BENSON: FOOL'S GOLD (TV)
Summary
One in this comedy series about Benson DuBois, who manages the chaotic household of the state's honest yet inept governor. In this episode, Benson takes insurance photos of the house's various treasures, "aided" by Frankie, who offers a series of jokes for an upcoming historical society dinner. Benson and Kraus soon find a secret compartment in the fireplace and discover a letter to a "Dolly," and they are all shocked to find that it was written by a disgraced former governor who apparently hid a stolen treasure somewhere in the house before being tarred and feathered for his crimes. Benson is sure that the treasure is long gone, but everyone else is excited to solve the mystery, especially when Clayton's research reveals that the gold would be worth over five million dollars in modern-day value. Everyone apart from Benson and Gatling begins tearing apart different parts of the house in search of the money, and Gatling tracks down the former governor's diary and finds the riddle which "explains" the treasure's location. Benson is still unimpressed, but everyone else begins arguing over the treasure, sure that one of the others will find it and keep it for themselves.
Gatling calls a halt to the search because of the historical society dinner, but everyone seems prepared to continue searching as soon as it is over and Gatling and Benson decide to team up and peruse blueprints of the house. Benson then reveals that there is a walled-up window in the basement through which the sun's rays once illuminated the hiding spot, though as it is the middle of the night, they recreate the beam with flashlights. They find a crack in the mortar and discover another compartment – but instead of treasure, there is only a letter from Dolly, revealing that she knew about the secret hiding place all along and absconded to Spain with the money and the stable boy before the governor left office. Everyone is disappointed, particularly when Katie discovers just how far they went in their pursuit of the gold. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: November 14, 1980 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:25:35
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:54451
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; African-American Collection - Comedy
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1979-1986
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Paul Junger Witt … Executive Producer
- Tony Thomas … Executive Producer
- John Rich … Executive Producer
- Bob Colleary … Producer, Writer
- Tom Whedon … Producer, Writer
- Don Richetta … Co-Producer
- John Rich … Director
- Susan Harris … Created by
- George Aliceson Tipton … Music by
- Robert Guillaume … Cast, Benson DuBois
- James Noble … Cast, Governor Eugene Xavier Gatling
- Inga Swenson … Cast, Gretchen Wilomena Kraus
- Missy Gold … Cast, Katherine 'Katie' Olivia Gatling
- Ethan Phillips … Cast, Peter 'Pete' John Downey
- Rene Auberjonois … Cast, Clayton Runnymede Endicott III
- Caroline McWilliams … Cast, Marcy Hill
- Jerry Seinfeld … Cast, Frankie