The Mom & Pop Store

"**The Mom & Pop Store**"
"The Mom & Pop Store"
Seinfeld episode
Episode no.	Season 6; Episode 8
Directed by	Andy Ackerman
Written by	Tom Gammill & Max Pross
Production code	607
Original air date	November 17, 1994
Guest appearances
	Jon Voight as himself; Bryan Cranston as Tim Whatley, D.D.S.; Ian Abercrombie as Mr. Pitt; Elsa Raven as Mom; Tom Wright as Morgan; Dan Frischman as "Guy on Phone"; Rick Fitts as Dentist; Mike Robelo as Pop; Ken Thorley as Car Salesman; Pat Asanti as Electrician; Nancy Balbirer as Woman at Party;
Episode chronology
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	List of episodes

"The Mom & Pop Store" is the 94th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the eighth episode for the sixth season.^[1] It aired on November 17, 1994.^[1] In this episode, George buys a car said to have belonged to Jon Voight (who cameos in the episode as himself). Meanwhile, Kramer takes all of Jerry's sneakers to a "Mom and Pop" shoe repair store, leaving him with nothing but cowboy boots to wear while he tries to figure out whether or not he is invited to Tim Whatley's Thanksgiving party.

Plot

Kramer convinces Jerry to send his sneakers to a "mom and pop" shoe repair store, insisting that it is important to keep such stores from going out of business. Kramer takes all Jerry's sneakers, leaving him only a pair of cowboy boots he was gifted. While at the store, Kramer's nose starts to bleed. When he lies down to stop it, he notices wires hanging out of the ceiling and advises Mom and Pop to call an electrician. Mom and Pop can't afford to bring the electrical installation up to the building code, so they close the store and disappear with all of Jerry's sneakers.

Elaine has a crush on Jerry's dentist, Tim Whatley. Elaine, George, and Kramer all get invitations to Whatley's "Thanksgiving Eve" party, but Jerry is uncertain whether he is invited.

George intends to buy a 1989 Volvo sedan, but the salesman talks him into buying a 1989 LeBaron convertible by telling him it was owned by Jon Voight. While riding in the car, Jerry goes through the glove compartment and discovers a chewed pencil and owner's booklet, showing that the previous owner was a John Voight; Jerry makes fun of George, who kicks him out of the car. He then runs from some muggers but slips because of his boots, hurting his teeth. Because no dentist is seeing patients before Thanksgiving, Jerry decides to crash the party where many dentists will be present.

While walking down the street, Kramer sees Jon Voight. When Kramer tries to ask Voight about George's car and reaches in to Voight’s taxicab, he grabs Kramer's arm and bites him. At work, Mr. Pitt asks Elaine to guess the title of an old song so that he can win a ticket to hold the Woody Woodpecker balloon in the Thanksgiving Parade. Elaine correctly identifies the song and wins the ticket, but must sit through a loud performance by a live band before receiving it. At the party, Elaine is still deafened from the loud music, and inadvertently turns down a date from Whatley because she thought he was just offering her nuts. George and Kramer seek a dentist at the party to match the bite marks on Kramer's arm with those on the chewed pencil. When he hears of George's situation, Whatley realizes the car belonged to Dr. John Voight, a periodontist friend of his. While showing his teeth to a dentist, Jerry accidentally pushes a small statue of the Empire State Building out the window and pierces the Woody Woodpecker balloon with Mr. Pitt under it.

Jerry receives a call from a man who bought a pair of his sneakers from a garage sale in Parsippany, New Jersey. Jerry and Kramer head there to confront Mom and Pop, taking the bus since Jerry's car is in the shop. On the bus ride, Kramer's nose starts bleeding again, with the two of them visually recreating the end scene of Midnight Cowboy.

Production

As with many Seinfeld episodes, "The Mom & Pop Store" was inspired by events in the lives of the writers. Writer Tom Gammill bragged to Jerry Seinfeld that he had purchased a car which was previously owned by Jon Voight; his writing partner Max Pross broke in that he was skeptical that the car had really belonged to Voight. Seinfeld suggested the two of them turn their argument into an episode.^[2] According to Gammill and Pross, much of the conversations between George and Jerry were "almost verbatim" recreations of their real debate over the car, including Jerry (Pross in real life) noticing that the owner's manual said "John Voight", though the pencil with teeth marks is fictional.^[2]

Jon Voight was on the set for just a few minutes to film his scene.^[3] During this time, Gammill asked Voight to look at the car, and Voight said he had never owned it.^[2] The same car, including the keys, was used as George's car in both this episode^[2] and Season 7's "The Gum."^{[citation needed]} Pross' car has a cameo as the car George originally planned to buy.^[2]^[3]

The big band songs heard on the radio in the episode, "Honeysuckle Jump" and "Next Stop, Pottersville", are not really from the big band era; they were composed by Jonathan Wolff specifically for this episode.^[3] In the Dixieland Deli, another contestant mentions to Elaine that he guessed the name of another (fictional) song, credited to 'Stan Herman', which is a portmanteau of real-life bandleaders Stan Kenton and Woody Herman.

The character Tim Whatley was introduced for this episode. Gammill and Pross based him on a college acquaintance who would specifically not invite certain people in the same circle of friends to his parties.^[2]

The sequence with the Woody Woodpecker balloon was inspired by footage of a Woody Woodpecker balloon explosively collapsing during a parade. The production team were unable to obtain the rights to this footage, so they had to recreate it using just a brief shot of Mr. Pitt trying to hold up the balloon.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b "Seinfeld Season 6 Episodes". TV Guide. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Gamill, Tom; Pross, Max (2005). Seinfeld Season 6: Audio Commentary - "The Mom & Pop Store" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
^ ^a ^b ^c Seinfeld Season 6: Notes about Nothing - "The Mom & Pop Store" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2005.

External links

"The Mom & Pop Store" at IMDb

[tvguide-1] "Seinfeld Season 6 Episodes". TV Guide. Retrieved 2 December 2021.

[AudioCom-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Gamill, Tom; Pross, Max (2005). Seinfeld Season 6: Audio Commentary - "The Mom & Pop Store" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

[NaN-3] Seinfeld Season 6: Notes about Nothing - "The Mom & Pop Store" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2005.

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v t e Seinfeld episodes
Season 1	"The Seinfeld Chronicles" "The Stake Out" "The Robbery" "Male Unbonding" "The Stock Tip"
Season 2	"The Ex-Girlfriend" "The Pony Remark" "The Jacket" "The Phone Message" "The Apartment" "The Statue" "The Revenge" "The Heart Attack" "The Deal" "The Baby Shower" "The Chinese Restaurant" "The Busboy"
Season 3	"The Note" "The Truth" "The Pen" "The Dog" "The Library" "The Parking Garage" "The Cafe" "The Tape" "The Nose Job" "The Stranded" "The Alternate Side" "The Red Dot" "The Subway" "The Pez Dispenser" "The Suicide" "The Fix-Up" "The Boyfriend"† "The Limo" "The Good Samaritan" "The Letter" "The Parking Space" "The Keys"
Season 4	"The Trip"† "The Pitch" "The Ticket" "The Wallet" "The Watch" "The Bubble Boy" "The Cheever Letters" "The Opera" "The Virgin" "The Contest" "The Airport" "The Pick" "The Movie" "The Visa" "The Shoes" "The Outing" "The Old Man" "The Implant" "The Junior Mint" "The Smelly Car" "The Handicap Spot" "The Pilot"†
Season 5	"The Mango" "The Puffy Shirt" "The Glasses" "The Sniffing Accountant" "The Bris" "The Lip Reader" "The Non-Fat Yogurt" "The Barber" "The Masseuse" "The Cigar Store Indian" "The Conversion" "The Stall" "The Dinner Party" "The Marine Biologist" "The Pie" "The Stand In" "The Wife" "The Raincoats"† "The Fire" "The Hamptons" "The Opposite"
Season 6	"The Chaperone" "The Big Salad" "The Pledge Drive" "The Chinese Woman" "The Couch" "The Gymnast" "The Soup" "The Mom & Pop Store" "The Secretary" "The Race" "The Switch" "The Label Maker" "The Scofflaw" "The Highlights of 100"† "The Beard" "The Kiss Hello" "The Doorman" "The Jimmy" "The Doodle" "The Fusilli Jerry" "The Diplomat's Club" "The Face Painter" "The Understudy"
Season 7	"The Engagement" "The Postponement" "The Maestro" "The Wink" "The Hot Tub" "The Soup Nazi" "The Secret Code" "The Pool Guy" "The Sponge" "The Gum" "The Rye" "The Caddy" "The Seven" "The Cadillac"† "The Shower Head" "The Doll" "The Friar's Club" "The Wig Master" "The Calzone" "The Bottle Deposit"† "The Wait Out" "The Invitations"
Season 8	"The Foundation" "The Soul Mate" "The Bizarro Jerry" "The Little Kicks" "The Package" "The Fatigues" "The Checks" "The Chicken Roaster" "The Abstinence" "The Andrea Doria" "The Little Jerry" "The Money" "The Comeback" "The Van Buren Boys" "The Susie" "The Pothole" "The English Patient" "The Nap" "The Yada Yada" "The Millennium" "The Muffin Tops" "The Summer of George"
Season 9	"The Butter Shave" "The Voice" "The Serenity Now" "The Blood" "The Junk Mail" "The Merv Griffin Show" "The Slicer" "The Betrayal" "The Apology" "The Strike" "The Dealership" "The Reverse Peephole" "The Cartoon" "The Strongbox" "The Wizard" "The Burning" "The Bookstore" "The Frogger" "The Maid" "The Puerto Rican Day" "The Chronicle"† "The Finale"†
† Indicates two-part episode