“The Séance”

(S1;E7 ~ November 26, 1951) Directed by Marc Daniels. Written by  Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed October 19, 1951 at General Service Studios. Rating: 44.9/64

Synopsis ~ Lucy is obsessed with astrology and numerology just as Ricky is about to be interviewed by a producer who also believes heavily in the supernatural. To appease him, the gang hosts a séance to contact his dear departed Tilly.

This episode is based on an episode of Lucy’s radio show “My Favorite Husband” titled “Numerology,” which was first broadcast on Christmas Day 1948.

This episode went before the cameras just four days after the series premiered on Monday, October 15, 1951.

The day this episode was filmed the CBS Color System ended. The CBS field sequential color cameras broadcast 111 hours of live color over a 17 week period between June 24, 1951 and October 20, 1951. On October 19, less than a month after sales of the first CBS-made color receivers began, the Defense Production Administration asked CBS to suspend mass production of color receivers “to conserve material for defense” for the duration of the Korean emergency. They quickly complied, allowing RCA and NBC to get ahead on bringing color to television.

The date this episode first aired (November 26, 1951), Lucille and Desi had press photographs taken with their infant daughter at their San Fernando home.

The day after this episode was filmed, October 20, 1951, CBS debuted their ‘eye’ logo, which is still in use today.

Lucille Ball really dabbled in the supernatural and numerology as she does in this episode. Her great friend Carole Lombard’s mother once told her that he letter combination ‘AR’ was lucky for her because most of her fame came after being ‘ARnaz’ and ‘RicARdo.’ When the “I Love Lucy” characters’ surname was changed from ‘Lucy and Larry Lopez’ in the pilot (there was already a bandleader named Lopez) to ‘Lucy and Ricky Ricardo’ Lucy wanted the ‘AR’ combination somewhere in the name. After that, every character Lucille Ball played on TV had the lucky ‘AR’ in their last name: CARmichael in “The Lucy Show,” CARter in “Here’s Lucy,” and BARker in “Life With Lucy.” When Lucy was deciding whether or not to make the move from films to television, Lombard (who died in 1942) came to her in a dream and urged her to “give it a whirl.”  

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In numerology Lucy is a 3, Ricky is a 5, Ethel is a 7, and Mr. Merriweather is a 1 – all odd!  We never learn what Fred’s number is (but we suspect he is also odd). Lucy calculates that Ricky’s numerology name really should be ‘Genevieve.’

Lucy catches the toast while making Ricky’s breakfast, but it is done without much fanfare.

While Lucy is looking up Ricky’s horoscope in the newspaper, a huge ad can be glimpsed for SUITS $28. The text above says “Misses / Half-Sizes” so these are not men’s suits, but women’s.  Even so, that seems like a great sale – even for 1951!

This is the first episode in which a second cushion was added to Ricky’s side of the couch so Desi could appear taller than Lucy while sitting down.

Ricky’s line “Lucy! Don’t you like the way I vibrate?” (referring to psychic vibrations between himself and Lucy) is one of the more risqué lines in the series. Mr. Merriweather asking Lucy “Do you Ouija?” in hushed tones also carries enough double entendre to raise Ricky’s eyebrows.

Astrologically speaking, Lucy says she is a Taurus (April 20 to May 20), but in “Lucy’s Mother-in-Law” (S4;E7) she says she was born on August 6 (a Leo), Lucille Ball’s actual birthday. Ethel says that she’s a Leo just as Vivian Vance was in real life (born July 26), although the episode “Ethel’s Birthday” (S4;E8) was originally aired in late November (Scorpio). Ricky is said to be a Gemini (May 21 to June 21), although Desi Arnaz was actually a Pisces (born on March 2). Mr. Merriweather is a Scorpio.

On radio as on TV, Jay Novello guest starred as Mr. Merriweather, a theatrical producer (although we never hear what his is producing that Ricky is anxious to appear in).  His office is decorated with busts of Shakespeare and Shaw and photographs of theatrical luminaries of days-gone-by. While this episode was written, filmed and aired, a revival of George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan was playing on Broadway. The Playbill also had a bust of Shaw on it!

Mr. Merriweather himself seems a relic from another era, mostly due to the old-fashioned way he dresses. In an early draft of the script his name was Mr. Simpson, although in the radio version he was known as Mr. Curry, the landlord.

Jay Novello (Mr. Merriweather) was born Michael Romano in Chicago in 1904 to Italian parents and was fluent in the language before learning English. He will return to the series to play the nervous Mr. Beecher in “The Sublease” (S3;E31), and Mario Orsatti, the “Visitor from Italy” (S6;E5).  Novello made two appearances on “The Lucy Show,” once (unsurprisingly) as an Italian millionaire. Novello was married twice. Coincidentally, his second wife went by the nickname ‘Lucy’.  In 1965 he played the recurring character Mayor Mario Lugatto on “McHale’s Navy.”

Oops!  When Mr. Merriweather answers the phone in his office, you can see the shadow of the microphone on the wall behind him. When he hangs up, the mic shadow moves away in preparation for the Ricardos’ entrance.

In actuality, Ouija boards were used to communicate with the spirit world by moving a planchette around a board marked with letters of the alphabet. Today Ouija boards are sold by Hasbro, which holds a copyright on the name.

Ricky is not a believer in Lucy’s psychic pastimes, but he agrees to host the seance anyway.

LUCY: “You never can tell. Before the evening’s over we may see a spook!”
RICKY: “Don’t tell me you invited your mother.”
LUCY: “Well!”

At this point in the series, this is just a typical mother-in-law joke. Mrs. McGillicuddy will not be introduced to the series until season four, just before the trip to Hollywood.  She’s a dithering Mrs. Malaprop, but hardly spooky.

Ethel poses as ‘Medium Raya,’ if only for Fred’s joke “Well, done, Medium Raya!”   

To escort Ethel as Medium Raya (aka Madam Mertzola), Fred wears a Tehran Shriner’s fez. The fraternal organization (a subset of the Masons) was founded in 1949 in Fresno, California.

LUCY: (introducing Ethel to Mr. Merriweather) “She’s psychopathic!”

This episode was rerun during Lucy’s maternity leave using a new flashback intro. Ethel tells Ricky that Lucy is down at the library looking up numerology because she thinks that according to numerology Little Ricky’s name should be ‘Mot Morenzi.’  Ricky says that no son of his will be named ‘Mot Morenzi.’ Ethel remarks that he should be glad, because when Lucy was added up the numbers incorrectly the name the name came out as ‘Xavier.’  This is an early reference to Desi Arnaz’s former employer (and Ricky Ricardo’s professional rival) Latin bandleader Xavier Cugat; one of many to come.

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FAST FORWARD

In a 1960 episode of “Dennis the Menace,” the Ouija Board turned up again on CBS.

In a 1972 episode of “Here’s Lucy,” Lucy Carter hosted a seance for a medium played by Helen Hayes, who wanted to contact Napoleon and Josephine (Harry and Lucy).

In 2001, a Polish remake loosely based on “I Love Lucy” titled “Kocham Klara” (”I Love Clara”), presented “Showing” loosely based on this episode and co-written with the cooperation of the original “I Love Lucy” writers.

Clara has a fascination with numerology and spiritualism. Following the wrong horoscope, she ruins Cuba’s meeting with an important TV producer. Fortunately, the producer is also a fan of numerology. Clara organizes a séance, during which the producer contacts the spirit of someone very close to him.