“The Tour”

(S4;E30 ~ May 30, 1955) Directed by William Asher. Written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed April 14, 1955 at Ren-Mar Studio. Rating: 31.8/53

Synopsis ~ Lucy and Ethel take a bus tour of movie stars’ homes in Beverly Hills, and Lucy winds up picking grapefruit in Richard Widmark’s backyard, where she gets trapped.

This episode has the unfortunate distinction of being the lowest rated half hour in the history of the series.

This episode was aired on the birthday of Douglas Fowley (Singin’ in the Rain), who was born the same year as Lucille Ball. He was seen with Ball in 1935′s Old Man Rhythm and would play an Indian Chief in “Lucy The Rain Goddess” (TLS S4;E15).

It was also the 28th birthday of Clint Walker (”Cheyenne”) who would date Lucy Carmichael in two episodes of “The Lucy Show.”

This is the final episode of season four.  When the show resumes in fall 1955, there will be only five more Hollywood episodes remaining before the gang returns to New York City.

When it came time for filming, Desi couldn’t properly pronounce “badger” when he had to say that Lucy ‘badgers him’. Lucy teased him about the bad pronunciation, repeatedly mimicking his pronunciation: “buy-er”.

The episode opens with Lucy begging Ricky to let her accompany him to Romanoff’s for lunch with movie star Richard Widmark. Romanoff’s became known for their chocolate soufflés, strawberries Romanoff (strawberries in Grand Marnier blended into whipped cream and ice cream) and Noodles Romanoff which first appeared on the menu around the same time this episode aired. The landmark eatery closed for good on New Year’s Eve 1962, although the famous Noodles can still be found in your frozen food case thanks to Stouffers!

Ricky is adamant that she cannot accompany him, citing her mishaps with previous celebrities. People on the street ask him:

RICKY: “Is it true that she threw a pie at Bill Holden in the Brown Derby?” 

A reference to “Hollywood at Last!” (S4;E16). Later, when Lucy says she doesn’t want to just see the outside of celebrity homes, Fred adds: “Yeah, you wanna be within pie-throwing range.” 

RICKY: “Is it true that she sneaked into Cornel Wilde’s hotel room disguised as a bellhop?”

A reference to “The Star Upstairs” (S4;E25).

RICKY: “And that commotion that that orange that she had Robert Taylor autograph at the Farmer’s Market.”  

Curiously, there is no episode that features Taylor at the Farmer’s Market!  It’s possible it was planned but never filmed due to Taylor being unavailable. The orange is mentioned later again later in this episode and in two subsequent episodes. Taylor had starred with Desi Arnaz on the 1943 film Bataan.

Richard Widmark (1914-2008) made his mark on Hollywood with his debut in the 1947 film Kiss of Death (1947) which earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. During his career he made more than 75 motion pictures and appeared in five Broadway plays. He was married to writer Jean Hazelwood, and was briefly the father-in-law of baseball legend Sandy Koufax. After Hazelwood’s death, he married Susan Blanchard, thus becoming son-in-law of Oscar Hammerstein II, a name frequently mentioned on “I Love Lucy.” Although in this episode he is depicted as a big game hunter – even pointing a gun at Lucy – by 1975 he had changes his views:

“I know I’ve made kind of a half-assed career out of violence, but I abhor violence. I am an ardent supporter of gun control.”

Forbidden from showing up at lunch, Lucy and Ethel take a Hollywood Bus Tour instead. Little do they know the tour would pass the Widmark home.

The tour route goes from the Hollywood Freeway to Downtown, up Wilshire Boulevard the Pacific Palisades, and through Brentwood, Bel Air, Holmby Hills, and (finally) Beverly Hills. The tour includes a look at the Pacific Ocean and LaBrea Tar Pits.

Lucy and Ethel board a Tanner Gray Line Motor Tour, which was an actual guided tour at the time. The Gray Line still operates sightseeing tours to this day.

Writers Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. actually took a Hollywood bus tour just to see what it was like. According to Madelyn, “The big event of the trip was seeing Pat O’Brien come out in his bathrobe to get the mail.”

This was Benny Rubin’s (the driver) only series appearance, although he was briefly seen on two episodes of “The Lucy Show” as well as the Desi Arnaz-produced sitcom “The Mothers-in-Law.”

Passengers on the bus include frequent extra Barbara Pepper and Audrey Bentz (the large woman who sits on Lucy). Bentz returned as an extra in the at the bullfights when “Lucy Goes To Mexico” in 1958. Pepper, a personal friend of Ball’s, has one of the funniest lines of the episode.

Stand-ins Renita Reachi and Bennett Green (both top left corner) are also aboard.

During the seat switching on the bus, Lucy darts back to her previously occupied location to find Pepper sitting there:

LUCY: “Pardon me, this seat is taken.”
PEPPER (not moving): “It sure is, honey.”

Sitting directly behind Pepper is Joan Carey, a frequent background player who would later take over as Lucille Ball’s stand-in on “The Lucy Show.”

The tour bus driver (Benny Rubin) points out the homes of:

• Alan Ladd and Sue Carol were mentioned in “The Fashion Show.”  Although Don Loper says she will be in the show, she does not actually appear. Their home is described by the driver as a “beautiful Colonial mansion.”
• Bob Hope, Lucille Ball’s film co-star who would guest-star in a season six episode of “I Love Lucy.”
• Clark Gable was the most-mentioned (but never seen) celebrity on the series.
• Shirley Temple’s old home. Lucy mentions she is now married to Mr. Black. The driver points out that the mailbox is a replica of one of Temple’s childhood dollhouses.
• Ava Gardner. Lucy adds that Gardner is recently back from Rome [filming The Barefoot Contessa] and that she only wears black lace lingerie.
• Joan Crawford. The driver describes her home as “Old English”. Crawford guest-starred on a 1978 episode of “The Lucy Show.”
• Betty Grable and Harry James would guest star on “Lucy Wins a Racehorse,” a 1958 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”  The driver describes their home as a ‘ranch-type.’

More than any other, this episode features extensive outdoor (second unit) footage of Hollywood, and includes doubles for Lucy and Ethel. We see them boarding the bus (#134) and later walking towards what is supposed to be Richard Widmark’s house.

Richard Widmark didn’t feel comfortable using the exterior of his house for the second unit footage, so the home shown on screen is actually the Arnaz’s brand new Beverly Hills mansion at 1000 North Roxbury Drive. Although there really was a high wall around a portion of the property, the shots of Lucy scaling the wall and the home’s interior were filmed at the Desilu sound stage. For years after, Lucy and second husband Gary Morton had trouble with tourists climbing the wall to recreate this episode! Although the house still stands today, its exterior has been extensively remodeled.

Lucy scales the wall because she wants to get a Richard Widmark grapefruit to go along with the Robert Taylor-autographed orange.

Once inside, Lucy has to hide from the maid, played by Juney Ellis. Ellis had just appeared as a waitress in The Long, Long Trailer.

The room is decorated with big game trophies, which startle Lucy!

Lucy also has to contend with Widmark’s huge St. Bernard, Cap. It was widely known that the star had two weaknesses: kids and animals.

Naturally, Ricky and Widmark show up and Lucy has to hide, disguising herself as several of his big game trophies, including a rather animated bearskin rug!

While chatting with Ricky, Widmark gets in a plug for his new film A Prize of Gold, which was released a few months after this episode aired.

Naturally, the episode ends in true vaudeville-style, with Fred and Ethel bursting in dressed as attendants from the loony bin and throwing a net over Lucy!

By the way, the wild boar head on Widmark’s wall was first seen decorating the East 68th Street Athletic and Recreation Society where Ricky’s daddy shower takes place in “Ricky Has Labor Pains” (S2;E14).

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FAST FORWARD!  

In 2013, the TV show “Mike & Molly” did an episode titled “Poker
in the Front, Looker in the Back” (S4;E5) which had Molly (Melissa McCarthy) helping her mother (Swoosie Kurtz) scale the neighbor’s fence and being greeted by a dog on the other side.

Although the two storylines bear no resemblance to one another, the comic moment of scaling the fence instantly recalls Lucy and Ethel.

In a 1966 episode of “The Lucy Show” movie-mad Lucy Carmichael sold maps to the movie stars homes.

In the second episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1968, Lucy Carter and family are staying with Jack Benny in Palm Springs when a tour bus driven by one of TV’s most famous bus drivers (Ralph Kramden played by Jackie Gleason), pulls in for a picnic supper!

In 1980, Lucille Ball left CBS and went to work for NBC. The special designed to celebrate the new partnership, “Lucy Moves To NBC,” began with a tour bus driving through the very same neighborhood as in “The Tour” – the Arnaz home is once again used as the background.

In 1975, Lucy Collins took the bus to see one particular star – Dean Martin – at his Las Vegas home the MGM Grand, in “Lucy Gets Lucy.”

In 1978, Lucille Ball and Richard Widmark both appeared on the dais to tribute Henry Fonda in an AFI Salute. Other tributes were given by Lucy’s former co-stars Richard Burton, Kirk Douglas, Fred MacMurray, and James Stewart.

In Lucille Ball’s final film, Stone Pillow (1985), homeless Florabelle (Lucille Ball) is mistakenly herded onto a bus to a Brooklyn shelter and an overweight woman accidentally sits on her. This moment is reminiscent of what happened to Lucy Ricardo on the Hollywood tour bus.

In the 2001 film Rat Race, Cuba Gooding Jr. drives a tour bus full of Lucy look-a-likes!

In a scene deleted from the film (but included on the DVD extras), the bus-load of Lucys encounter a tour bus full of Rickys!

A bus tour of the stars homes can be found in Jamestown, New York (aka LucyTown Tours). In this case the only star is Lucille Ball and the only sights are her childhood homes. Lucy lived in a Celoron house (now on Lucy Lane) and in a Jamestown apartment building.

This Toronto tour bus got all wrapped up in “I Love Lucy”!  [photo by Ben Roffelsen Photography]

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A chip of brick from the wall of Lucille Ball’s home on Roxbury Drive. The wall was torn down in 1996, but the house remains.