Chip is seen coming home from school, entering the house pretending to be very sick. Everyone is fooled...until Steve comes home and he quickly figures out there's a reason he doesn't want to go to school the next day.
It is because they are casting for a school play, entirely produced, written by, directed by one of his fifth-grade classmates, a girl names Millie Mae. Chip is sure he will be chosen for the lead role of Christopher Columbus because Millie Mae loves him.
Steve has Bub talk to him about the show business in the family blood on the O'Casey side, and Chip is now pumped up to be a good actor. He is chosen for the Columbus role and seems happy to do it. That night he comes home and Bub now gives him lessons in how to "Schmaltz" it up-go for cheap laughs by repeating lines and being a ham.
Chip does this to the distress of everyone, resulting in Millie Mae asking the teacher to come and see their next rehearsal. She watches and when practice ends, tells Chip they need to find a role more suited for his acting talents-a minor role that embarrasses Chip so much, when he comes home he tells everyone he quit the play because his life has too much going on.
Once again Steve gets to the truth and he gets him to agree to do whatever role he can. He winds up not appearing until just before the play ends, when he is in the role of "an American"-that Columbus brought back to Spain to see the queen. He gets a couple of lines while dressed like your typical Indian of the old days.
There's a new classmate named Charley, who is played by Billy Booth, who just a one episode ago was a new friend of Chip's named Richard. Billy, is the actor who played Tommy, Dennis Mitchell's good friend on the Dennis the Menace series that ended the previous year.
I think the writers nailed the way kids do many of the things they were shown doing here and it was an entertaining episode overall. I have to say that Bub has to be one of the worst acting coaches in history. This was a straight historical (well, from the kids' perspective) dramatic play and he coached Chip to do silly movements and say his lines totally designed for a farcical comedy. All he should have done is show Chip how to say his lines with feeling and to speak out clearly.
The classroom seemed filled with over 20 people, yet the play seemed to only have roles for about 8 people. All we saw was Queen Isabella and the King, with a few servants, as Columbus enters to make his proposal, then he returns with his souvenir-a live "American." Seems like a play that couldn't have taken as much as 10 minutes. The audience we saw seemed to have enough "parents" for a play with 30 actors. Oh well.
The teacher left the room when the first practice started, totally leaving it up to the class. Quite unrealistic, particularly because over half the class seemed to have no parts to play and thus they would not really be expected to behave well in that scenario.
By the way, Ernie wound up playing Columbus. He got off the best line of the whole show. Isabella asks why he thinks the earth is round when they all know it is flat. She directs a servant to get out their "map," and we see a cardboard box with a picture of the continents on it. Ernie, as Chris, says, "You're only looking at the box." He opens up the box and pulls out a globe, saying this is what it really looks like.
It was sillier than most episodes and also funnier. There were no subplots-Mike and Robbie were barely on the show. I give it an 8.
It is because they are casting for a school play, entirely produced, written by, directed by one of his fifth-grade classmates, a girl names Millie Mae. Chip is sure he will be chosen for the lead role of Christopher Columbus because Millie Mae loves him.
Steve has Bub talk to him about the show business in the family blood on the O'Casey side, and Chip is now pumped up to be a good actor. He is chosen for the Columbus role and seems happy to do it. That night he comes home and Bub now gives him lessons in how to "Schmaltz" it up-go for cheap laughs by repeating lines and being a ham.
Chip does this to the distress of everyone, resulting in Millie Mae asking the teacher to come and see their next rehearsal. She watches and when practice ends, tells Chip they need to find a role more suited for his acting talents-a minor role that embarrasses Chip so much, when he comes home he tells everyone he quit the play because his life has too much going on.
Once again Steve gets to the truth and he gets him to agree to do whatever role he can. He winds up not appearing until just before the play ends, when he is in the role of "an American"-that Columbus brought back to Spain to see the queen. He gets a couple of lines while dressed like your typical Indian of the old days.
There's a new classmate named Charley, who is played by Billy Booth, who just a one episode ago was a new friend of Chip's named Richard. Billy, is the actor who played Tommy, Dennis Mitchell's good friend on the Dennis the Menace series that ended the previous year.
I think the writers nailed the way kids do many of the things they were shown doing here and it was an entertaining episode overall. I have to say that Bub has to be one of the worst acting coaches in history. This was a straight historical (well, from the kids' perspective) dramatic play and he coached Chip to do silly movements and say his lines totally designed for a farcical comedy. All he should have done is show Chip how to say his lines with feeling and to speak out clearly.
The classroom seemed filled with over 20 people, yet the play seemed to only have roles for about 8 people. All we saw was Queen Isabella and the King, with a few servants, as Columbus enters to make his proposal, then he returns with his souvenir-a live "American." Seems like a play that couldn't have taken as much as 10 minutes. The audience we saw seemed to have enough "parents" for a play with 30 actors. Oh well.
The teacher left the room when the first practice started, totally leaving it up to the class. Quite unrealistic, particularly because over half the class seemed to have no parts to play and thus they would not really be expected to behave well in that scenario.
By the way, Ernie wound up playing Columbus. He got off the best line of the whole show. Isabella asks why he thinks the earth is round when they all know it is flat. She directs a servant to get out their "map," and we see a cardboard box with a picture of the continents on it. Ernie, as Chris, says, "You're only looking at the box." He opens up the box and pulls out a globe, saying this is what it really looks like.
It was sillier than most episodes and also funnier. There were no subplots-Mike and Robbie were barely on the show. I give it an 8.
