The Jacket (Seinfeld episode)
Encyclopedia
"The Jacket" is the third episode of the second season
of the NBC
sitcom Seinfeld
and the show's eighth episode overall. In the episode, protagonist
Jerry Seinfeld
(Jerry Seinfeld
) buys an expensive suede jacket and has dinner with the father of his ex-girlfriend Elaine Benes
. Elaine's father Alton (Lawrence Tierney
), a war veteran and writer, makes Jerry and his friend George Costanza
(Jason Alexander
) very uncomfortable. Elaine is delayed and Jerry and George are stuck with Alton waiting for her at the hotel.
The episode was written by Larry David
and Jerry Seinfeld and was directed by Tom Cherones
. Most of the episode's storyline was based on one of David's personal experiences. For example, Elaine's father, a published author, was inspired by Richard Yates, author of Revolutionary Road, who Larry David had met while dating his daughter. Tierney's performance as Elaine's father was praised by the cast and crew, who intended to make Alton Benes a recurring character. However, they became frightened of Tierney when it was discovered that he stole a knife from the set. The majority of the episode was filmed on December 4, 1990. "The Jacket" premiered on American television on February 6, 1991, on NBC, it gained a Nielsen rating
of 10.4/16 and was praised by critics.
is shopping for clothes with Elaine Benes
, he finds a suede
jacket that he likes. He doubts about buying the jacket because it is very expensive and has a candy stripe
lining. He eventually decides to buy it. When Jerry is at home watching television, his neighbor Cosmo Kramer
(Michael Richards
) comes in and likes the jacket, he is even more impressed when he discovers the price by reading the label. Kramer persuades Jerry to give him his old leather jacket as he will no longer be using it.
The following night, Jerry, Elaine and their mutual friend George Costanza
have dinner with Elaine's father, writer Alton Benes. While preparing for the dinner, George arrives at Jerry's apartment with the song "Master of the House" from the musical
Les Misérables
stuck in his head. George and Jerry are both very nervous to meet Alton because he is such a famous author. When they are about to leave, Jerry puts on his new jacket. George is very impressed and attempts to get Jerry to reveal its cost. Kramer enters the apartment and asks for two minutes' help guarding his illegally parked car as he carries down some doves that he is looking after for a magician friend. However, they refuse to help because he often underestimates how long things take to do.
George is still singing as they enter Alton Benes's hotel. Elaine has not arrived yet, so they sit down with her father and nervously order drinks. They have an awkward conversation with him; Alton asks who is the "funny guy" (Jerry), to whom George says it's Jerry. Alton then recalls about a funny guy in Korea
who got his brain
s blown out over the Pacific
and that "there's nothing funny about that." Jerry (frightened) eventually goes to the bathroom, abandoning George (also frightened), who attempts to compliment Alton about his book, Fair Game. George gets uncomfortable and tells Alton he has to make a phone call. He meets Jerry in the bathroom and both mention how terrified they are because of Alton; they decide to go home if Elaine does not show up in the next ten minutes. When they return, Alton receives a message from Elaine, who will arrive in thirty minutes, which worries them both.
When Elaine finally arrives, she explains that Kramer promised her a lift if she would wait in his car for two minutes. He returned over twenty minutes later, and the car had been towed for being illegally parked. She was eventually forced to walk to the restaurant. Alton, returning from the bathroom, greets Elaine and tells Jerry and "chorus boy" George that they are going to a Pakistan
i restaurant five blocks away. On their way out, they notice it is snowing. Jerry knows snow would ruin his suede jacket and asks Alton if they can take a cab
, but Alton replies that it is only a few blocks away. George suggests that Jerry could turn the jacket inside out, but because of the candy stripe lining, Alton notices and tells him to turn it back, saying he looks "like a damn fool" and that he's "not going to walk down the street with me and my daughter dressed like that." George then reminds Jerry that the restaurant is only a few blocks away; Jerry, reluctantly, puts his jacket back to normal.
The next day Kramer notices Jerry's jacket hanging in the bathroom, badly damaged by the snow. Kramer takes it, chiding Jerry for not turning it inside out. Elaine arrives, and tells Jerry that her father had a good time. She explains how he usually hates everyone but liked Jerry, as he reminded him of a certain "somebody" from Korea; she then mentions that he thinks George is gay because "he pretty much thinks everyone is gay." Meanwhile, as Alton drives home, he finds himself singing "Master of the House" as well.
for sixteen years, making it one of the longest running musicals in the history of Broadway. In response to George constantly singing "Master of the House", Jerry tells him about German
composer Robert Schumann
, who went insane from hearing the same note over and over in his head. George also mentions Bud Abbott
, an actor and comedian during the 1940s and 1950s, who was part of the Abbott and Costello
duo, with Lou Costello
. When Jerry and George discuss their options in the bathroom at the hotel, George suggests that they should leave to which Jerry replies "he'll clunk our heads together like Moe"; this a reference to Moe Howard
, one of The Three Stooges, who frequently clunked the heads of his brothers together. Alton mentions Fidel Castro
, ruler of Cuba
from 1959 to 2008.
.jpg)
"The Jacket" was written by Seinfelds co-creators Larry David
and Jerry Seinfeld
and directed by Tom Cherones
. The episode's storyline was based on one of David's personal experiences; when he was dating Monica Yates, she wanted him to meet her father, Richard Yates
, a respected novelist. David had just bought a suede jacket, and met Richard Yates at the Algonquin Hotel
. Richard was, as David stated in an interview, "... every bit as intimidating as Alton Benes". David's story is similar to what happened in the episode, as, when they headed out to the restaurant, his jacket was ruined by the snow. Additional dialogue at the store where Jerry buys his jacket was cut before broadcast, it featured a reference to Gary Gilmore
. The material was later included on the Seinfeld Volume 1 DVD
set. "The Jacket" is the only episode in which one of Elaine's parents appears; Louis-Dreyfus once suggested Mary Tyler Moore
to portray Elaine's mother, but the character never appeared on the show. The episode also contains the first mention to Elaine's job as a manuscript reader for Pendant Publishers, in early drafts of the script her job was an optician
. Also in early drafts, in the final scene Kramer entered Jerry's house with a dove on his shoulder.
The episode was first read by the cast on November 28, 1990 at 10.30 AM. It was filmed in front of a live audience on December 4, 1990. The episode was filmed at CBS Studio Center
in Studio City, Los Angeles, California
, where, starting with the season two premiere "The Ex-Girlfriend
", all filming for the second season took place. The final scene in the episode, which showed Alton Benes singing "Master of the House" in his car, was pre-recorded on December 3, 1990, as it could not be filmed in front of an audience because it took place in a car.
was cast as Alton Benes. He was known for his bad-guy roles in films during the 1940s and 1950s, such as Dillinger
, The Hoodlum
and Born to Kill
. Tierney's appearance in the episode is one of his only comedic roles. Cast and crew members were very impressed with Tierney's performance, and intended to make Alton Benes a recurring character. However, they were frightened of him; during filming it was discovered that Tierney had stolen a butcher knife
from the knife block in the Jerry's apartment set. Various cast members remember Seinfeld encountering Tierney and stating "Hey Lawrence, what do you got there in your jacket?". Tierney, realizing he had been caught, tried to make a joke about how he thought taking the knife would be funny, by reanacting a scene from Alfred Hitchcock
's Psycho (1960), holding the knife above his head and making threatening motions towards Seinfeld. Tom Cherones, Jason Alexander
and Julia Louis-Dreyfus
saw this happen, and, as Alexander recalled, it "scared the living crap out of all of us." Cherones stated that, afterwards, Larry David would jokingly threaten to have Tierney back on the show if he did his work badly. The store attendant in the clothing store scene was portrayed by Frantz Turner. Ryan Stiles
, who would later star in The Drew Carey Show
also auditioned for the part.
of 10.4 and an audience share of 16, this means that 10.4% of American households watched the episode, and that 16% of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into it. It faced strong competition from the CBS
crime drama Jake and the Fatman
; viewers would frequently tune out of Seinfeld to watch the second half of Jake and the Fatmans. Seinfeld once jokingly stated that this was because the "Fatman" would run in the second half of the show.
The episode gained positive responses from critics. Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide stated "An otherwise mediocre episode, Lawrence Tierney’s gruff turn as Elaine’s father helps redeem 'The Jacket'". DVD reviewer Jonathan Boudreaux considered "The Jacket" one of season two's best episodes, along with "The Chinese Restaurant
". Critics Mary Kaye Schilling and Mike Flaherty of Entertainment Weekly
graded the episode with a B-, stating "Jerry and George's torturous hotel-lobby meeting with Mr. Benes is a squirm-inducing joy".
Seinfeld (season 2)
Season two of Seinfeld, an American television series created by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, began airing on January 23, 1991, on NBC. Because of the commencement of the first Gulf War, the second season's premiere was postponed one week. The season comprised 12 episodes, and concluded its...
of the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
sitcom Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
and the show's eighth episode overall. In the episode, protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld (character)
Jerome "Jerry" Seinfeld is the main protagonist of the American television sitcom Seinfeld . The straight man among his group of friends, this semi-fictionalized version of comedian Jerry Seinfeld was named after, co-created by, based on, and played by Seinfeld himself.The series revolves around...
(Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld , which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons,...
) buys an expensive suede jacket and has dinner with the father of his ex-girlfriend Elaine Benes
Elaine Benes
Elaine Marie Benes is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Elaine's best friend is her ex-boyfriend Jerry Seinfeld; she is also good friends with George Costanza and Cosmo Kramer...
. Elaine's father Alton (Lawrence Tierney
Lawrence Tierney
Lawrence Tierney was an American actor, known for his many screen portrayals of mobsters and hardened criminals, which mirrored his own frequent brushes with the law....
), a war veteran and writer, makes Jerry and his friend George Costanza
George Costanza
George Louis Costanza is a character in the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Jason Alexander. He has variously been described as a "short, stocky, slow-witted, bald man" , "Lord of the Idiots" , and as "the greatest sitcom character of all time"...
(Jason Alexander
Jason Alexander
Jay Scott Greenspan , better known by his professional name of Jason Alexander, is an American actor, writer, comedian, television director, producer, and singer. He is best known for his role as George Costanza on the television series Seinfeld, appearing in the sitcom from 1989 to 1998...
) very uncomfortable. Elaine is delayed and Jerry and George are stuck with Alton waiting for her at the hotel.
The episode was written by Larry David
Larry David
Lawrence Gene "Larry" David is an American actor, writer, comedian and producer. He is best known as the co-creator , head writer, and executive producer of the television series Seinfeld from 1989 to 1996, and for creating the 1999 HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, a partially improvised sitcom in...
and Jerry Seinfeld and was directed by Tom Cherones
Tom Cherones
Tom Cherones is an American director and producer of several TV series.-Early life:He grew up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where his father operated a radio and TV repair shop. His grandfather was a Greek immigrant. From 1961 to 1965, he was a lieutenant in the United States Navy...
. Most of the episode's storyline was based on one of David's personal experiences. For example, Elaine's father, a published author, was inspired by Richard Yates, author of Revolutionary Road, who Larry David had met while dating his daughter. Tierney's performance as Elaine's father was praised by the cast and crew, who intended to make Alton Benes a recurring character. However, they became frightened of Tierney when it was discovered that he stole a knife from the set. The majority of the episode was filmed on December 4, 1990. "The Jacket" premiered on American television on February 6, 1991, on NBC, it gained a Nielsen rating
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 10.4/16 and was praised by critics.
Plot
When Jerry SeinfeldJerry Seinfeld (character)
Jerome "Jerry" Seinfeld is the main protagonist of the American television sitcom Seinfeld . The straight man among his group of friends, this semi-fictionalized version of comedian Jerry Seinfeld was named after, co-created by, based on, and played by Seinfeld himself.The series revolves around...
is shopping for clothes with Elaine Benes
Elaine Benes
Elaine Marie Benes is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Elaine's best friend is her ex-boyfriend Jerry Seinfeld; she is also good friends with George Costanza and Cosmo Kramer...
, he finds a suede
Suede
Suede is a type of leather with a napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, shirts, purses, furniture and other items. The term comes from the French "gants de Suède", which literally means "gloves of Sweden"....
jacket that he likes. He doubts about buying the jacket because it is very expensive and has a candy stripe
Candy cane
A candy cane is a hard cane-shaped candy stick. It is traditionally white with red stripes and flavored with peppermint or cinnamon; however, it is also made in a variety of other flavors and may be decorated with stripes of different colors and thicknesses...
lining. He eventually decides to buy it. When Jerry is at home watching television, his neighbor Cosmo Kramer
Cosmo Kramer
Cosmo Kramer, usually referred to as simply "Kramer", is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Michael Richards...
(Michael Richards
Michael Richards
Michael Anthony Richards is an American actor, comedian, writer and television producer, best known for his portrayal of the eccentric Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom Seinfeld....
) comes in and likes the jacket, he is even more impressed when he discovers the price by reading the label. Kramer persuades Jerry to give him his old leather jacket as he will no longer be using it.
The following night, Jerry, Elaine and their mutual friend George Costanza
George Costanza
George Louis Costanza is a character in the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Jason Alexander. He has variously been described as a "short, stocky, slow-witted, bald man" , "Lord of the Idiots" , and as "the greatest sitcom character of all time"...
have dinner with Elaine's father, writer Alton Benes. While preparing for the dinner, George arrives at Jerry's apartment with the song "Master of the House" from the musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
stuck in his head. George and Jerry are both very nervous to meet Alton because he is such a famous author. When they are about to leave, Jerry puts on his new jacket. George is very impressed and attempts to get Jerry to reveal its cost. Kramer enters the apartment and asks for two minutes' help guarding his illegally parked car as he carries down some doves that he is looking after for a magician friend. However, they refuse to help because he often underestimates how long things take to do.
George is still singing as they enter Alton Benes's hotel. Elaine has not arrived yet, so they sit down with her father and nervously order drinks. They have an awkward conversation with him; Alton asks who is the "funny guy" (Jerry), to whom George says it's Jerry. Alton then recalls about a funny guy in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
who got his brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
s blown out over the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
and that "there's nothing funny about that." Jerry (frightened) eventually goes to the bathroom, abandoning George (also frightened), who attempts to compliment Alton about his book, Fair Game. George gets uncomfortable and tells Alton he has to make a phone call. He meets Jerry in the bathroom and both mention how terrified they are because of Alton; they decide to go home if Elaine does not show up in the next ten minutes. When they return, Alton receives a message from Elaine, who will arrive in thirty minutes, which worries them both.
When Elaine finally arrives, she explains that Kramer promised her a lift if she would wait in his car for two minutes. He returned over twenty minutes later, and the car had been towed for being illegally parked. She was eventually forced to walk to the restaurant. Alton, returning from the bathroom, greets Elaine and tells Jerry and "chorus boy" George that they are going to a Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i restaurant five blocks away. On their way out, they notice it is snowing. Jerry knows snow would ruin his suede jacket and asks Alton if they can take a cab
Taxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
, but Alton replies that it is only a few blocks away. George suggests that Jerry could turn the jacket inside out, but because of the candy stripe lining, Alton notices and tells him to turn it back, saying he looks "like a damn fool" and that he's "not going to walk down the street with me and my daughter dressed like that." George then reminds Jerry that the restaurant is only a few blocks away; Jerry, reluctantly, puts his jacket back to normal.
The next day Kramer notices Jerry's jacket hanging in the bathroom, badly damaged by the snow. Kramer takes it, chiding Jerry for not turning it inside out. Elaine arrives, and tells Jerry that her father had a good time. She explains how he usually hates everyone but liked Jerry, as he reminded him of a certain "somebody" from Korea; she then mentions that he thinks George is gay because "he pretty much thinks everyone is gay." Meanwhile, as Alton drives home, he finds himself singing "Master of the House" as well.
Cultural references
Throughout the episode, George sings the song "Master of the House" from the musical Les Misérables. Les Misérables ran on Broadway TheatreBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
for sixteen years, making it one of the longest running musicals in the history of Broadway. In response to George constantly singing "Master of the House", Jerry tells him about German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
composer Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
, who went insane from hearing the same note over and over in his head. George also mentions Bud Abbott
Bud Abbott
William Alexander "Bud" Abbott was an American actor, producer and comedian. He is best remembered as the straight man of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Lou Costello.-Early life:...
, an actor and comedian during the 1940s and 1950s, who was part of the Abbott and Costello
Abbott and Costello
William "Bud" Abbott and Lou Costello performed together as Abbott and Costello, an American comedy duo whose work on stage, radio, film and television made them the most popular comedy team during the 1940s and 1950s...
duo, with Lou Costello
Lou Costello
Louis Francis "Lou" Costello was an American actor and comedian best known as half of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Bud Abbott...
. When Jerry and George discuss their options in the bathroom at the hotel, George suggests that they should leave to which Jerry replies "he'll clunk our heads together like Moe"; this a reference to Moe Howard
Moe Howard
Moses Harry Horwitz , known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for four decades...
, one of The Three Stooges, who frequently clunked the heads of his brothers together. Alton mentions Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, ruler of Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
from 1959 to 2008.
Production
Larry David
Lawrence Gene "Larry" David is an American actor, writer, comedian and producer. He is best known as the co-creator , head writer, and executive producer of the television series Seinfeld from 1989 to 1996, and for creating the 1999 HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, a partially improvised sitcom in...
and Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld , which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons,...
and directed by Tom Cherones
Tom Cherones
Tom Cherones is an American director and producer of several TV series.-Early life:He grew up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where his father operated a radio and TV repair shop. His grandfather was a Greek immigrant. From 1961 to 1965, he was a lieutenant in the United States Navy...
. The episode's storyline was based on one of David's personal experiences; when he was dating Monica Yates, she wanted him to meet her father, Richard Yates
Richard Yates (novelist)
Richard Yates was an American novelist and short story writer, known for his exploration of mid-20th century life.-Life:...
, a respected novelist. David had just bought a suede jacket, and met Richard Yates at the Algonquin Hotel
Algonquin Hotel
The Algonquin Hotel is a historic hotel located at 59 West 44th Street in Manhattan . The hotel has been designated as a New York City Historic Landmark....
. Richard was, as David stated in an interview, "... every bit as intimidating as Alton Benes". David's story is similar to what happened in the episode, as, when they headed out to the restaurant, his jacket was ruined by the snow. Additional dialogue at the store where Jerry buys his jacket was cut before broadcast, it featured a reference to Gary Gilmore
Gary Gilmore
Gary Mark Gilmore was an American criminal, and murderer, who gained international notoriety for demanding that his own death sentence be fulfilled following two murders he committed in Utah. He became the first person executed in the United States after the U.S...
. The material was later included on the Seinfeld Volume 1 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
set. "The Jacket" is the only episode in which one of Elaine's parents appears; Louis-Dreyfus once suggested Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show , in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as...
to portray Elaine's mother, but the character never appeared on the show. The episode also contains the first mention to Elaine's job as a manuscript reader for Pendant Publishers, in early drafts of the script her job was an optician
Optician
An optician is a person who is trained to fill prescriptions for eye correction in the field of medicine, also known as a dispensing optician or optician, dispensing...
. Also in early drafts, in the final scene Kramer entered Jerry's house with a dove on his shoulder.
The episode was first read by the cast on November 28, 1990 at 10.30 AM. It was filmed in front of a live audience on December 4, 1990. The episode was filmed at CBS Studio Center
CBS Studio Center
CBS Studio Center is a television and film studio located in the Studio City district of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. It is located at 4024 Radford Avenue and takes up a triangular piece of land, with the Los Angeles River bisecting the site...
in Studio City, Los Angeles, California
Studio City, Los Angeles, California
Studio City is an affluent residential neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California in the San Fernando Valley. Studio City expands over four ZIP code areas: 91604 and sections of 91602, 91607 and 90210....
, where, starting with the season two premiere "The Ex-Girlfriend
The Ex-Girlfriend
"The Ex-Girlfriend" is the first episode of the sitcom Seinfelds second season on NBC, and is the show's sixth episode overall. The episode first broadcast in the United States on January 23, 1991, after being postponed for one week due to the start of the First Gulf War...
", all filming for the second season took place. The final scene in the episode, which showed Alton Benes singing "Master of the House" in his car, was pre-recorded on December 3, 1990, as it could not be filmed in front of an audience because it took place in a car.
Lawrence Tierney
Lawrence TierneyLawrence Tierney
Lawrence Tierney was an American actor, known for his many screen portrayals of mobsters and hardened criminals, which mirrored his own frequent brushes with the law....
was cast as Alton Benes. He was known for his bad-guy roles in films during the 1940s and 1950s, such as Dillinger
Dillinger (1945 film)
Dillinger is a 1945 gangster film telling the story of John Dillinger. The film was directed by Max Nosseck. Dillinger was the first major film to star Lawrence Tierney. The B-movie was shot in black and white and features a smoke-bomb bank robbery edited into the film from the 1937 Fritz Lang...
, The Hoodlum
The Hoodlum
The Hoodlum is a 1951 American film directed by Max Nosseck.- Cast :*Lawrence Tierney*Allene Roberts*Marjorie Riordan*Lisa Golm*Edward Tierney*Stuart Randall*Angela Stevens*John De Simone*Tom Hubbard*Eddie Foster*O.Z. Whitehead*Richard Barron...
and Born to Kill
Born to Kill (1947 film)
Born to Kill is a 1947 film noir starring Lawrence Tierney and directed by Robert Wise. It was the first film noir to be directed by Wise, who later directed The Set-Up , The Captive City , and Odds Against Tomorrow...
. Tierney's appearance in the episode is one of his only comedic roles. Cast and crew members were very impressed with Tierney's performance, and intended to make Alton Benes a recurring character. However, they were frightened of him; during filming it was discovered that Tierney had stolen a butcher knife
Butcher knife
A butcher knife is a knife designed and used primarily for the butchering and/or dressing of animals.During the late 18th century to mid 1840s, the butcher knife was a key tool for mountain men. Simple, useful and cheap to produce, they were used for everything from skinning beaver, cutting food,...
from the knife block in the Jerry's apartment set. Various cast members remember Seinfeld encountering Tierney and stating "Hey Lawrence, what do you got there in your jacket?". Tierney, realizing he had been caught, tried to make a joke about how he thought taking the knife would be funny, by reanacting a scene from Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's Psycho (1960), holding the knife above his head and making threatening motions towards Seinfeld. Tom Cherones, Jason Alexander
Jason Alexander
Jay Scott Greenspan , better known by his professional name of Jason Alexander, is an American actor, writer, comedian, television director, producer, and singer. He is best known for his role as George Costanza on the television series Seinfeld, appearing in the sitcom from 1989 to 1998...
and Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus is an American actress and comedienne, widely known for her sitcom roles in Seinfeld and The New Adventures of Old Christine....
saw this happen, and, as Alexander recalled, it "scared the living crap out of all of us." Cherones stated that, afterwards, Larry David would jokingly threaten to have Tierney back on the show if he did his work badly. The store attendant in the clothing store scene was portrayed by Frantz Turner. Ryan Stiles
Ryan Stiles
Ryan Lee Stiles is an American actor, comedian, director, and voice actor whose work is often associated with improvisational comedy. He is best known for his improv and co-production work on the American and British versions of Whose Line Is It Anyway? and the role of Lewis Kiniski on The Drew...
, who would later star in The Drew Carey Show
The Drew Carey Show
The Drew Carey Show is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from 1995 to 2004. The show was set in Cleveland, Ohio, and revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the actor....
also auditioned for the part.
Reception
On February 6, 1991, "The Jacket" was first broadcasted in the United States on NBC. It gained a Nielsen ratingNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 10.4 and an audience share of 16, this means that 10.4% of American households watched the episode, and that 16% of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into it. It faced strong competition from the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
crime drama Jake and the Fatman
Jake and the Fatman
Jake and the Fatman is a television crime drama starring William Conrad as prosecutor J. L. "Fatman" McCabe and Joe Penny as investigator Jake Styles. The series ran on CBS for five seasons from 1987 to 1992. Diagnosis: Murder was a spin-off of this series...
; viewers would frequently tune out of Seinfeld to watch the second half of Jake and the Fatmans. Seinfeld once jokingly stated that this was because the "Fatman" would run in the second half of the show.
The episode gained positive responses from critics. Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide stated "An otherwise mediocre episode, Lawrence Tierney’s gruff turn as Elaine’s father helps redeem 'The Jacket'". DVD reviewer Jonathan Boudreaux considered "The Jacket" one of season two's best episodes, along with "The Chinese Restaurant
The Chinese Restaurant
"The Chinese Restaurant" is the eleventh episode of the sitcom Seinfelds second season on NBC, and is the show's sixteenth episode overall. The episode revolves around protagonist Jerry and his friends Elaine Benes and George Costanza waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant, on their way to...
". Critics Mary Kaye Schilling and Mike Flaherty of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
graded the episode with a B-, stating "Jerry and George's torturous hotel-lobby meeting with Mr. Benes is a squirm-inducing joy".
External links
- "The Jacket" at Sony Pictures
- "The Jacket" at Allmovie