Elwood City Turns 100!

It is also the 100th episode of the series overall as well as the first 22-minute special.

Summary
The musical Mr. Ratburn’s class is staging for Elwood City's centennial turns into a drama of missed cues, inflated egos, and alien invasions — and all of that is going on behind the scenes.

Plot
The episode begins in 1903, at the ceremony where Elwood is made an official city. President Theodore Roosevelt, businessmen J.P. Morgan and Henry Ford, and town founder Jacob Katzenellenbogen, a wealthy lumber magnate, were all in attendance. Katzenellenbogen was not happy because he wanted the town to be named Elmwood, not Elwood, and he was even more displeased over the hideous statue of him that Morgan and Ford had donated to the city.

Then the episode moves into present where Mr. Ratburn announces to the class that Lakewood Elementary was chosen out of fifteen schools in the city to stage a musical production about the town's history, and then he has the class randomly pick roles for the show. Arthur is the narrator, Brain is the writer, and Buster is the director. After the parts were picked, Muffy talked to Mr. Ratburn about doing the publicity for the musical. However, chaos starts after Francine sings the narrator part, forcing Arthur to call her a show off. Matters then become worse after Muffy invited celebrities such as Michelle Kwan, Yo-Yo Ma, and Mr. Rogers. Then Mr. Ratburn asks Muffy if they would want to see this chaos. So Muffy gathers a speech about helping out.

Arthur was having trouble getting the narrator's singing part right, so he trades parts with Francine one week before the show. On opening night, everyone was there except for Francine, who was running late, so Arthur is forced to go onstage in her place as the Narrator. At first, everything was going okay until the UFO scene. Since the flying saucer that was going to be used was crushed in Mr. Frensky's garbage truck, Buster locked himself in the janitor's closet, upset, disappointed and tearful. Then Brain changes the scene last minute to write the flying saucer out of the show. When Buster realized that the show continued without him, he goes onstage as Dr. Ector, the alien, and sings a song about flossing teeth to the tune of Yankee Doodle. His hook tears a hole in the set, forcing an intermission. When everyone realizes that the show is ruined, Francine appears. She encourages her classmates by letting them know their audience loves the show, and the show ends well for everyone.

When the Reads are driving home, D.W. say that Arthur should play the alien. Arthur says that they won't do another centennial play for 100 years.

Greater

 * Francine Frensky
 * Buster Baxter
 * Brain
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Nigel Ratburn
 * Fern Walters
 * Binky Barnes
 * Arthur Read
 * Jenna Morgan
 * George Lundgren
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong

Recurring

 * Alex
 * Ms. Krasny
 * D.W. Read
 * Jacob Katzenellenbogan (past)
 * Timmy and Tommy Tibble
 * Vicita Molina
 * Pal
 * Kate Read
 * Larry King
 * Oliver Frensky
 * Jane Read
 * David Read
 * Thora Read
 * The ducks

Background

 * Dave
 * 3rd Grade Male Rat
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog
 * Maria Pappas
 * Mary
 * Jessica
 * Kenny
 * Brian
 * Thora Read
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark (Number 2)
 * Beulah McInnerny
 * 3rd Grade Male Rabbit
 * Neal Lundgren
 * Mrs. Barnes
 * Mr. Barnes
 * Prunella Deegan
 * Bitzi Baxter
 * Ed Crosswire
 * Millicent Crosswire
 * 3rd Grade Female Cat (Number 2)
 * Doria Walters
 * Mrs. Tibble
 * Mr. Armstrong
 * Mrs. Powers
 * Mr. Powers
 * Norman Hedgehog
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark
 * 3rd Grade Male Cat
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3)
 * Rattles
 * Molly MacDonald
 * James MacDonald
 * Fred Rogers
 * Yo-Yo Ma
 * Michelle Kwan
 * Alex Trebek
 * Marc Brown
 * Art Garfunkel
 * Jeremy O'Neill

Songs

 * "Jacob Katzenellenbogan"
 * "The Long-Lost Green-Tailed Grebe"
 * "Dr. Ector"
 * "That's Elwood City"

Trivia

 * This was the first episode that didn't show the "And now back to Arthur."  title card with the kids saying it. Instead, Larry King said "Thanks for tuning in, folks. And now back to Arthur''."
 * Running Gag: Mr. Ratburn saying "Curtain!"
 * In the beginning, Buster's excited comment "We won! We won!" could be referring to the line "Yee-hey, woo! We wiiiiin!" in the often-used "cheering" sound effect, which was in fact played a few seconds before he spoke.
 * Ducks appear in this episode three times, meaning that it's possible that in Arthur's universe, ducks are a descendant of grebes, which are said to be extinct in this episode.
 * This episode takes place in the year 2003. This is true because the 100th anniversary was celebrated in this episode, and Elwood City was founded in 1903. 100 years after 1903 is 2003, making that the year this episode takes place.

Episode connections

 * This is the second time that Mr. Ratburn uses a hat for the students to choose jobs at random. The first time is in "Citizen Frensky."
 * The song That's Elwood City mentions events from multiple episodes:
 * The substitute crossing guard from "Arthur vs. the Very Mean Crossing Guard".
 * The Baxter Comet from "The Boy Who Cried Comet".
 * The snowstorm from "The Blizzard".
 * The Father's Day picnic from "1001 Dads".
 * Mister Rogers, Michelle Kwan, Yo-Yo Ma, Alex Lebeck, and Joshua Redman, all of who were guest stars in previous episodes, were invited to the show by Muffy.
 * The man who drives Francine and her dad to the show is the same balding man seen in "Buster's Sweet Success", driving the same car sold to him by Ed Crosswire that features in the tow truck title card. Here however, the car has four functioning wheels and runs on its own power.
 * Jenna complains to Binky when he splits his pants again. This may be a reference to Arthur's Underwear, when Binky's pants ripped in the classroom.

Errors

 * The man giving Francine and her father a ride to the play appears in the audience even before they arrive.
 * Also, in the audience, Mr. Frensky can be seen in the crowd at the beginning of the musical before they arrived.
 * Arthur was wearing a pink sweater for a couple of seconds.

Production notes

 * This is the first Half hour episode.
 * Counting both halves of an episode as a single episode, this is the 100th episode.
 * Marc Brown made a cameo in this episode. He was not only on the guest list, he was seen in the row with the other celebrities while Arthur narrated after Fern's song. Jeremy O'Neill was also on the guest list.

Home Video

 * DVD:
 * Arthur: Sleepovers, Sports and More