“Lucy Hires a Maid”

(S2;E23 ~ April 27, 1953) Directed by William Asher. Written by

Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed on March 27, 1953 at General Service Studio. Rating: 67.8/91

Synopsis ~ When Little Ricky’s sleep schedule tires out Lucy, she hires a maid: the ‘Hazel-from-Hell’, Mrs. Porter.  When she proves to be too formidable an employee, Lucy and Ricky can’t find a way to fire her!

“We have a garbage disposal and a washing machine and a television set – 21 inch!”

Two days before this episode first aired (March 25, 1953), CBS (Lucy’s network) conceded victory to NBC / RCA in the development of color television standards. The two networks had been simultaneously working on bringing color broadcast and home sets to America.  Lucille Ball would not be seen in color on TV until 1962 – nine years later. 

Verna Felton (1890-1966) made her professional stage debut at the age of 10 as ‘Little Verna Felton,’ working extensively on stage. Felton was one of the most successful performers in radio, and soon went on to television. She played the persistent Mrs. Day on “The Jack Benny Show” (1955). She received two Emmy nominations for her role in the Desilu series “December Bride,” playing Hilda Crocker from 1955 to 1959 opposite Spring Byington as Lily. 

Desi Arnaz played himself on “December Bride” in February 1956. 

Earlier that season Felton was featured in "Sales Resistance” (S2;E17) playing Mrs. Simpson, a housewife who Lucy tries to sell a Handy Dandy vacuum cleaner.

But it was her association with Walt Disney Animation Studios for which she is best remembered. For Disney, Felton voiced three elephants: Elephant Matriarch and Mrs. Jumbo in Dumbo (1941), as well as Winifred in The Jungle Book (1967). 

She played two Queens: The Queen of Hearts in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Queen Leah in Sleeping Beauty (1959). 

Her more human characters included Aunt Sarah in Lady and the Tramp (1955) and – a rare non-Disney female – Pearl Slaghoople, Wilma’s mother on “The Flintstones”. 

She also voiced two wand-wavers: Flora in Sleeping Beauty and – perhaps most famously – The Fairy Godmother in Disney’s Cinderella (1950), where she introduced the song “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” to the world. 

It is funny to imagine the gruff, grim, Mrs. Porter cleaning the Ricardo apartment while singing “But the thingamabob that does the job is bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!"  

Even her husband got into the Disney act, as the voice of Pluto the dog!  Felton was married to radio actor Lee Millar for six years when when they appeared together on Broadway in Appearances, a few months before the crash of ’29. 

They had one child together, Lee Millar Jr., (above) who made four appearances on “I Love Lucy,” most notably as Chip Jackson, the emcee who introduces the acts in “Lucy and the Dummy” (S5;E3).   

Ironically, Verna Felton died of a stroke on December 14, 1966, just one day before the death of her most frequent employer, Walter Elias Disney.

At breakfast, Lucy catches the toast in mid air, just as Ricky is telling her what to ask the prospective new maid. This was one of Lucille Ball’s favorite comic bits and had already been seen in numerous episodes. After Lucy successfully grabs the bread mid-air, Ricky adds that she should ask the maid if she has a catcher’s mitt! 

On the kitchen shelf there are three white mugs with the names: Lucy, Ricky Jr. and Ricky on them (although the third mug remains mostly out of frame). The “L” in Lucy is written in Lucille Ball’s distinctive cursive handwriting. After Desilu was dissolved and the Arnaz’s divorce, the “L” would go on to be associated with Lucille Ball and Lucille Ball Productions.  

A lady of leisure now that she’s hired a maid, Lucy has time to read the May 1953 issue of Woman’s Home Companion. This is the same magazine she will be seen reading in “Lucy Wants New Furniture” (S2;E28). 

For lunch, Mrs. Porter serves Lucy a peanut butter sandwich (no jelly) on white bread! This gives Lucille Ball a good opportunity to make some hilarious facial expressions when trying to eat the sticky sandwich.

To convince Mrs. Porter to take the job, Lucy brags that they have a 21″ television set and a garbage disposal. While quite common in modern and West Coast dwellings, New York City apartments rarely if ever had disposals. Manhattan actually banned them for a time, fearing damage to the plumbing of pre-war buildings – like the Mertzes. 

In this episode, Little Ricky is played by the Simmons Twins, although his cry is voiced by Jerry Hausner, who usually plays Jerry the Agent. 

Blooper Alert! When Lucy explains the "who gets up with the baby” compromise to Ricky, she flubs her line by saying “heard” when she meant “hears.” She corrects herself and that take made the final cut. 

Oops! Just as Lucy unfolds the legs of the card table, she falls asleep, then when the camera angle changes, there’s a set of numbers that mysteriously show up underneath the table.

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FAST FORWARD – GOOD HELP IS HARD TO FIND!

Naturally, Lucille Ball had a maid herself. Willie Mae Barker was more of a member of the family than a servant. In 1960, Lucy refused to have Willie Mae go around back to the servant’s entrance of her New York apartment, insisting she use the front door, despite the policy of the building. Desi even worked her name into the dialogue of “The Amateur Hour” (S1;E14). 

Lucy Ricardo pretended to be a maid to impress Fred’s vaudeville partner in “Mertz and Kurtz” (S4;E2, right) while Ethel pretended to be a maid to impress Tallulah Bankhead in “The Celebrity Next Door,” a 1957 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”  

Lucy Ricardo had encounters with hotel maids (left to right): Iva Shepard at the Beverly Palms Hotel (Hollywood); Maxine Semon at the Sands (Las Vegas); and Nancy Kulp at the Wimbelshire Hotel (London). 

Juney Ellis played Richard Widmark’s maid in “The Tour” (S4;E30). 

In 1964′s “Lucy Gets Her Maid” (TLS S3;E11), Lucy Carmichael hires Mrs. Putnam (Kathleen Freeman), a maid who intimidates her and behaves more like the employer than the employee. Both maids dislike children, are overly concerned about their own meals, and demand to be addressed by their last names. As in 1953, Lucy ends up waiting on the maid, not the other way around.  

In order to afford Mrs. Putnam’s salary, Lucy and Viv must become maids themselves! 

On a 1964 episode of “The Danny Kaye Show” (S2;E7), without the use of costumes or scenery, Kaye and Ball perform a sketch about a married couple  forced to fire a maid named Brunhilde, who is monopolizing the care of their baby. Brunhilde is played by a shrill off-stage voice who only speaks German.

In The Affairs of Annabel (1938), Lucille Ball plays an actress who does on-the-job research for her next picture by taking a job as a maid. 

Ball also played a woman who went undercover as a maid in 1947′s Lured. 

Lucy played Janet, Jack Benny’s maid in “Jack Benny’s 20th Anniversary Special” (1970). 

Some miscellaneous maids from Lucy-coms!  Can you identify the performer and the episode in which they played the maid?  

Lucy the Maid was a short-lived character on the animated adult sci-fi series “Ricky and Morty” (2013-17).  Aside from the names Lucy and Rick(y), however, there is no association to “I Love Lucy”.  Perhaps the creators were fans?