"Mr. Woodburn" (John Sylvester White) gets his first feature spot in this initial season of "Welcome Back, Kotter."
White, who was in his mid-to-late '50s when he did this TV show, gained more fame with "Kotter" than the rest of his acting career combined, which really wasn't that long. His acting resume shows a huge gap from 1950-51 to 1970. He was in the early days of TV with the soap opera, "Search For Tomorrow" but then had a long battle against the bottle, overcoming the alcoholism and being a star on this popular TV program.
Anyway, "Mr. Woodburn" is not himself (which is fine with everyone else) but he's clearly down and misinterprets something Kotter says as an invitation to dinner. So, Gabe and Julie wind up entertaining the crabby old geezer. That leads to an invitation to Woodburn to teach history to the Sweathogs for a day in Kotter's class. The vice principal actually does a great job and wins the respect of the kids! Who would believe it? Unfortunately, it turns Kotter into the crabby Woodman, and now things are upside. "It's like 'The Exorcist,'" observes Barbarino (John Travolta).
How are things going to get back to normal? Tune in and find out. It's another funny show with a lot of good lines.