(S5;E25 ~ May 7, 1956) Directed by James V. Kern. Written by
Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf. Filmed March 29, 1956 at Ren-Mar Studios. Rating: 42.5/66
Synopsis ~ While traveling through the French Riviera, Lucy promises Ricky she won’t step foot inside a casino, but inadvertently gambles her way into a small fortune. When Fred finds a mistake in the band’s books, Ricky suspects that Lucy’s windfall may be from his embezzling.
A month before this episode first aired, Monaco’s most famous residents Grace Kelly and Prince Ranier, married.
A page from the original script that belonged to actor Gordon Clark (Man 1).
This is the last stop on the European Trip and the penultimate episode of season 5.
The night this episode first aired, the Ricardos weren’t the only CBS sitcom characters traveling in Europe. On May 7, 1956 George and Gracie were in Paris!
Oops! When Lucy is looking through her guidebook for a good restaurant, she is actually using a Paris Michelin Guide instead of one for the French Riviera.
In this episode the Ricardos and the Mertzes arrive in Nice, France. However, Monte Carlo is located in the tiny sovereign state of Monaco which is located about 30 minutes east of Nice.
The casino and restaurant Lucy and Ethel visit is at the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo. Both the hotel and the restaurant still exist today. Although it might be assumed that the Ricardos and Mertzes are also staying at the Hôtel de Paris, the use of the establishing shot of the exterior (top left) implies that this was their destination. Also, why would Lucy have to consult a guidebook for a restaurant that was in her own hotel? All we know is that it wherever they are staying is quite elegant.
Making Nice Look Nice
A framed print of The Festival of Love by Jean-Antoine Watteau is seen in the Ricardo’s hotel room.
On the wall of the Mertzes Monte Carlo hotel room is a well known Nicholas Lancret framed print called La Camargo Dancing.
Also seen on the chest of drawers beside the door is a figurine we later see in the Mertzes Connecticut guest house. It is a figurine of a colonial lady, Florence Ceramics’ “Charmaine”.
On the wall of the Ricardo’s Monte Carlo hotel room is a framed print of an antique song sheet reproduced from an original copper plate print by engraver George Bickham. The sheet of music is entitled “Reason for Loving” and is from an antique song book ‘The Musical Entertainer circa 1737 and 1739 Vol II.’
Seen in the Mertzes hotel room are framed cameo miniatures. Similar miniatures are seen in the Mertz living room and in the Ricardo’s apartment following their return home from the trip.
Lucy ‘accidentally’ wins on 26 black!
The props department was a bit more detail oriented, however, when counterfeiting the French francs. They visited The Earl Hays Press on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood to have the money printed for this episode. The business is still in operation today. They have long been the ‘go to’ source for printed props in Hollywood, especially newspapers.
French Francs are no longer legal currency in France. They were phased out from 1998 to 2002 in favor of the Euro. The 875,000 francs that Lucy wins at the casino was worth approximately $250,150 in 1956. In today’s economy that is more than 2 million dollars!
The glamorous dress Lucy is wearing is the same as the one as on Lucille Ball’s commemorative stamp. Mattel also made a Lucy doll dressed in this outfit. This Eloise Jenssen gown was previously seen in “Hollywood Anniversary” when Lucy went to the Mocambo.
Vivian Vance wears fancy clothes in this episode, just like Lucy. This is the beginning of Vivian’s insistence that Ethel look a bit more glamorous on the show. Vivian will get more leeway with her wardrobe and hair in the following season, but she won’t have a ‘glamour clause’ in her actual contract until “The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour.”
When Fred discovers the ill-gotten fortune is Lucy’s and not Ethel’s, she quips: “He just found out I’m not Bobo Rockefeller!” Barbara Sears “Bobo” Rockefeller was a coal miner’s daughter who married the Standard Oil tycoon Winthrop Rockefeller in 1948 in what was called the Cinderella wedding of the century. The marriage fell apart in two years and in 1954 she received a settlement worth more than $6 million. She told Time magazine: “I intend to be a Mrs. Rockefeller until the day I die.” And so she was.
Who’s Who in the Casino
The casino floor is jammed with extras in formal wear. The gambler in the fez at the roulette table is none other than Bob Carroll, Jr., one of the “I Love Lucy” writers. An insert photo of Carroll was seen in Lucy’s family album in “Lucy Becomes a Sculptress” (S2;E15). He was also seated at a cafe table in
“Paris at Last” (S5;E18) and stood next to Ethel during the departure of the S.S. Constitution in “Bon Voyage” (S5;E13).
Gordon B. Clarke (Man 1) plays the French gambler who asks Lucy what her system to winning is. Wardrobe has dressed Clark in a light colored dinner jacket so he’ll stand out from the crowd when delivering his few lines. In 1939 Clarke was stand-in for Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Austrian-born Johnny Mylong plays the Casino Manager, who has seemingly changed professions since he was last seen as a gendarme in “Paris at Last” (S5;E18).
Series regular Louis A. Nicoletti plays the croupier who offers Lucy a roll of the dice. She politely declines in her best Franglais: “J’ais do not play-ez.”
Jacques Villon plays the roulette croupier who tells Lucy that she’s won.
Renita Reachi is at the craps table. She was Vivian Vance’s camera and lighting stand-in for “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show.” She was was a costumer and made occasional crowd background appearances in “The Lucy Show”, “Here’s Lucy” and the Lucille Ball films Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) and Mame (1974).
FAST FORWARD!
In 1965, Lucille Ball and her new husband Gary Morton actually stayed at the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo and shot a playful five minute home movie they called “The Chase” which featured Morton pursuing Ball through the streets of the city like a spy thriller. It is included on the “Here’s Lucy” DVD extras.
Just like in this episode of “I Love Lucy” Lucy Carmichael wins big then looses it all in one careless bet when “Lucy Goes to Vegas” in 1965.
In the 1975 special “Lucy Gets Lucky” Lucy Collins finds herself in the casino – this time as a cocktail waitress. Ball’s real-life husband Gary Morton is the gambler.
Lucille Ball the Gambler?
When famed Australian bookmaker Sid Hill passed away in 2016, newspapers reported this conversation with actor Telly Savalas:
“There she is, you might know her from TV – it’s Lucille Ball – and last night one of the starchy supervisors here said to her, ‘Miss Ball you are losing 3 million so far tonight.’ She replied, ‘Sonny, I earn half a million dollars for every show I do in the season and that’s about 40 shows, so you start worrying when I lose 20 million!’“
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