“Lucy and the Loving Cup”

(S6;E12 ~ January 7, 1957) Directed by James V. Kern.  Written by Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller, and Bob Weiskopf. Filmed on November 1, 1956 at Ren-Mar Studios. It was the 165th episode to be filmed. Rating: 50.9/68

1957 starts the last calendar year of the half hour “I Love Lucy “ series.

Synopsis ~ Ricky is scheduled to present a trophy to jockey Johnny Longden so Lucy gets to buy a new hat and dress for the occasion. When her new hat is ridiculed as a “fuzzy fishbowl” Lucy jokingly puts the loving cup on her head – and then can’t get it off!  Lucy and Ethel take a subway downtown to a silversmith to see about its removal in order to get the cup to the award ceremony on time!

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Lucy’s penchant for buying new hats was the catalyst for “Ricky Loses His Temper” (S3;E18, above).  Lucy claims the “fishbowl hat” is the height of Paris fashion and only cost $49.95.

Little Ricky (Richard Keith) thinks the loving cup would make a good home for his turtle! Two weeks later, in “Little Ricky Gets a Dog” (S6;E14), Little Ricky has not one, but two turtles: Tommy and Jimmy, named after the Dorsey Brothers, who were both bandleaders, just like Ricky.

When Ricky forbids Lucy to wear her new hat, she tries on the loving cup instead – and can’t get it off.

Fred compares the shape of the upside down loving cup with the shape of the Kaiser’s spike helmet. Fred’s military service in World War I was extensively mentioned before the gang traveled to Europe.

Oops! Ethel still claims that she has been married to Fred for 25 years. This has been proven inaccurate on many occasions. Ethel is probably just exaggerating for comic effect.

Believe it or not, Lucille Ball had claustrophobia so the prop designers had small eye holes carved into the decorative design on the cup so she could (somewhat) safely move around the stage.

ETHEL: Lucy, I have never ridden on a subway in my blue jeans, and I’m not gonna start now.

This line says a lot about the change in public dress codes since the 1950s. Denim blue jeans (aka dungarees) had the reputation of being utility clothing, and were not considered proper for a lady to wear in public.

FRED: (to Ethel) Honeybunch, can I help it if I think of you as my dungaree doll?

To make the trip downtown more realistic, a combination of stock footage of the New York subway trains and studio-shot segments were combined.

Lucy’s subway journey on the Lexington Avenue local. From 68th Street to Bleecker Street (where she and Ethel get separated). She disembarks at Spring Street, but is caught up in the crowd boarding the train and ends up at the terminus, Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn!

Oops! Lucy and Ethel’s subway journey is full of continuity problems. The interior shots with the actors were shot on the Desilu stage, in a mock-up of a subway car with signs on the sides indicating “Lexington Avenue Local”, “Flatbush Avenue” and “Woodlawn”. The IRT Lexington Avenue Local (today the 6 train) runs between the Bronx and lower Manhattan, not into Brooklyn (where Lucy ends up). Also, the shot of the subway train leaving Bleecker Street has been reversed for continuity sake.

The same is done when the Times Square #7 leaves Spring Street.

Red Cross posters were a favorite of the Desilu set decorators. They turn up again in the rented hall in “Ricky Has Labor Pains” (S2;E14), the butcher shop in “The Freezer” (S1;E29), and on the Westport train station in “Lucy Misses the Mertzes” (S6;E17).

Extra!  Extra!  

This episode called for dozens of extras to play strap hangers in the subway sequences.

Lester Dorr (’Smart Alec’) had appeared with Lucille Ball in the films The Bowery (1933) and Follow The Fleet (1936). 

Joan Carey (passenger with scarf on her head, right) was a frequent Desilu background player and future stand-in for Lucille Ball on “The Lucy Show.” 

Sam Harris (passenger with a cane, left) was born in 1877 and had done a dozen films with Lucille Ball. This is his second time as an extra on “I Love Lucy.”  He would make half a dozen appearances on “The Lucy Show.”  Harris had been glimpsed in such Hollywood musicals as My Fair Lady (1964), Mary Poppins (1964) and The Sound of Music (1965).

When she loses her veil, Lucy looks other-worldly. The moment is reminiscent of when Lucy impersonated a woman from Mars in “Lucy is Envious” (S3;E23).

To hide herself, she covers her head with a newspaper – The Daily Chronicle. This is a fictional Hollywood-created newspaper, probably provided by Earl Hays Press, which specialized in providing prop newspapers for movies and TV. Coincidentally, ‘The Daily Chronicle’ turned up again in 1969 during an episode of “Here’s Lucy” set in Los Angeles.

Byron Kane (”Better Get Off The Train First”) was already on the payroll as a member of the CBS Radio Workshop. He had previously appeared on the series in “Ricky Loses His Temper” (S3;E19) in 1954.

On the Flatbush Avenue platform, in Brooklyn, Lucy meets an array of New Yorkers:

Jesslyn Fax (left – “Where are you? What are you?”) had been a regular on the Desilu show “Our Miss Brooks” (1953-56) and would go on to play Avis Grubb in the film of The Music Man (1962).

Florence Ann Shaen (center – “Maybe it’s a sorority initiation!”) had appeared on the Desilu series “Private Secretary” as Connie.

Sandra Gould (right – “Or she played tennis with a sore loser!”) is probably best remembered as the second actor to play Gladys Kravitz on “Bewitched” (1966-71). This was her second appearance on the show, having previously played the wife of a Texas Oil tycoon in “Oil Wells” (S3;E18). She also appeared in the fourth episode of “The Lucy Show” in 1962.

One of New York’s finest comes to Lucy’s aid. He is played by Robert Foulk. Foulk would appear in an episode of “The Lucy Show” and make a half dozen appearances on “Here’s Lucy,” one of them as a Policeman.

LUCY (to a Policeman): Oh, good grief, no. Don’t get a policeman. You know how nosy they are, always asking those foolish questions and then, instead of helping, after you’ve gone through all the trouble of explaining for half an hour, all they do is just mess things up. Don’t get a policeman! 

Bill Erwin (Bum on Platform) had appeared with Ball in Easy Living (1949) and later with her in a 1963 episode of “The Greatest Show on Earth”.

Phil Tead began making movies in 1914 and (like Lester Dorr) had appeared with Lucille in The Bowery (1933) and Carnival (1935).

LUCY: Pardon me, can you tell me where I am?
COMMUTER: Yeah. You’re on earth!

The full inscription on the loving cup reads:

PRESENTED BY NATIONAL TURF ASSOCIATION TO JOHNNY LONGDEN THE WINNINGEST JOCKEY OF ALL TIME 4961 VICTORIES

This is the last time that the Club Babalu (formerly the Tropicana) set is used during the series. The angle of the banquet tables (plus the fact the club was remodeled in “Lucy and Bob Hope” (S6;E1), make the room almost unrecognizable.

Lucy says the Club’s phone number is PLaza 3-2099 (753-2099). On rotary telephones letters corresponded with the numbers, making 75 equal PL or PLaza. Lucy holds out her coin purse to find a dime (the cost of a payphone call in 1956), but instead of taking a dime, a bum empties her purse and hands it back to her!

Johnny Longden was born in England in 1910 and began racing in the US in 1927. He won the Triple Crown in 1943 with his horse Count Fleet. At the time of filming, Longden already had more wins than any other jockey in the world. By the end of 1957 he had hit 5,000 wins and by the end of his 40 year career he had racked up 6,032 victories. He died on his birthday in 2003 at the age of 96.

Sitting next to him at the Awards Dinner is his second wife, Hazel (nee Tarn), who has no dialogue. On January 28, 1971, she became the first woman to train a stakes winner when Diplomatic Agent won the San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

In 1946, Longden introduced Lucille Ball (the actress) to Lucille Ball (the filly)!

Like “Deep Sea Fishing” (S6;E7) and “The Golf Game” (S3;E30), this is another episode whose plot was most certainly created because of Desi Arnaz’s love of sports. He loved horse racing and owned several racing horses throughout his life. When he retired he bought Corona Breeding Farm and bred his own race horses for several years. In 1955, Desi even proposed making a movie of Longden’s life, but the film never materialized.

In 1964, the loving cup turned up as set decoration on an episode of “My Three Sons”, a series shot at Desilu Studios.

Parker Brothers decided to commemorate this episode when they made one of the play tokens a loving cup in their “I Love Lucy” version of Monopoly . The other tokens are a bottle of Vitameatavegamin, a vat full of grapes, the Pontiac used to drive to Hollywood, Ricky’s straw hat, and Ricky’s conga drum.

JOHNNY JACOBS (Announcer, over closing credits): “I Love Lucy” starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz has been presented for your pleasure by Instant Sanka, the hearty coffee you can still drink as much as you like, it won’t upset your stomach! Stay tuned for “December Bride” starring Spring Byington, which follows immediately over most of these same stations.