(S5;E16 ~ February 6, 1956) Directed by James V. Kern. Written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller, and Bob Weiskopf. Filmed December 22, 1955 at Ren-Mar Studios. It was the 140th episode filmed.
Rating: 48.2/65
Synopsis ~The second episode set in Europe finds Lucy wangling an invitation to an English country estate for the weekend where she has to contend with her jealousy of Angela Randall, an English heiress flirting with Ricky. To keep an eye on him, she goes on a fox hunt despite never having ridden a horse.
The night before this episode premiered, Lucy and Desi appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” to promote their upcoming film Forever Darling. Desi sang the title song with the Ames Brothers.
Coincidentally, the date this episode first aired marked the fourth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s succession to the throne of the United Kingdom.
The sport of Kings, Fox Hunting (or Riding to Hounds) as a formalized activity, originated in England in the sixteenth century, in a form very similar to that practiced until February 2005, when a law banning the activity in England and Wales came into force. The sport involves the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a red fox by trained hounds, and a group of unarmed followers led by a “master of hounds”, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.
Lucy is bound and determined to wangle an invitation to an English Country Manor home of British movie producer Sir Clive Richardson, in spite of Ricky’s discouragement.
RICKY: “Lucy, you don’t want to be a moocher, do you?”
LUCY: “Just call me Minnie.”
“Minnie the Moocher” is a jazz song first recorded in 1931 by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra. It is most famous for its nonsensical ad libbed lyrics.
Sir Clive Richardson’s estate is called Berkshire Manor. This may provide a clue to its intended location. Berkshire is one of the home counties in England. It was recognized by the Queen as the Royal County of Berkshire in 1957, a year after this episode first aired, because of the presence of Windsor Castle. It is close enough to London to be the logical choice for a weekend get-away.
A few seconds of establishing stock footage of Berkshire Manor was taken from the 1938 Ernst Lubitch film Cluny Brown, which was filmed by 20th Century Fox in a Hollywood studio, but takes place in England. In the film, the home is named Friars Carmel Manor, but with the exception of the lettering bearing the name, the footage is identical.
The writers were very clever to select ‘veddy posh’ British sounding names. The mentioned (but unseen) Cecily Higgins (who is hosting a lawn party) is no doubt named in honor of he character of Cecily Cardew in Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest and Henry Higgins in Shaw’s play Pygmalion. The musical version of the play, My Fair Lady, was just beginning its out-of-town tryouts at the time. Sir Clive Richardson might be a reference to actor Sir Ralph Richardson and possibly Colin Clive, the English actor who played Doctor Frankenstein in 1931.
When Lucy makes up a story about the Mertzes meeting an Earl in the hotel lobby, Sir Clive wonders if it was the Earl of Gloucester, Twickenham, or Chichester – all actual British towns. At the time of filming (and as of this writing) the 9th Earl of Chichester is John Pelham. The last Earl of Gloucester died in 1400, although there is a character by that name in Shakespeare’s King Lear. There is no record of any Earl(s) of Twickenham.
Lucy makes up that it was a new Earl, just promoted from Assistant Earl, the Earl of Wilson, who canceled because he’s got the gout! Lucy’s imaginary Earl is actually a reference to Earl Wilson (1907-87), a journalist and television panelist of the time. His nationally syndicated column frequently mentioned Lucy and Desi. Above, Lucy strikes a pose for Wilson during her promotional tour for Mame (1974).
When Lucy finds out that seductive young Angela Randall is actually Sir Clive’s daughter, she makes up an excuse to get out of the weekend she’s just wheedled her way into.
LUCY: “Dash it all! I just remembered. We’re scheduled to go to the cricket matches this weekend.”
SIR CLIVE: “At this time of year? Cricket’s out of season.”
LUCY: “Well…these are young crickets.”
But Ricky intervenes and the weekend in the country is on!
This is the third and final time Lucy wears this Elois Jenssen brown skirt and top with dark brown darts.
When Ricky and Angela are looking at the rock garden for a bit too long, a jealous Lucy sarcastically wonders if they’re prospecting for Uranium! Uranium is a very heavy metal found in most rocks which can also be used as a source of concentrated energy. During the 1950s the U.S. Atomic Energy Agency would analyze rock samples and pay a $10,000 award for confirmed sources. Uranium-mania would be the subject of “Lucy Hunts Uranium” (above), a 1958 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”
LUCY (about Angela Randall): “The fox isn’t the only thing she’s hunting!”
Walter Kingsford (Sir Clive Richardson) really was English. He was born on September 20, 1881 in Redhill, Surrey, and was an experienced character actor from the London stage. His first screen appearance was in Outward Bound starring Leslie Howard (1930), but he was best remembered for Captains Courageous (1937). He died two years and a day after this episode first aired.
ANGELA: “Oh, now, Lucy. You’re not going to get in a stew, are you?”
LUCY: “You could feed the whole British Army on the stew I’m going to get into.”
Although in real life she spoke with a pronounced English accent, actress Hillary Brooke (Angela Randall) was not really British; she was actually from Astoria, New York! She cultivated the accent in order to set herself apart from all the other tall blondes she would be competing with for roles. The tactic worked so well that producers who hired her expected to hear a blonde with a British accent on the screen, so she was forced to use the accent whenever she worked, and wound up using it all the time, even off screen.
ANGELA: (about Ricky) “He’s a prize!”
LUCY: “Yes, well that prize belongs in my box of Cracker Jack.”
Cracker Jack was a candy-coated popcorn snack sold with a small toy or prize in the box. The snack food was mentioned previously as a joke about where Fred got Ethel’s wedding ring! The Cracker Jack Company began advertising on CBS television in 1955, the same year this episode was filmed. Unfortunately, in 2016 the toy prize was replaced by a QR code for redemption of a game.
The horse Lucy rides in “The Fox Hunt” is named Danny Boy. According to the book “Meet the Mertzes” by Rob Edelman, “Danny Boy” (the Irish ballad) was one of Vivian Vance’s favorite songs to perform.
LUCY: (about Danny Boy) “Haven’t you got, maybe, a smaller horse?”
GROOM: “No, ma’am.”
LUCY: “Have you got a large lamb?”
Trevor Ward (the Groom) was British, but not English, let alone Cockney. He was born on August 23, 1908, in Aberystwyth, Wales. Two episodes later he would play a French gendarme in “Paris At Last” (S5;E18).
Oops! When the horses are exiting the set, the horizontal creases of the background drop can clearly be seen!
When the hunt is over and Lucy and Danny Boy are nowhere to be found, Ricky gets concerned.
RICKY: “Fred, I’m worried about her. She didn’t exactly look like Johnny Longden up there.”
One year later, in January 1957, award-winning jockey Johnny Longden will guest star as himself in “Lucy and the Loving Cup” (S6;E12, above).
In the final moments, Lucy has been out-foxed by the fox!
HORSING AROUND WITH LUCY
In addition to the hounds, the episode used several live horses. Luckily, Lucille Ball learned how to ride in her teen years. (Photo collage by LimeVid2 on YouTube)
It came in handy when filming Annabel Takes a Tour (1938) and Mame (1974, above), which both featured Lucy having trouble with her mount.
Lucy once again works with a live horse (named Whirling Jet) in a 1958 episode of “The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour” called “Lucy Wins a Racehorse”.
A racehorse figures prominently on a 1965 episode of “The Lucy Show” (TLS S4;E6) which also featured William Frawley in what would be his final screen appearance.
Lucille Ball played a horse trainer in a 1963 episode of “The Greatest Show on Earth”.
Coincidentally, in the previous episode, Lucy played a horse in Ricky’s circus number!
Some other episodes of “Lucy” sitcoms with equine performers:
- “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25)
- “Lucy’s Bicycle Trip” (ILL S4;E24)
- “Lucy Takes A Cruise To Havana” (LDCH S1;E1)
- “Lucy
Hunts Uranium” (LDCH S1;E3) -
“Lucy Goes To Sun Valley” (LDCH S1;E5)
- “Lucy Visits the White House”
(TLS S1;E25) - “Kiddie
Parties Inc.” (TLS S2;E2) - “Lucy and Arthur Godfrey” (TLS S3;E23)
- “Lucy Discovers Wayne
Newton” (TLS S4;E14) - “Lucy and Robert Goulet” (TLS S6;E8)
- “Lucy
and Tennessee Ernie’s Fun Farm” (HL S1;E23) - “Lucy and Wayne
Newton” (HL S2;E22)
After the initial airing, a tag at the end of the episode showed Lucy and Desi talking about the world premiere of their new movie Forever, Darling, which took place in Lucy’s hometown of Jamestown, New York, the next day. In the tag, Desi remarked, “This is my first try at being a movie producer.” Except for TV movies, it would also be his last.
“The Fox Hunt” was part of a collectible series of four cake plates by Vandor commemorating Lucy’s European trip. The white plate is decorated with a picture of Lucy in her riding outfit. The picture is surrounded by the words, "Berkshire Manor ~ The Fox Hunt #143”. The top of the plate is adorned with the ‘I Love Lucy’ heart logo and the bottom of the plate reads, “You could feed the whole British Army with the stew I’m going to get into.”
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