Old Money (The Simpsons episode)
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"Old Money" is the 17th episode of the second season of The Simpsons. The episode aired on March 28, 1991.
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[edit] Synopsis
Grampa, after another lackluster Sunday outing with the family, falls in love with Beatrice Simmons when their pills are mixed up at the Retirement Castle. They fall in love and go on a date, leading up to her birthday on a Sunday.
However, Homer makes Grampa come on the family outing to the Discount Lion Safari and locks him in the car, causing him to miss Bea's birthday. At the refuge, the family's car becomes stuck in the mud and, to make matters worse, hungry lions begin circling the car, trapping the family in the car overnight. After a hunter helps run the lions off the next morning, Grampa returns home expecting to see Bea. However, Homer pulls up just in time for the ambulance to pull away. It turns out that Bea has died of a burst ventricle when he was out with the family.
Grampa is saddened, attends her funeral and is very angry with Homer, as Homer was responsible for pulling Grampa away from Bea's birthday party and he was unable to spend time with her in what turned out to be her final hours.
Grampa then receives Bea's inheritance of $106,000. First, he looks at buying things for himself, until Bea's ghost suggests that he give the money (his inheritance is slightly less because he spent $400 on a fez that Napoleon supposedly once wore) to worthy causes. After interviews with many people across Springfield, Grampa attempts to double his money by gambling at a casino, but Homer stops him — and just in time, since Grampa would have lost the entire inheritance at the roulette wheel.
In the end, Grampa forgives Homer. Grampa also decides that he should spend the rest of the inheritance on renovating the retirement home, and adding a new room named the Beatrice Simmons Dining Room.
[edit] Trivia
- This is the only Simpsons episode to date that comprehensively lists the voice actors and the characters they portray.
- This is the first episode with a reference to Grampa's first name, Abraham.
- Professor Frink makes his first appearance in this episode.
- In all future episodes, there would be no mention of the upgrade to the retirement home, although the place wouldn't look as shabby as before.
- When the Simpsons are found after getting lost at Discount Lion Safari, the person who finds them parodies Henry Morton Stanley's famous line "Dr Livingstone I presume" when he says, "Mr. Simpson I presume."
- Darth Vader and the Joker are among the people featured in the queue of people who are applying for Grampa Simpson's inheritance.
- Strangely, Bea is seen enterering her own dining hall at the end of the episode, dispite her death.
[edit] Cultural references
- Mystery Spot - When the family is suggesting places they could go, Homer suggests the Springfield Mystery Spot, a reference to the similarly named spots in California and the Upper Peninsula in Michigan- although Lisa says that the Springfield "Spot" is simply a puddle of mud. Another Springfield Mystery Spot, depicted later in the episode Homer at the Bat, is a sort of wormhole, shown when Ozzie Smith falls into it in that same episode.
- African Lion Safari – Discount Lion Safari is patterned after a reserve near Cambridge, Ontario[citation needed]; the aim is to have visitors remain in their cars while the animals (about 100 species) roam the park.
- If I Had A Million – The climax scenes, where Grampa uses the money to fix up the Springfield Retirement Castle, is a carbon copy of the ending of the 1932 film.
- The Jazz Singer – Grampa's angry comment, "I have no son!" toward Homer is taken from the Neil Diamond remake of the film.
- McDonald's – Krusty Burger (making its first series' appearance) is inspired by McDonald's and other fast-food restaurants which make use of marketing directed towards children.
- Mr. Deeds Goes to Town – The scenes where Springfield residents suggest how to spend Grampa's inheritance is taken from the 1936 movie.
- Sesame Street – Homer's insistence that Grampa's friend, Bea, is an imaginary friend (and Bea leaving just before others arrived) is a spoof of the longtime running gag on Sesame Street, where Big Bird tried in vain to convince the adults that Snuffleupagus was real.
- Tom Jones – The scene where Grampa and Bea eat their pills seductively is taken from the 1963 movie.
- Nighthawks – The shot of Grampa sitting at the diner resembles this famous 1942 American painting.
- 1972 Billy Martin MLB Manager trading card - Bart suggests this purchase as one of the things he would do with Grampa's inherited money ("The card where the ballplayer is flipping the bird").
- Batman - Bart also asks for a copy of Radioactive Man #27, giving the reason that it's the issue where Radioactive Man first fights Dr Crab. Batman's first appearance was in Detective Comics #27.
