The Phil Silvers Show 3.08

Papa Bilko

Worlds collide. Bilko talks Pearly Johnson, a real ladies man, into join his platoon. Bilko, later that same day, gets a visit from a young lady whom he met when he was stationed in France, when she was just a girl.

Thoughts

Colonel Hall is not in this episode. Captain Barker seems to be filling in for the colonel which makes me wonder why the colonel wasn't in this episode. Illness? Contract dispute? I don't know.

Robert Webber played the part of Pearly Johnson. This is his second of two appearances on the show. He played a different character in his first appearance. He has a familiar look to him and has been in a few other things that I have seen but not in starring roles.

This is pretty good. It wasn't hard to see where it might and finally did end up.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.07

Sergeant Bilko Presents

Bilko finds out that Lockman, one of the men in his platoon, has written a play. Lockman has sold tickets to a performance of the show to other men in the platoon without telling Bilko. Bilko insists on getting involved when he discovers that Lockman has only written the play and hasn't considered all the other ways that the play could be used to generate money.

Biilko turns to the Roseville Women's Club for funding but then discovers that the club is broke. Bilko talks Major Lukens, Fort Baxter's morale officer, into getting the army to sponsor a playwriting contest. Bilko's hope is that Lockman's play will win the contest and the cash prize. Bilko's plan hits a few more snags and things don't work out exactly as he had planned.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.06

Bilko's Double Life

Bilko unknowingly changes places with multimillionaire Herbert Penfield III, who looks just like him. Bilko leaves Roseville with Barbella and Henshaw and heads to New York City. He owes a number of people money. Penfield leaves New York City and goes to Rosevile to get away from it all. Both men get treated like one another. 

Penfield gets the rough treatment that Bilko has earned. Bilko lives it up as Penfield once he realizes the mistake that is being made. 

Thoughts

Penfield is played by Phil Silvers. There is one scene at the very end of the episode where the two men cross paths.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.05

The Big Man Hunt

Bilko is trying to get out of town to go to Topeka for a poker tournament. Red, an old friend of Bilko's, who just struck it rich and whose life Bilko saved at Guadalcanal is looking for him. Ernie gets nervous when he hears that someone is looking for him. Eventually he meets up with Red but then Red gets some bad news.

Thoughts

This was a decent episode. I wasn't surprised that Bilko wasn't rich at the end of the episode. It was nice to see that they actually, more or less, wrapped things up and took the time to include an epilogue of sorts.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.04

Bilko's Valentine

Bilko forgets to get Sgt Hogan anything on Valentine's Day. She gets angry and pretends not to re-enlist. She goes home to Sumter, Georgia. Bilko follows her in an effort to get her to re-enlist. He organizes a parade that passes right in front of her home. He gets on a radio show in her hometown. He tries knocking on her door but she refuses to return to the army.

She is determined not to return until Bilko starts showing up in her dreams. She finally re-enlists.

Thoughts

What happened to Joan's claim that she had not re-enlisted? It was mentioned at the beginning of the episode but then never comes up again. Strange!

I thought the ending was a little weird. Joan was basically harassed into returning to Fort Baxter and taking Bilko back. I'm not sure what sort of a message this episode is supposed to be sending but it wasn't a healthy one.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.03

Hillbilly Whiz

Bilko has bet money on his platoon's baseball team but they stink. The platoon's fortunes turn around when Private Lumpkin is transferred to Bilko's platoon. He's an ace pitcher from Tennessee. Bilko's plans for Lumpkin and his platoon's baseball team seem to be in jeopardy when Lumpkin's pitching hand gets injured while working on a jeep. It turns out that Lumpkin can pitch just as well with his other hand.

Bilko talks the New York Yankees into taking a look at Lumpkin. The Yankees like what they see in Lumpkin but Lumpkin has doubts. He can't imagine playing for a team called the Yankees, seeing as how he is from the South. Bilko manages to convince him that the team name is just a name and that the players are all from the South.

Lumpkin signs the contract but when Lulubelle, Lumpkin's girlfriend, finds out about it she puts her foot down and the contract gets torn up.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.02

Bilko's Boys Town

Bilko's unit is set to go on maneuvers in the desert for a couple weeks. Colonel Hall figures out that Bilko is planning to take his platoon to Las Vegas while they are in the desert. Bilko and his platoon are left behind at Fort Baxter so he comes up with another scheme.

Bilko and his unit convert Fort Baxter into a camp for boys. Everything is going great until he learns that Colonel Hall and the rest of the men who are in the desert are returning a few days early.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.01

Bilko's Merrry Widow

Bilko hears about the money ($500) that is being offered to the first group to put on a Broadway style production in Roseville. Bilko does his best to pull together a production of The Merry Widow but things keep interfering with his ability to keep the show on track.

Thoughts

Corporal Barbella was not in this episode.

Margaret Hamilton played the part of Hermione Nightingale the headmistress of a school for girls. This is her second and final appearance on this show. She is best known for playing the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939).