In the courtship of Mike Douglas, going by air dates of the various episodes, Mike met Sally near the end of October 1963 and one month later he proposed to her. They have been planning on waiting for him to graduate college-Summer 1965, so he can save enough money and, of course, get a full-time job to support her.
Now it's November 1964 and they are having Sally's shower-put on by Bub, who dearly wants a nice romantic shower for her to remember, full of romantic gifts. It also is the date of his anniversary. We learn Bub has kept a large old-style key, a gift from his late wife, and he speaks about someday getting a chain for it so he can wear it, kind of like a watch fob would be worn.
Mike and Sally are seeking practical presents as they fear the lack of money might be a problem. It seems in the year since they met, Mike has managed to save only $87, which even in the mid-60s won't take them very far. While window shopping, Sally admires a pedigreed Persian cat in a store window. When Bub hears about it, he decides he will get it for her, but totally refuses when the lady tells him the cat costs $75.
Chip was with him, and knowing he couldn't possibly afford that, decides to try to get a cat for free to give to Sally. He and Ernie come up with a way to go "cat-fishing" using a fishing line with a nickel as a lure, attracting a huge boxful of cats to chase after the shiny lure that the boys reel in. Their thinking is to get as many cats as they can and let Sally pick out the one she wants.
Sally seeks Steve's help in getting Bub a nice romantic gift as a thank you for putting on the shower. Steve tells her about the key and Sally now plans to get that nice gold watch chain for Bub.
On the day of the shower, all the females, and Bub, are gathered enjoying the food he cooked but as Sally starts to open her presents-all practical gifts she and Mike can use-Ernie and Chip have a problem. They've put all the cats in the basement and Tramp is howling and clawing at the door to see the visitors.
This sets up the one really stupid part of this episode: Ernie and Chip decide, rather than take Tramp up and put him in Chip's room-or the garage, or somewhere, Ernie will go downstairs and "try to chase the cats away from the stairs." Doing this while Tramp is sure to immediately follow him down the basement stairs causes chaos. The panicky cats-who were strays before being caught, start fleeing their prison, and Tramp barks and chases after them. The cats climb all over everything, get into all the party food and it takes a long time for everyone to round them all up-this time putting them in the garage.
Now Chip learns that Bub relented and bought the $75 cat for Sally, paying for it by selling that key he's kept all these years. Sally gets her Persian cat, and happily gives Bub the chain for the key he no longer has, not knowing about that part.
Mike comes to the rescue, as he knew what Sally was giving Bub, and when he saw that key in the window of the store where Bub sold it, he bought it back to give to Bub.
That last point shows that Mike did learn from discussions with his dad that while being practical and careful with your money is important, there are times when you need to think about sentiment and not worry about being practical.
This was an OK episode overall, with the boys "fishing" being the only funny part. I really don't see how they could have been so dumb as to think opening the door while the cats are one the other side eager to be free would not lead to disaster. It would seem a 5-year-old would easily figure to just take Tramp away from the cats. Even if Ernie did "chase" the cats away from the door, as soon as he went back upstairs, the cats would return and Tramp would continue barking.
As aired, the wedding didn't take place until September 1965. Even presuming it was supposed to have taken place that June, this still puts the shower 8 months before the wedding, which seems quite odd. One other oddity, after they put the cats in the garage, Bub is seen treating an injury Chip incurred on his cheek. It looked like a wide scrape such as what he might have gotten had he fallen on the sidewalk and badly scraped the side of his head. I think it was a lazy stage hand putting what were supposed to be cat scratches on Chip's face.
The whole practical vs. Romantic plot didn't resonate with me. Living at home with almost no expenses and a part-time job should have let Mike save more than $87-he's been doing that for 3 years as this show aired. Even at mid-60s wages, he should have had more money than that. Three years of saving much of my 75¢ per week allowance about the ages of 8-10 I'm sure saw my bank account contain more than Mike's. Overall, I give this one a 5.
Now it's November 1964 and they are having Sally's shower-put on by Bub, who dearly wants a nice romantic shower for her to remember, full of romantic gifts. It also is the date of his anniversary. We learn Bub has kept a large old-style key, a gift from his late wife, and he speaks about someday getting a chain for it so he can wear it, kind of like a watch fob would be worn.
Mike and Sally are seeking practical presents as they fear the lack of money might be a problem. It seems in the year since they met, Mike has managed to save only $87, which even in the mid-60s won't take them very far. While window shopping, Sally admires a pedigreed Persian cat in a store window. When Bub hears about it, he decides he will get it for her, but totally refuses when the lady tells him the cat costs $75.
Chip was with him, and knowing he couldn't possibly afford that, decides to try to get a cat for free to give to Sally. He and Ernie come up with a way to go "cat-fishing" using a fishing line with a nickel as a lure, attracting a huge boxful of cats to chase after the shiny lure that the boys reel in. Their thinking is to get as many cats as they can and let Sally pick out the one she wants.
Sally seeks Steve's help in getting Bub a nice romantic gift as a thank you for putting on the shower. Steve tells her about the key and Sally now plans to get that nice gold watch chain for Bub.
On the day of the shower, all the females, and Bub, are gathered enjoying the food he cooked but as Sally starts to open her presents-all practical gifts she and Mike can use-Ernie and Chip have a problem. They've put all the cats in the basement and Tramp is howling and clawing at the door to see the visitors.
This sets up the one really stupid part of this episode: Ernie and Chip decide, rather than take Tramp up and put him in Chip's room-or the garage, or somewhere, Ernie will go downstairs and "try to chase the cats away from the stairs." Doing this while Tramp is sure to immediately follow him down the basement stairs causes chaos. The panicky cats-who were strays before being caught, start fleeing their prison, and Tramp barks and chases after them. The cats climb all over everything, get into all the party food and it takes a long time for everyone to round them all up-this time putting them in the garage.
Now Chip learns that Bub relented and bought the $75 cat for Sally, paying for it by selling that key he's kept all these years. Sally gets her Persian cat, and happily gives Bub the chain for the key he no longer has, not knowing about that part.
Mike comes to the rescue, as he knew what Sally was giving Bub, and when he saw that key in the window of the store where Bub sold it, he bought it back to give to Bub.
That last point shows that Mike did learn from discussions with his dad that while being practical and careful with your money is important, there are times when you need to think about sentiment and not worry about being practical.
This was an OK episode overall, with the boys "fishing" being the only funny part. I really don't see how they could have been so dumb as to think opening the door while the cats are one the other side eager to be free would not lead to disaster. It would seem a 5-year-old would easily figure to just take Tramp away from the cats. Even if Ernie did "chase" the cats away from the door, as soon as he went back upstairs, the cats would return and Tramp would continue barking.
As aired, the wedding didn't take place until September 1965. Even presuming it was supposed to have taken place that June, this still puts the shower 8 months before the wedding, which seems quite odd. One other oddity, after they put the cats in the garage, Bub is seen treating an injury Chip incurred on his cheek. It looked like a wide scrape such as what he might have gotten had he fallen on the sidewalk and badly scraped the side of his head. I think it was a lazy stage hand putting what were supposed to be cat scratches on Chip's face.
The whole practical vs. Romantic plot didn't resonate with me. Living at home with almost no expenses and a part-time job should have let Mike save more than $87-he's been doing that for 3 years as this show aired. Even at mid-60s wages, he should have had more money than that. Three years of saving much of my 75¢ per week allowance about the ages of 8-10 I'm sure saw my bank account contain more than Mike's. Overall, I give this one a 5.
