History Recap / TheSimpsonsS30E11MadAboutTheToy

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Parodied with the bourbon vending machine seen in the 1947 flashback, as well as the toy company's casual ''Series/MadMen''-esque sexual harassment of his secretary--which Lisa is surprised to find is still going on in the present. Philip is also mentioned to have been fired not for unwanted advances as Marge had initially assumed, but for being gay.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Parodied with the bourbon vending machine seen in the 1947 flashback, as well as the toy company's casual ''Series/MadMen''-esque sexual harassment of his secretary--which Lisa is surprised to find is still going on in the present. Philip is also mentioned to have been fired not for unwanted advances, but for being gay.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Parodied with the bourbon vending machine seen in the 1947 flashback, as well as the toy company's casual ''Series/MadMen''-esque sexual harassment of his secretary--which Lisa is surprised to find is still going on in the present.

** The title is a play on the 1932 song "Mad About The Boy", written by playwright Noel Coward, who was a [[TransparentCloset (semi-)closeted homosexual]].

* BloodKnight: Abe while in the army, apparently.

* StraightGay: Abe took a shine to Philip, the cameraman, regarding him as a masculine person similar to himself, only to have his sexuality threatened when the man revealed he was gay. Abe's belief that a gay man ''must'' be feminine caused him to repress any questions he had about his own proclivities.

* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: An overarching issue of the episode is the gay cameraman trying to pursuade Abe that it's okay to be even a little bit sexually fluid, even citing a Cornell research paper that states that there is no such thing as being "100%" straight for anyone. Still, Abe doubles down on his insistence that he's straight, even after giving a thank you kiss to the cameraman for finishing up the photoshoot.

** ''Sipper [=McTea=] and Milly'' is a ShallowParody of ''Radio/FibberMcGeeAndMolly'' and "old-time radio" in general.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Parodied with the bourbon vending machine seen in the 1947 flashback.

* ShoutOut: The title is a play on the 1932 song "Mad About The Boy", written by playwright Noel Coward, who was a [[TransparentCloset (semi-)closeted homosexual]].

** The title is a play on the 1932 song "Mad About The Boy", written by playwright Noel Coward, who was a [[TransparentCloset (semi-)closeted homosexual]].

** The title is a play on the 1932 song "Mad About The Boy", written by playwright Noel Coward, who was a [[InvisibleCloset (semi-)closeted homosexual]].

* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: An overarching issue of the episode is the gay cameraman trying to pursuade Abe that it's ok to be even a little bit sexually fluid, even citing a Cornell research paper that states that there is no such thing as being "100%" straight for anyone. Still, Abe doubles down on his insistence that he's straight, even after giving a thank you kiss to the cameraman for finishing up the photoshoot.

** If you think the traditional correlation of masculinity and heterosexuality is not given enough blows, Abe decides to watch the movie ''Rio Macho'' to remind himself what manliness is after being kissed by the photographer. The movie in question stars Rock Hudson.

** If you think the traditional correlation of masculinity and heterosexuality is not given enough blows, Abe decides to watch the movie ''Rio Macho'' to remind himself what manliness is. The movie in question stars Rock Hudson.

** A sign at the veterans hospital reads "Our [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump Draft-Dodging President]] Salutes our Troops."

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: The toy company president's secretary is gradually poisoning her boss by putting mercury iin his coffee, pouring it straight out of a thermometer.

* FlirtatiousSlapOnTheAss: The president of the toy company slaps his secretary on the butt in a flashback, and she giggles approvingly. He still does it in the present; when Lisa questions the secretary about it, she reveals that she's slowly poisoning him.

* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: An overarching issue of the episode is the gay cameraman trying to pursuade Abe that it's ok to be even a little bit sexually fluid, even citing a Cornell research paper that states that there is no such thing as being "100%" straight for anyone. Still, Abe doubles down on his insistence that he's straight, even after giving a thank you kiss to the cameraman for finishing up the photoshoot.

When Homer and Marge go out on a date, they fail to find a babysitter for the kids. They turn to Grampa as their last resort, and he accepts. Desperate to find some activity to do, they scrounge around the basement for old toys and games. When Bart opens up a box of green plastic army men, Grampa starts to have old war flashbacks. A little prodding of his memory reveals that Abe was the model who posed for those army men toys, and but he was driven away from the job after learning that the cameraman taking his pictures was gay. After asking the toy company whatever came of him, they reveal he was fired for being gay -- It was an acceptable practice in the TheFourties. The Simpsons set off to Marfa, Texas, to let Abe make reparations for what he had done.