All In The Family Episode: Mike Comes Into Money

When "All In The Family" first aired on the CBS television network in January of 1971, it was the talk of the nation. The show, developed by producer Norman Lear, dared depict our prejudices, bigotries and hatreds right to our faces, but usually with a comedic twist. The basic format of the show was of middle aged Archie Bunker, a working class white man living in the Queens section of New York City, along with his wife Edith, their daughter Gloria, and Gloria's husband Mike, usually called "Michael" by Gloria. The living arrangement is that Gloria and Mike get room and board while Mike attends college, but the young couple's other expenses must be paid for by themselves, and they must pay for the room and board, plus interest, after Mike gets his college degree and begins earning a living. This "agreement" is not always set in concrete and it proves to be periodically contentious, especially so in this episode. Further, the young liberal couple living with a middle aged couple is far from peaceful, as Archie is set in his ways on a number of things, and he doesn't see the contradictions he holds regarding other aspects of life. For instance, Archie would use "hell" or "damn" at times when arguing a point, but he tells others not to swear in the house.*
  
This episode is one I've remembered for all of the years since it was first telecast prior to the presidential election in 1972 (Nixon vs. McGovern). Of course, I got some "refresher" help with the reruns of "All In The Family" in the decades since those times. This episode has some truly funny lines, at least from the standpoint of my type of humor, but it also made some more serious points. 

Cast:

Archie Bunker ............................Carroll O'Connor
Edith Bunker .............................. Jean Stapleton
Gloria (Bunker) Stivic ...............Sally Struthers
Michael/Mike Stivic .................. Rob Reiner

The episode opens with Edith reading the draft of what is supposed to be a funny story to Gloria. She wants Gloria to help refine the story so she can submit it to Reader's Digest for a chance to make $100, a decent sum of money in 1972, and equivalent to about $600 today. Edith's story isn't very funny, but Archie and Mike arrive home with raised voices as they argue about pollution. Things settle down from that argument only to have Archie open the water bill and declare, "Lucky me, I've got the only Polack who showers regularly."** Mike reaches into his pocket and pulls out a dime, which he offers to Archie. Archie responds by saying, " That dime ain't gonna pay for all your showers," and Mike replies, "No, but it'll pay for yours." Hahaha!

Mike opens a piece of mail, only to read that an uncle has died, but that he's left Mike $275. This prompts Archie to ask for $200 of the sum as a partial payment on what Mike owes him for more than two years' room and board. Mike says this goes against the agreement he and Archie made that defers Mike paying on the debt he owes Archie until after he graduates and gets a job. Then comes the equivalent to a sock in the jaw to Archie. Mike tells him he plans to donate the $200 to the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern. Archie is furious, but Mike tries to explain that he's trying to defend democracy, because the Democrats have virtually no money, while the Republicans have 30 million dollars available to them (equivalent to more than $175 million in today's value). Mike says that "it's like politics in America is only for the rich," and this brings the question from Archie, "Who's been feeding you that Commie crapola?" Mike replies, "President Eisenhower" (he was a Republican president during the 1950s). Archie screams, "He did not! Eisenhower was a great president who never said nuthin'." Hahaha  Gloria then adds, "He (Eisenhower) did too, Daddy. Eisenhower made that statement in 1968, I saw it in the Reader's Digest." This brings Edith to interject, "Oh! I wonder if they paid him $100 for it?" Hahahaha! Archie forbids Edith to do any more cooking for Mike and Gloria, until Mike starts "chipping in;" so, dinner times are now divided for the family.

The scene shifts to two weeks later, which is election day. Gloria, who has had a job since before Mike's inheritance and the resulting argument with Archie, comes home and rushes to fix supper for Mike and herself. In the process, Gloria is in so much of a hurry, she turns the oven up to 500 degrees, not knowing that Edith has rolls baking for Archie's dinner. The rolls are burned and Edith and Gloria quarrel over the whole situation. The argument brings Archie into the kitchen to say, "What's all the hollerin' out here? For a minute I thought I was in the back room of a Greek restaurant." He goes to Gloria, who asks him if he cares that she and her mother have just had this argument. He answers, "Sure I care. I told yous to shut up, didn't I?" Hahaha!

Archie tells his daughter that it's all Mike's fault, that Mike didn't do the right thing about the $200. She answers that fathers often make sacrifices for their kids and that even when Archie helps Mike, he is also helping her and that this is helping her to be better off than himself, and that every father wants his child to be better off than himself. Archie gives the hilarious reply, "That don't always work that way, little girl... Take a look at your animal kingdom for example there. Take the gorilla. Well the gorilla wants his kid to grow up better than him too, but the kid grows up, and there he is, still a gorilla." Hahahaha!

Mike comes home and sees the stew Edith has prepared for Archie's supper. Archie quickly points the way to the kitchen for Mike to get his own food. Mike goes into the kitchen and Gloria and Mike discuss how Mike has been working after college each day to earn $200 to give to Archie, but they have told Archie and Edith that Mike's been at the library studying. So far Mike has made $150. Mike asks Gloria what's for dinner. She answers, "Hamburgers," bringing Mike's reply of, "Again? I don't want them every night." Gloria then says, "Last night I made you meatloaf." Mike answers, "Gloria, meatloaf IS hamburger. It's the same thing with another name." The two have a brief exchange, and Mike says to Gloria that her father is "stupid" and "pig-headed." Gloria gives an interesting response: "Hold it, don't you call my father names just because you had a fight with him, that's not fair. And maybe we're not being fair. Maybe we should look at things from his point of view...... Michael, there are two sides to everything. Remember, it's not only that you didn't give Daddy the money, but you gave it to somebody he's dead against... I haven't been home more than ten minutes and I've already had a fight with my father and my mother and now you." Mike says, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," but Gloria cuts him off with, "Oh shut up and eat your meatloaf," to which Mike says, "It's hamburgers," bringing Gloria to shout, "It's the same thing!" hahahaha!

Meanwhile, Archie and Edith eat their dinner and discuss the argument between Mike and Gloria. Edith tries quoting an old saying, but mangles it badly, causing Archie to say, "I've got an old saying for you, Edith. A bird that always flies in a fog is called a dingbat." *** Mike and Gloria come out of the kitchen and get ready to watch the election returns, but Archie won't allow it, so Mike tells Gloria that they can go to McGovern's local campaign headquarters to watch the returns. This brings Archie to say, "That's right, you've got $200 of TV watchin' comin' to you there." Mike gets angry and takes the $150 from his pocket and gives it to Archie. Gloria explains to her father about how Mike has been working to get this money together. Mike tells Archie that just as he got this money, that he'll get Archie every nickel he owes him. Never one to be appreciative or to give out compliments, Archie wants to know when he'll get the remaining $50 of THIS money.    

* While "hell" or "damn" wouldn't even move the needle on modern network television, in those times, they were about as strong a couple of words that were allowed on television. For those of you who didn't live through that era, there were no true cable channels in those days where "strong language" was essentially permitted.

** Of course today, I can't imagine that word being used on network television. Since I grew up in a neighborhood that included a fairly large number of people of Polish background, including quite a number of actual Polish immigrants, the word was common there, and it was not uncommon for people of Polish descent to use it, although some Polish people took offense to it, as it wasn't so much the word, but the context of the word's usage that was derogatory. Certainly Archie Bunker's derogatory use of the word (in more than in just this episode) went a long way to making the word taboo on television and in every day society.

*** The word "dingbat" became so popular from Archie's use of it for Edith, that wherever you went back in those times, you were apt to hear someone called a "dingbat," and that's just what you'd hear people call me. Hm, I never have figured that out ....    

Photo is of the 2004 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment "All In The Family: Season Three" DVD set

WORD HISTORY:
Burgess-This is one of those words with a base from Germanic in a non Germanic language, which then developed its own offshoot and meaning, and which was then borrowed by English. It is related to "bourgeoisie," a word borrowed by English from French, and it is related to "berg" and to "burg(h)" (thus, "borough"), words from the Germanic roots of English. "Burgess" goes back to Indo European "buhrgh/bhrgh" which meant "high place." This gave Old Germanic "burg(s)," meaning, "castle, fortress, protected place or stronghold," since most castles were built on high places for their military benefit. Since these provided protection, many people came to live in such places, and as time passed, the name remained, but many of of stronghold characteristics began to disappear. English had forms of the word from Old Germanic as "burg," "burh" and "burgh," which brought the development of the compounds "burgleoda" and "burgsittend," both of which meant "citizen, resident" (English eventually borrowed Latin-derived "citizen" from French). Meanwhile, Old French had a form of the Germanic word either passed to it from Latin "burgensis" (which had borrowed it from Germanic initially as "burgus"), which meant, "citizen/resident of a walled town," or French directly borrowed the word from Frankish, a Germanic language/dialect; the French form back then being "burjois," again with the "citizen/resident" meaning. The form carted to England by the Normans was (or shortly became?) "burgeis," and English borrowed that form in the early 1200s, before the modern form. By circa 1500 it was used for a member of Parliament who represented a "borough" (the close relative of "burgess"). In 1600's Colonial America, the lower house of the Virginia legislative body was called the "House of Burgesses." It has also been used in some places for other local legal authorities (magistrates).