F TROOP Fridays: "The Great Troop Robbery" (1966)

F TROOP Fridays - Number 43

F TROOP:  "The Great Troop Robbery" (ABC-TV/Warner Brothers 1966) Season Two, Episode 39.  Original Air Date: October 6, 1966.  Starring Forrest Tucker as Sergeant Morgan O'Rourke, Larry Storch as Corporal Randolph Agarn, Ken Berry as Captain Wilton Parmenter, Melody Patterson as Wrangler Jane, Frank deKova as Chief Wild Eagle, Don Diamond as Crazy Cat, James Hampton as Bugler Dobbs, Bob Steele as Duffy, Joe Brooks as Vanderbilt, Ivan Bell as Dudleson.  Special Guest Star Milton Berle as Wise Owl.  Written by Stan Burns and Mike Marmer.  Directed by Seymour Robbie.

Talk about a con man getting conned.  Corporal Agarn has purchased Thunder the Wonder Horse from a traveling medicine show.  Dubbed "the smartest horse in the West", Thunder doesn't live up to his billing when attempting to dance or count, but when Agarn channels his inner Evel Knievel, Thunder is smart enough to pull up before jumping a hitching rail.  Unfortunately our Corporal kept going, and ended up concussed and confused as a result.

"THAT'S the smartest horse in the West?"

Post-injury Agarn is behaving strangely: much more astute in his judgement despite misremembering his name and O'Rourke's among a number of memory lapses.  One might consider this a positive side effect, but then the entire troop is robbed of money and belongings and Randolph's strange behavior and close proximity makes him the primary suspect.  Crazy Cat and Dobbs are also under suspicion, and the troop turns to the new Hekawi medicine man Wise Owl to investigate.

"He go from tribe to tribe--has couch, will travel!"

Milton Berle guest starring on F TROOP.  This was apparently after the showdown with Tuck that has only become more legendary over the years, so I can only imagine what locker room talk on the set was like.  While we viewers can't be privy to that, we do get a heaping helping of witty onscreen dialogue from Burns and Marmer (Too Many Cooks Spoil the Troop).  A lot is generously thrown Berle's way, he gets all the usual wisdom (see below) and Chief Wild Eagle deferentially vouches for the traveling psychologist/detective/medicine man.  Spoiler alert!--Wild Eagle's endorsement ultimately proves to be a rare lapse in his judgement for the usually savvy Hekawi leader.  I can say rare, but not unprecedented (Honest Injun).

"For confession, getting there is half the fun!"

It isn't just the Chief showing very special respect to our guest.  After Wild Eagle's endorsement, O'Rourke hires Wise Owl to identify the thief and recover the stolen property for $2 hourly.  The Captain is also taken in, putting his savings at risk to trap the guilty party and even giving the Wise one use of his office!   One has to wonder why such a revered shrink and investigator feels the need to put that seemingly thriving business reputation in jeopardy by theft--maybe he just can't control his kleptomania?  

"Vanderbilt isn't aiming at us, Sergeant."

"I know that.  If he was I wouldn't be worried!" 

As was the case in their previous entry, Burns and Marmer give our secondary characters a little extra love.  Vandy hilariously guards the barracks after everything has been stolen, and suspects Dobbs and Crazy Cat get more time in the spotlight than usual, albeit via the Wise One's rather brutal interrogation methods.  The anticipated sly satirization of absolute power and its abuse is followed by the first limits to that hastily granted power--Wise Owl has Parmenter and Wild Eagle pulling their respective manuals out.  While Dobbs and Agarn both face blazing heat in his efforts to draw an admission, Crazy Cat probably endures the cruelest questioning.

Berle doesn't disappoint with the wide berth he's given.  He's nowhere near as hammy as Rickles nor as imposing as Korman, contributing mightily to this most vaudevillian of F TROOPs.  A thoroughly appropriate assignment for the writers, who were on the staff of Berle's 1966 series comeback (that lasted only a week into 1967 on ABC) and later worked together on practically every successful variety show of the late 1960's and 1970's (i.e. DEAN MARTIN, FLIP WILSON).  This was their second and last F TROOP, with both their freelance scripts proving to be winners.  

"Not think Crazy Cat type to steal."

While Wild Eagle originally outs Crazy Cat's wampum problems at home, it is heartening to see that when the chips are down the Chief gives Crazy Cat the grace that his assistant rarely (re: never) gives him.  O'Rourke casually throws Dobbs into harm's way in an effort to deflect suspicion from his amnestic V.P., but to be fair the Sarge knows the Captain will protect his orderly.  As always, keeping business running smoothly probably motivates our Enterprisers more than altruism, and con man Wise Owl cannily plays them against one another to divert all eyes away from him.  His eventual slip of the tongue is abrupt and obvious, but doesn't detract from an otherwise really good (if not transcendently so) time.

Oh, and there's a cute almost-reference to Wise Owl's Medicine Man predecessor from the first season, but apparently the inventor of the RoarChick test (ha!) is in fact a different guy actually named Roar Chick and not this elder statesman seen standing behind Wild Eagle:

HOW'S BUSINESS AT O'ROURKE ENTERPRISES?

None of the thefts were a direct hit, but one can assume that the troopers being short of funds can't be a good thing for the saloon.

HEKAWI WISDOM?

How enthusiastically did they roll out the red carpet for Mr. Television?  He gets three aphorisms to the Chief's zero!  The first two:  "When fox look at sky, Easter get bitten on kneecap by toothless rabbit."  The second makes a little more sense, though it provokes one of Tucker's greatest reactions of the series: "Sometimes not wise to be wise--more wise to be unwise!'  

BAITING THE CENSORS?

Which brings us to our third Wise Old saying: "When shadow of wet bird fall on crooked log, time out for beaver."  Followed by Wise Owl abruptly ending his session with Agarn after seeing this P.O.V.: 

Wise Owl looks ready to walk over to her as the camera leaves.  Mmm hmmm....

PC, OR NOT PC?

Any lechery that followed that was kept offscreen, and Wise Owl gives some equal time to the traveling medicine show after paleface Professor Cornelius Clyde hoodwinked Wild Eagle and most of the troop in season one.  As noted above, the white men are just as deferential to all knowing Wise Owl as the natives, and he's no noble Native, already absolutely corrupted before getting absolute power over the investigation.  He's just as tyrannical to his own as the white suspects if not even more so.  Takes a while for O'Rourke to catch on to him, but to be fair the threat of losing his Vice President was more than a little distracting.  

THE ALL IMPORTANT NIELSENS:

Uncle Miltie's appearance probably didn't hurt, but the bigger factor in the highest Thursday rating to date (18.8 rating, 33.2 share) was likely lead-out TAMMY GRIMES (9.9!) getting replaced at 8:30 P.M. by THE DATING GAME (16.6).  Berle was returning a favor, as Storch and Tucker had appeared on Berle's new series the previous Friday.  Unfortunately they couldn't dislodge many viewers from MY GEISHA or THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. and Berle was a poor third in the time slot yet again with a 12.0/21.8 share.  However, BERLE saw a spike the night after his F TROOP with a 13.8/25.3.  

THE BOTTOM LINE:

With its venerable guest star who is forever linked with Tucker in Hollywood lore The Great Troop Robbery can't help but be one of the most famous F TROOP installments.  Loads of fun but not quite as inspired as the business agreement that kick-starts the previous Burns/Marmer entry.  Despite the thin plot and fairly obvious guilty party, a good job from Berle makes this sitcom's inevitable amnesia plot highly enjoyable despite its slightness.  Originally rated it a half star higher; it's really close.  (*** out of four)

F TROOP Fridays: "Reach for the Sky, Pardner" (1966)

 

F TROOP Fridays: Number 42  

F TROOP: "Reach for the Sky, Pardner" (1966 ABC-TV/Warner Brothers) Season Two, Episode 38; original air date September 29, 1966.  Starring Forrest Tucker as Sergeant Morgan O'Rourke, Larry Storch as Corporal Randolph Agarn, Ken Berry as Captain Wilton Parmenter, Melody Patterson as Wrangler Jane Angelica Thrift, Frank deKova as Chief Wild Eagle, Don Diamond as Crazy Cat, James Hampton as Bugler Dobbs, Bob Steele as Private Duffy, Joe Brooks as Vanderbilt.  Guest Stars: Charles Lane as Mr. Maguire, Paul Sorensen as Tombstone, George Barrows as Pecos, Mary Young as Widow O'Brien.  Written by Arthur Julian.  Directed by Seymour Robbie.

The latest expansion of O'Rourke Enterprises is a literal one of the Fort Courage saloon's banquet room, designed to attract convention business away from Dodge City.  The augmentation necessitated a loan from miserly Maguire, eager to foreclose on the lucrative property at the first missed payment.  The deadline is no problem for the Sarge....until desperado train robbers make off with the Fort Courage payroll during their latest heist.

"I guess it's true what the Apaches say about him--Wild Eagle is a cheap, miserly skinflint who wouldn't give his own mother a piece of dried buffalo!"

"Never know Apache such good judge of character!"

With trooper IOU's no longer a viable source and time of the essence, O'Rourke pulls every string he can.  Things look mighty dark after his business partners refuse to loan him the money, attempts to persuade a hardship emergency payroll are thwarted (partly since the real source of said hardship cannot be revealed to the Captain) and Maguire unsmilingly forecloses on poor old Widow O'Brien in front of them--so much for Irish sentimentality.  

"Sarge, you saved your saloon!"

"What's that, Corporal?"

"I said the train arrives at Noon!"

Just when it looks like the saloon is about to change hands, a lifeline is thrown by the unlikeliest of sources--territorial headquarters!  In the form of a second payroll via tomorrow's train.  With no margin for error, O'Rourke and Agarn volunteer Parmenter to go undercover as mail clerks to ensure safe delivery.  There's also a warning about the bandits, however: murderers wanted in four states.  So is it a lifeline or a death line?

"Oh, Wilton, I just love it when you make these quick decisions!"

Your money or your life?  The question that had Jack Benny thinking it over for a patented pregnant pause causes no such consternation for O'Rourke and Agarn--greed wins decisively.  The troopers both voluntell their boss in head spinning fashion that they'll accompany the payroll.  For his part, President O'Rourke never wavers, while V.P. Agarn separates slightly once they're on the train and reality sets in.

  

"If they get THAT payroll it'll be over our dead bodies!"

"YOU shoot it out with them, Sarge!  I'd rather reach for the sky than BE there!"

Expansion of O'Rourke Enterprises is a frequent F TROOP storyline but usually involves the creation of new souvenirs or side businesses.  This time, literal expansion of the existing cornerstone is the focus, with the Sarge looking to compete aggressively with Dodge instead of just extolling the 109 mile distance to that next saloon.  It doesn't appear that the more fiscally conservative Wild Eagle was enthusiastic about this growth from his reaction to his partner's request for a debt relief loan.  Wild Eagle's reticence to loan money to O'Rourke isn't surprising, but the Chief risking the potential loss of his lucrative whisky sales (maybe the next owner will buy Hekawi, maybe not) by not having his pal's back raises an eyebrow.  He'd normally acquiesce after negotiating himself some solid vigorish.  

While we're on the subject of the cheeseparing, Charles Lane moonlights from PETTICOAT JUNCTION and gives O'Rourke Enterprises a different kind of threat, one arguably more difficult to solve than any Inspector General to date.  You'd think he could obtain the saloon by simply threatening to expose the Sarge's clandestine proprietorship, but takeover doesn't appear to be his primary motivation.  Rightly so.  If you're a banker it's probably more profitable for less of a headache to keep the vigorish coming in without actually running the place or trying to find a suitable buyer.  Notice he shows no pleasure in obtaining the widow's property and considers it an immediate headache, wanting to unload it "cheap".

O'Rourke Enterprises seems to be a much more open secret than previously intimated, since it is used as collateral for Maguire's loan.  But as long as Captain Parmenter is kept in the dark, that's all that matters.  Nevertheless "the old man" is oh-so-close to getting in on the secret twice, once when he stumbles onto the construction (just missing the Sarge barking out instructions), and later after he smuggles himself onto the train to assist his undercover underlings.  Fortunately the President and Vice President don't engage in any shop talk during that brief time that they are unaware of Wilton's presence. 

Reach for the Sky, Pardner lacks a secondary plot, but that doesn't hurt this nimble entry from Julian, who bounces back nicely after the subpar How to be F Troop Without Really Trying.  O'Rourke's search for alternate funding leads us through the lyrics from When Irish Eyes are Smiling, September in the Rain and (best of all) Oh! That's Good, No That's Bad in the first Act alone--one song for each stop, in fact.  The only real quibble comes from killer bandits Tombstone and Pecos both being so distracted by the hot n' spicy letter that they fail to notice O'Rourke taking his gun off them while he listens.  To be fair, that's an almost pornographic letter for 1866 and even pretty interesting a century and a half later--see more below.

It's a quite venerable guest cast this time, with Mary Young making her penultimate TV appearance at 87 alongside Lane, who was 60 but always looked 87 and had another three decades left in his career (he died at 102 in 2007).  ROBOT MONSTER Barrows not only gets out of his usual gorilla suit but is also credited for a change, and Sorensen was over a decade away from his long running recurring gig as cartel oilman Andy Bradley on DALLAS. 

NAGGING QUESTIONS:

One will come later, during Bring on the Dancing Girls.  In that installment, Dan Larsen blackmails "the owner of the building" who is leasing to O'Rourke--yet here, O'Rourke must be the owner, since the saloon is his collateral for the loan.  Well, is the Sarge owning or leasing?  Which is it, Arthur Julian, since you wrote both episodes?

HOW'S BUSINESS AT O'ROURKE ENTERPRISES?

Sarge comes away with a nice windfall in the end that for once is related to his duties as a soldier instead of his illicit activities elsewhere.  While things look shaky until that point, the banquet room will come in handy when Emilio Barberini passes through later (La Dolce Courage).

NUMBER OF TIMES O'ROURKE COULD HAVE BEEN CHARGED WITH TREASON:

Zero, in fact he's a model soldier in spite of himself here, heroically capturing two killer bandits with assists from Parmenter and Agarn.  

BAITING THE CENSORS:

Julian slyly gets a blowjob reference past them while Agarn reads the sexy letter: "you placed your lips on my mouth---(pregnant pause, turns page)---organ".  

WISE OLD HEKAWI SAYING?

Wild Eagle is slipping--he can't recall the wise old Indian saying about lending money.  The paleface have one of their own: "You don't lend O'Rourke the money, he loses his saloon!  And stops buying whisky from you, and you walk around with holes in your moccasins!"  A bit long winded, but the Chief concedes it isn't a bad little saying.  

THE ALL IMPORTANT NIELSENS:

Reach for the Sky, Pardner underperformed the season average with a 17.3 rating/29.8 share, losing to DANIEL BOONE on NBC.  Lead-out THE TAMMY GRIMES SHOW was really dragging ABC's fortunes down, posting an absolutely abysmal 9.9/16.6 in what would be the disastrous sitcom's fourth and final airing.  With GRIMES gone the following week, F TROOP rebounded to a 33.2 share and began the climb back to 1965-66 levels that took the first half of the season to complete.  Yes, GRIMES really was a debacle heretofore unseen on network television at the time. 

THE BOTTOM LINE:

This time the status quo is threatened by a menacing miser, proving that black swan events for our Enterprises don't have to come from Washington, D.C.  Wobbles a bit in its resolution but Julian has his feel for these characters back and Robbie (arguably the finest F TROOP director--close race with Rondeau IMO) camouflages the thinness of the plot nicely.  O'Rourke Enterprises in peril is always a winner for this sitcom, and Charles Lane guest starring is a winner for any sitcom.  Reach for the Sky, Pardner has both of these positives.   (***1/2 out of four) 

F TROOP airs 9 to 10 a.m. weekday mornings on Outlaw The Western Channel.

F TROOP Fridays: "How to be F Troop Without Really Trying" (1966)

 

F TROOP Fridays: Number 41 

F TROOP: "How to be F Troop Without Really Trying" (ABC-TV/Warner Brothers 1966)  Season Two, Episode 2; Original Air Date: September 15, 1966.  Starring Forrest Tucker as Sergeant Morgan O'Rourke, Larry Storch as Corporal Randolph Agarn, Ken Berry as Captain Wilton Parmenter, Melody Patterson as Wrangler Jane, Frank deKova as Chief Wild Eagle, Don Diamond as Crazy Cat, James Hampton as Bugler Hannibal Dobbs, Bob Steele as Duffy, Joe Brooks as Vanderbilt.  Guest Stars: George Tyne as Major Bradley and Les Brown Jr. as Lieutenant Harrison.  Written by Arthur Julian.  Directed by David Alexander.

Major Bradley is the latest visiting officer to ride into Fort Courage.  Inspection?  Hardly. F Troop has been ordered to train their own replacements, G Troop.  The entire squad is being transferred to Bloody Creek, with the exception of one N.C.O. who will remain: Corporal Randolph Agarn.  

This news is poorly received by all: Agarn doesn't want to be left with a bunch of strangers, Jane and Wilton don't want to be separated by distance, and O'Rourke surely doesn't want to be away from his lucrative side hustle (though, unbelievably, this isn't even brought up until Act II).  An order is an order, however, and this is one time Uncle Sam seemingly won't be deterred by any shenanigans.

After The Singing Mountie opened F TROOP's sophomore season with a bang, the second color entry is a huge letdown.  The weakest of the 36 segments to date, How to be F Troop Without Really Trying is almost completely incongruous with everything that preceded it--surprising since it was written by the most prolific of the show's writers, Arthur Julian.  The single biggest issue is the complete impotence of Sergeant O'Rourke, heretofore the man who ruled while Parmenter reigned.  

More fun than the audience is having, that's for sure

Much like Bilko at Fort Baxter a century after him, O'Rourke was the real mover and shaker at Fort Courage.  When we met him in Scourge of the West, he'd already eliminated two Captains and a Major before Parmenter arrived (two desertions, one nervous breakdown) and gave him his "Great White Pidgeon"--the perfect C.O. for O'Rourke Enterprises.  Presidency of that Enterprises paid well enough that a General's pay would be a salary reduction, and threats to the Sarge's business were eliminated one by one--be they from a quartet of visiting Majors (including one from the Bengal Lancers!) or from empowered members of Parmenter's esteemed military family.  He might be temporarily bowed by each obstacle presented, but O'Rourke was never surrendering his highly profitable side hustle meekly.  

That Sergeant O'Rourke is missing entirely from How to be F Troop Without Really Trying.  Previously defending his Enterprises at all costs, he's oddly submissive to this order, deferring to Wilton's formal protest via official channels.  The helplessness might be understandable, but not the apathy.  The Sarge weirdly seems more concerned with the potential breakup of Jane and Wilton than with the loss of his own business until the literal day before the move, when he suddenly realizes he has one.  Even then we get no real subterfuge from the NCO's or their partners, just a toothless threat from Wild Eagle to break the treaty which goes nowhere.  A man willing to sabotage military strategy (to the point of letting the Hekawi take over Fort Courage once!) and even risk being burned at the stake to save his beloved establishment is now ungrudgingly handing the reigns to Agarn and becoming a soldier again.  Hey...who are you, and what have you done with Morgan O'Rourke?

The impression given is that working on Major Bradley is completely useless against this bureaucratic order--one somehow superior to all the others previously faced.  Why then, is it so abruptly overturned by a few seconds of post-Parmenter ineptitude (no worse than anything we've seen previously) by....Major Bradley?  And Sarge does nothing to facilitate the eventual fatal flaw---that incompetent F Troop would produce trainees just as hopeless.  He's already ridden off to Bloody Creek, when in fact this Achilles heel should have been one of O'Rourke's first thoughts, since this was his initial counter to the threat Bentley Royce posed in the aforementioned Phantom Major.  

As for the Vice President, Corporal Agarn's response also lacks his previous greed and ambition.  Before now (Play, Gypsy, Play and Lt. O'Rourke, Front and Center) eager to prove he could provide the brains of the organization just as well as the Sarge, Agarn is also a changed man for the worse.  Yeah, he's always been gentler than O'Rourke, but never to the point of having no heart whatsoever for even keeping the Enterprises going without him.  He's always been a weeper, but an avaricious one.  Until now, that is.  

"I was told you even smoked the peace pipe."

"I didn't inhale!"

With complete changes in our characters that normally would never be found outside of a dream sequence, there's little to recommend about How to be F Troop Without Really Trying.  It is historically significant for the above line, a quarter century before Bill Clinton famously used it, and also as the very first example of the "Who says I'm dumb?" exchange that would rival the falling lookout tower as F TROOP's signature running gag.  The rest of the time, this slow moving plot give us lots of ineptitude-fueled slapstick and sappy sentimentality failing to bolster Julian's still-solid wordplay.  Fortunately, O'Rourke and Agarn would return to being their normal materialistic selves in subsequent weeks, thankfully making this dire affair an outlier.  

HOW'S BUSINESS AT O'ROURKE ENTERPRISES?

About to go bankrupt without a whimper, apparently.  We never even visit the saloon and it is as if it doesn't even exist this week.  Strangely, O'Rourke has all that merchandise surrounding him while he sits in the NCO Club while he worries about the fate of the Wilton/Jane romance.  Yes, really.

NUMBER OF TIMES O'ROURKE COULD HAVE BEEN TRIED FOR TREASON?

He did consort with the enemy when he advised the Chief to threaten to break the treaty.  That's still a far cry from actually throwing battles or paying for easily repelled attacks, though, and not nearly as much fun.

WISE OLD HEKAWI SAYING?

Not much wisdom from anyone young or old in this.  Parmenter had a long-winded quote from his father that defended seemingly unjust Army orders, but extra verbiage didn't equal extra wisdom or humor.  

HISTORICAL FACTS:

Agarn asks Duffy to send him a letter Pony Express about his Alamo exploits, with the Private reminding him that it stopped running five years ago.  ("I know that Duffy.")  It did in fact cease operations in October 1861, so apparently How to be F Troop Without Really Trying takes place exactly one century prior to its September 1966 air date.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

The worst installment to date by far and arguably the worst of the entire series.  Other segments that didn't get the show's characters right were usually done by freelancers or first time F TROOP scripters. Writing his 15th episode here, Arthur Julian has no such excuse.  Fortunately, this was not indicative of a new direction.  Sandwiched between The Singing Mountie and Bye, Bye Balloon, How to be F Troop without Really Trying is an isolated dud best skipped over while you are binging IMO.  (1/2 star out of ****)

F TROOP is currently airing weekdays at 9 a.m. Eastern on THE OUTLAW NETWORK. 

F TROOP Fridays: "The West Goes Ghost" (1966)

 

F TROOP Fridays -- Number 40 

F TROOP: "The West Goes Ghost" (1966 Warner Brothers/ABC-TV) Season Two, Episode 40: Original Air Date October 13, 1966.  Starring Forrest Tucker as Sgt. Morgan O'Rourke, Larry Storch as Corporal Randolph Agarn, Ken Berry as Captain Wilton Parmenter, Melody Patterson as Wrangler Jane, Frank deKova as Chief Wild Eagle, James Hampton as Bugler Hannibal Dobbs, Joe Brooks as Private Vanderbilt, Bob Steele as Trooper Duffy, Ivan Bell as Dudleson, Don Diamond as Crazy Cat.  Guest Star Don Beddoe as Harry The Hermit.  Written by Arthur Julian.  Directed by Seymour Robbie.

Sergeant O'Rourke's latest scheme is arguably his biggest ever, big enough to need two new partners (Dobbs and Vanderbilt): homesteading Paradise Junction, a nearby ghost town.  O'Rourke has inside information that the railroad will soon be passing through Paradise, and the Sarge feels the upside is high enough for the men to legally buy their way out of the army.  It isn't the easiest sale to Agarn, but the two men who aren't benefitting from being Vice President of O'Rourke Enterprises already are ready to try it, and the Corporal follows suit.

"We can make a fortune here!"

"Selling dust?"

It's easy to see holes in the plan right away: Dobbs and Agarn will be the town dentist and doctor, respectively (that's what medical books are for, right?).  "Man of Vision" Vanderbilt will run the hotel while O'Rourke runs the bank.  Doctor Agarn is the largest obstacle once he's clued in by Jane and Wild Eagle that Paradise has literal ghosts roaming the grounds--those of Black Jack Crawford and Maud Fletcher.

As was the case in Captain Parmenter, One Man Army, O'Rourke decides to take his Enterprises into the civilian world.  That was planned as a temporary side hustle, though--this time it's for keeps, with O'Rourke citing the Homestead Act (1862, one would assume) and planning to leave Army life for good.  Attracting people to the abandoned former Paradise hinges solely on the Sarge's inside information on the railroad and it isn't much of a spoiler to reveal that the scuttlebutt has it wrong.

"If we believe in happy hunting ground in the sky, how tough is it to believe in ghosts?"

The President of O'Rourke Enterprises also had much more enthusiastic support from his regular partners in the previous season's venture.  Wild Eagle has zero interest, though it appears his aversion is to offering whiskey on credit rather than the rumored apparitions.  Since there are no residents in Paradise Junction yet, one must assume O'Rourke needs the red-eye advance for the regular saloon while he meets the financial requirements for the application.

"Are you sure Millard Fillmore ain't President?"

Unsuccessful at bringing life to the deserted Junction, O'Rourke does manage to solve the mystery of Blackjack Crawford: he's Harry the Hermit, who seems to be a big reason the town has no other residents.  Not that he needs to scare them away, as he seems more than capable of annoying anyone away who comes near in our few minutes with him.  Delightfully grungy here, ubiquitous character actor Don Beddoe's more than 300 credits included UNHOLY PARTNERS, the MAVERICK episode Rope of Cards, and HONOLULU LU and HOODLUM EMPIRE with Tucker.

With a pencil thin story to hang everything on and a punch line delivered long before the end, the key point of interest for The West Goes Ghost is seeing so many secondary characters in different duds.  Vanderbilt gets more to do than usual (though the "sight" gags are never far away); Dobbs is the nominal adult in the room as his running season two rivalry with Agarn picks up steam; O'Rourke and Agarn's suits from One Man Army look funnier in color (particularly the latter); but Duffy's promotion all the way to three stripes after over thirty years of service seems like it should be a bigger event.  Predictably, the new Sergeant's role model remains Davy Crockett. 

After Agarn's disastrous kitchen foray in Too Many Cooks Spoil the Troop O'Rourke doesn't take any chances--Dobbs handles the cooking in Paradise.  There's a great foreshadowing in-joke after the Bugler names the ingredients of his Louisiana roots-driven dinner: wild rabbit stew, corn fritters, mustard greens and black-eyed peas.  O'Rourke responds by quoting the signature song of Tucker's childhood hero Phil Harris: "and that's what I like about the South!"  Harris was three months away from memorably guest starring in What Are You Doing After the Massacre?  

NUMBER OF TIMES O'ROURKE COULD HAVE BEEN TRIED FOR TREASON:

None; can't commit many military crimes when you're not in the service for ninety percent of the episode.

NAGGING QUESTIONS:

Lots.  Why doesn't Captain Parmenter just show O'Rourke the letter requesting a railroad protection detail--proof that Paradise is being bypassed--instead of the elaborate ruse with Jane?  Why doesn't Harry the Hermit stake a claim to the town, since he claims to have lived there 20 years?  And why is Harry so quick to leave when he feels he has ghostly competition, since two decades seems like a Hell of a commitment to abandon in five seconds?

PROMOTIONS:

In Lt. O'Rourke, Front and Center the Sergeant's temporary commission resulted in equally temporary promotions to Sergeant (Agarn), Corporal (Dobbs), and Bugler (Hoffenmueller).  Agarn and Dobbs join this venture, leaving F Troop with a distressingly thin bench.  Duffy goes from zero stripes all the way to three, and Dudleson gets the bugler nod (he isn't really a downgrade, IMO).  But apparently no one left can fill Agarn's shoes, since there's no temporary Corporal.  Interestingly, the new cannon crew is able to miss the lookout tower, but unable to avoid hitting Jane's general store and the customers in it.

HOW'S BUSINESS AT O'ROURKE ENTERPRISES?

While the Paradise Junction venture yields no profits, one would hope he isn't out the cost of the homestead application yet and that he and the men get their buyouts back after the quick reenlistment.

WISE OLD HEKAWI SAYING?

Some wisdom regarding lending and the aforementioned quote on superstitions, but no literal saying this time.

PC OR NOT PC?

A stereotype is only being played up as an excuse.  Wild Eagle isn't really afraid of ghosts, just of extending credit.  Considering the success of the venture, he's proven right. 

THE BOTTOM LINE:

The West Goes Ghost goes down easy enough during its inevitable journey back to the status quo.  Some good lines by Julian and a rare chance to see everyone either out of uniform or in different positions but this one is awfully slight and seems padded well before the end of Act II.  An average entry at best.  Every Sixties sitcom needed a haunted house or town at least once and F TROOP did their comedy of horrors better with V is for Vampire later in the season.  (**1/2 out of four)  

F TROOP airs at 9 A.M. to 11 A.M. Eastern Time weekdays on The Outlaw Network.

F TROOP Fridays: "Reunion for O'Rourke" (1966)

 F TROOP Fridays: Number 39   

F TROOP: "Reunion for O'Rourke" (1966 ABC-TV/Warner Brothers) Season One, Episode 25; Original Air Date March 8, 1966.  Starring Forrest Tucker as Sergeant Morgan O'Rourke, Larry Storch as Corporal Randolph Agarn, Ken Berry as Captain Wilton Parmenter, Melody Patterson as Wrangler Jane, Frank de Kova as Chief Wild Eagle, James Hampton as Private Dobbs, Bob Steele as Private Duffy, Joe Brooks as Private Vanderbilt, Ivan Bell as Private Dudleson.  Guest stars: Eve McVeagh as Wilma McGee, Ben Gage as Mike O'Hanlon, Marjorie Bennett as Ella Vorhees, Richard Reeves as Jim Sweeney.  Written by Ed James and Seaman Jacobs.  Directed by Charles Rondeau.

"Many years ago, tribe leave Massachusetts because pilgrims ruin neighborhood...."

Sergeant Morgan Sylvester O'Rourke lets slip to the Captain that he is celebrating his 25th anniversary in the service this month, but his accompanying furlough request is motivated by business rather than nostalgia: namely, a surplus of souvenirs needing a buyer.  Unfortunately, an elevated threat of Indian uprisings has by-the-book Captain Parmenter denying O'Rourke's reasonable request.

The threat of losing his share of the profits has Agarn off to persuade Parmenter but the Captain coaxes the Corporal with an idea of his own: a surprise testimonial dinner.  As planned by the C.O. the secret celebration will make travel unnecessary by bringing the Sergeant's oldest and dearest friends to Fort Courage for the occasion.  Yes, Agarn puts sentiment ahead of profit once the Captain puts him in charge of the entire affair.  But as demonstrated in Play, Gypsy, Play the previous week, there's good reason not to have him in the driver's seat.

"We have lined up the finest entertainment west of.....hey, what's just east of here?"

As I've noted in prior posts, series creators Ed James and Seaman Jacobs envisioned a more cynical F TROOP than what ultimately emerged once Hy Averback won the post-William T. Orr era power struggle on the set.  Reunion for O'Rourke was as close as we ever got to a heartwarming outing from the James/Jacobs team, and you can forget about a sappy conclusion like those found in A Gift From the Chief or Will the Real Captain Try to Stand Up here.  

"Sarge, if you ruin this night--I'll kill ya!"

Agarn temporarily putting his greed aside is an eyebrow raiser but makes sense here, as the opportunity for the second banana to run the show is the one thing almost as appealing as money to the frustrated subordinate.  Softie underneath he may be, but the empowered Corporal really gives that hat a workout and even goes after O'Rourke with a hat rack(!) when the guest of honor refuses all efforts to lure him out for the surprise.  He even rubs off on his underlings, as Duffy gives Vanderbilt a whack with his (likely decades-old) head covering.

The James/Jacobs attitude (also likely director Rondeau's) towards any F TROOP mawkishness is in evidence throughout O'Rourke's big night as every single attempt at hugs or tears is thwarted.  Often violently.  His old schoolteacher confirms that kid brother Morton was "the good kid" in the family and still holds a decades-old grudge over a frog in her teapot.  Old girlfriend Wilma McGee still has her figure despite gaining eight children (the Sarge's reaction is one of the best laughs in an episode stuffed with good ones) and her own thriving Emporium (now this interests Morgan) from the husband she married "while she was waiting" for O'Rourke to come home.  Two old buddies from the Mexican-American War have ended up on very divergent paths, to the peril of all party attendees--Mike O'Hanlon's shows us O'Rourke could be doing far worse things than his Enterprises.

"Where the Hekawi?"

Despite it's title and the numerous welcome tidbits from the Sarge's past, Reunion for O'Rourke is almost certainly best-remembered for the backstory provided for his business partners.  Yes, this is the episode that reveals just how the Hekawi tribe was named.  I won't reproduce the entire story; I couldn't tell it nearly as well as Frank deKova's Wild Eagle does anyway.  Suffice to say it is a legendary moment among F TROOP aficionados that lives up to the hype. 

Not long after his 2,038 performance run touring the country as THE MUSIC MAN, Forrest Tucker sings Dear Old Donegal.  Or, I should say, finally gets in more than a line or two at the fadeout of Act Two.  My Wild Irish Rose however is mostly ceded to the Hekawi Glee Club(!).  At least until the coda.  Par for the course for F TROOP, both are sung decades before they were actually written.

Once more, the co-creators allow O'Rourke to succeed where Bilko often failed, as the Enterprises finds that much-needed buyer in the Sarge's romantic past.  No, he and Agarn will never get rich either, but they'll surreptitiously keep ill-gotten gains almost every episode.  At least until the J.J.'s (and Rondeau) were completely out of the picture in Season Two.  Too bad.

Look out for LOVE THAT BOB's Mrs. Niemeyer (Bob Gives S.R.O. Performance), Marjorie Bennett as the Sarge's still-angry third grade teacher, and for MAVERICK's James Arness impressionist extraordinaire Ben Gage (Gun-Shy) as the Sarge's shady old pal O'Hanlon aka The Canary Kid.  O'Hanlon demonstrates the pitfalls of sentimentality in this universe better than anyone--if he could have forgone going to see his old friend, the Kid would still be at large and the most successful outlaw in the West at episode's end, right? 

HOW'S BUSINESS AT O'ROURKE ENTERPRISES?

Way too slow at the outset, but a timely sale to the McGee Emporium gets the souvenirs moving again by the epilogue.  Ever the shrewd negotiator, O'Rourke manages to make that sale without becomin' that father to eight blessed McGee young 'uns.

TIME PASSAGES:

O'Rourke states he "joined up for the Mexican War" and since it has been 25 years, this episode likely takes place circa 1871.  O'Hanlon's statement that Morgan was a Sergeant 22 years ago (and 3 years after that enlistment) is contradicted in Our Brave in F Troop later: "it took me ten years to get these stripes!"   In the coda, we learn that Chief Wild Eagle has been leading his tribe for 17 years.  Hey, close enough for that golden sundial. 

NUMBER OF TIMES O'ROURKE COULD HAVE BEEN TRIED FOR TREASON:

Zero, with everyone putting any differences aside for one night to celebrate the Sarge's silver jubilee.

PC, OR NOT PC?

Natives and palefaces come together in peaceful harmony to pay tribute to the Sarge, and the Irish cultural appropriation by the Hekawis is received well by the patrons sans O'Rourke.  The festive occasion even has by-the-book Parmenter cutting through red tape to let the Natives into the saloon, with the dangers of letting them near whisky going unmentioned. 

THE ALL-IMPORTANT NIELSENS:

Reunion for O'Rourke scored well with viewers with a solid 21.4 rating and 31.6 share, both above the season average of 20.4/31.3.  RED SKELTON led the 8 PM pack as usual with a 28.4/41.9 for the half-hour but the Troopers bludgeoned NBC's movie September Affair (15.7/26.3).

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Nice bit of symmetry for the show to celebrate O'Rourke's 25th year in the Army with its 25th episode.  Reunion for O'Rourke demonstrates the show in full stride on all fronts; just a tad of unintrusive heart and chock full of laughs.  I originally gave this the top rating and an extra half star for the classic Hekawi history story, and while I'm taking that half-star back in my revisionist rating, it's still a very worthy entry in a very worthy season.  (***1/2 out of four) 

F TROOP is currently seen weekday mornings starting at 9 A.M. Central Time on Outlaw TV.