Fred MacMurray and Marilyn Erskine play a long-married couple who go to a nightclub to hear songwriter Jimmy McHugh (playing himself) play a medley of his old standards, sung by a bevy of pretty young singers. As the show progresses, the couple remembers back to when they were young and what certain of McHugh's songs meant to them over the years of their marriage. It's kind of a syrupy premise, but director Claude Binyon--who also wrote the episode--makes it even syrupier by his handling of it. It's not particularly well-written and, other than MacMurray, not very well acted. The direction is stiff and perfunctory, and for some reason Binyon has McHugh address the TV audience directly rather than the "nightclub" audience; "breaking the fourth wall" usually doesn't work out well--Oliver Hardy in the old Laurel & Hardy comedy shorts could do it and pull it off, but few others could--and it doesn't work well here.
Overall it's a rather undistinguished episode, with little going for it other than some nice McHugh songs. Worth a watch, maybe, but nothing to write home about.
Overall it's a rather undistinguished episode, with little going for it other than some nice McHugh songs. Worth a watch, maybe, but nothing to write home about.