Six Lessons from Madame LaGrange

Prisoners

 * Colonel Hogan - Bob Crane
 * Corporal Louis LeBeau - Robert Clary
 * Corporal Peter Newkirk - Richard Dawson
 * Sergeant James Kinchloe - Ivan Dixon
 * Sergeant Andrew Carter - Larry Hovis

Camp Personnel

 * Kommandant Wilhelm Klink - Werner Klemperer
 * Sergeant Hans Schultz - John Banner

Semi-Regulars

 * General Albert Burkhalter - Leon Askin
 * Major Wolfgang Hochstetter - Howard Caine
 * Fräulein Hilda - Sigrid Valdis

Guest Stars

 * Double Agent - Edward Knight
 * Lily Frankel - Marlyn Mason

Synopsis
Hogan and a singer plan to stop the Gestapo from arresting all the area's Allied agents.

Story Notes

 * This is the one hundred and forty-third episode of the series, but is the one hundred and fortieth episode shown on television and the twenty-second episode shown for the Fifth Season.
 * Hogan tricks the Germans into believing that LeBeau was a famous dance instructor, when previously the con was that LeBeau was "Yvette of Paris", a famous fashion designer.
 * The title for the episode is based on the title for the 1941 film, Six Lessons From Madame LaZonga. The character of Madame LaGrange comes from the 1929 film, The Thirteenth Chair.
 * The general tone of this episode is a nod by the series producers to the 1966 musical Cabaret, itself set in 1931 Berlin at the seedy Kit Kat Club amid the Nazi rise to power in Germany. The character of Lily Frankel appears to have been inspired in part by the real-life German actress and singer, Marlene Dietrich.
 * This episode is the only one to touch upon, however indirectly and slyly, with the topic of homosexuality among the Nazi elite.
 * Newkirk makes an indirect reference to the Blood Purge of 1934, in which almost the entire leadership of the SA was executed.
 * This episode contains the second implied nude scene of the series, with Lily Frankel changing her clothes behind a screen while Hogan is in her dressing room.
 * This is the only time we ever see Hochstetter get the hots for a woman (Lily Frankel). It's too bad, because another thing we learn about Hochstetter is that he can't dance.
 * This is the only time that Hogan's womanizing catches up with him. Frankel finds a blond hair on the collar of his coat and gets upset. Hogan claims that it's from Heidi, one of the guard dogs at the camp, and offers a bone as proof. Of course, viewers know that camp secretary Hilda is the real source of that hair.
 * LeBeau reveals that Schultz is a Social Democrat.

Timeline Notes and Speculations

 * This episode appears to take place in late fall of 1944. The date is derived from Hochstetter's presence and the weather, which Schultz proclaims as "freezing cold."
 * This episode is yet another link in the snowball of events that will eventually result in the downfall of SS Major Hochstetter, and is quite possibly the last or next to last before Hogan administers his coup de grâce. (War Takes a Holiday). During the episode, General Burkhalter has Hochstetter arrested for "dancing with a prisoner."
 * This episode must take place after the Season Six episode, "Rockets or Romance", which is generally considered the last episode of the series, because it is in that episode that Hogan meets Lily Frankel (Marilyn Mason) for the first time.

Quotes

 * Schultz: He [Klink] and Major Hochstetter are in town ... dancing."
 * Newkirk: You could get arrested for that -- even in Germany.


 * Klink: Confidentially, I've never seen a Gestapo man that could dance. Oh, they're great goose steppers - but nothing on the dance floor!

Klink and Burkhalter are shocked to see Hochstetter dancing with LeBeau in the cooler. They discuss it later in Klink's office.


 * Klink: Herr General, do you remember who was leading?
 * Burkhalter: I think it was LeBeau.
 * Klink: Didn't Major Hochstetter have his hand on LeBeau's hip?
 * Burkhalter: You're right, Klink. LeBeau was following.
 * Klink (to Hilda): Put that down! Major Hochstetter was leading - and quite badly, I might add.


 * Klink: The last time I missed a date with a woman, it took two policemen and a priest to talk her out of jumping.