Abner Helps Lum Pack for Trip to Tulsa

Originally Aired: September 24, 1935

In Lum & Abner #202, "Abner Helps Lum Pack for Trip to Tulsa," Lum faces possible conviction for violating the Blue Sky Law after being duped into a fake silver mine scheme. His only hope for acquittal is to track down the elusive Squire Skimp, the shady promoter who's now hiding out in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As Lum prepares for his trip, his well-meaning partner Abner takes charge of the packing, stuffing Lum's valise with everything from six months' worth of clothes to a heavy overcoat in the middle of warm weather.

The packing session turns comical when Abner reveals his grand plan for Lum to travel in disguise, complete with fake whiskers made from old settee stuffing. Despite Lum's protests that he's trying to catch Squire, not hide from him, Abner remains convinced his disguise is brilliant, having successfully fooled his own wife Elizabeth that morning, though it cost him two ricks of chopped wood to prove he was a "tramp." As the two friends bicker over unnecessary items and Abner's increasingly ridiculous suggestions, the urgent mission to bring Squire back before trial takes a backseat to their trademark comic misunderstandings.