Wow, am I glad I ran across this site! I have been an avid Donna Reed Show fan for YEARS
19 Oct
Wow, am I glad I ran across this site! I have been an avid Donna Reed Show fan for YEARS
Tag Archives: marriage
Season 1: Episode 2 – Pardon My Gloves
3 Sep
Synopsis
The episode opens with Donna rehearsing lines from the play A Doll’s House by Ibsen. She is not very good and is prone to overly grandiose gestures and phrasing. She stops when the family appears. The kids and Alex badger her to perform for them and she demures. They persist and she acquiesces. She performs a bit and the family struggles find a compliment. She is really a very poor actress.
Donna goes off to play rehearsal, the kids go to school, and Alex to work. Donna returns and shares her frustrations with Alex. She feels the play’s director wants her to fail so she, the director, can have the part for herself. Jeff returns home disheveled and with a black eye. Donna is outraged, but Jeff confesses that he started the fight. He refuses to disclose who the fight was with.
Donna continues to struggle with the play and Jeff comes home with another black eye. Donna announces she is quitting the play and Jeff becomes very upset. It comes out that he has been fighting with the son of the play’s director because the boy said Donna was a terrible actress. Donna confronts mother and son and decides to see the part through. Donna uses a how-to book to try and teach Jeff to fight, but Alex comes home and finishes the job.
On opening night Donna wears a stunning black cocktail dress with a laced bodice. Both Jeff and Alex come home showing signs of having been in a fight. Jeff finally triumphed over the director’s son and Alex got a shiner trying to administer first-aid to the boy. The family leaves for the play.
We don’t see the performance. The episode ends with Donna and Alex in the bedroom. She is doctoring his eye and he is offering her encouraging words on a job well done. (see episode here)
