1982
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Work
The children's department is made up to look like a stage. There is a spotlight and music, and Muffy peeks her head out from behind the curtain to introduce the act.
"Presenting for your pleasure, an entertainment treasure. The amazing "Jeffo" and his great magic show!"
Jodie and Sam applaud, and Sam yells out, "Yay! More! More!"
"Sam, he hasn't done anything yet." Jodie says.
Jeff shows them that he has nothing in his hands and nothing up his sleeves. Then he blows into his hands and poof! A yellow silk scarf appears. Jodie and Sam are quite impressed.
"Now," announces Jeff, "for my next trick I, I, ah, ah . . ." he can't finish his sentence. He's going to sneeze. He searches for a handkerchief and pulls a long, long, long line of handkerchiefs out of his pocket. Finally he finds the right one and sneezes into it. "Ta-daa!" he says. It seems it was all part of the act and Jodie and Sam clap. But then Jeff says to himself, looking at the handkerchiefs, "Where did they all come from?"
"For my next trick, I will pull a rabbit out of my hat." Jeff proclaims. Unfortunately, when Jeff tries to show them that there is nothing in his hat, he accidentally knocks open the false bottom on the hat, to Jodie and Sam's amusement. Continuing, he waves his wand, cries "hocus, pocus, alamagocus!" and reaches his hand deep into the hat, below the false bottom into the cart below. But grope as he may, he can't find the rabbit. He calls down through the hat to Muffy. "Where's the rabbit?" Muffy pops out of the hat herself to tell him that the rabbit is nowhere in sight.
Everyone looks around for the rabbit, not a real rabbit but a stuffed toy. Jeff likes it and doesn't want to lose it.
They look around backstage and finally Muffy spots it, sitting on the table. Suddenly, the rabbit disappears, and in a puff of smoke, a man in a black cape and a star studded top hat appears, holding the rabbit in his hand. "I believe this is yours!" he tells everyone.
"It's Waldo the Magnificent!" cries Jeff.
"My gracious, where?" The man says, looking around.
"*You're* Waldo the Magnificent," says Jeff.
"I am? Of course I am!"
Jodie remembers that it was Waldo who cast the spell that turned Jeff from a mannequin into a person. Jeff tells him he is really enjoying the real world and he is learning a lot. Then he introduces Jodie, Sam and Muffy Mouse.
Looking at Sam, Waldo says, "I've never seen such a large mouse, and with a mustache no less, how very peculiar."
Sam explains who is who, and Waldo makes up for his blunder by kissing Muffy's hand.
"What a delightful man! Already, I'm a fan." sighs Muffy.
Waldo can't stay long - he's performing tonight. But he says he'll give them something to amuse them while he is gone. Then, poof! He disappears again in a puff of smoke and a mirror appears on the counter.
"Doesn't anybody use a door anymore?" exclaims a startled Sam.
They wonder why Waldo left a mirror behind. Muffy decides to ask it a question.
"Who's the fairest mouse of all?" To everyone's surprise the mirror answers in Waldo's voice. "You are the fairest, Miss Muffy. It is my magic mirror of wishes. Just stand before it and count to three and you shall be what you want to be."
It's a magic mirror! "WOW!" everyone says.
Meanwhile, the mime is pretending that's she's a magician, too. She's waving her wand over a hat. A sound comes from the hat. TXL asks us if we know what that sound is. It's a train! The mime lady tips the hat so we can look inside, and sure enough, there's a train.
Back in the children's department, Jeff, Jodie and Sam are wondering what to wish to become. But Muffy has no problem deciding she wants to be a cowboy. Sam thinks that's a good idea, so he and Muffy stand before the mirror and say, "1, 2, 3, cowboys that's what we want to be."
Now, they're in cowboy outfits, but the magic mirror mixed up the hats. Sam has a pretty little pink hat in the middle of his head, and Muffy is covered by a big black hat. After they straighten out the hats. Muffy wishes that she could have a horse, but realizes that may be too much to ask. Or is it? Jeff and Jodie ride into the children's department on "horses" made out of fabric. They fit over the body and have "legs" straddling the sides. Jodie found them in the stock room. Muffy suggests they sing a cowboy song.
"Saddle up, now here we go, we're headed for the rodeo . . . giddy up, giddy up whoa, that's the western way to go!"
The mime is playing another game now. She is still waving a stick, but it's not a magic wand. She is all dressed in fancy clothes. Now music begins. Yes, she's a conductor. But a wide shot shows that she is conducting a record player. "Maybe someday she'll have real musicians," TXL says.
Muffy and Sam have changed their game, too. They're dressed in white coats, have stethoscopes around their necks, and are carrying black bags. Sam uses his stethoscope to listen to his heart, and asks us to guess what he is. We can see he and Muffy are doctors. His beeper goes off so he hurries away. Jodie comes in and is amused to see that Muffy is a doctor. She offers to be her first patient. Muffy asks her to take off her socks. "Take off my shoes?" Jodie asks. Muffy explains that she is a foot doctor. Jodie reluctantly removes her shoes but says that Muffy should be careful because she has very ticklish feet.
"Foot doctors never tickle feet," Muffy says, "That would be very indiscreet." So Muffy begins to examine her feet and toes, but she can't resist a tickle. "Two can play that game!" cries Jodie and tickles Muffy in return.
TXL shows us a picture of Sam and Muffy. They want to be cowboys and doctors. "What do you want to do when you grow up? There are so many jobs you can do."
"What do people do all day?" she sings, and shows us pictures of grownups doing all sorts of work, and children pretending to work, too.
In another part of the store, Jodie tells us she'd like to get away from the city for awhile. She decides to ask Waldo's mirror to make her a farmer. She closes her eyes and pretends she's on a farm.
Jodie had imagined hay rides and walks through the field, but farm work isn't like that. You have to get up and feed the animals. We see her slopping the piglets. She herds the cattle, forks hay together for two hours, plays with a baby calf, makes friends with a barn cat and gathers fresh eggs. But the work just keeps on coming. Clean the stall, feed the cows . . . "I had no idea farming was such hard work!" says Jodie, "I'm going back to the city for a rest."
In the children's department, Jeff is sitting on the counter kicking his feet and thinking. Sam comes along and invites Jeff to share a meal break with him in the plant department, but Jeff decides to stay. He asks us what we would like to be if he we had the chance. He has decided he wants to be a dancer. A real professional dancer on a stage. So he closes his eyes and counts to three, "A dancer's what I want to be," he tells the mirror.
Soon Jeff is in on a stage dancing and is joined by two doubles who dance with him. The song has a quick beat and Jeff leaps and spins to the music - all three of him.
Next we see Sam and Muffy who've changed their minds again. They're dressed as firemen. Sam suggests they rescue a cat stuck in a tree.
"Look at me, Sam, I'm not a fireman, I am a fire-MOUSE. And I'd rather see a cat up in a tree, than have one in the house!"
Now Jodie is sitting on the counter in the children's department, thinking. She has a rag doll in her arms. Jeff comes along and asks her why she's so quiet, and she says she's thinking. "About what?" asks Jeff, jumping up onto the counter and sitting next to her.
"Babies." says Jodie.
"Babies?!" asks Jeff, wide eyed.
Jodie explains that she likes her job at the store, but she wonders what it would be like to be a mother. Being a mother is a career, too, she tells Jeff. Jeff smiles and tells her she'd make a terrific mother. Jodie wonders what it would be like. Next we see Jodie singing the lullaby from "Sleep" to an adorable little baby. Finally, she lays the baby in a crib and she sings, "go to sleep just close your eyes."
Next an animated Muffy appears and announces that we will sit back and watch a show. The Canadian Brass appear in the store, play a tune, and then disappear.
In the children's department, Sam informs us, "Muffy and I have changed our minds again." Now they're baseball players. Sam is pitching, "No-hit Crenshaw," and Muffy is the batter, "Home Run Muffy." Jeff is the announcer. Muffy hits the ball on her first try, but the ball hits and shatters the mirror.
Everyone is disappointed, especially Muffy. "Shattered glass and so it seems I've shattered all of our dreams."
Jodie tries to console her. She assures her that Waldo will understand that it was an accident. Just then, Waldo appears and uses Muffy's baseball bat to repair the mirror. Muffy is happy they can play their wishing game again, but Waldo explains they don't need his mirror to be what they want to be. They have their own magic right inside their heads. And, poof! He's gone again.
Jeff wonders what he meant by saying they had magic in their heads, but Jodie figures it out. It's their imagination! They can be anything they want to be by just pretending.
Jeff is doubtful, so Jodie demonstrates. Singing the cowboy song again, Jodie grabs a mop and pretends it's a horse. The rest grab mops too, and they are all pretending again -- without the magic mirror.
Quizzes:
- Let's guess what this person's job is. (A stick figure). A uniform appears. A big sack filled with letters. It's a mail person.
- Can you guess what this little girl wants to be? (She is dressed up like a lion tamer, and she is pretending with her cats)
Nursery Rhyme:
- Dr. Foster went to Gloucester
Notes:
- This is the first episode in which we see Waldo the Magnificent.
- Sam's complaint lasts until the last of T.S.' seasons - that Waldo should use the door. He mentions it here for the first time, and is still complaining about it in 1987's Mrs. Waldo.
- It is unclear whether Jodie's farm trip was real or in her imagination. She seems to be describing a real trip, especially when she talks about getting help from the farmer to herd the cows. But then she said she was going to close her eyes and *imagine* she was on a farm. It is also unclear whether the mirror is granting her wish or not when she thinks about being a mother, since she never counts to three - she just says, "I wonder what it would be like," and then we see her singing to the baby.
- "Dr. Foster went to Gloucester" is the only nursery rhyme to be repeated during the seven seasons. It was also used in 1984's Storms. A different illustration was used in Storms, however.
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