Simpson and Delilah
Simpson and Delilah
Written by Jon Vitti
Directed by Rich Moore
Title sequence
Blackboard
{Tar is not a plaything.}
{Tar is not a pla} at cutoff.
Couch
They do a little dance.
Didja notice...
... Homer was having trouble with the questions on ``Grade School
Challenge''?
... the name Dimoxinil bears a more-than-coincidental similarity to the
real-world hair product Minoxidil?
... the sign that says ``Honor system coffee refills 25c'' over the
coffee urn, and nobody paid?
... especially because they were talking about cheating the system?
... the {\heart} on the ``I {\heart} Dimoxinil'' T-shirt had hair
growing on it? @{jd}
... Barney was drinking at Moe's tavern early in the morning?
... Homer was reading ``Playdude'' in the barber shop?
... when Homer comes into work, he puts his hardhat over a meter
that is in the red? Even worse, the sign clearly stated,
``Hard Hats Required''!
... when Burns is viewing the security monitors, one screen has
the picture of somebody smoking in front of a `No smoking' sign?
... the musicians in the executive washroom were playing Claude Debussy's
String Quartet? [David Halm]
... Maggie didn't fall down?
... The graffito of Burns on the workers' dunny? @{cjb}
(Anyone able to make out what it says?)
... the IBM PC in the personnel office? @{cjb}
... the books on Mr. Burns' desk are facing away from him?
(He can't see the titles.) @{dh}
... the security camera was made in the USA?
... the El Barto tag at Moe's?
... the boxes of file folders strewn around Homer's office?
... the ridiculous amount of tartar sauce Homer doles out?
Movie (and other) References
+ It's a Wonderful Life
- Homer running through town when he gets his hair.
+ Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
- Homer receives the key to the executive washroom. @{gh}
+ Samson & Delilah (Judges 13-16)
- title
- hair the secret to power
+ minoxidil
- see comments
Freeze Frame Fun
Homer's medicine cabinet
Observed by Chris Baird {cjb}, and expanded by Andrew Gill
Top Shelf:
- Soft Swabs
- BALD BUSTER
- >NEW< MINT O' KLEAN (there's a razor in)
- Hair Master (front of these two)
- GORILLA MAN
SCALP BLASTER
- U
WANNA
B
HAIR
E
Bottom Shelf:
- JJ's BABY POWDER
- I LIKE
YOUR (sticker)
SMILE
(smile)
- floss
- toothpaste
- NU GRO (the bottle is the shape of a male symbol)
- HAIR CHOW
- ULAN BATOR FORMULA
After Homer cleans the cabinet of the Cheap-o Sucker Deals:
Top Shelf:
- <NU> SHAVE
- JJ's BABY POWDER
Bottom Shelf:
- toothpaste
- floss
- TEAR
(eye)
EYE
- SOFT SWABS
The Royal Majesty
ROYAL
MAJESTY
FOR THE
OBESE OR GANGLY
GENTLEMAN
NO FOOD OR DRINK
ALLOWED IN STORE
later, inside:
YOU RIP
IT,
YOU BUY
IT.
In the Mall
MINI Shop
Ron's MEAT
HAIR CLINIC
(whatever's next to the clinic is having a sale)
At Dr. H. Boyle's Hair Clinic:
T-shirt:
I [heart growing hair]
DIMOXINIL
Diplomas:
I:
GRANANDA SCHOOL
of
MEDICINE
(I'm not sure of the title, it could be Crananda--if that makes more
sense)
II:
DEGREE IN DERMATOLOGY
On Door:
RESTRICTED KEEP OUT
At SNPP
Break Area:
KEEP
THIS
AREA
CLEAN
(and in small print)
THIS MEANS YOU!
On coffee urn:
HONOR
SYSTEM
COFFEE
REFILLS
25c
Behind the cafeteria counter:
ALL
EMPLOYEES
MUST
WASH
HANDS
(a set of handwashing symbols)
OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS
That employee newsletter
VOL I, ISSUE 3 1990
====================
`Current' Events (lightning bolt)
The Springfield Power Plant
Employee Newsletter
==============================================
WORK ACCIDENTS REACH
RECORD LOW
==============================================
OUTPUT UP |
15 PERCENT | (picture of Homer)
===========| (doling out tartar)
|
|__________________________________
| MANAGEMENT CAVES
| IN TO CONDIMENT
| OUTCRY
|==================================
There's actually readable text in the article body:
Declining issues outnumbered
advancing ones by nearly two to
one in nationwide trading of New
York Stock Exchange-listed
stocks, with 529 up, 969 down and
498 unchanged. Big Board volume
came to 147.63 million shares, up
[from] 119.39 million Monday.
While the market treaded water
[most] of the day, sell programs
kicked in late in the session. ``We
suddenly got whipped with a real
heady amount of program selling, (sic.``heady'')
and the market of course has been
running quite thin.''
The market has been losing
ground since last Thursday, the
day before the government report-
ed employment figures for June
that were not as weak as many
analysts had expected.[]
dashed[]
By door:
PARKING LOT
B-3
(the `3' looks like a backwards E.)
<| ELEVATOR
on another sign:
ATTENTI|ON
PARKING| LOT
IS LOCK|ED
AT MIDNIG|HT
(part of the sign is off-screen. I used my massive deduction skills to
infer what it said.)
Moe's Tavern:
MOE'S TAVERN |\
------------------------- \
| ENTRANCE AROUND CORNER >
------------------------- /
|/
Things Homer buys:
- swing/slide set
- C-band satellite dish
- castle treehouse
- patio umbrella
- plastic wading pool
The insurance form
* Full Name: Homer I. Simpson @{da} \\
[Presumably, the `I' is just
sloppy handwriting, as his middle initial is really `J'.]
* Birthdate: 5/10/55 @{rla}@{da}
* Place of birth: Either NE or NC @{rla}
* Social Security Number: 568-47-0000 @{da} \\
[The 7th and 10th
digits might be 8's. Note that SSNs beginning ``568'' are typically
assigned in California.]
* Home Phone: 555-6528 @{da}
* Work Phone: 555-7334 @{da} [Or thereabouts.]
* Sex: Male @{rla} \\
[Homer first checked `Female', then partly erased it
and filled in the correct answer afterwards.]
Comments and other observations
Inside jokes
When Burns emerges from the bathroom stall in the executive washroom, he says
\Q
I was watching the DuMont last night, when I happened to catch a
fascinating documentary on Rommel, the Desert Fox...
\eQ
Bill Morris reminds us that DuMont was one of the first companies
to produce television sets. But the pun is that back in the early
50's, DuMont had its own television network in competition with
the big three, much like what FOX is doing now. (DuMont went under
because they didn't have the resources to expand.) And to make sure
we get the joke, the documentary just happens to be about the Desert FOX.
What's more, the name of the man who defeated Rommel? General
Montgomery.
Is Karl a Homersexual?
Harvey Fierstein is a well-known gay actor. Does this carry over to
his character?
Marc Conte points out that there were some references to the Gay movement.
Karl says that a new suit should say, ``Don't judge me, love me!'', which
is a slogan seen at Pride marches. And Karl gets into high gear when he
gets Homer to go through an affirmation--Homer yells at the top of his
lungs that he is nature's greatest miracle, etc.
In `Do the Bartman', Jacques is dancing with a woman, who turns into Karl.
Gorilla man, for real!
Dr. David Gill gives us a brief history of minoxidil: Minoxidil is a drug
that originally was used for high blood pressure, but was found to have
excessive hair growth (all over) as a side effect. Someone thought to try
it topically to regrow hair and it was modestly effective, so is over
marketed as Rogaine. It is still used as a last line agent for high blood
pressure.
Andrew Gill gives us a little more information: in 1988, Upjohn marketed
minoxidil under the brand name Rogaine. It's now owned by Pfizer.
Apparently, many of the writers were losing hair and had heard of the
product, thus spurring the plot.
So why're you kissing Homer, then?
When Karl kissed Homer, it appears that he may have rocked Homer's world a
little more than Homer may have realized. It was the first time that a
man kissed another man romantically on network television. There was a
kiss between two women on L.A. Law, and certainly Homer kissed Bart in
[7G02], but the next time that two men would kiss like that in prime time
would be in 1999, on Dharma and Greg.
The Simpsons producers used the ``Elmer Fudd loophole''--since Bugs Bunny
used to kiss Elmer Fudd, they claimed that it's the same dynamic with
Homer and Karl.
Baldness is hereditary
Robert Lippman points out that Bart doesn't react to the fact that he's
ruined his father and his family. What scares him is that baldness is
hereditary. Of course, what Homer doesn't say (perhaps because he
doesn't know) is that male pattern baldness is sex-linked. You inherit
it from your mother, not your father.
Andrew Gill clarifies this: the gene for male pattern baldness is on the
non-homologous portion of the X chromosome, so there is no allele on the Y
chromosome that corresponds to this trait. The only possible way to get
the trait from your father is if he gives you an X chromosome, in which
case you are either a woman or have Klinefelter's Syndrome.
Misc, &c.
that union contract
So if Homer's going back to his old job, does that mean that Burns has
breached the union contract? Who will be the junior executive? The guy
smoking by the no smoking sign?
jiko kanri
According to Jeffrey's J-E dictionary, jiko kanri means something along
the lines of self-supervision. See the dictionary here.
The painting in Homer's office
Does anyone recognise it? I could swear I saw it in Janson's History of
Art, but I can't find it. It looks a little like the work of Giorgio de
Chirico in terms of setting, composition and color, but it doesn't seem
like his style.
Animation, Continuity, and Other Goofs
= The package of floss changes color
= When Dr. Boyle tells Homer that his insurance won't cover dimoxinil, the
hair on the back of his head disappears.
= When Homer gets his job back, his chair disappears.
= The dimoxinil shouldn't have emptied below the neck of the bottle.
- During Patty's ``Look who's talking'', the animators mis-colored her
and Selma's necklines. For a brief while, their sundresses go up to
the neck.
Quotes and scene summary
Homer, Patty and Selma are sitting on the couch watching TV (with TV dinner
trays in front of them). Bart and Lisa are on the floor.
TV host: Okay, the capital of North Dakota was named for what German ruler?
Homer: Hitler!
Marge: [coming in with food] Hitler, North Dakota?
-- watching `Grade School Challenge', ``Simpson and Delilah''
TV host: The colors of the Italian flag are red, white, and what? \\
[all four simultaneously]
\<
Bart: Blu|e! |Orange! |Red! Purple! \&
Patty: | |[bored] Green. \&
Selma: | | |[bored] Gr|een.
Homer: |Yellow!| | |Red! White! Black! Green!
\>
Contestant: [pause] Green.
Homer: I was right!
-- watching `Grade School Challenge', ``Simpson and Delilah''
then a hair restoration treatment commercial comes on the television...
Dimoxinil can help me grow as much, or as little, hair as I want to.
-- advertisement for a hair restoration treatment, ``Simpson and Delilah''
For your free brochure send five dollars to Dimoxinil, 485 Hair Plaza,
Hair City, Utah.
-- advertisement for a hair restoration treatment, ``Simpson and Delilah''
Homer goes to his medicine cabinet...
Marge, weren't you listening? This is a miracle breakthrough!
Not one of these cheapo sucker deals! [tosses a cheapo sucker hair restoration
product in the trash]
-- Hope springs eternal in Homer, ``Simpson and Delilah''
Homer pays a visit to the center, to find that it costs $1000.
We do have a product which is more in your price range. However, I must
assure you that any hair growth you experience while using it will be
purely coincidental.
-- ``Dr. H'', ``Simpson and Delilah''
Homer: [breaks down in tears] Of all the rip-off, screw job, chip joint...
[gets up] Forget you pal... [sobbing] thanks for nothing.
[leaves, crying]
[at the nuclear plant]
Homer: So I say, [angrily] Forget you, pal! Thanks for nothing!
And I storm right out of there.
-- A matter of perspective, ``Simpson and Delilah''
Dry fish-sticks! This sucks!
-- Homer complains about cafeteria fare, ``Simpson and Delilah''
Karl: Quit complaining, chrome-dome.
Homer: D'oh! If I had hair, you wouldn't be calling me that!
-- ``Simpson and Delilah''
One of his co-workers suggests putting it on the company medical insurance,
figuring that all it will mean is that Burns won't be able to buy another
ivory back-scratcher.
Why should you get nothing, while some guy who loses a finger hits the
jackpot?
-- Len cajoles Homer into filing a false medical insurance form,
``Simpson and Delilah''
Homer pays ``Dr. H'' another visit. They arrange a shady deal in the alley.
Homer then follows the instructions, including the scalp massage while
hanging upside-down.
Dear God, give a bald guy a break. Amen.
-- Homer's hairful prayer, ``Simpson and Delilah''
Homer wakes up to find a full head of hair, and runs through town in
his nightgown, saying good morning to the Winfields, Moe's Tavern,
Homer: Good morning, Moe's Tavern!
Barney: Hey, it's the president!
-- Homer gets hair, ``Simpson and Delilah''
a funeral, and another man who is running through town doing the same thing!
He returns home to his loving family, then pays a visit to the barber.
Marge talks to her sisters...
Marge: Just between us girls, he hasn't been this frisky in years!
Patty: [grunt] I don't want to think about it.
Homer: [from offscreen] Daddy's home, sugar!
Marge: [goes offscreen to greet him]
Homer: Come here, you.. heh heh heh.
Marge: Oh, Ooh!
-- ``Simpson and Delilah''
Patty: This is Homer? Oh, my!
Selma: [grunt] Patty, stop drooling.
Patty: Look who's talking.
-- Homer gets hair, ``Simpson and Delilah''
Burns surveys the security monitors...
Burns: None of these cretins deserves a promotion!
Smithers: It's in the union contract, sir. One token promotion from within
per year.
Burns: [indicating the security monitor] Wait, who's that young go-getter?
Smithers: Well, it sort of looks like [chuckle] Homer Simpson, only more
dynamic and resourceful.
Burns: Simpson, eh?
-- ``Simpson and Delilah''
Attention Homer Simpson. You have been promoted. You are now an executive.
Take three minutes to say good-bye to your former friend and report to
room 503 for reassignment to a better life.
-- Smithers' PA announcement, ``Simpson and Delilah''
[End of Act One. Time: 6:15+]
Homer interviews for a secretary...
Well, your r\'esum\'e [pronounced ree-zoom] seems good enough...
-- Homer interviews for a secretary, ``Simpson and Delilah''
The next applicant, a man, comes in.
Karl: You don't belong here. You're a fraud and a phony, and it's
only a matter of time until they find you out.
Homer: Gasp! Who told you?
Karl: You did. You told with me with the way you slump your shoulders,
the way you talk into your chest, the way you smother yourself
in bargain-basement lime-green polyester.
-- Homer hires a secretary, ``Simpson and Delilah''
First order of business is a new wardrobe. The next morning, Marge
wishes Homer a happy anniversary, and Homer realizes he forgot <again>.
But Marge is surprised by a singing telegram (sent by Karl). At the
board meeting...
Smithers: Our first issue, sir, is our low productivity and record high
worker accident rate.
Burns: [expels breath] Any suggestions?
Advisor1: A round of layoffs might wake up the idiots.
Advisor2: We could put caffeine in the water cooler.
-- ``Simpson and Delilah''
Burns: How would you improve the worker situation?
Homer: Well, sir, for one thing, we have a problem every Tuesday when
the cafeteria would serve fish sticks...
Burns: Fish sticks!? What in blazes are you talking about?
Homer: Well, sir, they cut the head off the fish, then chop up the rest of
the sticks [sic]. And then put seasoned breadcrumbs on it...
-- Haven't I heard this joke before? ``Simpson and Delilah''
Let the fools have their tar-tar sauce!
-- Burns implements Homer's plan, ``Simpson and Delilah''
Homer's tartar sauce solution seems to have worked...
You know, sir, accidents decreased by exactly the number that Simpson himself
is known or suspected to have caused last month. And our output level is
just as high as during Simpson's last vacation.
-- Smithers, on Homer's promotion, ``Simpson and Delilah''
Burns is so impressed by Simpson's work that he gives Homer the key
to the executive washroom. While Homer pays it a visit...
Oh, hey ho, men. You know, I was watching the Dumont last night, when
I happened to catch a fascinating documentary on Rommel, the Desert Fox...
-- Mr. Burns emerges from a bathroom stall, ``Simpson and Delilah''
When Homer becomes Burns' `favorite', Smithers gets mad and throws the
handtowel to the floor. (Upon which a man quickly dashes out, picks
it up, and backs away, somewhat like a tennis ballboy.) At night, Smithers
sneaks into the files and finds Homer's phony medical insurance form.
Hm... $1000? Dimoxinil? ``To keep brain from freezing''?
-- Smithers finds Homer's phony medical insurance form, ``Simpson and Delilah''
[End of Act Two. Time: 12:08+]
The Simpsons yard is loaded with toys, and Marge suggests that they save
some of it for a rainy day. ``Rainy day? There's never going to be
a rainy day, Marge!''
Homer: [kindly] And what does my little girl want?
Lisa: An absence of mood swings and some stability in my life.
Homer: Uh... How about a pony?
Lisa: Okay!
-- ``Simpson and Delilah''
Burns asks Homer to give an inspirational speech to the executives.
Smithers informs Burns of his discovery...
Smithers: One of your executives has bilked the company insurance plan
out of $1000.
Burns: What!? Blast his hide to Hades! [thunder roars outside]
And I was going to buy that ivory back-scratcher...
-- ``Simpson and Delilah''
[Apparently, the Simpsons rainy day has come.] Smithers informs Homer
that he's been fired, but Karl takes the fall. Homer is at a loss
and watches Karl leave in the rain. When Karl realizes Homer forgot
his umbrella, he gives Homer his. While Homer panics on the drive home,
Bart dreams of having a beard and splashes the Dimoxinil on his face.
Homer returns, and Bart spills the bottle.
Homer: [strangles Bart] Boy... must... die!
Bart: I love you, Dad!
Homer: D'oh! [lets him go] Dirty trick. Okay, I'm not going to kill you,
but I'm going to tell you three things that are gonna haunt you for the
rest of your days. You've ruined your father, you've crippled your
family, and baldness is hereditary!
Bart: It is!?
-- Bart spills the Dimoxinil, ``Simpson and Delilah''
Homer asks Marge if she has any money squirreled away and reaches into
her hairdo, but she stops him.
Dad is taking this in less than a heroic fashion.
-- Lisa observes Homer, reduced to blubbering when he realizes he's doomed,
``Simpson and Delilah''
Homer arrives at work the next morning and finds a note...
Homer: [picks up a note]
Karl's voice: Dear Mr. Simpson, I've taken the liberty of preparing your
speech on the enclosed numbered 3x5 cards.
All the big words are spelled phonetically
Homer: Phonanetically.
Karl's voice: God bless you. You are one of Springfield's very special
creatures. [camera pulls back to reveal Karl is standing there]
Your obedient servant, Karl. ... Good luck, sir.
Homer: [startles] Karl, so that <wasn't> just a sweet voice I heard inside
my head.
-- ``Simpson and Delilah''
Karl tells Homer he succeeded because of himself, and not his hair.
Homer: I'm just a big fool.
Karl: Oh no, you're not.
Homer: How do you know?
Karl: Because my mother taught me never to kiss a fool! [smack]
Homer: [somewhat surprised] Karl!
Karl: Now go get 'em, tiger!
Homer: [roar!]
Karl: [pats Homer's behind as he leaves]
-- ``Simpson and Delilah''
Homer presents his speech, sans hair.
Homer: [ahem] A lot of you would think I was crazy if I did this.
[burns a dollar bill]
Burns: He's crazy!
-- Homer gives a speech, ``Simpson and Delilah''
Some nerve, telling us how to run the plant. He doesn't even have hair!
-- Executive watches Homer's presentation, ``Simpson and Delilah''
They leave one-by-one...
[card #56 reads: ``And the long-term benefits more than offset the
one-time costs, for a net savings of $526,000.'']
Homer: And the long-term benefits more than offsetting the one-time costs, for
a net savings of... fuh, five thousand, two eh hundred and...
lots of money...
-- Homer's failed speech, ``Simpson and Delilah''
Homer is taken to Burns' office, but he doesn't fire him.
Burns: Simpson, how old do you think I am?
Homer: I dunno. A hundred and two?
Burns: [sadly] I'm only eighty-one...
-- Missed it by that much, ``Simpson and Delilah''
Burns recalls his own hairful days...
Burns: I'm giving you your old job back.
Homer: Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!
Burns: Now get out of here before I reconsider.
Homer: Oh. Better hurry up.
-- ``Simpson and Delilah''
In bed, Marge consoles Homer and sings ``You are so beautiful''.
This cheers Homer up.
[End of Act Three. Time: 20:39+]
Boring distribution restrictions
Episode summaries Copyright 1991--1992 by Raymond Chen. Updated 2003 by
Andrew A. Gill. Excessive use of this capsule may lead to hairy palms.
Not to be redistributed in a public forum without permission. (The quotes
themselves, of course, remain the property of The Simpsons, and the
reproduced articles remain the property of the original authors. I'm just
taking credit for the compilation.)
HTML conversion by
Howard Jones(ha.jones@ic.ac.uk) on Sat 10 Sept 1994