The Simpsons/Lisa's First Word

Lisa's First Word
Season 4, Episode 10
Airdate	December 3, 1992
Production Number	9F08
Written by	Jeff Martin
Directed by	Mark Kirkland
← 4x09 Mr. Plow	4x11 → Homer's Triple Bypass
The Simpsons — Season Four

Lisa's First Word is the tenth episode of the fourth season of The Simpsons, and the sixty-ninth episode overall. Marge tells the story of Lisa's first word after the family sits with Maggie in hopes of hearing her speak.

Special Guest Voice: Elizabeth Taylor (Maggie Simpson)

Also Starring: Pamela Hayden (Stickball Kid, Boycott Krusty Woman, Grandma Flanders)

Plot Overview

Lisa, Bart, Homer and Marge are gathered around Maggie, trying to coerce her into saying her first word. When she doesn't respond, Marge decides to tell the kids the story of Lisa's first word as a baby in 1983. The family is shown living in a small apartment on the lower east side of Springfield with Bart, who is already a hellion. While Bart is flushing Homer's wallet down the toilet, Marge announces that she's going to be having another baby. But, because of the larger family, they're going to need a bigger house. They leave Bart with Patty and Selma and go off in search of a house, although their search turns up a houseboat and a house owned by cats until they find the home on Evergreen Terrace. But, it's way out of their price range.

Homer goes to his father to get a $15,000 loan so that he'll be able to buy the house of his dreams. Grandpa decides to sell his house to raise the necessary funds, as long as Homer lets him stay with them. Of course, he's kicked out of the house within three weeks. The family moves in to the new house and Marge tries to get rid of Bart so that she can relax, allowing Homer and the boy to watch television, including an advertisement for free hamburgers at Krusty Burger for every gold medal America wins in the Olympics. (Shortly after taping for the commercial is finished, Krusty disparages the poor quality of his food, but his mood changes when he is reminded the tickets are slanted heavily toward events the Soviet Union were heavily favored to win. His mood turns sour again when he is told the Soviets were boycotting the Olympics, and with the tickets already printed and distributed, that means ... "OH NO!")

After Marge gets further on in her pregnancy, she decides to give the crib to the coming baby, which Bart isn't happy about. Homer finds a solution by promising Bart a bed shaped like Krusty the Klown, even though he is unable to afford a professionally built one, so he hand-builds one. Bart is skeptical when he sees the poorly crafted bed, but Homer reassures him the bed is indeed Krusty; that night, Bart has a nightmare in which a scary-looking clown chases Bart, catches and eats him, leaving Bart not wanting to go to bed ever again. When it comes time for Marge to go to the hospital, Bart is left in the care of the Flanders family, who drive him crazy with their overly Christian ways; even though Ned is patient with Bart, this is the final straw of jealousy between Bart and his new sibling.

When first introduced to Lisa, he tells her that he hates her. One night, he hides in Lisa's room and cuts off her hair to make her less cute. When this doesn't work, he tries to put her in a mailbox and through Flanders' doggy door. This just brings about more punishment, so he starts to run away from home when Lisa says her first word: "Bart." Bart immediately reverses his opinion of Lisa and decides that maybe she's alright after all.

(In the meantime, Krusty goes on television on the final day of the Olympic Games, having learned that he's personally on the hook for $44 million(!) in free food after the promotion has unexpected results. The Klown, smoking a cigar, goes on a rant about how the customers are greedy pigs and that he vows to taint random uncooked hamburger patties to sicken them in retaliation. Homer is unfazed, considering it an honor.)

Cut to the present when they're fighting like mad while Homer puts Maggie to bed. He tells her that he hopes that she never speaks and stays innocent forever and leaves the room. When Homer is out of earshot, Maggie pulls out her pacifier and says "Daddy" before going to sleep.

Notes

Title Sequence

• Blackboard: "Teacher is not a leper." The final line cuts off at "L."
• Couch Gag: The family does a kicking dance reminiscent of the rockettes at Rockefeller Center. They're joined by several women who dance along with them, followed by men juggling on unicycles. Lastly, the entire backdrop is pulled up to reveal magicians, firebreathers, a dog jumping through a flaming hoop and elephants doing gymnastics.

Trivia

The Show

• First Line: This episode, despite being mainly about Lisa, also features the first spoken line by Maggie. She says "Daddy" just before the credits roll and was voiced by Elizabeth Taylor. In a later clipshow, the line was redubbed by Nancy Cartwright to avoid paying her again. Although, technically, Maggie spoke all the time in The Tracey Ullman Show shorts, these aren't considered to be in continuity with the modern Simpsons.

Behind the Scenes

• 

  

  The infamous clown bed.
  Clown Bed: The incident where Homer builds Bart a clown bed is inspired by an actual part of Mike Reiss' life when his doctor father built him a horrifying clown bed. When telling the story Reiss would often sum up his experience by saying "Kids are scared of clowns and adults think they're dumb, so what the hell good are they?"

Allusions and References

• The 1980s: References are made to AfterM*A*S*H, Ms. Pac Man, Cyndi Lauper and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and actor Joe Piscopo,
• Chariots Of Fire: The Itchy & Scratchy short "100-Yard Gash" uses the main theme to the 1982 movie, which became a No. 1 hit for Vangelis that year.
• Lincoln Savings and Loan: Homer invests in the future education of his yet-to-be-born child at the financial institution, which would suffer a collapse five years later in the wake of a savings and loan scandal due to business corruption by its board of directors.
• McDonald's and the 1984 Summer Olympic Games: Intertwined as a period gag, with several cutaways of the family watching the Olympics on TV, and Krusty promoting in commericals a giveaway campaign where customers could win a free menu item (a Krusty Burger, French fries or a milkshake) or on some tickets a cash prize if the Americans medaled in a listed event on a scratch-off ticket. In the latter, Krusty is told of the Soviet Union just having announced their boycott of the '84 Games, and when the Klown realizes that the tickets, which had been slanted to list events the Soviets and its allies (Iran and Lybia among them) had already been printed and distributed to Krusty Burger restaurants; realizing this, he whines that he will be ruined financially. Krusty's predicament was just like what happened to McDonald's, which lost losing millions on food it was now obligated to award at no cost.
• Where's the Beef: A headline of the Springfield Shopper from the day Lisa was born uses Wendy's advertising slogan (used to advertise its hamburgers). The slogan was used by Democrat presidential hopeful Walter Mondale in a debate to mock what he viewed as lack of substance in rival Gary Hart's campaign, and it helped push Mondale to the Democratic nomination, but he was soundly defeated in the 1984 general election as Ronald Reagan was re-elected.

Memorable Moments

• Homer builds a disturbing looking clown bed for Bart in exchange for giving up the crib, but the bed only succeeds in giving Bart fright-based insomnia. The next day, he's shown rocking back and forth, muttering "Can't sleep, clown'll eat me."

Quotes

• Homer: The sooner kids talk, the sooner they talk back. I hope you never say a word.
  [Homer leaves and shuts the door]
  Maggie: [taking her pacifier out] Daddy.