84 May 19, 1954
Bill, Jayne, Henry, Laraine Day
Gil Fates scribbled in his notes for this episode that Laraine Day had replaced Polly Bergen "permanently." While Polly did in fact move on (she would establish herself as a regular on To Tell the Truth a few years later), Laraine's "permanent" status would last about four months. When Faye became available in the fall, after the cancellation of her local NYC variety show, she would return to the fourth chair.
Russell Ackerman from Minneapolis, Minnesota: “I
am President of the Bald Headed Men’s Club of America”
Officially, Ackerman is the "Front Row Sitter" of the organization, the goofy title that this goofy club bestows on its leader. Other quirks: Members address each other as 'Curly' and dues were only $1.98 per year originally because "there isn't much overhead." The organization started as a local club in St Cloud, Minnesota in 1938. In 1946 they founded their "national" operation by granting charters across the country, but even at its peak the club only had a few hundred members, most of them in Minnesota where they would hold annual conventions. They generated publicity by bestowing honorary membership to such bald luminaries as President Dwight Eisenhower, but by the early sixties, interest would fall off.
Unidentified woman: "I
carried my husband across the threshold"
Wacky matrimony.
Special Guest Wally Cox answers
“Yes” to horrible, and “No” to pleasurable.
Horrible and pleasurable what, exactly? The Fates notes don't say. Actress Patricia Benoit, Cox's costar in his television series
Mister Peepers
(1952-1955), also appears in this episode. Benoit played Nancy, the school nurse and the love interest of the middle school science teacher played by Cox. In fact, in the timeline of the show, the two characters are engaged and will marry on the episode airing May 30. It would be one of the major television events of 1954.
This episode has not been reviewed. Information comes from alternate sources, including Gil Fates' handwritten notes. Quoted secrets are based on those notes and are believed to be accurate.