Capitol City is 50 miles from the Martin farm. It is astonishing that a purebred small breed dog like Bozo could travel 50 miles on a busy road without being injured, killed, or picked up by a motorist or highway patrolman.

The scene with the Martins at the dinner table has been lifted from "The Odyssey." Shots of Lassie lying under the stove have been edited into the scene and the names "Jack Wales" and "Berington" have been dubbed in.

The scene of Timmy saying his prayers is from an earlier episode -- Timmy is younger in the prayer scene than in the other scenes of "Decision."

Ricky: (to Lassie) La cherchez! La cherchez! Laz-zee, la cherchez! La cherchez! She understand French!

Ricky: He is very as you say ... um, oh! "hip"!

Ricky: C'est si bon! C'est si bon! C'est si bon! C'est si bon! C'est si bon!

Ricky: Pierrot! Because he looks like a clown.

Pierrot is a traditional clown whose origins can be traced to the 16th century Italian commedia dell' arte. The character was known as Pedrolino in Italy and Pierrot in France. The name roughly translates into English as "Petey."

Below: Gilles by Antoine Watteau (1684-1721). "Gilles" c. 1718-19; Oil on canvas; 184 x 149 cm; Musée du Louvre, Paris. One of the few things we can be sure about in this famous but enigmatic work, is the fact that Gilles is a Pierrot. Watteau may have painted it as a sign for the café run by the former actor, Belloni, who made his name as a Pierrot. The model, a friend or another actor, is unknown. Standing with his arms dangling at his sides, with a dreamy, naive look on his face, the moonstruck Pierrot stands out monumentally and idiosyncratically against a leafy Italianate background. At the foot of the mound, reminiscent of a fairground stage, four half-hidden figures--the Doctor on his donkey, Léandre, Isabelle and the Capitaine--contribute to the singularity of the composition and the poetic drama.

Timmy: How about Bozo?

Bozo was a clown created by Capitol Records in 1946 for their children's listen and read along productions. Larry Harmon, one of Bozo's impersonators bought the rights to the character and successfully marketed him worldwide in cartoons, toys, and books. Bozo is synonymous with the word clown for many Americans.

Ricky has all the stereotypical accoutrements Americans deem French in a film or television production -- a thick accent, a somewhat feminine personality, and a wistful moodiness accompanied by a "squeeze box" in the musical score.

In film and television shows during the period of this episode's production, short pants and long socks on a boy indicated the boy was of foreign (usually European) birth. At the end of this episode, Ricky wears long pants while delivering newspapers. With the change in Ricky's attire, we presumably are meant to understand that Ricky is assimilating and on his way to becoming a "real" American boy.