“Lucy Meets Orson Welles”

(S6;E3 ~ October 15, 1956) Directed by James V. Kern. Written by

Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf. Filmed June 14, 1956 at Ren-Mar Studios. Rating: 43.8/62

Synopsis ~ Ricky tries to pack Lucy off to Florida rather than have her involved in Orson Welles’ act at the new Club Babalu.

This is one of four episodes filmed at the end of season 5, but held over until the start of season 6. During the opening dialogue Lucy complains about the ‘miserable’ winter weather in New York, despite the fact that the episode aired in the autumn and was filmed in the spring!  It was originally broadcast on the 5th anniversary of the series premiere.

Although this episode was filmed before “Little Ricky Learns To Play the Drums” (S6;E2), it was aired after it in order to feature the new Little Ricky, Keith Thibodeaux, who only appears briefly in “Lucy and Bob Hope” (S6;E1), which kicked off the final season of half hour episodes. This move also avoids two celebrity episodes in a row and reaffirms the series’ domestic premise. 

Orson Welles (Himself) was under contract to Desilu to film a pilot for an anthology series called “The Fountain of Youth,” which wasn’t aired until 1958 and did not result in a series. Despite that, it won a Peabody Award, the only pilot to ever do so. It featured “I Love Lucy” guest cast Madge Blake, Nancy Kulp, and Joi Lansing. Welles and Lucille Ball had shared radio bills in the late 1930s. 

When Welles arrived in Hollywood in 1939, Ball was a contract player at RKO Studios. To squelch rumors that he was a homosexual, the studio sent Lucy to escort him to a premiere to be photographed. He later recalled, 

“We went to see the opening of some movie or other—I simply picked her up at her house and we went to the movie and got photographed and came home and I said ‘Good night,’ and that was the end of that. That was the end of that romance, but it was the beginning of a long friendship.” 

On February 5, 1956 Lucy and Desi appeared with Welles on Ed Sullivan’s “Toast of the Town.” They were there to promote their film Forever Darling. Welles was there to promote his revival of his King Lear at New York’s City Center, which he initially performed in a wheelchair due to injuries to both ankles. By the time he performed it on “Toast of the Town” (aka “The Ed Sullivan Show”) Welles was using a crutch. 

The Oscar-winning actor and director was down on his luck and was invited to stay in the Arnaz guest cottage. Notorious for his drinking and rude behavior, Lucy had to find a way to politely get rid of her guest so she decided to have this episode written for him so she could pay him a salary. With that in mind, Desilu paid him the exorbitant sum of $15,000!  Ball’s memories of Welles were mixed. “I had a real love-hate relationship with Orson,” she said towards the end of her life. “His mind was awesome…but he was also a pain in the ass.”

In the episode, Welles is at Macy’s autographing the 1953 re-issue of his 1939 recording Julius Caesar on Columbia Records, a division of CBS, naturally.  Although the re-issue was already three years old, it was used as a plot device. 

On the wall behind Welles are ads for CBS’s newer albums like The B.G. Six, a 1956 recording by the Benny Goodman Sextet. In “The Publicity Agent” (S1;E31) Lucy reads that the Shah of Persia has a standing order for all Benny Goodman’s records, which inspires her disguise as the Maharincess of Franistan. 

Macy’s is mentioned again in “Lucy and Superman” (S6;E13). In Mame (1974), Lucy goes to work at Macy’s in order to pay the bills after the stock market crash. 

When Ricky asks her how her pre-Florida shopping trip went, Lucy coyly replied, “I found a lot of cute things at Macy’s.” The soundbite later turned up in a Macy’s TV commercial.

When Welles first sees Lucy in a skin-diving mask and flippers he says “My ‘Man From Mars’ broadcast was 18 years ago. What kept you?” Welles is referencing his legendary radio show “War of the Worlds,” which aired on Halloween eve 1938. 

Adapted from the H.G. Wells book of the same name, Welles framed the presentation as a newscast of a real Martian attack on a small New Jersey town, causing widespread panic by those who did not hear the show’s introduction as fiction. “War of the Worlds” is the likely inspiration for “Lucy is Envious” (S3;E23), where Lucy and Ethel to play Martians as part of a publicity stunt. In the show, their antics also inspire widespread panic, according to the newspapers.

Star-struck Lucy compares Welles to some of the greatest classically-trained actors of the 20th century – all British!  

LUCY: “I think you’re the greatest Shakespearean actor in the whole world. I think you’re better than John Gielgud. I think you’re better than Maurice Evans. I think you’re better than Sir Ralph Richardson.”
WELLES: “You left out Laurence Olivier.”

In 1965, Orson Welles directed and acted in the Shakespeare-inspired film Chimes at Midnight and cast John Gielgud. Maurice Evans is probably best remembered for his TV role as Samantha’s warlock father on “Bewitched.” 

Blooper Alert!  When
Ricky returns home for his briefcase, it is nowhere to be seen. In
the next shot, the briefcase appears prominently on the piano.  

Ricky says to Welles, “I saw your act in Las Vegas and I thought you were just great.” In real life, Welles had just finished up an extended run at the Riviera Hotel where he mixed magic with soliloquies of Shakespeare. It is unclear, however, just when Ricky was able to go to Las Vegas. The gang visit the Nevada town in a 1958 episode of “The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour.”

Thinking she’s doing Shakespeare with Welles, not magic, Lucy invites her Jamestown High School drama coach, Miss Hanna, played by Ellen Corby. Corby was actually the same age as Lucille Ball at the time of the filming – 45. Like Welles, she was also from Wisconsin. She went on to fame as the kindly grandmother on the long-running series “The Waltons,” playing the role from 1971 till 1997, two years before her death. 

Miss Hanna mentions that she is directing The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. Based on the 1951 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the play opened on Broadway in 1954 starring Lucy’s movie co-star Henry Fonda. A film version (with the titled shortened to The Caine Mutiny) premiered in June 1954 starring “I Love Lucy” guests ‘dancing star’ Van Johnson, ‘giant native’ Claude Akins, and ‘uranium hunter’ Fred MacMurray.

Lucy says she was Juliet at Jamestown High School opposite Herman Shlupp as Romeo. In real life, before quitting Jamestown High School to go to New York City, Lucille Ball was in a production of Charley’s Aunt. 

Lou Krugman (Club Babalu Manager) is probably best remembered as the director in “Lucy Gets Into Pictures” (S4;E18) where Lucy is a showgirl who can’t balance her headdress. It is said that Lucy was so impressed by Krugman’s performance that she insisted he appear on future episodes. Here he repeats the role he played in the season six opener “Lucy and Bob Hope” (S6;E1). He later also starred in several episodes of “The Lucy Show.”

Jack Rice (Macy’s Floorwalker) was a busy character actor who appeared in eight films with Lucille Ball between 1934 and 1947. 

Fred Aldrich (Sports Department Clerk) marks the last of five appearances on the series – all in bit parts. He had appeared with Lucy in Abbott and Costello in Hollywood in 1945 and in The Long, Long Trailer in 1953.

Two of the packages Lucy holds in the above screen shot are from Saks Fifth Avenue, a rival department store that used a thatch pattern on its gift boxes and bags.  Saks boxes were used in both ”Lucy and Bob Hope” (S6;E1).

and “Off To Florida” (S6;E5) so they were probably pulled from the props department. 

Voit sports products are extensively featured in the Macy’s display case. Founded in 1922, the company was sold to AMF a year after this episode aired. In addition to sports balls, they also manufactured scuba and diving equipment. Because there are no other brands on display, it is likely that Voit supplied the props in return for exclusive brand name exposure.  

Tucked away in the back corner of the Macy’s set is a gun cabinet!  It showcases Weatherby hunting guns: “Tomorrow’s Rifles Today”! Based in Wyoming, Weatherby’s was founded in 1945 by Roy Weatherby who ran a sporting goods store.  

Seeing Double!  Among the many Macy’s customers / Orson Welles fans is series regular Hazel Pierce (circled), Lucy’s camera and lighting stand-in. Pierce also turns up in the front row at Welles’ Club Babalu performance. 

Although the Tropicana has been completely redecorated as Club Babalu for season six, the set decorators rely on their stock of Red Cross Posters for the background! 

They can also bee seen in the rented hall in “Ricky Has Labor Pains” (S2;E14), the butcher shop in “The Freezer” (S1;E29), and in the Westport train station in “Lucy Misses the Mertzes” (S6;E17), to name just a few.      

Miss Hanna travels from Jamestown to see her former student with her high school cast of The Caine Mutiny.  As usual on TV, the students look a bit older than high schoolers.

Oops! The young lady from Jamestown in the final scene also was in the crowd at Macy’s!  Whoever this young extra is, she got a rare opportunity to be in two scenes!  Generally, background players are not allowed to ‘repeat’ in an episode. 

The show’s climax involves Welles levitating ‘Princess Loo-Si’ and then leaving her in air, defiantly reciting Juliet’s lines. The illusion involved the use of a couple of broomsticks. 

According to Jim Brochu’s book, Lucy in the Afternoon, Lucy later said, 

“It was the most painful experience of my life. Worse than childbirth. It felt like the broom was up my ass, and I had to stay on the goddamned thing for at least five minutes.” Also, Welles struggled to fit into the biggest set of tails the costume department had to offer. “He put me on the broom for the dress rehearsal, and made some sweeping gestures and ‘rrrrip!’ The tails split right up the back. There was no time to get another set so [the costumer] cut some black cloth and pinned it the best she could. If you look at the show, you see how self-conscious he is about turning his back to the audience. God, that show was a stinker!” 

According to Stefan Kampfer’s book Ball of Fire, Welles observed Lucy from the wings and remarked, 

“I am watching the world’s greatest actress.”

In the original script there was a deleted scene of Fred and Ethel trying to convince Welles that they could do Shakespeare, too. The scene was filmed, but was cut for time. It took place right after Lucy’s failed audition for Welles at the Club Babalu. Color photos of the two in Shakespearean garb can be seen on the DVD.

FAST FORWARD!  Orson, Trickery, & Shakespeare

In a 1972 episode of “Here’s Lucy,” Mary Jane (Mary Jane Croft) enters Lucy’s office and says hello and Lucy knows who it is without looking up from her typewriter. When Mary Jane asks how she knew, Lucy says she didn’t think it was Orson Welles, a joke about Mary Jane’s high pitched, squeaky voice, compared with Welles’ deep, mellow baritone.

In a 1966 episode of “The Lucy Show,” Lucy goes to work in a department store called Stacey’s and also gets into trouble in the sporting goods department wearing a diving mask and snorkel.

MAGIC TO DO!  “Abracadabra”

In the 1964 TV special “Mr. and Mrs.” Lucille Ball and Bob Hope as Bonnie and Bill Blakely, the stars of America’s number one television show.  The opening scene has Bonnie trying on her costume for a magic act when she’s called to an important board meeting. (Like Lucille Ball, Bonnie was also the studio president!)  One by one the tricks included in her costume are released in front a stuffy board headed by Gale Gordon. 

In the 1981 cable special “Magic of the Stars” Lucille Ball and Milton Berle make their first foray into cable television with this HBO special starring in which Lucy executes feats of levitation.

In an un-aired episode of “Life With Lucy” (1986), Lucy Barker’s son-in-law Ted (actor / magician Larry Anderson) volunteers to teach her some magic for the Greatest Grandma Talent Show. Lucy, billing herself as “Grandma the Great”, puts on a magic show in the living room for the family. It isn’t very magical. 

LUCY: “I can’t sing, I can’t dance, I can’t tell jokes, I can’t do magic. I’m a well-rounded flop!”  

WILL POWER! “To Be or Not To Be (Funny)”

When “Lucy Writes a Play” Ricky sarcastically calls Lucy “Mrs. Shakespeare.”

In “The Lucy Show” season two opener in 1963 (the first filmed in color) “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” and Vivian Vance is an unlikely Marc Antony. The play is part Shakespeare, part George Bernard Shaw. 

In a 1966 episode of “The Lucy Show,” Mrs. Carmichael finds herself addressing a ‘jury’ on a TV soap opera and quotes from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, a play which also features a legal action and a female attorney.  

In “Lucy in London” (1966) Lucy Carmichael performs a scene from Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew playing Kate opposite Peter Wyngard’s Petruchio. Lucy’s only line: “Never!”

In a 1970 episode of "Here’s Lucy,” classically-trained Welsh actor Richard Burton recites from Richard II while fixing a sink disguised as a plumber named Sam.  

In a 1969 episode of “Here’s Lucy,” Uncle Harry (Gale Gordon) says that he was in Romeo and Juliet in college. Because it was an all-men’s college, he played Juliet. He stands up in the middle of a pizzeria and delivers Juliet’s monologue; the same one recited by Lucy Ricardo in 1956.