"The Mural" opens with JJ's boast of auctioning off his first painting, for five dollars after an attempt to up sell failed miserably. In need of $200 to advance her education, Thelma's college savings account is almost nonexistent, as James dipped into it to pay for his wife's gall bladder operation and JJ's 12 cavities: "you raggedy mouthed rascal!" Help arrives in the form of banker P.J. Hewitt (James Wheaton), whose admiration of the very painting that JJ sold earlier that day inspires an offer to paint a mural for his establishment, parting with a little joke: "as we say in the bank, it is time for my withdrawal!" The big reveal finds everyone ecstatic over the depiction of a night at the pool hall, all except Hewitt, who refuses to pay JJ for his 'sordid' effort. James gives a stirring defense of his son's talents, successfully browbeating the bank manager into full compliance with a few well chosen words: "if you don't pay him I'm gonna shove you in the night deposit box!" Father and son enjoy a blissful moment of solidarity as JJ admits that he'll never be the man his father is. James Wheaton made a similar impression as a mortician in two episodes of SANFORD AND SON.
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