The Phil Silvers Show 2.03

Bilko goes to College

Sgt Bilko is trying to run the ROTC program for Schmill University when he learns that one of the students owes $1,000 to a bookie, Big Ed McMillan. Bilko decies to stick out his neck out for the student when he learns that the student is due to inherit millions of dollars in a few years.

Schmill is due to play Notre Dame in football. Schmill has never scored a point against Notre Dame which has always scored more than 100 points against Schmill. Bilko places a bet with Big Ed McMillan that Schmill will win. He bets $100 and is given 1000 to 1 odds.

Big Ed quickly starts to regret the bet and tries to get Bilko to cancel the wager. Bilko refuses to cancel the bet. He ups the pressure on McMillan and starts putting out all sort of false press about the Schmill football team. He wants McMillan to pay him $5,000 to cancel the bet.

Notes

Robert Strauss plays the part of Big Ed McMillan. Strauss was nominated for an Academy Award for playing Sgt. Stanislaus 'Animal' Kuzawa in Stalag 17 (1953). He was also in The Seven Year Itch (1955) and made lots of guest appearances on TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s. He died in 1975. This is his only appearance on this show.

MacLean Savage plays the part of the football coach. This is the second episode of The Phil Silvers Show in which he appeared. The previous one was 1.34 (Bilko on Wall Street). He was in one more episode of the show which was also from the second season.

Robert Morse plays the part of the football player who wears number 18. He does not have any lines. Morse is best known to me for playing the part of Bert Cooper on Mad Men. This is his only appearance on The Phil Silvers Show. He has done a fair amount of voice work for cartoons including playing the part of Commissioner Gordon and DeSaad for different cartoons based on DC Comics.

Thoughts

I thought this episode was a lot fun. I love how the tables get turned multiple times in this episode. Robert Strauss does an excellent job playing the part of Big Ed McMillan. A committed actor playing a guest role makes all the difference on a show like this.