“Lucy Writes a Play”

(S1;E17 ~ February 4, 1952) Directed by Marc Daniels. Written by

Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed on December 22, 1951 at General Service Studios. It was the 17th episode filmed. Rating: 55.6/75

Synopsis ~ 

Playwright Lucy pens a drama with a Cuban locale. She figures Ricky for the star. The hitch: he refuses the part. So she changes her play from Cuba to England and has Fred take Ricky’s spot. However, Ricky has decided to surprise Lucy and appear in the play…only problem is he has the wrong script!

This episode is partly based on the radio show “My Favorite Husband” episode “Liz Substitutes in a Club Play” aired January 6, 1951. On radio, the group sponsoring the play contest was called The Young Matrons League. This name would later inspire The Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (S1;E25). The radio episode guest starred Mary Shipp, who was the second wife of Harry Ackerman, the CBS executive who did a cameo in “The Audition” (S1;E6) and was mentioned in the dialogue of “The Charm School” (S3;E15).

This episode introduces us to the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League! Which Ricky sarcastically calls the Wednesday Afternoon Fang and Claw Society. For a play-writing contest, Lucy has written a play called "A Tree Grows in Havana” – a tender, moving, heart-rending story of a Cuban tobacco picker and his love for the plantation owner’s daughter. The title is inspired by A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which was a book and a film in the mid-40’s. There was even a Broadway musical of the same title starring Shirley Booth that closed two weeks before the episode filmed. 

Ethel shows off her costume while humming “The Habanera” (aka “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle”) from Carmen, a four-act French opera by Bizet that takes place in Seville, Spain. Ironically, the word ‘Habanera’ means Music or Dance of Havana, the city of Ricky Ricardo’s birth!

Sample dialogue from Lucy’s masterpiece:

• Ethel: [reading from Lucy’s script] “You look very pretty, Lucita. Your hair is shining, your eyes are bright, and your nose is continued on the next page.”

• Ethel: [reading from Lucy’s script] “I think you go there to meet your liver.”
  
• Lucy: [correcting her] “Lover!”
  
• Ethel: “I think you go there to meet your lover, that worthless, good-for-nothing tobacco picker.”

• Ricky:

  [reading from Lucy’s script] “I am sorry to hear you don’t feel well, Mamasita. Are you having trouble with your lover?”
  

• Lucy: [correcting him] “Liver!”
  
• Ricky: “Are you having trouble with your liver?”

Ricky sarcastically calls Lucy “Mrs. Shakespeare.”  William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is considered the world’s most-produced playwright. When Lucy meets Orson Welles (above), she brags that she played Juliet (in Romeo and Juliet) in High School. 

Miss Mitchell, Club Chairwoman: “You have just seen Mrs. Glazingham’s play entitled ‘Pearl One, Drop Two, or Much Ado about Knitting.’”

For Ricky, the script is a little too close to home:

• Ricky: “Now, wait a minute, Wait a minute. What’s the idea of making fun of me in this play?” 
  
• Lucy: “Fun of you?”
  
• Ricky: “Yeah, look at the way you got "don’t” spelled: D-U-N-T.” 
  
• Lucy:“Well, that’s a typographical error.”

• Ricky: [continues reading] “Someday I will become famous "by singing a song called ‘Babalu’”?  [To Lucy] Who is this Cuban tobacco picker who plays the conga drums and sings “Babalu”? 
• Lucy: “Guess.”
  
• Ricky: “Sir Cedric Hardwicke?” 
  
• Lucy: “No.”
  
• Ricky: “John Charles Thomas?” 
  
• Lucy: “No.” 
  
• Ricky: “Lassie?” 
  
• Lucy: “All right, Ricky.
  I wrote the whole thing with you in mind.”

John Charles Thomas (1891-1960) was a popular operatic baritone and recording artist. In “The Operetta” (S2;E5) Ricky is referred to as “John Charles Ricardo.” 

Sir Cedric Hardwicke (1893-1964) was an English character actor who had a stage and screen career that spanned more than five decades. He was reputedly George Bernard Shaw’s favorite actor. He appeared with Lucille Ball in Valley of the Sun (1942) and Lured (1947). 

Lassie was one of the world’s most popular canine stars. After a string of films, the TV series “Lassie” (about the adventures of a collie dog) was seen on CBS from 1954 to 1971. Lassie was mentioned again on “I Love Lucy” in “The Young Fans” (S1;E20) as well as episodes of “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.” The dog makes an appearance on “The Desilu Revue” in 1959. 

Ricky declines to act in it which forces so Ethel suggests Fernando (aka Fred) as a replacement. He promptly arrives in costume humming “The Toreador Song” (“Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre”) from Carmen.

Lucy decides to re-write the script to an English comedy titled “The Perils of Pamela” (a nod to the several films titled The Perils of Pauline directed by Lucille Ball’s friend George Marshall) starring Fred instead of Ricky. 

Some sample dialogue from her re-written opus:

• Lucy: “What’s the mater, Matter? Uh, what’s the matter, Mater?”
• Lucy: “Pater won’t be down for tea. We just buried him. Had to. Dead, you know.”
• Fred: “Would you pour me a spot of tea, my dear louse? [looks at script closer] I mean Louise.”

Edna Louise Broedt was the name of William Frawley’s ex-wife. They toured in vaudeville as “Frawley and Louise”.  Louise is also one of the three middle names ascribed to Ethel. This one was spoken by Fred, naturally. 

Voice from Audience: “I think it stinks!”

Several references included in the episode’s script proved eerily prescient:

Seeing Ethel in her mantilla, Ricky says she looks like the Bride of Frankenstein. Elsa Lanchester (who played the bride in the 1935 film) would appear as a suspected hatchet murderess in “Off To Florida” (S6;E6).

Lucy hopes to become “the next Tennessee Ernie.” Ricky says she means Tennessee Williams. Tennessee Ernie Ford would make three guest appearances on the show.

Miss Mitchell, the chairwoman of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League is played by Myra Marsh, who reprises her role in “The Operetta” (S2;E5) the following season. To stall for time, she recites “The Song of Hiawatha” by Longfellow. The poem would also be recited by Lucy in “The Indian Show” (S2;E24). 

As Pamela, Lucy dresses in a riding costume which she would later also wear in “The Fox Hunt” (S5;E16) and the film Mame (1974).

Maury Thompson can be briefly glimpsed as the play’s Stage Manager.  He was the show’s script supervisor and camera coordinator. He would also work behind the scenes on “The Lucy Show.”  

Lucy says the play contest will be judged by movie producer Darryl B. Mayer. This unseen character is a mash-up of movie producers Darryl F. Zanuck of Warner Brothers and Louis B. Mayer of MGM.  Zanuck worked with Lucille Ball on six films between 1933 and 1934. After conflicts with Dore Schary, Louis B. Mayer left MGM the same year this episode was filmed. 

This is not the last time Lucy would pick up the pen as an author. She wrote “The Pleasant Peasant” in “The Operetta” (S2;E5) and a biographical novel titled “Real Gone With the Wind” in “Lucy Writes a Novel” (S3;E24). 

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