COUPLE #1: Ida Taylor, who ran away from a cornfield as a young girl / Charles McLaughlin, a vaguely self-described "entrepeneur"
COUPLE #2: Oney Boren, wife of an oil man / John Granger, whose beard gets in the soup

Ida Taylor is a real hoot, especially during the quiz segment. There's a fantastically funny outtake of her in the "stag reel" for this season (originally released by Shout Factory as a bonus on one of their two great YBYL DVD sets from a decade ago). It starts 5:57 into this video if the link doesn't start where it's supposed to (just make sure you play it to the end-- it's Ida's last line that's the real killer!):

⁣UFO is a 1970 British science fiction television series about the ongoing covert efforts of a government defence organisation to prevent an alien invasion of Earth. It was created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill, and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade's Century 21 for Grade's ITC Entertainment company.


⁣In the pre-title sequence, Commander Straker appears to go berserk, smashing equipment in SHADO Headquarters. After a brief chase he is restrained and found to have a hypodermic needle and an ampoule of an unidentified drug on his person. Col. Lake is found unconscious on the roof, while on the studio backlot a man's dead body is found in a mini-car. Dr. Jackson subjects Straker to hypnosis, during which he relates the rest of the episode in flashback to Jackson and Paul Foster.
Straker and Lake are attacked by a UFO whilst en route to Headquarters. As they pass through the outer checkpoint, night mysteriously turns into day; they find everyone and everything, both on the studio lots and inside SHADO HQ, frozen in time. The effect begins to overtake them as well. In order to counter it, they inject themselves with potentially life-threatening doses of an experimental stimulant.
Inside SHADO HQ they encounter Turner, a SHADO operative who is working for the aliens. He has placed a device in the HQ that freezes time on Earth and allows a UFO to approach the planet undetected. Straker and Lake attempt to kill Turner but he is able to manipulate time to avoid their attacks.
The UFO is waiting for time to unfreeze in order to attack SHADO HQ. Straker arms himself with a shoulder-fired missile to destroy it. However, Turner ambushes the pair, knocking Lake unconscious and stealing a key required to operate the missile. Straker hunts down Turner, chasing him in mini-cars through the studio lot. Turner tells Straker he cannot shoot him, for he is never where Straker sees him to be. To counter this, Straker - reasoning that Turner must still be nearby - shoots in a wide arc, hoping that at least one bullet will find its mark. He thereby kills Turner, gets the missile key, and destroys the incoming UFO; returning to HQ he begins smashing pieces of equipment, hoping to destroy Turner's device. By now the drug has made him paranoid, and he continues his destructive spree even after he succeeds and time unfreezes.
The story returns to the present. Jackson and Foster allow Straker to rest, while musing on the nature of time.

Ludicrus Sextus must choose Miss Vestal Virgin of BC72, Noxious plots to rig the contest because of the Senator's stance on bawdy houses, and Lurcio is told to find someone more suitable.

Highlight of this show is clearly Groucho's encounter with Albert Hall (couple #3), a very funny exchange where Groucho looks genuinely thrown by the odd man with the crazy eyes.

While Groucho always had jokes to fall back on prepared in advance by staff writers, he never actually *met* the contestants until the show. Seeing him startled like this is always a high point when it happens. He spends most of the segment here pretending, hilariously, to be scared for his life.

His family is horrified when Nausius brings home his prospective bride, a woman Ludicrus recognizes from his visits to Pompeii's strip clubs.

The shop floor becomes the dance floor. The ladies' and gentlemen's staff combine to enter a ballroom dancing competition at young Mr Grace's suggestion.

Eli finds out that Nellie has had him insured and accuses her of trying to kill him off for his money.

Through a series of bizarre coincidences, a man finds himself falsely accused of bank robbery and murder and is pursued by the authorities and the real killers.

⁣Dean is joined by Frank Sinatra and their respective families for the Christmas show. Dean and Frank do a medley of standards. Frank Jr and Dino perform "How Do You Talk to Your Dad." Tina and Deana sing "Do-Re-Mi."

Old Mr Grace decides to put together a brand new magazine for the store, and recruits Mr Humphries to be the editor.

A travelling theatre company causes much excitement in the Senator's household, the behaviour of the leading actor creates an opening, and Lurcio has trouble choosing the right mask.

When the ladies' department is closed for a face-lift, the female assistants have to share the men's counter. Will Mrs Slocombe get steamed up?

The food being served up in the camp canteen continues getting worse and worse, as Cook-Corporal Jenner runs a side-line in offloading as much as possible to line his own pocket. C Flight decide to take a stand.

An expose of the baby-profiteering racket as told through the story of an unwed mother whose family and friends start an investigation as to the whereabouts of her baby. This leads to and through an organized gang led by a society matron. The girl is found dead, and while it looks like a suicide, the girl's sister and a newspaper reporter think it is murder.

Abandoned (1949) was one of a series of semi-documentary movies that were popular at the time. It was based on an original story by Irwin Gielgud commissioned by producer Jerry Bresler. Director Joseph Newman and Bresler had previously worked together in the shorts department at MGM.

•••

Director : Joseph M. Newman

Cast :
Dennis O'Keefe as Mark Sitko
Gale Storm as Paula Considine
Jeff Chandler as Chief MacRae
Meg Randall as Dottie Jensen
Raymond Burr as Kerric
Marjorie Rambeau as Mrs. Donner
Jeanette Nolan as Major Ross
Mike Mazurki as Hoppe
Will Kuluva as Little Guy Decola
David Clarke as Harry
William Frambes as Scoop (as William Page)
Sid Tomack as Mr. Humes
Perc Launders as Dowd
Steve Darrell as Brenn
Clifton Young as Eddie
Ruth Sanderson as Mrs. Spence

Corporal LeBeau pretends to be a visiting French scientist while Hogan smuggles out the real one.

The staff try to determine where Mrs Grace's ancestors are from so they can give her a coat of arms for her 90th birthday. They consider various traditional performances based on her heritage.

A suspicious Captain Peacock thinks his wife is having an extra marital affair with Mr Rumbold behind his back.

When Chauvelin captures an several important members of the French royalty, Sir Percy must forsake a quiet Christmas at home and attempt a rescue.

Romance and suspense ensue in Paris as a woman is pursued by several men who want a fortune her murdered husband had stolen. Whom can she trust?

The Way Ahead - World W*r II drama that follows a group of British draftees, starting with their rigorous basic training, and ending with their deployment in North Africa.

The Way Ahead (1944)
Director: Carol Reed
Writers: Eric Ambler(original story), Peter Ustinov(screen play)
Stars: David Niven, Stanley Holloway, James Donald
Genre: Drama, War
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English, French, German
Also Known As: The Immortal Battalion
Release Date: 6 June 1944 (UK)
Duration: 114 min
Filming Location: Pirbright Army Camp, Pirbright, Surrey, England, UK

Storyline:
A group of draftees are called up into the infantry during World War II. At first, they appear to be a hopeless bunch, but their Sergeant and Lieutenant have faith in them and mould them into a good team. When they go into action in North Africa, they realize what it's all about.

Reviews:
"This is a film about a seemingly run of the mill sort of group. After the Brits were involved in WWII and saw how bad the going would be, the government was forced to draft men who would traditionally have been exempt. Men who were a bit old or involved with careers that might be deemed 'useful' to the effort were suddenly being called to duty, as times were dire. The beginning of the film shows these men being selected for service.

Unfortunately, this is a rather motley group and they tended to complain quite a bit as well (mostly by Stanley Holloway's character). How they could become a productive unit seemed pretty doubtful and I doubt if such an unimpressive group of men would have been used as actors had this propaganda film been made a few years earlier--when things looked really bad for the British. However, now that the war was appearing win-able, I can understand the choices of actors.

There is nothing particularly magical about any of the film--their selection, their training or their combat experience in North Africa. However, all of it was very well handled and excelled because they tried to make it believable--normal, everyday men rising to the occasion. In many ways, it reminded me of a landlocked version of "In Which We Serve"--with fine acting and writing instead of jingoism and super-human exploits. Very well done.

There are a few interesting actors in the film. Peter Ustinov is in his first film and he plays a French-speaking man. While his French isn't 100% fluid, it was decent and a bit of a surprise. Apparently, he was in real life David Niven's assistant in the British Army and somehow ended up in the film.