“Mr. and Mrs. TV Show”

“This is going to be one of the biggest television programs to hit town in years!”

(S4;E5 ~ November 1, 1954 / April 11, 1955) Directed by William Asher. Written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr.  Filmed June 24, 1954 at Ren-Mar Studios. Rating: 48.7/67.

Synopsis ~ Ricky has a chance to do an ‘at-home’ TV breakfast show, and naturally Lucy wants to be in it. Things go well until Lucy discovers Ricky only let her do the show because the sponsor insisted. Then revenge is what is served for breakfast!

Only about half of the country got to see this episode when it debuted November 1, 1954. CBS affiliates chose to air a filmed political commercial from the Republican Party.

The 1954 United States Senate elections was a midterm election in the first term of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidency.

Non-affiliate stations still showed “I Love Lucy.” CBS affiliates aired the episode five months later on April 11, 1955. Since the characters were already in California, a flashback opening had Lucy mentioning the Mr. and Mrs. TV Show as a way to try and get into Ricky’s next gig. On that date non-affiliate stations saw a rerun of “Ricky Loses His Voice” (S2;E9) with the flashback dialogue changed. Instead of Lucy talking about the Mr. and Mrs. TV Show, she mentioned the Flapper Follies.

This episode was filmed on June 24, 1954, one of four episodes completed at the end of season three but held over till the start of season four, so with the delay it was actually ten months between filming and broadcast, the longest of any episode.

Lucy and Caroline meet Mr. Cromwell lunching at 21. Lucy and Ethel first said they were going to 21 in “Vacation from Marriage” (S2;E6). The rather upscale 21 Club opened in 1922 and is still in business today. It is a restaurant and former prohibition-era speakeasy located at 21 West 52nd Street (hence the name).

Caroline Appleby is mentioned, but does not appear. Typically, there is absolutely no mention of the baby during the episode!

Oops! When Lucy says the line “a sponsor who’s looking for a show” the audio you hear was dubbed in after filming. Watch Lucy’s lips in the scene – she switched the words and said “a show who’s looking for a sponsor.”  The original flub was restored for the DVD.

LUCY: “Empress Josephine, Dolley Madison, Mamie Eisenhower… We’re all behind our husbands, guiding their destinies. We’re puppeteers behind the scenes, pulling the strings.”
(Ricky enters)
ETHEL: “Well, here’s Howdy Doody now.”

• This is third mention of First Lady Mamie Eisenhower on the series, the others being in in “Ricky Asks for a Raise” (S1;E35) and  “The Golf Game” (S3;E30).
• Lucy played Empress Josephine to Gale Gordon’s Napoleon in a 1967 episode of “Here’s Lucy.”
• Howdy Doody was a cowboy marionette that starred with his creator ‘Buffalo’ Bob Smith on an extremely popular children’s television show on NBC from 1947 until 1960. Next to “I Love Lucy,” “The Howdy Doody Show” best epitomizes 1950s television.

Ricky goes to Cromwell’s office at Cromwell Thatcher and Waterbury Advertising and he turns out to be a sort of Madison Avenue Mrs. Malaprop, mixing his metaphors for comic effect. It is actually his assistant Mr. Taylor who first comes up with the idea of a husband and wife show, but it is quickly shot down by Mr. Cromwell. A few moments later Cromwell has the same idea and Taylor has to act as if it is being proposed for the first time. Typical sitcom trope – the acquiescent toady!  This three minute scene gives Ricky and the men a chance to do some physical comedy (”Think!”) and verbal wordplay – without Lucille Ball.

Mr. Cromwell is played by John Litel. He was seen with Lucy in the 1950 film The Fuller Brush Girl.

Lee Millar (Mr. Taylor, Mr. Cromwell’s Assistant) was first seen as the announcer in “The Quiz Show” (S1;E5) and then played the photographer in “Changing the Boys’ Wardrobe” (S3;E10). He will go on to play Chip Jackson, host of the MGM executive’s show, introducing “Lucy and the Dummy” (S5;E3) as well as appearing on a 1964 episode of “The Lucy Show.” Millar is the son of actress Verna Felton, who appeared on “I Love Lucy” twice in 1953, most famously as Mrs. Porter, Lucy’s belligerent maid.

Later, Mr. Taylor is also the stage manager for the broadcast!  Bennett Green, Desi’s camera and lighting stand-in, plays the camera man.

The agency is looking for a show for Phipps Department Store.Early television was very sponsor-driven, with ad agencies acting as liaisons between sponsors and the networks to create programming. This is why show’s often had a company’s name in them, such as the “Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse.”

Although “I Love Lucy” mentioned Macy’s and Gimbels and used Saks Fifth Avenue gift boxes for props, Phipps Department Store was supposed to be a fictional business for reasons that become clear when Lucy’s plan goes into action. Perhaps unbeknownst to CBS or Desilu, there actually was a Phipps Department Store, located in Batavia, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. This real-life Phipps was open from 1948 to 1990.

The office scene opens with a close-up of Mr. Cromwell’s dictation machine made by SoundScriber Corporation of New Haven. It records sound with a groove embossed into soft vinyl discs with a stylus, not unlike early record players and recorders.

Although Ricky is reluctant to include Lucy, when Cromwell suggests Taylor see if Cugat is available, Ricky quickly gives in. Although Desi Arnaz and Spanish-American bandleader Xavier Cugat were colleagues, the series depicts them as rivals. As Ricky leaves the office, he is speaking Cromwell’s language: “Don’t worry, sir, we’ll boil the water before it passes under the bridge that the train track is on.”  Cugat was initially the surname of the characters on Lucy’s 1948-50 radio series “My Favorite Husband,” before it was changed to Cooper in 1950.

“Breakfast with Ricky and Lucy” was inspired by “Breakfast with Dorothy and Dick.” This daily radio chat show aired from 1945 through 1963, and starred Dorothy Kilgallen, journalist and reporter, and her husband Richard Kollmar, a Broadway actor and producer.

Dorothy and Dick often appeared together on “What’s My Line?” where she was a regular panelist. Kollmar had appeared with Desi Arnaz on Broadway in Too Many Girls (1939), although his role went to Richard Carlson in the 1940 film version. [You may remember that Carlson’s wife Mona appeared was introduced by Don Loper in “The Fashion Show” (S4;E19).] There was another popular husband and wife radio breakfast show called “Hi Jinx” that starred model and actress Jinx Falkenburg and publicist Tex McCrary, which made the leap to television in 1948. Both of these pairings inspired Lee Kalcheim’s 1982 off-Broadway play Breakfast with Les and Bess.

Ricky asks Lucy to sing “Sweet Sue” for him as a way to trick her into doing the Mr. and Mrs. show. This is the first time we’ve heard “Sweet Sue” since “Breaking the Lease” (S1;E18). It will be heard again in “Ragtime Band” (S6;E21). “Sweet Sue, Just You” was written in 1928 by Victor Young and Will J. Harris. The song was written for (or about) silent film star Sue Carol (1906-1982). When she’s done with her off-key rendition, Ricky applauds. Perhaps unsure of how to respond, the “I Love Lucy” studio audience follows suit.

For the sake of Ricky’s gag line “That voice! What station is it on?” when Lucy is crooning “Sweet Sue”, a clock radio has been put in the kitchen. It is a Capehart C-14 made by Capehart Corporation. Founded in 1927, they went into bankruptcy in March 1939 and were taken over by Farnsworth Television & Radio Corp., who kept using the name Capehart for products like this clock radio. Founder Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1906-71) made many crucial contributions to the early development of all-electronic television. Without Farnsworth, “I Love Lucy” might not have been possible as we now know it.  It is unlikely anyone knew this when choosing this prop, which will quickly disappear after this episode.

ETHEL: “Is Mr. Taylor gone? I wanted to ask him if this dress would look alright on television. What do you think?”
LUCY: “It’s just perfect. You’ll look like a test pattern.”

Used since the early days of television but seldom seen today, a test pattern was typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program was being broadcast such as at sign-on and sign-off. They were originally physical cards at which a camera was pointed, and used for calibration, alignment, and matching, of cameras.

The sound byte of Fred saying, “Hello out there in TV land!” was used by the cable channel TV Land when they were showing “I Love Lucy” and other classic sitcoms.

Lucy looks quite glamorous in her white floor-length nightgown with matching bow.  This moment gives Lucy and Desi a chance to break the fourth wall and talk directly to the camera, something they only did once – at the end of the “Christmas Show”.

Oops! While singing the Phipps Department Store jingle, William Frawley messes up the lyrics “first on your list of shopping tips.”  He probably blamed Vivian!

The writers skillfully crafted dialogue that Lucy could spin positively or negatively by varying her delivery.  Waffles are a favorite breakfast food of the Ricardos, usually reserved for special occasions. In the 1950s it was not uncommon for a department store to run a restaurant, soda fountain, or tea room, in order to keep female shoppers in the store longer.

Lucy’s sets her breakfast table with a Quaker lace cloth. In the late 19th century, the Quaker Lace Company made it possible for middle class households to afford the opulence of lace by producing beautiful machine-crafted lace. The company continued to offer all manner of lace items throughout the 20th century, and in the process became a household name.

We get a look at an RCA Television camera. This was not an “I Love Lucy” camera. The RCA logo (which should be located in a red circle next to the word ‘television’) appears to have been removed. NBC was a subsidiary of RCA and competed with CBS in the race to create color television.

LUCY (singing): “Phipps are a great big bunch of gyps!”

Lucy’s burlap sack is from the Pasco Packing Company of Dade City, Florida. Founded in 1951, they shipped citrus products nationwide. The company is still in business today as Lykes Pasco Inc. The sack has been turned inside out and upside down so that the Pasco name is nearly undetectable to viewers.  This is not the last time Lucy Ricardo would wear burlap for a gag.  But as fans, you are way ahead of me!