S1;E1 ~ October 1, 1962
Synopsis
Chris goes out on a date with Alan Harper, a prep school boy. Naturally, Lucy waits up for her and even runs out to the car when they return.
Lucy promises she won’t wait up on their next date. Of course, she does and has to make a quick getaway out the back door, locking herself out of the house. Luckily there’s a trampoline just outside of Viv’s window.
Regular
Cast
Lucille Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Vivian Vance (Vivian Bagley),
Candy Moore (Chris Carmichael), Jimmy Garrett (Jerry Carmichael),
Ralph Hart (Sherman Bagley)
Lucille
Ball (Lucy Carmichael) was
born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen
career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due
to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio
program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the
creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which
she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program
was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was
once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an
hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy
returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted
six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy”
co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well
as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season
two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a
sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon, which was not a
success and was canceled after just 13 episodes.
Vivian
Vance (Vivian Bagley, later Vivian Bunson) was born Vivian
Roberta Jones in Cherryvale, Kansas, in 1909, although her family
quickly moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she was raised. She
had extensive theatre experience, co-starring on Broadway with Ethel
Merman in Anything Goes. She was acting in a play in Southern California
when she was spotted by Desi Arnaz and hired to play Ethel Mertz,
Lucy Ricardo’s neighbor and best friend. The pairing is credited with much
of the success of “I Love Lucy.” Vance was convinced to join the
cast of “The Lucy Show” in 1962, but stayed with the series only
through season three, making occasional guest appearances afterwards.
She made half a dozen appearances on “Here’s Lucy,” as well as
joining Ball for a TV special “Lucy Calls the President” in
1977. Vance died two years later.
Ralph
Hart (Sherman Bagley)
was a musical theatre kid who made his screen debut in The Music
Man (1962), quickly followed by Gypsy (1962)
and Bye Bye Birdie (1963).
Like his co-stars, he also made appearances on “My Three Sons.” He was featured in 44 episodes of “The Lucy Show,” leaving when
his screen mother, Vivian Vance, departed at the end of season three.
Jimmy
Garrett
(Jerry Carmichael) was born on September 23, 1954 in Los Angeles,
California. Like guest star Tom Lowell, Garrett made his TV debut in
an episode of “The Twilight Zone.” Like Candy Moore, he also
appeared on an episode of “My Three Sons,” but before William
Frawley joined the cast. It was, however, directed by James V. Kern,
who had directed many episodes of “I Love Lucy.” Garrett appeared in
55 episodes of “The Lucy Show” through season four. His last screen
credit was in 1966.
Candy Moore (Chris Carmichael) was born on August 26, 1947 in Maplewood, New Jersey, as Candace Lee Klaasen. She began her TV acting career at the age of 12 and was 15 when she began playing Lucy’s daughter Chris, a role she played for 39 episodes. The year before she had guest starred on an episode of “My Three Sons” with William Frawley (aka Fred Mertz). After leaving the business she became a high school English teacher in California as well as a writer.
Guest
Cast
Tom Lowell (Alan
Harper) was
born on January 17, 1941 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He makes
the first of three appearances as Chris’ boyfriend, Alan. He was 21
years old when he began his acting career with a June 1962 episode of
“The Twilight Zone.” “The Lucy Show” was his second TV
credit. He left show business and became a high school theatre
director.
In this episode it
is established that Alan Harper is 16 and goes to prep school in
Connecticut. This is the first of the character’s three appearances
on the show.
Tiger
the dog belongs to Lucy’s
neighbor and boyfriend Harry Connors (Dick Martin), who we will meet
in episode two. A dog named Tiger was also featured on TV’s “The
Brady Bunch” (1969-1974). Lucille Ball was an animal lover and dog
owner and would frequently feature animals on “The Lucy Show.”
Here Tiger serves more as a plot device than pet.
Background
In
April 1960 the final episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” (the
continuation of “I Love Lucy”) aired and Lucille Ball and Desi
Arnaz divorced. Desilu Studios had only one series in production,
“The Untouchables” and prospects were slim. The answer to their
financial woes was clear: Ball needed to return to series television.
The premise for the new show would be a 1961 book by Irene Kampen
called Life Without George about Kampen’s life after divorce
from her husband, George. Ball agreed with the stipulation the
series be aired on Monday nights (the old “I Love Lucy” time
slot) and Vivian Vance once again be her co-star. Tired of being known as
“Ethel,” Vance insisted her character be named Vivian. Lucy
chose the surname Carmichael because she was once told by her friend
Carole Lombard’s mother that the letter combination “AR” was
lucky for her: ARnaz, RicARdo, CARmichael and (in future) CARter and
BARker. Lucy may also may have been inspired by real-life composer Ralph Carmichael, who wrote incidental music for “I Love Lucy.”
CBS was nervous about having two divorcee characters in prime time, let alone one, so
Lucy’s character was made a widow, although her late husband was
hardly ever mentioned. Death was not a subject for comedy in 1962. Vivian Vance would become the first divorced female principal character on
a prime time series. She already was the first actress to share a double-bed on national television with a man she wasn’t married to in real-life. This happened when Ethel and Fred shared a bed with a sagging mattress at One Oak outside Cincinnati, their “First Stop” (ILL S4;E13) on the way to Hollywood.
Like Lucille Ball, Lucy Carmichael had two children: a teenage
girl named Chris (also the name of Kampen’s daughter); and a pre-teen
boy named Jerry. Vivian Bagley remained a divorcee with one child
named Sherman, slightly older than Jerry. They all lived together in a
house in (fictional) Danfield, New York. The show aimed to live up to the book’s tagline: “The Struggles of Two Whacky Dames Alone in a Suburban Jungle.” Lucy also
recruited her writers from “I Love Lucy” as well as much of her
crew. Desi Arnaz acted as Executive Producer for the first 15
episodes.
The
earliest scripts were entitled “The
Lucille Ball Show,”
but CBS rejected this title. “This
Is Lucy”
and “The
New Adventures of Lucy” were also considered. Season
one was filmed and broadcast in black and white with animated
stick figures of Ball and Vance as the opening credits, similar to
the ones used in the original opening sequence of “I Love Lucy.”
The theme music was composed by Wilbur
Hatch,
who was the show’s musical director, a role he also performed on “I
Love Lucy.” “The Lucy Show” was filmed before a live audience
with a laugh track used to fill any gaps in audience reactions or
missed punchlines.
The
episode is directed by Jack Donohue and features some specially lit
medium shots of the star. These were also part of season one of “I Love Lucy” but
were discontinued for the sake of time. This episode also features
some obvious examples of ADR or over-dubbing, probably to clarify
sound recording glitches.
There
is very little exposition to explain the premise of the show, but Viv
establishes she has an ex-husband, pays alimony, and is paying Lucy
rent. Chris calls Vivian “Aunt Viv” despite them not being
related, which might lead first time viewers to think Lucy and Viv are sisters or sister-in-laws. The death of Lucy’s
husband is not established, leaving first time viewers to wonder why there is no
adult male living in the house.
We
hear that Lucy’s Danfield neighborhood features a drugstore (which
also serves hot chocolate, so it has a soda fountain) and a local cinema called The Ritz. We
also hear about a frisky neighbor named Flo, who is a manicurist. She may
have been named after Flo Pauline Lopus, one of Lucille Ball’s
childhood friends from Jamestown.
Lucy
talks about Cynthia, Chris’s girlfriend, a character that is often
mentioned but not seen until episodes 23 and 24 when she will
be played by an 11 year-old Lucie Arnaz. We also hear about Chris’s
friend Camille Metcalf, but this character is merely mentioned to support a joke about the film Camille (1936).
Before
bed, Lucy and Viv are playing cards dressed in fancy lingerie: Vivian in a
white Asian-inspired silk jacket and pants and Lucy in a flowing white bed
jacket that was designed to billow when she jumped on the
trampoline, resembling wings. Form-fitting white capri pants assured
modesty in the scenes. Interestingly, when Vivian goes to sleep she
has changed into plain pajamas. When she sits up to wait for Lucy’s
return near the end of the episode, she has changed back to her
lingerie. This may be due to the filming sequence of the living room
and bedroom scenes.
The
trampoline gives Lucille Ball an opportunity to do physical
humor, something she was extremely adept at. Ball performed some of
the scenes ‘free-form’ – without a double or wires, but wires were used
for the reverse scenes from inside Viv’s bedroom.
Despite
this episode being in black and white, when Viv gives
Lucy one of her coats to wear, Lucy remarks that
it isn’t a good color for her and that she never liked the color on
Vivian either. Although it is obviously a light colored coat, the
viewers never discover exactly what color it really is.
Callbacks!
Vivian eats a banana in this episode, a fruit Ethel Mertz was fond of in “Bon Voyage” (ILL S5;E13), “Second Honeymoon” (ILL S5;E14), and “Lucy Misses the Mertzes” (ILL S6;17).
Lucy wants the family to watch “The Early Show” on TV, which is airing Greta Garbo in Camille. On “I Love Lucy” Lucy Ricardo mentioned Garbo and Camille in “The Dancing Star” (ILL S4;E27). She also imitated Garbo in “The Saxophone” (ILL S2:E2) and named her snaggle-toothed gypsy character in “The Operetta” (ILL S2;E5) Camille. The 1936 film will be mentioned again in a 1978 episode of “Here’s Lucy.”
Blooper
Alert!
When
Viv pushes Lucy out of her bedroom window there is no artwork on the
closet wall behind her. Moments later, when Viv looks out to make
sure Lucy has landed safely, there is a large framed painting where the
door to the hallway had been.
Also, the second time Lucy appears at the window calling for her, Viv is in bed
sleeping with the lights still on!
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