Well, I\'m nearly a month late for this show of the week but I just had to comment on it because it\'s one of my favorite episodes. It\'s a very offbeat, witty little tale and not at all predictable--a breath of fresh air. I found it to be very entertaining, and all the actors were absolutely terrific. And it was a perfect story for a radio play, as we never really saw for sure whether these apparitions appeared or not, despite the various characters\' reactions to them.

I did think that the death of the old club retainer at the end of the story seemed sad, bitter though he was, and I wondered if it was necessary. I also, like most everyone else, wondered about the title when I first heard the episode, and even after I\'d heard the explanation at the end I still thought the connection with the story was a bit tenuous. However, after having pondered these things a bit, I think that both the death and the walls of jericho explanation make sense thematically.

I finally realized that the overriding them of this story concerns the idea that if enough people believe something to be true, it makes it so. The majority rules, the minority loses out--hence the death of the old man. It was a sad thing, and not really fair, especially since he was more witty and imaginative than any of the club members, but sad or no, that\'s just sort of the way the world works. Thematically, his death rings true---if a little shocking, in such a light humorous tale.

This story could pertain to a particular society, political regime, or to the religion of your choosing, just as easily as to the stuffy men\'s club Elspeth Eric gives us. The minority--- the little guy or gal, the oddball, the independent thinker, the creative genius, the visionary, the artist-----these individuals can have it tough, standing in the face of the overwhelming opposition, solidarity, and often the ignorance (or even outright stupidity) of the majority. They sometimes get mown down, like our old retainer in the story.

On a deeper level, this play comments on the nature of society, and on human nature. I think Elspeth Eric was wise to cushion this underlying theme in an offbeat, humorous little setting. Like they say, \"a spoonful of sugar...\" The men\'s club was, if I may be so bold, a metaphor for society. (Sherwood Schwartz has always said that \"Gilligan\'s Island\", as he originally conceived it, was meant to be a microcosm of society and all its stratas. We\'ll overlook the fact that there were no ethnic minorities on the island--old Sherwood did the best he could. Besides, perhaps their absence in itself is a comment on their status in society at the time; non-existent.)

Anyway, I liked this play. The episode was entertaining, kept me wondering and guessing, and ended up working on another level the deeper I dug.&nbsp;<br>