1985
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Fun
After finishing his rounds, Sam comes into the children's department to ask if there's anything he can help Jodie with. Not only is there nothing for him to do, but it appears that Jodie's work is finished for the night. Jeff, too, has finished his work. Jodie assures them, however, if she thinks about it long enough, she knows she'll come up with something they have to do.
Muffy pops up from behind the counter. "Hey! Let's not look for work to do! There's more to life for me and you. Be happy that the work is done, and have some plain old-fashioned fun!"
"Fun?" Jodie and Jeff echo.
"You've heard that word before, I'll bet! It's one that sometimes we forget." Muffy says. "Fun!" she sings, "Let's have some fun! Play games and be silly!"
Everyone else gets into the spirit and begins singing, "Fun, let's have some fun!"
"Eat donuts with chili!" Sam sings, to universal groans.
"Fun! Our work is done, let's have some laughable, funny fun!" they conclude. "Fun!" They all yell together.
Then TXL shares a nursery rhyme. "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?"
Back in the children's department, Sam is trying to say it, but to no avail. Then Jeff and Jodie come up, one on each side of him, and recite the tongue twister quickly and perfectly.
"I dare you to try that again!" Sam says.
Again they rattle off the tongue twister.
"Show-offs!" Sam says.
Meanwhile, Muffy's cousin Mort has showed up at the store for a visit. He goes to her place and calls for her. There's no answer, so Mort goes inside downstairs to see if she's in. As he goes in, Muffy comes out onto the upstairs balcony to see what was causing the noise, but she sees no one and goes back inside. Then Mort pops his head out the door to tell us he's going to leave a note for Muffy and goes back in again. Muffy hears him and reappears on the balcony, this time, she's armed with a pot of water, since she assumes Sam's cat is on the prowl.
"The note I left beside her plate," Mort tells us coming outside again, just in time for Muffy to dump water on his head. "So far this visit isn't great!" he grumbles.
Muffy, realizing her mistake, gasps.
Now we're in the computer room with Sam. He's making donuts with whipped cream on top with TXL's help. He holds the whipped cream ready, and then he presses a computer button. Naturally, it's the wrong one, bringing up instead the little speaker which plays his recorded voice singing "Yo He Ho." Startled, Sam accidentally squirts the whipped cream in his face.
"Wrong button, Mr. Crenshaw." says TXL.
"I know that TXL," he says, licking the whipped cream from his nose.
Back at Muffy's, Muffy apologizes for watering Mort. He forgives her readily. "Quick! Let's meet and have a cuddle, forget about this little muddle." So Muffy comes down and they rub noses and everything's fine again.
Not so with Sam and the donuts. The donuts are coming out of TXL's side door on a conveyor belt and Sam is spraying them with whipped cream. He's so confident that he knows the rate they're traveling that he decides to do it without looking. He sprays, then pauses, then sprays again. But just as he looks away, the conveyor belt gets stuck, and as he sprays the cream again and again, one donut is getting slathered with whipped cream. When TXL informs him that the donuts have stopped moving, Sam goes to investigate and discovers there's a donut blocking the belt. When he bends down and dislodges a donut from underneath, the conveyor belt begins moving again and splat! The donut with the excess cream hits him in the face.
In the meantime, Jeff goes down to the stockroom to ask Mrs. P for a box he wants to use to play a trick. She is quite surprised that Jeff would do such a thing.
"Oh, it's okay, Mrs. P, we're all just going to have some fun. You see, Sam's going to make some donuts, and we're going to sing and dance, and play a few tricks." Jeff explains. He invites Mrs. P to join them, but she has too much work to do, and its work that only she herself can do, so the others wouldn't be able to help her.
"Mrs. P! Do you mean to tell me you don't have five minutes to have one, little dance?" Jeff says, taking her into his arms. Mrs. P giggles and is flustered for a moment.
"No I don't, you silly!" she says. "But I'll be very pleased to give you one cardboard box."
Sam has finished making his donuts and brings them into the children's department. Jodie says she wants to show him something, so Sam puts the donuts down and comes over. She opens her hand and says she has a grasshopper there and she's going to make him jump. There's nothing in her hand, but she moves her eyes up and down in such a way as to make it seem as if she's watching a grasshopper jump. Sam insists he doesn't see anything. Jodie says she'll make the grasshopper jump higher. Again she follows the motion with her eyes and her head. "There!" she says. Sam still doesn't see anything. She tells him she'll make the grasshopper jump higher this time, but first Sam has to hold the grasshopper's hat and coat. So Sam complies, taking the invisible items from Jodie to hold. "There!" she says, as the grasshopper supposedly jumps again.
"Now Sam, do you believe I have a grasshopper in my hand?" she asks.
"No, no, you're trying to trick me, Jodie." Sam replies.
"Well then why are you holding his hat and coat?" she asks him.
Gotcha!
Sam and Jodie are still laughing at the trick when Muffy appears, wearing a big black cloak. "What you are about to see your eyes will tell you cannot be, for we all know that mice are small, so watch as this little mouse grows tall!" Up she goes, rising taller and taller. Sam and Jodie are amazed, until they hear a sneeze from under the cloak. Yes, it's Mort, and Muffy is standing on his shoulders. Sam invites them to have some donuts, but when he turns around, his donuts are gone. All that's left is a plate full of crumbs. Mort comes out to investigate, leaving Muffy hanging in midair.
She hovers for a moment. "My bottom half's no longer there!" she cries, right before she falls to the floor. "Next time I'll use a chair!" she groans.
Next, TXL shows us a picture and asks us what's wrong with it. It's a picture of a farm, but strangely, there's a blue cow, leaping high in the air. This leads to a song sung by Jeff, Jodie, Muffy and Mort, "Blue, blue, the cow was blue, she jumped high like a kangaroo! The tree went 'Baaa!' and the car it flew, and this silly silly song I will sing for you! The sun was out at night, the turtle flew a kite . . ." as they sing, we see pictures of the nonsensical events in the song. Then we see the four singers, as they finish off the song and do a few simple dance steps.
In the computer room, Sam is making some more donuts to replace the missing ones. Unfortunately, the whipped cream seems to be out. That is, until he peers into the opening to be sure and squirts himself - again!
Meanwhile, Jodie, Muffy and Mort are singing a little rhyme:
Muffy: I am a gold lock.
Jodie: I am a gold key.
Mort: I am a silver lock.
Jodie: I am a silver key.
Muffy: I am a brass lock.
Jodie: I am a brass key.
Mort: I am a lead lock.
Jodie: I am a lead key.
Muffy: I am a don lock!
Jodie: I am a donkey!
Muffy and Mort burst into laughter, "A donkey, a donkey, you called yourself a donkey!" they say, delighted with their trick. Jodie laughs along with them. But then she notices Jeff's hat on top of a box nearby, with no Jeff in sight. But how could that be?
Mort thinks maybe he took the donuts for a trick, ate too many and got sick. Jodie acknowledges that he might have taken the donuts, but since he can't move without his hat, he should be nearby. However, he's not. Everyone decides to go looking. After they've gone, the hat on the box rises. Jeff is underneath! He has carefully cut a hole in the box and lowered the top of his head through it, to make it look as if his hat is off. He smiles at his success and then submerges into the box again. An excellent trick!
Back in the computer room, Sam gets TXL to send out another can of whipped cream after he cleans himself up from his latest whipped cream accident. He checks the new can to make sure it's full, but he holds it backwards and - guess what? He squirts himself again!
Meanwhile, Jodie, Muffy and Mort meet back in the children's department. They are getting somewhat worried because they can't find Jeff. "This is ridiculous, he can't just disappear!" Jodie says in frustration. They all go off to search some more. Jeff pops his head out again and smirks at us before going back down into the box.
Sam, unaware of the fact that Jeff is missing, is all cleaned up and ready to make donuts again. "You can send them on out now," he says to TXL. Subsequently, a very small donut comes crawling out very slowly on the conveyor belt.
"Um, hold it, TXL," says Sam. "Look, I, uh - I don't mean to criticize, but you think maybe you could send them out just a touch faster, maybe a little bit bigger too? This is kind of skimpy."
So TXL sends a shower of HUGE donuts raining in on Sam from every conceivable direction.
"All right, I give! I surrender! I - stop it! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! I take it back! I didn't mean to say that!" Sam cries.
TXL stops the shower.
"Whew!" says Sam, "Kind of touchy!" Then, BAM, one last donut hits him over the head. "Aren't ya?"
Jeff is still hiding in the box when Mrs. P comes in to tell everyone she's going home. She sees Jeff's hat and picks it up, lifting Jeff's head through the hole, but not noticing that he's there. She goes off to give Jodie the hat.
Sam comes in with a plate full of finished donuts, sees Jeff and doesn't notice that he's a mannequin.
"Oh, hi there, Jeff," says Sam. "What are you doin' in the box? You playin' Jeff in the box? Ha-ha-ha! Would you like a donut, Jeff?"
Just then Jodie comes in, holding his hat. "Oh there he is, in the box!" she says.
Mort and Muffy approve. "Jeff's trick, it was mighty clever," says Mort.
"We would have searched forever and ever!" Muffy agrees.
Sam is a bit puzzled and encourages Jodie to put the hat back on. Jodie decides to get back at Jeff by playing a trick of her own. She puts a funny nose (with a little mustache) and glasses on Jeff while he's a mannequin, and then she puts the hat on his head. They all say the magic words. When Jeff comes to life, he is surrounded by his friends who are nearly hysterical with laughter.
"Oh, hi! Oh, you discovered my trick, didn't you? Yeah, it was a pretty good trick, wasn't it?" he looks around at his laughing friends. "It wasn't that good," he says, puzzled by their raucous laughter and unaware that he is wearing the funny nose and glasses. "What's so funny? What's so funny?" I mean, somebody tell me - what's so funny?" He shakes his head in confusion and the others are laughing too hard to explain to him.
Next TXL gives us another "what's wrong with this picture quiz." This time she shows us a seascape, but the picture is clearly upside down. The sea is at the top of the picture and the sky at the bottom. Muffy and Mort come in, and they're upside down, too! Muffy's boa is hanging down as she looks at the picture and says, "Well, this picture looks all right to me."
"Yup, the sea is where the sea should be." agrees Mort. "But looking this way [towards us] makes me frown."
"Yeah, me too. Why are you all upside down?" says Muffy.
In the children's department, Jeff is trying to teach Sam to say "Peter Piper," but Sam is not getting it. So Sam suggests that Jeff try saying "toy boats" several times fast. Jeff tries, but he can't say it. Meanwhile, a cartoon boat appears in midair and steams by.
"All right, wait, wait," says Sam, looking after the boat. "That's funny." he says.
"Yeah!" Jeff agrees.
Now Sam suggests that Jeff try saying, "toy train." As Jeff struggles with that one, a cartoon train goes by. Both of them look puzzled. "I can't say that one either," Jeff admits.
"Maybe we'll just forget about saying toy dinosaur." Sam says.
"Oh, I think so!" laughs Jeff.
"Yeah, just as well," says Sam. Jeff continues trying the tongue twisters as Sam puzzles over the cartoons.
"Says toy train there's a toy train, says toy boat, there's a toy boat!" he mutters to himself. Meanwhile, Jeff seems to have mastered the "toy train" tongue twister.
Jodie comes to tell them the donuts are gone again, as Jeff takes the box he used for his trick back to the stockroom. Jeff says that now Sam knows for sure he didn't take the donuts because he's been with Sam the whole time.
Muffy calls Jodie over. "Jodieeee, come and try our rhyming test! You must talk like us and please try your best!"
They have a timer, and they want Jodie to try and rhyme until the whistle blows and time is up.
"In our rhyming conversation, we could talk about your vacation!"
Jodie agrees.
"I went away on my holiday they gave me two weeks off last May."
"Did you play croquet on your first day?" asks Mort.
"To my dismay the sky was gray," Jodie answers.
"So on a beach you couldn't stay?" asks Muffy.
"Instead they sent me to a play."
"Did the foyer have an art display?" says Mort.
"Yes, some gray cats made from clay and maybe one in papier mach�.
"To see gray cats you had to pay?" exclaims Muffy.
"But at midday I saw a matinee." Jodie adds.
"And made your way to a cafe." says Mort.
"Had consomm� and cheese souffl�." says Jodie.
They continue in that vein until the whistle blows, ending with Jodie's declaration, "In a way it seems like yesterday!"
So Jodie passes the test.
"In honor of your rhymes today. . . " says Mort.
"You'll be an honorary mouse. okay.?" Muffy finishes.
They hand her a medal with a little mouse on it. "Oh, that's very sweet," says Jodie. "And if I may, I'd like to hug you without delay." She hugs them and they both give her a kiss.
"Aw, that's nice!" says Jodie.
"Hey!" says Mort, since she failed to rhyme.
"I mean, Ol�!" Jodie corrects herself, to the delight of Mort and Muffy.
Out of donuts again, Sam has returned to the computer room to make more. But this time, he has a catcher's face mask, a mitt, and a net to protect himself. "All right, TXL, I'm ready for anything, let 'em fly!"
Out on the conveyor belt comes a plate, neatly piled with donuts. Sam can't believe there's no trick involved.
"Wait a second, what's that?" he says, peering at the plate.
"Donuts, Mr. Crenshaw, just what you asked for!" TXL assures him.
"Yeah, but there's somethin' wrong!" he says, looking intently at the donuts. "There's nothing flying about or squirtin' me or anything! This is a trick I tell you." He looks rapidly from side to side. "Any minute now, it's gonna happen, I know it! Come on!" A moment passes peacefully. Sam examines the donuts more closely. "They look all right," he acknowledges. He turns the plate from side to side. "Look all right from this side, and that side," he flips the plate over, and the donuts don't fall off! "Look all right on the bottom!" he says. The donuts are all stuck together and to the plate! But Sam doesn't even notice. "That's funny, I was sure there was going to be some kind of trick. Oh, well. I wish I knew what the trick was!"
In the meantime, Mort, Muffy, Jodie and Jeff are discussing what to do next.
Mort says, "Song time!
Muffy says, "Story time!"
Jeff says, "Silly time!"
Sam comes in as they argue playfully and thinks they're doing a new tongue twister, "Song time story time silly time." Jodie explains that each of them wants to do something different. Mort wants to sing a song, Muffy wants to hear a story, and Jeff wants to do something really silly.
"Why don't you just sing a song that tells a silly story?" Sam suggests.
"Why didn't I think of that?" says Jodie. So she says she'll sing a song called "Yummy Tum."
"There were once five little babies who did not like chewing gum, and they won a baby contest with a song called 'Yummy Tum.'"
Next we see a scene where Muffy, Sam and Mort's faces are pressed through cutouts of babies. In the foreground, Jeff and Jodie are dressed as babies, and all five sing, "It's so sticky and pretty icky, we don't like chewing gum, it's so sticky and pretty icky . . ."
"Soon the babies were much older, good friends they did all become, and a record they recorded of the song called 'Yummy Tum.'"
This time the five are dressed to look like rock stars as they sing the chorus and a bit about their record of 'Yummy Tum.'
"And today what are they doing? Well, they still sing 'Yummy Tum' as an advertising jingle for a donut making chum."
We see Jeff, Jodie, Muffy, Mort and Sam again, this time surrounded by donuts and singing, "It's so yummy when in your tummy and good to the last crumb!"
"Yummy tum, yummy tum yummy tum yummy tum!" everyone sings in conclusion. Everyone loved the silly song, but as they were singing it, the donuts have disappeared again.
"Dithering doodlebugs! They're gone again!" Sam shouts.
"That's impossible!" says Jodie, "We're all here and we're the only ones in the store." They hear a noise nearby. "I think!" she adds.
Sam turns around and there's something there. "Terrifying turtles! What's that?"
"Is it alive?" says Jeff.
Jodie goes to look. It has eyes and a nose and big red lips with a quotation balloon saying "BEWARE THE DREADED DO-NUT EATER." But Sam says there's nothing to be afraid of, it's just a drawing on a cardboard box. "There's nothing inside!" he says, knocking three times. It knocks three times back. "Except maybe an echo!"
He taps the "shave-and-a-haircut" rhythm on the box, and back comes the answering rhythm "two bits."
Now everyone is really scared.
"I wonder what a donut eater looks like," Jeff says nervously.
"I hope it doesn't have big teeth!" says Mort.
"Someone must look underneath." Muffy suggests.
Everyone looks at Jodie.
"Not me!" she shrieks. "I don't even like donuts!" Another knock comes from the inside of the box. "They're bad for you!" she cries.
Finally she agrees to look underneath if Jeff helps her. So together they lift the box to reveal Mrs. P! She has all of the missing donuts on a plate in front of her.
"Hello, everyone, I've made some tea, won't you join me!"
"You tricked us Mrs. P!" they acknowledge. They all thought she had gone home.
"Hey, you deserve a prize for the best trick." says Jeff.
"Well, I couldn't let you have all the fun!" Mrs. P replies.
"Fun, let's have some fun! Play games and be silly!" they sing. Jodie picks up a donut which turns out to be a yo-yo. Jeff takes his shoes off and clicks the heels together as they sing, "Click your heels and shout hooray, hooray for fun! Our work is done, let's have some laughable funny fun!" Then one last time they all shout: "FUN!"
Quizzes:
Nursery Rhyme:
Notes:
- The second time Jeff and Jodie rattle off the "Peter Piper" tongue twister, someone flubs a bit. I think it's Jeff, but I'm not sure. It's not terribly obvious, which is probably why they didn't do a second take.
- I think the "whipped cream" Sam kept squirting into his face was probably shaving cream. The can was shaped like a shaving cream can and the cream had shaving cream consistency.
- Interestingly, when Mort walks away from under Muffy she hangs in the air for a moment before crashing down. A flight of fantasy there.
- This is one of four episodes in which the song about the blue cow is used (The other three are "Dreams," where it originated, as a part of Sam's dream, "Live on Stage," and, of course, "The Blue Cow.") When they sing it this time, they sing the "ha-ha" as if they are bored instead of with the enthusiasm they sang it with in "Dreams."
- I'm not sure why Mort thought that Jeff's hat was off because he had eaten too many donuts. Perhaps he thought that he had taken it off to escape a stomach ache.
- From Jeff's surprised reaction to Sam's statement, "Maybe we'll just forget about saying 'toy dinosaur,' I wonder if this was a Bob Dermer ad lib.
- Was TXL simply dispensing the donuts or making them? It appears she was actually creating donuts. Quite a high-tech computer!
- Interestingly, the picture accompanying the "Peter Piper" nursery rhyme showed Peter picking his peppers from a supermarket shelf.
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