Writing Script for War Movie

Originally Aired: March 2, 1938

Lum #2, "Writing Script for War Movie," finds Lum Edwards consumed with grandiose plans for the Pine Ridge Motion Picture Company's first production. While his partner Abner waits at the Jot 'Em Down Store growing increasingly frustrated, Lum is out hunting for a white horse to ride in the war picture he's writing himself. In his script, Lum has cast himself as a hero general who captures entire armies single-handedly and marries a queen, while relegating Abner to the lowly role of his orderly who must keep his boots greased.

As Grandpap Spears and Abner discuss the situation, Abner's irritation builds. He reminds Grandpap that he owns half the company stock and deserves to be a general too if Lum gets to be one. When Dick Huddleston stops by trying to find Lum and talk some sense into him about wasting their twelve hundred dollars in savings, he warns that they can't compete with Hollywood and don't know the first thing about making pictures. Meanwhile, phone calls come in about white horses as word spreads about Lum's quest, and the ambitious production continues to take shape despite everyone's skepticism.