The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (TV Series) Young Indiana Jones and the Scandal of 1920 (1993) User Reviews

One Of My Favs

[Fields201 · 8/10 · 10 January 2020]

When I started collecting the soundtracks to the series, the first one picked up was the soundtrack to this one. In fact, this soundtrack won an Emmy. It was so good that I became a fan of George Gershwin and Rhapsody in Blue.

This one mostly deals with Indy being part of a production in New York while juggling three women at the same time. One of these women is the boss's daughter. Oops.

If there is one thing I enjoyed with this one: that would be the casting. They bring so much life to the characters. The three leading ladies (one played by Anne Heche) are a delight, and the guts playing Mr. White and George Gershwin are a riot.

The whole thing leads to a huge stage production with an important audience and Indy trying to save the show. It's rather entertaining and the music is phenomenal. This, to me, is one of the best episodes.

The only Indy two parter that's not two stories stuck together.

[Chip_douglas · 8/10 · 25 May 2008]

Steven Spielberg said during production of Temple of Doom that he always wanted to make a big old fashioned musical and he relished opening the film with an old fashioned song and dance number. It turns out Indiana Jones had a job on Broadway himself in his younger days (described by old Indy as 'the most exciting job of his life', no less). Having served in the trenches and as a spy during WWI, Indy had to take all sorts of jobs to support himself during his college education and seen in these Chronicles, most of his jobs involved show business. All three of his adventures set in 1920 were broadcast in much the same way as they were released on VHS and now on DVD, with the exception of the aforementioned bookends starring George Hall being deleted from 'The Scandal of 1920'. The reason why this particular story is a more satisfying viewing experience than the other two (and indeed all of the Chronicles' two parters) is because 'Scandal' features just one plot line stretched over two hours, instead of two completely unrelated ones stuck together.

20 year old Indiana Jones (Sean Patrick Flanery) arrives in NYC to stay with the Jacksons family, but crashes a party held by Kate the poet (Anne Heche) when it turns out the Jacksons are out of town. The two of them hit it off immediately, and Indy forgets all about his date the next morning with miss Peggy Peabody (Jennifer Stevens), an aspiring singer he met on the train. Jeffrey Wright from 'Mystery of the Blues' makes a cameo appearance (though he gets a prominent credit in the DVD version) and his part really only serves to introduce Indy to the insanely grinning George Gershwin (Tom Becket). George gets Indy a job as a gopher at George White's Scandal of 1920 and takes him along to a social event on Park Aveneu. Here Indy meets yet another love interest, high society girl Gloria (Alexandra Powers), whom he romances while dancing to George's music. Even by Young Indy standards (a new love interest in every other episode) this is pushing it a bit. As usual Indy also gets introduced to a whole bunch of famous people from that time and place in rapid succession. First the writers on Tin Pan Alley have a little impromptu singalong (which is not on the soundtrack, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Volume 3), then Kate takes him to meet Dorothy Parker and the Vicous Circle. It's a shame they hardly ever had Indy meeting any original characters during this series, they would have had some to use in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (instead of coming up with new ones like Colin Williams and Harold Oxley).

After being reunited with Peggy during the auditions, Indy has to juggle his time with three dates while working full time at the troubled theater company. There is lots of 'A Chorus Line' auditions and rehearsals, always a good way for filmmakers to incorporate the rehearsal period into the story. When White's biggest rival Ziegfeld manages to turn the show's financiers against him, Indy saves the day by convincing Gloria to ask her daddy to help out. To tell the truth, the bits of shtick between Mr. White (Christopher John Fields) and his accountant Schwartz (Robert Trebor) are much more amusing than seeing Indiana struggle to keep three dates on the same night (Peggy at six, Kate at eight and Gloria at ten). Luckilly the show moves at a brisk enough paced and here are enough funny touches to put it a notch above other Young Indy adventures such as the wildly uneven 'Treasure of the Peacock's Eye' or the really quite dull 'Mystery of the Blues'. Also, Indy's friendship with Gershwin works well because for once the real life person is playing the wise-cracking sidekick instead of rattling off a bunch of historical facts while Indy stands around and nods.

Even when I first saw this show on two subsequent Saturday evenings, I had the feeling they should have spend far less time on different romances and more on the production of the show. Instead, they crammed the entire show and a whole bunch of new problems into a mere 15 minutes, which is a shame. Still, these are some of the most entertaining scenes in the entire Young Indy series, even if it strays wildly from the character we know and love as Indiana Jones. Sure, the fact that he and the dancers could make up their sexy fan dance on the spot is a bit hard to swallow (again, more time could have been spent on this sequence). But the best thing about the show is the way writer Jonathan Hales managed to weave 'the best song George Gershwin ever wrote' throughout the entire two parter. By using only bits of it's often discarded intro as the basis for a running gag, the final performance by Peggy really pays off in a big way. Unfortunately that performance is also absent from the original soundtrack mentioned above. Jay Underwood makes another appearance as Indy's pal Ernie Hemmingway, though he is never identified as such and what with this episode being broadcast in most of Europe before his other two appearances (Northern Italy, June 1918 and The Mystery of the Blues) his cameo was a bit of a puzzler to me the first time I saw it. Finally, after the big finale, there is the little mess with the three girls to resolve on Indy's 21st birthday (July 1st). While the original episode segued into a gag featured grumpy old George Hall as Professor Jones, the DVD version closes with a very cheap special effect that should only be used by amateur editors making home movies: a closing curtain.

8 out of 10

Nice to the ladies give womanising Indy a come-uppance of sorts in this fun episode

[alainenglish · 8/10 · 14 November 2009]

It's 1920, and Indiana Jones (Sean Patrick Flanery) leaves Chicago and heads to New York to find work to fund his studies. Almost immediately he connects with an aspiring actress Peggy (Jennifer Stevens), and then a poet, Kate (Anne Heche) offers him a place to stay. Finding himself working backstage on the set of a new Broadway show, he falls in love again, this time with a wealthy socialite Gloria (Alexandra Powers), whose father then becomes the show's backer...

The idea of Indiana Jones wooing three women at once and eventually suffering a humiliation for it is a good payoff at this point, having seen the budding archaeologist go through many women and break many hearts. The whole episode well-played and very witty, as fitting the environment it's set in.

As is the custom in this series, Indy meets many prominent individuals who made a mark in their history. As well as working on Broadway, where the backstage frolics are hilariously captured, Indy also enjoys a Park Avenue party, and sits in with the Vicious Circle, a group of writers and wits of the day who met at the Algonquin Hotel.

The episode bolstered by the usual top-notch acting. Of the ladies, Anne Heche is the most successful, and she reads poetry beautifully. Tom Beckett is good as George Gershwin, and works well in scenes tinkering the ivories and shooting pool with Indy. Christopher John Fields is also great fun as the dynamo show directer George White.

Another good episode that leads into what would be the last in the series, "Hollywood Follies".

Not your typical Indiana Jones

[proffate · 9/10 · 13 May 2008]

No Nazis, snakes or bugs in this one, just a new take on the backstage Broadway musical genre that was so popular a few generations ago.

Indy finds himself in New York City looking for a job. He makes friends with a young George Gershwin and winds up as a gofer for the production of George White's Scandals. Along the way, he becomes romantically involved with three girls, all wonderfully stereotyped. There's the Midwest farm girl hoping to make it on Broadway, the Greenwich Village intellectual and the beautiful heiress.

Besides Indy's juggling three romances, the show itself is beset with problems, many of which involve sabotage by White's rival, Flo Ziegfeld. As always in this series, he meets many influential personalities of the era, including the composers of Tin Pan Alley and sitting in on the famed Algonquin Round Table.

But the show must go on with Indy's help, so he invents the fan dance (after Ziegfeld has the costumes stolen) and helps the farm girl go on to belt out a Gershwin classic to Save the Show.

Fun from start to finish. It's good to finally see it available on DVD.

Fantastic

[meastinger · 10/10 · 4 February 2010]

I haven't enjoyed an episode of this series as much as this one. This was fun from start to finish and I didn't want it to end. This chapter was better than much of what is being shown on the big screen today! Casting was flawless and the depiction of the eras famous people flowed as if Indiana was too a real icon of the time. If Mr. Lucas could've made more episodes like this one this show would still be running on cable today! I can't say enough nice things about this showing and as my rating is the max you get my point!! Now its on to volume 3 disc 9--- Hollywood Follies and I hope it is 1/2 as good as the Scandal of 1920! A must see!!

Scandals of Indy

[michael-amazon-95-969330 · 3/10 · 31 August 2014]

I recently watched the full series again, and while the various episodes are of varying quality, this was the only one which made me want to review it. Unfortunately not because of its sterling qualities, but because - as someone comments during the course of the episode - its trash.

As the blurb reads, in this episode, Indy woos three ladies. By now, any viewer of the series will have realized that Indy is a hopeless womanizer - wooing and discarding (or being discarded) ladies in every episode. This is not even the first episode where he has more than one leading lady. Nor is it the first one where he comes off as being a little callow and selfish.

Unfortunately, it is the first one where he comes off as having almost no redeeming qualities whatsoever. While the introduction is innocent enough, the Indy we are presented with here is a selfish, dishonest, self-absorbed liar - a far cry from the character established in other episodes. We are supposed to laugh at the antics in the episode - and that might have worked if it had been a short 45 minute episode - but stretched out over 90 minutes, it becomes hard to laugh when the protagonist is so unlikeable.

It's a pity, because the period drama itself is good. Tin Pan Alley and early Broadway are shown here in all its glory, and the three leading ladies are excellent (particularly Anne Heche). Unfortunately, it can't make up for the hopeless central plot that the episode is saddled with.

Young Indy in 1920s New York, in the Broadway Musical scene.

[TxMike · 11 February 2009]

Sean Patrick Flanery is young Indiana Jones, nearing his 21st birthday and traveling by train to New York City. He is studying Archeology and has been invited to stay with friends of the family.

On the train he meets Jennifer Stevens as Peggy who is traveling to New York City to star in a musical, only she doesn't know which one yet. She has aspirations to make it as a singer.

This is a fictional Indiana Jones story set in a real period of transition on Broadway. Since 1904 Zigfeld and his Follies dominated the entertainment industry there, but an upstart, George White, was just beginning to introduce a new kind of more exciting stage performance. White enlisted the services of a young George Gershwin to write all the music, which was a deviation from the practice of selecting a series of already known songs. So this fictional story has Indiana Jones in this circle of White, Gershwin, Berlin, and the entertainment critics. He not only gets involved with them, he becomes instrumental in George White's first success, the young Indy showing signs of the daring we get to know in the Harrison Ford movies.

Good movie, on DVD. The biggest task Indy has to manage is getting involved with three attractive young ladies right away, each thinking he is hers alone. In the end, when they find out what has been going on, at Indy's 21st birthday party, his face ends up in the cake.