“Lucy Raises Tulips”

(S6;E26 ~ April 29, 1957) Directed by William Asher. Written by Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller, and Bob Weiskopf. Filmed on March 28, 1957 at Ren-Mar Studios. Rating: 41.2/65

Synopsis ~ Lucy turns gardener, competing with Betty Ramsey (Mary Jane Croft) for Westport Garden Club’s ‘Best Garden,’ a title that Betty has held for three years running. When Lucy takes charge of the rider mower, the landscape changes for the worse – including the garden!

Both women are growing tulips. We are told that Lucy’s are pink, and Betty’s are yellow. It’s a shame this episode is not in color!   

In real life, Lucille Ball loved flowers and grew them in gardens in all her homes. Her favorite flowers were peonies and lilacs which grew quite well in the East where she was raised.

One of (blonde) Ball’s first roles in Hollywood was as flower store clerk in Top Hat (1935) selling flowers to Fred Astaire to send to Ginger Rogers. 

ETHEL: “I’ve been watching those old movies on television. The Late Late Show.”

When the boys take off to a Yankees game, Lucy decides to finish mowing the lawn herself – if she can just figure out how it works!  The model power mower used in the show had specific requirements – one of which was that it appear a bit intimidating to Lucy and Ethel.

In 1955, however, ads for mowers were busy appealing to a female audience. Clearly the model used was not state-of-the-art at the time of filming!  It had probably been purchased by Ralph Ramsey many years earlier. 

Although no scenes take place there in this episode, Yankee Stadium (or a Hollywood facsimile of it with the help of establishing footage) was the location for much of “Lucy and Bob Hope” (S6;E1, above) at the start of season 6. William Frawley was an avid Yankees fan, and is said to have it in his contract that he would get time off to attend the World Series if the Yankees were part of it!

When Ethel is told to start the power mower by cranking it, Lucy likens it to the old Ford Model T. Ethel objects, claiming that she only goes back as far as the Stutz Bearcat, an automobile that was actually only four years younger than the classic Ford. 

Unable to turn off the out-of-control mower, Lucy goes on a wild ride that takes her up Main Street and a mile-and-a-half on the Boston Post Road – against traffic –

leaving every lawn between her home and town half-mowed and mowing down Betty Ramsey’s prize tulips in the process! 

Lucy likens her ride to that of Lady Godiva the way people came out of their homes to gawk. Lady Godiva
was an English noblewoman who, according to a legend dating at least to the 13th century, rode naked on horseback – covered only in her long hair – through the streets to protest the oppressive taxation that her husband had imposed on his tenants. The above photo, however, is actually from 1933′s Roman Scandals, one of Lucille Ball’s first films. 

The dazed and bewildered recounting of her wild ride is similar to the one Lucy has after she returns from driving the coupled Cadillac and Buick through Manhattan in “Lucy Learns to Drive” (S4;E11) – rattled disbelief. 

LUCY: “If I ever let my hair get dark at the roots, I’m afraid it’s gonna be snow white.”

During the episode we hear (once again) Ricky’s full name: Enrique Alberto Ricardo y de Acha III. This was derived from Desi Arnaz’s real name: Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III. The first time it was uttered was in “Hollywood Anniversary” (S4;E23) in 1955.

RICKY: “When she uses my full name, I’m cooked.”

To intimidate him into helping Ricky, Ethel uses Fred’s full name: Frederick Hobart Mertz. Most of the cast used some form of their real names in the character names, except William Frawley, whose real middle name was Clement.

The episode references Westport’s Hardware Store as well as the Garden Club, both still around today.  The mentioned (but not seen) Hardware Store owner is named Mr. Bentz.

This is Mary Jane Croft’s final appearance on the series. Despite the fact that “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hours” were also set in Westport, the Ramseys got no screen time. Croft, however, turned up on both “The Lucy Show” playing Audrey Simmons for 8 episodes and Mary Jane Lewis for 31 more. She returned for 30 episodes of “Here’s Lucy,” also as a character named Mary Jane Lewis. Her last project with Lucy was also her final screen credit, as Midge Bowser in “Lucy Calls the President” (1977).  

The judges from the Club are played by two series veterans, Eleanor Audley and Peter Brocco. 

Eleanor Audley (1905–91) was a New York born actress who performed in eight Broadway plays between 1926 and 1944. She specialized in snobbish society matron types, most notably as Eddie Albert’s mother on TV’s “Green Acres” (1965), despite being only a year older than Albert. 

She is probably best known, however, as the voice of two of Disney’s most memorable animated villainesses: Lady Tremaine, the wicked stepmother in Cinderella (1950); and the evil Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty (1959). 

She served as the physical model for both characters. Also for Disney, she provided the voice of Madame Leota, the disembodied head in the crystal ball of the Haunted Mansions, still heard in the theme parks today.

In the Lucy-verse, she played Mrs. Spaulding in “Lucy Wants to Move to the Country” (S6;E15), former owners of the Ricardo’s Westport house, as well as doing an episode of “The Lucy Show” in 1965. Is is unclear if this Garden Contest Judge is actually Mrs. Spaulding since her name is not given. 

Peter Brocco (1903–92) was a popular character actor with nearly 300 credits on film and TV. He also appeared on Broadway acting in Shakespeare alongside Estelle Winwood. On “I Love Lucy,” Brocco was seen as Dominic (Mario’s brother) in “Visitor from Italy” (S6;E5), and acted with Lucy in the film Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949).

The episode also features Keith Thibodeaux as Little Ricky and Terry as Fred the dog. In addition, the script mentions Ralph Ramsey and Grace and Harry Munson, who do not appear on screen. Had they been part of the action, they would have been played by Frank Nelson, Ruth Brady, and Tristram Coffin, respectively. 

In a reversal of power, the show fades out with Lucy intimidatingly backing Ricky into a corner as he sheepishly tries to explain the melting tulips. Finally, the shoe is on the other foot – even though it took 178 episodes! 

The episode was followed by Lucy and Desi doing a commercial for their alternate sponsor, Squeeze Comb Lilt Home Permanent. 

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FAST FORWARD

Lucy finds Ricky sprawled out on the living room sofa instead of mowing the lawn and is not happy about it. 

LUCY: “The grass is a foot high. What am I supposed to do?”
FRED: “Maybe you could rent a couple of sheep for the day.”

On a 1962 episode of “The Lucy Show” (S1;E5, above) Lucy Carmichael’s son Jerry is as lazy as Ricky Ricardo when it comes to mowing the lawn. When banker Barnsdahl (Charles Lane) says Lucy can’t afford to buy a power mower, she buys a grass-eating sheep instead, just like Fred Mertz suggested five years earlier! 

Tulips figured prominently in the mystery novel dictated to Lucy Carter by David Benton Miller (Foster Brooks) in a 1973 episode of “Here’s Lucy” titled “Tipsy Through the Tulips” (HL S6;E10). 

In 1991, a hybrid tea rose was christened the Lucille Ball Rose, doubtless because it’s distinctive apricot color is reminiscent of Lucille Ball’s hair!