Movie to Be Shot on Location

Originally Aired: March 13, 1940 Lum #269, "Movie to Be Shot on Location," excitement grips Pine Ridge after a Hollywood talent scout suggests the town would make an ideal setting for a motion picture. Lum has gone completely Hollywood before even receiving a firm offer, practicing dramatic scenes in the store, telling tourists he's a movie actor, and studying railroad timetables for the trip west. He's even paying off debts and collecting accounts in preparation for the big move, much to the bemusement of his partner Abner, who watches Lum's theatrical preparations with skeptical concern. As word spreads through town, everyone wants in on the action. Cedric Weehunt hopes to be hired as an actor, while Grandpappy Spears is already negotiating his salary, insisting he won't work for less than his current pay of forty-five cents an hour. Abner tries to keep a level head, reminding everyone that the scout only said he thought it was a good idea and would talk to the studio, but Lum has already transformed the tentative possibility into a done deal, complete with costume changes and overwrought rehearsals of melodramatic scenes.