Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:50 — 6.8MB)
Out of work for 3 weeks now, and with his venture with Fibber’s mouse trap stalled, Gildy is feeling the financial pinch. Birdie is the bearer of bad news when bills are coming due. Miss Wheeler pops in to see if Gildy may want to put his house on the market. Though it’s a sweet deal as far as Leroy is concerned, as trustee over the kids, Gildy has to consider a lot more than dollars to keep providing for the kids.
Is it a good time to do some house hunting? Might the family find a bargain in a better neighborhood? Will the sale of the house mean extra money for investing in that mouse trap business? Only after signing to list the house is Gildy reminded there’s a housing shortage. There’s no place in town to move to.
Visiting Floyd the barber, Gildy puts feelers out to find a house. What kind of information will the rumor mill turn up on how to find a house? Looking to confirm a rumor about Doc Pettibone, Gildersleeve goes to talk to Peavey. Taking his house hunt in other directions, Gildy visits Leila Ransom.
The idea is to convince her to move back to Dixie, and conveniently leave her big ol’ house to li’l ol’ Gildersleeve to take care of for her. Will she mistake his advances for something else? Too bad all the stereotypical things of the South, are things that Leila just can’t stand. A visit to judge Hooker may provide a loophole to get out of the real estate contract.
Note: $12k for a house may not sound like much in today’s money, but in 1944 it was a fortune. Adjusting for inflation, and the buying power of the dollar, it might equate to $150k or more, and maybe a lot more.
