“Lucy Goes to a Rodeo”

(S5;E8 ~ November 28, 1955) Directed by James V. Kern. Written by Jess 
Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf. Filmed October 27, 1955 at Ren-Mar Studios. Rating: 46.9/63

Synopsis ~ Fred needs to stage a show for his lodge, but Ricky is busy with a radio show. When he finds out that the RADIO show is actually a RODEO show, everyone gets into the act to perform at Madison Square Garden. 

This is the penultimate episode before the gang’s trip to Europe. The episode is sometimes referred to as “Lucy Goes to the Rodeo”.

Oops!  In the stock footage of the MSG marquee, “Ricardo’s” is missing a possessive apostrophe. “Tonight” is spelled in a colloquial style – “Tonite”

The episode opens with Ricky looking through his book ‘gagement book and penciling in Lucy for a kiss on February 2nd. Lucy notes that February second is Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day is a North American cultural tradition for predicting arrival of spring based on whether a groundhog sees his shadow. 

At first, Lucy and Ethel suggest reprising “The Pleasant Peasant,” a callback to “The Operetta” (S2;E5). Vivian Vance frequently used “Lily of the Valley” when required to sing a few bars of something by the script. Lucy is all set to play Camille again, and we even see her practicing her tambourine. 

LUCY: “I got it!  I’ve got my act for Fred’s Lodge show: ‘It’s Just the Gypsy in My Soul’.” 

“(It’s Just the) Gypsy in My Soul” was a 1939 song by Clay Boland and Moe Jaffe that was covered by hundreds of artists, including by Bing Crosby in 1955. Coincidentally “Gypsy in My Soul” was also the name of a 1976 Shirley MacLaine television special co-starring Lucille Ball. 

Although this song is not sung by Lucy, this is a very musical show, with Fred and Ethel singing “Birmingham Jail,” a song last heard in “Tennessee Bound” (S4;E14) sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford. Lucy even attempts to yodel “Home on the Range.” All this before the big Madison Square Garden performance. 

If the framed portrait behind Ricky’s agent Johnny Clark looks familiar, it is because for much of season one it was on the Ricardo’s bedroom dresser. It is a print a painting of Major John Biddle by the 19th century portraitist Thomas Sully (1783-1872). In 1818, Biddle
(1792-1859) acquired 1,800 acres of land south of Detroit and built an estate which was later developed into the city of Wyandotte, Michigan. Lucille Ball was about a year old when her family moved to Wyandotte so that her father could take a job as a telephone lineman. Lucille’s family lived there until her father, Henry, died of typhoid fever in 1915. The family then moved back to Jamestown, New York, where Lucy was born in 1911. The death of Lucy’s father had a great impact on her and her work. Perhaps this is why the portrait of Major John Biddle was selected. 

This is the second and final appearance of John Gallaudet as Johnny Clark, Ricky’s agent. He had appeared with Lucille Ball in 1939’s Twelve Crowded Hours.

To cast his rodeo show, the first person Ricky calls is someone named Harry. This could be a reference to Harry Ackerman, a CBS executive responsible for bringing “I Love Lucy” to the network. 

When Ricky is trying to find acts for the rodeo, he mentions Tex Ritter, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes, and Hugh O’Brian, star of the TV series “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” (1955-58), which aired Tuesday nights on ABC. He also quips “I’d like to hear Roy Rogers singing ‘Babalu’!” In real-life Rogers frequently appeared at the Garden’s rodeo. 

Before appearing in the rodeo show, Lucy, Fred and Ethel get some coaching by Rattlesnake Jones, played by Dub Taylor. Walter Clarence ‘Dub’ Taylor, Jr. (1907–94) was character actor who worked extensively in westerns. The name Walter was shortened to ‘W’ and then to ‘Dub.’ Taylor made his film debut in 1938 as Ed Carmichael in Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take It With You. The following year, he appeared in The Taming of the West, in which he originated the character of Cannonball, a role he continued to play for the next ten years, in over fifty films. Interestingly, this is the same name Lucy takes when she appears in the final scene as Western bell-ringer Lucy ‘Canonball’ McGillicuddy. One of Taylor’s last appearances was in Back to the Future Part III in 1990.

When Lucy makes fun of Ricky doing a Western show, he tells her that he was born in West Havana. In reality, there is no such place. Desi Arnaz was born in Santiago de Cuba, which is southeast of Havana. A few episodes later, Lucy will discover that she is from West Jamestown. This, too, is a non-existent place.  Lucille Ball was born in Jamestown, and raised in Celoron, which is at least west of Jamestown! 

Madison Square Garden was an indoor arena in New York City, the third bearing that name. It was built in 1925 and closed in 1968, and was located on Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan. It was the first Garden that was not located near Madison Square. The current Madison Square Garden is located between 7th and 8th Avenues from 31st to 33rd Streets and is situated atop Pennsylvania Station. 

Leading into the Madison Square Garden performance, there is a stock footage montage of several scenes from the MSG Rodeo:

• The MSG Marquee
• A Pageant of Horseback Riders
• A Steer Roper
• A Female Stunt Rider (above)

The remaining performances were filmed on the Desilu soundstage in Hollywood, not at Madison Square Garden. 

Doye O’Dell is the Master of Ceremonies. He sings "The Old Chisholm Trail“

accompanying himself on guitar, a cowboy song first published in 1910 by John Lomax although it dates back to the 1870s, when it was among the most popular songs sung by cowboys during that era. During the early 1950s, O’Dell hosted a popular kids’ TV show in the Los Angeles area called “Cowboy Thrills.” He can (briefly) be seen in Auntie Mame (1958) as Cousin Jeff, and in his final screen appearance Irma la Douce (1963).

Ricky adapts they lyrics of "Cuban Pete” into “Texas Pete” for the MSG performance.

The song was originally sung in “The Diet” (ILL S1;E3) and then again in “The Hedda Hopper Story” (ILL S4;E20).

He also adapted it as “Tokyo Pete” in “The Ricardos Go To Japan” (1959), the penultimate “Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”  

Intentional Blooper!  During the filming of “Texas Pete” Desi’s gun belt fell off causing filming to stop. Since the crew thought this was funny they decided to re-shoot the scene and incorporate this bit. 

Fred and Ethel croon (and yodel) “Red River Valley,” a traditional folk song. In 1955 the Norman Luboff Choir featured the song on their album Songs of the West.

The finale features Lucy ‘Cannonball’ McGillicuddy and her Western Bellringers doing their rendition of “The Old Mill Stream,” a song written by Tell Taylor in 1908. It was one of the most popular songs of the early 20th century.  The ‘booty shaking’ choreography is by Jack Baker, who even gets a vocal credit at the end of the show. 

Before the act is introduced by O’Dell there is a hard edit in the film just as a cowboy stage hand starts to set up the boxes the gang will stand upon to perform. 

At this point “I Love Lucy” was being sponsored by Sanka, instant decaffeinated coffee.

Lucy had previously donned Western garb in “Home Movies” (S3;E20) singing “I’m An Old Cowhand,” in “Amateur Hour” (S1;E14) singing “Ragtime Cowboy Joe,” and later turns up in cowboy duds in a 1965 episode of “The Lucy Show” that ended up in the show’s opening credits.

In 1958, CBS again turned to the rodeo at Madison Square Garden for a storyline of the crime drama “Richard Diamond, Private Detective” starring David Janssen.