“Redecorating”

(S2;E8 ~ November 24, 1952) Directed by William Asher. Written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed August 15, 1952 at General Service Studios. Rating: N/A

Synopsis ~ Lucy and Ethel are determined to win new furniture at the Home Show so they sit by the telephone until they get the call. Ricky and Fred come up with a plan to convince them they’ve won so they can go to a Broadway opening. The plan backfires when Lucy sells all their old furniture to make way for their winnings! 

The plot is based on Lucy’s radio show, “My Favorite Husband” #36, “Giveaway Program” which aired March 18, 1949.

This episode was prompted by Lucille Ball herself, who said of the existing stage furniture “I just got tired of it.” 

The plot to this episode is very similar to “Ricky’s Contract” (S4;E10) where Fred leaves a phony message that Ricky has gotten his movie role just to relieve the tension of his waiting by the phone.

Starting with this episode, Irma Kusely (above) takes over for Roberta “Bert” French as Lucy’s hairdresser. Kusely would continue doing Lucy’s hair for her later sitcoms. Both women’s first names were worked into the series dialogue; Bert in “The Black Wig” (S3;E26) and Irma in “Lucy and John Wayne” (S5;E2). 

At the time of filming, Lucille Ball was already four months pregnant, although it was not yet part of the storyline on the show. To hide her condition, Lucy dressed in loose-fitting clothes throughout the episode. The big announcement would come two weeks later in “Lucy is Enceinte” (S2;E10).

The episode opens with Ricky napping with the August 26, 1952 issue of Look Magazine over his face. Most magazines were post-dated, but this would have been fresh off the newsstand at filming. Ricky may have fallen asleep while reading:  

• A full page Philip Morris ad with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

• An article about CBS building a 25 acre city in Hollywood (Studio City) to house its television operations.
• A review of the Bob Hope film Son of Paleface. 

Oops!  As soon as Fred comes in, Ricky sits up and lights up a Philip Morris cigarette!  Two cigarettes pop out instead of one, so Desi just tosses the spare on the coffee table. 

Lucy and Ethel are out at the Home Show, an exhibition of furniture and home decorating ideas that they have previously attended.  Fred says that last time they came back from the Home Show they were both in tears about the state of their current furnishings.  Fred dubs them “the Sobbsey Twins”!  Fred is making a pun based on The Bobbsey Twins, the principal characters of a long-running series of children’s novels written under the pseudonym Laura Lee Hope. There were a total of 72 books published from 1904 to 1979. 1952 saw the publication of the 45th book, The Bobbsey Twins at Whitesail Harbor.  Lucy and Ethel were frequently referred to as “the Bobbsey Twins” throughout the series. 

Home Shows were generally held indoors in large exhibition halls and displayed not only furniture, but decorating ideas, landscaping, and the latest concept in gracious living. They are still popular today. The prize for the drawing at the Home Show Lucy and Ethel attended is five rooms of new furniture. The Ricardos only have three rooms (bathroom excluded) so what will they do with the extra two?   

Ricky has gotten four seats to the opening night of a new Rodgers and Hammerstein (inset) musical, just one of many references to the legendary Broadway team on the series. In reality, no new Rodgers and Hammerstein show opened in New York City between the filming date (August 1952) and the air date (November 1952), although The King and I and South Pacific were still in their original runs. The next R&H musical to open will be Me and Juliet in May 1953, six months after this episode was broadcast.

Next morning, at the corner drug store, Fred grabs a magazine the back cover of which is a full page ad for a book about car repair. The ad appeared in many periodicals of the 1940s and ‘50s.  

Ricky has come there to use the phone since Lucy won’t allow him to use theirs at home. In the 1950s, public payphone booths were everywhere. A sign in the booth says that a call cost 10 cents! 

This is the third time the drugstore set is used, although filmed from a slightly different angle this time. A Philip Morris (the show’s sponsor) poster can be glimpsed over Ricky’s shoulder in the close-ups. Unlike today, drugstores would often have a food service counter where they served light fare. For courage, Fred orders a double chocolate malted from Hazel. Ricky grins knowing that William Frawley often ordered doubles – of hard liquor!  Although the character remains off screen this time, Hazel Pierce (Lucy’s camera and lighting stand-in and frequent extra) played the role of the soda jerk in “Fred and Ethel Fight” (S1;E22).

Did Desilu wardrobe purposely choose this necktie to match the striped wallpaper that Lucy selects to redecorate the bedroom?  

Hans Conried plays second hand furniture man Dan Jenkins. Conried had been seen with Lucille Ball in the 1949 film The Big Street. He would return to the show to play dandy Percy Livermore in “Lucy Hires an English Tutor” (S2;E13). On television he is fondly remembered as Uncle Tonoose on the long-running Desilu series “Make Room For Daddy” (1955-64). He also starred as music teacher / drama coach Dr. Gitterman on two episodes of “The Lucy Show” and with his “Daddy” co-star Danny Thomas on an 1973 episode of “Here’s Lucy.” 

In real life, Dan Jenkins was the name of a journalist friend of the Arnazes who wrote a column for TV Guide. When Lucille Ball was accused of being a communist Jenkins stood up and said “Well, I think we all owe Lucy a vote of thanks, and I think a lot of us owe her an apology.” Lucy and  Desi walked over to where Jenkins was standing and gave him a huge hug. Jenkins later said, “From that time on, we were very good friends.”  His last interview with Lucy was in 1986 during “Life with Lucy.” His name was also mentioned in “Lucy and Ethel Buy The Same Dress” (S3;E3) as a possible emcee for their television show.  His qualifications?  He plays tissue paper and comb!

In this episode Lucy’s telephone has a party line, a local loop telephone circuit that is shared by multiple subscribers. Party line systems were used to provide telephone service starting with the first commercial switchboards in 1878. Party lines provided no privacy and were frequently used as a source of entertainment and gossip. Objections about one party monopolizing a line were common and eavesdropping remained an ongoing concern. By the end of the 20th century, party lines had been phased out in the United States.

Two months before this episode was filmed (possibly inspiring the writers) The Saturday Evening Post (June 7, 1952) did a cover story on Party Lines.  

Instead of using a split screen in editing, the party line scene is accomplished by a fixed camera aimed at a double set built at a right angles. On the left side the set wall is decorated with a print called “The Harvest” by F. Molina Campos, an Argentinian artist. His prints were given away and published on calendars by the Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Company staring in 1942. 

Florence Halop (left) and Margie Liszt play the women on the party line. Liszt (whose character is referred to as Agnes) returned to the show to play Marion Strong in “The Club Election” (S2;E19) and “No Children Allowed” (S2;E22), although Shirley Mitchell assumed the role of Marion Strong starting in season 3. Florence Halop had just been cast to replace Bea Benadaret in a radio show moving to CBS TV called “Meet Millie” when she filmed this episode. She wouldn’t work for Lucy again until 1974, when she played a Little Old Lady on a Western-themed episode of “Here’s Lucy.” In 1985, she replaced Selma Diamond (who had died of lung cancer) as the bailiff on “Night Court.” Coincidentally, Halop, also a heavy smoker, died less than a year later of the same disease. 

The way Lucy cleverly dispenses with the party-line gabbers in order to free up the phone line earns a lingering round of applause from the studio audience. 

The centerpiece of the episode is ‘Lucy and Ethel Paper Hangers’ as they haphazardly attempt to wallpaper the Ricardo bedroom.  In the medium shots of Lucy and the wallpaper, we can see the name of the wallpaper along the edge: Provincial Stripe by Wilson-Foord.  Scott Wilson (1889-1972) and Frederick ‘Fritz’ A. Foord (1899-1968) were artists and designers who partnered from 1945 to 1954. From 1924 to 1929, Foord was an art director at Paramount Pictures. The border actually should have been cut off before Lucy and Ethel applied the paper to the wall!

Oops! At
the end of the episode, when Ricky and Lucy walk into the bedroom to
see the new wallpaper, you can quickly glimpse William Frawley
waiting for his cue in the background before he quickly ducks out of
sight. Fred’s entrance is still several minutes away.  

ETHEL: “You’ll have to hang on the mattress to keep from falling out of bed.”

When Ricky comes home unexpectedly, he reveals that Lucy didn’t really win the Home Show contest.  He convinces Mr. Jenkins to sell him back his own furniture (now ‘valuable antiques’) – for a steep profit of $320!  

MR. JENKINS: “I’m a lousy businessman, but I like the way you sing ‘Babalu’ so I’ll take it.” 

This is not the first shady businessman that the gang run across in their adventures. Others who scam them with similar schemes include:

• Harry Martin of The Handy Dandy Company in “Sales Resistance” (S2;E17)
• Mrs. Hansen of Hansen’s Dress Shop in “The Girls Go Into Business” (S3;E2)
• Zeb Allen of Allen’s Used Clothing in “Changing the Boys’ Wardrobe” (S3;E10)
• Mr. Watson of Bill’s Place in “The Diner” (S3;E27)

Fred arrives with the news that he never carried out
Ricky’s plan meaning the phone call from the Home Show was the real
thing! Happy ending!

FAST FORWARD FURNISHINGS!

This is the first of many episodes where Lucy gets new furniture. 

Just a few months later, “Lucy Wants New Furniture” (S2;E28) again!  

“Redecorating the Mertzes’ Apartment” (S3;E8) also results in new furniture for the Ricardos while the Mertzes get their old stuff. 

“Lucy Gets Chummy with the Neighbors” (S6;E18) finds Lucy and Betty Ramsey shopping for new furniture to redecorate her Connecticut home. 

Lucy Carmichael also decided to redecorate her Danfield home in a 1963 episode of “The Lucy Show” that was actually shot over two seasons. The first 22 minutes of the show were filmed before the summer hiatus after season 1 and the last scene (right) showing the home’s new look was filmed after production resumed in September.