Don’t Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth

Written by Dave Evans

Directed by Robert Rafelson

Produced by Robert Rafelson&Bert Schneider

Songs:  “Papa Gene’s Blues”&“All The King’s Horses”

by Michael Nesmith

Guest Appearances

Mr. Babbitt                           Henry Corden

Jonathan Fisher                 Kerry Maclaine

Farmer Fisher                            Jim Boles

                                   Jenkins                                     Chuck Bail

                                   Mrs. Purdy                               Jesslyn Fax

                                   Dr. Mann                              Jerry Colonna

Premiered on October 31, 1966

Summary

When Davy's at the beach, Jonathan Fisher, a little boy asks him to watch his pet Jeremy.  Davy agrees but his shocked to learn that Jeremy is a black stallion. Meanwhile at their pad, Peter has made a cream of root bear soup and when Micky tries some it drives him to make a werewolf howl which is overheard by their landlord Mr. Babbitt.  He starts quickly starts banging at their door and accuses them of having a dog.  When they explain the truth he warns them agaisnt having any animals before he leaves.  Soon as he gone, Davy shows up from the back with Jeremy!

The guys explain to Davy about Mr. Babbitt which ends up with Micky doing another werewolf howl overheard once again by their landlord  who is banging on their door once more.  Since they can’t get the horse to budge, Mike comes up with an idea and sends Peter and Davy to hide before letting Mr. Babbitt in again.  He again accuses them of having a dog as Mike plays innocent.   When he sees the horse, Mike covers by claming it’s only Peter and Davy in a horse’s costume for a masquerade party and seems to have the landlord fooled.  Then the guys continue to try to drag the horse in another room but he still won’t budge.  While Davy goes upstairs to get a horse’s costume in case Mr. Babbitt shows up again, the others try to lure the horse by giving him Peter’s soup which causes him to collapse from fatique.  Mike calls up Dr. Mann, a scatter-brained veterinarian and then arrives at his office asking for his help about the sick horse.  Back at the pad, the confused vet mistakenly examines Peter and Davy whom are now disguised in a horse’s costume since the real horse is hidden and upon hearing their voices concludes that the horse has split personality! 

Then there’s a knock at the door and thinking it might be their landlord again, they decide to hide the doc in the closet with Davy and Peter so Mr. Babbit wont' get suspicious.  However, it’s only Mrs. Purdy, their kindly elderly neighbor who has brought cake for the guys but the horse enters the room and starts eating it which causes Mrs. Purdy to faint.  Mike calls out to Micky for help who throws a smoke bomb from the balcony causing the room to filled with smoke.  They try to revive the old lady through all the smoke who keeps waking up and fainting.  To clear out the air, Mike opens the door only to see Mr. Babbitt standing at the doorway so he quickly slams the door, then tells Peter to put the horse’s mask back on.  When he opens the door again, Babbitt accuses them of having a real horse in their apartment and when Peter with the horse’s mask speaks to him, the landlord faints away too thinking it's a real horse.

The next day on the beach, Davy runs into Jonathan again who tells him that his father plans to sell the horse because they can’t afford to keep him. He asks Davy to talk to his father so the guys arrive at the farm in a jeep.  They offer to pay for the horse by working it off as farmhands for a week in order to make $100 which is what the horse cost and Mr. Fisher decides to try them out for a day.  The next morning, Mr. Fisher gets the foursome who are sleeping in the barn early up for work but everything goes wrong as the guys mess up every chore giving to them.  First, they bury Peter under hay while pitching it.  Then Micky who shows Peter how to call hogs doing a “suey suey” cry so loud that their landlord can hear from their apartment building which ends up attracting chickens instead.  Then the guys attempt to milk a cow and they romp around to the tune “Papa Gene’s Blues” which has Mike in a fantasy sequence as matador trying to tame a bull and ends with Mr. Fisher getting a pail of milk spilled on him who then angrily fires the guys. 

As the foursome are preparing to leave, Jenkins, Mr. Fisher’s neighbor arrives and starts belittling Jeremy to Jonathan but Davy defends the horse and Jenkins bets him $100 that his horse can outrun Jeremy.  Since they don’t have that much money they agree to place their electric guitar on the bet.  Later, Davy now dressed in a jockey gear, races against Jenkins on the beach to the tune “All The King’s Horses” and ends up winning.  He gives the $100 to Mr. Fisher so that Jonathan can keep his pet and the grateful Mr. Fisher apologizes and invites them to visit some more but no more helping with the chores.

While on the beach again, another boy approaches Davy asking him to look after his pet and the other three quickly grab Davy and run before he agrees when the pet turns out to a camel this time!  They speed away finishing their rendition of the “Papa Gene’s Blues” song.

Trivia Notes

When the series began this was the first episode produced and filmed.

The late actor Jim Boles who played Mr. Fisher appeared in another episode

“Hillbilly Honeymoon” during it’s second season.

Actor Chuck Bail(Jenkins) later went on to direct numerous  episodes of TV

shows including NBC's "Knight Rider" "Chips, and the syndicated "Baywatch

Nights".

The original ending of this episode had Mike, Micky and Peter stopping Davy

from watching a baby elephant.

During the first CBS Saturday Afternoon repeat of this episode, the song "All The

King's Horses" was replaced by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart's "I Never Thought

It Peculiar".

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