But the Memory Lingers On
The Partridge family takes a day off from their grinding schedule to picnic, rest their vocal chords, and to enjoy the sights and smells of nature. Their plans are polluted when a skunk wanders into their bus. The animal leaves long before his sent does and so the family is faced with the dilemma of getting deodorized before their very exclusive hotel booking the next day. Reuben, instead of thinking up a solution, gets them into more of a "stink" by scheduling them to do a benefit performance that day at a children s hospital. He made the last minute hospital booking hurriedly and without realizing what the Partridges' smelled like. By the time he gets a whiff of what's happened, it's too late to cancel. Leaving Simone, the Partridge dog, in the bus, the family decontaminates one at a time in a nearby motel shower. After much scrubbing and much cologne, there is still a dissenting scent about the perfumed Partridges. Reuben suddenly remembers that tomato juice is a sure- fire way skunk odor remover. He orders several gallons and pours them in the tub. To everyone's surprise, the juice works. The sweet-smelling family heads for the hospital in borrowed clothes. En route to their cab, an unsuspecting bellboy opens the bus door and out flops Simone jumping all over everyone and the Partridges once again has an "air" about themselves. Too late for a change, the foul family goes to the hospital where they sing in a glass-enclosed operating amphitheater with an audience well protected form the scent. The sound is piped in through speakers. The young audience is jubilant and the Partridges (after scrubbing down) are jubilant. The sweet smell of success has returned.
