#OnThisDay #OTD January 10, 1991, "Bart Gets Hit by a Car" (S02E10) first aired on Fox. Dir: mark kirkland. Wr: John Swartzwelder. EP: james l. brooks, Sam Simon & Matt Groening. Guest-starring Phil Hartman as Lionel Hutz and the Heavenly Voice. #TheSimpsons

@JJSwartzwelder @canyonjim @simonsam "Bart Gets Hit by a Car" includes the debut of the beloved shyster Lionel Hutz, performed by Phil Hartman. He was designed by Mark Kirkland, who gave him an evil design, but was asked to make him more "bland looking". He gave him a powder blue suit to make him stand out more.

@JJSwartzwelder @canyonjim @simonsam The episode also marks the first appearance of beloved quack Dr. Nick Riviera. He is performed by @HankAzaria, who claimed he used a "bad Ricky Ricardo" impression.

@JJSwartzwelder @canyonjim @simonsam @HankAzaria The animators modeled Dr. Nick after then-supervising director @GaborCsupo, because they mistakenly believed that Azaria was impersonating him.

@JJSwartzwelder @canyonjim @simonsam @HankAzaria @GaborCsupo Dr. Nick's name came from George Nichopoulos, nicknamed Dr. Nick, Elvis Presley's personal physician who was indicted on 14 counts of over-prescribing drugs to Presley and several other patients in the years following Presley's death.

@JJSwartzwelder @canyonjim @simonsam @HankAzaria @GaborCsupo The Blue-Haired Lawyer also makes his first appearance in this episode. He does not have a proper name. He was based on Roy Cohn, who became famous as Senator Joseph McCarthy's lawyer. His voice, provided by Dan Castellaneta, was also an impression of Cohn.

@JJSwartzwelder @canyonjim @simonsam @HankAzaria @GaborCsupo The show's then-script supervisor Doris Grau also appears in the show for the first time. She was used because of her unique voice, and appears as a minor character in this episode, but would later become known for voicing Lunchlady Doris.

@JJSwartzwelder @canyonjim @simonsam @HankAzaria @GaborCsupo Finally, the Devil is also shown for the first time, and he was also designed by Kirkland, who originally tried to give him a scary design, but the writers asked him to use a more comedic look. This line is a reference to The Rolling Stones song "Sympathy for the Devil".

@JJSwartzwelder @canyonjim @simonsam @HankAzaria @GaborCsupo The Yankees were notoriously bad in the early 1990s. However, they would end up getting the American League Pennant again in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2009, going on to win the World Series in all but '01 and '03. Bart is long overdue to go to Hell.

@JJSwartzwelder @canyonjim @simonsam @HankAzaria @GaborCsupo The design of Hell in the episode references Hieronymus Bosch's triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights, specifically the Hell panel. @boschbot

@JJSwartzwelder @canyonjim @simonsam @HankAzaria @GaborCsupo @boschbot The episode's plot was based on Billy Wilder's 1966 film The Fortune Cookie, in which Walter Matthau plays a dishonest lawyer who convinces Jack Lemmon's character to fake an injury for a large cash settlement in their first on-screen collaboration.

@JJSwartzwelder @canyonjim @simonsam @HankAzaria @GaborCsupo @boschbot Syndication promo for "Bart Gets Hit by a Car"

@JJSwartzwelder @canyonjim @simonsam @HankAzaria @GaborCsupo @boschbot .@GoldS_TCRF uploaded the Table Draft of "Bart Gets Hit By a Car" to the @internetarchive. One huge difference here: Homer WINS the case, a thus, a completely different Act 3! There's also plenty of other scenes that were later trimmed or cut entirely

@JJSwartzwelder @canyonjim @simonsam @HankAzaria @GaborCsupo @boschbot @GoldS_TCRF @internetarchive Another great find by him: Lionel Hutz was apparently named Lionel (or something) Grode in an earlier draft. They changed most instances of the name except this one in on page 9. (There was a real Lionel Grode who lived in Florida, which is likely why the name was changed.)