“Lucy is Jealous of Girl Singer”

(S1;E10 ~ December 17, 1951) Directed by Marc Daniels. Written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed November 16, 1951 at General Service Studios. 

Rating: 41.4/62

Synopsis ~ Upset by a blind item in the gossip column that links Ricky’s name with a girl at the club, Lucy dons a disguise and heads for the Tropicana to spy on her husband.

Title Trouble!  The intended title of this episode was “Lucy is Jealous of Girl Dancer,” which more accurately reflects the script. It was decided that having Lucy get involved in a dance routine would be funnier than having her interrupt a song. In fact, Rosemary (the “Girl” of the title) does not sing a note during the entire episode! For years the titles were used interchangeably, even by CBS itself. The title is also grammatically odd: it should read “Lucy is Jealous of A Girl Singer.” 

This is one of several season one episodes in which William Frawley (Fred Mertz) does not appear. The others are “The Quiz Show” (S1;E5), “The Young Fans” (S1;E20), and “Lucy Plays Cupid” (S1;E15), the latter two also without Vivian Vance (Ethel Mertz). Ethel does mention Fred and we hear a banging noise on the floor supposedly Fred’s signal to Ethel to come downstairs. 

When Ethel enters the Ricardo apartment, Lucy is vacuuming and screams out loud when Ethel surprises her. She shushes Ethel and says that Ricky is still sleeping!  Lucy then proceeds to shout at Ethel over the sound of the vacuum. Ricky must be a heavy sleeper!  

Lucy uses a Hoover Upright Electric Sweeper. In 1950, film and radio star Lucille Ball had done print advertising for Hoover. 

During “Sales Resistance” (S2;E17, above photo), Lucy is convinced to trade in her Hoover for a Handy Dandy (actually a Westinghouse) with all the attachments (”the works”) by a slick salesman. In 1958, Desilu partnered with Westinghouse. 

Ethel has a newspaper prominently tucked under her arm. She is trying to get Lucy to ask about it and spill the news!  

Oops!  In one shot the newspaper has small print and in the very next shot of Ethel, it is a headline page with the word HERE clearly visible. This indicates that the scene was edited from different takes. 

When Lucy flips open the paper to read the inside item, the headline reads: “CHURCHILL, HST [Harry S. Truman] TO CONFER HERE”.  Early in 1952, the newly reinstalled British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once again crossed the Atlantic to confer with a US President. 

Coincidentally, the day of his re-election, October 25, 1951 Churchill filed a writ of suit in British courts against the LONDON Daily Mirror claiming the made false and malicious comments about him. The paper Lucy and Ethel hold is the NEW YORK Daily Mirror. The confusion has caused many viewers to think the use of this prop is an error by the prop department. The back (sports) page talks about the Eagles and the Giants, both American teams. The abbreviation of Harry S. Truman to HST and the use of the word “HERE” indicates an American paper. The New York Daily Mirror was founded in 1924 and ceased publication in 1963. 

Interestingly, it is Ethel who has the sneaky plan on how to find out what Ricky and Rosemary are up to, not Lucy. Ethel hatches the entire scheme which jealous Lucy eagerly goes along with; quite the opposite of the usual scenario. 

The insert shot of the newspaper item is nearly identical to one found in Lucille Ball’s 1938 film Joy of Living.  In the film, Margaret Garrett was played by Irene Dunne. Nearly all prop newspapers were printed by Hollywood’s Earl Hays Press, who used the same fonts, ads, and articles.  

Oops! When Lucy goes to wake up Ricky to confront him about the story in the paper, a man’s arm in a sport coat is briefly visible on the right side of the screen.

The scene at the Tropicana opens on Marco Rizo riffing on the piano as the rest of the Ricky Ricardo / Desi Arnaz Orchestra relaxes around the room. 

If Lucy looks especially beautiful in this screen shot, it is because this was one of a handful of specially-lit medium shots that populated the first season.  Cinematographer Karl Freund took great care to create these portrait shots, an advantage of shooting on film. Costly and time-consuming, these portrait shots were generally discontinued after season one. 

Lucy’s suspicions are confirmed when she finds a piece of black lace from Rosemary’s costume tucked into Ricky’s sports jacket pocket.  

This is one of the earliest instances of Ricky saying ”‘splain" for “explain.” Contrary to popular belief, the often-quoted phrase of “Lucy, you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do!” was never uttered in the show’s history. While Ricky has told Lucy to “’splain” many times, the exact words of the popular quote were never spoken. The writers were careful when making fun of Ricky’s English because Desi Arnaz was very sensitive about it in real life.

The actor who nails the sign on the door where Lucy and Ethel have just hidden has his back to the camera the whole time and is not credited. 

In this episode ‘arroz con pollo’ (chicken and rice) is said to be Ricky’s favorite meal, just as it was for Desi. When Lucy and Ethel go off to work in “Job Switching” (S2;E1) this is the dinner Ricky disastrously cooks up. Later in the series, Ricky will also say that roast pig is his favorite dish.

Rosemary is played by Helen Silvers, although some sources report her last name as Silver (no ‘s’). She made her screen debut with this episode. The following year she appeared (uncredited) in two movie musicals: Castles in the Air and Stars and Stripes Forever. She is the lead dancer in the “Jezebel” number, although there are four uncredited back-up dancers in the number as well. A heavily disguised Lucy makes five.

“Jezebel” is a popular song written by Wayne Shanklin. It was recorded by Frankie Laine with Mitch Miller and his orchestra in April 1951 and released on Columbia Records, a division of CBS. The record reached #2 on the Billboard chart. The title refers to the Biblical woman Jezebel of the Old Testament. A ‘Jezebel’ became synonymous with any woman who used her feminine wiles to lead men astray, so the song’s lyrics tie in nicely with the episode’s theme. 

Ricky starts to rehearse the orchestra in “El Cumbanchero” by Rafael Hernández, but they only get out the first note. The song was later heard in full in “Breaking the Lease” (S1;E18). 

RICKY (to his band): “The first fellow who acts like he’s playing in his sleep is going to get traded to Phil Spitalny.” 

Phil Spitalny was a Russian-born bandleader often heard on the radio during the 1930s and ‘40s. Between 1951 and 1953 he made several appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” He rose to fame after forming an all-girl orchestra, so Ricky’s remark is slightly sexist.  Funny enough, in “Lucy’s Club Dance” (S3;E25), the Ricky Ricardo orchestra appears in drag as an “all girl band”. It was Desi Arnaz’s least favorite episode. 

Lucy and Ricky’s long kiss at the very end of episode made it past the censors only once.  It was drastically cut by about 7 seconds for all subsequent reruns. The longer kiss has been restored for the DVD release.

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FAST FORWARD!

This episode was rerun in season 2 on April 6, 1953 (the end of Lucille Ball’s pregnancy leave), with new introductory footage: While Lucy is away at a gym trying to lose her ‘baby’ weight, Ricky and Ethel play cards and Fred is reads the newspaper. When Fred sees an item in a gossip column about a married bandleader who is womanizing, Ricky says he’s thankful Lucy is not the jealous type. Fred says that whenever Ricky even looks at another girl, Lucy “turns as green as a $2 watch.” They then prompt Ricky to recall a similar situation that happened to him and the episode fades into a flashback of this episode.

Jealousy also caused Lucy Ricardo to go to the Tropicana in disguise to keep an eye on Ricky in “Cuban Pals” (S1;E28).  

The green-eyed monster strikes again in “Ricky’s Old Girlfriend” (S3;E12) and again in “Don Juan and the Starlets” (S4;E17, above) where Lucy also tries to blend in with the girls. 

Professional jealousy caused Lucy Carmichael to go to the bank in disguise to keep an eye on the sexy secy (Ruta Lee) subbing for her during vacation in “Lucy’s Substitute Secretary” (TLS S5;E14).