Sunday, October 23, 2022

The Phil Silvers Show 2.24

Bilko's Black Magic

Private Lester Mendleson, who was stuck on a deserted island near Japan for more than 10 years, is assigned to Bilko's platoon soon after he is found. Bilko doesn't want him until he learns that Mendleson is due $7,000 of backpay.

MSgt Grover and MSgt Ritzik get Mendleson to play poker with them. They take all his money in no time at all. Bilko comes up with a plan to scare Grover and Ritzik into giving the money back.

Thoughts

Colonel Hall is not in this episode. 

Private Mendleson is played by Gerald Hiken, a cousin of Nat Hiken, the creator of this show.

Bilko's plan comes from something he sees in a comic book that Corporal Fender left out. The title on the cover of the comic book reads Voodoo Vengeance but I cannot figure out if it was a real comic book or not. Maybe it was a magazine.

I was enjoying this episode until they added the element of voodoo. The use of another culture as a boogieman and/or punchline feels cheap. I did not always feel this way but today that's where I am at.

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