The Phil Silvers Show 3.32

Bilko Retires from Gambling

Captain Barker brings in Paul Draylin, a card shark, without telling Bilko. Draylin helps Ritzik, Grover, and Coogan to clean Bilko out. Bilko is so shocked that he retires from gambling.

Colonel Hall is pleased with the change in Bilko's demeanor until he realizes that Bilko is the life blood of Fort Baxter. Colonel Hall is getting ready to try and shock Bilko back to normal when Bilko finds out about what really happened. Bilko quickly starts to plot his revenge.

Thoughts

Paul Draylin played himself in this episode.

This is fun but I would say it is middle of the road for this show. It was a little too easy to see what was coming before it happened.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.31

Bilko's Pilot

Bilko makes a pilot for a western TV show for CBS, starring Doberman. Everything goes wrong during the shoot but he delivers the finished product, with all its flaws to CBS anyway.

Thoughts

This is yet another episode that starts off looking like it is headed in one direction only to change course midway through. Originally it looked like this episode was going to be about how Bilko deals with the new man in his platoon, a loud mouthed cowboy named Tex. That plot thread went out the window once executives at CBS get a look at Doberman dressed like a cowboy.

I've seen worse but this wasn't all that good.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.30

Operation Love

Bilko keeps the men of Fort Baxter so busy gambling that none of them have time to take their WAC girlfriends on dates. The WACs get fed up with this and transfer to other US Army bases. Bilko realizes the problem he has created and works to convince WACs from other bases to tranfer to Fort Baxter.

Thoughts

Colonel Hall is not in this episode.

I thought this episode was kind of meh. Bilko seems to have superhuman powers of control, first over his men and then over the WACs. It just didn't work for me.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.29

Bilko's Chinese Restaurant

Bilko decides to open a Chinese restauarant after he learns that the father of one of his men, Hwang Lee, arrived in the United States years ago with just one dollar and now owns 10 restaurants. Bilko orders Ritzik to requisition the supplies they will need to stock the kitchen of the restaurant. The Pentagon hears about the kind of food Ritzik has been requisitioning and decides that Bilko's unit should be moved to a remote Chinese island to replace a unit that is due to rotate back to the United States. Bilko is forced to think fast and cook up a scheme to convince the Pentagon that his unit is a poor choice for the assignment.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.28

Bilko's Honeymoon

Private Dino Papparelli wins a trip for two to Miami Beach. Bilko decides that he should be Papparilli's plus one. At the last minute they discovers that the trip is for a honeymoon for a married couple. Bilko orders Papparelli dress up in drag. Bilko does his best to keep Pappareilli hidden after they arrive in Miami. Things get a little more complicated when Col. Hall and his wife show up in Miami. They are delighted to hear that Bilko is married and want to meet his wife.

Thoughts

This was pretty good but I think there was potential here to make it even better.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.27

The Colonel's Inheritance

Colonel Hall inherits $5000 from a distant relative. Bilko gets wind of the windfall inheritance and then, with some help from Barbella and Henshaw, gets his hands on the Colonel's money. He tries to use the money to make a quick buck and almost loses it all.

Thoughts

Henry Lascoe makes his seventh and final appearance on the show in this episode. He played the part of Adamopolis, the restaurant owner for the fourth time in this episode. He played different characters in his other three appearances.

Most of Bilko's platoon does not appear in this episode.

This was fun but far from great. How did Bilko win the money back after losing almost all of it? There's a hint given but it feels cheap that they only gave the slightest hint.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.26

Bilko the Male Model

Bilko catches the eye of some advertising executives after he appeared in the background of a photograph that ran in Life magazine. The head of the ad agency proposes a test case to see how well Bilko's face can do selling smoking jackets. Bilko tilts the playing field by talking the president of the ad agency into running the test case in Roseville, KS.

Things fall apart for Bilko's modeling career soon after the test case is declared a success.

Thoughts

David White played the part of Larkin, one of the advertisting executives. This is his fourth and final appearance on this show. He played different characters in each of his four appearances. He is best known to me for playing the part of Larry Tate on Bewitched.

This was a fun episode.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.25

Bilko the Genius

Bilko takes an aptitude test. There's a mix up with the results of his test and he is mistakenly classified as a genius. Bilko is put in charge of a team of soldiers who are all scientific experts. He puts them to work predicting the outcome of horse races.

Thoughts

There's a little more to this episode but not much. Most of the regulars from the show make a brief appearance early in the episode but after that Barbella and Henshaw are the only ones to appear in the last two-thirds of the episode.

This was fun. It falls short of greatness but I enjoyed it quite a bit.