Andy Gibson wore trenchcoats, and are referred to regarding that. It's unclear how we transition from Collins very early on to Andy being the one who's following Rob & Judy. I don't see ANY acting credit for Collins among the cast (presumably he's the man with the dog barking at Rob & Judy, and he speaks to them).

The notes revealed to have been written by Mike are seen with clearly differing handwriting. Possibly this was intentional so that we'd believe more than one person was writing them. Intentionally confusing the viewer?

This ep marks the second of 3 appearances total by Jean's father.

Paul Engle, who plays Andy Gibson, returns as Andy a few episodes later to compete with Rob in a soapbox derby.

Engle had a memorable role in a Hazel episode as the young new neighbor who becomes infatuated with Dorothy Baxter (Whitney Blake). I didn't realize as well that he apparently played the nefarious boy who stole Beaver's bicycle on Leave It to Beaver.

The actress playing Vivian Gibson, Carol Sydes / Cindy Carol, was the star of the film "Gidget Goes to Rome," 1963. Several Leave It to Beaver appearances for her, the most noteworthy perhaps as Wally's very early love interest in Season 1 of LItB.

Cheryl Holdridge (Judy) and Don Grady (Rob), former Mouseketeers, both appeared in episodes of The Rifleman: Cheryl in Season 4, Don in Season 2 (twice).

The theme of Rob trying to date 2 young women simultaneously returns in Season 6: "Robbie's Double Life" -- although in that case, the women like each other and they team-up to teach Rob a lesson.

I wouldn't have minded to have been in Don Grady's shoes, getting to work with actresses like Cheryl Holdridge and Marta Kristen early on in the series. It's noteworthy though regarding the girls' characters that Rob finds Cheryl/Judy irresistible, yet he seems to be oblivious to the hotness of Marta/Peggy in most of her episode. Both in Season 1 of M3S.

[stevea]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

Addenda:

I see that an IMDb user has given this ep a "perfect" rating of 10/10, which is totally startling given the confusing storyline. Maybe a better print for viewing would make it more enjoyable, but the "Film Noir" aspect the reviewer loves seems hardly well-adaptable to a humorous family sitcom. (I have the DVD with this ep, but it's in storage and I didn't watch the entire season on there.) There are some laughs in this episode, but not enough for my taste. I do agree that the guest actresses are compelling.

Anyway, here are some things I wanted to point out:

It was Collins who saw Rob with the hubcap, but it's confusing that both he and Andy Gibson wore trenchcoats, and are referred to regarding that. It's unclear how we transition from Collins very early on to Andy being the one who's following Rob & Judy. I don't see ANY acting credit for Collins among the cast (presumably he's the man with the dog barking at Rob & Judy, and he speaks to them).

The notes revealed to have been written by Mike are seen with clearly differing handwriting. Possibly this was intentional so that we'd believe more than one person was writing them. Intentionally confusing the viewer?

This ep marks the second of 3 appearances total by Jean's father.

Paul Engle, who plays Andy Gibson, returns as Andy a few episodes later to compete with Rob in a soapbox derby.

Engle had a memorable role in a Hazel episode as the young new neighbor who becomes infatuated with Dorothy Baxter (Whitney Blake). I didn't realize as well that he apparently played the nefarious boy who stole Beaver's bicycle on Leave It to Beaver.

The actress playing Vivian Gibson, Carol Sydes / Cindy Carol, was the star of the film "Gidget Goes to Rome," 1963. Several Leave It to Beaver appearances for her, the most noteworthy perhaps as Wally's very early love interest in Season 1 of LItB.

Cheryl Holdridge (Judy) and Don Grady (Rob), former Mouseketeers, both appeared in episodes of The Rifleman: Cheryl in Season 4, Don in Season 2 (twice).

The theme of Rob trying to date 2 young women simultaneously returns in Season 6: "Robbie's Double Life" -- although in that case, the women like each other and they team-up to teach Rob a lesson.

I wouldn't have minded to have been in Don Grady's shoes, getting to work with actresses like Cheryl Holdridge and Marta Kristen early on in the series. It's noteworthy though regarding the girls' characters that Rob finds Cheryl/Judy irresistible, yet he seems to be oblivious to the hotness of Marta/Peggy in most of her episode. Both in Season 1 of M3S.

Two things I didn't know. I found the role on Hazel to be really annoying (and I always blame that on the writers and the director--the actor is just doing what he's told.)

[biffbronson]

Seeing Whitney Blake walking along in heels and a form-fitting skirt made an impression on me in that Hazel episode, I have to admit.

On IMDb, there's mention that this M3S trenchcoat episode is a "parody" of the old Film Noir movies Fred MacMurray did years earlier. I'm not certain I can go along with that. To me, a parody should have lots of laughs and be easy to follow. I didn't really find either of those to be true for the M3S episode, although I can agree that it was likely the writer's intention.

Probably my favorite scene is where Vivian and Judy meet in the basement, and Vivian remarks that she's been "invited" to meet Rob there -- and Judy has a vicious comeback, to the effect of meeting him in a basement is hardly a viable rendezvous.

[stevea]

Whitney Blake made Hazel worth watching. I realize it Was Shirley Booth's show, but it's a shame that most of the time Dorothy was "just there."

They could have done some character development with her--they certainly did with Don DeFore.

[Tankeryanker]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

I believe to some extent this episode was inspired by the popularity of 77 Sunset Strip; unfortunately I found the music to be too heavy-handed and distracting, unlike that show's nice production.

Robbie is going steady with Vivian. But at the same time, he's surreptitiously going out with Judy. Rob is paranoid he's being followed and will be found out; he's been reading a lot of mystery paperbacks, which meets with some disapproval from Steve. There's quite a bit of time spent dealing with what appears to be a stolen hubcap, but Rob's specific involvement is unclear at first when he's seen with Judy and the removed hubcap.

Someone wearing a trenchcoat does appear; Rob and Mike give chase one night but are unable to "head him off," with Mike actually landing on top of Rob unintentionally instead.

Vivian and Judy each (separately) receive anonymous notes telling them the writer has info of interest to them, and to meet him/her in the basement of the Douglas house. When each goes down there, they meet and are very icy toward each other. Then Jean Pearson and her father come down, followed by Rob, and then Mike. (Judy is clearly turned on when she sees Mike.) It turns out Mike wrote the notes, to get everyone together and "straighten" everything out.

Mike says a Mr. Collins - the trenchoat man - saw Rob putting a hubcap back on Mr. Pearson's car, and mistook Rob for stealing it -- and since then was following Rob. In a wild scene, after Vivian turns off the lights, Rob and Mike catch the trenchcoat man, who turns out to be Vivian's brother Andy -- she employed him to find out about Rob's relationship with Judy. Again the hubcap, Andy was almost caught "borrowing" one for a scavenger hunt. Vivian and Rob make up, while Judy goes off with Andy. Rob decides at the end to get rid of the mystery paperbacks.

Vivian and Andy are siblings with the surname Gibson, so the "Mr. Collins" reference is confusing, as clearly Vivian "hired" Andy to follow Rob & Judy.

There's much more about this episode I find unfavorable than good. Chip's extremely annoying plinking of the piano, Mr. Pearson as an unsufferable grouch, and all of the very dark nighttime scenes. Overall a confused mess of an episode, highly unusual, and it's surprising that Peter Tewksbury would have any involvement in it.

Okay, thank you. That helps some. A confused mess is how I see it. I will reread your post when I watch it again to try to get some clarity.