“Desert Island”

(S6;E8 ~ November 26, 1956) Directed by James V. Kern. Written by Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf. Filmed October 4, 1956 at Ren-Mar Studios. 

Rating: 46.7/63

Synopsis ~ To prevent the boys from judging a beauty contest, Lucy and Ethel come up with a plan that leaves the Ricardos and the Mertzes marooned on a tropical island.

The date this episode first aired (November 26, 1956) the main cast of “I Love Lucy” was in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, to attend the Crippled Children’s Hospital’s Annual Ball at the Roosevelt Hotel. Before the ball, they were made honorary citizens for the day in the City Council Chambers, received the keys to the city, and had lunch aboard the Dock Board’s yacht. That evening they appeared at the Lyons Center before a crowd of 5,000 for an informal half-hour performance. 

This is the second of several episodes that took the show to Florida and Cuba.  During the summer of 1956, Lucy and Desi went on a publicity tour that included Miami, no doubt to firm up locations and sponsorship for their upcoming episodes. Although season 6 was originally announced as including a trip to New Orleans, the trip became Miami Beach and Havana after the publicity tour. 

TITLE TROUBLE! The title of this episode is slightly incorrect. The island is not a DESERT island, but a DESERTED tropical island. 

Due to the logistics of filming, this episode was not filmed in front of a live audience. 

In 1939, Lucille Ball starred in a film titled Five Came Back in which a group of people were also stranded in the tropics.  [Note: In this black and white film Lucille Ball was a brunette. The window card above was colorized giving Lucille Ball her now-trademark red hair, indicating that it was likely tinted nearly ten years after the release date, when Lucy adopted her legendary color.]

The day this episode first aired, a TV show that is still on the air today made its debut on NBC: “The Price is Right” hosted by Bill Cullen.  

That day also marked the sad passing of bandleader Tommy Dorsey (above right), who co-starred with Lucille Ball in Du Barry Was A Lady (1943). 

After fleeing Cuba in 1934, a 17 year-old Desi Arnaz called Miami home. This trip to Miami Beach has the gang staying at the luxurious Eden Roc Miami Beach Hotel, quite a step up from the poverty of Desi’s youth. Located at 4525 Collins Avenue, the real-life resort is still in operation today. 

It first opened in 1956, making it virtually brand new when the Ricardos and the Mertzes stayed there. It was also featured in 1988’s Married to the Mob and 1995’s Just Cause.

The Eden Roc today and an insert photo from the show prove that not much has changed!  

The Ricardos are in room 919. There is an 8 by 10 framed photograph of Little Ricky in the room, an odd thing to bring along on vacation, especially since Little Ricky is with them, not staying at home! 

Ricky announces that he’s going to be in a film about the history of the state of Florida. The Sunshine State’s history begins in 1513 with its founding by Spanish explorer Ponce de León. Ricky says he will appear in the ‘modern’ scenes playing with his band in the hotel nightclub. 

Fred is so excited to judge the beauty contest that he asks Ricky for a spritz of his eau de cologne. 

ETHEL: “He hasn’t used eau de cologne since Lillian Russell came to town.”

Lillian Russell (1860-1922) was one of the most famous actresses and singers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known for her beauty and style, as well as for her voice and stage presence. Coincidentally, in 1947 William Frawley (Fred Mertz) was featured in My Wild Irish Rose, a film about Russell’s lover, Chauncey Olcott (Dennis Morgan) where Russell was played by Andrea King. In the late 1960s, Lucille Ball was announced to play Lillian Russell to Jackie Gleason’s Diamond Jim Brady in a film project that never materialized.

This episode utilizes extensive second unit footage in Miami Beach using doubles for the cast. 

The rest of the scenes were re-created on a California sound stage using a water tank and rear projection for sea and sky.

Bathing beauty Jil Jarmyn (1926-87) was a sexy brunette who made more news with her private life than her public one. She filed assault charges against Susan Hayward alleging the star assaulted her in the bedroom of her former fiance. Under pressure from Hayward’s studio, Jarmyn reluctantly dropped the charges.

The other beauty was Joi Lansing (1928-72), a platinum blond who began posing at age 13 and attended MGM’s talent school at age 17. Her parents were devout Mormons who divorced when she was young. She was considered for the role that eventually went to Marilyn Monroe in All About Eve (1950). Most TV fans remember her as the wife of Lester Flatt on “The Beverly Hillbillies” from 1965 to 1968. She married Clark Kent (aka Superman) in a 1958 episode of “The Adventures of Superman” and might have become a regular had the series not ended when George Reeves died. Keith Thibodeaux (aka Little Ricky) recalled,

“I remember watching the chemistry between Joi Lansing and Desi, and Lucy’s reaction. Even at my age, I knew this couldn’t be good.”

FRED: “This Cruis Along is a dandy little boat, Rick!”

As in the previous episode, “Deep Sea Fishing” (S6;E7), the boats used were supplied by Cruis Along. In addition to the logo being clearly visible on the boat, Fred’s line gives the company verbal advertising. At some point, the company became a subsidiary of the Century Boat Company, which is still in business today.

In the story, Ricky and Fred are scheduled to judge a beauty contest, but Lucy has a scheme to prevent their attendance by only fueling up their boat with only half a tank of gas. 

She plans to have a secret a fuel supply stowed away in a thermos. But when Ricky discovers the thermos of gasoline, he leaves it on the dock – leaving the Ricardos and the Mertzes adrift. 

Sitcom Logic Alert!  Lucy’s plan to have a spare thermos full of gasoline nearly poisons her own son!  Luckily Fred smells something funny when pouring the ‘lemonade’ for Little Ricky!

Oops!  The island in the second unit footage has a lot less vegetation than the one in the studio shots. Having an entire film crew operating ‘on the other side of the island’ without being seen or heard is unlikely! 

They run aground on a deserted island (full of what Ricky calls “cock-a-nuts”) which turns out to be the location for a new documentary film about the history of Florida starring Claude Akins as a “giant native” and – of course – the bathing beauties from the newly re-scheduled beauty contest. Akins and the starlets all play ‘themselves.’

Claude Akins (1926-94) was the son of a police officer and appeared in nearly 180 films and TV shows in his 40 year career. He is perhaps best remembered as Sheriff Lobo in the 1970s television series “B.J. and the Bear.” He also appeared as a policeman in a 1967 episode of “The Lucy Show.”  

In his autobiography, Keith Thibodeaux (Little Ricky) remembers that Akins had really bad breath!

Sitcom Logic Alert!  When the bathing beauties show up on the ‘deserted’ island, Joi Lansing say that they needed extra girls for the picture. It is hard to imagine a scene set in 1513 when Ponce de Leon landed in Florida featuring either Lansing or Jarmyn.  

Oops!  When Fred swoops up Little Ricky to protect him from the ‘Giant Native’, Little Ricky’s captains hat falls off.  He plays the rest of the scene without it. 

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz threw a luau party on the island set after the episode was filmed.

FAST FORWARD~ Familiar Faces!

Claude Akins as Lieutenant Finch

in “Lucy Meets the Law” (TLS S5;E19). 

Loi Lansing as Miss Long-Neck in “Lucy Wants a Career” (LDCH 1959). 

On “The Danny Kaye Show” (1962), Lucille Ball and Danny Kaye encounter a Giant Native maître d’ at a Tahitian-themed restaurant who shrinks them down to pygmy size!  

For most of its time on TV, “Gilligan’s Island” (1964-67) was on CBS just like “The Lucy Show.”  Here are a few of the castaways that also appeared with Lucy. 

Mrs. Thurston “Lovey” Howell III 

Natalie Schafer as Phoebe Emerson in “The Charm School” (S3;E15) 

The Skipper

Alan Hale Jr. as Moose Manley in “Lucy and Wally Cox” (HL S2;E21) in 1970. 

Alan Hale Jr. as Captain Burke in “Lucy Puts Out a Fire at the Bank” (LS S2;E9) in 1963.  

Director of “Here’s Lucy” Jack Donohue wasn’t on “Gilligan’s Island” but his costume certainly suggested it when he did a cameo in “Where Is My Wandering Mother Tonight?” (HL S6;E23) in 1974.

Thurston Howell III, The Millionaire

Jim Backus appeared with Lucille Ball in the films Easy Living (1949) and Critic’s Choice (1963). 

Ginger, The Movie Star

Tina Louise co-starred with Lucille Ball in the TV special “Salute To Stan Laurel” in 1965.

The Professor

John Gabriel, who only played The Professor in the 1963 pilot and was replaced by Russell Johnson for the series, played Jack Thomas, “Mary Jane’s Boyfriend” (HL S6;E20), in 1974. 

“Mr. and Mrs.” aka “The Lucille Ball Comedy Hour” (1964) was based on a play by Sherwood Schwartz, “Gilligan’s Island” creator and head writer. 

“Lucy” and “Gilligan” also shared many character actors: Vito Scotti, Janos Prohaska, Hans Conreid, John McGiver, Strother Martin, Herb Vigran, and Sandra Gould.