I
cannot update the episode summaries because I am not level 2. If anyone
can update those, here are some mistakes:
Episode 165 - The promised playhouse (re-cap of Episode 17) - The
summary listed this as lost and not in the syndication package. That is
false. I have seen this recut on TVland.
Episode 203 - Betty's Graduation (re-cap of Episode 63) - The
summary listed this as lost and not in the syndication package. That is
false. I have seen this re-cut in TVland's "Final Episode Box
set"
Episode 158 - Betty Makes a Choice. The syndicator must have provided the
following incorrect description, because I have seen the following wrong
description in several different episode Guides: "Betty is faced
with a hard decision that will affect her future" This description
is totally wrong. Actually, in this episode, Betty wants to complete for
the lead in the Springfield Jr. College Musical. She figures she will ace
the audition because she got the lead the year before, and there is no
competition. (For some odd reason, the audition for the lead in the
musical is only a dance audition. No singing or acting required. This is because Elinor Donahue was a dancer before she did Father Knows
Best.) At any rate, a snotty, rude freshman named Esther is going to
audition. She is a new freshman, and gives Betty and her friends the cold
shoulder. Esther acts like a royal ice princess. At a regular
school dance, Betty sees that Esther is a good dancer. Betty is concerned
that Esther will beat her for the role. There are three girls at the
audition. Esther goes first. She does a western jazz dance that is
adequate, but for some odd reason, everyone claps, and the man sitting behind
Betty says that they might as well end the audtions because Esther is so good.. (They should have cast a better dancer as Esther to make this credible.) Betty is supposed to go second, but when her name is called, her chair is
empty. Jim runs outside to give her a sermon, while the 3rd girl does her
dance. (We don't see that girl dance, but her dance must have been about
5 minutes long because Jim and Betty are outside for a long time and re-enter
the audtion just as girl #2 finishes dancing. Esther danced for about 45
seconds.) Jim finds Betty crying on the steps outside. She says
that she can't go on because Esther is going to win, and everyone know that
Esther never practiced. As the violins play, Jim gives Betty a corny
sermon about how she will never know if she would have won if she doesn't
try. Jim gives an example of how he intentionally collapsed before the
finish line at the final track meet in high school, and has regretted ever
since never knowing if he would have won. Betty goes back in and does a
great tap number that is actually far better than Esther's audition. (There is a credibility problem in this episode because Donahue is a better
dancer than the actress playing Esther. The actress playing the
auditioner was credited as choreographing both dances.) Betty loses to
Esther. She goes home and cries. Later that night, Jim tricks Betty
into going back to the school with him to get her purse. It was really in
his pocket. But Jim earlier found out form the Janitor that Esther
practices secretly every morning and everning when no one is there. When
Betty sees this, she vows to ruin Esther by telling everyone that she really
has been practicing. (This doesn't really make a lot of sense, but then
Betty is an 18-year-old in the 1950's.) Jim and the janitor talk Betty
out of ratting on Esther by telling Betty a sob story about Esther being plain,
poor, and having no friends. Dancing is all the poor girl has. Unknown to Esther, Betty sees Esther practicing the same mediocre routine that
she did to win the audition. Every few seconds, Esther stops dancing,
groans in frustration, and bangs her head against the wall. Betty feels
sorry for her and decides to leave well enough alone, which makes Jim
proud. Back to the incorrect episode description: What this dance
audition for the college musical has to do with Betty's "hard decision
that will affect her future" is beyond me, as Betty has no aspirations to
become a professional dancer. And Betty's winning the lead in a Jr.
College Musical in some dumb jerk-water town could not possibly have any
bearing on a professional theatrical career.
