“Ethel’s Birthday”

(S4;E9 ~ November 29, 1954) Directed by William Asher. Written by

Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed October 7, 1954 at Ren-Mar Studios. Rating: 47.3/66

Synopsis ~ It’s Ethel’s birthday and she gets two memorable presents: Hostess Pants and tickets to the theatre. An argument with Lucy over the former threatens to spoil the latter.  

There are “I Love Lucy” episodes dedicated to Ethel’s birthday, Lucy’s birthday (“Lucy’s Last Birthday” S2;E25), and two about Little Ricky’s birthday (“Lucy Gets Homesick in Italy” S5;E22, and “Lucy and Superman” S6;E13), but apparently only women and children celebrated birthdays in the 1950s, as no episode is devoted to either Ricky or Fred’s birthday, although Fred’s is mentioned during “Too Many Crooks” (S3;E9) as a plot device.

Vivian Vance’s actual birthday was July 26th, but the show was typically on hiatus during July.

The episode opens with Lucy cleaning up Little Ricky’s toys. Among them is Cleo, a goldfish bathtub toy based on a character from Disney’s 1940 film Pinocchio. Ricky had a wet encounter with Cleo when “The Ricardos Change Apartments” (S2;E20).  Little Ricky’s wooden blocks are Hi-Lo Safety Blocks with inter-locking grooves made by Halsam Products Co., which was founded in 1917 by brothers-in-law Harold Elliot and Sam Goss, Jr. (“Hal+Sam”).

Halsam was purchased by Playskool and they discontinued the Hi-Lo blocks in the early 1970s.  

Ethel wants Lucy to help convince Fred to buy her a practical birthday gift. Last year he gave a mystery present that was “too long to be a stole and too short to be a volleyball net.” 

RICKY: “What birthday is it, Ethel?”
ETHEL: “Oh, it’s mine.” 

Ethel forbids Fred from revealing her real age, but Fred clues us in using the birthdays of Speedy Cleaners (40th) and Goldblatt’s Delicatessen (50th). In real-life, Vivian Vance was 45, so the formula works. 

• Note to Lucy and Ethel: Birthdays should not be confused with anniversaries. Birthdays are only for living things, not businesses!  
• Note to Viewers and Readers: Speedy Cleaners should not be confused with Speedy Laundry, which Lucy visits chasing her Bonus Buck! 

The girls drop so many hints about Ethel’s special day that Ricky thinks it may be HIM that forgot LUCY’s birthday!  

Ricky immediately produces an emergency box of chocolates which has cards for every ‘missed’ occasion. Despite Lucy’s disastrous experience with chocolates in “Job Switching” (S2;E1), a box of chocks remains the ‘go to’ gift from a repentant husband. Even if they are three years old! 

Charged by Fred with buying a gift for Ethel, Lucy ignores his suggestion that she wants a new toaster (one of Lucille Ball’s favorite props on the show) and selects a pair of hostess pants that might look more appropriate on a court jester.

LUCY (about the hostess pants): “I saw them last month in Harper’s Bazaar.”
ETHEL: “Well, they’re certainly bizarre!”

Founded in 1867, Harper’s Bazaar is a monthly women’s fashion magazine. It is still published today. 

As hideous as the hostess pants are, they were a real fashion item!  This page from a 1950s Sears Catalog calls a similar item ‘Pedal Pushers’ – priced $3.59.  Unlike Lucy, who thinks they would be perfect for all those ‘smart dinner parties’ – Sears markets them as picnic wear. Of course, the pair on the show have been bejeweled to add to their… uniqueness. 

ETHEL: “What I can’t figure out is how they got them to fit in a box of Cracker Jacks.” 

Cracker Jack is caramel coated popcorn snack sold in a box that contained a small, inexpensive toy inside. Ethel usually compares her wedding ring to the prize in a box of Cracker Jack.  

A rift between the friends arises when Lucy reveals that it was her – not Fred – who picked the pants. The rift soon grows into a full-out war of words:

ETHEL: “I refuse to go to the theater with anyone who thinks I’m a hippopotamus.”
LUCY: “All I did was intimate that she was a little hippy. But on second glance, she has got the biggest ‘potamus’ I’ve ever seen.”

After calling the girls ‘mules’ because of their stubborn nature, Fred refers to Ethel as ‘Francis.’ Francis the Talking Mule was the ‘star’ of seven feature films released between 1950 and 1956. At the time this episode was filmed, the fourth entry in the series, Francis Joins the WACS, had just been released. The previous year, Francis Covers the Town had featured Lucy regular Gale Gordon, as well as John Breen and Harold Miller, who coincidentally can both be glimpsed in the audience of Over the Teacups! 

Ricky gets tickets for the foursome to see the play Over The Teacups. The fictional show is said to be “the biggest hit in town.”

The tickets cost Ricky $6.60 each! That same season Broadway producer David Merrick raised the top ticket price for his musical Fanny (which was on the cover of Life Magazine the week this episode first aired) to an unprecedented $7.50!  Accounting for inflation, the cost of one ticket to Over the Teacups should today cost approximately $65, a far cry from the hundreds of dollars that a seat at a Broadway show actually costs today.  

Although we never see the actors in the play, we hear Mary Lansing as the weepy Cynthia. In real life Lansing was married to Frank Nelson, who is best remembered as Freddy Fillmore and Ralph Ramsey on the series. She sometimes appeared with Nelson on Lucy’s radio show, “My Favorite Husband.”

English actor Richard Kean voiced the character of John, who breaks the news to Cynthia about the death of their mutual friend. The DVD of this episode has the option to listen to the full dialogue between John and Cynthia from Over the Teacups. On the show, much of their dialogue isn’t clear due to Ethel and Lucy’s bickering and the studio audience’s laughter. 

The quick gag with the binoculars strap was borrowed from “New Neighbors” (S1;21) when spying on the O’Briens as they move in. 

Geographical Error!  The theatre program that Ethel and the other playgoers read is not from a New York theatre. The back page advertises the Sartu and Turnabout Theatres, both located in Hollywood.  Although the title of the play is not known, there is a photo of a man and a woman on the cover, who might be John and Cynthia. In the upper right hand corner of the program cover is the logo for The Playgoer, a Southern California magazine similar to New York’s Playbill, distributed free at live theatres. 

When Ethel first comes into the theatre she is impressed that they are sitting in Loge seats!  In this case, the Loge is the first few rows of the balcony or mezzanine that overhang the orchestra section (ground floor) and generally have an ideal, unobstructed view of the stage. Curiously, this theatre has no ushers and patrons have to find their own seats! 

Lucy and Ethel’s animosity carries over into the theatre, much to the dismay of the audience around them.

Oops!  When the man behind Lucy and Ethel tries to grab the binoculars from them, the strap briefly gets caught on the arm rest. Lucille Ball quickly releases it for him before he turns the binoculars into monoculars! 

This episode required a dozen extras to play the audience. Among them is Bess Flowers (arrow), who was dubbed ‘Queen of the Extras’ in Hollywood and is credited with more than 700 film and TV appearances from 1923 to 1964. She was also in the audience when the foursome attend The Most Happy Fella in season 6. She later made five appearances on “The Lucy Show.” Not surprisingly, Flowers was a founding member of SEG, the Screen Extras Guild (now part of SAG) in 1945.

The other theatergoers attending Over the Teacups have various Lucy-related credits, although it turned out to be a bit of a Big Street (1942) reunion, with four background players from the Lucille Ball / Henry Fonda film re-united for this episode.

• John Breen played a race spectator in “Lucy Wins a Racehorse,” a 1958 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”
• Charles Cane was seen with Lucy in The Big Street (1942) and The Dark Corner (1946).
• Joan Carey was a frequent background player and later became Lucille Ball’s stand-in during “The Lucy Show.”
• James Conaty co-starred with Lucille in I Dreamed Too Much (1935), The Big Street (1942), Lured (1947), and The Long Long Trailer (1953).
• Stuart Hall was seen in a 1960 installment of “Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse” hosted by Desi Arnaz.
• Sam Harris shares 13 film credits with Lucille Ball, including The Big Street (1942). After this episode, Harris would return for “Lucy and the Loving Cup” (S6;E12) as a subway strap hanger. He appeared in six episodes of “The Lucy Show,” the last one being as a party guest on “My Fair Lucy” (1965), a riff on My Fair Lady (1964), in which he also played a party guest!
• Harold Miller was in eight Lucille Ball films including The Big Street (1942). He will next be seen strolling the deck of the S.S. Constitution in “Second Honeymoon” (S5;E14).
• Fred Rapport returned to the show for “The Country Club Dance” (S6;E25) that introduced Barbara Eden as Diana Jordan.
• This was Jack Reitzen’s only appearance with Lucille Ball, but he did return to Desilu for three episodes of “The Untouchables” between 1961 and 1963.
• Norman Stevans makes his first appearance with Lucille Ball, but went on to appear in the films Forever Darling (1956), Yours Mine and Ours (1968) and Mame (1974), in addition to two episodes of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” and two of “Here’s Lucy.” 
• Finally, the ubiquitous Hazel Pierce (white circle) is in the audience, Lucy’s camera and lighting stand-in and a frequent extra on the series. She also appeared in 19 episodes of “The Lucy Show,” the films Forever Darling (1956), The Facts of Life (1960), and as a waitress in a 1958 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”  

The gang would return go to the theatre again to see the real-life musical The Most Happy Fella in “Lucy’s Night in Town” (S6;E22).  As with Over the Teacups the cameras only show the auditorium, and we viewers only hear the play’s audio, and do not see the onstage action. 

As the episode fades out during Lucy and Ethel’s teary reconciliation, the orchestra infuses a few notes of “Auld Lang Syne” into the closing theme.

Going to the theatre?  Click here to read Lucy’s Theatre Etiquette! 

FAST FORWARD!

When switching seats with the boys during Over The Teacups, Lucy loses a shoe. When she goes to the theatre in 1957 to see The Most Happy Fella in “Lucy’s Night in Town” (S6;E22), the boys and the girls once again switch seats and Ethel loses her purse!  Once again “Queen of the Extras” Bess Flowers is seated behind them! 

Lucy Carter went to a birthday party for Ethel in a 1968 episode of “Here’s Lucy” – Ethel the cow, that is!  The episode also features background player Norman Stevans, who is in the audience for Over the Teacups!