“The Dancing Star”

(S4;E27 ~ May 2, 1955) Directed by William Asher. Written by

Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed March 30, 1955 at Ren-Mar Studio. Rating: 41.5/65

Synopsis ~ Carolyn Appleby is in town and expecting to see Lucy rubbing elbows with celebrities so Lucy convinces Van Johnson to play along with her deception.

Ray Bolger was originally going to be “the dancing star,” but he was replaced with Van Johnson (1916-2008). Johnson was a very good friend of Lucy and Desi’s. He starred with both of them in Too Many Girls in 1940 and met Desi when the two of them did the Broadway version of the show in 1939. 

Johnson was scheduled to have been “The Star Upstairs” (S4;E25), but was then appearing in advertising for Lucky Strike cigarettes and could not work out the conflict with “I Love Lucy” sponsor Philip Morris in time for the filming, so he was was replaced by Cornel Wilde. Johnson was also seen with Lucy in the films Easy to Wed (1946) and Yours, Mine and Ours in 1968, the year he also guest-starred on a 1968 episode of “Here’s Lucy.”

Carolyn (Doris Singleton) stops in California to visit Lucy and Ethel on her way to Hawaii with her husband Charlie. This is the first time we hear that Carolyn wears glasses, a plot point that will extend into the next episode, “Lucy Meets Harpo Marx” (S4;E28). In reality, the episodes were filmed in reverse order to accommodate the stars’ schedules. Lucy lies to Carolyn that Cary Grant, Walter Pidgeon, and Marlon Brando are coming to an open house party she’s giving the next day. At the end of the episode, Carolyn says that she can’t wait to see "Clark, Bing, and Cary,” so at some point Lucy must have told her that Clark Gable and Bing Crosby were also coming to the ‘party.’ Although Lucy fibs and says Hedy Lamarr is also poolside with Pidgeon and Gable, Lamarr doesn’t make the guest list for the open house. 

The night before this episode was filmed, Marlon Brando won an Oscar for On the Waterfront, a fact that Lucille Ball manages to casually work into the dialogue at the last minute: “He got the Academy Award, you know.”

LUCY (to Ethel): “You think of something.”
ETHEL: “Listen, if Einstein can’t work out a problem, you don’t hand it to Mortimer Snerd.” 

Ethel is comparing Lucy’s talent for scheming with arguably the most intelligent man alive and her’s with a ventriloquist’s dummy. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein died two weeks after this episode was filmed. The same date this episode first aired, LIFE Magazine published an article about Einstein’s death. Mortimer Snerd was a puppet of master ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, who created the hillbilly character to contrast with his upper class, monocle-wearing sidekick Charlie McCarthy.

While Van Johnson is napping poolside, he is catching up on his Hollywood gossip with the May 1955 issue of Modern Screen magazine. Filmed at the end of March 1955, this would have been hot-off-the-presses. June Allyson is on the cover.  Allyson and Lucille Ball did three films together in the 1940s. Along with Van Johnson, Allyson and her husband Dick Powell were listed as guests on the fake publicity release for Lucy’s “Hollywood Anniversary” (S4;E23) a month earlier. 

When Lucy picks the magazine up off his lap and starts ‘pretending’ to read it, a glimpse of an article on Rock Hudson can be seen. It is about his romantic association with talent agent Phyllis Gates. Gates met Rock Hudson in October 1954 and were married on November 9, 1955, shortly after he finished filming Giant. They separated in 1957 and divorced in 1958. This was a ‘lavender’ marriage to cover for Hudson’s homosexuality. Coincidentally, Hudson had played himself on “I Love Lucy” in the previous episode, “In Palm Springs” (S4;E26).

At poolside, Vivian Vance’s stand-in Renita Reachi is wearing a dress last worn by Lucy in the “The Sublease” the previous season. Also in the audience, with her back to the camera, is Joan Carey, a frequent background player who would take over as Lucille Ball’s stand-in during “The Lucy Show.” [Thanks to The Lucy Lounge for these trivia items!]

Blooper Alerts! When Lucy flubs her line and says “It’s true, I van – I danced with Van Johnson this afternoon,“ Desi ad libs by saying, "Dance with Vance?! What is that? She’s gone!” Lucy faces upstage a bit to hide her laughter. With a co-star named Vivian Vance, the error is understandable. In the very next scene Fred asks Lucy if she’s nervous and says “jance” instead of “dance,” Lucy quickly ad libs “You’re just as nervous as I am!” and William Frawley just as quickly replies “I know it!’

Eagle-eyed viewers will recognize the framed print of the Edgar Degas painting “The Star” in the Mertzes hotel room (#317) at the Beverly Palms Hotel as the same one that hangs in the Ricardos hallway at 623 East 68th Street back in New York City. Even the framing is identical. 

“The Beverly Palms Hotel takes great pride in presenting Van Johnson and partner!”

The nightclub announcer’s voice that introduces Van and Lucy is the show’s usual announcer, Johnny Jacobs.

Another cross-country coincidence is Ricky’s piano player Marco Rizzo, who accompanies Van Johnson and Lucy during the rehearsal scene. Johnson refers to him by his first name.

Background performer Flower Parry is in the audience for Lucy and Van’s performances. Parry had been married to actor Jackie Coogan in the early 1940s and was spotted on two other episodes. She was most frequently seen as a courtroom spectator on “Perry Mason” (1959-63).  

Van Johnson’s usual redheaded dance partner is named Hazel, which is probably a reference to Lucy’s stand-in Hazel Pierce. Hazel gets sick and Johnson recruits Lucy to do the routine at a sold-out performance. In this instance Lucy stands in for Hazel – literally! 

The song "How About You?” by Burton Lane and Ralph Freed was first heard in the 1941 movie Babes on Broadway, where it was sung by Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. The tune (without lyrics) was also heard in All About Eve (1950) and was sung by Anne Bancroft in Don’t Bother to Knock (1952). Two months before Van and Lucy sang it, Lucy’s real-life next door neighbor Jack Benny performed it on his TV show with his wife Mary and guest star Gary Crosby (Bing’s son). In its different iterations the lyric “Greta Garbo’s looks” was variously “Franklin Roosevelt’s looks” and “James [Jimmy] Durante’s looks.” Lucy did her Greta Garbo imitation in “The Saxophone” (S2;E2). Garbo’s Camille (1936) is mentioned in Lucy’s mid-song patter. Camille also starred Robert Taylor, who signed Lucy’s orange at the Farmer’s Market.

Oops!  At the end of Lucy and Van Johnson’s dance, Ricky and the Mertzes are in the audience applauding as Lucy walks through the curtain to head backstage. In the next shot, as Lucy walks through the curtain, we catch a glimpse of Desi Arnaz standing waiting for his cue.

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FAST FORWARD!

In 1968′s “Guess Who Owes Lucy $23.50?” (HL S1;E11), Lucy Carter loans Van Johnson money to fix his car – but the man turns out to be an impostor. In return, Lucy wants the real Van Johnson to fly to Dallas to sing “Happy Birthday” to a cow named Ethel. 

This “Here’s Lucy” episode works in a not-so-subtle plug for Lucille Ball’s latest film Yours, Mine and Ours, in which Van Johnson is a featured player.

The scene with Lucy dancing with Van Johnson in her feather dress is actress Fran Drescher’s favorite “I Love Lucy” moment. She said that as a child she would watch this scene in awe at how beautiful and talented Lucy was, and that this was one of the things that inspired her to become an actress. Drescher was such a big Lucy fan that she even had an “I Love Lucy” themed episode of her TV show "The Nanny.”

On May 19, 2017 CBS aired this episode and “Lucy Meets Harpo Marx” (S4;E28) colorized as “I Love Lucy: Superstar Special”. The episode was edited for broadcast to make room for more commercials.