“The Anniversary Present”

(S2;E3 ~ September 29, 1952) Directed by Marc Daniels. Written by

Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed May 9, 1952 at General Service Studios. Rating: 69.1/66

Synopsis ~ Ricky looking to buy Lucy some genuine pearls from neighbor Grace Foster, who works for a jeweler. Naturally, Lucy fears Ricky is straying. 

This was one of five episodes filmed in May 1952 and held for broadcast the following season. Of the five, it was the first one filmed, but aired third.  

As a young starlet at RKO, Lucille Ball modeled pearls for Deltah Pearls, “the world’s finest reproductions.” 

As the episode Lucy serves coffee to the painters outside her bedroom window, which effectively sets up the physical arrangements for the stunts in the final scene. This screen grab is is not exactly her best side!  

Making Ricky’s breakfast, Lucy leaves lots of hints about their upcoming anniversary.  

• She leaves her wedding ring next to his breakfast plate. Ricky scolds her for not wearing it.  We learn it cost Ricky $50.
• She cooks him rice for breakfast, a grain traditionally showered on brides and grooms after the nuptials. Ricky thinks Lucy is trying to remind him of his youth in Cuba, where he commonly ate rice for the morning meal.
• She parades in front of him holding a bunch of carrots as a bouquet and a dishtowel as a veil humming “The Wedding March”.  Ricky doesn’t even notice. 
• She circles the 19th on the calendar.  Ricky guesses that it is the day they pick up the garbage. 

Lucy serves orange juice from a can, coffee from an electric percolator, and rice cooked in a double boiler, to which Ricky adds butter, salt and pepper. She never gets to serve the scrambled eggs he asked for, because he abruptly leaves to see ‘Fred’ (actually Grace Foster). 

This is one of the few episodes that takes place on a specific date.  This scene takes place the morning of Saturday, March 17, 1952.  Although this is St. Patrick’s day, there is no mention of it, even by Irishman Fred.  

A polka-dot print Elois Jenssen dress was part of Lucy Ricardo’s wardrobe since the start of “I Love Lucy.” This is an early variation (with starched bow and pointed collar) of the look that will become iconic of Lucy Ricardo in April 1953.  That dress featured a white bib neckline and wider cuffs, but retained the polka-dot pattern. 

Lucy has their wedding anniversary circled in red on the calendar: the 19th. In “Hollywood Anniversary” (S4;E24), Ricky cannot remember the date, so he contacts the records office back in Connecticut, which wires him the info that the they were married on the 7th. 

Although Lucy and Desi’s real-life wedding anniversary was November 30th,  they were re-married in a Catholic Church on June 19, 1949, so the 19th does have some sentimental significance. 

The postcard at the top of the calendar (some sort of municipal building) is there to obscure the month (and perhaps the year). This keeps the episode as timeless as possible. In 1952, the only month with this day / date configuration is May, the same month the episode was filmed. Not coincidentally, the date is a Monday, the day that “I Love Lucy” always aired. 

The breakfast scene ends with a close-up of the empty drainboard as Lucy starts washing dishes. Unfortunately, the empty orange juice can steals the focus and the next scene (with dishes washed) doesn’t open with the same shot, but rather a medium shot of Lucy drying the dishes, so the ‘time lapse’ effect is muddied. Although we can clearly read the word “Juice” the brand name is redacted by tape. Lucy opens the can with the old-fashioned hand-held can-opener.

Grace Foster was first mentioned in “The Gossip” (S1;E24) where her husband Bill makes an appearance (played by Richard Reeves), but Grace is only mentioned – as a ravishing blonde! In this episode Bill is out-of-town and Grace (Gloria Blondell) has become a brunette.

Grace Foster is played by Gloria Blondell, younger sister of Joan Blondell. Gloria co-starred with Ronald Reagan in Accidents Will Happen (1938). Most of her work in the 1940’s was as the voice of Disney’s Daisy Duck. A few months after this episode of “I Love Lucy” she was cast as Honeybee (an Ethel Mertz-type neighbor) in “The Life of Riley” starring William Bendix. She did 30 episodes of the series.

Also in this episode is ubiquitous TV character actor Herb Vigran as Jule, Ricky’s music union agent. He had played the same role in the previous episode, “The Saxophone” (S2;E2).  He would go on to play Joe (and Mrs. Trumbull’s nephew), the washing machine repairman in “Never Do Business With Friends” (S2;E31) and Al Sparks, the publicity man who hires Lucy and Ethel to play Martians on top of the Empire State Building in “Lucy is Envious” (S3;E23). Of his 350 screen roles, he also made six appearances on “The Lucy Show.”

Coincidentally, Vigran was also in the cast of “The Life of Riley,” playing Riley’s co-worker, Muley. Vigran and Gloria Blondell shared five episodes, but (just as on this episode of “I Love Lucy”) never had any scenes together!

Grace works for Joseff Jewelry Company. In real life, Joseff of Hollywood (Jeweler to the Stars) has supplied gems to stars and motion pictures since 1928 and still in business today. Lucille wore their pieces in films like DuBarry Was a Lady (1943) and Annabel Takes a Tour (1938).

Lucille Ball wears a necklace and bracelet by Joseff of Hollywood. The company provided most of the more ornate pieces worn on “I Love Lucy”. This mention was their way of saying thank you. 

Oops!  Leading into the rehearsal at the Tropicana, there is a quick shot of an unidentified crew member moving a lighting instrument in front of a chalk board announcing the rehearsal. The lighting instrument is stenciled DLP for Desilu Productions! It was probably thought that viewers would not know what DLP stood for and it wasn’t considered a blooper. 

Ricky sings “Down Argentina Way” by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren. It was originally sung by Betty Grable and Don Ameche in the film Down Argentine Way (1940) and was nominated for an Oscar. 

When Lucy and Ethel go to the basement to listen at the furnace pipe (”the snooper’s friend”) the voices of the couple in 4B (“Albert!”) are not credited but sound like Barbara Pepper and Richard Reeves, two character actors that appeared in many episodes during the series. Ironically, Reeves played Bill Foster, Grace’s jealous husband in 

“The Gossip” (S1;E24). The furnace pipe as an intercom was also part of “The Gossip”. The furnace will also be seen in “The Freezer” (S1;E29), where it is hastily used to hide meat!

Here Ethel treats the furnace like it is a ham radio, just as she did her crystal ball in “The Seance” (S;E7) when trying to contact Tilly. 

In the close-up of Ethel on the painter’s scaffolding, a Jantzen billboard is clearly seen on the backdrop.  Jantzen is a swimwear company founded in 1916 that is still in business today. The brand featured a logo image of a young woman, dressed in a red one-piece swimsuit and bathing cap, assuming a diving posture with outstretched arms and an arched back. Known as the Jantzen "Diving Girl”, the image became famous throughout the world during the early twentieth century.

Ethel’s painter’s cap has the Sinclair Paint logo written on it. Sinclair was a Southern California business that started as a single paint store in 1928 but built itself into a major manufacturer of paint products for the region. The company was absorbed by corporate mergers in the 1980s. Like Joseff Jewelers, it is unlikely that these SoCal businesses would be found on the East Coast. 

Sitcom Logic Alert!  Post-war brownstone apartment buildings were made of brick and were not often painted like suburban houses, so the premise is faulty, despite being well plotted out.  

Perhaps this white paint is meant for the window trim only, because it certainly would not be used to paint an entire building.  Practically speaking, of course, white paint showed up best on camera and in black and white film!  

WTF? In the final moments, Ricky tries to put the expensive strand of pearls on a paint-soaked Lucy. He isn’t able to close the clasp quick enough and they slip off and fall to the floor.  Lucille Ball notices them slipping, but realizes she can’t do anything about it, so she just forges ahead. Imagine doing a retake with all that paint everywhere?  If these pearls were truly expensive, however, they ought to have been more careful!  But this is television, so a happy ending is more important! 

FAST FORWARD! 

This was the first of three ‘Anniversary’ episodes.  The second was “Sentimental Anniversary” (S3;E16) in February 1954.

The third was “Hollywood Anniversary” (S4;E24) in April 1955.

At the end of “The Anniversary Present” Ricky buys Lucy a strand of genuine pearls, but by 1959, just seven years later, Lucy has seemingly forgotten all about them and begs Ricky to buy her a strand when “The Ricardos Go To Japan” (1959) to replace the imitation ones Ricky bought her at Macy’s basement.

In 2017 a double strand of pearls owned and worn by Lucille Ball turned up on The History Channel’s “Pawn Stars”. It sold for $325, although the owner was seeking $500. 

This is not the first time that stenciled production equipment was seen on camera.  It happened twice on “Here’s Lucy” filmed by Lucille Ball Productions (LBP) the successor to DLP.