“The Quiz Show”

(S1;E5 ~ November 12, 1951) Directed by Marc Daniels. Written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed October 5, 1951 at General Service Studios. Rating: 38.0/60

This was the fourth episode filmed, ten days before the series went on the air for the first time on October 15, 1951.

Synopsis ~ With Lucy’s household accounts in arrears, she goes on a radio quiz show to win a thousand dollars! All she has to do is pretend a complete stranger is her first husband in front of Ricky. A tramp going door to door throws a monkey wrench into the scheme!

In the original broadcast, John Stephenson announced the guest cast members in a voice over during the closing credits. This voice-over was cut for syndication, but restored for the 2002 DVD release of “I Love Lucy”.

Fred Mertz (William Frawley) does not appear in this episode. Ethel appeared without Fred in “Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer” (S1;E10).

Neither Fred nor Ethel appeared in the “I Love Lucy” pilot, “Lucy Plays Cupid” (S1;E15) and “The Young Fans” (S1;E20).

On October 20, 1952, a year later, this episode became the very first episode re-run by CBS.  A new flashback introduction was filmed in which the Ricardos and the Mertzes are spending a rare evening at the Mertzes’ apartment. Lucy realizes that she and Ethel are engaged in one conversation while Ricky and Fred are involved in another. She decides they should switch it up with Ethel and Ricky chatting and she and Fred sitting together, but none of them can think of anything to say to the other. They quickly go back to their old ways and, from across the room, Ethel invites Lucy to attend a quiz show with her. Ricky, however, puts his foot down; remembering the last time the two went to a quiz show.

The basic premise of this flashback intro is fleshed out two years later in the opening party scene of “The Charm School” (S3;E15), where the men and the women form separate conversations in separate rooms – until the late arrival of sexy Eve Whitney.

Like subsequent flashback intros, the scene was later cut for syndication. It was, however, included on the DVD release.

Lucy’s Household Accounts

• -50 cents for the newsboy
• -39 cents for toothpaste
• -15 cents for nail polish
• -245 dollars for miscellaneous

Lucy’s red-inked ledger considers miscellaneous things such as rent, groceries, telephone, electric, and gas. Lucy has no “lowgical ‘splanation” of her finances. The opening scenario is similar to that of “The Business Manager” (S4;E1) – with Lucy’s finances also a mess!

Lucy keeps her household accounts in a classic record keeping book. Boorum and Pease brand account books have been around for over 100 years and are still available today. The prop department applied the “Household Accounts” sticker to the front.

Lucy’s system for paying the bills by throwing them up in the air to see which land face up is similar to “Lucy Raises Chickens” (S6;E19), where she spins them on the lazy Susan and whichever one manage to stay on – she pays! Ricky strongly disapproves of this “lousy” Susan way of bookkeeping.

RICKY: (After kissing tearful Lucy) “Salty.”

To hint at which months bills need to be paid, Lucy half-heartedly sings “Jingle Bells”. The song was sung in the “I Love Lucy” Christmas tag and the full Christmas episode. In “Lucy Goes to Sun Valley,” a 1958 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour,” Lucy says that Ricky proposed to her at Christmastime, so their ‘song’ is “Jingle Bells,” or – as Ricky pronounces it – “Yingle Bells.”

Taking drastic measures, Ricky cuts off Lucy’s charga-plate. Charga-plates were

the predecessor to the modern credit card. Used until the early ‘60s, they were made of aluminum or white metal plates, about the size of a dog tag, and embossed with the customer’s name and address. Charga-plates were issued mostly by department stores, but also by a few oil companies. In “Lucy and Bob Hope” (S6;E1), Fred threatens to “pound the letters down” on Ethel’s charga-plate if she goes on a shopping spree at Macys. Unlike modern cards, the plates did not have numbers on them, just letters.

To cheer her up, Ethel takes Lucy to a radio show, where she could win a prize of $1,000!

Oops! When Lucy is introduced by Freddie Fillmore, she parts the curtain and reveals a glimpse of the Ricardo kitchen.

To qualify for the thousand dollar dare, Lucy must first endure a ‘trial by soda siphon’ as she sings “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean,” a Scottish folk song – which is ironic considering Lucy’s heritage. For this stunt, Lucille Ball took off her false eyelashes so as not to get them wet. She also did this when the washing machine explodes in “Never Do Business With Friends” (S2;E31).

During the radio show we are introduced to the previous winner, Mrs. Peterson, played by Hazel Pierce, Lucille Ball’s camera and lighting stand-in.

Pierce often appeared on camera, but here she is nearly unrecognizable, bandaged from head to toe after going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. [Note: Although all sources credit Pierce and her facial features are greatly obscured by the bandages, I have some doubt that this is actually her. Hazel Pierce did not have such expressive eyes.]

The studio assistant who brings on the beach umbrella is not named or credited.

A soda siphon and ‘Niagara Falls’ would also be an integral part of “The Ballet” (S1;E19, above), when Lucy is performing the old vaudeville routine Slowly I Turned.

“Females are Fabulous” (F.A.F.) was titled “Women are Wonderful” in first drafts of the script (although Lucy dubs it “Husbands are Horrible”). The likely reason for the change was that there already was a radio show called “Women Are Wonderful” which was quite different. It didn’t ask women to do stunts, but perform charitable work.

This is the first of three episodes to feature Frank Nelson in the role of Freddy Fillmore, game show host extraordinaire.

Fillmore later returns in “Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio” (S1;E32) hosting another radio program called “Mr. & Mrs. Quiz.” In “Ricky’s Hawaiian Vacation” (S3;E22) Fillmore finally makes the move to TV with the game show “Be a Good Neighbor.” Nelson was a frequent guest star on “I Love Lucy,” clocking in with nine other appearances, including as Connecticut neighbor Bruce Ramsey. He is the only actor to play two recurring roles on the series (Fillmore and Ramsey).

Note: Nelson’s character name is spelled differently in each of his three appearances. Sometimes his first name is spelled Freddy and sometimes Freddie. Sometimes his last name is spelled Filmore and sometimes Fillmore!  

The announcer of “Females are Fabulous” who encourages the audience to applaud, is played by Lee Millar. Millar was best known as the voice of Jim Dear (Lady’s master) in Walt Disney’s classic Lady and the Tramp. He was following in the footsteps of his parents, Verna Felton and Lee Millar Sr. She had played Mrs. Porter in “Lucy Hires a Maid” (S2;E23) but was best known for an array of Disney voices, including Jim Dear’s Aunt Sarah. His father was one of the actors who supplied the ‘voice’ of Disney’s Pluto. This was Millar’s first of four appearance on the series. He went on to play the a photographer in “Changing the Boys’ Wardrobe” (S3;E10) and Chip Jackson, the emcee of the MGM executive show in “Lucy and the Dummy” (S5;E3). He went uncredited as Mr. Taylor in “Mr. and Mrs. TV Show” (S4;E24).  He would also do an episode of “The Lucy Show” in 1964.

Sitcom Logic Alert!  The premise of “Females Are Fabulous” is primarily visual, with the soda siphon squirting Lucy in the face and the final stunt taking place in Lucy’s living room, off the air. It would have been much more logical to have Fillmore’s show be on television. In 1951, however, quiz and game shows were still slowly transitioning to the new medium of television.

Lucy’s ‘first husband’ is due to arrive at 8 o’clock sharp, and Lucy is a nervous wreck waiting for him to show up. The clock above the mantle is an adaptation of an 18th century toleware (painted metal) clock made by Georgian Lighting Studios. It was designed by Herman Kashins.

Lucy is so nervous that she can’t even light her own cigarette without help!  With Philip-Morris as a sponsor, comedy surrounding cigarettes or smoking was encouraged.

Ricky is relaxing reading Variety, a show-business trade paper. On the back cover is a full-page ad congratulating musical act Les Paul and Mary Ford on selling 4,000,000 albums. By the end of the year (this was only October 5), it reached 6 million. Between the years 1950 and 1954, the duo had 16 top-ten hits, including “Tennessee Waltz”, “Mockin’ Bird Hill”, and “How High the Moon.”

Ricky suggest Lucy finish knitting him socks. Due to her nervous energy, the result is more of a scarf.

Meanwhile, a tramp comes to Ethel’s back door looking for a handout. This is the same set that will be used in “Pioneer Women” later in the season.

When Ethel’s door opens her kitchen wall displays a large calendar for October 1951. John Emery (1905-64) plays Harold (or Sam), the well-spoken tramp. Emery was in 22 Broadway shows between 1934 and 1960. Watch the episode closely and his theatrical voice and gestures belie his stage training. He was also seen as a nasty neighbor in “Little Ricky Gets a Dog” (S6;E14) and as a doctor in Forever, Darling, also starring Lucy and Desi. Although once married to Tallulah Bankhead, from 1961, Emery was romantically involved with actress Joan Bennett, who cared for him during his final illness.

The tramp somehow makes his way to the front door of the Ricardo apartment where Lucy naturally believes he is the man sent by Freddy Fillmore. To help Lucy’s lie, the tramp spins a fantastic tale about being in the Battle of the Argonne Woods.

‘HAROLD / SAM’: “The Kaiser’s troops were all about us and Blackjack Sherman Pershing put his hand on my shoulder and said to me, ‘Sam’ – he always called me by my nickname – ‘Sam,’ he said, ‘gather about you—’”  

Ricky interrupts his story to tell them that the Battle of the Argonne Woods was during World War I – 33 years ago!  The Battle of the Argonne Woods was fought from September 26, 1918 until the Armistice of November 11, 1918, a total of 47 days. The battle cost 28,000 German lives, 26,277 American lives and an unknown number of French lives. It was the largest and bloodiest operation of World War I.

Pressing on, the Tramp asks Lucy about their children:

‘HAROLD / SAM’: “Where are the little darlings?”
LUCY (alarmed): “Don’t you have them?”
‘HAROLD / SAM’: “You’ve misplaced them again!” 

‘Arnold,’ the ‘real’ first husband, was played by Vivian Vance’s husband at the time, Philip Ober (1902-82). He was actually the third of Vance’s four husbands. He later played the role of Dore Schary in “Don Juan is Shelved” (S4;E22) when the real Schary backed out at the last minute. Reportedly, Ober physically abused Vance. When she came to the set with a black eye one day, Lucy told Vivian that if she wouldn’t divorce Ober, she would! Ironically, although Vivian’s real-life husband appears in this episode, her on-screen husband, Fred Mertz, does not!

Lucy wins the prize because she didn’t start explaining the story to Ricky until after midnight. If ‘Arnold’ was due to show up at 8pm, Lucy had to stall for four hours – none of which is seen in the episode. One can only imagine the tales that must have been told to induce Ricky to pack his suitcase!

After some quick accounting by Ricky, Lucy is left with just 25 cents!  At least that’s better than after her visit to the Speedy Laundry in “Bonus Bucks” (S3;E21), when poor Lucy is left with just a single penny!

FAST FORWARD

Lucy Carmichael is picked from Art Linkletter’s studio audience and challenged not to utter a sound for 24 hours to win $200 in a 1966 episode of “The Lucy Show.” Linkletter sends another studio audience member (Doris Singleton!) to watch over her, and then arranges for various shocking events to occur to get her to speak.

Lucy Carter also goes on a quiz program to earn a cash prize in a 1970 episode of “Here’s Lucy.”  Again, Art Linkletter challenges her not to lose her cool for 24 hours in order to win $500. Little does she know that her friends and family are all in on the stunt!

In a 1971 episode of “Here’s Lucy,” Alan Funt offers the Carters $100 per stunt if they help him with his “Candid Camera” TV Show.  Little do they know that Funt is an evil imposter and they are actually participating in crimes!