Linda's Giant
Linda's Giant is an episode of the U.S. comedy television series Make Room for Daddy (1953-1965, renamed The Danny Thomas Show after the fourth season) that was first aired in 1959.
The spanking scene
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In this episode, Linda (Angela Cartwright) tells stories about a new friend of hers, "Mr. Jumbo", who is "10 feet tall with a magic coat". Her adoptive father Danny Williams (played by Danny Thomas) praises her imagination but tries to make her admit that her "giant friend" is made-up. She refuses repeatedly, to his growing annoyance. Finally, he is fed up and threatens to spank her for lying.
Fire One!
– Linda, lying over her daddy's lap when asked whether she is ready
He discusses the case with his wife Kathy (played by Marjorie Lord), who just can't bear the thought of her little girl getting spanked, although she agrees to the necessity of the punishment. After some to and fro with Kathy who begins to sob whenever he tries to leave the room, Danny calls Linda into the kitchen. The little girl, very cute and innocent looking in her short white dress, is perfectly cooperative and submissive: she has already brought a hairbrush with her which she hands to him, and without being told she pulls a chair in position for her daddy to sit on ("Isn't that the way I'm supposed to do it?"). As soon as he takes a seat, she plops herself over his lap (OTK). She is so well-behaved and docile, appears so fragile, and Kathy is so clearly suffering, that Danny just can't bring himself to actually begin the spanking, as much as he tries. Frustrated, he finally rises and declares that "this spanking is gonna do no good at all". He thinks about giving her some other punishment instead. When he's just about to tell Linda what she's going to have to do, the doorbell rings. He sends her to answer the door.
Linda returns with a guest: a giant man in uniform. She introduces him: "Daddy, I'd like you to meet Mr. Jumbo". Realizing he's been doing his daughter so badly wrong, Danny shakes Mr. Jumbo's hand and asks him whether he'd do him a favor. He requests the big man to take a seat, hands him the hairbrush, and puts himself in the spanking position (shouting "Fire One!", as Linda had done some minutes earlier when she was over his lap). Fade out.
Other episodes with spanking references
The Make Room for Daddy episode Parents Are Pidgeons (1957) also has a reference to spanking (see the video clip). The spanking is not shown because the scene fades out when the kids, who smell the rat, speed out, the parents running after them with their belts in their hand (F/G, M/B).
Madame: choose your weapons.
– Danny to Kathy in Parents Are Pidgeons
See also
External links
- Review Review Linda's Giant on Internet Movie Database
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