“The Matchmaker”

(S4;E4 ~ October 25, 1954) Directed by William Asher. Written by

Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed June 10, 1954 at Ren-Mar Studios. Rating: Not Available 

Synopsis ~ To nudge them into matrimony, Lucy invites her her dating friends Sam and Dorothy to dinner with the intention of holding up her marriage to Ricky as a model union. But when the dinner turns disastrous, Ricky angrily paints a bleak picture of marriage to Sam. Lucy, of course, has plans to get even!

The premise of the show is similar to “Lucy is a Matchmaker” (S2;E27) with Eddie Grant and Sylvia Collins replaced by Sam Carter and Dorothy Cook as the objects of Lucy’s matchmaking scheme – even the episodes’ titles are similar.

This is one of five episodes filmed at the end of season three, before the company went on summer hiatus, but saved for broadcast at the start of season 4 in October 1954.  It is the 101st episode aired. 

ETHEL (To Lucy): “Who ya trappin’ now, Daniel Boone?” 

Ethel compares Lucy ‘trapping’ men into marriage with Daniel Boone (1734-1820), hunter, fur trapper and trailblazing American frontiersman whose name is synonymous with the exploration and settlement of Kentucky. In a 1964 episode of “The Lucy Show,” 

Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon) compares his wilderness tracking skills to that of Daniel Boone.  

Ethel then calls Lucy “Cupid”, hearkening back to when Lucy tried to fix up Miss Lewis with Mr. Ritter in “Lucy Plays Cupid” (S1;E15).

To lend authenticity to Lucy’s rosy depiction of married life, Fred and Ethel agree to pretend to be lovebirds, an act that is quickly dropped as soon as Sam and Dorothy leave.

Milton Frome (Sam Carter) returned to work with Lucy in a 1965 episode of “The Lucy Show” starring Milton Berle as well as a 1972 episode of “Here’s Lucy” starring Donny Osmond, in which he played Henry the Waiter – not to be confused with the nearsighted character of the same name played by Frank Nelson in “Lucy Changes Her Mind” (S2;E21).

Sarah Selby (Dorothy Cook) started as a radio actress and made her screen debut voicing Prissy the Elephant in Walt Disney’s Dumbo (1941). Also providing elephant voices for the film was Verna Felton, who played Mrs. Porter in “Lucy Hires a Maid” (S2;E23).  Selby appeared on a 1951 episode of Lucy’s radio show “My Favorite Husband.” When the radio series unsuccessfully transferred to television (without Ball, who was then two years into “I Love Lucy”), Selby appeared in a few episodes. She is perhaps best known for her recurring role as a storekeeper on TV’s “Gunsmoke” from 1961 to 1972.

Lucy uses the adorable Little Ricky as incentive for Sam and Dorothy to mate.  The baby is played by The Mayer Twins. As usual, insert shots of the baby were done after the studio audience had left.  

During the dinner party, Ricky tells Dorothy and Sam that he started in show business at age 12. The episode confirms once again that the Ricardos have been married for 12 years and the Mertzes for 25, although a telegram delivered at the end of the episode says that Lucy and Ricky have been married for 13 years.

When Lucy hears her dinner is burning, she runs from the nursery on one side of the apartment to the kitchen, on the other.  This is done with one continual camera shot, passing through walls and eventually landing on the stove.  Before the camera has a chance to re-focus, however, a glimpse of the border curtain next to the end of the kitchen wall can be glimpsed!  

At breakfast the next morning, Ricky is reading The New York Bulletin,

a fictional newspaper that was likely created by the oldest paper prop maker in Hollywood, The Earl Hayes Press. Note that the burnt toast is already pre-loaded into the toaster behind Desi. 

Oops! This is the same copy of the newspaper that he was reading the week before in “Lucy Cries Wolf” (S4;E3, above). In both cases, Ricky is reading the FINAL EDITION at breakfast.  Big city newspapers published a morning and evening edition, which would be the last (or final) edition of the day.

According to Ricky’s grim description of Lucy’s nighttime beauty regimen:

• her face is covered with grease
• she wears blinkers over her eyes
• her chin is in a hammock
• she has wire cages in her hair

Coming to breakfast with cold cream on her face and curlers in her hair, Lucy systematically fulfills the harsh picture of married life Ricky described to Sam the night before. Lucy serves her husband a breakfast that includes 

• a juice glass filled with orange seeds 
• a raw strip of bacon heated by a lit match
• two raw eggs cracked onto a plate 
• burnt toast (from which she rhythmically scrapes the charcoal) 
• and her famous cup of ‘mud’ – coffee brewed by adding hot water to a spoonful of dirt scooped from a potted plant on the windowsill

Oops!  When Lucy plops the scraped toast on the table, it falls on the floor.  While the camera is on Lucy getting the dirt for the coffee, Desi picks it up and puts it on the table. 

When an angry Ricky doesn’t come home from work one night, Fred placates a worried Lucy by saying “Suppose we wait a couple of weeks and notify Ellery Queen.” Ellery Queen was a fictional detective who first appeared in print in 1928 and was heard on radio in the 1940s. Between 1935 and 1942 Ellery Queen was the subject of a series of B-movies. The year this episode aired ‘Ellery Queen’ penned the mystery novel “The Glass Village,” although it is one of the few where the famed detective does not appear nor is he even mentioned.

Prior to that brilliant solution, Fred sarcastically says:

FRED: “You’ll probably find him down at the police station, wearing a cop’s hat and eating an ice cream cone.”

Fred is relying on a trope seen in many films. An ice cream cone was thought to have the power to cheer up a distraught child.  A nearly identical joke was spoken by Fred when Little Ricky wandered away in “Ricky Minds The Baby” (S3;E14). 

Oops!  When Fred slips into Lucy’s bed, he drops his slippers on the floor and tucks himself in.  When Ricky arrives home, the slippers have disappeared!  

When Ricky offers flowers and candy to Lucy (or so he thinks – it is really Fred under the covers), the bookcase at the headboard of the bed holds a copy of Kathleen Norris’s 1929 novel Storm House. Norris (1880-1966) was a prolific writer, churning out 87 novels, two omnibuses, four collections of short stories, one play, and ten non-fiction works. The book was re-issued in 1943 with the dust jacket seen above.

A telegram then arrives (at 5am!) to announce that Dorothy ‘Spider’ and Sam ‘Fly’ have decided to tie the knot after all!  The messenger who delivers the early morning telegram is played by Bennett Green, Desi’s camera and lighting stand-in and frequent background performer. 

Ricky apologetically returns home with flowers and a huge heart-shaped box of chocolates for Lucy. I suppose the memory of Lucy fainting at the sight of a five pound box of chocolates after coming home from Kramer’s Candy Kitchen in “Job Switching” (S2;E1) was long forgotten!  Knowing Ethel’s appetite, Ricky hands the chocolates to her.  Fade out!  

A few minor observations about this episode that go unmentioned:

• Lucy is wearing a shear apron with a heart-shaped pocket. This not only matches the episode’s theme, but the logo of the show. 
• Lucy has not to subtly chosen a ceramic bride as the centerpiece of the table. Hint!  Hint! 
• There is a pack of Philip Morris cigarettes on the mantle, although in all the chaos, no one has time to smoke them! 

FAST FORWARD!  MATCHMAKER, MATCHMAKER

This was not the first nor the last time matchmaking would be part of a “Lucy” sitcom.

During season one, Lucy tried to play matchmaker between Mr. Ritter and Miss Lewis in  “Lucy Plays Cupid” (S1;E15). Like with Eddie Grant (see below), Mr. Ritter thought it was Lucy who was interested in him.

“Lucy is Matchmaker” (S2;E27) found Lucy fixing up Fred’s friend Eddie Grant (Hal March) with Sylvia Collins

(an off-screen character). Eddie somehow thinks Lucy is trying to match him with her instead!  Another matchmaking fail! 

In a 1959 cross-over episode of Desilu’s “The Ann Sothern Show” (S1;E1), Lucille Ball guest stars as Lucy Ricardo, who finds out that her old friend Katy (Sothern) is unmarried and plays matchmaker to fix her up with her boss, Mr. Devery (Don Porter), using herself as bait.

Lucy Carmichael served as matchmaker for her teenage daughter Chris (Candy Moore) when she meets Mr. Mooney’s son, Ted (Michael J. Pollard), in a 1964 episode of “The Lucy Show.”

In 1965, Lucy Carmichael went undercover as the world’s most famous matchmaker, Dolly Levi from the musical Hello, Dolly! The play that the musical was based was titled The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder.

During the first season of “Here’s Lucy” Lucy Carter tried computer matchmaking to fix up her brother-in-law Harry (Gale Gordon), but ended up pairing him with her old friend Vivian Jones (Vivian Vance) in “Lucy, The Matchmaker” (HL S1;E12).

On a non-matchmaking note, Ethel’s dowdy terrycloth bathrobe turns up on not one, but two episodes of “Here’s Lucy”, once worn by superstar Ann-Margret! To be fair, both Lucy and Ann-Margret are deliberately trying to look downmarket when wearing Ethel’s hand-me-down. Ethel also wears the robe in “Breaking the Lease” (S1;E18) when Fred dons his fashionable chandelier chapeau! 

MATCHMAKER MERCH!

2016 Hamilton Collection “The Matchmaker” figurine based on Lucille Ball’s first outfit in the episode. Limited edition, handcrafted and hand-painted. Number 5 of 6 in the series.