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The vacuum cleaner is broke, but Fibber is sure he can fix it. It kicks off round one in a battle of the sexes. He and Molly do a little arguing on who is smarter, more mechanically inclined, more inventive, where Molly seems to get the upper hand. When the phone needs repair, the arrival of a lady repairman touches off more ranting by Fibber, After a quick chat with Mirt the phone operator, its off to the hardware store, and a left over jab from last week, about Fibber getting only 4 gallons of gas. Billy Mills plays a jazzed up dance number.
Women are everywhere, the newspaper girl, lady cops, and lady milk men, even Abigail Uppington has a job. The trip to the hardware store is interrupted by a chat with Harlowe Wilcox. What does he think about the flood of women in the workplace? Are they really taking over?
The walk to the hardware store finds Fibber having to deal with even a lady cigar shop clerk, then they encounter the Old Timer. He has taken a new job, and tells his own perspective on women he works with… and a joke about Muscilini. The Kingsmen sing a tune about dealing with wartime rationing and shortages, An Open Letter to the Boys at War.
The whole time, Molly has been wondering what job Abigail has taken on. Fibber gets more to rant about when the hardware store has a new lady manager. He’s even more amazed when she knows exactly what his problem is, and sells him the right part to his vacuum. Along the way home, Wallace Wimple tells how he’s dealing with the ongoing battle of his big old wife Sweetie Face. Also we find out where Abigail is working,
Note: Of course the show is a hotbed of patriotic support for the nation, the war effort, and the various governmental programs that helped to shape the culture. The importance of the broken vacuum csweeper is that among other appliances, the government put a ban on the sales and production for civilian use of them for the duration of the war. It was to conserve on metal and rubber that could be thrown entirely into products for military service. Repairing the machines you already owned was encouraged.
It also enhanced the joke where a precocious little kid on some comedy show or other may tell how they sold a household appliance, or ripped the radiator out of dad’s car, or similar mischief. Replacements would be virtually impossible to come across until the war was over.
Then there’s the obvious rash of women in the workplace that Fibber is dealing with poorly. It freed up men to go off to war, and keep business going as usual.
