Old Money (The Simpsons Episode) - Production

Production

The episode was written by Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky and directed by David Silverman. The discount lion safari in the episode that the Simpson family visits was based on the drive-through Lion Country Safari, located in Loxahatchee, Palm Beach County, Florida, that Kogen used to visit when he was younger. "Old Money" was the first episode to feature Grampa's full name, Abraham Simpson. Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, named the main characters after his own family members (except for Bart, an anagram of brat, which he substituted for his own name), but refused to name Grampa after his grandfather, Abraham Groening. He left it to the writers to choose a name and they chose "Abraham", not knowing that it was also the name of Groening's grandfather.

The now recurring character Professor Frink makes his first appearance on the show in this episode. Frink was originally written as a mad scientist, but when cast member Hank Azaria ad-libbed a voice for Frink, he did an impression of Jerry Lewis's The Nutty Professor character, and the writing staff started making Frink more of a parody of Lewis. Frink was named after The Simpsons writer John Frink; however, that was before he became a writer for the show. The episode features a guest appearance from American actress Audrey Meadows as Bea. Al Jean, a writer on the show, said Meadows was perfect for the role because she was very sweet, and the staff had a lot of fun during the recording sessions with her. The closing credits for the episode is the only time where the voice actors and the roles they play are listed in the credits simultaneously. This was done because the staff often received questions from fans regarding what characters each voice actor provided the voice for.