“First Stop”

(S4;E14 ~ January 17, 1955) Directed by William Asher.  Written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed November 11, 1954 at Ren-Mar Studios. It was the 111th episode filmed. Rating: 50.6/65

The episode utilizes second unit footage of the Pontiac driving through Ohio with actor doubles. 

Synopsis ~ The gang’s first stop on the way to California finds them stopping at the rundown One Oak Cabins and Cafe somewhere off Route 48 in Ohio. When the place fails to provide good food or good sleep, the foursome try to sneak away in the night. 

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On the way west they continually see signs advertising Aunt Sally’s Pecan Pralines.

LUCY: Fifty miles to Aunt Sally’s Pecan Pralines.
ETHEL: Well, we’re closing in on her. The first sign we saw said ‘Two hundred miles to Aunt Sally’s Pecan Pralines.’
FRED: I’m surprised she has time to make pralines—she’s so busy making signs.

Later…

LUCY: 300 yards to Aunt Sally’s!
ETHEL: 200 yards!
FRED: 100 yards!
RICKY: Just around the bend!
LUCY: You have just passed Aunt Sally’s. 

In real life, there actually is an Aunt Sally’s Pralines, but it is in Louisiana, not Ohio. It was established in 1935 in New Orleans, so it is possible the “I Love Lucy” writers were inspired by the business, which (unlike the fictional one) is still in operation today. Interestingly, Lucy and the Mertzes pronounce it “praw-leen,” when, as New Yorkers, they would be more likely to say “pray-leen” as it is commonly pronounced in the Northeast.

Oops!  When Lucy’s double gets out of the car to check the sign on the door of Aunt Sally’s, she is wearing a dark coat and a dress. In the studio-filmed scenes inside the car, Lucille Ball wears a light-colored tweed coat and slacks.

Fred notes that they just left Pennsylvania and they’re headed for Indiana, indicating that the group intends on visiting Fred’s home state, although we never see it on air.  Since the group left New York City at the end of the day in “California, Here We Come” (S4;E12), it stands to reason that if they’ve just left Pennsylvania there were stops in New York State the previous day (maybe in Lucy’s hometown of Jamestown) that the viewers don’t see and are never discussed. This is supported by the map Lucy drew up in the previous episode. 

The roadside dive is run by the laid-back, disheveled, George Skinner played by Olin Howlin. Howlin started acting in silent films in 1918 and had small roles in such classics as Gone With the Wind (1939, left), Little Women (1949), and The Blob (1958). He also appeared with William Frawley in the less-than-classic Ambush (1939) and Crime Doctor’s Manhunt (1946). He and Irving Bacon have the distinction of being the only actors to appear in both the 1937 and 1954 versions of A Star Is Born. Coincidentally, Bacon was also in Gone With the Wind and would play Ethel’s father, Will Potter, in “Ethel’s Hometown” (S4;E15) just two weeks later!

One Oak Cafe’s outdated menu offers such mouth-watering fare as steak sandwiches with French fries and coleslaw, roast beef with baked potato, and fried chicken with biscuits. Unfortunately for the foursome, all he has ‘in stock’ are stale Swiss cheese sandwiches wrapped in wax paper. During a close-up of the rubbery sandwich (above), it can be seen that the menu is actually a portion of the script with some of the lines crossed out!

The inedible sandwiches cost the gang a dollar a piece. Mr. Skinner then tells them about the nearby Golden Drumstick, a restaurant that serves a turkey dinner with all the trimmings – dressing, cranberry sauce, green salad, and homemade peach shortcake – for only one dollar! But then dashes their hopes by telling them that they went out of business due to the low price.

Price Check!  The $4.80 bill for the cheese sandwiches would cost more than $45 in today’s economy!  

In return for am eighty cent entertainment tax Mr. Skinner (badly) croons and strums a bit of “I’m Afraid to Come Home in the Dark,” a song written by Harry Williams and Egbert Van Alstyne in 1907. It would also be sung by Harry Morgan in a 1974 episode of "M*A*S*H.”

Fred calls One Oak "Lower Slobbovia,” which is a term first used in 1946 by Al Capp in his comic strip "Li’l Abner.” Capp created a fictional nation that was unenlightened and socially backward and the term entered popular culture when referring to any place hopelessly stuck in the past.

A special set was constructed for the scene in the dilapidated cabin. The room was built on a set of springs and was shaken to simulate the trains going by. 

Lucille Ball praises the Desilu crew who took care of the technical aspects of the episode. 

Ethel offers to trade beds with Lucy and Ricky, claiming that she and Fred have a sagging old mattress back home in New York just like the one in the cabin’s double bed. 

The only time the series ever showed the Mertz bedroom was in “Vacation from Marriage” (S2;E6) and they had two single beds, not a double. The “Home Sweet Home” sign over the cabin’s bathroom door is the same as the one seen in the Mertz bedroom in that episode.

LUCY: I wonder if this bed stops in Chicago?

One of the bed’s legs was anchored which allowed the bed to pivot when pulled by cables.  

Cables are seen in two parts of this episode: on the front of the Pontiac, to pull it when the gang leaves the motel; and on the bed in the cabin, to pull it across the room when the trains go by. 

When the car is outside the motel, it has no windshield nor window glass other than the vent window, and the headlights have a dull, white covering, probably to eliminate glare or reflections from studio lights.

Although Mr. Skinner has a gas pump outside the café (above right), Ricky never mentions getting gas – something of prime concern on most road trips. Nor do Mr. Skinner’s signs mention “fuel” – a major selling point for wooing drivers to stop. Of course, the gas pumps may be dry or broken – like most everything else at One Oak!

The script helps the audience understand some of the visual jokes.

• Before going into the bathroom to change for the night, Ethel doubles back for her toothpaste, which she left in the suitcase. The first train passes by while Ethel is in the bathroom. When she emerges her face is covered in toothpaste!  The joke pays off better if you know Ethel is brushing her teeth while in the bathroom. 

• After the second train passes by, moving the double bed across the cabin, Ricky loudly announces that the oncoming train is coming the other way. “It’s coming the other way now!” This sets up the idea that the bed will now travel back across the room in the opposite direction. 

This episode is sometimes cited as the first time a man and woman shared a bed on television, but that’s not entirely true. A now-forgotten sitcom called "Mary Kay and Johnny” (1947-50) takes that distinction. Like Lucy and Desi, Johnny and Mary Kay Stearns were also married in real life. However, since Fred and Ethel take over the sagging double bed from the Ricardos, Vivian Vance and William Frawley are technically the first UNMARRIED people to share the same bed on TV. Mary Kay was also the first woman to be pregnant on TV, a fact that is also sometimes mistakenly attributed to Lucille Ball.

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