“Fred and Ethel Fight”

(S1;E22 ~ March 10, 1952) Directed by Marc Daniels. Written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed January 30, 1952 at General Service Studio. Rating: 59.5/61

Synopsis ~ When the Mertzes have a marital spat, Lucy comes up with a plan to get them back together by inviting both to dinner, with neither aware that the other is also coming. By the end of dinner, the Mertzes leave reconciled, but the Ricardos are now at each others’ throats!

FRED: “I saw it last week on television!”

This episode is based on a real-life incident in which the Arnazes tried to mediate a fight between friends and were successful, but ended up fighting themselves.

On the date this episode first aired (March 10, 1952) General Fulgencio Batista led a military coup led in Cuba appointing himself “provisional president”. While the decade was marred by great political turmoil for the island nation, corruption allowed businesses to thrive in Desi Arnaz’s homeland. Ironically, the Winnipeg Free Press front page ran the story of the revolt along with the human interest story of a Canadian navy veteran meeting his son “Little Rickie” for the first time!  This was ten months before Lucy gave birth to Little Ricky / Desi Jr.!

On the day this episode was filmed (January 30, 1952) Lucille Ball was featured on the cover of People Today magazine. Ironically, the front page also teased as story about new methods of birth control. At the time, Ball was trying to get pregnant to conceive her second child. Her success was announced just a couple of months later. By December 8, 1952, Lucy Ricardo was enceinte too!

During their fight, Fred is said to be staying at the ‘Y’. The YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) was founded in 1844 to put Christian principles into practice by developing a healthy “body, mind, and spirit.” Until the late 1950s, YMCAs in the United States were built with hotel-like rooms called residences or dormitories. Today YMCAs with residences have become extremely rare, although some still remain. A new YMCA was an integral part of the second episode of “The Lucy Show” including have several scenes take place there.

Due to Lucy’s insistence on interfering in the Mertz’s personal affairs, Ricky compares Lucy to Dorothy Dix, the ‘Dear Abby’ / Ann Landers of her day.

Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer (1861-1951) was widely known by the pen name Dorothy Dix, was a journalist and columnist. As the forerunner of today’s popular advice columnists, Dix was America’s highest paid and most widely read female journalist at the time of her death. Her advice on marriage was syndicated in newspapers around the world with an estimated audience of 60 million readers. Dix died just one month prior to this episode being filmed.

Ricky also calls Lucy by her full name: Lucy Esmerelda McGillicuddy Ricardo for the second week in a row, having already mentioned her middle name in “New Neighbors” (S1;E21). Lucille Ball’s real middle name is actually Desiree, after her mother.

Although Ricky disapproves of Lucy’s plan, he gives in:

RICKY: “I guess the cast is dead.”
LUCY: “The cast is dead? Wait, don’t tell me. The die is cast?”
RICKY: “That’s what I said!”

During Lucy and Ricky’s argument at the dinner table, Lucy criticizes Ricky’s English, which leads to Ricky ranting in Spanish. The rough translation of what he says is how he studied English for many years at universities and that he speaks English better than everyone else sitting at the dinner table.

Lucy promises Fred that she’s invited “a cute young chick” as Fred’s dinner date. When Ethel walks into the room, Fred is disappointed.

FRED: “Is that your idea of a cute young chick? You’ll never shop for my poultry!”

According to stories that emerged as the series went along, there was no love loss between Vivian Vance and William Frawley. The start of this episode must have been easy for the actors to play!

On the dinner table there is a fancy lace tablecloth. This is a Quaker Lace tablecloth model #4161. It has a floral design with baskets of daffodils around the edge and a distinctive oval motif in the center. It is a cotton machine lace tablecloth measuring 65″ by 80″.

Commiserating at the corner drugstore, Fred orders a grape juice while Ricky eats a peanut butter sandwich.

The drugstore wall is decorated with huge advertising signs depicting Johnny Roventini, the “Call for Philip Morris” bellboy mascot. Product placement was not uncommon in the series, although direct verbal references to Philip Morris were often cut for syndication after their sponsorship lapsed. Lucy’s stand-in and frequent extra Hazel Pierce plays the soda jerk. This exact drugstore set would be used again two weeks later in “The Gossip” (S1;24). In that episode, Fred calls out for “Hazel” but the Pierce does not actually appear on camera.

On the magazine rack is a copy of the February 1952 issue of PIC, a movie magazine, with Marilyn Monroe on the cover.  Monroe was mentioned a record 8 times on “I Love Lucy” – only equaled by Clark Gable.

Ethel’s plan to get the Ricardos back together involves Lucy pretending to be hit by a bus! Meanwhile, Fred’s plan is to pretend the apartment is on fire with Ricky swooping in to save Lucy’s life.

When Lucy thinks there’s a fire, she rushes to save her bottles of henna rinse, her Egyptian hair dye. Lucille Ball started coloring her hair in 1942 for the film Du Barry Was a Lady, to set herself apart in Technicolor movies. Lucy’s concern about saving her henna was only slightly exaggerated, as Irma Kusely, Ball’s hairstylist, later could attest!

“She had a safe of it  in my garage. She loved to gamble and when we did a show in Las Vegas, she met a very wealthy sheikh and he heard about her problem about [running out of] the henna and he said he would send her the henna. And he did. There was a lot of it left when she left this world, but I had to give it to the estate. I don’t know what little Lucie did with it…” ~ Irma Kusely

If Lucy’s extensive bandaging looks familiar, a similar look was sported earlier in the season by Hazel Pierce in “The Quiz Show” (S1;E5, right) as Mrs. Peterson, the woman on “Females are Fabulous” who went over Niagara Falls in a barrel. In real life, Peterson was Lucille Ball’s step-father’s surname.

FRED: “She said my mother looks like a weasel.”
LUCY: “Ethel, apologize.”
ETHEL: “I’m sorry your mother looks like a weasel.”

In “Fred and Ethel Fight” we hear about both Fred and Ethel’s mothers!  Both are occasionally mentioned throughout the series, although never seen. ‘Going home to mother’ was a typical trope of the time for disgruntled wives. We do get to meet Ethel’s father, Will Potter, in “Ethel’s Home Town” (S4;E15, above).

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FAST FORWARD!

In 2001, a Polish remake loosely based on “I Love Lucy” titled “Kocham Klara” (”I Love Clara”), presented “Family Skirmishes” loosely based on this episode and co-written with the cooperation of the original “I Love Lucy” writers.

Hanna and Jan have been arguing. Clara, wanting to reconcile them, invites them to a joint dinner. As a result, Hanna and Jan reconcile, but an argument breaks out between Clara and Cuba. Independently, both Hanna and Jan try to reconcile the marriage. Hanna has quite a risky idea how to reconcile Clara with Cuba. Unfortunately, Jan comes up with an even riskier idea.

The film Being the Ricardos (2021) has a quick shot of the script for this episode. The names in the title are reversed to read “Ethel and Fred Fight” but this may not be an error. Script titles often changes from draft to draft.  In the film, the page states that it is the fourth episode of season two, while in reality it ended up being the 22nd episode of season one.  It also states that it is episode 204. The actual episode number was 22.

There is also footage of Lucy in the head-to-toe bandages.