“The Ricardos Go to Japan”

(LDCH S3;E2 ~ November 27, 1959) Directed by Desi Arnaz. Written by Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf.  Filmed during September 1959 at Desilu Studios, Hollywood. 

This is the penultimate episode of “The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour,” the second of a shortened three-episode third season. It is also the very last time we will see the Ricardos and Mertzes during the 1950s. 

Like most other installments of the hour-long format, it features a celebrity guest star playing himself (Bob Cummings) and takes the Ricardos to an exotic location (Japan). 

This episode was aired the day after Thanksgiving 1959. At the time, ABC daytime syndication aired “The Bob Cummings Show” at noon and CBS daytime syndication showed “I Love Lucy” at 11am!  

Not including the flashback episode “Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana” (S1;E1), this is the first time the characters have left the United States since traveling to Cuba in season six of "I Love Lucy.” In addition to Cuba and Japan, foreign countries we have seen the gang travel to are Mexico, England, Switzerland, France, Italy, and Monaco. As with all of these travel episodes, the main cast never left their Hollywood soundstage. 

This was the second episode that Desi Arnaz is credited as director after the firing of Jerry Thorpe mid-way through “Lucy’s Summer Vacation” (S2;E5). ‘

There was no studio audience present for the filming. There was, however, a special preview screening at Glen Glen Studios (Desilu’s Sound Company) on November 11, 1959. This was likely to gauge audience reaction and perhaps where to sweeten the laugh track. Although no travel was involved, there are stock footage insert shots of the aircraft and the hotel.  

A few weeks before this show first aired, Lucille Ball and Sammy Davis Jr. took part in an untelevised charity show to provide financial aid to Japan.  

Lucille Ball was known in Japan, even before “I Love Lucy.” This 1950 Japanese movie magazine has Ann Sheridan on the cover, but inside has photos of Lucille Ball. 

Because of the the flowers and elaborate silk kimonos this is one of those occasions where filming in color would have been beneficial. If the show had been filmed in color, viewers might have been able to see that Lucy’s eyes were red from crying due to continued marital tensions between her and Desi.

Robert “Bob” Cummings was born in 1910 in Joplin, Missouri. His godfather was the aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright, so naturally he got his pilot’s license and studied aeronautical engineering. After the stock market crash of 1929, he gave flying up to study drama in New York City, making his Broadway debut in 1931. In 1934 he moved to Hollywood and started making films. During World War II he was a captain in the Air Force Reserves. His television career kicked off in 1952, winning an Emmy for his role in the series “My Hero.” Starting in 1955, Cummings starred on a successful NBC sitcom, "The Bob Cummings Show” (aka “Love That Bob”), in which he played Bob Collins, an ex–World War II pilot who became a successful photographer. The show ended in July 1959, just a few months prior to filming this “Comedy Hour” episode. CBS revived the series in 1961, but it lasted just one season. He reprised the character of Bob Collins on a 1972 episode of "Here’s Lucy” and returned the following season for another episode. Cummings was married five times and fathered seven children. He died in 1990 at the age of 80.

In the episode, Cummings says he is in Japan to make a film. His next film, My Geisha (1962) starring Shirley MacLaine and Yves Montand, actually was filmed in Japan. Lucy always believed that it was best to stick as close to the truth as possible, and this was no exception.

The airport is decorated with travel posters, one of which is for Mexico, the location of first episode of season two of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”

The airport scene required many background players.

• Sam Harris had done more than a dozen films with Lucille Ball between 1934 and 1956. On "I Love Lucy” he was glimpsed on the subway in “Lucy and the Loving Cup” (ILL S6;E12) and in the audience of “Over the Teacups” in “Ethel’s Birthday” (ILL S4;E8). He also appeared on six episodes of “The Lucy Show.”
• William Meader was a regular stand-in for Frederic March, but also found time to appear as a regular extra in 16 episodes of “The Lucy Show.”
• Monty O’Grady was a passenger on the S.S. Constitution in “Second Honeymoon” (ILL S5;E14) and was also an extra in The Long, Long Trailer (1953). Like Meader, O’Grady was a regular extra on “The Lucy Show,” appearing in 14 episodes. He was also seen on two episodes of "Here’s Lucy,” one of which was also as a traveler in an airport.
  
• Murray Pollack attended the Westport “Country Club Dance” (ILL S6;E25) as well as appearing in the film Critic’s Choice (1963) with Lucille Ball. He appeared in two episodes of “The Lucy Show,” one with Harris, the other with Meader. He was also an airport traveler with O’Grady on a 1969 episode of “Here’s Lucy.”
• Norman Stevans made his first appearance with Lucille Ball in the theatre audience in “Ethel’s Birthday” (ILL S4;E8) but went on to appear in the films Forever Darling (1956), Yours Mine and Ours (1968) and Mame (1974), in addition to two episodes “Here’s Lucy.”
• Waclaw Rekwart was a Polish-born actor who made his screen debut as a migrant worker in the Oscar-winning The Grapes of Wrath (1941).
  
• Chalky Williams was seen as a regular extra on the western TV series’ "Bonanza,” "Gunsmoke” and "The Wild Wild West.”

The foursome travels to Japan on United Airlines. Cheapskate Fred makes Ethel pay for her own airline ticket, and we later learn that she pawned the family silver to afford it. In “Lucy and Superman” (ILL S6;E13) it is Fred who wants to pawn the family silver because one of his apartments has been continually vacant.

Kathryn Card is briefly seen as Mrs. McGillicuddy at the start of the show. She will be staying home with Little Ricky (Keith Thibodeaux) during the trip. This is Card’s only appearance on the hour-long programs. The last time we saw the character was when Lucy called home from Italy in “Lucy Gets Homesick in Italy” (ILL S5;E22). As she waves goodbye to Lucy and Ricky at the airport (as well as to the show itself), she is still calling her son-in-law Mickey!

While in Japan the gang stays at the Hotel Teito in Tokyo. The real-life hotel was located across from the Imperial Palace, near Otemachi Gate, with Mount Fuji on the horizon. Constructed between 1910 and 1920, the building originally housed the Forestry Office of the Imperial Household. It was refurbished and reopened in 1947 as a hotel. 

Although privately-owned, Hotel Teito was operated by Occupation forces until 1952. The building was razed in 1960, just a few months after this episode aired, and replaced with the Palace Hotel, which closed in 2009.  

Trying to be savvy about Japanese customs, Lucy says she sat through Sayonara twice. The 1957 film details a romance between an Air Force pilot (Marlon Brando) and a Japanese woman (Miyoshi Umeki), winning four Oscars. Somewhat ironically, Bob Cummings was a real-life Air Force pilot traveling in Japan.

When the Japanese chambermaid unwittingly makes a joke, Lucy quips “I think maybe Milton Berle slept here.” TV comedian Milton Berle was the guest star of the previous episode of the “Comedy Hour.”

Ricky’s concession to their Japanese hosts is trying to say “sayonara” but it coming out “Cinerama”!  Cinerama is a portmanteau of “cinema” and “panorama” and denotes a widescreen filming process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35 mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen. It was first introduced during the 1950s, when the movie industry was reacting to competition from television. 

An entire movie theatre in Los Angeles was given over to the showing of Cinerama films. In 1974, it served as the location for the Hollywood premiere of Lucille Ball’s Mame, which was not filmed in Cinerama! 

Lucy rattles off the tourist spots she wants to see:

• Mount Fujiyama (aka Mount Fuji) – the highest volcano in Japan, 2nd-highest volcano of an island in Asia, and 7th-highest peak of an island in the world.
• The Deer Park – Lucy is probably referring to Nara Park, located a three hour train ride from Tokyo in the city of Nara. Established in 1880,

  over 1,000 deer have become a symbol of the city and have even been designated as a natural treasure.

• The Emperor’s Palace – the primary residence of the Emperor of Japan is a large park-like area located in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo and contains buildings including the main palace. the private residences of the Imperial Family, an archive, museums, and administrative offices. Much of the Palace was destroyed by bombing during World War II and in 1959 was under reconstruction, not opening until the early 1960s. 

Needless to say, Lucy’s ‘yen’ for real pearls supersedes sightseeing and none of these places get air time, even in stock footage. 

When Fred tries on a kimono for the first time, Ethel calls him Madame Butterfly, a reference to the title character of an immensely popular 1904 opera by Puccini. A minute later she calls him Cho-Cho san, Madame Butterfly’s given name in the story. 

Lucy compares Fred to Sessue Hayakawa, a Japanese-born actor who was nominated for a 1958 Oscar for The Bridge on the River Kwai. The Oscar-winning film is also referenced in “Lucy’s Summer Vacation,” a 1958 episode of the “Comedy Hour.” 

Ethel reports that Fred is wearing a money belt during the trip. Lucy asks why he doesn’t trust Ethel with the money.

ETHEL: “Listen, if he doesn’t trust the Chase National Bank, he certainly isn’t going to trust me.”

The bank (then known as the Chase Manhattan Bank) was also mentioned when ‘Lucy the Lip’ and ‘Babyface Ethel’ went on a robbery spree in “The Kleptomaniac” (ILL S1;E27) in 1952. 

FRED: “Wouldn’t you think in the biggest city in the world I could find a new money belt?”

Tokyo Japan overtook New York City as the largest city in the world during the 1950s.  In 1960 Tokyo had more than 16 million people to New York’s 14 million. As of 2018, Toyko still led with 37,468,302 and Delhi India had moved into the #2 spot with 28.5 million. New York City had dropped to 8th with 18.7 million. 

ETHEL (to Bob and Lucy about Fred): “My husband makes her husband [Ricky] look like Diamond Jim Brady.”  

James Buchanan Brady (1856-1917) was a real-life millionaire and philanthropist who was fond of jewels (hence the nickname). He had a longtime relationship with singer Lillian Russell. In the late 1960s, Lucy announced she was to play Russell to Jackie Gleason’s Brady in a film project that never materialized.  There was already a film about Brady made in 1935. 

Fred was first compared to Brady in “The Business Manager” (ILL S4;E1). In future, the writers frequently compare thrifty (cheap) characters like Mr. Mooney, Harry Carter, and Jack Benny to Diamond Jim Brady.

While in the tub, Cummings idly sings a few bars of “The Japanese Sandman”, a song written by Richard A. Whiting and Raymond B. Egan in 1920. The year this episode was filmed it was recorded by Terry Snyder and the All-Stars.

The scene of Lucy and Ethel (and eventually Ricky and Fred) with their heads through a tear in the paper wall watching Cummings bathe ends with him saying “Welcome to the Knothole Gang”.  The Knothole Gang was a term given for youth who peaked through the wall or fence at a ballpark because they could not afford a ticket. This led to donors subsidizing young people to attend baseball games. In the 1940s and ‘50s, the Brooklyn Dodgers gave away more than 2 million free passes to kids.

Lucy has a habit of interrupting celebrities mid-bath and Bob Cummings is no exception. In “The Star Upstairs” (ILL S4;E25) it was Cornel Wilde and in “Lucy Goes to Sun Valley” (1957) it was Fernando Lamas.

Oops! In 1952’s "The Anniversary Present” (ILL S2;E3), Ricky buys Lucy real pearls for their 12th anniversary. However, in this episode of “The Comedy Hour,” Lucy makes a big deal about wanting real pearls to replace the fake pearls that she bought at Macy’s basement. She never mentions the real ones Ricky bought from Grace Foster seven years earlier. 

This is yet another mention for Macy’s department store, who were prominently featured in “Lucy Meets Orson Welles” (ILL S6;E3). 

Lucy steels $200 from Fred’s money belt while he is asleep in a scene that is reminiscent of when she tried to steal the train tickets from napping Fred’s jacket pocket in “Ricky Sells the Car” (ILL S5;E4). 

This time, however, Ethel is in on the caper and Lucy falls into a fish pond where she has a close encounter with a frisky gold fish.

At the Toma Geisha House Ricky sings “Tokyo Pete,” a Japanese version of “Cuban Pete,” a song originally sung in “The Diet” (ILL S1;E3) and then again in “The Hedda Hopper Story” (ILL S4;E20). Another variation called “Texas Pete” was performed in “Lucy Goes to the Rodeo” (ILL S5;E8).

To get into the geisha house where women are not allowed as guests, Lucy and Ethel disguise themselves as geisha girls.

When disguised as a geisha, Lucy is assigned to perform a fan dance. Naturally she makes a mess of it, just as she did when crashing the dance line in “Lucy is Jealous of Girl Singer” (ILL S1;E10).  She still gets compliments from the men, which she acknowledges in broken English with a high-pitched voice.

LUCY (as Geisha): “Thank you very many.”

The jig is up when Lucy’s wig falls off revealing her red hair. This is yet another reason this episode would have been glorious in color.  

Oops!  After Lucy is discovered, she tries to escape by bursting through the paper wall. When she comes back into the room again a moment later, her formerly mussed up hair from being under the geisha wig is immaculately set! Lucy may not have been a geisha girl, but she was a movie star! 

• Teru Shimada (Mr. Osato) was a Japanese-born actor who had appeared with Lucille Ball in Murder at the Vanities (1934). 
• Sondi Sodsai (Maid) came to the US to compete in the 1960 Miss Universe pageant after being crowned Miss Thailand in 1959. She lost the title but used scholarship money to enroll at UCLA majoring in drama. 
• Linda Wong (Maid) was a Korean born actor who was making her third screen appearance. 

• Along with Shimada, Wong and Sodsai,

  May Lee (Mama-San Geisha) had appeared on the TV series “Hawaiian Eye,” a major employer of Asian actors at the time.

Sitcom Logic Alert!  Although all ends happily, the question still remains – why would a successful actor like Bob Cummings be re-selling cameras and pearls for a Japanese businessman? 

FAST FORWARD!

A few weeks after this episode first aired, both Lucille Ball and Bob Cummings were interviewed (separately) for “Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood” (January 10, 1960), a celebrity-filled look at Tinseltown. 

While filming this for Hopper, his second TV series “The Bob Cummings Show” had just finished a five season run on CBS.

Lucille Ball and Danny Kaye tackle the demands of dining at a Japanese Restaurant on “The Danny Kaye Show” in 1962. 

“The Lucy Show” (1962-68) was dubbed and translated into Japanese!  

In a 1972 episode of “Here’s Lucy,” Cummings played Bob Collins, the character he was also playing on his own show “Love That Bob”!  

In 1973, Cummings returned to "Here’s Lucy” to play a deceitful antiques dealer who is after a priceless chair Lucy Carter bought.

In 1999, this Japanese magazine had Lucy and Desi on the cover.