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Private Notes
Mary Tries to Act.
Donna is too excited to sleep because Alex is giving a speech at a convention. While trying to sleep on the plane Alex gives Donna a tranquilizer to help her sleep.
Donna has trouble deciding whether or not buy a new dress.
Jeff's 'friend' Doug keeps getting him into trouble at school, and Jeff silently takes the blame for him because he knows Doug's mother constantly picks on him and wonders why he can't be more like Jeff, who behaves like an innocent cherub at their house. One day when Dr. Alex is at Doug's house, he witnesses Doug's mother berating Doug unfairly, so Donna invites Doug's mother over just before Mary and Jeff get home from school so she can be there to see Jeff's behavior at home. Doug's mother learns that Jeff is obnoxious to his sister, loud, and unruly at home (just like any other adolescent boy) and all ends well when Doug arrives and his mother sees that he too, is just like any other boy, but knows when to be polite in somebody else's house.
Alex must contend with overly anxious new parents who constantly call him in a state of panic, thinking that there is something wrong with their baby.
Mary wants to meet a boy, so she talks Jeff into going to his kid sister's party.
Alex is hurt that Jeff likes the new neighbor.
Donna mistakenly accepts an invitation to 'culture vulture' Lydia Langley's cocktail party, at which Lydia mentions that she also conducts a book discussion group. She goads Donna into joining it and then reporting on Tolstoy's ""War and Peace"" at her first meeting. Donna then attempts to immerse the whole family in culture, by buying Jeff a Dickens book, Mary a Tchaikovsky record, and a copy of Tolstoy's epic for her and Alex to read together. She then tries to read the lengthy novel in a week...
Jeff's class has a new teacher, Miss McGuinness. The boys in particular complain that she is too strict, so Donna meets with the new teacher to get matters settled.
Jeff's friend, Phillip, has a problem. He wants to play football, but his mother is over-protective and won't let him.
Jeff finds out the reason why he wasn't made a member of a club: He is friends with a boy no one else likes.
Dilemma in the Stone household: How to discipline the children without having Donna look like a villian by meting out the punishments, or having Donna look like a squealer when Alex does .
Donna gets cornered into accepting an invitation from a couple that neither she nor Alex really care for. Alex refuses to go, sparking an argument that they try to keep quiet from the children.
Alex and Donna chaperone Mary's date with a college man.
Lately all Donna has been hearing is how wonderful Alex is, and how lucky she is to be his wife. After a while this gets Donna to wondering if what people really mean is that Alex got the short end of the stick by marrying Donna.
Mary gets an engagement ring and phone calls from Matt, a freshman at UCLA, but doesn't tell anyone in the family about the ring or why Matt is calling.
So what's going on? As Donna says, ""Alex, our daughter has a secret.""
Little David Barker is very excited. His father is getting married and he hopes this means he can leave military school and live in a real home, but things don't work out the way David thought they would.
The radio show ""Housewives Corner"" is broadcast from McClure's Market. Host Jerry Parker is asking the ladies if housewives find questions like ""While baking an upside down cake,do you recommend standing on your head?"" This presents an opportunity for Donna to defend homemakers like herself as being a bit more than ""just a housewife""!
Alex's Uncle Dan takes a break from traveling all over the world. Jeff likes the idea of going to Alaska, Saudi Arabia, Malaya, Australia, and doing whatever he wants, just like Uncle Dan. Jeff decides to join him. Will Donna and Alex allow him to go? Would you believe, yes?
Jeff and his friends get into trouble when they are discovered using an abandoned house as a hang-out. This prompts Donna and the other mothers to create a nice meeting place for the children.
Donna and Alex decide to shake up their daily routine by going out on the town...and on a Monday night, no less! Nothing works out the way they planned.
Alex lays down the law when Jeff and Mary slack off on their responsibilities at home and their schoolwork. Now Alex is furious when it appears that Mary didn't come home from a bowling date with Roger on time.
Alex's wild room-mate from college is getting married, and Alex is invited to the bachelor party. Donna doesn't like this idea at all.
Donna makes Jeff take trumpet lessons when she discovers he has perfect pitch. Jeff would rather be on the track team.
While Alex was the ""belle of the ball"" with his fantastic dancing at the Woman's Medical Auxiliary Dance, the dance cost more to produce than the income from ticket sales provided. Each member agrees to contribute $27 using her skills in moneymaking to make up the budget shortfall. Donna will sell 54 jars of her famous pickle recipe at fifty cents per jar and donate the money to the Auxiliary. Will Donna's plan work?
Donna is away and Alex has to manage the house and children.
Donna's old school mate, who has been a single career woman all these years, is now engaged to a doctor. She visits Donna to see what life is really like for a doctor's wife.
Jeff starts swapping possessions to pay off a debt. Zack: Mike Montgomery. Mrs. Pruitt: Marjorie Winters. Alvin: Mike Peters. Sprague: Percy Helton. Paul Petersen.
Mary vows not to go to the school dance unless Ellen has a date for the dance. Ellen is rather plain so Mary goes to work to transform Ellen into a glamorous young lady.
Donna and Alex have different stories about how they first met. Also Donna plays matchmaker to a new doctor in town and a pretty nurse at the hospital.
Donna tells Emily, the town gossip, that Kay Watson is having a baby. Then Donna learns from Alex that Kay is keeping it a secret so that she can stay working longer. Donna is crushed, knowing that she may have let Kay's secret out.
Sixteen- year-old Petie is home from military school and visiting the Stone family. Petie and Mary have been friends for years, but seeing how beautiful Mary has become, he would now like to be more than just friends. As Alex puts it, ""springtime has come to Petie!"" How can Petie catch Mary's eye?
Aunt Lettie is coming to visit, so Donna and Alex try to find the wedding present she gave them so she would be certain to see it. It would help if they could just remember what it was! And by the way, Alex, can Donna buy a $250 Porcelain Dresden figurine?
Jeff wants to keep a cat that followed him home, so can Harry the Cat stay?
The Stone family will decide by using the democratic process.
