And we're back to Cowboy Bill's for another set-up scene. For some reason Carmine and Frank enter again, but from where? Frank is "finishing his interpretation of the sketch."
FRANK
(NURSE'S VOICE) Doctor, Mrs. Kolodny wants you to come over and deliver her baby. (DOC VOICE) Tell her I'll mail it to her in the morning.
FRANK AND CARMINE HAVE HYSTERIC CONVULSIONS OF LAUGHTER.
In the episode, they just laugh, not convulsively. We get the exchange about Carmine being a singer and dancer, not a comedian. The impatient customer does not appear in this version. Instead, there's this:
FRANK
So hold on, we had the best of some of those, too. George M. Cohan, Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson... get me?
CARMINE
You want me to perform in blackface?
FRANK
Funny, Carmine. I'm makin' a point here...
Frank taking Carmine by the hand and dancing into the fade is not in this version.
Again, I think the scene as shot was an improvement. This version is trying too hard and the "blackface" joke wouldn't have worked even in the early '80s. I do have to wonder, was Frank's "nurse voice" like Carmine and his "doc voice" like Shirley, or did he go with the more traditional genders?
Whew, no, that blackface joke does not work at all, WTH show.
ReplyDeleteIt's not "Monastery" level "What were they thinking?", but I had the feeling that such an odd episode as "TE" would have to be weird as a script.
DeleteThankfully, aside from stuff like Bull Show, I don't think they ever climbed to those heights again.
Delete* Bully, natch.
DeleteI'm definitely keeping an eye out for "The Road to Burbank" script," but yeah, "The Bully Show" would be interesting, too.
DeleteGod, I still wanna know what that looked like on-page.
DeleteI figure, as with "Monastery Story," the dialogue will be even worse, but I'm also curious about the stage directions.
DeleteSo am I, because while Squiggy's mega-reluctant to rescue Laverne Lenny's wracked with guilt and flat out determined to save her.
DeleteI could imagine Michael having input on that, the way he plays it. For that matter, I wonder how much of Laverne defending herself came from Penny.
DeleteThat's my question, because for all of Lenny's "she's as loose as a moose," he's the one who's horrified about the situation.
DeleteEspecially because he helped cause it.
Delete