“Be a Pal”

(S1;E2 ~ October 22, 1951) Directed by Marc Daniels. Written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed September 21, 1951 at General Service Studios. Rating: 40.3/60

Synopsis ~ When Lucy thinks Ricky is losing interest in her, she takes desperate measures prescribed in the Book of the Month Club selection “How to Keep the Honeymoon From Ending” by Dr. Humphries.

This episode is based on Lucy’s radio show “My Favorite Husband” episode #93, also titled “Be a Pal,” broadcast June 18, 1950. In it, a speaker at Liz’s club convinces her the way to have a happy marriage is for her to be interested in everything her husband is interested in.

This episode was filmed the third week in September and the series would not premiere for another three weeks (October 15, 1951). America had not yet discovered “I Love Lucy.”  Although the first episode filmed the previous week would be moved to air third, this episode remained second on the schedule.

The date this episode first aired, “Demagogue” Senator Joseph McCarthy was on the cover of Time Magazine. Little did Lucille Ball know how much trouble this man and his House Un-American Activities Committee would cause her two years later when they accused her of being a Communist.

This is the first time Lucy launches bread out of a toaster, a gag she would repeat many times throughout her TV career. Also in this episode Lucy makes fun of Ricky’s English for the first time, something that would become a staple of the series. As usual, the toast Lucille Ball puts in the toaster is already well-toasted!

When apathetic Ricky puckers up for a goodbye kiss, Lucy offers him her grapefruit instead!  Ricky doesn’t even notice!

A box of Duz powdered laundry detergent is prominently displayed next to the sink. Duz brand first appeared in the 1940s and offered glassware and plates in each box!  It was discontinued in 1980.

Resolved to get Ricky’s attention away from the morning papers, Lucy tries everything she can think of, including mounting the kitchen table!

Eagle-eyed viewers will notice that Ricky reads the same newspaper (The New York Times) two mornings in a row. By the second scene the newspaper is tattered and torn, likely from the number of rehearsals required for the scene were Lucy lights the paper on fire to get his attention.

Lucy and Ethel do a funny bit where Lucy thinks she is talking to Ethel on the telephone, but she is actually in the next room wondering what Lucy is talking about.

Oops! Phones must have worked differently in the 1950s, otherwise why would Lucy not be hearing a continual ring tone while she was talking to Ethel?

During the scene, Vivian Vance is eating a donut. At one point she takes too big a bite and has to take a piece out of her mouth and put it on the kitchen counter!

Oops!  The camera following Lucy briefly pans over too far and allows viewers a glimpse of the edge of the set wall!

Ricky’s poker buddies are played by Richard Reeves (Hank, left) and Tony Michaels (Charlie, right). This is the first of eight appearances for the burly Richard Reeves. This first season he will be seen as Bill Foster in “The Gossip” (S1;24) and “The Publicity Agent” (S1;E31). He played a policeman on a 1963 episode of “The Lucy Show.”  Michaels returns to play a laundryman in “Bonus Bucks” (S3;E21).

During the poker game, Lucy calls her two queens ‘sisters.’ When Fred looks at his newly-dealt hand he quips “You can tell your two Andrews Sisters not to wait up for LaVerne.” The Andrews Sisters were a close-harmony singing group most popular during World War II. In 1969 Lucy played LaVerne Andrews on an episode of “Here’s Lucy” that guest-starred Patty Andrews as herself. Lucie Arnaz took the role of the third Andrews sister, Maxene.

Oops! When Lucy and the guys play poker, you can hear a crew member cough very loudly. Also, when the men open by putting in two white chips ($1 each), Fred tosses in two DARKER colored chips (red or blue, it is hard to tell in black and white). This effectively increases the ante, but Fred does not announce that he is raising and Charlie then also antes $2. This means that it is likely that William Frawley was not a poker player!  The rest of the game continues like this – chips tossed in haphazardly.

It is claimed that Lucy asked Carmen Miranda’s permission to imitate her and that Miranda may have been in the audience when this episode was filmed. Miranda was born in Portugal, but her family soon moved to Brazil, where she was raised. In 1939, both Miranda and Desi Arnaz were on Broadway at the same time; she in The Streets of Paris and he in Too Many Girls.  Both went on to Hollywood careers.  At one point, Miranda (dubbed ‘The Brazilian Bombshell’) was the highest paid woman in Hollywood. She died of a heart attack in 1955, four years after this episode first aired and one day shy of Lucille Ball’s 44th birthday.

Lucy lip syncs to “Mamãe Eu Quero” (“I Want My Mama”), a song composed by Vicente Paiva in 1937. The original recording was made by the composer himself but the song earned international acclaim when sung by Carmen Miranda. It was included in her Broadway debut Streets of Paris (1939) and then in the films Down Argentine Way (1940) and Four Jills in a Jeep (1944).

About Ricky’s youth in Cuba, Lucy says that she knows his mother was a great singer and dancer and that he had five brothers: Pedro, Pablo, Chu-Chu, Josinte, and Jose.

Although we meet Ricky’s mother in “Lucy’s Mother-in-Law” (S4;E7) and a lot of the rest of his family during “The Ricardos Visit Cuba” (S6;E9), neither her show-business past nor Ricky’s siblings are ever mentioned again after this episode.

Lucy’s approximation of Cuba looks more like Mexico!  The apartment is decked out with a live donkey, live chickens, and caged birds!  His ‘brothers’ are dressed in Mexican serapes and sombreros.

Also in the audience, accompanied by her husband Fred Brisson, was Rosalind Russell, who would go on to play the irrepressible Auntie Mame in 1958, a role Lucy would also play on film in the 1974 musical version. Lucy had made a cameo appearance in Russell’s 1950 film A Woman of Distinction. Vivian Vance’s pal Teresa Wright, a Broadway and film actress, also attended the filming. Both actresses had photos taken with the cast after the filming, although no photographic evidence confirms Miranda’s attendance.

FAST FORWARD

In 1953, two years after Lucy did her Carmen Miranda impression, Jerry Lewis also did a lip synch to “Mama Yo Quiero” in the film Scared Stiff. The record even skips, speeds up, and slows down – just as it does for Lucy Ricardo.

In a 1987 episode of ABC’s “The Charmings,” the Magic Mirror (Paul Winfield) mentions Lucy dressed as Carmen Miranda.

In a 1964 episode of “The Lucy Show,” Lucy Carmichael is anxious to be “one of the boys” and joins in on a poker game. Mis-hearing the word ‘ante’ as ‘auntie’ Lucy jokingly says “Oh, she lives in Milwaukee with my uncle!”  

Lucy also played poker with Mr. Mooney when they were locked in the bank vault in “Lucy Gets Locked in the Vault” (S2;E4). This time there were no chips – just real money!

PEDALING ‘PALS’!

Lucy as Carmen Miranda is one of the most popular images to be reproduced on “Lucy” merchandise!