The Phil Silvers Show 3.13

Bilko at Bay

Bilko plans a trip to New York with Corporals Barbella and Henshaw. They make arrangements to stop at the homes of the men in the platoon in order to save money on food. Everything is going well until they get to Altoona, the home of Private Doberman. Mrs. Doberman runs a boarding house and has two men staying in her boarding house.

The two men staying at Mrs. Doberman's boarding are pretending to be on a vacation filled with fishing but they are actually bank robbers. They are waiting for the third member of their gang to show up.

Thoughts

Colonel Hall is not in this episode.

This was a fun one. It didn't seem too detailed or overloaded with plot points. I like how Bilko momentarily turned the tables on the bank robbers. It was also nice to see that Bilko didn't take charge of the situation quite as easily as he has at times.

Notes

Frank Campanella played one of the bank robbers. This is the second of three appearances he made on the show. He played different characters in each of those appearances. The first time he appeared on the show was in 3.03 (Hillbilly Whiz).

Philip Coolidge played one of the bank robbers. This is the second of two appearances he made on the show. The other episode he showed up in was 2.28 (The Secret Life of Sergeant Bilko). He was also in North by Northwest (1959) and Inherit the Wind (1960).

Henry Lascoe played one of the bank robbers. This is the fifth of seven appearances he made on the show, and the second of four appearances he made during the third season of the show. 

Clifton James played the part of a state trooper. This is the second of two appearances he made on the show. He frequently played police officers on TV and in movies including Sheriff Pepper in Live and Let Die (1971).

Frank Marth played the part of a police officer who almost arrests Bilko. This is the third of four appearances he made on the show. The previous episode he appeared in was 1.19 (The Revolutionary War). See my notes about The Invaders 1.10 (The Innocent) for more about his career.