The Phil Silvers Show is a U.S Army situation comedy set in a small town army base in 1950s Kansas. Very little soldiering gets done as the lead character Ernest Bilko, played by Silvers, seems to spend his whole career arranging scams and schemes to make a quick, and entertaining, buck, usually at the expense of his long suffering platoon. Unfortunately the best laid plans go awry as some unforeseeable piece of bad luck thwarts him at the last minute
In this episode all the elements of the show are on display when the long suffering commanding officer attempts to bring the epidemic of gambling on the post to an end by instructing Bilko, the man behind the gambling, to bring all the men to a cultural evening. Bilko manages to fill the hall when he learns that the speaker is a woman famous for twitching during her lectures on Beethoven. Every man in attendance has had a wager on the number of twitches that will ensue. It makes for glorious entertainment.
The is a comedy masterpiece. The gags come thick and fast. The writing is absolutely magnificent. And the performance of Phil Silvers is a lesson to any comedy actor that will ever try to get a laugh, anywhere, ever. Put simply, this is timeless comedy. An absolute classic!
In this episode all the elements of the show are on display when the long suffering commanding officer attempts to bring the epidemic of gambling on the post to an end by instructing Bilko, the man behind the gambling, to bring all the men to a cultural evening. Bilko manages to fill the hall when he learns that the speaker is a woman famous for twitching during her lectures on Beethoven. Every man in attendance has had a wager on the number of twitches that will ensue. It makes for glorious entertainment.
The is a comedy masterpiece. The gags come thick and fast. The writing is absolutely magnificent. And the performance of Phil Silvers is a lesson to any comedy actor that will ever try to get a laugh, anywhere, ever. Put simply, this is timeless comedy. An absolute classic!
