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Tasked with writing a newspaper column, Lum tries to find his old typewriter. What will he write about? He does his best to do a gossip column to report on the movers and shakers of Pine Ridge. Racing against his deadline, his fact checking on a trip that the Frawley’s are making becomes his focus, and running gag through the show.
Who knew a trip to Hatfield could be the hotbed of social activity? What about the buried dynamite on their property, or the fact that Mrs Frawley has Mr Frawley tied up in the barn?
Ben Withers interupts with news about Osborn, who is planning a wedding. What about the news that Mrs Goshen is having quintuplets… again.
The interruptions keep coming when Sister Simpson pops in, concerned that Maude Tupes is out to steal her man. Abner and Ben had to cut their wedding visit short when a ire broke out at city hall. Still, Lum is mentally blocked as to what kind of news report he’ll write. As Lum continues honing his story about the Frawley trip, holes get poked into it, and he has to work it from different angles. I wonder if fWendell Niles might have a news spot from the sponsor angle?
Ben and Abner argue over a checker game, interrupted by Lum’s latest revisions. Okie Cates enters to make a phone call. There seems to be a plumbing emergency over at uncle Luke’s lunchroom. As Lum tries to do more fact checking on the phone, Opie gets drawn into his conversation. The very upset Luke Spears enters to complain about Opie running out on him in his time of need.
Lum is close to a nervous breakdown with all the distractions to his reporting. Interruptions are far from over when Mose Moots, played by Andy Devine, enters with his eye witness account of that city hall fire. How bad was the blaze? What difficulties did the fire department have in putting it out? The oblivious to real news, Lum, finally has his story on the Frawley’s finished. But there’s still one more disaster in his future with it.
