“Breaking the Lease”

“You know, a little more practice and we could do singing commercials for television.’’

(S1;E18 ~ February 11, 1952) Directed by Marc Daniels. Written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, and Bob Carroll, Jr.  Filmed January 5, 1952 at General Service Studios. It was the 18th episode filmed. Rating: 53.4/73

Synopsis ~ When a late-night sing-along gets a bit too late-night for the Mertzes, they suddenly threaten to evict the Ricardos – unless they can break the lease! 

There was some thought about creating an “I Love Lucy” radio show to run in conjuncture with the television series as was being done at the time with the CBS hit show “Our Miss Brooks.” On February 27, 1952 [the year on the above image is incorrect], a sample show was produced, but it never aired. This was a pilot episode, created by editing the soundtrack of the television episode “Breaking the Lease”, with added Arnaz narration. It included commercials for Philip Morris, which sponsored the TV series. Philip Morris eventually sponsored a radio edition of “My Little Margie” instead.  Here’s Ricky’s opening narration: 

“Hello. I’m Ricky Ricardo and I’m the guy who loves Lucy. The
whole thing started ten years ago.  I had just come to this country
from Cuba and I didn’t know much about your customs.  The first girl
I had a date with was Lucy. It was a romantic night and after all I
had a reputation to live up to as a Latin lover so I kissed her
goodnight. It was right then that she told me that under the
Constitution of the United States if a man kisses a girl he has to
marry her. Then I found out that she tricked me. I didn’t care.
Because after all, if I hadn’t married her, I’d would have married
someone else. And Lucy’s just like any other American girl, who is
pretty, charming, witty, and partly insane.”

This account of Lucy and Ricky’s first meeting contradicts a couple of others, most dramatically the one told in “Lucy Takes a Cruise To Havana” (1957) set in 1940. 

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The episode opens with the gang harmonizing to “I Want A Girl (Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad),” a popular song of 1911 composed by Harry Von Tilzer and William Dillon. It has become a barbershop quartet standard. The song appears in Show Business (1944) and The Jolson Story (1946). William Frawley had a well-known rivalry with fellow vaudevillian Al Jolson. Appropriately, the song will be reprised in the vaudeville-themed episode “Mertz and Kurtz” (S4;E2).

Singing around the piano, the men are sporting pullover tops, something they rarely are seen wearing in in future episodes. They are drinking root beer from mugs, and of course there is a pack of Philip Morris cigarettes and an ashtray on the piano. The same pack of cigarettes and ashtray turn up in the bedroom on Lucy’s vanity. She brushes her hair exactly 100 strokes before bedtime.

This is the first time "Sweet Sue” is sung on the show. It will be heard again in “Mr. and Mrs. TV Show” (S4;E5) and “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). Throughout the series, Lucy’s off-key singing voice is a reoccurring plot point, but here when she’s singing with Ricky and the Mertzes, her singing voice sounds fine.

When Fred and Ethel leave the Ricardo’s apartment after singing “Sweet Sue,” they go off in opposite directions once in the hallway. They also did this in “The Courtroom” (S2;E7). Either space was tight backstage or (more likely) Vivian Vance and William Frawley couldn’t wait to get away from one another once they were safely off camera!

The argument between Lucy and Ricky about keeping the window open or closed came from a real-life dispute between Lucy and Desi. Lucy always was hot and wanted the windows open, whereas Desi always wanted the windows shut. 

As in many of the early episodes, there were often special insert shots and differently lit close-ups filmed to enhance the cinematography.  These were later eliminated except for those that were needed to clarify a joke.

The Harwood Manufacturing Corporation actually produced “I Love Lucy” matching pajamas (not the style in this episode, however), that sold for $6.95 a pair and came in men’s and women’s sizes.

Sitcom Logic Alert!  Fred and Ethel’s sudden change of attitude seems overly-contrived and unbelievable. Unlike a future episode where they “pretended” to be disagreeable in order not to hold back Ricky’s career moves, no such justification is given here.  

This is the first all-out fight between the Mertzes and the Ricardos. The two couples later squabble over a television in “The Courtroom” (S2;E7) and over a washing machine in “Never Do Business With Friends” (S2;E31).  This is the first time jokes are made about Fred finding Ethel’s wedding ring inside a box of Cracker Jack. Ethel makes a similar joke in “Bonus Bucks” (S3;E21) and “Building a Bar-B-Q” (S6;E24).

In this episode, when Lucy is packing to move out, on the coffee table is a magazine with Lucy and Desi on the cover – probably a local edition of TV Guide, before the publication went national. In ’‘Ricky Has Labor Pains” (S2;E14) a pregnant Lucy is seen reading McCall’s with the words “I Love Lucy” clearly written on the cover.

When Fred and Ethel come upstairs to ‘throw in the towel’ in the lease battle, Fred has a chandelier on his head that apparently fell on him. Lucy and Desi have a difficult time keeping a straight face when the Mertzes enter the apartment with covered in ceiling plaster. Apparently this was the first time they had seen them in them fully ‘plastered’!

Oops!  When the band is playing in the Ricardos’ apartment, a flash can be seen from a flash photograph taken by an audience member.

It is revealed that the previous summer, the Ricardos and the Mertzes went on vacation together in Atlantic City. The New Jersey seaside resort will be the setting of the Tropicana revue in “Mertz and Kurtz” (S4;E2).

In the crowd of extras at the Ricardo ‘jam session’ are Lucy and Desi’s stand-ins, Hazel Pierce and Bennett Green, as well as Lucy’s long-time friend (and contender for the role of Ethel) Barbara Pepper (below). Green makes the second of his 18 credited appearances on the show as a bum, but he is more often seen as a messenger or delivery man. Pierce makes the second of her 13 credited appearances, having first played the woman who went over Niagara Falls in a barrel in “The Quiz Show” (S1;E5). Using her own name, Pierce wins the TV that the Ladies Overseas Aid raffles off in “Ricky’s European Booking” (S5;E10). 

Pepper makes the first of her 8 credited appearances here, but she is probably best remembered as the dress shop ‘customer’ (actually Mrs. Hansen’s accomplice) in “The Girls Go Into Business” (S3;E2).

“El Break-o the Lease-o” is really titled “Jarabe Tapatío” but is better known as “The Mexican Hat Dance.” It has come to symbolize Mexico around the world. It dates back to the 18th century but became internationally famous after Russian dancer Anna Pavlova added it to her repertoire after visiting Mexico in 1919.

“El Cumbanchero” was written by Rafael Hernández, a composer of Puerto Rican popular music around the early 1940s. The song was previously heard in “Lucy is Jealous of Girl Singer” (S1;E10).

Ethel’s chenille bathrobe will turn up on two episodes of “Here’s Lucy” – one time worn by Ann-Margret!  

This is the second of three episodes that were to comprise the “I Love Lucy” movie. The others were “The Benefit” (S1;E13) and “The Ballet” (S1;E19), with new footage between episodes to help transform the three plots into one coherent storyline. Like the proposed radio show, the movie was never released.

FAST FORWARD!

In 2001, a Polish remake loosely based on “I Love Lucy” titled “Kocham Klara” (”I Love Clara”), presented “Termination” loosely based on this episode and co-written with the cooperation of the original “I Love Lucy” writers.  

The Zapalscy and the Nowaks organize an evening of live songs. Everyone is having a great time. When the Nowaks return to their apartment, Klara and Kuba continue their fun. The Nowaks quickly change their minds about their neighbors.