(S4;E25 ~ April 18, 1955) Directed by William Asher. Written by
Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed March 3, 1955 at Ren-Mar Studios. Rating: 47.5/67
Synopsis ~ Lucy figures out that she has seen 99 movie stars since arriving in Hollywood, and when she hears that Cornel Wilde is staying in the penthouse above her, she targets him as #100. She enlists the help of Bobby the Bellboy to get a glimpse of ‘the star upstairs.’
During season 6, this episode was shown as a re-run with a new flashback opening featuring Lucy and Ricky showing Little Ricky their Hollywood scrapbook. Since re-runs were not usual at the time, it was felt the audience wouldn’t accept them unless they were in flashback format.
This star upstairs was originally scheduled to be Van Johnson, but he was unable to appear because of a conflict with Philip Morris’s competitor Lucky Strike. After the conflict was worked out, Johnson ended up starring as “The Dancing Star” (S4;E27).
The date this episode first aired (April 18, 1955),
theoretical physicist
Albert Einstein died at age 76. Both Einstein and Lucille Ball died from aortic disease. His name will be mentioned two weeks later by Ethel in
That episode was filmed on March 30, 1955.
Cornel Wilde was born Kornél Lajos Weisz in 1912 in Hungary. He came to the US at the age of 7. He qualified for the US fencing team prior to the 1936 Summer Olympic Games, but quit the team to take a part in a play. In 1940 he played Tybalt opposite Laurence Olivier’s Romeo on Broadway and acted as Olivier’s fencing instructor. His first credited screen role was in High Sierra (1941) starring Humphrey Bogart.
He was nominated for an Oscar for A Song To Remember in 1945. In 1952, he starred in The Greatest Show On Earth which Lucille Ball was supposed to be in as well, had she not become pregnant. In the episode, Ricky manages to get in a plug for Wilde’s new movie The Big Combo, which had opened in February, two weeks before the episode was filmed. Wilde died of leukemia in 1989, three days after his 77th birthday and just six months after the death of Lucille Ball.
This marks the last of Bob Jellison’s six appearances as Bobby the bellboy although he’d also tote bags for Mrs. Ricardo in “Lucy Hunts Uranium,” a 1958 episode of “The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour."
When Lucy tosses Cornel Wilde’s newspaper to him while he is in the bathtub, it gets soaking wet and the pages become virtually translucent.
WILDE: “I thought President Eisenhower was playing golf with Little Orphan Annie.”
The fact that First Lady Mamie Eisenhower didn’t play golf was mentioned in “The Golf Game” (S3;E30).
Lucy was unfavorably compared to comic strip character Little Orphan Annie when her home perm and handmade dress are a failure in “Lucy Wants New Furniture” (S2;E28).
Oops! Close-up shots reveals that the backdrops of Hollywood outside of the fictional Beverly Palms Hotel are only still photographs; a truck is caught in the middle of a street and flags are captured fully extended by the wind. Also, Lucy’s hotel room has a completely different view than Cornel Wilde’s, even though his is only one flight up.
From his room, the marquee for the Mirror Theatre can be seen. The real-life Hollywood cinema was located at 1615 Vine Street, first opening in 1927 as the Vine Street Theatre and then as the Studio.
Unsurprisingly, it was owned by CBS until 1954, when it re-opened as the Huntington Hartford Theater, which it still is today.
“I’m not funny. What I am is brave.” ~ Lucille Ball
This episode is a prime example of bravery and Lucy’s dedication to physical comedy.
It is also a showcase for Vivian Vance’s wonderful comic timing, as she tries to cover for Lucy who is “hanging around” the hotel.
When Lucy climbs onto the balcony after falling from the penthouse, her right foot has no shoe on it.
Someone in the studio audience can be heard over the laughter saying, "She lost her shoe” followed by “she threw her shoe down”, referring to an earlier scene when Lucy throws her shoe from the penthouse balcony onto the balcony of her suite, to get Ethel’s attention.
In the final scene, the Band-Aid on Lucy’s face after she falls off the balcony wasn’t just for comic effect. It was due to a real injury sustained while doing the stunt. She is also seen holding her Robert Taylor autographed orange, which will be referenced in future episodes alongside her Richard Widmark grapefruit.
BELLHOP TO THE FRONT DESK!!!
This episode is later referenced in “The Tour” (S4;E30), five weeks later, when Ricky says that people he meets ask about Lucy’s antics and say, “Is it true that she sneaked into Cornel Wilde’s hotel room disguised as a bellhop?”
Lucy first disguised herself as a bellhop when she pretended to be the Philip-Morris living mascot Johnny Roventini in “Lucy Does a TV Commercial” (S1;E30).
So did Bert Willoughby (Irving Bacon) in “The Marriage License” (S1;E26).
Sam Edwards plays the bellboy at London’s (fictional) Wimbelshire Hotel in “Lucy Meets the Queen” (S5;E15).
A bellboy played by Saverio LoMedico translates an Italian magazine article for Lucy when they stay in Rome during “Lucy’s Italian Movie” (S5;E23).
Sid Melton plays a Nome bellboy when “Lucy Goes To Alaska” (LDCH 1959).
When “Lucy Meets the Mustache” (LDCH 1960), the bellboy is played by Dick Kallman, a young actor who was taking acting classes from Lucille Ball on the Desilu / RKO lot.
Bringing things full circle, Bob Jellison dons the bellboy’s uniform again when the gang stays at the Las Vegas Sands Hotel in “Lucy Hunts Uranium” (LDCH 1958).
In May 1959, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, little Lucie and Desi Jr. pose in front of a row of bellboys aboard the SS Liberte. One of them holds her expensive fur coat!
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
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