Stories of this sort, in which the main character is looking backward over the past, especially past failures and foibles and failed loves, strike me as melancholy, sad, and somber, and definitely not funny. Life certainly can be that way, so if the point of this episode was to convey that, then it succeeded. Not all of the "My Three Sons" shows are funny. Some are more serious. This is one of them. In that respect, the show demonstrates some range and depth and realism sometimes, to put it positively.
3 Reviews
Memories Of A Lost Love
StrictlyConfidential10 November 2020
(IMO) - "A Perfect Memory" was a very corny and sentimental episode of "My Three Sons".
In this story Steve Douglas has a series of nostalgic flashbacks where he fondly recalls a youthful romance that he had 30 years ago with a Josephine Kringles (not Pringles).
All-in-all - I thought that this episode could've been a whole lot better than it was.
In this story Steve Douglas has a series of nostalgic flashbacks where he fondly recalls a youthful romance that he had 30 years ago with a Josephine Kringles (not Pringles).
All-in-all - I thought that this episode could've been a whole lot better than it was.
Really dull, laughless episode about Steve remembering his first girlfriend
FlushingCaps1 October 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This review will give away the ending, so if you think in a light-hearted drama that will ruin it for you, read this AFTER you view the program. It's not a murder mystery and the ending is surely predictable to most viewers, so I don't think I'm really spoiling anything here.
I saw Steve coming home to learn from his family that "an old friend" had stopped by to see him, a lady named Josephine. Mike had, upon request driven her to a drug store not too long ago, so Steve decides to see if he can find her.
We quickly get confirmed what we immediately suspected-she is an old girlfriend, in fact, Steve's first.
We see Steve going to the drug store, learing she was there and left, then he goes to the high school across the street, where they not only leave doors unlocked after hours for anyone to wander in, but in the auditorium, musicians have left their instruments all over the stage, so Fred MacMurray gets a chance to play his saxophone. He learns that she was there and left. Next he drives to her old house, sees that it is up for sale. Then he goes home and learns that she called and said she's coming at 5 to try again to see him.
The family is all gussied up (suits and ties, even Chip) and is busy cleaning the house. Steve is excited and anxious about seeing Josephine again-it's been 30 years, we are told.
While my big paragraph above does describe all the action, I now need to tell about what we mostly saw-Steve remembering his high school days and how his fondness for Josephine grew. At each of his stops, he remembered a different scene, acted out by George Spicer as teenage Steve Douglas, and we see how he has a rival named Larry Peckinpaugh who is also interested in Josephine. As we move along in Steve's memory, she seems to be interested in both boys, but then takes more to Steve, and we have a scene in a park where she invites him to kiss her, and they do.
But the next day, she tells him that her father just got a new job in California and she has to move away. They are sad since their interest in each other has just grown, but realize there's nothing they can do.
When time has come for them to see each other again, Steve is eager to see this old girlfriend, but when the doorbell rings it's a messenger with a letter. Josephine has chickened out, deciding, as Steve reads the letter and we hear his voice, that it is better to leave the memories as they are and not see what each person even looks like today. She says he's got three fine boys and she has a wonderful family. She signed the letter with her married name of Peckinpaugh.
Now I figured she wants to see Steve for one of two reasons-she's widowed and has come back to her hometown and learned he is too, and thinks maybe they could rekindle what they once had-a totally logical possibility. The second reason is that she is not looking to rekindle an old romance, but simply back home wanting to enjoy happy memories and Steve was a part of that. Nothing at all wrong with wanting to see an old boyfriend-with or without his wife-just to recall happy days of youth.
If Josephine in this story was happily married, as we are led to believe, it didn't make any sense for her to not want to see the 46-or-so year-old Steve, and let him see her. We all age and seeing someone from the past does not ruin any happy earlier memories. If she was herself recently widowed, thinking about dating Steve, it makes even less sense to not even see him.
A key part of my point is that this "couple" was not engaged or even close to it. They hadn't been "going steady" at all, they barely had dated when she moved away. Had they been college-age, longtime lovers, her "chickening out" from seeing him might have made a little sense.
Whatever you think about the drama in this episode, you are sure to agree that there was nothing at all to make you laugh. It was a truly dramatic episode that didn't have a sensible point to me. Since I knew Steve did not get together with her and re-marry, knowing the history of this series, there wasn't much drama to me. I thought it a really boring episode-a 2.
I saw Steve coming home to learn from his family that "an old friend" had stopped by to see him, a lady named Josephine. Mike had, upon request driven her to a drug store not too long ago, so Steve decides to see if he can find her.
We quickly get confirmed what we immediately suspected-she is an old girlfriend, in fact, Steve's first.
We see Steve going to the drug store, learing she was there and left, then he goes to the high school across the street, where they not only leave doors unlocked after hours for anyone to wander in, but in the auditorium, musicians have left their instruments all over the stage, so Fred MacMurray gets a chance to play his saxophone. He learns that she was there and left. Next he drives to her old house, sees that it is up for sale. Then he goes home and learns that she called and said she's coming at 5 to try again to see him.
The family is all gussied up (suits and ties, even Chip) and is busy cleaning the house. Steve is excited and anxious about seeing Josephine again-it's been 30 years, we are told.
While my big paragraph above does describe all the action, I now need to tell about what we mostly saw-Steve remembering his high school days and how his fondness for Josephine grew. At each of his stops, he remembered a different scene, acted out by George Spicer as teenage Steve Douglas, and we see how he has a rival named Larry Peckinpaugh who is also interested in Josephine. As we move along in Steve's memory, she seems to be interested in both boys, but then takes more to Steve, and we have a scene in a park where she invites him to kiss her, and they do.
But the next day, she tells him that her father just got a new job in California and she has to move away. They are sad since their interest in each other has just grown, but realize there's nothing they can do.
When time has come for them to see each other again, Steve is eager to see this old girlfriend, but when the doorbell rings it's a messenger with a letter. Josephine has chickened out, deciding, as Steve reads the letter and we hear his voice, that it is better to leave the memories as they are and not see what each person even looks like today. She says he's got three fine boys and she has a wonderful family. She signed the letter with her married name of Peckinpaugh.
Now I figured she wants to see Steve for one of two reasons-she's widowed and has come back to her hometown and learned he is too, and thinks maybe they could rekindle what they once had-a totally logical possibility. The second reason is that she is not looking to rekindle an old romance, but simply back home wanting to enjoy happy memories and Steve was a part of that. Nothing at all wrong with wanting to see an old boyfriend-with or without his wife-just to recall happy days of youth.
If Josephine in this story was happily married, as we are led to believe, it didn't make any sense for her to not want to see the 46-or-so year-old Steve, and let him see her. We all age and seeing someone from the past does not ruin any happy earlier memories. If she was herself recently widowed, thinking about dating Steve, it makes even less sense to not even see him.
A key part of my point is that this "couple" was not engaged or even close to it. They hadn't been "going steady" at all, they barely had dated when she moved away. Had they been college-age, longtime lovers, her "chickening out" from seeing him might have made a little sense.
Whatever you think about the drama in this episode, you are sure to agree that there was nothing at all to make you laugh. It was a truly dramatic episode that didn't have a sensible point to me. Since I knew Steve did not get together with her and re-marry, knowing the history of this series, there wasn't much drama to me. I thought it a really boring episode-a 2.
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