“The Operetta”

(S2;E5 ~ October 13, 1952) Directed by Marc Daniels. Written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed May 23, 1952 at General Service Studios. Rating: 64.5/62

 

Synopsis ~ The Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League is putting on an operetta and Lucy is in charge. As treasurer, she has no money in the club account so she has to write the show herself!  Needless to say, Ricky and the Mertzes are in the cast as well.

This was one of five episodes filmed in during May 1952 and held for broadcast the following season in order to extend Lucille Ball’’s pregnancy leave. It was the last show to be directed by Marc Daniels, who always regretted that it was not filmed in color.

The date this episode first aired Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were on the cover of Quick, a news weekly magazine.  The inside article asked “Why do They Love Lucy?”

According to an article in a 1953 issue of Newsweek, this was the first episode Lucie Arnaz was allowed to stay up and watch. She would have been just 14 months old at the time.

Oops! In this episode Lucy is club treasurer, but during “The Club Election” (S3;E19) in season 3, she acts as though she’s never been treasurer. In fact, she whispers to Ethel, “I wouldn’t be treasurer if they handed it to me on a silver platter.” Grace Munson is elected instead.

“The Pleasant Peasant” by Ethel ‘Romberg’ and Lucy ‘Friml’ and starring ‘John Charles’ Ricardo.

These are references to composers Sigmund Romberg and Rudolf Friml, as well as Charles John Thomas, a popular baritone of the time. In 1915 Thomas starred on Broadway in a Friml operetta called The Peasant Girl which included a song called “The Gypsy” sung by ‘Celeste and Chorus.’ “The Pleasant Peasant” even includes a parody of “The Drinking Song” from Romberg’s The Student Prince.

This is not the only time Lucy turns author. She also wrote a novel and a play.

When Ricky questions Lucy about the operetta’s authorship, she invokes the name Victor Herbert. Herbert was considered the father of American operetta, writing 43 musical shows including Babes in Toyland (1905) and Naughty Marietta (1910).

During their living room rehearsals, Ricky calls Lucy Mrs. DeMille, a reference to film director Cecil B. DeMille. In 1951, DeMille wanted Lucille Ball for a role in his circus-themed film The Greatest Show On Earth, but Lucy was pregnant at the time, so the role went to Gloria Grahame. In 1979,

Lucille Ball was the recipient of the Golden Globes Cecil B. DeMille Award.

When Ricky confidentially talks to Ethel about Lucy’s poor singing voice, he says the title of the series:

RICKY: “You know, I love Lucy…”

According to the DVD, the official names of the operetta’s songs are:

• “The Pleasant Peasant Girls” 
• “The Good Squire Quinn” 
• “Lily of the Valley” 
• “Queen of the Gypsies” 
• “The Troops of the King” 
• “Good Prince Lancelot” 

All the songs were written by series composer Eliot Daniel, who wrote the show’s theme song and also penned the music for the musical theater dream when “Lucy Goes to Scotland” (S5;E17). The series writers supplied some of the lyrics.

Initially, Lucy wants to play Lily of the Valley and intends for Ethel to play Camille. Ethel smiles excitedly, thinking that she might be playing the heroine of the Alexander Dumas story The Lady of the Camellias – filmed with Greta Garbo as Camille (1936).

When she hears that Camille is actually a snaggle-toothed gypsy, Ethel challenges Lucy to a sing-off which ends with Lucy sourly crooning “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.” Realizing she’s lost, Lucy gives in, saying “Where do I go to get my teeth snaggled?”

SQUIRE QUINN / FRED: “Lots of ale and stout are on my shelf, and I take a drop or two myself.” 

As innkeeper Squire Quinn, Fred says he has to go and “polish off a few tankards.” William Frawley was known to have a drinking problem, a fact that nearly prevented him being approved by the network for the role. Desi Arnaz vouched for him, making him promise never to miss work due to drinking.

LILY / ETHEL: “When other girls go walking, on their arms they have a swell beau, but whenever I go walking, on my arm is just my elbow!”

Vivian Vance sings “Lily of the Valley” in a legit soprano style consistent with operetta until the finale chorus, however, when she breaks into a bluesy barroom belt! In later episodes, Ethel sometimes sings “Lily of the Valley” to herself while she’s doing housework.

It is rumored that Ethel’s Lily of the Valley look was modeled after Mary Pickford in her early films.

Because the repo men come to take back the unpaid scenery and costumes, we never see the end of the operetta. According to Lucy’s description of the show, there were two acts, with 18 scenes in the first act alone. The plot involved Lily being kidnapped by highway men because their leader had been turned into a frog by a wicked witch. Lily is really the frog / leader’s long-lost sister, separated from him when they were tadpoles. Later the Prince (who thinks he’s a peasant but is really a frog) goes to work for Squire Quinn at the Inn on the River Out.

Oops! When the repo men are taking away the costumes and scenery, as they are removing Ricky’s trousers, one of the chorus members can be seen waiting backstage for her cue to enter screaming.

Oops! It is apparent that Desi’s song “Lily” was pre-recorded because when he struggles with pulling a flower from the flower bed, he momentarily forgets to lip synch the words!

Cutting Room Floor!  This episode originally had a scene where Lucy asks Ricky to be in the operetta, but It was cut for time. Ricky gives Lucy notes about why her various methods of persuasion (smooching, pestering, and wheedling) won’t work on him. When Lucy starts crying, he gives in saying, “I can’t stand crying. I’ll do it.”  Ricky says that Fred asked him to be in it, and he thought that they might get a few laughs out of it.

PRINCE LANCELOT / RICKY: “There was Mercedes, Rosaline, Betty and Sue, Dorothy, Janice, and sweet Mary Lou. Audrey, Bebe, and Anastelle, but that’s all over with now.”

The series writers incorporated the names of women close to them, including Madelyn Pugh’s sisters (Rosalind and Audrey), Bob Carroll’s sisters (Dorothy, Betty, and Janice), and Jess Oppenheimer’s sister (also Janice), wife (Estelle), and secretary (Mercedes).

Oops?! While Ricky is singing, a stagehand passes between the backdrop and the curtain behind him. This could be a member of the chorus, but the hairline looks masculine. It may be one of the repo men getting into position.  Because this is supposed to be an amateur theatrical performance, this isn’t really a blooper – but it does briefly distract the viewer.

In this episode, the members of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League are not the usual group, but were likely cast for their singing ability. Myra Marsh returns to play the club chairwoman, a role she created in “Lucy Writes a Play” (S1;E17).

In addition to introducing the production (just as she did with “The Perils of Pamela” / “A Tree Grows in Havana”), she takes the role of trumpeter soldier.

PEASANT GIRLS / CHORUS: “With a happy mom and happy pappy, we’re so happy that we’re almost sappy!”

The other women of the ensemble are not credited, although IMDb claims that Betty Jaynes is among them. Jaynes was a contract player in MGM musicals and was short-listed to play the jazz-singing Princess in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz until the role was eliminated.

The episode features some simple effects. After the chairwoman pokes her head through the parted curtain there is a discreet edit in the film and the curtain becomes an entirely different curtain; one that rises (instead of parts) on a tableau of the peasant girls.

Such tableau were common in theatrical presentations at the turn of the last century.

When Lucy makes her entrance from the well, there is a puff of smoke. Watch carefully and you’ll see that the smoke is actually coming from behind the well, not the well itself. The same effect was used in “Lucy Does a TV Commercial” (S1;E30) when Ricky plugs in the TV while Lucy is inside the hollowed out set.

FAST FORWARD!

Ricky will also loses his pants during his screen test for Don Juan.

“Little Ricky’s School Pageant” (S6;E10), another episode with a theatrical performance, also includes an enchanted frog (Fred) and a witch (Lucy). In that episode, Ethel also gets to play the ‘ingenue’ role.

Lucille Ball was particularly fond of dressing up as crazy characters like this and for many years sent out autographed photos of herself as the Queen of the Gypsies. Both Barbie and The Hamilton Collection issued popular dolls of Lucy as Camille. It remains one of the most popular images seen on “I Love Lucy” merchandising.

A clip from the episode was shown in the tribute “The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts” (1986)

The necklace is now on view at the Lucy-Desi Museum in Jamestown, New York.