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Cold Case

Beautiful Little Fool

Season 3, Episode 19, Aired Apr 09, 2006

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Trivia
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- Goof: When Lilly leaves the bar with her drink to make a phone call, the level of the red liquid in the glass seems to go from about one-third full to more than two-thirds full as she starts to sip it.
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- Due to the age of the case, the team doesn't have many first-hand witnesses to question. Most of the flashback scenes are told through a diary, written and recorded interviews, and -- quite unusually -- a song.
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- From Lilly's remark of her mother not finding Christina, we can tell that her sister is still missing and running from the authorities.
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- Like most of the opening teasers, this episode showed the victim in her period setting, surrounded by people that may or may not have been involved in her death. Unlike the other teasers, it's revealed that this victim dies almost a year after she is first seen, instead of within a few hours afterward as is usually typical with the series.
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- We finally get to meet Lilly's mother, Ellen Rush, played by Meredith Baxter.
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- Highlight for a spoiler: Lilly makes an interesting phone call to someone we haven't heard from since the Season 2 premiere -- ADA Kite.
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- Violet Polley was killed on Christmas Day (December 25th), 1929.
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- This is Lilly's oldest cold case so far -- 77 years.
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Quotes
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- Aimee: Do you ever feel like you wanna change your life but you can't outrun your screwed-up family? Lilly: Yeah...
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- Det. Vera: We're looking into the murder of a girl that went out with Bartleby. Carmela wasn't happy about it. Mickey Stein Jr.: Murder? Really? (grabs a notebook) Do tell! Det. Jeffries: Uhh, we're gonna be the ones taking notes here.
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- Ellen: You could try being polite to him. This is my new husband! Lilly: For the next month. Ellen: Oh, stop it! Maybe I failed-- Lilly: It's more than "failed" when you bring home guys who hit you, who steal from you... Ellen: But I try, OK? I find happiness, if only for a little while. That's more than you can say. At least I'm not alone.
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Notes
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- International Airdates: - Denmark: May 10, 2006 on TV3+
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- Highlight for a spoiler: In the original version of the script, Lilly was supposed to make a phone call to Ray (his "motorcycle guy"), not A.D.A Kite. In the casting sides, Lilly's dialog goes: "This is stupid. This is really stupid. It's Lilly. So, I'm just standing here in the freezing cold thinking about you buzzing around the corner and saving me. You know, you show up when I don't want you to, and then when I want you to just drive me away on that motorcycle, I have no idea where you are. Or who you're with. Ray." For an unknown reason this was changed in the final version of the episode that eventually aired; it has been speculated that fans reacting negatively to Ray might have been that reason.
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- Music Featured in This Episode:
  - Charleston by Paul Whiteman Orchestra
  - Heebie Jeebies by Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
  - Down in Harlem from Associated Production Music (APM)
  - One Dress Left, performed by Allison Miller (Violet)
  - The Jazz Age from Associated Production Music (APM)
  - After You've Gone from Associated Production Music (APM)
  - 300 Flowers, first phrase performed by Shelley Robertson (Lena), then performed by Allison Miller (Violet), composed by Michael A. Levine specifically for Cold Case, with lyrics by the writer of this episode, Liz W. Garcia
  - Second Hand Rose by Fanny Brice
  - You Stole My Man by Ida Cox
  - Writing on the Wall from Five Alarm Music Library
  - The Wait from MasterSource Music Catalog
  - True Blue Lou by Ethel Waters
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- In the casting sides and in the CBS press release for this episode, Muriel Bartleby's first name is Caroline and Carmela La Fleur's last name is Bowens. Violet's and her great-granddaughter Aimee's last names are not included in the press release but they had been changed as well. In the casting sides, Violet's last name was Holley instead of Polley and Aimee's was Lauer instead of Goodman.
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- Although the two actresses do not share scenes, two of TV's best known moms appear in the same episode. Meredith Baxter (Ellen Rush) played Elyse Keaton on Family Ties and June Lockhart (present day Muriel Bartleby) played Ruth Martin (during 1959-1964) in the TV show Lassie as well as some subsequent Lassie movies.
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Allusions
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- Title: Beautiful Little Fool The episode title is taken from a classic American novel, The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In the novel, a character named Daisy Buchanan speaks in reference to her baby daughter: "I hope she'll be a fool - that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool."
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- The Bartlebys mention "the crash" as the reason they had lost their wealth. This is a reference to the U.S. stock market crash in October 1929, when stock prices plummeted during a five-day period from October 24 (also known as "Black Thursday") until October 29. October 29, 1929 is also known as "Black Tuesday" and it is the day when general panic among the public set it. It also marks the beginning of the Great Depression in the U.S.
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- Lt. John Stillman: Susan B. Anthony lived there for a time. Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) was a teacher, a Quaker religious activist, a labor activist, an abolitionist, and, of course, a suffragist crusader for womens' rights. She was very controversial and she was arrested and tried for voting illegally in 1872. When she defended herself in court, she cited the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.
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