The Mom & Pop Store

This article is about the Seinfeld episode. For mom and pop stores, see Small business.

John Voight redirects here. For the actor Jon Voight, please click here.

"The Mom & Pop Store"
Seinfeld episode
Episode no.	Season 6 Episode 8
Directed by	Andy Ackerman
Written by	Tom Gammill & Max Pross
Production code	607
Original air date	November 17, 1994
Guest stars
Jon Voight
Season 6 episodes
September 1994 – May 1995 "The Chaperone" "The Big Salad" "The Pledge Drive" "The Chinese Woman" "The Couch" "The Gymnast" "The Soup" "The Mom & Pop Store" "The Secretary" "The Race" "The Switch" "The Label Maker" "The Scofflaw" "The Highlights of 100, Part 1" "The Highlights of 100, Part 2" "The Beard" "The Kiss Hello" "The Doorman" "The Jimmy" "The Doodle" "The Fusilli Jerry" "The Diplomat's Club" "The Face Painter" "The Understudy"
List of Seinfeld episodes

"The Mom & Pop Store" is the 94th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the eighth episode for the sixth season. It aired on November 17, 1994.

Plot

George is set to buy a 1989 Volvo 240 Sedan, but instead the car salesman talks him into buying a 1989 LeBaron convertible, said to be previously owned by Jon Voight, as George liked the idea of driving a car he thought was formerly owned by Jon Voight. Elaine wants to date Jerry's dentist, Tim Whatley. Kramer tells that a "Mom and Pop" shoe repair store is about to close, and convinces Jerry to lend him his sneakers to take them to the store, commenting that he has a Peter Pan complex on account of his persistence on wearing sneakers as casual footwear. While there Kramer's nose starts to bleed, leading him to notice the wires hanging out of the ceiling and suggest calling an electrician.

At Mr. Pitt's office Elaine is taking the salt off his pretzels while listening the radio. Mr. Pitt wants Elaine to guess an oldie song so he can win a ticket to hold the Woody Woodpecker balloon in the Thanksgiving Parade. The songs mentioned by Elaine, such as "Honeysuckle Jump by Artie Shaw," and "Next Stop Pottersville," are fictional and the titles and music were made up for the episode.

Jerry discovers that Kramer took all of his sneakers and left him with only a pair of cowboy boots. Elaine, George, and Kramer all get invitations to Whatley's Thanksgiving party but Jerry is uncertain whether he was invited or not.

While riding in formerly "Jon Voight's" car, Jerry notices a chewed pencil and the owner's booklet. The previous owner was actually John Voight, not Jon Voight. Jerry makes fun of George and gets kicked out the car; he then tries to run from some guys but slips because of the boots, causing him to hurt his teeth. Jerry decides to crash the party where many dentists may be present.

Mom and Pop can't afford to bring the electrical installation up to the building code so they close the store and disappear with all of Jerry's sneakers. Elaine goes to pick up the ticket for Mr. Pitt but must sit through a loud performance by a live dixieland band before receiving it. While walking down the street Kramer sees Jon Voight (appearing as himself) and tries to ask him about George's car, but gets bitten by him instead.

At the party Elaine still can't hear a thing because of the loud dixieland music, and inadvertently turns down a date from Whatley because she thought that he was just offering her nuts. Meanwhile, George and Kramer seek a dentist to match the bite marks on Kramer's arm with those on the chewed pencil. As it turns out, the previous owner of the car was not Jon Voight, the actor, but Dr. John Voight, a periodontist friend of Dr. Whatley. While trying to show his teeth to a dentist, Jerry accidentally pushes a small statue of the Empire State Building out the window and pierces the Woody Woodpecker balloon with Mr. Pitt under it.

Later, Jerry receives a call that Mom and Pop are selling his sneakers in a garage sale in Parsippany, New Jersey. Jerry and Kramer decide to head out there and confront Mom and Pop, but as Jerry's car is in the shop they take the bus instead. On their way to New Jersey, Kramer's nose starts bleeding again, in a scene parodying Midnight Cowboy (the film is also referenced earlier when George tries to croon Harry Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin'"):
"Everybody's talkin' at me
Can't hear a word they're sayin'
[George improvises] Just drivin' around in Jon Voight's car..."

Guest stars

• Jon Voight - Himself
• Bryan Cranston - Tim Whatley
• Ian Abercrombie - Mr. Pitt
• Elsa Raven - Mom
• Tom Wright - Morgan
• Dan Frischman - "Guy on Phone"
• Rick Fitts - Dentist

Origin

Part of this episode was inspired by events that actually happened to writer Tom Gammill. He purchased a car purely based on the belief that it had previously been owned by Jon Voight, only to find out later that he had been lied to. He kept the car, however, and it was used as George's car in both this episode and Season 7's "The Gum." In an interview for the film National Treasure, Jon Voight admitted that the car Gamill purchased was purported to have been owned by his mother, and not himself.

Trivia

• For the syndicated repeats, this episode is just one in a few this season to keep Jerry's opening stand-up routine intact.

• Along with the cowboy boots that Jerry wears throughout much of the episode, the last scene in which he and Kramer are riding the bus together is an allusion to the ending of Midnight Cowboy, which stars Jon Voight.

• The John Voight car later breaks down and burns in Season 7's "The Gum".