We begin with Kathy, in just her 8th appearance, still recently married, complaining about being taken for granted, essentially saying to Danny that she'd like to get applause and take a bow like he does in his work. Suddenly she is mollified when he assures her the next time she makes a pot roast that he will applaud her.
The couple get to talking about when Kathy was in high school and sang in school plays and did a marvelous job and how she'd love to go on a real stage and sing sometime. Danny proceeds to tell her about how she'd be like others he's known who would get the "puckers." On stage, in front of strangers, she'd be unable to open her mouth to sing, only able to open wide enough to pucker. Kathy is upset at this and we the viewers know immediately what will happen later.
Next comes Terry and her friend, Peggy, asking Danny to help them find a female singer for a high school benefit who will sing on their limited budget of $63. Danny says he's going to a studio and will do what he can. He leaves and Kathy hears them talking and works to get asked to sing for them. The teens think she'll be fine and figure Danny won't even remember to try to find someone for them, much less actually get somebody. But Kathy makes them promise not to tell Danny before the event.
At the studio, Danny meets the very singer mentioned earlier, Dinah Shore, who is eager to ask him to do a comedy act for her child as a benefit. The two stars agree to trade favors, although Danny pauses to consider how unfair it is that Dinah will get $63 while he has to settle for just over $27.
When Danny brings home Dinah, Peggy and Terry are stunned. They try everything but the truth to keep Dinah from being the singer because they don't want to go back on their recently-made promise to let Kathy be their singer.
Kathy learns about Danny's arrangement and cleverly finds a way to back out to let the famous singer do the job. (SPOILERS concerning the ending coming up) After Dinah sings for the group of high schoolers, it is revealed by Rusty that Kathy had been asked to sing earlier. When Miss Shore hears about this, she insists Kathy go back out and sing for the audience right then. Of course, Kathy is glad to do so and all she can do is pucker her lips before she runs off stage, embarrassed, having proved Danny's point that just seeing a small group of high school kids would give her incredible stage fright.
My problem with the plot is that the girls came up with all sorts of lies about why they didn't want Dinah Shore instead of just saying they already got a singer and that they cannot say who at this time. They could have gone to Kathy and explained.
Furthermore, the setup for this performance seems all wrong. They said they needed a "female singer" even though from what little we saw, it was just some sort of musical numbers being sung, not a play. If it was some sort of musical review, they could easily have added a second female singer and let Kathy and Dinah Shore both sing. The entire notion that they needed one female, but couldn't use two, would only have worked if it was a dramatic play they were putting on. Any realistic type of musical show already cast, would have had the people in charge happily adding any number of songs if a famous person was suddenly available to help out.
Rusty and Linda were mostly featured in a scene where they were offered bribe money to not tell Daddy about Kathy's plans to sing. The reason Rusty blabbed at the end is because his "bribe money ran out" the day before. As they rushed into the room for their scene we had the usual Linda with a big forced, unnatural smile, which seems to be what she always did when entering the scene or when waiting to give her line. Nobody walks around with a large toothy smile all the time naturally.
While there are many funny episodes in this series, I hope I remember to skip this one next time I see it on. I could only give it a 4.
The couple get to talking about when Kathy was in high school and sang in school plays and did a marvelous job and how she'd love to go on a real stage and sing sometime. Danny proceeds to tell her about how she'd be like others he's known who would get the "puckers." On stage, in front of strangers, she'd be unable to open her mouth to sing, only able to open wide enough to pucker. Kathy is upset at this and we the viewers know immediately what will happen later.
Next comes Terry and her friend, Peggy, asking Danny to help them find a female singer for a high school benefit who will sing on their limited budget of $63. Danny says he's going to a studio and will do what he can. He leaves and Kathy hears them talking and works to get asked to sing for them. The teens think she'll be fine and figure Danny won't even remember to try to find someone for them, much less actually get somebody. But Kathy makes them promise not to tell Danny before the event.
At the studio, Danny meets the very singer mentioned earlier, Dinah Shore, who is eager to ask him to do a comedy act for her child as a benefit. The two stars agree to trade favors, although Danny pauses to consider how unfair it is that Dinah will get $63 while he has to settle for just over $27.
When Danny brings home Dinah, Peggy and Terry are stunned. They try everything but the truth to keep Dinah from being the singer because they don't want to go back on their recently-made promise to let Kathy be their singer.
Kathy learns about Danny's arrangement and cleverly finds a way to back out to let the famous singer do the job. (SPOILERS concerning the ending coming up) After Dinah sings for the group of high schoolers, it is revealed by Rusty that Kathy had been asked to sing earlier. When Miss Shore hears about this, she insists Kathy go back out and sing for the audience right then. Of course, Kathy is glad to do so and all she can do is pucker her lips before she runs off stage, embarrassed, having proved Danny's point that just seeing a small group of high school kids would give her incredible stage fright.
My problem with the plot is that the girls came up with all sorts of lies about why they didn't want Dinah Shore instead of just saying they already got a singer and that they cannot say who at this time. They could have gone to Kathy and explained.
Furthermore, the setup for this performance seems all wrong. They said they needed a "female singer" even though from what little we saw, it was just some sort of musical numbers being sung, not a play. If it was some sort of musical review, they could easily have added a second female singer and let Kathy and Dinah Shore both sing. The entire notion that they needed one female, but couldn't use two, would only have worked if it was a dramatic play they were putting on. Any realistic type of musical show already cast, would have had the people in charge happily adding any number of songs if a famous person was suddenly available to help out.
Rusty and Linda were mostly featured in a scene where they were offered bribe money to not tell Daddy about Kathy's plans to sing. The reason Rusty blabbed at the end is because his "bribe money ran out" the day before. As they rushed into the room for their scene we had the usual Linda with a big forced, unnatural smile, which seems to be what she always did when entering the scene or when waiting to give her line. Nobody walks around with a large toothy smile all the time naturally.
While there are many funny episodes in this series, I hope I remember to skip this one next time I see it on. I could only give it a 4.
