I Love Lucy Episode Guide

[ Season 1, 1951-52 ]	[ Season 2, 1952-53 ]	[ Season 3, 1953-54 ]
[ Season 4, 1954-55 ]	[ Season 5, 1955-56 ]	[ Season 6, 1956-57 ]

The Sixth Season

 

LUCY MEETS BOB HOPE
Episode #154, Aired Oct. 1, 1956

Fred's going to take Lucy, Ethel and Little Ricky to the ballgame at Yankee Stadium this afternoon. Ricky has recently bought a piece of the Tropicana Night Club and the opening of the new club is coming up the next night. Ricky changed the name of the club to Club Babalu and he has Bob Hope for the opening night guest. All Lucy knows is that Ricky was trying to get Bob for the opening but she has not been told yet that it's all set. Lucy returns from shopping for the opening but Ricky does not let her know Bob is doing his show. At the ballgame Lucy sees Bob and dresses as a hotdog vendor to make a sale to Bob and convince him to be at Ricky's opening. Meanwhile Ricky is at the Club wondering why the tile flooring is not done. He's been told to go to Yankee Stadium because Bob wants to meet him there to go over material for the opening. At the ballgame Lucy does not get to discuss Ricky's show when Bob gets hit on the head by a baseball. While he is recovering from the hit, Ricky meets up with Bob. Lucy dressed as a baseball player searches out Bob. Ricky secretly lets Bob know the player is Lucy and she explains to Ricky she was there to convince Bob to be in the show. Bob says he has a number about baseball he can do that uses three people and decides Lucy can join he and Ricky in the number but during the number at the opening Lucy's spiked shoes get stuck in the new tile floor.

Songs: Nobody Loves The Ump; Thanks For the Memory.
Cast: Bob Hope; Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Lou Krugman as Manager at the Club, Maxine Semon as woman at ballgame, Bennett Green as hot dog vendor.

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LITTLE RICKY LEARNS TO PLAY THE DRUMS
Episode #157, Aired October 8, 1956

Lucy claims Little Ricky is only trying to get the oatmeal off his spoon when he begins beating a tune on his bowl with his spoon. Ricky claims, on the other hand, that Little Ricky has a drummer's talent. Lucy wishes that their son go into a doctor's profession. Ethel comes and borrows Lucy's black fox stole to wear to the theatre for Saturday night. Ricky gives Fred his pair of the theatre tickets, having invited the Mertzes to go with them. Ethel suggests the Ricardos let the child decide for himself what kind of a career he'd like. However, Ricky has a drum delivered and Lucy gets Little Ricky a doctor's outfit and kit that Ricky catches his son wearing. Soon the child begins beating on the drum Ricky had delivered to the apartment. Lucy tries to discourage him but he wants to play with the drum and not the doctor's kit. His constant beating on the drum for four days frazzles the nerves of the Ricardos and the Mertzes causing a big disagreement between the families. Fred had even resorted to wearing earmuffs to cover the noise and eventually he threatens that the Ricardos will be evicted for disturbing the peace. Fred returns the theatre tickets to Ricky while Ethel returns Lucy's 'moth eaten fur'. Fred says he has ways of getting rid of undesirable tenants. On Saturday, the Ricardos plan to leave for the theatre at 7:30 pm and Mrs. Trumbull will baby sit at her own apartment. Soon, Lucy and Ricky find that the gas and electricity has been shut off by Fred. He had even turned off the water while Ricky was showering. Ricky goes to turn on the emergency valve in the back porch thus getting Lucy wet while trying to find a towel in the shower. They won't be able to go out now for the evening. They get even by playing their son's drum, Ricky's congo drum and laundry tubs loudly so the Mertzes can hear. Mrs. Trumbull comes up to get Little Ricky and can't find him. The search for the child brings the families back together again and Little Ricky is found asleep on the Mertz's couch, wearing Fred's earmuffs to block out the noise.

Cast: Elizabeth Patterson as Mrs. Trumbull, Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky.

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LUCY MEETS ORSON WELLES
Episode #155, Aired October 15, 1956

Ricky is going to let Lucy go to Florida, only so that she won't bother Orson Welles who will be performing with Ricky at a charity benefit at the Club. She finds out about the benefit when she runs into Orson at Macy's while getting him to autograph his Shakespearean record album. He told her he was sorry she could not help him out in his act at the benefit because Ricky told him she was going to Florida. She changes her mind about her trip so she can help out Orson in the show. He invites her to rehearsal and tells her he wants her to assist in his magician act but she had been thinking he wanted to play Shakespeare with her and had already invited her high school dramatic teacher to the show to watch them perform. Even though Orson and Lucy do only the levitation trick during his magic show, she sneaks in Shakespeare lines during the act anyway to impress her teacher.

Cast: Orson Welles, Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Lou Krugman as Paul, Ellen Corby as Miss Hannah, Hazel Pierce as customer at Macy's.

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LITTLE RICKY GETS STAGE FRIGHT
Episode #156, Aired October 22, 1956

Little Ricky gets stage fright at his first drum recital. So Lucy tries to encourage the child to play again by putting the drums out in the open, to see if he'll play them again. She feels he'll have to play in public again as soon as possible to get over his stage fright. But he does not return to his drums. Fred and Ethel bring Little Ricky a present, a teddy bear that plays the drum; they felt he might take the hint from the bear and play the drums again himself. Ricky uses it to talk to his son about playing at The Babalu, in front of people, and he convinces him that no one will laugh at him. For the show, when the boy who plays the ukulele gets the measles and can't perform, Lucy fills in for him because Little Ricky insists he won't play if there isn't a ukulele in the show.

Songs. Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue (Has Anybody Seen My Gal?).
Cast. Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Howard McNear as Mr. Crawford, Marjorie Bennett as Mrs. Van Fossen.

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VISITOR FROM ITALY
Episode #158, Aired October 29, 1956

Lucy and Ricky's visitor is Mario Orsatti, whom they met on their trip to Italy. He has come to surprise his brother in New York. It is believed (mostly by Lucy) that his brother has gone to San Francisco. Mario decides to get a job to make money so he can get to the west coast. While working making pizza, the Bureau of Immigration prevents him from finishing his days at work, so Lucy fills in for him.

Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Jay Novello as Mario Orsatti, Louis Nicoletti as the waiter.

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OFF TO FLORIDA
Episode #159, Aired November 12, 1956

Ricky, Little Ricky and Fred go ahead to Florida to go fishing leaving Ethel and Lucy to join them about three days later. Ricky and his band will be appearing at The Eden Roc Hotel. When the time comes for the girls to go, Lucy can't find their train tickets. She and Ethel count their money and find it's not enough to buy two more tickets. They share a ride to Florida with Mrs. Grundy who was looking for passengers to share the cost of the drive. Lucy and Ethel jump to the conclusion that Mrs. Grundy is a famous gray-haired hatchet murderer after finding a hatchet in her car trunk while changing a tire. When the girls fall asleep, Mrs. Grundy hears on the news that the hatchet murderer dyed her gray hair red and is heading south with a blonde companion and she suspects Lucy and Ethel of being the criminals. They stop at a coffee shop for help and Mrs. Grundy sneaks away in the car and leaves the girls stranded. Lucy and Ethel hitch-hike to North Miami on a poultry truck to meet the boys and find that Little Ricky had placed the lost train tickets in a safe place: his wallet.

Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Elsa Lanchester as Mrs. Edna Grundy, Strother Martin as man in coffee shop.

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DEEP-SEA FISHING
Episode #160, Aired November 19, 1956

In Miami Beach, Ricky and Fred are upset that they can't catch fish. The girls left them a note that they've gone shopping so Ricky suggests to Fred they take them fishing with them next time so they can't go shopping. The girls find they've spent too much out of their clothing allowance. Lucy's idea is to tell the boys to take them fishing with them, thinking the boys will refuse and the girls will say if they can't go fishing they'll go shopping and when the boys come back from fishing, the girls will show them all the packages they just now bought and the men won't be able to say a word about it. When Lucy does ask the men if they can go fishing too, the men say it's fine. Lucy makes a bet that the women will catch a bigger fish than the men, thinking that if they win the bet, it will help pay for their new clothes. Lucy suggests the women have their own boat and Ricky agrees. But the men and women catch each other with a large fish and realize each were going to deceive the other by pretending to have caught the biggest fish. So they go fishing in one boat to keep it honest. On the boat, when Lucy realizes there is a fish on her line, Ricky's fishing line goes overboard and he jumps into the water after it. Lucy reels in Ricky's fishing line and he is holding onto it. Inside Ricky's shirt is a fish so the girls win the bet because the fish was on Ricky and Lucy caught Ricky.

Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky.

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DESERT ISLAND
Episode #161, Aired November 26, 1956

The two couples are still in Miami Beach, and again at the Eden Roc Hotel. Lucy and Ethel want to stop the men from judging a 5 pm bathing beauty contest, but prior to that they have all planned to go for a boat ride. Ricky has also announced he has just signed to be in a movie being made there, a documentary about Florida from the early days to the present. He and the band will be playing as part of the present days of Florida. For the boat ride, to prevent the men from getting to the contest, Lucy fills a thermos with gasoline and another thermos with lemon-aide. She told the boatman to give them only half of a tank of gas so that in the middle of ocean, the boat will run out of gas. She'll then 'discover' the gas in the thermos at the time that the contest will be over, and they'll be able to return to the hotel. On the boat before leaving shore, Ricky finds the thermos of gas and, with it being dangerous to have in a thermos, he removes it from the boat prior to them heading out toward the ocean. When the boat runs out of gas while their out in the water, he finds out that Lucy had placed a thermos of gas on board in order to use it only after the contest was over, thus preventing the husbands from judging the beauties. However, now the thermos of gas is no longer on board so they drift to an island. The men go search out the island and Ricky thinks he sees a giant native. He finds out it's actor Claude Akins whom Ricky remembers making a picture with out in Hollywood. Claude is dressed as a native because he's filming the picture "The Florida Story". Ricky tells him he's in the same picture. With the movie company on the island, Ricky will be able to borrow some gas. He asks Claude to scare the wives to pay them back for causing trouble with the gasoline on the boat. Furthermore, Lucy finds out the beauty contest the men were eager to judge, has been put off until the next day.

Cast: Claude Akins, Joi Lansing and Jil Jarmyn as themselves; Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky.

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THE RICARDOS VISIT CUBA
Episode #162, Aired December 3, 1956

The Ricardos and Mertzes fly to Havana, Cuba where Lucy will meet Ricky's large family; which she's very nervous about because she hopes they like her. Lucy will meet up with Ricky's mother again. Ricky has also been asked to appear at the Casino Parisien. The main relative she has to impress is Uncle Alberto, as he is the head of the family and he practically raised Ricky. At the family reunion, Lucy is so nervous she ruins Uncle Alberto's hat, accidentally calls him a big fat pig by mispronouncing her Spanish, makes him spill punch on his white jacket and she sits on his cigars. Later, she goes shopping for a box of cigars for Uncle Alberto but steps on the cigars in the store and forgot to bring money to pay for them. When Alberto comes into the store, Lucy hides by disguising herself as one of the cigar makers sitting in the store. Unfortunately the cigar she makes turns out to be far too long and she escapes out of the store. At the Casino, Ricky performs a solo, then sings 'Babalu' with Little Ricky. Alberto is so impressed with the child that he forgives Lucy whose son is such a talented performer.

Songs: Babalu; A Lucky Guy.
Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, George Trevino as Uncle Alberto, Mary Emery as Ricky's mother, Barbara Logan as stewardess.

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LITTLE RICKY'S SCHOOL PAGEANT
Episode #163, Aired December 17, 1956

Lucy returns from a PTA meeting with information about a pageant called "The Enchanted Forest" which will be presented by the children at Little Ricky's school. The next day when Little Ricky returns from school he says he got a little part in the pageant. Later on during the week, Ricky goes to a father's meeting at school about the pageant where they'll get their assignments on helping with the pageant. He returns from the meeting to inform Lucy and the Mertzes that he'll play a hollow tree in "The Enchanted Forest", and Lucy is to play the witch, Ethel the fairy princess and Fred a frog. Soon Little Ricky brings home a note from the teacher asking if Little Ricky can play the lead. Ricky isn't sure such a young boy could handle the lead, but Lucy thinks otherwise. When Little Ricky has trouble remembering lines while they rehearse at home, Ricky is more certain now that the role is too large for his son to memorize in only two days. Lucy feels that she, or Ricky or the Mertzes can help him onstage if he forgets his lines. During the show, which features dancing rabbits, owls and a skunk, Little Ricky gets help with his lines from the Ricardos and Mertzes. In the pageant, the witch doesn't like little children but she has no power when the fairy princess arrives. The fairy princess banishes the witch from the forest until she promises to love little children and live by the code of the Enchanted Forest. In the end, Little Ricky helps Lucy remember her lines in her final speech!

Songs: The Witch Has Changed From Bad To Good.
Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Candy Rogers Schoenberger as Suzy.

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I LOVE LUCY CHRISTMAS SHOW
Aired December 24, 1956

The Ricardos decorate their apartment for Santa's arrival that night. They encourage Little Ricky to go to bed and soon the Mertzes are helping the Ricardos decorate the Christmas tree that Fred bought for $5.00. As Ethel and Lucy sort out the tree decorations, Lucy notices one of the branches on the tree should be cut off so it'll have better balance. Soon she sees more branches that need to be trimmed. Lucy and Ricky have had wonderful Christmas times with the Mertzes and those days are even better now that Little Ricky has come along. Lucy and Ricky remember (through a flashback scene) how Lucy almost didn't get to tell Ricky she was going to have a baby because he was so busy and she ended up having to go to the nightclub to tell him. By now Fred had gotten so carried away with Lucy's story that he cut off too many tree branches. Ethel sends him out to buy another tree. When they sing "Jingle Bells", Lucy's off-key singing reminds them (by a flashback) of their Barbershop performance where Lucy was hiding under a sheet in a barber chair. Fred returns with a tree that cost only 50 cents due to the lateness of the evening. While getting the ornaments ready for the tree, they reminisce about the night (through flashback) that Lucy went to the hospital to have the baby. On Christmas morning, Little Ricky plays with his new bike and drums. The Ricardos and Mertzes, all dressed as Santas, hide in the kitchen and decide one of them should go in the living room to see Little Ricky. But they find a fifth Santa Claus in the kitchen who does not have a fake beard like theirs, and he mysteriously disappears into thin air!

Songs: Rock-a-bye Baby; We're Having a Baby; Jingle Bells; Sweet Adeline.
Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Cameron Grant as Santa Claus.

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LUCY AND THE LOVING CUP
Episode #164, Aired January 7, 1957

Ricky has been asked to be MC at a banquet and is to present a loving cup trophy to Johnny Longden for his riding accomplishments from the National Turf Association for winning more races than any other jockey in the world. When Lucy returns from shopping for a new hat and dress for the banquet, Fred and Ricky laugh at her hat. Ricky says she'd look better wearing the trophy. He has business to do before the banquet so Lucy will bring the cup to the event. She puts the trophy on her head and kiddingly asks if it's suitable to wear to the banquet. When the men leave, she and Ethel cannot get the trophy off Lucy's head. Ethel takes Lucy on the subway to a silversmith to cut it off with a blowtorch. To cover the trophy, Lucy wears a hat and a veil over it on the subway. She gets lost in the crowd of people when they exit the subway and ends up back on the subway again, without Ethel, and eventually loses the hat and veil. She gets off at Flatbush Avenue and a policeman escorts her to the banquet, still with the loving cup on her head. The cup is, unfortunately for Ricky, presented to Johnny this way!

Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Johnny and Hazel Longden as themselves, Sandra Gould as woman suggesting tennis, Jesslyn Fax as Brooklyn woman.

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LUCY AND SUPERMAN
Episode #166, Aired January 14, 1957

Little Ricky wants Superman to come to his birthday party on Saturday; the TV hero is making personal appearances that week at Macy's Department Store. Little Ricky's Godparents, the Mertzes, provide the favors for the party but Fred is acting a little stingy about the cost, since they have not yet rented the apartment next door to the Ricardos. Caroline and Charlie Appleby will soon be dropping by. Their son Stevie is Little Ricky's best friend so Lucy will be inviting him to the party Saturday. During the visit with the Applebys, they tell the Ricardos that Stevie has a birthday coming and will be 5 years old next week and they want to invite Little Ricky to his birthday party. Unfortunately, both birthday parties are on Saturday but since neither of the boys were born on Saturday, one of the women will change the date of their party; Stevie's birthday is Thursday and Ricky's is Monday. The women argue about which child's party will be held Saturday and about which child was born first and Caroline reveals that Stevie was born in California, though they now are living in New York. Neither parent will give in to change the date of their party. Stevie's party will have a clown, a magician and a puppet show. Lucy is afraid all the kids will go to Stevie's party and not to Ricky's, so she gets the idea that Superman could come to Little Ricky's party since Ricky had met him when they were in Hollywood. She asks Ricky to invite Superman and she phones Caroline to tell her Superman will be at Little Ricky's party. Caroline decides she'll change Stevie's party to another day so Stevie can see Superman too at Ricky's party. Later Ricky calls to say Superman can't come due to another commitment in Indiana, and he's flying out on Saturday. She decides she'll dress up like Superman and get dressed up in the empty apartment next door. She'll go out the window and walk along the ledge so she can enter her apartment through her window. In order to hide her red hair Lucy has to wear a helmet. While out on the ledge outside her apartment during the party, she sees that Ricky has brought the real Superman who has arrived so he wouldn't disappoint the kids for the birthday party. When it begins to rain, Superman rescues Lucy from off the ledge.

Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, George Reeves as Superman, Doris Singleton as Caroline, George O'Hanlon as Charlie, Steve Kay as Stevie Appleby, Madge Blake as Martha, Ralph Dumke as husband.

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LITTLE RICKY GETS A DOG
Episode #165, Aired January 21, 1957

The Mertzes have rented an apartment to Mr. Stewart, a bachelor, whom Ethel describes as an old grouch. Later, Little Ricky comes home with one of Billy Palmer's six puppies. Because it's so lovable, Lucy finally decides to keep the dog. Ricky is firmer as he knows they cannot keep a dog in the apartment. Soon, he warms up to keeping the dog too. Fred reminds them, however, that there is a no pet clause in their lease. When Little Ricky names the dog 'Fred', Mr. Mertz feels he cannot force the dog to go. When the puppy barks too much throughout the night, Lucy tries to keep him quiet due to the Mertzes receiving complaints about the barking. When there is more continual barking, the Mertzes arrive to tell the Ricardos that Mr. Stewart has threatened to move already because of the noise, and they insist that the little dog has to go. Lucy and Ricky can't come up with the courage to get rid of the dog, so Lucy hides the puppy in a large Mexican-type hat when Fred and temperamental Mr. Stewart arrive to check over her apartment. Mr. Stewart threatens to take back his first and last month's rent if the dog is still there. The dog is discovered, but Fred has been slowly losing his patience with Mr. Stewart. He tells the new tenant he'd rather live with a little dog than a big grouch, and gives him back his $250 check and tells him to leave. When Fred suddenly realizes the money he lost, he faints.

Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, John Emery as Mr. Stewart.

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LUCY WANTS TO MOVE TO THE COUNTRY
Episode #167, Aired January 28, 1957

Lucy wants to move to the country after visiting Grace Munson in Connecticut. Grace even took the Ricardos to see a quaint old early American home that was for sale, but Ricky does not want to move. Later, when Lucy is out of the room putting Little Ricky to bed, Ricky confesses to the Mertzes that he bought that house that was for sale, for his and Lucy's sixteenth wedding anniversary which is coming up the following week. He has already given a $500 deposit on the house. Ethel can't hide her tears, now knowing that the Ricardos will be moving and when Lucy notices Ethel's sadness, Ricky gives Lucy the surprise news about the house he bought. Now in tears herself, Lucy can't bear to leave Ethel and asks Ricky to get his deposit back. When Ricky tries this, the seller, Mr. Spaulding, refuses to return the money because a deal is a deal. When Ricky leaves to go to the Club, Lucy and the Mertzes think out a scheme to make the Ricardos look undesirable and perhaps, then, the Spauldings would not want them to have the house and maybe refund their money. They show up at the house as gangsters and the owners now feel it might not be the right house for the Ricardos after all. Mr. Spaulding goes to get the $500 check to give to Lucy, but he returns with a rifle, threatening to call the police, yet still gives Lucy the check. Ricky appears at the door so that he can explain further to the seller about not wanting to move to the country, and comes face to face with Spaulding's rifle. Lucy explains to him why they are pretending to be gangsters, but that they also might now end up in jail. Spaulding soon allows Ricky to meet with him privately to explain his situation. While they are in the next room, Ethel admires the beauty of the home and Lucy melts into loving it again. Spaulding returns with Ricky who has convinced him that they are not gangsters. Lucy now pleads with Ricky to give the owner his check back so that they could buy the house after all. Spaulding accepts it, but charges that it'll cost $500 more to recover from the fright of the presence of 'the gangsters'. Ricky agrees and Lucy is overjoyed but accidentally squirts Mr. Spaulding with Little Ricky's water pistol she's holding. He changes the sum owed to $550 and Lucy reminds Ricky it's all for their happy sixteenth anniversary.

Cast: Eleanor Audley as Eleanor Spaulding, Frank Wilcox as Joe Spaulding.

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LUCY HATES TO LEAVE
Episode #168, Aired February 4, 1957

Ricky is worried about the expenses he'll have now that he bought a house in the country. He is soothed by Lucy being willing to keep her old furniture and not have to buy anything new. The Mertzes begin showing their apartment to potential tenants and have rented it to Mr. and Mrs. Taylor. They will move in only if they can have the apartment the next day but the Ricardos can't get into their new house for four more days. Ethel suggests the Ricardos move in with them and to not worry about storing their furniture somewhere, since the Taylors liked it so much they'd like to buy it. Later Lucy feels the Taylors were going to ruin her furniture so she buys some of it back and the Mertz apartment eventually becomes crowded with all of Lucy's old furniture. They can barely move around each other while going back and forth with food to eat. Ricky soon gets bad news from Mr. Spaulding, the seller of the house - the title search for the house has been delayed for two more weeks. The Ricardos and Mertzes will now remain crowded together for a little longer!

Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Gene Reynolds as Mr. Taylor, Mary Ellen Kaye as Mrs. Taylor.

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LUCY MISSES THE MERTZES
Episode #169, Aired February 11, 1957

The Ricardos leave the Mertz apartment and move into their home in the country. Lucy has Ethel's apartment key and Ethel has their house key. Lucy and Ricky find it hard to sleep through the quiet in their new home. The next day when they need help with things around the house they automatically call out for the Mertzes, forgetting that they're not so near anymore. The same thing happens to the Mertzes. When the Ricardos have spent one day and a half in their new home, Little Ricky and his dog, Fred, are invited to stay overnight with Billy Munson. This leaves Lucy and Ricky wondering what to do that evening, all alone in the country. Lucy suggests going to the city to see the Mertzes. The bored Mertzes head to the country by train to surprise the Ricardos. Ricky and Lucy drive to the train station to take it into the city, and will call the Mertzes from the station because their phone is not hooked up yet. The Mertzes don't answer their phone so Ricky and Lucy return home and go to bed. Meanwhile, the Mertzes use the house key Lucy gave them and assume the Ricardos are away with the house lights being dark. They wait until the Ricardos return. The Ricardos hear noises the Mertzes are making downstairs and assume they have a burglar. The Mertzes hide in the closet in the living room, after hearing noises made by Ricky and Lucy upstairs. They think a thief is upstairs. The Ricardos go out their door to search around the outside of the house. Upon hearing no more noises the Mertzes leave the house through the opposite door. The Ricardos come back into the house but hear someone trying to come in through the door; they hide in the closet. The Mertzes come in to pick up their forgotten items and the wind blows the door shut with a loud bang. They hide in the closet too, and run into the Ricardos in there. They all exit the closet and embrace in tears, glad to see each other again.

Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Tristram Coffin as Harry Munson.

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LUCY GETS CHUMMY WITH THE NEIGHBORS
Episode #170, Aired February 18, 1957

Lucy raves about her neighbors Ralph and Betty Ramsey and their son Bruce but Ricky tells her to not get too friendly with the neighbors too fast. She gets ideas from Betty about re-decorating the house, which Ricky isn't pleased about, but he'll let her buy $500 worth of new furniture. When Ricky goes off to work by train, Betty drops in and tells Lucy that Ralph can get her a great deal on new furniture. Lucy can't get up the nerve to say she's only allowed to buy $500 worth, and ends up allowing Betty to talk her into buying $1875.50 worth of furniture and even more with an added footstool and den furniture. When the new furniture arrives, Lucy calls Ethel's home at Skylar 4-8098 in NYC, asking her to come over and help because she has now spent over three thousand dollars on new furniture. She feels Ricky might not be so mad if Ethel is with her. Ricky unexpectedly comes home when he forgets his key and Lucy is forced to explain the whole mess to him of her spending $3272.65 for furniture. She explains that Betty was able to get her good prices and Ricky reminds her that he said not to get too chummy with the neighbors too fast. He says the furniture has to be returned and to tell Betty they can't afford it. Betty drops in and Lucy, instead of telling the truth, tries to make up an excuse, so she suggests that the furniture does not suit the house and thinks it needs Chinese modern furniture with low black tables and cushions thrown all around because they love to eat on the floor. Betty is offended and thinks Lucy doesn't like her taste in furniture and leaves in a huff. Ricky takes it upon himself that he'll tell Betty's husband they just can't afford the furniture. Upon meeting for the first time, Ralph reveals to Ricky that he works for the agency of Burton, Washman and Ramsey and tells Ricky he has suggested his name for a guest shot on a TV show. Ricky cannot bring himself to explain properly thats he can't afford the furniture and Ralph, therefore, misunderstands and they get into an argument. The Mertzes arrive to help, and to end the arguments, reveals the truth to the Ramseys. Betty then announces she can't afford furniture either and Ralph tells Ricky he could still have that TV job in one of his shows, a guest appearance that pays $3500. Lucy calculates that this would be enough to pay for the new furniture and Ricky tells her it's all right.

Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Parley Baer as Mr. Perry, Mary Jane Croft as Betty; Frank Nelson as Ralph, Ray Ferrell as Bruce.

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LUCY RAISES CHICKENS
Episode #171, Aired March 4, 1957

Ricky finds his house bills are too expensive and even the food bills, now that the Mertzes visit them every weekend, so Lucy suggests they raise chickens to make money. Betty informs Lucy that she told a friend, who writes for "House and Garden" magazine, about Lucy's house and she'd love to see it and if she likes it she'll do a whole spread of pictures of Lucy's house in her magazine. The Ricardos reveal their chicken-raising idea to the Mertzes and Fred believes they should hire someone with experience to handle it, and there would be no need to give them a salary if they would give the worker a place to live and share the profit with them. Lucy suggests a chicken helper could live in their guesthouse and the Ricardos then advertise. The Mertzes apply for the job and are hired; Fred had been raised on a farm. To take care of the Mertz apartment, Mrs. Trumbull's sister wants to move in and manage the building for them. Lucy and Ethel get 500 baby chicks but, unfortunately, the hen house was not yet ready. Because chicks need heat, they are brought into Lucy's house and happen to still be there, wandering all over, the day Betty brings over the people from "House and Garden" magazine. They turn away, uninterested in Lucy's messy home. Lucy continues to tend to her chickens in tears, highly disappointed at her luck with the magazine.

Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky; Mary Jane Croft as Betty; Mary Alan Hokenson as magazine writer, Tyler McVey as a man from "House and Garden".

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LUCY DOES THE TANGO
Episode #172, Aired March 11, 1957

Lucy and Ricky are rehearsing a tango for Little Ricky's PTA. Ethel drops in and she and Lucy are getting excited about being able to sell their chicken eggs soon, but Fred reveals that their chicks won't lay eggs until they're six months old. Lucy suggests they trade in the chicks for full-grown hens that will start laying eggs right away so they can start making an income on the chickens. Once they get the hens, Ricky is worried that they are not laying enough eggs. While eating their egg breakfast, supplied by their new hens, Ricky calculates that with the cost of the feed, the heat and electricity, fixing the hen house and the money they lost switching from chicks to hens, each breakfast is costing $18.00 each. Ricky is going to give the hens one more day to start laying eggs regularly, and if they don't, he is going to get out of the egg business. Lucy thinks up a scheme of buying five dozen eggs, putting them in the chicken nests so it will look like they've started to lay more eggs, and let the husbands discover them. But in order to get the eggs into the hen house, they have to pass Fred who is chopping wood. The girls stuff the eggs into their clothing so they can sneak past Fred. Before they head out to the hen house, Ricky comes downstairs and wants to rehearse the tango again. Lucy is then forced to dance with the hidden eggs in her blouse but they all crush during the tight embrace between she and Ricky at the finish of the number. Dripping with eggs, Lucy must reveal to Ricky her plan to sneak eggs into the nests. Ricky gives an ultimatum that the next day he is getting out of the chicken business. Little Ricky is upset with selling the chickens and he decides he'll hide the 200 chickens from his dad. When Ricky can't find the chickens, he accuses Fred of being a chicken thief. They get into a huge argument, and end up at the Ricardo home, where Ethel finds chickens in Lucy's closet. She's now accusing the Ricardos of being chicken thieves. Lucy gets a phone call from Betty who tells her that her son Bruce's room is full of her chickens. Lucy then gets the truth out of Little Ricky that he had been hiding their chickens because he did not want them to give them away. When Bruce brings over a large basketful of eggs from the chickens in his bedroom, the Ricardos and Mertzes, realizing their chickens are laying eggs now, decide to remain in the chicken business.

Songs: La Cumparsita (instrumental).
Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Ray Ferrell as Bruce.

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RAGTIME BAND
Episode #173, Aired March 18, 1957

Lucy returns from the Westport Historical Society meeting. The Society is having an annual fund-raising drive and Lucy had promised Ricky and his band would play for their show. But she has to butter Ricky up to get him to do it because he won't want to bring his band out to Westport, Connecticut when they have to play for the Club instead. Her plan fails with Ricky, and she decides to let Little Ricky play the drums for the Society, with Ethel on the piano, Fred on violin and Lucy with her saxophone. During rehearsals, they produce a terrible sound and Ricky allows himself to be talked into helping them out with a few tips the night before the show. When they still sound unready to perform, Ricky decides he'll get away from the Club for an hour and bring a couple of the boys and do a calypso number for the show. He'll even use Lucy, Ethel, Fred and Little Ricky in the rhythm section, and Lucy is feeling quite smart about getting her husband to play in the show, as she had planned.

Songs: Man Smart, Woman Smarter; She'll be Comin' 'Round the Mountain; Sweet Sue.
Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky.

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LUCY'S NIGHT IN TOWN
Episode #174, Aired March 25, 1957

Lucy is looking forward to her first trip to NYC since moving to the country 6 weeks ago. The Ricardos and Mertzes will be going to see the Broadway show, "The Most Happy Fella". That day, Ricky goes into town and Fred goes too because it's his day to collect rent on his apartment building. The men will meet the girls at a restaurant at 7:30 pm. The girls get there before the men and Lucy finds out the show tickets she has were for that day's matinee. Ricky is lucky to be able to buy two tickets for that evening's show and Lucy schemes to seat the four of them in only two seats at the show.

Songs: Standing on the Corner; Don't Cry; Big D.
Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Louis Nicoletti as waiter, Doris Packer and John Eldredge as theatre couple, Jody Warner as woman usher, Joseph Kearns as theatre manager, Gladys Hurlbut as woman who lost purse, Paul Power and Hazel Pierce as theatre patrons.

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HOUSEWARMING
Episode #175, Aired April 1, 1957

Fred installs an intercom in Lucy's dining room, Little Ricky's room and at the Mertz house. Now Ethel and Lucy can speak by intercom. During a visit, Ethel gets highly jealous when Lucy tells her Betty Ramsey has invited only the Ricardos, the Munsons and the Baileys to her dinner party. She's only inviting the neighbors that live real close. (The Baileys live four miles away and the Mertzes live four feet away!). Betty just doesn't know Ethel very well yet having met only once and Lucy plans to have Betty and Ethel over for lunch the next day, hoping they can become good friends. At the luncheon, Ethel is suspicious as to who else is coming. When she finds out Betty is invited, Ethel is very icy toward Mrs. Ramsey. Betty suggests that now that the Ricardos home is all set with new furniture, they should have a housewarming party. Forgetting to think of inviting the Mertzes, Betty names off the friends that should come such as the Baileys, Bill and June Spear, the Munsons and the Parkers. Lucy reminds Betty they should invite the Mertzes, but without even knowing the housewarming date, insulted Ethel informs them they can't make it as they're booked up months ahead with such events as The Hired Hands Convention, The Poultry Growers annual ball and The Babysitters Amalgamation. Ethel does not warm up to Betty until she finds out the both of them are from Albuquerque. They converse about their fathers Leslie Foster and Will Potter belonging to the same Lodge, leaving Lucy completely out of their chatter until Betty asks her to bring Little Ethel Potter and she another cup of coffee. Later, Lucy feels further left out when Betty and Ethel go shopping together and have been spending time together for the past few days. Soon, Lucy overhears Ethel and Betty talking, when the intercom is left on by the children, and she erroneously believes the two women are planning a housewarming party for the Ricardos. The Ricardos dress up in good clothes, expecting people to come over for the party, but when no one shows up, Lucy thinks people would be waiting for them to leave so the guests can surprise them upon arriving back home. Lucy goes on the intercom to tell Ethel they will be going into town for about twenty minutes and could she listen through the intercom in case Little Ricky needs anything. Upon arriving back home, there are still no guests, and with Lucy in tears she feels no one is their friend anymore. Ethel hears this on the intercom and quickly gets some neighbors to go over to the Ricardo's, though by the time the guests arrive for the housewarming, it's very late and Lucy, with her hair in curlers, and Ricky, must greet the guests in their pajamas.

Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Mary Jane Croft as Betty Ramsey, Ray Ferrell as Bruce.

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BUILDING A BAR-B-Q
Episode #176, Aired April 8, 1957

While Ricky is home on vacation, the Mertzes help the Ricardos build a barbecue, but Lucy loses her wedding ring and thinks she lost it in the cement used to build the barbecue. Since Ricky would be upset at the loss, Lucy and Ethel take the barbecue apart in the middle of the night, hoping to find the ring.

Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky.

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COUNTRY CLUB DANCE
Episode #177, Aired April 22, 1957

Little Ricky is at the Appleby's until Monday while the Ricardos attend a country club dance they were asked to, by Betty and Ralph Ramsey. The Mertzes and also Harry and Grace Munson and her cousin Diana are going too. At the dance, even before the Munsons arrive, Ricky, Fred and Ralph are already bored and tired. When Grace's cousin, the lovely Diana Jordan, arrives with the Munsons at 11:30 pm, the men jump to life and they all want to dance with her, upsetting their wives. The men happily accept an invitation the next night to the party the Munsons are giving in Diana's honor. Lucy decides the men are interested in Diana because of her glamour and suggests to Ethel and Betty that they also be glamorous. Lucy will wear a tight dress, Betty will wear exotic perfume and Ethel will wear her hair styled like actress Grace Kelly. Meanwhile, the men regret they weren't very nice to their wives the previous night and decide they'll dance every dance with their own wives this time. At the dance the wives are suspicious as to why their husbands are not dancing at all with Diana. They think their husbands are scheming some plan with the young lady and they depart from the dance immediately and go to Lucy's house. At 1:30 am, the women, curious about their husbands with Diana, decide to go back to the dance to see what's going on and apologize and bring their husbands home. Before the wives get to the dance, the men decide they'll go home at 2:00 am so that their wives will think they've been dancing with Diana that long, to get even for their wives running out on them earlier that night. The girls arrive to hear that the party was over at 11:00 pm and listen to the men discuss how they have little in common with a young twenty-year old woman. Having eavesdropped, and finally happily hearing how their husbands truthfully felt about being with Diana, the women pretend to believe the men danced all night with Diana and insist it's now time for their gigolos to quit carrying on all night, and to now come home with their wives.

Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Barbara Eden as Diana Jordan, Mary Jane Croft as Betty, Frank Nelson as Ralph, Ruth Brady as Grace Munson, Tristram Coffin as Harry Munson, Hazel Pierce as club patron.

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LUCY RAISES TULIPS
Episode #178, Aired April 29, 1957

The Garden Club is going to give a prize tomorrow for the best looking garden and Lucy hopes her tulips and roses and lawn will win. Betty Ramsey also has a nice garden and she has won the cup three years in a row. Unfortunately, Ricky has decided to mow the rest of the lawn later so that he can go to a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. Lucy decides to finish the lawn but is not sure how to run a power mower. Once she has the mower on, she does not know how to turn it off and ends up mowing half the lawns down the street. She had even been on the busy Boston Post Road for a mile and a half, riding against traffic. When she returns home, still on the mower, it runs into a hedge and stops, however, coming through the Ramsey's yard, it had plowed through Betty's garden and accidentally cut down Betty's tulips. Feeling bad, Lucy replaces Betty's tulips with real looking wax tulips. By night-time, the men return home and Ricky finishes cutting his lawn in the dark, but could not see Lucy's tulip bed and cuts through it also. He replaces Lucy's tulips with wax ones too. During the judging of the gardens, the sun melts both Betty's and Lucy's tulips, and they are both disqualified.

Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Mary Jane Croft as Betty, Eleanor Audley and Peter Brocco as gardening judges.

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THE RICARDOS DEDICATE A STATUE
Episode #179, Aired May 6, 1957

Lucy is Chairman of the Yankee Doodle Day Celebration with plenty of help from Ethel and their husbands eventually trying on historic costumes. One of Ethel's many duties was to talk to Mr. Silvestri, a sculptor, to be sure a statue for the celebration will be ready for the day after tomorrow. Meanwhile, Lucy is finding out Fred, the dog, has not learned very much in Obedience School. The day arrives when Lucy brings the life-like looking statue home, on a trailer hitched to the car, but Little Ricky fears his dog has run away. Lucy gets into the car to go find the dog with the trailer and statue still hooked to the automobile. Soon there is a crash, caused by Lucy backing into the elm tree and breaking the statue and there is only one hour before the unveiling of the statue at the ceremonies. She sends Fred to look for the dog while she thinks of a way to replace the statue for the celebration. At the event, Ricky gives the speech to unveil and dedicate the statue to commemorate the bravery of the patriots of the Westport community during The Battle of Compo in 1777. As he draws the curtain for the unveiling, it appears that Lucy has stepped in to be a temporary replacement for the statue. Trying to remain still, her secret is given away when Fred, the dog, happily finds her. Seeing this, Ricky is surprised and in disbelief while the citizens grumble, and approach Lucy.

Cast: Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky, Desi Arnaz Jr. as little boy.

 

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© 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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