Tom and Helen, having run into Lionel on his way down, when he told them Ralph the doorman and maid Florence were sitting in the living room together.
Couldn't you just see Tom and Helen putting it all together what George had done? The knew the little man too well by then. They entered and shot right into character.
Magnificent episode, every focus topped off by Marla Gibbs, from being shoved into the closet to acting snooty and utterly failing at it.
Like Tom Bosley in the similar-themed episode from Happy Days that also starred Ned Wertimer, George wants to impress a client, a bi-racial couple. George is suddenly nice to the Willises and wants them to come over for dinner, insisting they have a lot in common with his potential business venture.
Helen figures out the other couple is bi-racial (No, George insists. They are nothing like you. He's black and she's white) and storms out insulted by George's behavior.
George suddenly decides he must get another Tom and Helen Willis.
Enter Florence Johnston, the maid and Ralph the doorman.
Wertimer actually gets a few, very good lines in (What kind of books do you publish, Mr. Willis? --- Books people, . . . read.), but it is all Marla Gibbs show, from the closet to her bogus snobbery with language.
But she doesn't stop there. "Where is Mr. Willis?" "He had to go back downstairs and change his suit. It got wrinkled in the elevator." Gibbs deliveries make it all the more astonishing to think this talent almost missed out had it not been for the line "How come we all came over and nobody told me?" which brought about Florence.
Lionel's entry parallels to a T when Joannie entered on Happy Days and almost blew Howard's deception.
But unlike Joannie's appearance, Lionel clearly set up the finale, by encountering the Willises in the elevator.
Tom and Helen now enter and suddenly they are Florence and Ralph.
They back George into a corner for the big surprise anniversary party he is throwing for the Willises.
"I ain't throwin' no party for no Willises." "You're not? And after all they have done for you? And you wouldn't want them to stop, would you?" George is trapped.
And as she has done every time, Florence brings it home.
Helen: "Mrs. Willis, I hope we haven't spoiled your surprise party for you?" Florence, laughing: "Child, ain't nothing' gonna surprise me after today!"
Couldn't you just see Tom and Helen putting it all together what George had done? The knew the little man too well by then. They entered and shot right into character.
Magnificent episode, every focus topped off by Marla Gibbs, from being shoved into the closet to acting snooty and utterly failing at it.
Like Tom Bosley in the similar-themed episode from Happy Days that also starred Ned Wertimer, George wants to impress a client, a bi-racial couple. George is suddenly nice to the Willises and wants them to come over for dinner, insisting they have a lot in common with his potential business venture.
Helen figures out the other couple is bi-racial (No, George insists. They are nothing like you. He's black and she's white) and storms out insulted by George's behavior.
George suddenly decides he must get another Tom and Helen Willis.
Enter Florence Johnston, the maid and Ralph the doorman.
Wertimer actually gets a few, very good lines in (What kind of books do you publish, Mr. Willis? --- Books people, . . . read.), but it is all Marla Gibbs show, from the closet to her bogus snobbery with language.
But she doesn't stop there. "Where is Mr. Willis?" "He had to go back downstairs and change his suit. It got wrinkled in the elevator." Gibbs deliveries make it all the more astonishing to think this talent almost missed out had it not been for the line "How come we all came over and nobody told me?" which brought about Florence.
Lionel's entry parallels to a T when Joannie entered on Happy Days and almost blew Howard's deception.
But unlike Joannie's appearance, Lionel clearly set up the finale, by encountering the Willises in the elevator.
Tom and Helen now enter and suddenly they are Florence and Ralph.
They back George into a corner for the big surprise anniversary party he is throwing for the Willises.
"I ain't throwin' no party for no Willises." "You're not? And after all they have done for you? And you wouldn't want them to stop, would you?" George is trapped.
And as she has done every time, Florence brings it home.
Helen: "Mrs. Willis, I hope we haven't spoiled your surprise party for you?" Florence, laughing: "Child, ain't nothing' gonna surprise me after today!"
