Bart After Dark

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The Simpsons episode
"Bart After Dark"
Belle with Bart.
Episode no. 158
Prod. code 4F06
Orig. airdate November 24, 1996[1]
Show runner(s) Bill Oakley &
Josh Weinstein
Written by Richard Appel[2]
Directed by Dominic Polcino[2]
Couch gag A parody of the Sgt. Pepper's album cover.[2]
DVD
commentary		 Matt Groening
Josh Weinstein
Richard Appel
Dominic Polcino
David Silverman
Ken Keeler
Season 8
October 27, 1996 – May 18, 1997
  1. "Treehouse of Horror VII"
  2. "You Only Move Twice"
  3. "The Homer They Fall"
  4. "Burns, Baby Burns"
  5. "Bart After Dark"
  6. "A Milhouse Divided"
  7. "Lisa's Date with Density"
  8. "Hurricane Neddy"
  9. "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)"
  10. "The Springfield Files"
  11. "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson"
  12. "Mountain of Madness"
  13. "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious"
  14. "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show"
  15. "Homer's Phobia"
  16. "Brother from Another Series"
  17. "My Sister, My Sitter"
  18. "Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment"
  19. "Grade School Confidential"
  20. "The Canine Mutiny"
  21. "The Old Man and the Lisa"
  22. "In Marge We Trust"
  23. "Homer's Enemy"
  24. "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase"
  25. "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson"
List of all The Simpsons episodes

"Bart After Dark" is the fifth episode of The Simpsons' eighth season, first aired by the Fox network on November 24, 1996.[1] After accidentally breaking a stone gargoyle at a local house, Bart is forced to work there as punishment. He assumes it will be boring work, but is pleasantly surprised when he learns that it is actually a burlesque house. The episode was directed by Dominic Polcino and was written by Richard Appel.[2] It won an Emmy for "Outstanding Music and Lyrics" for the song "We Put the Spring in Springfield".[3]

Contents

[edit] Plot

An Itchy & Scratchy cartoon is interrupted with a news report that an oil tanker has crashed and spilled thousands of gallons of oil on "Baby Seal beach". Lisa sees the report and asks Marge if she can go and help save the wildlife. After some begging, Marge agrees and the two go to help out, leaving Bart and Homer home alone. The house quickly becomes a mess and Bart goes out to play with his friends. Milhouse's toy airplane crashes into a house and Bart, despite warnings that the house is inhabited by a witch, goes to retrieve it. While doing so, he accidentally knocks down a stone gargoyle and Belle, the owner of the house, goes to Homer and says she will not press charges but demands he be punished. Homer originally dismisses this, but Belle threatens to come back and speak with Marge, leading to Homer forcing Bart to do chores for Belle. Fearing the worst, Bart soon discovers that the house is actually a burlesque house called "the Maison Derrière" ("The Behind House" in English) and quickly takes a new enthusiasm to his job.

Meanwhile, Marge and Lisa arrive at the beach, but discover that the ability to help the animals is reserved for celebrities. The two are put to work cleaning rocks, and soon abandon the job and drive home.

While picking up Bart, Homer learns about the true nature of the burlesque house, but does nothing about Bart working there. Principal Skinner visits the house and sees Bart as the door greeter. He reports it to the Lovejoys and the Flanderses and they confront Homer about the matter. Homer declares that he has no problem with Bart working there just as Marge returns home.

Marge asks Belle to close down the burlesque house but Belle refuses, saying that the house is a part of Springfield. At a town meeting, Marge brings up the matter of the house and shows pictures of several prominent citizens leaving. She soon gets support of the entire town and they form a mob so they can go destroy it. The mob arrives at the house and immediately start destroying things. Bart and Homer arrive and Homer decides to try to convince the mob to stop. He does so by singing a musical number accompanied by Belle and some dancers. The town soon joins in and are convinced to let the house stay. However, Marge arrives with a bulldozer, having missed the song. The town announces their intentions to let the house stay, but Marge tries to sing her own song about her views. During the opening lines, she accidentally puts the bulldozer into drive and destroys half the burlesque house. She apologizes profusely and to pay for the damage, she starts a ventriloquist act at the house.[1][4][5]

[edit] Production

Homer sings the opening lines of "We Put the Spring in Springfield".
Homer sings the opening lines of "We Put the Spring in Springfield".

The episode was written by Richard Appel, who was looking for new locales to put Bart and thought it would be funny to have him work at a burlesque house. The problem was to find a way to put such a house in Springfield, which was solved with the bit with the toy airplane.[6] There were a dozen different possible names for the Burlesque house, some of which were raunchy.[6]

Josh Weinstein has said that there are so many sleazy characters in The Simpsons that it was easy to find people for the scenes in the burlesque house.[7] A character modeled after John Swartzwelder can also be seen.[7]

Belle was not modeled after anyone in particular[8] and she was redesigned several times.[9] Belle was voiced by Tress MacNeille but there had been previous efforts to cast a guest voice for the role.[6]

[edit] Cultural references

The couch gag for the episode, which is a reference to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The couch gag for the episode, which is a reference to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.[2]

A lot of the plot is based on The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.[7]

The oil spill is a reference to the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

The Sea Captain was shown to be drunk at the helm, which is a reference to Joseph Hazelwood, who was the captain of the Exxon Valdez and was accused of being drunk.[7]

Reverend Lovejoy says "This house is a very, very, very fine house", a reference to the Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young song "Our House".[2]

[edit] Reception

Ken Keeler and Alf Clausen won an Emmy for "Outstanding Music and Lyrics" for "We Put the Spring in Springfield".[3] The song was also a part of the album Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons.[10]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Bart After Dark. The Simpsons.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Homer's Enemy. BBC.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  3. ^ a b Keeler, Ken. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart After Dark" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  4. ^ Martyn, Warren; Adrian Wood (2000). I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide. Virgin Books. ISBN 0-7535-0495-2. 
  5. ^ Richmond, Ray; Antonia Coffman (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family. Harper Collins Publishers, p. 236. ISBN 0-00-638898-1. 
  6. ^ a b c Appel, Richard. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart After Dark" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  7. ^ a b c d Weinstein, Josh. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart After Dark" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  8. ^ Polcino, Dominic. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart After Dark" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  9. ^ Groening, Matt. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart After Dark" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  10. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Go Simpsonic with the Simpsons. allmusic.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.

[edit] External links

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