Limited Engagement

Episode Number: 68
Season Number: 4.5
Air Date: 11/3/1983
Writers: Richard Yalem, Jay Huguely
Story: Stephen Katz, Richard Yalem
Director: Harvey S. Laidman
Producer: Reuben Leder
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Recurring Characters

Gillian Dobb (Agatha Chumley)

Guest Stars

Mildred Natwick (Madge LaSalle), Martha Scott (Jeanie LaSalle), Darleen Carr (Heather Wilcox), John McLiam (Johnny Wells), Jim Hutchison (Harvey Cole), Michael Bair (Oliver), Daniel Fitzsimmons (Donnie)

Episode Brief

A strange series of convenience store robberies introduces Magnum to the LaSalle sisters, two elderly women who are about to be evicted from their run-down boarding house. While still pursuing the perpetrator of the robberies, Magnum and Higgins take it upon themselves to organize a charity bingo game for the little old ladies.

Rating

8.2

(42 votes)

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Notes

¹ The original script for this episode was titled "Golden Years".

² All of the "Day-N-Dark" convenience store scenes were filmed on location at a Handy Pantry store in Kaimuki. Many real food and beverage products can be identified on the shelves if you look hard enough. The store is no longer there. It is now a kidney dialysis center. (Noted by rubber chicken)

³ The opening shot of Waikiki beach with a girl showering at a beachside shower is stock footage from the 1979 TV movie The Chinese Typewriter starring Tom Selleck and James Whitemore Jr. The footage was used previously in Season One's "China Doll" (1.3) and "Missing in Action" (1.9). (Noted by golfmobile)

⁴ Jim Hutchison (Harvey Cole) is a longtime member of the local Oahu arts community. He was head of the Honolulu City Ballet, and served as artistic director at Honolulu Community Theatre (now Diamond Head Theatre) and the Hawaii director for the Screen Actors Guild. He started his career as a dancer on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Jackie Gleason Show, and later served as a choreographer. He passed away in 2009.

⁵ Lots of baseball references in this episode:

• Growing up in the Tidewater area of Virginia, Magnum was a fan of the Washington Senators when he was a kid.
• Magnum collects baseball cards and looks to have a respectable collection. He mentions having several Larry Parrish cards, and we see a Ken Harrelson (obscure, mediocre 1B from the late 60s/early 70s) card. We also get a clear look at the card of fictional Senators 2B Johnny Wells, who led the league in steals (46) one year. Magnum offers Johnny his card (with a valuable misprint), but Johnny signs it and gives it back instead.
• Baseball legends Walter Johnson, Frank Howard, and Mickey Vernon are mentioned.
• Twins manager Billy Gardner is seen arguing with an umpire when Magnum and Johnny watch a game.
• Magnum tells Johnny Wells that he saw him play on June 10, 1952 at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C.. It was the second major league game he had attended.

⁶ Magnum has an Uncle Richie who is the black sheep of the family and is a professional card player. Magnum will mention him in several future episodes.

⁷ Icepick comes from an "old, established Chicago family".

⁸ Darleen Carr (Heather Wilcox) will later guest star in Season Six's "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" (6.14).

⁹ After finishing his upper second at Sandhurst, Higgins' father treated the family to a trip to the resort town of Blackpool to celebrate. There they saw some theater shows, including a Quick-change act by The LaSalle Sisters. Higgins, however, didn't have the heart to tell his father that Blackpool was a bit gaudy for his tastes. (Noted by Stephen Huntley)

Quotes

¹
Magnum: Jeanie...Jeanie, please! Would you mind not calling me "Tommy". Tommy is...a little boy with an all-day sucker.
Jeanie: Tommy, please dear come and sit down.
(Magnum sits down)

²
T.C.: Pickled-egg, please.
Magnum: T.C., no. Come on, can't you come up with another joke? Three days in a row?! Besides, you know I hate fishing those stinking things out. I hate 'em.
T.C.: Pickled-egg, please.
(after much effort, Magnum fishes out a pickled-egg)
Magnum: 59 cents.
T.C.: How stupid of me, I must have forgotten my wallet.
(walks out of the store and drives away)

³
(to Rick)
Higgins: What sort of man chooses the name "Icepick"?

Flubs

¹ Magnum, the baseball nut, thought Johnny Wells hit .381 in 1952, because of the misprint on the baseball card? He thought Johnny had the third highest season batting average of the modern baseball era, when he really didn't? This is a major character flub - No way would Magnum have not known that was a misprint.

² T.C. refers to the "Day-N-Dark" as the "Day-N-Night" in one scene. This occurs after Magnum follows T.C. out to Rick's Mercedes with the pickled-egg. (Noted by IslandHopper)

³ While in the study with Magnum, Higgins calls Magnum's attention to his Annual from Sandhurst. Higgins said that he saw the LaSalle sisters "37 years ago this July". He shows Magnum the theater program from Blackpool, as Higgins says, "the summer I completed my upper second at Sandhurst". This episode aired on November 3, 1983, which would mean Higgins finished his upper second at Sandhurst in July, 1946. This date is incorrect, as it is inconsistant with his established historical timeline. In 1946, Higgins was in Egypt; Nuremberg, Germany; and Vienna. As best as can be deduced, Higgins was at Sandhurst from 1934 through 1937, where he was sent down in the winter of his third year as he was falsely accused of injuring a fellow classmate during a school prank. (Noted by IslandHopper)

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