“Lucy’s Bicycle Trip”

(S5;E24 – April 23, 1956) Directed by James V. Kern. Written by

Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller, and Bob Weiskopf. Filmed March 22, 1956 at Ren-Mar Studios. 

Synopsis ~ When leaving Italy for France, Lucy has her heart set on biking across the border, until she can’t find her passport!

Lucy has a short memory.  A bicycle was the cause of all the trouble when she missed the ship to Europe in “Bon Voyage” (S5;E13). 

In an early episode, Lucy convinced Ricky she had regressed to childhood by riding a tricycle through the living room!  This didn’t end well for Lucy, when Ricky turned the tables. 

This episode was first aired on April 23, generally agreed to be Shakespeare’s Birthday. Lucy Ricardo played Juliet in High School under the direction of Miss Hannah. Herman Shlupp was Romeo. Shortly after she arrives home from Europe, Lucy has the opportunity to play Shakespeare opposite Orson Welles – but he has other ideas!  

This episode opens in a hotel room on the Italian Riviera (a title card and establishing shot tells us so), which we later learn is in Sanremo, Italy. Since 1951 Sanremo has been the site of a world-famous music festival so perhaps that is why the Ricky Ricardo Orchestra makes it a destination city. The city is mentioned as a place they visited at the start of season six in “Visitor From Italy” (S6;E5), when Mario comes to New York (although he turns out to be from Venice).

The bicycles used in the episode were provided by Arnold Schwinn and Company in return for a screen credit. 

The foursome have to travel 35 miles by bicycle to get to Nice. In Florence, they were winded from climbing five flights of stairs!

LUCY (to Ricky and the Mertzes): “You wouldn’t climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower. You wouldn’t ride the ski lift in Switzerland. You won’t swim in the Mediterranean and now you don’t want to bicycle along the Italian Riviera.”

Lucy fails to mention that the others climbed the Alps with her just to have a picnic on top of the world.

In “Lucy Goes to Sun Valley” (above), a 1958 episode of "The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour,” Lucy rides the ski lift, but she is the one who is terrified while Ethel remains cool and calm.

After Lucy’s icy dip in the Mediterranean, Fred calls her “the poor man’s Florence Chadwick.”  

Florence May Chadwick (1918-1995) was an American swimmer known for long-distance, open water swimming. She was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions, setting a record each time. In 1951 she appeared on the CBS variety show "Faye Emerson’s Wonderful Town.” A few months before this episode was filmed, she appeared on the network as a mystery guest on "What’s My Line?”

When the Italian farmer doesn’t speak English (and Ethel’s Italian is woefully inadequate) Lucy steps in to play charades. Lucille Ball loved to do pantomime. She previously demonstrated this in “The Gossip” (S1;E24) and on many other occasions.

When Lucy’s game of charades fails to get through to the farmer, Ethel says “You’ve done enough already, Marcel Marceau.” 

Marcel Marceau (1923–2007) was a French actor and mime most famous for his stage persona as Bip the Clown. He referred to mime as the ‘art of silence’ and performed worldwide for over 60 years. The year this episode aired he won an Emmy Award for Best Specialty Act.  Coincidentally, this episode was filmed on Marceau’s 33rd birthday!  

Lucille Ball had to put honey on the goat’s cheek to get it to lick her face. 

Lucy and Desi owned a cow named the Duchess of Devonshire at their Chatsworth ranch, although Lucy Ricardo claimed she had never milked a cow before. 

Ball was able to produce one good stream of milk from the cow, but she didn’t think the lights caught the stream enough for it to show on camera. 

Writer Madelyn Pugh later said, 

"It was the mangiest cow I’d ever seen. I went down to the set, and Lucy said, ‘You wrote it, YOU milk it!’” 

In addition to the goat and the cow, the farmer’s barn also housed a live horse and several chickens, one of which lays an egg on Fred’s chest! Ironically, shortly after the gang return from Europe, Fred and Ethel join the Ricardos in Connecticut where they raise chickens for eggs!  

One last animal…at the border crossing a live donkey pulls a cart across from France into Italy. Surely if a jackass can cross the border with ease, so can Lucy? Wrong!

A poster for the Festival de Nice is tacked to a tree nearby the border with the date Avril (April) 23-25, which matches the date the episode was first aired.

Curiously, the poster is not on the tree when the gang first approach the border, but suddenly appears just before the scene where Lucy tears off the ’25’ to use as it as fake racing number. 

The Festival de Nice probably refers to the Nice Carnival, which dates back to 1294, although it is typically held in February, not April. Another slight error is that Europeans typically put the date before month (ie: 23-25 Avril), the opposite of Americans.

Mario Siletti (Italian Farmer) had played Papa Caruso in the MGM film The Great Caruso (1951). The farmer says he has nine (unseen) children: Teresa, Sofia, Luigi, Pietro, Dino, Gino, Rosa, Mario, and Antonio. 

Siletti’s co-star in this episode, Henry Dar Boggia (Italian Border Guard), played a bellhop in the same film, which was his screen debut. He was born in New York City. Francis Ravel (French Border Guard) was actually born in Casablanca, Morocco. 

Felix Romano played the Italian Guard who comes on duty in the episode’s final moments.

Before the debacle with her passport (something that caused Lucy a lot of trouble when first obtaining it in New York), she says ‘goodbye’ to Italy. 

LUCY: “Farewell, Italy, with your beautiful mountains and your lakes and your wonderful people. Goodbye, dear Italy.  No, I’m not going to say goodbye. I’m going to say ‘arrivederci!’”

Although we only see the Ricardos and Mertzes in Rome, Florence, and Sanremo, we later learn that they also visited Genoa, Venice, and Naples. Here are some imagined episodes that might have been left in the writer’s room.

“Lucy the Gondolier” 

Synopsis ~ While in Venice, Lucy gets separated from the gang while on a sightseeing tour. In order not to miss her train, Lucy disguises herself as a gondolier to navigate the canals, the fastest route to the station. Cameo appearance by Pat Boone. 

“Lucy the Opera Star”

Synopsis ~ In Genoa, Lucy and Ethel sign up for a backstage tour of the Opera House. They don’t realize that they are actually signing up to be IN the opera! Knowing Ricky and the mayor are in the audience, Lucy tries to blend into the chorus – until a singer gets sick and Lucy must play the maid! 

“Lucy Visits Pompeii”

Synopsis ~ Ricky and his band are playing Naples, so Lucy and Ethel take a side trip to the ruins of Pompeii. While touring the ruins, they are accused of breaking a priceless vase!  Lucy blends in as a tour guide to get back to the hotel in time to sing “I Get Ideas” with guest star Tony Martin. 

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FAST FORWARD

The trip to Italy is recalled when the Ricardos are visited by Mario (Jay Novello), the “Visitor from Italy” (S6;E5). 

Lucy Ricardo again has trouble crossing the border when she goes to Tijuana with Maurice Chevalier in “Lucy Goes to Mexico,” an episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” This border confusion was repeated in “Lucy and Viv Visit Tijuana” (HL S2;E19) with Harry Carter behind the wheel.  

Lucy Carmichael milks a cow in “Lucy and the Countess Lose Weight” (TLS S3;E21) with Ann Sothern looking on. Lucy Carter milks a cow (on a TV show) in “Lucy and Tennessee Ernie’s Fun Farm” (S1;E19). 

A bicycle proves to be Lucy Carmichael’s unraveling (her dress that is) in “Lucy is Kangaroo for a Day” (TLS S1;E7). This is a direct callback to “Bon Voyage” where Lucy Ricardo loses a dress to a the spokes of a bike. 

Mrs. Carmichael biked through London on a tandem bike with her tour guide Anthony Newley in “Lucy in London” (1966). 

In “Bob Hope’s Leading Ladies” (1966) Lucille Ball arrives in Bob’s bedroom pedaling an adult-size tricycle with Smithers (Jerry Collona), her chauffeur, riding behind her.

Lucy goes back to the barnyard when “Lucy Discovers Wayne Newton” (TLS S4;E14) in 1965. Many of the same sorts of farm animals appear. [The publicity photo above includes Gary Morton, who was not in the episode.]

Another Italian with numerous children (played by guest star Kaye Ballard) appears in “Harry’s Italian Bombshell” (HL S4;E23). The Colucci children (who have a few moments camera time) are Ricardo, Anna Maria, Louisa, Luigi, Vincenzo, Dino, Lucrezia, Alfredo Jr., Margarito, Bruno, Rosa, and Frederico. The Italian farmer in “Lucy’s Bicycle Trip” also has bambini named Luigi, Dino, and Rosa. The names Luigi and Rosa were taken from the CBS radio and television series “Life With Luigi” (1948-53). Dino may be a nod to Arnaz friend and singer Dean Martin, who was nicknamed Dino.  

All of Lucille Ball’s sitcoms have been dubbed in Italian!  On the official Season 6 “Here’s Lucy” DVD package, one of the extras is “Lucy Earns Her Diploma” (HL S6;E5) with a dubbed Italian soundtrack. 

Photo by Lori Mundy. Disney Studios, Florida.