The Phil Silvers Show 4.X

The Phil Silver Pontiac Special: Keep In Step (1959)

21 minutes

This TV special starred the cast of The Phil Silver Show. It plays a bit like an episode of the show but it is incomplete. Bilko gets Lanny Langford, a singer, who has just been drafter into the army transferred to Camp Fremont. Bilko's plan is to have Langford be the star of a stage musical that he will produce. The 21 minute clip of the special ends after Langford has been transferred to Camp Fremont but before he arrives.

The quality of the picture is not up to the standards of the rest of the episodes of the show. According to IMDb this episode also starred Diana Dors but she did not appear in the clip that was on the DVD. From the looks of it there are three separate listings for this special on IMDb. My guess is that's an error.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.35

The Weekend Colonel

Bilko finds a short order cook who looks just like Colonel Hall. He hires Charlie, the short order cook, to impersonate Colonel Hall while the colonel is on vacation in Lake Tahoe. Everything goes great until Colonel Hall unexpectedly returns early from Lake Tahoe.

Thoughts

This was a good episode. I like the twists and turns that the plot took. The final shot shows Bilko behind bars as he signs off saying, "That's all Folks!" 

The Phil Silvers Show 4.34

The Bilko Boycott

Corporal Henshaw decides he's had enough of Bilko making money off the men in the platoon. Henshaw starts a gamblers anonymous group which is so successful that Bilko has to look elsewhere for victims. He turns to the women stationed at Camp Fremont. He sweet talks his past way past Major Allenby, the commanding officer of the WACs. He doesn't run into any trouble until he goes to collect from the women's barracks and gets trapped there when it is put under quarantine.

Thoughts

I really enjoyed this episode. I like the plot twists and the way the story evolved.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.33

Bilko in Outer Space

Ritzik and Grover have $600 that they plan to use to pay for their vacation in Hawaii. Bilko tries to get them to play cards with him but they do their best to avoid him. They manage to steer clear of him until he tricks them into signing up for a phony space program.

Thoughts

This was okay. I was hoping that part of the episode would involve Bilko going to outer space but that is not the case. I was hoping for something along the lines of The Outer Space Spirit or Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD 6 (Nov 1968). That is not what I got. 

The Phil Silvers Show 4.32

The Colonel's Second Honeymoon

Bilko manipulates things so that General Colonel Hall gets jealous of General Wade who once danced with Mrs. Hall. Bilko talks the Colonel into taking Mrs. Hall on a second honeymoon. Bilko sneaks off base, while the Halls are out of town, and goes on vacation only to discover that he is at the same ski resort as them.

Thoughts

Captain Barker is in this episode but blink and you'll miss him.

This is a decent but not great episode. Bilko uses his manipulative talents but this is one of those rare occasions when it doesn't have anything to do with making himself some money.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.31

Bilko's Casino

Bilko finds an exception to the law prohibiting gambling in California. He tries to exploit it but finds out that someone else is going to exploit him if he does. He comes up with a scheme to turn the tables on them and abandons his plan to open a casino.

Thoughts

This episode was okay but the ending did not satisfy me. Bilko turns the tables on the crooks and then abandons his plans. I don't get it.

Notes

Al Lewis played one of the guys trying to strongarm Bilko in this episode. This is the second of three episodes of this show in which he appeared. The first was 4.18 Bilko's Credit Card. I've also seen him recently in The Night Strangler (1973). He is best known to me for playing the part of Grandpa on The Munsters.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.30

Doberman, Missing Heir

Bilko convinces Lord and Lady Rockford that Private Duane Doberman is their long lost missing son. Doberman is opposed to the idea at first but once he gets accepted by Lord and Lady Rockford he starts to like it and gives Bilko the cold shoulder. Bilko introduces Doberman to Dixie, a burlesque dancer, in the hopes of being able to sponge off of Doberman by proxy once Doberman and Dixie get married. Everything falls apart when the real long lost son of of Lord and Lady Rockford turns up.

Thoughts

Corporals Henshaw and Barbella are in this episode but Colonel Hall is not.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.29

Bilko's Small Car

Bilko is sent into town to pick up Colonel Hall's new car. The car gets impounded by the police when they find gambling equipment in the trunk. Bilko has his men throw together a substitute car. It fools the Colonel but then Bilko gets the idea of going into business making cars. The catch is that they will use parts from jeeps in the manufacture of the cars. Eventually the Colonel catches on to what Bilko is doing and calls in the MPs.

Thoughts

This was an okay episode. I thought the story drifted a little too much. Not a favorite of mine but I guess I've see worse.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.28

Ritzik Goes Civilian

Sgt Ritzik gets out of the Army earlier than Bilko anticipated. Bilko can't stand to see him go, for the usual reason: one less person with whom to gamble. Mrs. Ritzik has her husband take out a loan against his life insurance policy and buy a road side diner. The venture does not prove successful. Bilko shows up just in time to help out Rupert and Emma. He talks the man who sold them the diner into repaying the Ritziks or else get a lot of bad publicity for ripping off an army veteran. 

Thoughts

There was a dream sequence in which Bilko, influenced by something Henshaw and Barbella told him, dreams that everyone he knows is poor but he is rich. It looked like A Christmas Carol, but without Christmas. Colonel Hall and some of the men from Bilko's platoon (Fender, Mullen, Paparelli) show up in the dream sequence.

This was fun. I enjoyed this episode. It wasn't great but it works.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.27

Bilko the Butler

Bilko goes to the USO in the hopes of getting invited to the home of a rich family and marrying their daughter. He gets invited to the home of a rich family for a meal but the invitation comes from the butler. The family isn't home at the time.

Things start to look up for Bilko after he volunteers to help the butler and the made serve at a big dinner. He overhears a big stock tip and runs to the phone and calls Barbella and Henshaw. The stock turns out to be no good but he can't reach them to tell them to avoid investing the money.

Thoughts

Colonel Hall wasn't in this episode. Most of the other regulars on this show only showed up very briefly at the beginning and end of this episode.

This was a fun episode. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Bilko at his best.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.26

Guinea Pig Bilko

Colonel Hall is looking for a new way to restrain Bilko when he learns that the army wants to test a treatment for over active soldiers on some of the men at Camp Fremont. Colonel Hall tricks Bilko into becoming one of the test subjects for the new treatment. Bilko is given a new drug that makes him much more passive. Colonel Hall loves it until he discovers that the men in Bilko's platoon are worse than him and out of control without Bilko to keep them on a short leash.

Thoughts

This was a fun one. I enjoyed it very much. It wasn't the very best episode I have seen but it is better than the average episode of this show.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.25

Bilko's Godson

Bilko is thinking of changing his name, to help him avoid bill collectors, when he learns that an old friend wants him to be his newborn son's godfather. Bilko tries to enroll his new godson at Stanford only to learn that he can only enroll his godson early if he is an alum or a current student.

Bilko has to take the entrance exam but he winds up hiring other guys (who know considerably more than him) to take the three parts of the exam.

Thoughts

Colonel Hall is not in this episode.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.24

Warrant Officer Paparelli

Sgt Bilko pulls more than a few stunts to get Pvt Paparelli awarded a commission so that he can become the platoon’s new commander. Paparelli turns on Bilko, after he becomes Warrant Officer Paparelli, which leads Bilko to pull another stunt which gets Paparelli reduced in rank back to private. 

Thoughts

There was a pretty good episode. It didn't overwhelm me with greatness but it was all of one piece and wasn't all over the place as this show can be sometimes.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.23

Bilko's Ape Man

Colonel Hall places a new man in Bilko's Platoon, Private Forbes, who was a physical fitness instructor before he joined the army. Col. Hall's hope is that he will get Bilko and his platoon into shape.

Bilko doesn't care for the colonel's scheme and takes the episode in a different direction. He learns that Hollywood is looking for a new actor to portray Tarzan. Bilko sees dollar signs and quickly sets his sights on getting Forbes a screen test.

Thoughts

Bilko goes to some lengths to get Forbes noticed by Hollywood. One of the schemes involving him entering the Mr. Universe contest. Bilko hires a woman to scream and then faint when Forbes steps on stage. That woman was played by Lucille Ball.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.22

Bilko's Formula Seven

Bilko sees dollar signs after he discovers that the moonshine that Jenkins, one of the men in his platoon, is the secret ingredient to make a rejuvenating facial cream. Bilko quickly goes into production and sales mode. He tries selling it to the Deborah Darling company only to find out, at the last minute that the effects of the facial cream are very temporary.

Thoughts

Natalie Schafer played the part of Deborah Darling. She is best known for playing Mrs. Howell on Gilligan's Island (and its various spinoffs and TV movies). I've also seen her in Repeat Performance (1947).

I liked this episode very much and rate it above average.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.21

Bilko's Sharpshooter

Sgt Bilko thinks that her found a sharpshooter (Pvt Emile Schneider) to beat Sgt Ritzik's sharpshooter (Pvt Pete Masters). He soon discovers that the shooting he witnessed wasn't the handy-work of Schneider but of WAC Pvt Polly Porter.

Porter is about to get transferred to a base in Texas until Bilko finds out that she is the real sharpshooter. He arranges for a contest between her and Ritzik's sharpshooter but things don't go exactly as planned after Porter and Masters start making eyes at one another and missing every shot that they take.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.20

The Colonel's Promotion

Colonel Hall is thinking of retiring after getting passed over for promotion. Sergeant Bilko talks him into giving the Pentagon a piece of his mind. The Colonel tries to get General Wakefield, an old friend, on the phone but when that doesn't work he heads to Washington to talk to General Wakefield in person.

The chaplain talks Bilko into going to Washington and working some of his magic to help Colonel Hall. Bilko does just that. He gets the colonel onto the golf course with the President, which in turn gets him a meeting with General Wakefield.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.19

Viva Bilko

Bilko, Papparelli, Zimmerman, and Doberman go to Tiajuana, Mexico to have some fun. They get robbed of their money, their papers, and their clothes. The guards at the gate won't let them back into the United States. The bandits who took their clothes rob a bank wearing their uniforms which complicates things further. One of the bandits looks just like Doberman. Bilko and his men try numerous schemes to get back into the United States.

Thoughts

There are no other soldiers in this episode other than the ones named above.

This was a decent episode. I don't love it but it was good. It was also kind of ridiculous.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.18

Bilko's Credit Card

Bilko starts a credit card business, the G.I.'s Gourmet Guild (GGG). Everything is going well with the scheme until it comes time to collect and most of the soldiers have been temporarily deployed. Bilko impersonates a British officer in order to convince the general in charge of the deployment to bring the soldiers back to Camp Fremont.

Thoughts

Colonel Hall does not appear in this episode.

Al Lewis played the part of Mike the bartender in this episode. He is probably best known for playing Grandpa on The Munsters. This is the first of three episodes of The Phil Silvers Show in which he appeared.

I wasn't crazy about this episode.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.17

Bilko's Grand Hotel

Bilko invests the platoon's money in a pizza stand but there's a mishap and the pizza stand burns down. 

Bilko next gets the idea to buy the run down husk of a building that used to be a hotel and sell it to the Hilton Hotel chain. He signs a contract to buy the building only to learn that he has bought it from the Hilton Hotel chain who were looking to get rid of it.

Bilko's next scheme is to denigrate the name of the Hilton Hotel chain by making it look like the run down hotel is a Hilton in the hopes that the owners of the hotel chain will pay them to shut it down.