“Tennessee Bound”

(S4;E15 ~ January 24, 1955) Directed by William Asher. Written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed at Ren-Mar Studios on November 18, 1954.  It was the 112th episode filmed. 

Syopsis ~ While on their way to California with Lucy at the wheel, the group gets lost in Tennessee, which can only mean the return of Tennessee Ernie Ford. 

This marks Ford’s third appearance as the same character (basically himself) after two episodes at the end of season 3. He’d return to work with Lucille Ball in episodes of “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.” 

A few months after this show aired, Ford recorded “Davy Crockett” (which reached #4 on the country chart), and scored an unexpected hit on the pop charts with his cover of “Sixteen Tons,” coal-miner’s lament first recorded by Merle Travis in 1946.

When the on-location scene of their Pontiac speeding through fictional ‘Bent Fork’ was filmed, second unit director Jack Aldworth wanted the car to go faster. So he got behind the wheel himself and was promptly pulled over for speeding, just as in the episode! He got the charges dropped when he discovered that the police officer was a huge Lucy fan. He promised the officer an autographed picture.

The town of Bent Fork is fictional, although there is a town in Tennessee called Middle Fork, located near the Pinson Mountains of Henderson County. 

Holding an unfolded map, Ethel notes that if they aren’t lost, Highway 60 must be! This would mean that they are about 65 miles off course. They ask directions of Zeke, a hillbilly gas station attendant, played by future award-winning TV producer Aaron Spelling. 

Spelling was just 27 at the time and had only been acting for about 14 months when cast by Lucy and Desi. They used him again in the pilot of their new series “Willy” (1954). At the time, he was married to Carolyn Jones (Morticia in “The Addams Family”). Later, as producer, he was responsible for such mega-hits as “Dynasty,” “Melrose Place,“ and "Fantasy Island.” With Lucy’s second husband, Gary Morton, he produced “Life with Lucy” (1986), Lucille Ball’s failed final sitcom. He is probably best known today as the father of Tori Spelling. He died in 2006.

Will Wright (Bent Fork’s Sheriff) was one of those familiar character actors who seems to have been born old. He specialized in playing crusty old codgers, rich skinflints, crooked small-town politicians, and the like. He previously played Mr. Walters, the locksmith from Yonkers in “The Handcuffs” (S2;E4). In 1949, he appeared with Lucy in the film Miss Grant Takes Richmond.

Much of the visual humor of the show came from the rotund The Borden Twins, Rosalyn and Marilyn, playing Teensy and Weensy, the Sheriff’s daughters. While appearing on “All Star Revue” in 1953 they caught the attention of Lucille Ball, who promised to find a part for them on her show. 

They sang “Ricochet Romance,” a song recorded by Theresa Brewer in 1953 and featured in a film of the same name in 1954. Performing since the age of 3, their final TV appearance together was appropriately on “All Star Party for Aaron Spelling” in 1998 and attended “Lucy Fest” in Jamestown in 2000. Roz died in 2003, and Marilyn in 2009. 

To break Lucy out of her cell, the gang sing a boisterous version of “Old MacDonald Had A Farm” led by Ernie. While in the jail cell, Ernie sings a few bars of “Birmingham Jail.” During the square dance finale, the instrumentalists are actually some of the same musicians that made up the Ricky Ricardo Orchestra at the Tropicana.  

It is hard to believe, but the original idea for the end of the episode was a taffy pull, not a square dance, with the Bent Fork residents bound up in taffy instead of rope!  According to the road sign, the population of Bent Fork is just 54 people – but probably very few taffy pullers. Conveniently, the number of residents is the same as the year this episode was filmed.

Thinking she’ll never see Hollywood, Lucy tells Ethel to say hello to Clark Gable for her. Gable is the most-mentioned celebrity on the series, being referenced seven times in season four alone!  While Gable never appeared opposite Lucille Ball, she did impersonate him to nearsighted Carolyn Appleby. 

There is a lost scene in which Ernie describes the situation with the Sheriff’s daughter. He got a little too tipsy at an auction event and bid on a dinner with Teensy by mistake and the Sheriff jumped the gun and assumed it was a proposal. The scene now appears in the DVD extras.

In order to capture the square dance and Ernie’s goal of tying up the twins and the Sheriff with clarity for the viewers, the show uses a very high angle camera, never seen before on the show’s studio portions. It is likely that this scene had to be re-filmed again from this angle after the studio audience left. 

Before the closing credits, announcer Johnny Jacobs tells the audience:

“Next week ‘I Love Lucy’ will be brought to you by Procter and Gamble, makers of Cheer!”