“The Adagio”

(S1;E12 ~ December 31,1951) The episode was directed by Marc Daniels. It was written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. It was the 12th episode filmed on November 23, 1951 at General Service Studios. Rating: 46.2/7

This episode is based on Lucille Ball’s radio show, “My Favorite Husband” (#66), “The French Lessons."  The radio show also inspired “The French Revue” (S3;E7) above. 

Interestingly, the episode is titled “The Adagio,” which in dance terms can mean a male / female duet that features lifts and spins. It was probably felt that if they called the episode “The Apache” it would be confused with the Native American tribe to viewers using TV listings. Indeed, in the episode, Lucy makes the same assumption.

Synopsis ~ There’s an opening for an Apache dancer at the Tropicana, so naturally Lucy wants the job. To teach her the routine, Ethel enlists the help of Frenchman Jean-Valjean Ramond, who has more than just dancing on his mind!

The Apache is a highly dramatic and sometimes violent dance style associated with Parisian street culture from around 1900. The dance is sometimes said to reenact an encounter between a pimp and a prostitute. It is typified by mock slaps and punches, the man picking up and throwing the woman to the ground, or lifting and carrying her while she struggles. In Lucille Ball’s autobiography, Love, Lucy, she mentions that she once dislocated her shoulder doing an Apache dance at the age of twelve. 

The episode opens at dinner (in the living room) with everyone watching Ethel eat. This reinforced the continuing character trait that Ethel Mertz had a healthy appetite. Lucy and Ethel have some banter leaving the room to “put on a new face.”

ETHEL: Say, did you see that little polka-dot dress at Ohrbach’s? The one with the white, ruffled collar?

Ohrbachs, a moderately-priced department store chain, supplied clothing for the series – everything except Lucille’s dresses, which were designed by Elois Jenssen. Although their name was infrequently used on “I Love Lucy” (Macy’s got more mentions) Lucy Ricardo shopped there when the characters appeared on “Make Room for Daddy” (above, another Desilu series) in 1959. 

Lucille Ball and hairstylist Irma Kusely were still experimenting with Lucy Ricardo’s hairstyle. In this episode it is fuller than her iconic look. 

Ricky has a phone conversation with Jerry, his agent, during which Lucy persistently pitches herself for the job as Apache dancer. Although the character does not appear on camera, Jerry Hausner (inset) had played Ricky’s agent since the pilot. The scene ends with them having an argument.

Ironically, Hausner left the series after an argument with Desi about a phone – one that did not have a voice feed, as the actor expected. 

At first, vaudeville jack-of-all-trades Fred volunteers to teach Lucy how to dance the Apache, so she can get into the act. In “The French Revue” (S3;E7), Fred and Ethel perform an Apache dance in the hopes of starring at Ricky’s club. 

When a frustrated Fred gives up, Lucy says “I wonder what Fred Astaire is doing these days.” In reality, Fred Astaire was was quite busy, having just starred in Royal Wedding. The Belle of New York, an MGM Technicolor musical in which he co-starred with Vera-Ellen, would be released just six weeks later. Lucille Ball and Astaire starred in four films together, the last being Ziegfeld Follies (1945).

Ethel suggests the recently-arrived cousin of someone at the French laundry to teach Lucy: Jean Valjean Raymond. 

JEAN: Oh, madame, but you have such a beautiful hand!
LUCY: Oh, really? Well I have another one just like it!

Shepard Menken plays Jean-Valjean Raymond, a name doubtless chosen for its internal rhyme and reference to the central character in Les Miserables. This was Menken’s first of four appearances on the series. He would go on to play the art store owner in “Lucy Becomes a Sculptress” (S2;E15), the eye doctor in “Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined” (S3;E11), and the counterfeiting artist in “Paris at Last” (S5;E18).

Announcer Johnny Jacobs calls him “Shep Menken” during the closing credits. Listeners sometimes mistakenly hear this as “Jeff Menken.” 

When Ricky lights two cigarettes at once he quips, “Look at me! I’m making like Paul Henreid.” This is a reference to one of the most-imitated scenes in motion pictures – from Now, Voyager (1942) starring Henreid and Bette Davis.

Ricky says “All this shaving is liable to wear my chin away,” to which Lucy replies “Okay, Andy Gump.” Although barely remembered today, Andy Gump was a comic strip character from "The Gumps” which appeared in newspapers from 1917 to 1959. The character had a bushy mustache but no lower jaw. Cartoonist Sidney Smith based him on real-life Andy Wheat who had his jaw removed after a tooth infection.

Thinking out loud, Ricky presciently ponders moving to the country. He first suggests Long Island or Westchester, but then also considers New Jersey. The characters and the writers couldn’t have known then that they would eventually relocate to suburban Connecticut in season 6.

When Ricky comes face to face with Raymond, the Frenchman challenges him to a duel with “pee-stolls” (pistols):

JEAN: “Tomorrow at dawn behind Radio City Music Hall.” 

Radio City Music Hall, New York’s premiere showplace since 1932, is where Lucy and Desi’s film The Long, Long Trailer premiered in 1954. They fully expected their next film, Forever Darling, to open there as well,

but it was rejected by Music Hall programmers. It opened instead at the Loew’s State Theatre, where newlyweds Lucy and Desi had performed in 1941.

Despite this, Radio City was credited on “The Homecoming” (S5;E6) as the place of the premiere. 

At a loss for an insult, an angry Ethel calls Jean Valjean Raymond a French dessert!  

The iconic treat is made with a crêpe with beurre Suzette (a sauce of caramelized sugar and butter), tangerine or orange juice, zest, Grand Marnier, and triple sec or orange Curacao liqueur. It is often prepared  tableside flambé. 

Ethel later makes Crêpe Suzette for Lucy to serve to reporter Eleanor Harris in “Fan Magazine Interview” (S3;E17). 

This episode was aired on New Years Eve 1951 and for the first time a preview of the next week’s episode (”The Benefit”, above) was shown. This was done only until the end of season 1 but it is a audience-building tactic that is still commonly used today.