Funday Papers

From 1951 to 1959 newspapers were the catalyst for many “I Love Lucy” plots.  Here are just a few of the times that ‘papes’ played a part!

Ricky traditionally starts his day by reading the morning paper during breakfast. In “Be a Pal” (S1;E2) Lucy tries everything and anything to get his attention! 

One of the series’ most famous gags involved a toaster.  In the same episode Ricky catches the toast without looking up from his newspaper!  

In “Job Switching” (S2;E1) the roles are reversed…

…even down to catching the toast!  

In “Men Are Messy” (S1;E9), even from underneath his sport jacket Ricky doesn’t have to look far for the ‘spor’ session’ – the New York Times headline is about college football with mentions of Navy, Columbia, Cornell, and Harvard. 

Ethel points out an item in the Daily Mirror in “Lucy is Jealous of Girl Singer” (S1;E10) that causes Lucy to imagine life without Ricky!

In one shot the newspaper has small print and in the very next shot of Ethel, it is a headline page with the word HERE clearly visible. 

When Lucy flips open the paper to read the inside item, the headline reads: “CHURCHILL, HST [Harry S. Truman] TO CONFER HERE”.  Early in 1952, the newly reinstalled British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once again crossed the Atlantic to confer with a US President.

An article is conspicuously missing from Variety in “Lucy Fakes Illness” (S1;E16).  Although this is the premise of the episode, the scene is often cut in syndication!

While checking Ricky’s horoscope in “The Seance” (S1;E7), viewers get a glimpse of a giant ad for SUITS $28!

The newspaper Ethel holds in “Ricky asks for A Raise” (S1;E35) has ads for the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus and the musical Call Me Madam. 

Lucy Ricardo’s blessed event was
mentioned in Walter
Winchell’s
column in “Ricky Has Labor Pains” (S2;E14)

. In real life, Winchell announced Lucy’s 1950 pregnancy on the radio even before the doctor had time to
call them. Sadly, Lucy miscarried.  

In order to spend more time with her husband, Lucy and Ricky read the sports pages together in “The Camping Trip” (S2;E29).  Lucy mistakenly thinks sportswriter Grantland Rice is a food!  The reference was cut out in syndication. 

The
headline of the New York Gazette reads “Bond Issue Defeated” in
“Ricky’s Old Girlfriend”  (S3;E12).  The newspaper that
reports that “Carlotta Romero is playing the Opal Room” is The
New York Gazette – a fictional newspaper – although the back page
(the arts section) calls it The Daily Record!

A New York newspaper runs a “Bonus Bucks” (S3;E21) contest that makes Lucy go to extreme lengths to win $100.  Such contests were common in the 1950s, but were usually named Lucky Bucks.  The word “Lucky” was forbidden on “I Love Lucy” because sponsor Phillip Morris didn’t want viewers to think of their competitor, Lucky Strike cigarettes.  

“Lucy is Envious” (S3;E23) opens with Lucy and Ricky reading the papers in bed.  

When Lucy and Ethel need to fulfill their pledges to Cynthia Harcourt’s charity, they find a job ad in Billboard for “Two Women With Courage” and end up dressed like women from Mars atop the Empire State Building!  

When a publicity article about Ricky forming an all-girl band with her club members hits the papers before Lucy has time to broach the subject with him, she has to go to extreme lengths to prevent Ricky from seeing the newspaper in “Lucy’s Club Dance” (S3;E25).  

The “Bond Issue Defeated” headline turns up again!  

Lucy even tries to intercept all the papers at a corner newsstand!

In “Hollywood
Anniversary” (S4;E23) Lucy reads a list of celebrities
supposedly coming to her anniversary party.  She later
learns that the article was just publicity, and that “none of those
peoples are coming.”  

When looking for a movie to see in “In Palm Springs” (S4;E26), the back page of the newspaper has an ad for the new film Hit The Deck (1955). 

Variety turns up again in “Lucy
Has Her Eyes Examined” (S3;E30).  The headline “Parker
Preps Prod for Pitts Preem” is translated as
“Parker Prepares Production for Pittsburgh Premiere.”  Variety began
publishing in 1905 and is still around today. It has long been known
for its industry jargon.

In “Lucy Cries Wolf” (S4;E3) Lucy feels ignored when Ricky gets engrossed in the New York Bulletin.  She later gets his attention by pretending to be abducted! 

In “Ethel’s Hometown” (S4;E15) the Albuquerque local paper does an article on Ethel Mae Potter (”We Never Forgot Her”). 

Ethel’s old beau Billy Hackett is a reporter for the paper, and takes a photo of Ethel that crops out her friends and family!  Note that the insert shot of Vivian Vance has her hands in a different position than the actual episode!  

Before Lucy gets embroiled in “The Fashion Show” (S4;E19), Ricky hides from her request for a Don Loper dress by burying his head in Variety.  

When not ignoring Lucy by pretending to read Variety, he tries The Hollywood Reporter in “The Bullfight Dance” (S4;E22).  

A jewel thief (Harry Bartell) finds a newspaper is the perfect way to hide in plain sight during “The Great Train Robbery” (S5;E5).  

In England, Lucy reads about film producer Sir Clive Richardson in the venerable Times of London in “The Fox Hunt” (S5;E16).  

When “Little Ricky Learns to Play the Drums” (S6;E2), Fred’s copy of the New York Herald Tribune (a real newspaper) was  five months old at the time of the filming!  

In Connecticut, “Lucy Misses the Mertzes” (S6;E17) while back in New York, Fred reads The Sporting News.  A back page ad for L&M Cigarettes indicates the episode was filmed around the holidays.  Note that Phillip Morris was no longer a sponsor, so there was no need to cover up the ad.  

A Las Vegas novelty shop prints souvenir newspapers in “Lucy Hunts Uranium” (a 1958 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”).  Fred gets one made for Little Ricky. 

This gives Lucy the idea of how to encourage big Ricky to allow her to go Uranium hunting!  

But when the bellboy (Bobby Jellison) and maid (Maxine Semon) find the discarded newspaper, a city-wide Uranium panic is created!  

In “Lucy Wants a Career” (1958) Ricky
reads in Variety that
Danny Kaye is returning to London to give another command performance
for Queen Elizabeth.  

Later in the same episode, guest star Paul Douglas encounters a newspaper-reading ‘kibitzer’ (Sam Hearn) at a Grand Central Station newsstand.  Hearn previously played Lucy’s childhood doctor in “The Passports” (S5;E11).  

Before “Lucy Goes to Japan” (a 1959 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”), she reads about their upcoming trip in Variety.