I Love Lucy Episode Guide
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The Fourth Season
THE BUSINESS MANAGER
Episode #100, Aired October 4, 1954
As Lucy prepares breakfast, she finds her electricity and phone not working. She's been getting third notices from every company in town, threatening to shut things off. When Ricky finds the lights aren't working, Lucy confesses she meant to pay the light bill, but hadn't. She is mystified as to why this is the worst her household budget has been in 13 years. Ricky decides to spend extra and get a business manager to handle all the money and pay all the bills. As Lucy meets the business manager, Mr. Hickcox, he confesses he's been in business 20 years and Lucy's bookkeeping books are the first ones he's had trouble figuring out. He decides he'll wipe the slate clean and start all over, giving her a monetary allowance for the month. As the Mertzes arrive, Hickcox sees Lucy owes some back bills so he decides to start her off even with everybody. He asks for money from Lucy so he can pay the bills: $20 for the milk bill, $11.25 for the phone, $8.75 for gas and electricity, and $15 for cleaning and laundry. Ethel takes money for the month and a half rent that's due. Lucy can now spend the rest any way she wants, but it's only $5 that's left to buy food and have her hair dyed (or done!). She confers with Ethel in her kitchen that she can talk him into giving her more money. Ethel bets Lucy her last $5 that she can't. Ethel wins the $5 when Lucy unsuccessfully flatters, weedles, pleads and cries for more money from Hickcox. He will, however, arrange credit for her and she can charge groceries at the store. When Ethel gives Lucy money to get her a few things at the market, Lucy gets the idea she could charge Ethel's groceries with hers and keep the money, and further, she can do that for everybody in the building. Lucy keeps a notebook of grocery lists for each of her 'clients': Benson, Williams, Trumbull, etc. When Mrs. Trumbull comes for her groceries, she asks if the next day Lucy could get her a can of All Pet for her cat and Lucy writes it on her list. Soon, Lucy has been in business a week and has more money than she knows what to do with. Ethel cautions her that at the end of the month she has got to pay the bill at the market. She denies this saying that Hickcox has to, since he arranged the credit and it's his responsibility. When Ricky comes home and sees Lucy's hair has been done and she has on a new dress, he laments that his allowance is all gone. She gives him money for a haircut and pulls out her large roll of money. He questions her on where she got it and, with a twinkle in her eye, says they really should have gotten a business manager a long time ago. When Fred tells Ricky that he thought he heard Lucy and Ethel say something about the market, Ricky then believes Lucy is playing the stock market. He finds the note Lucy made: Tuesday buy Can All Pet. He checks the Stock Exchange in the paper and sees "Can All Pet", short for Canadian Allied Petroleum and says he'll ask Hickcox to buy him some of that stock. By now, Lucy's bill at the market totals $473. Ricky comes home with $1000 he got from investing in Can All Pet, confessing that since Hickcox said it was bad stock, he fired him. Ricky is so happy with his money, and with his perception that Lucy must have some 6th sense to have thought that Can All Pet was good enough stock to have put on her list, that he gives Lucy half of it, and guesses that she will now put it right back into the market. Of course, that's what she has to do. He asks her if her small voice inside is telling her what to invest in today. As she calls to her little small voice, Ricky stands by her in great anticipation.
Cast: Charles Lane as Mr. Hickox; Elizabeth Patterson as Mrs. Trumbull
MERTZ AND KURTZ
Episode #102, Aired October 11, 1954
Ethel asks Lucy to come to dinner, though Ricky won't be home by then, to meet Fred's old vaudeville partner, Barney Kurtz, otherwise known as the other half of "Laugh Till it Hurts with Mertz and Kurtz". Barney has apparently been entertaining royalty all over Europe and has now landed in town. Ethel borrows some of Lucy's expensive dinner settings so the Mertzes can look like Fred's done alright too, Fred being jealous of Barney because he stayed in show business and got to be a big star. She even convinces Lucy to be her maid, Bessie. The Mertzes boast over dinner that they own two other apartment houses, they have a part-time cleaning woman and lament how unfortunate it is their two cars are laid up, or else Barney could use the chauffeur. Barney says he is so busy with bookings that he barely had time to see the Mertzes and won't be able to go to Indianapolis to see his daughter or grandson, whom he hasn't seen since the child was a year old. Lucy comes in to clean the table as the men remember how they broke in their new act in Indianapolis and they perform their song, "O By Jingo". As Lucy goes to the kitchen for dessert, Ricky comes in asking for Lucy but Ethel interrupts him so she can introduce Barney. As Lucy comes in with dessert, with Ricky questioning why she's there, Ethel embarrassingly is at a loss for what to say. Fred confesses he doesn't have the money he said he had and that they only own this one apartment house. They can't afford a maid and Lucy and Ricky are their friends who live across the hall. Lucy begs for another song from the duo and they sing once more. Later, as Fred fixes the Ricardo door lock, he ensures Ricky no one can get in now without a key, however, Lucy and Ethel burst through the door with the news that Barney's daughter answered their letter asking if the grandson could come to New York and surprise Barney. The letter says Little Barney is excited to see his granddad perform during his New York engagement. The girls think she misunderstood about the performance, but Little Barney will arrive in New York Thursday, which is today, at the Pennsylvania Station. Barney comes in and confesses he hasn't been in Europe starring in vaudeville but that he has been living in New York and is a cook in the Bronx. Ethel tells him that, when she found out he couldn't go to Indiana, they wired his daughter to send the grandson here to New York. Lucy suggests that Barney take 2 days off work and get a hotel room, and show the boy around New York City. But Barney can't afford to since he's been sending money to Little Barney to educate him and had informed his grandson that he's been performing in New York and couldn't have visited him. Now Lucy understands why the letter mentions a New York engagement and she suggests that Barney perform at the Tropicana so the boy can see a performance. Barney, the Ricardos and Mertzes perform an old bathing bit that Fred and Barney used to do about 30 years ago, which takes place in Atlantic City on the Boardwalk with happy Little Barney in attendance.
Songs: O By Jingo; I Want a Girl Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad; I Found a Peach on the Beach; By the Beautiful Sea; They Go Wild Over Me; On the Boardwalk in Atlantic City
Cast: Charles Winninger as Barney Kurtz; Stephen Wootton as Little Barney
LUCY CRIES WOLF
Episode #98, Aired October 18, 1954
Lucy reads in the paper of a woman robbed while her husband was at work. The wife called him, thinking she heard prowlers. He thought it was her imagination and when he got home, he found her bound and gagged and the apartment ransacked. Lucy decides he did not love his wife, or he would have come home the minute he thought she was in danger. Lucy asks Ricky if he'd come right home if they had prowlers and he says "The minute you called". To test him, after he leaves, she calls him at rehearsal and tells him a horrible man was on the fire escape and that he better hurry home. But he sends the Mertzes over to see if Lucy is all right. She confesses to them she's not in any danger and explains what she read in the paper and how it proved that man did not love his wife, so she had called Ricky to see if he really loved her and now she disappointedly has her answer. Lucy tells the Mertzes she'll call Ricky and say it was a false alarm. Instead, she messes up the apartment and calls Ricky and says the man is still there and she pretends to be horrified by him as if he's right beside her. She then hides in the closet waiting for Ricky, but a moment later, Ethel comes in, sees the messy apartment and can't find Lucy. She yells for Fred and the two of them check the bedroom. Fred is heard saying that they should look in the closet so Lucy goes out onto the window ledge. Ethel telephones Ricky and lets Fred know she'll be calm. When Ricky comes on the line, she's in hysterics. Fred tells him he better come home and they'll watch Little Ricky. He comes home and suggests that Lucy is "yelling tiger", but Fred knows he means "crying wolf". Ricky confesses he should have come home when Lucy called. Mrs. DeVries, a neighbor from across the street, phones Ricky and says Lucy is sitting on the ledge outside his window. He writes a note to the Mertzes to let them know where Lucy is. To play a prank on her, the three decide to delay calling the police to find the "missing" Lucy. Ricky even will let Ethel have Lucy's clothes, and Ethel tells him, so Lucy can hear from the ledge, that she'll have them altered since Lucy is bigger in the hips than she is. And, so that Little Ricky will have a mother, Ricky suggests he'll wait 10 days before remarrying. This causes Lucy to burst into the room in anger. The three are laughing at her, and Ricky has had enough of Lucy's phony stories. She still insists a horrible man was in the room chasing her and that's why she was on the ledge to escape from him. Later, when the three are waiting for Lucy to come and play bridge, Ethel announces that Lucy maybe met another prowler. Lucy deducts that she may not want to play with people who make fun of her and Ethel counters that every time Lucy gets out of their sight she runs into a bunch of cut-throats. Ricky says they can't believe one word Lucy says - so she leaves the apartment. While in the hallway, two real robbers come and gag and tie her up to keep her from yelling. Later, though inaudible, she pleads at the door for Ricky to let her in and they find her tied and gagged. The trio think Lucy tied herself up and they don't believe her when she tells them what happened. The three resume their bridge game without believing a word Lucy says.
Cast: Beppy DeVries as Mrs. DeVries; Louis Nicoletti and Fred Aldrich as robbers
THE MATCHMAKER
Episode #99, Aired October 25, 1954
Lucy invites Dorothy Cook and Sam Carter to dinner so the women can trap Sam into proposing to Dorothy before he leaves for California in the morning. Lucy plans to show him what it's like to be married by serving a home cooked meal while checking on a sleeping quiet baby and listening to romantic music. Her plan is that the Ricardos and Mertzes will portray examples of happily married couples, though Ricky is unaware of this. When he gets home, Lucy greets him with "How's my little hubsband?" (which is the same phrase used in "My Favorite Husband"). Ricky has a headache but Lucy tells him Dorothy and Sam are coming over. He suspects her of messing with their romance and because he has a recording session in the morning, he'd like to get to bed by 10 pm. Lucy pleads that this is his one night off and she thinks it'll do him a lot more good to sit around and relax and have a few laughs...a few chuckles...a little snicker. When the couple arrives, Ricky infers that Lucy is not present yet because it takes women a long time to get ready and tells Sam he's clever to have not gotten married yet. When Lucy comes in, sticking to her plan of how wonderful marriage is, she even breaks her own rule of not disturbing the baby while he's asleep, and allows Dorothy and Sam to see the child. She encourages her plan further by saying that the couple would have beautiful children. But while checking the baby, Lucy's dinner burns and her calls of dismay wake the baby into crying. When she returns from quieting the baby she finds that Dorothy has fixed something to eat. Ricky wants to get to sleep and he and Lucy argue with her wanting him to stay up and visit and act happily married if it kills him! This forces Dorothy to reveal that their plan is ruined, but despite Lucy's meddling in the romance, he tells Sam how he feels about marriage. He would do it again but gives a distorted view on wedded bliss. He implies that wives are economical, by serving left-overs; marriage is a wonderful mystery, because the wives never let you see anything but the face they married, by covering their other face at night with cold cream. In the morning the wife will stagger into the kitchen with wire cages in her hair and serve a glass full of orange seeds, raw bacon and burned toast with coffee that tastes like mud. Fred and Ethel arrive, acting like lovebirds, even though they've been married 25 years. Lucy tells Ethel it's too late and she and Ricky argue over her butting into other people's business causing Dorothy and Sam to leave, having their own yelling spree as they depart. The next morning, Lucy awakens with her appearance fitting Ricky's prior distorted description, and serves the breakfast food, prepared the terrible way he described it the previous night. He informs her she has both made breakfast and is looking just like she usually does, causing them to argue over her matchmaking the prior night. He leaves to eat downtown and she tells him he can stay down there too. Lucy goes to Ethel's for the third time that night saying he's not home yet. Fred comes in uttering "What in Sam hill's all the commotion about?". Lucy says she called the Club and Ricky had left there 2 hours ago. Fred suggests he's staying away long enough to give Lucy a good scare so she decides that if that's what he's doing, she won't be there when he gets home, to give Ricky a good scare. She'll stay at Ethel's, but tired Fred will go to the Ricardo's to care for Little Ricky and sleep in Lucy's bed. Ricky is seen by Lucy as he comes home with candy and flowers, so the girls go to Lucy's and find Ricky apologizing to a covered up Fred. Ricky asks this "Lucy" to forgive him, to whom Fred says, "I forgive you darling", causing Lucy and Ethel to enter the bedroom laughing. Ricky is angry at being laughed at and heads out to leave, but a telegram arrives from Dorothy and Sam saying that if the Ricardos can put up with each other for 13 years, there must be something to marriage so they are giving it a try. Lucy and Ricky kiss and makeup.
Cast: Sarah Selby as Dorothy Cooke; Milton Frome as Sam Carter; Bennett Green as messenger; Joseph (and Michael) Mayer as Little Ricky
MR. AND MRS. TV SHOW
Episode #101, Originally set to air November 1, 1954 but didn't air until April 11, 1955
Lucy tells Ethel about her lunch at "21" with Carolyn and her friend Harvey Cromwell of Cromwell, Thatcher & Waterbury, which is one of the biggest advertising agencies in the country. Cromwell was looking for a new TV personality so Lucy set up an appointment for Ricky to meet him the next morning. She's excited that this could mean a new career for Ricky, all because of her. She is sure that behind every great man is a great woman and proudly tells Ethel, "Empress Josephine, Dolly Madison, Mamie Eisenhower, we're all back there. We're all behind our husbands, guiding their destiny. We're puppeteers behind the scenes, pulling the strings". Just as Ricky comes into the apartment, Ethel states, "Well here's Howdy Doody now". Lucy tells him of her good news and suggests to him she be in the act so she can go coast to coast. He won't let her, and insults her talent. She exclaims she won't be on his show if he begged her and refuses to tell him Cromwell's name. When Ricky asks Ethel the man's name, Lucy injects, "Actually Ethel, you know we don't need Ricky. We could build the show around you and Fred and me". Faced with possibly being in a show, Ethel suddenly forgets his name. But Ricky tricks Lucy into revealing his name and sets out to meet him the next morning. Cromwell, his helper Mr. Taylor and Ricky talk over the kind of show they'll do for Phipps Department Store. They discuss a husband and wife TV show since the sponsor wants to appeal to the women in the audience, and finalize with doing a Mr. And Mrs. TV Show. Ricky tries to say Lucy's not talented but Cromwell won't hear of it. Arriving at home, and remembering that Lucy said she wouldn't do the show, he finds her giving him the cold shoulder. He finds it hard to tell her the show is to be a husband and wife show, so he calls Taylor but doesn't have a chance to speak when Taylor says the show goes on the air day after tomorrow from the Ricardo apartment. The show will be titled, "Breakfast With Ricky and Lucy" and rehearsal is to be the following morning. While Lucy sings as she cooks, Ricky pretends she's got a beautiful voice and that she's a wonderful dancer. He tells her he'll tell Cromwell that it'll either be a husband and wife show or nothing. The next day they rehearse, with Lucy rising from having slept on a Phipps foam mattress which rocks you to sleep and serving a Phipps Fountain and Tea Room breakfast. She tells the audience that she went to Phipps and found the most adorable pair of shoes and the dreamiest new dress and got the full treatment at Phipps Beauty Salon. Well, she just felt like a new woman. She goes to change so she can show them what Phipps did for her. Ricky introduces the Mertzes who have been shopping at Phipps and they sing their commercial jingle which brings Lucy back into the room in her Phipps attire. Taylor then announces they'll have dress rehearsal at 8 am the next day before going on air. Ricky goes to the Club and the Mertzes exit, leaving Lucy to accidentally find out from Taylor that the show was Cromwell's idea, not Ricky's who had objected to the project. Lucy gets the idea to mess up the rehearsal to give Ricky a good scare and he'll have to apologize to her before she'll do the show. Dress rehearsal comes but it's really the show on the air; Taylor feels they'd be relaxed if they don't know they'll be on the air. The show airs with Lucy saying a Phipps foam mattress is like sleeping on rocks, and she can't understand WHAT Phipps does to their food but it always tastes different when they fix it. She tells the female audience that she went to Phipps and wants to show them what they did to her. When she exits to change, the Mertzes sing the jingle which brings Lucy on, but she's wearing a burlap potato sack and big false teeth and messy hair, singing "Phipps are a great big bunch of gyps". She laughs hysterically and tells Ricky she knows why he let her be on the program. He confesses that what they just did was "the show".
Songs: Sweet Sue; Phipps commercial jingle
Cast: John Litel as Harvey Cromwell; Lee Millar as Mr. Taylor
RICKY'S MOVIE OFFER
Episode #103, Aired November 8, 1954
Fred installs a burglar-proof chain for Lucy on her living room door because Ethel had read in the paper of crooks posing as reporters and salesmen so they can get in and rob apartments. As soon as he's done, Ethel comes through the Ricardo's door, breaking the chain, to see if Lucy still wants her to babysit. Lucy rushes out to her dentist appointment. Fred fixes the chain with big awful looking bolts and he's finally done and leaves. As Ethel babysits, she tests the chain and it gets stuck so she yells for Fred and he returns through the door, pulling off the chain and some of the doorframe. He goes to get better tools as Ethel waits at the Ricardo's. The doorbell rings and she's suspicious, remembering what she read in the paper. She opens the door ajar and a man's voice says he has an appointment with Ricky and his name is Ben Benjamin. She says Ricky isn't home, slams the door and runs to the phone. Mr. Benjamin opens the door and asks if he can wait, saying he's a talent scout from motion pictures. Ethel doesn't believe him and starts calling for Fred as Lucy arrives, seeing the doorframe is torn off. She hits him over the head with a bowl and he is knocked out. Ricky then phones her to inform her a talent scout is coming to see him this afternoon to talk about a picture in Hollywood and his name is Benjamin. Lucy and Ethel then set Mr. Benjamin on the sofa and wait for him to waken so they can be talking to him naturally as if nothing happened to him. He is confused when he wakes up but the girls chatter along to him anyway. He utters that he has a headache and when Ricky gets home he's given a script with a scene marked in it to read over. The studio is making a picture about the life of Don Juan and Mr. Benjamin will return in two days. If Ricky sounds alright they'll give him a screen test. Soon the day comes and the whole neighborhood has heard the talent scout is coming that evening to listen to Ricky. They all want to audition. Mrs. Trumbull visits Lucy, just on a ruse: she returns sugar to Lucy that she never really borrowed just so she can sing "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life". Finally, who knows why, Lucy and Ethel suddenly inspect the script for parts for them. They each think they can play Isabella, a Marilyn Monroe type and they let Fred settle it as to which of them looks more like Marilyn. He says he looks more like her than either of them. Now all 3 of them hope there's a part for them in the script. Before Mr. Benjamin comes for the audition, Fred and Ethel arrive at Lucy's as a Spanish dance team. Lucy dresses like Marilyn, Pete the grocery boy arrives playing "In a Little Spanish Town" on his trumpet and Mrs. Trumbull arrives singing "Cielito Lindo". Ricky then phones, saying he got the screen test. He had read for Benjamin at his hotel because he still has a headache.
Songs: Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life; Habanera; In A Little Spanish Town; Cielito Lindo
Cast: Frank Nelson as Ben Benjamin; Elizabeth Patterson as Mrs. Trumbull; James Dobson as Pete; Joseph (and Michael) Mayer as Little Ricky
RICKY'S SCREEN TEST
Episode #104, Aired November 15, 1954
Ricky has a screen test later in the week and Lucy is sure they're going to Hollywood. She even hopes they can find someone who can build their swimming pool shaped like a conga drum. Later, Fred comes in to show Lucy and Ethel that Ricky made the front page in "Variety". It mentions he's testing for the lead in "Don Juan" and says he has the inside track for the role. The studio plans to select a newcomer like Ricky for the lead and build him into a star, plus he will be surrounded by big name performers. Being considered for top female roles around him are Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner, Jane Russell, Yvonne de Carlo, Lana Turner, Arlene Dahl, Betty Grable. Showing a touch of jealousy, Lucy doesn't feel they should go to Hollywood now. Ricky says if she feels that way he won't go through with the screen test and neither will she. The girl who was to do the test with Ricky got sick and he recommended Lucy can take her place. Lucy changes her mind again: it's Ricky's big chance to go to Hollywood! Soon Lucy shows Fred and Ethel her Hollywood disguise so her fans won't mob her as she is sure she will be a movie star too, along with Ricky. She feels that the head of the studio may see her in the screen test and will demand to make her a star. Ricky arrives at the Mertz apartment, sees Lucy's disguise and informs her only the back of her head will be seen in the screen test and that she's only there to feed him the lines. At the actual screen test, Lucy tries every way she can to have her face seen by the camera until she's finally tied down and left there while Ricky and the director go to lunch.
Songs: Canta Guitarra
Cast: Clinton Sundberg as director; Ray Kellogg as Assistant; Louis Nicoletti as the Boom; Alan Ray as man with clap stick; Joseph (and Michael) Mayer as Little Ricky
LUCY'S MOTHER-IN-LAW
Episode #105, Aired November 22, 1954
Ricky's mother plans to finally visit the Ricardos. Ethel warns Lucy to prepare for house inspection with a mother-in-law coming, so she clears her closet, leaving the living room full of boxes just as Ricky's mother gets out of the cab upon arrival. Ethel helps her clean it just as Mother Ricardo comes to the door. Ricky's mother and Lucy are unable to communicate, with Lucy unable to speak Spanish. When Ricky arrives home, he tries to translate for Lucy what his mother is saying and he momentarily gets his wires crossed by speaking to Lucy in Spanish and to his mother in English. Suddenly Lucy's dinner burns in the oven. Dejected, Lucy visits Ethel and outlines embarrassing things she did since Ricky's mother arrived when the apartment was a mess, her hair was in curlers, the closet exploded in her face and she burned the dinner. The next day Lucy lost her in the subway. When she presses her dress for her, she burns it too. She devises a scheme on how she can join her mother in law's friends tonight and speak Spanish with them. She will use a device a performer at the club uses in his mind-reading act. The "Professor" uses a hidden microphone and earphones. The Professor agrees to help Lucy use his mind-reading equipment at the party and she hides the earphones under her hair and the Professor, from the kitchen, tells her what to say in Spanish, though he's expecting a phone call on his daughter having a baby tonight. In the middle of the party, Ethel informs him the baby is a boy and he departs, leaving Ethel to talk to Lucy through the earphones. Ricky discovers Ethel in the kitchen, feeding lines to Lucy and asks what is happening. Ricky's mother is curious and is so happy to find out Lucy went to so much trouble just to please her.
Songs: Bim Bam Boom
Cast: Joseph (and Michael) Mayer as Little Ricky; Fortunio Bonanova as Prof. Bonanova; Virginia Barbour as his helper; Mary Emery as Ricky's mother; Bennett Green as messenger; Rodolfo Hoyos and Pilar Arcos as guests at party.
ETHEL'S BIRTHDAY
Episode #106, Aired November 29, 1954
Ethel asks Lucy if she can help remind Fred that it's her birthday. Lucy hopes he gives her something nicer than last year which neither Lucy or Ethel could figure out: it was too long to be a stole and too short to be a volleyball net. Lucy invites the Mertzes to dinner to work on Fred. Through hints at dinner, Fred confesses he knew it was Ethel's birthday. Lucy and Ricky decide their present to Ethel will be dinner and the theatre. When the Mertzes leave, Fred sneaks back in to Lucy's kitchen to give her money to buy Ethel a birthday gift for him. He says Ethel hinted she needed a new toaster but Lucy says women want a gifty gift and she'll try to find something. When she buys the gift, she sneaks it over to Fred and he hides it in the closet before Ethel can see. Lucy says Ricky got tickets to see "Over the Teacups", the biggest hit in town, but Ethel frets that she has nothing to wear to it, and goes to get her jacket, which has tarnished, out of the closet to show Lucy how bad it is. She finds the wrapped gift in there and when she takes a sneak look at it, she's bewildered and in hysterics over the gift of checkered pants that "Fred" got her. Lucy says they're cute hostess pants but Ethel would like to meet the idiot that talked him into buying them. Lucy confesses it's her and Ethel reveals she wanted a toaster but Lucy can't believe she could be that dull. She thought Ethel would like something young and modern but Ethel argues that Lucy's so young and modern, she should wear the pants. Stingingly, Lucy says she'd have to take them in six inches in the seat. When Ethel refuses the theatre tickets, even though they cost the large sum of $6.60 apiece, Lucy leaves with no intention of going to the theatre either, and upon departing, wishes Ethel a happy birthday, hoping she lives another 75 years. Ricky and Fred scheme to get the girls to the theatre by the next night anyway, sitting side by side, assuming they'll be best of friends again by then. At the theatre, though argumentative and still mad at each other, to view a play where one character has lost her best friend by a death after quarreling, the sentiment of the play draws Lucy and Ethel back together in tears.
Cast: Mary Lansing as Cynthia's voice; Richard Kean as John's voice
RICKY'S CONTRACT
Episode #107, Aired December 6, 1954
Ricky still has not heard from Hollywood about his screen test even though it's been more than two weeks since the talent scout, Mr. Benjamin, said he'd call. Ricky even carries the phone around with him in the apartment and when someone calls Lucy, in order to keep the line open, he tells them she's not home which is why Lucy hasn't had any calls for a couple of days. Lucy and the Mertzes notice how distressed Ricky is so they decide to tell him funny stories to get his mind off the call. That doesn't work, so they try something that makes them feel good when they're down in the dumps: a community sing. They try to sing, "When You're Smiling" but that doesn't help so Lucy suggests Ricky go to rehearsal and she'll phone him if she hears anything. Later, Ethel babysits when Lucy goes to the beauty parlor and takes phone messages for her and converses with callers by saying that Ricky hasn't let Lucy use the phone for a few days because he's expecting an important call. She even says, "Lucy's quite a talker, especially when she gets wound up with one of her gabby friends like Carolyn. I'll leave a message you called Marge; OH Carolyn! I'll leave a message that you called Carolyn dear.....". Fred comes to the Ricardo's wanting lunch and Ethel wishes one of the calls was from Hollywood. Fred writes a note that Hollywood called and Ricky got the job, hoping Lucy will see it and tell Ricky and he'll stop worrying. Ethel suggests he just go home and fix a sandwich until she can make lunch. When Sue calls, Ethel sets Fred's note aside, but Lucy arrives home, talks to Sue as Ethel leaves, and sees the note Fred wrote. She phones Ricky at rehearsal and Marco says he'll give Ricky the message that Hollywood called. The Mertzes realize they left the phony message by the phone and go to explain it to Lucy. She calls Ricky to tell him of the error but Mr. Green says Ricky took the band to Lindy's to celebrate. When he comes home, he's wearing sunglasses and is dressed like a star, hoping to make Bing Crosby look like a bum. It turns out that Mr. Benjamin had called Ricky. Curious about it, Ricky wonders how Lucy knew and he suggests she has a friend at the telegraph office. Relieved, Lucy says, "Good!!". They heard from HOLLYWOOD!!
Songs: When You're Smiling; I'll See you In C.U.B.A.
GETTING READY
Episode#108, Aired December 13, 1954
The Ricardos are checking travel brochures to decide on how to get to California. Lucy decides that by using the Family Plan, the wife and children can fly for half the fare. Then she decides the train is better because they can see the country. Next she thinks that with a bus they can get the most out of their cross-country trip. The brochure says, "Don't fly over it or woosh through it at 80 or 90 miles an hour without stopping". Finally she decides to go by car because they can stop where they want as long as they want. Besides, they would need a car in California anyway. She read there's a car for every two and a half people in California and she and Ricky and Little Ricky, that's two and a half people. Ricky agrees, thinking they could get a convertible in New York cheaper than in California. Lucy suggests a Cadillac convertible but Ricky says they can only afford a used car, not a Cadillac Convertible. The Mertzes arrive, feeling blue that the Ricardos will be leaving but they all decide the Mertzes could go with them. Fred is afraid it would cost too much and Ethel laments she hasn't been out of New York City for twenty years except for a trip to Minnesota to have her gallstones taken out. But since the back seat of the car will be empty, the Ricardos insist the Mertzes go along. Fred visits his friend, Al Herbesheimer, who is in the used car business in Brooklyn, and he pays $300 for a 1923 blue Cadillac convertible. He decides to take everyone for a ride, but the car falls apart before they drive, so he returns to Brooklyn, by subway for 15 cents, to get back his money. Ethel and the Ricardos are worried that no one else would want such an old car, so Lucy phones Al and says she's calling from Murray Hill 5-9099, and that she's with a TV studio needing a 1923 Cadillac touring car and that they'd pay $500 for it, to entice Al to buy the car back from Fred. Al buys the car back from Fred, but Fred unfortunately gives Al another $100 for the (Lucy Ricardo) TV Studio's phone number.
LUCY LEARNS TO DRIVE
Episode #109, Aired January 3, 1955
Fred is in shock, and has even retired from reality, over losing $400 buying the old car. When Ricky comes home, he says he bought a new Pontiac since it's a better investment in the long run because of their trip. He used Fred's old Cadillac as a trade-in so Fred gets all this money back. This brings Fred back to the world. The Ricardos and Mertzes go out to look at the new car parked in front of the apartment building. Though it's not insured, Ricky realizes he should not have driven it but Lucy coaxes him into taking them for a drive around the block. After the drive, he calls the insurance man but the line is busy. Lucy nags him to teach her to drive, even though she took a couple of lessons in high school, and finally he says "I'll tich you" if she can get the insurance man on the phone before he returns from the Club. He then leaves and she tries phoning. Later, Ethel waits outside the apartment as Lucy and Ricky return from him teaching Lucy to drive. After the nightmare of this driving lesson, Ricky heads off to go to rehearsal but doesn't take the car; he may never drive again. Lucy tells Ethel that Ricky is mad at her because she drove halfway through the Holland Tunnel and tried to make a U-turn because Ricky was going to be late for rehearsal. There was no room for the U-turn and the police told her the cars were backed up all the way to East Orange, New Jersey. Ethel says she always wanted Fred to teach her to drive but they never owned a car, so Lucy says she'll teach her but she must remind her to call the insurance man: she had tried, but he wasn't in and she didn't want to miss her driving lesson. Unfortunately, while teaching Ethel, the new car ends up driving into the back of the old car. Since the keys were in the old Cadillac (it was being picked up that day), Lucy decides to drive it to the garage with the hopes that the Pontiac will stay hooked to the Cadillac. Since Fred is now downtown, Lucy says to Ethel that if Fred comes home, tell him the man came for the Cadillac and Ricky has the Pontiac downtown; if the man comes for the Cadillac, tell him Fred has it out for one last farewell spin; if Ricky comes home, tell him the man came for the Cadillac and that Fred took the Pontiac downtown to have it washed. When Lucy returns from the garage, she is now driving the Pontiac and the Cadillac is stuck to the back of it. Lucy says it was horrible, and if she skips her next henna rinse, she'll find her hair is snow-white. The mechanic's repair cost was $150 and since Lucy didn't have that much, she decided to drive the cars back home, park them in front of the apartment and tell Ricky she didn't know how any of it happened. She told Ethel that on the way to the garage while driving the Cadillac, at the underpass by Grand Central Station she was driving on the downhill side and the Pontiac started to pass her. She said it passed her at the bottom of the hill and kept going up the hill until it rolled back and crashed into her. Worried about what to tell Ricky, Lucy says their only chance is to pretend complete innocence. When the husbands return home, Ricky confesses he called the insurance man himself, but when spewing forth Spanish words to Lucy, she kisses him to make up.
Cast: Joseph (and Michael) Mayer as Little Ricky
CALIFORNIA HERE WE COME
Episode #110, Aired January 10, 1955
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Lucy is mapping out their trip to California with strange triangles on a map, which indicates the places the Ricardos and Mertzes want to see. When Ethel brings her the mail, Lucy calls her mapping as being a little sensible planning. She receives a letter from her mother who wants to join them on the trip. She apologizes for not telling Lucy sooner by saying that when you're planning a long trip, some little detail is liable to slip your mind. When mother arrives, she erroneously names Ricky as "Mickey" and she never remembers Ricky's last name. Mother says this is her chance, now that Ricky is a star, to take her book to Dory Schary in person. It's about the story of their family, which should make a wonderful picture, she states. Later, Ethel overhears Ricky saying he doesn't like the way things are developing; he had hoped just his family was going to Hollywood, and the next thing that happens is that Lucy talks the Mertzes into horning in. Lucy says that was their idea and he says they're tagging along now anyway and now she wants her mother to go. Soon, the Mertzes ring the doorbell and enter in disgust with news they're not going. Ethel reminds them, "Don't forget to drop a postcard to Mr. And Mrs. Fred Horninsky or as we are more commonly known, the Tagalong Mertzes". When they leave, Lucy scolds Ricky with, "How could she help hearing you with your big mouth and her big ears". Mother returns from a walk with Little Ricky and says she spoke to the Mertzes in the hall and thinks that they're not going because of her so she decides she's not going now to California. Lucy and Ricky also decide they won't be going now. The Mertzes return, having cooled off and decide they will go on the trip after all. Lucy informs them that no one's going. Mother tells Ethel, "Well I wasn't going to go because you weren't going to go if I was going. But if you're going to go when I'm going, I might as well go". So now everyone's going to Hollywood. Ricky insists on leaving at 6 a.m. and when the girls bring too much stuff out to the car for the trunk, Ricky decides to send it all ahead. Ethel agrees since they'll be on the road for 2 weeks; it would get there before they do. Mother says, "Are we really going to be driving for 2 whole weeks? I get carsick. I had no idea it would take 2 weeks; it didn't look that far on the map". She will go by plane and take Little Ricky with her; Lucy agrees plus Mrs. Trumbull will collect the rents for the Mertzes. The four-some finally leave around 6 pm (pretty close to Ricky's hopes for leaving at 6!), heading over the George Washington Bridge, singing "California Here We Come".
Songs: California Here We Come
Cast: Kathryn Card as Mrs. McGillicuddy, Joseph (and Michael) Mayer as Little Ricky; Elizabeth Patterson as Mrs. Trumbull.
FIRST STOP
Episode #111, Aired January 17, 1955
Upon driving to Hollywood, while in Ohio and heading for Indiana, the Mertzes and Ricardos notice several signs for Aunt Sally's Pecan Pralines. They finally reach Aunt Sally's, but it's out of business. As Ricky drives further, he notices lights ahead and because they're hungry, they stop at a place Lucy describes with "this place doesn't look any too hot". The owner, George Skinner, welcomes them to "One Oak Cabins and CafŽ" but his only selection is stale cheese sandwiches. They're so rubbery that the group decides to leave. George recommends the Golden Drumstick, ten miles away, but it went broke, and there's nothing else until Cincinnati. As they leave anyway, he charges them $1 per sandwich and 80 cents entertainment tax, while he sings with his banjo. To give Ricky a rest, Lucy drives and heads toward Cincinnati, but she sees a sign for accommodations and food five miles away and turns off the highway toward the location but it ends up taking them to One Oak again. They are so tired they inquire about sleeping. There is only one cabin but it sleeps four and costs $8/couple. Unfortunately it is a rickety old cabin with bunk-beds and a double bed which has a mattress as sunken as a canoe. After several trains go by, which causes the bed to crawl across the room, they decide to sneak out without paying but George has a burglar alarm hooked to the car and the steering wheel is missing. He allows them to not pay the $16 for the cabin they dislike so much, but he also happens to have a steering wheel he can sell them for $16!
Songs: I'm Afraid To Come Home in the Dark
Cast: Olin Howlin as George Skinner
TENNESSEE BOUND
Episode #112, Aired January 24, 1955
With Lucy as the driver, the group ends up going across a mountain, driving in old logging ruts. She has lost Highway 60 and the roads they've been on for the last hour aren't even on the map. Since she needs gas, she's sure the serviceman at the building they've stopped at will tell them how to get back on the highway. However, it's not a gas station now, and the man they seek advice from has lived there for the past 7 years ever since the road had been condemned. He tells Lucy they're in Tennessee and to get to the next city, they'll have to go through Bent Fork, which Lucy remembers is Ernie Ford's hometown. She doesn't want to run into him or he'd make them move right in. She recalls he stayed overnight with them for a couple weeks once. Ricky will drive them through Bent Fork (population 54) as fast as possible to avoid Ernie. The sheriff arrests them for speeding and puts Lucy in jail for being sassy. She tells Ricky to call Ernie Ford who, it turns out, jilted one of the sheriff's daughters. Because of knowing Ernie, Lucy's now sentenced to 48 hours in jail. Hearing this is the biggest news in town, Ernie arrives at the jail to help. He figures they can use filing tools to saw Lucy out of jail, while singing to drown out the filing noise. The singing cheers up the sheriff enough to set Lucy free, but the sawing is discovered and all 5 land in jail. Ernie decides to marry Teensy, the sheriff's daughter, to set the Ricardos and Mertzes free. But when the sheriff's two chubby twin daughters, Teensy and Weensy arrive, the four some won't allow Ernie into the marriage. Nevertheless, Ernie breaks the good news of the proposal to the sheriff. Dejected after talking to the sheriff, Ernie tells the jailbirds that he proposed, but it was to Weensy who can't stand the sight of him. Then Teensy had turned him down because she won't play second fiddle. He was bewildered that he had hold of the wrong one since the twins are alike as two peas in a pod, or two watermelons in a patch. But Ernie had made a deal with the sheriff in that Ricky would take the girls to Hollywood for their aspiring movie career. Musicians soon appear for the sheriff's going away party for his daughters, who sing "Ricochet" to prove they have talent. Ricky is not impressed with their vitality and has to confess he can't take the twins since he doesn't know anyone in Hollywood himself. The twins wish to dance with Ricky and this gives Ernie an idea that if they square dance, they could slip in a rope to tie up the sheriff and his girls during the dance. With Ernie doing the calls for the dance, the rope trick works and the Ricardos and Mertzes escape off to "Hollerwood".
Songs: Old MacDonald Had a Farm; Birmingham Jail; Ricochet
Cast: Aaron Spelling as gas station man; Will Wright as Sheriff; Ernie Ford as Ernie; The Borden Twins (Marilyn and Rosalyn Borden) as Teensy and Weensy
ETHEL'S HOME TOWN
Episode #113, Aired January 31, 1955
The foursome leave the Texas Ann Motel to arrive later in the afternoon at the home of Ethel's dad, Mr. Potter, in Albuquerque. She reveals he had never wanted her to marry Fred. Before leaving, Lucy calls home to Murray Hill 5 9099 and talks to her mother to see how the baby is. Even though he's two years old he finally said "hello" to them. They arrive in Albuquerque by going on New Mexico U.S. 66 Hwy, through Amarillo and meet Mr. Potter. He states how Ethel, a most popular girl, was once elected Miss Albuquerque and she could have married the best of men, such as Billy Hackett, who's now the newspaper editor. Potter informs them that when he told Billy that Ethel was coming through town with the Ricardos, he wanted to come and get an interview. The whole town's in such an uproar over the celebrity visiting the town that Potter didn't even get to open his sweet shop and soda fountain but he did offer that the group would put on a show the next night. Erroneously Ricky thinks he's the celebrity in question. According to what Ethel wrote to her dad, he's excited that his Ethel is on the way to Hollywood to star in a movie but Ethel corrects him saying Ricky will be in the picture. Nevertheless, Lucy tells Ricky that when Billy comes to interview him, he should make Ethel look good. However, when Billy takes a photo of Ethel, he asks Ricky to step aside, out of the picture. He interviews Ethel and comes up with an idea that "Local Girl Makes Good" finding stardom in Hollywood. Despite Ethel's celebrity status, Ricky decides to do the show anyway so he can prove he's more than her chauffeur. Unfortunately the newspaper the next day prints that Ethel will appear at the Little Theatre in a solo recital. Ricky decides to leave right then for California but Lucy gets an idea. She suggests they'll be right behind Ethel: on the stage. Unbeknownst to Ethel, during her recital, Lucy, Ricky and Fred perform vaudeville comedy routines behind her. She is dismayed at finding out what's happening behind her until she, and the group, are photographed as "Ethel Mae Potter & Co."
Songs: Chopsticks; Shortnin Bread; My Hero
Cast: Irving Bacon as Will Potter; Chick Chandler as Billy Hackett
L.A. AT LAST
Episode #114, Aired February 7, 1955
The foursome arrive in Hollywood and check into their hotel rooms at the Beverly Palms Hotel, with the Mertz room being down the hall from the Ricardo's. Ricky phones MGM Studios and they tell him to go there at 12 pm for lunch. Meanwhile, Lucy and the Mertzes go to the Brown Derby to 'hunt' movie stars, and there they see Cary Grant and Gregory Peck. Even though Walter Pidgeon and Ava Gardner are called to the telephone, the 'hunters' do not see them anywhere. Lucy orders a Derby tossed salad, spaghetti and meatballs. Ethel orders the same as Lucy, but Fred orders veal cutlet Marco Polo. As Lucy notices the drawings of the movie stars on the wall, she asks Ethel if the drawing on the end is Shelley Winters or Judy Holliday and suggests that Ethel ask the lady in the next booth behind her as to whom the picture is of. When Ethel inquires, the woman replies with "That's Eve Arden". In astonishment, they realize they just spoke with Eve Arden, just as Eve rises to depart. William Holden enters and sits in the booth behind Lucy. She sneaks looks at him through her makeup mirror and insists that Fred slide over further in the booth so she can get a good look at him. As Lucy stares at Bill Holden, his waiter slides a plant between them but she peaks at him through the plant anyway. Bill decides to remove the plant and stare at her for a change. This causes Lucy to nervously eat her spaghetti and when she takes too much of it to eat, Ethel has to cut the hanging spaghetti with her manicuring scissors. Lucy has had enough embarrassment and she and the Mertzes leave, but as Lucy passes Mr. Holden's table she accidentally knocks his food onto him as the waiter brings it. Later when Bill is checking a script with John Sherman, a producer at MGM, Ricky arrives wearing a Don Juan suit of armor costume. As Ricky goes to phone Lucy to ask her to pick him up, Bill offers to give him a ride to his hotel instead. Ricky asks if he'd be able to meet Lucy. As Bill waits in the Ricardo hotel living room, Ricky can't understand why Lucy doesn't want to meet William Holden. She consents to meet him, but has to fix her face first. She soon greets Bill wearing some glasses, a putty nose and scarf around her hair to disguise herself. Ricky inquires about Bill's latest picture and he says he just finished shooting "The Country Girl" with Grace Kelly and quizzically tells Lucy there is something familiar about her around her eyes. When Lucy's nose itches, she accidentally pushes it out of shape. When she lights a cigarette, it burns her putty nose and she douses it in a cup of coffee. Ricky insists she tell him what's going on. She confesses she went to the Brown Derby that day and the mystery is solved for Holden as to why he seems to have met her already; however he merely tells Ricky that Lucy was in the next booth and he had asked the waiter who the beautiful redhead was. He winks knowingly to Lucy and she gratefully kisses him, for concealing the mess she made at the Derby, but in her excitement, her knees give out and she falls into his arms, happy as a lark.
Cast: William Holden (appearing courtesy of Paramount Pictures); Eve Arden; Bobby Jellison as Bobby the bellboy; Alan Ray as waiter; Harry Bartell as Headwaiter; Dayton Lummis as Bill Sherman; Dani Nolan as Sherman's secretary
DON JUAN AND THE STARLETS
Episode #115, Aired February 14, 1955
Ricky will soon be coming back from the studio with a photographer and Lucy thinks they'll play up the domestic angle of Lucy and Ricky at home. However, young starlets, who've been told by the studio to go to Ricky's room to have pictures taken with him, arrive. When Ross Elliott of MGM and Ricky arrive, he tells Lucy the 4 starlets will be in the Don Juan picture with him; they'll play the 4 women in love with him. When Ross starts taking pictures, Lucy wants to be in them too but he tells her that this would not fit in with their publicity campaign. Lucy suggests that playing up the domestic angle would show the public how happily married Ricky is to which Ross replies, "Don Juan is all about love. It's got nothing to do with marriage". Ross next wants the girls and Ricky to change into swimsuits and go down to the pool for pictures. Later, when Ross has given Ricky a ticket to go to a Hollywood premiere that night, Ricky is sure there's a mistake in that they forgot to give him a ticket for Lucy. Upset, Lucy says, "You bet there's been a mistake and I made it 15 years ago when Marion Strong asked me to go on a blind date with a Cuban drummer and I said 'yes'". Ross comes back and gives Ricky 4 more tickets for the starlets to go with Ricky to the premiere and to a party at the Mocambo after. Lucy tries to keep a stiff upper lip. At 2:38 am, Lucy is asleep on the couch having waited up for Ricky to come home. When he gets home, she doesn't wake and since he has an early call at the studio in the morning, he covers her and he goes to bed. At 6:30 am he is getting ready to go to the studio and since he needs a tux and can't find a clean shirt, he wears what he wore the night before. Lucy is still asleep when he leaves and soon the maid comes in and makes the bed. When Lucy wakes at 10 am, she finds the bed made and calls the studio to find out that Ricky is on his way home. She is thinking Ricky did not come home at all that night. When he comes home in his tux he actually looks the same as he did when he left the prior night to escort the starlets. He told her he's wearing a tux today so they could take pictures at the studio where he's supposed to be posing in a nightclub. She doesn't believe anything he says. When the maid comes in to finish up, they realize she made the bed and that perhaps Ricky could have been home overnight after all. Ethel notices a program from the premiere last night and Ricky realizes his alibi has been in the room all the time thus causing Lucy and Ricky to laugh about her misjudgment and they embrace.
Cast: Ross Elliott as Ross; Iva Shepard as the maid; Dolores Donlon, Beverly Thompson, Shirlee Tigge, Maggie Magennis as the girls (in order of appearance).
LUCY GETS IN PICTURES
Episode #116, Aired February 21, 1955
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When Ricky mails Lucy's postcards he finds that she wrote Lillian Appleby, Marion Strong and other friends pretending that she's going to be in a movie. The Mertzes arrive and reveal they ran into Jimmy O'Connor in the coffee shop and he used to be in vaudeville with them. He's now a producer at Ricky's studio and he gave them parts in his new picture and they start the next day on it for 2 weeks. Since they're now going to be fitted for costumes, and because Ricky is going to the studio now too, he will give them a ride. Even Bobby, the bellboy, gets a part in a picture, so Lucy now feels left out. Bobby suggests she go out and let other people discover her so she goes to sit at the soda fountain at Schwabbs Drug Store on Sunset Boulevard so that she can be discovered like Lana Turner. Later, when the Mertzes tell Ricky about their gay nineties costumes, Lucy arrives, looking ill, after being at Schwabbs all day. In order to keep her place at the counter, she had ordered 3 chocolate malts, 2 hot fudge sundaes, a pineapple soda and a banana split. Since no one discovered her, she reveals she cannot go back to New York and face her friends. Ricky says he'll try and call a director at Metro and see if they can give Lucy a little part. On the movie set, she's dressed as a show girl and when Ricky introduces Lucy to the director, Frank Williams, he describes her part as being the star of a nightclub sequence who's killed as she's descending the stairs. When Lucy messes up with a heavy head dress and with tripping down the steps, the director allows her to be discovered dead as the scene opens. But, because he won't let her be a dead person who's face up, into the camera, but will be a woman covered with a sheet instead, she puts her name on her shoes so her friends back home will know this is Lucy (in the movies)!
Songs: A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody (during show girl scene)
Cast: Lou Krugman as Mr. Williams; Bobby Jellison as Bobby; Louis Nicoletti as stage crewman; Onna Conners as Show Girl.
FASHION SHOW
Episode #117, Aired February 28, 1955
Lucy is upset that she can't get a suntan. With her fair skin she gets sun burned. She pines to look as if she belonged in Beverly Hills and craves to have beautiful clothes like the Beverly Hills women have. She wishes she had just one dress, no matter how simple, from an exclusive salon like Don Loper's. When she tells Ricky a Loper dress would be about $100, he lets her shop for one. Lucy and Ethel then find themselves at the Loper salon where Lucy can get herself a Don Loper original, even though, until now, they had been used to Gimball's basement back home. At Loper's, they bring the dresses out to Lucy one by one and she asks to see an original dress in size 12. She an Ethel agree that Jane Sebastian, back home, will be absolutely green when Lucy appears wearing a Loper original. When Lucy discovers that the first dress she looks at costs $500, she finally asks to see Loper's simplest dress. Gordon MacRae's wife, Sheila, arrives and she and Mr. Loper discuss their fashion show which occurs the following night, where the proceeds will go to a charity called S.H.A.R.E. Incorporated and it's made up of movie stars' wives who'll be wearing the clothes. Those who have already been in for a fitting are the wives of Dean Martin, Forrest Tucker, Van Heflin, William Holden and Richard Carlson. Unfortunately, Sheila just remembers that Mrs. Joel McCrea can't come. Since publicity for the event indicated a movie star's wife would be modeling the dresses, she and Loper try to think of someone to take her place. Upon hearing this, Lucy makes a phone call so that they'll hear her calling MGM and be asking for Ricky Ricardo, star of "Don Juan". Further, she tells the other party that she is Mrs. Ricardo, the star's wife. And she re-iterates that she is Mrs. Ricky Ricardo, wife of the movie star, Ricky Ricardo. Loper's simplest dress is then presented to Lucy, and Sheila having overheard Lucy on the phone, goes to ask if Lucy will replace Mrs. McCrea. Lucy points to the simple dress as being the one she bought and could wear in the fashion show. Back at Lucy's room, she and Ethel finally discover the price tag on the dress she bought as being $500. Lucy has to think of a way out of this but she can't think; her brain's all dried up. She and Ethel decide Lucy can burn in the sun and she could pretend to be in pain and then Ricky, who's sure to be angry at the price, would leave her alone. Later, Lucy is struck with a painful sunburn, despite the overcast skies. She confesses to Ricky the price of her Loper dress and he is outspoken in disbelief. Lucy is relieved when Loper phones and asks her if she'll wear his newly designed tweed suit in the show, and if she will, she can have the dress she bought for free. It seems that the dress Lucy chose to wear in the show is like the one Loper made for Mrs. Alan Ladd and now Mrs. Ladd wants to wear her own dress in the show. Despite her agony, Lucy does the show in comic sunburn pain along with the other wives. But, upon returning to her hotel room, Lucy finds a check for $500 from her forgiving husband, along with receiving a good old slap on the (sunburned) back from Ethel.
Songs: Embraceable You (during Fashion show)
Cast: Amzie Strickland as the sales girl; Sheila MacRae as Mrs. Gordon MacRae; Don Loper as Mr. Loper; the movie stars' wives as themselves: Brenda Holden as Mrs. William Holden; Jeanne Martin as Mrs. Dean Martin; Frances Heflin as Mrs. Van Heflin; Marylin Tucker as Mrs. Forrest Tucker; Mona Carlson as Mrs. Richard Carlson.
HEDDA HOPPER STORY
Episode #118, Aired March 14, 1955
Ricky is fuming because Hedda Hopper has not had his name in the paper once and yet they've been in Hollywood 5 weeks already. Finally, Lucy's mother and Little Ricky arrive by plane. She lets Lucy and Ricky know that sitting behind her on the plane was a newspaper woman who said she might like to do a story on Ricky, so Mrs. McGillicuddy invites her to tea for the next afternoon. Later, Ricky's new press agent, Charlie Pomerantz arrives. His scheme, to give Ricky a real good publicity build up, is to have Ricky save his wife when she falls in the pool and can't swim, in front of Hedda Hopper, who'll be at the pool the next afternoon for the Motion Picture Mothers Club annual tea. Charlie will arrange for Ricky to sing at the tea and Ricky will then jump in the pool and save his wife's life. He is sure this will be Hedda's lead item in her column the next day. Once Ricky and Lucy get ready for the annual tea, Mrs. McGillicuddy is upset that they can't be around to meet the newspaper woman she met on the plane, who's soon to come to their hotel room for tea. Down by the pool, Charlie makes Lucy prematurely jump in when he thinks he sees Hedda arriving, and Ricky follows by jumping in to save her. Admitting that he had made a mistake, and it hadn't been Hedda at all, Lucy pushes Charlie into the pool and the wet couple return to their room, coincidentally in time to meet Mrs. McGillicuddy's guest, who turns out to be Hedda Hopper. Hedda is not at all impressed with the soaked Ricardos.
Songs: Sheik of Araby; Cuban Pete; Green Eyes (instrumental)
Cast: Hedda Hopper; Kathryn Card as Mrs. McGillicuddy; Joseph (and Michael) Mayer as Little Ricky; Hy Averback as Charlie; Bobby Jellison as Bobby the bellboy; John Hart as the lifeguard
DON JUAN IS SHELVED
Episode #119, Aired March 21, 1955
Ricky receives a call from the studio, canceling his test that afternoon with a leading lady and he will be expecting a visit from Dore Schary of Metro the next afternoon. It appears that he might be fired from MGM and he goes to the studio to find out. Lucy, her mother and the Mertzes write 500 fan letters to support Ricky. Mrs. McGillicuddy takes them downstairs to mail. Ricky returns and says Metro is shelving his picture. Lucy plans that the next day they'll dress up as teenage fans of the Ricky Ricardo Fan Club to impress Mr. Schary into keeping Ricky under contract. The next day, Ricky impatiently awaits Schary's arrival and upon phoning his office and finding he's been delayed but will return by 4 pm, Ricky decides to go to the studio so he'll be sure and see Schary there. Meanwhile, Schary had been delayed down by the pool at Ricky's hotel and he overhears Lucy's scheme of finding an actor to portray a producer interested in hiring Ricky, so that Schary would be jealous and keep Ricky. He offers his services to Lucy to be the actor portraying a producer, though Lucy doesn't think he looks much like a producer. He tells her his name is George Spelvin and he endures Lucy coaching him on what to say when he will be meeting the real Dore Schary that day. Meanwhile, Ricky comes home, shakes hands with "Spelvin", Lucy is shocked that this man is Mr. Schary and says goodbye to Ricky. Schary smooths it over and does not reveal Lucy's scheme. He tells Ricky he wanted to say in person that they are shelving "Don Juan" as it has too many production problems, but they are picking up his option and will put him in another picture as soon as they find the right one. Everyone is excited just as the bellboy brings in the basket of their 500 letters that were left on the mailbox without stamps on them.
Cast: Bobby Jellison as Bobby; Kathryn Card as Mrs. McGillicuddy; Phil Ober as Dore Schary and George Spelvin; Jody Drew as Miss Ballantine.
BULL FIGHT DANCE
Episode #120, Aired March 18, 1955
Ross Elliott of MGM comes to give Lucy an important task. He has set Ricky for a big spread in Photoplay Magazine and now that "Don Juan" is called off, they would like to play up the fact that Ricky is married and he wants Lucy to write up, "What It's Like To Be Married To Ricky Ricardo" (by Lucy Ricardo). He'll give Lucy questions to answer for the article and incorporate them into the story. Ethel wishes she could write an article about what it's like to be married and settles on who would buy it: "True Horror Story". Since Lucy wants Ricky to leave her alone to answer the questions, the Mertzes invite him to go with them to Will Wright's for an ice cream soda. They've got 24 flavors and Ethel has only tasted 20 of them so far. Later, Ross calls and tells Lucy he got Ricky on the TV show "Coast to Coast" as the emcee for the Heart Fund Benefit. She schemes to be on the show with him by writing an alternate set of answers to the questions for the article, showing Ricky off in an unflattering way. When she confronts him on what she has, to sway him to let her be on the show, he calls it blackmail. She utters, "Let's not call it that". He responds with, "That's what it is" and she says, "I know, but let's not call it that". He decides to let her be in the show and will decide on what she can do, since he feels that blackmailers can't be choosers. Satisfied, but unsure, she just wants to be sure he chooses something that shows her off. He insists she now go and mail the right answers. At rehearsal for the benefit, Ricky tries to teach her a sort of musical trick where they both sing two songs at the same time. She just can't do it at all and Ricky says there is nothing else she can do in the show. Lucy counters with the fact she hadn't mailed the questions in yet and threatens to now mail in her revised copy so he decides Lucy can do a Spanish dance number but insists she mail the right answers first. When she returns from mailing them, he rehearses her for the dance but when he says he'll be yelling "Toro" she finds out she's going to be playing a bull. The show is filmed at Television City and the Mertzes sing in the show, then Ricky, as a bullfighter, sings awaiting Lucy's entrance. In her retaliation, she has dressed up her 'Toro The Terrible' bull costume in a feminine way and defeats Ricky at the bullfight. She happily takes her bows for the coast to coast TV audience.
Songs: Let Me Go Lover; Humoresque; Old Folks At Home (Way Down Upon the Swanee River); Dear Old Donegal; Fernando the Fearless
Cast: Ross Elliott as Ross; Ray Kellogg as bull costumer
HOLLYWOOD ANNIVERSARY
Episode #121, Aired April 4, 1955
The Ricardos will be celebrating their wedding anniversary in California but while playing cards with the Mertzes, Lucy sees that Ricky has forgotten their anniversary date. While she goes to tend to the baby, Ricky asks the Mertzes if they know the date. Fred suggests it's May 3 but Ethel reminds her husband that is their anniversary date. Ethel asks Lucy's mother if she knows when Lucy got married, but she only knows that it was some time in the spring. Nevertheless, Ricky tells Lucy that he has a party set at the Mocambo for the anniversary. At 3:03 am, secretly, he calls Western Union so he can send a wire to Greenwich, Connecticut to the head of the License Bureau to ask the date of the marriage of Lucille McGillicuddy and Ricardo Alberto Fernando Ricardo Y'Acha. At 9:16 am breakfast arrives at the Ricardo hotel room, as well as the wired information showing their anniversary date as being on the 7th. When Lucy steps out of the room, Ricky calls Ross Elliott at MGM and asks him to put in the paper a news item that invitations for their 15th anniversary party on the night of the 7th at the Mocambo have been out for awhile. When Lucy discovers, in Ricky's jacket, the wire he received showing their anniversary date, he admits he forgot the date. She is so upset, she decides she will not go to the party with Ricky. On the evening of the party, she attends it with her mother, and they are escorted by Bobby the bellboy. During the party before he sings, Ricky admits he apologized to his wife about forgetting the date and sings "Anniversary Waltz" to Lucy. He convinces her to dance with him and she melts in his arms.
Songs: Anniversary Waltz; La Vie En Rose (instrumental)
Cast: Bobby Jellison as Bobby; Kathryn Card as Mrs. McGillicuddy; Ross Elliott as Ross.
THE STAR UPSTAIRS
Episode #122, Aired April 18, 1955
As Lucy writes in her trip diary, she adds up that they've seen 99 movie stars so far and needs one more to make 100. On just the previous Friday, she saw number 99, when they went to the Farmer's Market and saw Robert Taylor squeezing oranges. Naturally, Lucy got him to autograph an orange. When Ethel reads in the paper that a well-known star is resting at a local hotel and the name of the secret hiding place begins with the name of "Beverly", Lucy is sure the star is hiding there at the Beverly Palms. Ricky reminds her that it could also be the Beverly Hills Hotel or the Beverly Wiltshire Hotel. Lucy asks Bobby, the bellboy, if he knows of a star hiding out in her hotel. He accidentally lets the cat out of the bag when he finally says Cornel Wilde is up in the Penthouse. Lucy is dying to get a look at him but Ricky tells her to forget it. Later, Lucy blackmails Bobby into letting her borrow his outfit so she can deliver Cornel his newspaper. When she gets to his room, he is in the bathtub so, without looking at him, she throws his paper into the tub water and this gets Bobby into trouble. Next, she convinces Bobby to let her hide under the lunch table he wheels into Cornel's room. From under the table she sneaks into Cornel's balcony and when he takes a nap he locks the balcony door. Lucy finally gets a short look at him through the glass, but she now has to climb over the balcony to get back to her suite with Ethel catching her on the way. Ricky interrupts the rescue when he returns to his hotel suite and Ethel diverts his attention by telling him of a cake recipe. Meanwhile, Lucy falls past her balcony and down toward the ground. Seeing this, Ethel rushes out to help Lucy. In a moment, Cornel phones Ricky to come and play gin. When Lucy safely returns to her room, it was a palm tree that broke her fall. Soon, Ricky phones Lucy to come and meet Cornel but first she has to get herself de-palmed. By the time she is ready, Ricky returns and says Cornel is gone - they had found evidence of a prowler in his balcony!
Songs: When Irish Eyes are Smiling
Cast: Cornel Wilde; Bobby Jellison as Bobby
IN PALM SPRINGS
Episode #123, Aired April 25, 1955
Just as plans have been made for their time in Palm Springs, Lucy reads in the paper that Rock Hudson is also there after returning from a personal appearance tour. Ricky mentions he spoke to Rock at lunch recently and Lucy is amazed at his hob-knobbing with celebrities. Ricky says they're just like anybody else. Lucy continues with her paper and reads about a husband and his bad habit of cracking his knuckles. The foursome discover they all possess an irritating habit for their spouses: Ricky tapping his fingers which used to set Lucy's teeth on edge; Lucy constantly stirring her coffee with a tinkling sound; Ethel eating with a lot of noise and Fred jingling his keys in his pocket. They decide they need a break from each other and that the girls will be the ones to go to sunny Palm Springs. However, while there, the girls find out that they are in the first rainfall during that month in Palm Springs in 20 years. Being stuck inside together causes the girls' habits, of eating noisily and clinking the coffee cup, to irritate each other, causing them to miss their husbands. Back in Los Angeles the men face the same rain and their own bad habits but Ricky gets a call from Dore Schary's secretary asking him to meet Dore in Palm Springs about a picture. The men head to Palm Springs, and find Lucy and Ethel now sunning at the pool. They've brought Rock Hudson to the pool and they whisper a scheme to Rock, who then joins the girls. Rock introduces himself and tells them a tragic story of Adele and Sam, a married couple dealing with a whistling habit, which sends the girls into tears. Ricky and Fred now feel safe to approach their softened up wives since, before this, they had not known how the girls would feel about them. When Ricky asks where Dore might be, Lucy uses her phony voice to show that she pretended to be the secretary phoning, so as to get the men to go to Palm Springs, and all are happy to be together again.
Cast: Rock Hudson; Joseph (and Michael) Mayer as Little Ricky; Kathryn Card as Mrs. McGillicuddy
DANCING STAR
Episode #125, Aired May 2, 1955
Lucy is upset that Caroline Appleby is arriving in town today and wants to meet all the movie stars Lucy blabbed (fibbed) to her about. Since Van Johnson is now asleep by the pool, Ethel and Lucy eventually throw out their idea of how to get him up to their room so Caroline could meet him. When Lucy gets a call that Caroline is now coming up to her room, she gets another idea. From her room, looking down at Van they cannot tell if he is asleep or not so Lucy will go to the pool and pretend to be talking to the sleeping star. Ethel would then take Caroline to the balcony to look down on Lucy and Van, and then Lucy would return to her room. This works well, until Van awakens, sending Lucy quickly back to her room where she greets Caroline. Since Caroline has lost her glasses on the plane, she had only seen two red-headed blurs by the pool. To sooth Caroline, Lucy untruthfully says that Van asked her to rehearse with him for his show he's doing at the nightclub in the hotel, however, she could let Ethel bring Caroline to the rehearsal to watch. Happy with this, Caroline leaves to return later for the rehearsal. Ethel is stunned by Lucy's story, but she reminds Ethel that she and Van's partner are both tall and red-haired, and without her glasses, Caroline will not be able to tell that it's not Lucy who's rehearsing with Van. With Ethel waiting for Caroline at Lucy's, while Lucy hides at Ethel's, Caroline arrives and reveals that her glasses have been found. Ethel makes a quick call to Lucy to tell her Caroline can see good now that she has her glasses. Promptly, Lucy rushes to speak to Van at rehearsal to plead with him to let her rehearse and even his partner, Hazel, has not yet arrived. He is not impressed with Lucy until she (truthfully) reveals that she has seen his show 14 times and knows how his partner does the number. Caroline and Ethel happily watched the two dance. Upon finding out that Caroline leaves that evening, Lucy, to impress her friend, lies about hosting an open house full of movie stars which Caroline will miss being at the next day. They give their farewells to each other and then Van calls and asks Lucy to dance with him this evening as his partner is ill. After the show, Lucy is surprised to be congratulated by Caroline who has not left town yet. She could not leave and miss Lucy's celebrity party the next day. (Lucy will have another mess to get out of).
Songs: How About You?
Cast: Van Johnson; Doris Singleton as Caroline Appleby; Marco Rizo as pianist.
LUCY AND HARPO MARX
Episode #124, Aired May 9, 1955
As Lucy pleads with Ricky to bring some movie stars home so Caroline can meet them before she goes to Hawaii, he refuses by saying she should not have written such bragging letters to her pal about hob knobbing with the stars. Ethel and Lucy decide they'll have to get Caroline's glasses away from her so that Lucy can dress as celebrities, using movie star masks from the magic shop on the boulevard. Lucy will use Ethel's room to change into her costumes. After the girls get Caroline's glasses off of her, Lucy leaves to pretend she's getting things ready for the stars to arrive. She soon returns as Gary Cooper; then as Clark Gable. Meanwhile, Harpo Marx, who was appearing at a luncheon at the hotel, runs into Ricky and Fred at the pool. Ricky asks him to go to his suite, Room 315, to impress Caroline and Lucy. In the meantime, Lucy has appeared as Bing Crosby and Walter Pidgeon. She next dresses as Jimmy Durante, but when she is gone to change into her next costume, Harpo drops in as Ricky requested, and visits with Caroline and Ethel. When he leaves to get his harp, Caroline goes to fix her face and Lucy comes in as Harpo and is surprised to hear that the real star will soon return. She hides in the kitchen while Harpo plays his harp. After Carolyn leaves, he is confused when he spies Lucy in the kitchen. While investigating this 'imposter', he and Lucy perform a mirror routine but her disguise is discovered when she errs with the dropping of the hat. Ricky and Fred enter the room as Groucho and Chico Marx to thrill the now departed Caroline and Lucy and Harpo cleverly reveal which of them is the real Harpo.
Songs: Take Me Out to the Ballgame
Cast: Harpo Marx; Doris Singleton as Caroline Appleby
RICKY NEEDS AN AGENT
Episode #126, Aired May 16, 1955
Lucy is tired of Ricky's movie career going nowhere. She's sure the movie studio is never going to give him a picture when they're sending him out to do things like crowning the queen of the auto show or judging a dog show instead. She insists he demand they give him a picture to star in. He reminds her the studio is paying him to do these publicity stunts. Without telling Ricky, she decides to be his agent, the stern Miss McGillicuddy, who'll go to the studio and fight for him. She requests a meeting with the Vice President in charge of Ricky at MGM and attends a meeting with Walter Reilly to discuss Ricky's contract. Reilly outlines that the studio is keeping Ricky's name before the public until they can put him in a picture. She believes the studio will quickly star Ricky if they hear he's wanted elsewhere, so she makes up a story that famous producers want him in a musical on Broadway. Reilly phones Dore Schary and they decide not to stand in the way, and they release him from his contract. Boy, is Lucy surprised! She unsuccessfully tries to get him to change his mind by suggesting that Ricky star in remakes with such titles as: "Gone with the Cuban Wind", "Andy Hardy Meets a Conga Player", "Three Cubans in a Fountain", "Meet Me In St. Ricky", "A Streetcar Named Ricardo" and "Arsenic and Old Ricky". Lucy feels she must break the news to Ricky, and he takes out his anger on the bric-a-brac in their room. Upon speaking with the Mertzes, she utters those four horrible words, "I've got an idea" and calls Reilly to warn him of a woman in town claiming that she's Ricky's agent. He convinces her that Ricky will remain at MGM. When Ricky comes home, he tells Lucy he got an agent and a job at another studio, which will also give Lucy a contract. It's her turn to throw around the knickknacks, but he tells her he's kidding and that MGM told him everything is straightened out. He and Lucy embrace with great relief.
Cast: Parley Baer as Walter Reilly; Helen Kleeb as Miss Klein
THE TOUR
Episode #127, Aired May 30, 1955
Ricky will not let Lucy join him for lunch with Richard Widmark at Romanoff's so Ethel convinces her to go on a bus trip through Beverly Hills to see movie star homes instead. They view the homes of stars like Bob Hope and Joan Crawford. When the bus stops at Lexington, the bus driver points out a home, by a high wall, that belongs to Richard Widmark. Lucy wishes to have a grapefruit she sees growing in his back yard over the wall, so it can go with the orange she had Robert Taylor sign. She asks the driver to let them get off the bus to pick a grapefruit but then he drives off without them. Though it's not mentioned, Lucy and Ethel walk across the lawn in front of Lucille Ball's house as they head toward the wall. At the wall, Ethel helps Lucy climb up so she can pick a grapefruit but she falls over it, into Widmark's backyard and she cannot find a way out except to sneak through the house to meet Ethel at the front door. When the maid in the house answers the phone, Lucy has to hide in the trophy room, which features Widmark's results of his big game hunting sport, portrayed upon the walls of the room. Meanwhile, Ethel calls Fred to come and help when she sees no sign of Lucy after an hour of waiting, but also because Widmark just drove by and had Ricky with him. Mr. Widmark gives Ricky a tour of the home and introduces him to his big dog, Cap. By the time they reach the trophy room, Lucy is hiding in the bearskin rug on the floor, until the dog lies on her which promotes her to try to escape. The men then discover her. While she tries to explain why she's there, Fred and Ethel arrive to rescue her, dressed as a doctor and nurse from the mental hospital. Since Lucy's explanation satisfies the star and her husband, she asks Widmark to autograph the grapefruit she picked.
Cast: Richard Widmark; Benny Rubin as driver; Juney Ellis as maid; Barbara Pepper and Audrey Betz as bus women
© Copyright 2015 Everything Imagination, LLC with additional credit going out to Mike Broad for the initial research and writing of this guide.
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