The Old Man (Seinfeld)


"The Old Man" is the 58th episode of the American television sitcom Seinfeld. It was the 18th episode of the 4th season. It aired on February 17, 1993.

Plot

, Elaine, and George volunteer to help the elderly. Jerry gets assigned to Sid Fields, a bad-tempered old man with a Senegalese housekeeper, who he claims is trying to steal his possessions. Elaine is repulsed by the goiter of the woman she is visiting and George depresses his assigned senior citizen, Ben Cantwell, by questioning his outlook on dying, until he walks out. George becomes interested in Mr. Fields' housekeeper when Jerry mentions that she can't speak English.
Kramer and Newman try selling Jerry's old records to a used record store but are not satisfied when the owner offers them a very small amount, as the records are all by obscure artists and of minimal interest. Fields tells Jerry he is throwing away of some of his "junk", including some old records. Jerry invites Kramer and Newman to come pick them up. Fields gets upset at their intrusion and bites Kramer's arm, causing him to jerk back and launch his dentures into the sink. They are promptly destroyed after George turns on the garbage disposal, mistaken for a light switch.
Jerry loses track of Fields when they try to take him to the dentist to replace the dentures. Kramer and Newman take Fields' records to the music store's owner, who offers them a slightly larger sum of money, since the records are all very common. Kramer eggs Newman into insulting the owner and a fight ensues, resulting in the records being destroyed. After discovering that the phone line in Fields’ apartment is busy, everyone rushes over, expecting Fields to have found his way back, and instead burst in on George and the housekeeper in a state of undress.
Fields and Cantwell meet in the same booth the main characters use, having much the same conversation Jerry and George had at the beginning of the episode. Fields tells Cantwell about the woman he was recently "fixed up" with - mentioning both her goiter and her youthful relationship with Gandhi. However, Fields recounts that she put milk in his tea without asking, calling it "a turnoff".

Production

plays the housekeeper. In an alternate ending to this episode that was never broadcast, her character reveals that she speaks fluent English, causing George to lose interest in her.