Lucy Misplaces $2,000

S1;E4 ~ October 22, 1962

Synopsis

The
bank gives Lucy a check for $2,000 instead of $20 just minutes after
Mr. Barnsdahl had declared that his bank was perfect. To force him
into admitting a mistake, she cashes the check and hides the money in
a box of candy. When it comes time to return the cash, the box is
missing. Harry unknowingly gave the candy to the boys who took it to
a carnival, where they must track down the money.

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Vivian Vance (Vivian Bagley), Jimmy Garrett
(Jerry Carmichael), Ralph Hart (Sherman Bagley), Dick
Martin
(Harry Connors)

Candy
Moore (Chris Carmichael) does not appear in this episode and is not listed in the credits.

Charles
Lane
(Mr. Barnsdahl) played more characters on “I Love Lucy” and “The
Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” than any other performer, appearing in a
total of six episodes, mostly as authority figures such as Lucy’s
business manager Mr. Hicox, the passport office clerk, a casting
agent, the Tijuana border guard, and a Uranium claims officer. Most
memorably, however, he was Mr. Stanley (“Nine girls!”), the new
father in the waiting room with Ricky when Lucy gives birth. He was
born Charles
Gerstle Levison in 1905, and
went on to become one of the most familiar faces in America in more
than 350 films and television shows, including seven films with
Lucille Ball. Lane lived to the age of 102!

Mr.
Barnsdahl is the banker charged with allocating money from Lucy’s
late husband’s trust. This is the first of his four appearances. He
was meant to be a continuing character, but Lane was replaced in
season two by banker Theodore J. Mooney (Gale Gordon). Lucy wanted
Gale Gordon to co-star in “The Lucy Show” from the beginning, but
he was under contract to play John Wilson on “Dennis the Menace.”
That show ended its run in July 1963, freeing him up to join the cast
of “The Lucy Show.” It is unclear whether Lane’s replacement
was a strategic move by Desilu to re-unite Lucy with Gordon (who had
also been on her radio show “My Favorite Husband”) or whether (as
was publicly stated) that Lane could not keep up with the rigors of
weekly television. He was only 57 and worked until he was 90, so
that seems unlikely.

Guest
Cast

Reta
Shaw (Woman
on Bench) started her career on the stage in such hits as Picnic
(1953) and The Pajama Game (1954), for which she also did the film
versions. She is best known for playing maids, such as in Disney’s
Mary Poppins (1964) and TV’s “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir”
(1968-1970). This is the first of her three appearances on “The
Lucy Show” and she will make three more on “Here’s Lucy.” Here, Shaw was undoubtedly cast for her size.

Katie
Sweet (Katie,
Granddaughter of Woman on Bench) was just five years old when she
filmed this episode, but had been acting since the age of two!

Earlier that year, Sweet played the title role in the Desilu pilot “Sukuzi Beane”, which co-starred Jimmy Garrett and helped him land his role of Jerry Carmichael.

Sweet left show business when she was 13.

Sandra
Gould (Miss
Thomas, Bank Secretary) is probably best remembered as the second
actor to play nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz on TV’s “Bewitched.”
On “I Love Lucy” she was seen as Nancy Johnson, the wife of a
Texas oil tycoon in “Oil Wells” (ILL S3;E18), and one of the
subway strap hangers in “Lucy and the Loving Cup” (ILL S6;E12).

Murvyn
Vye
(Paper Picker) was a successful stage actor who created the role of
Jigger Crain in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel,
after taking over the role of Judd Frye in Broadway’s Oklahoma!
He was set to play the role of the Kralahome, the King’s translator,
in The
King and I,
but left the show in previews when his only song was cut for time.
Vye introduced
the song “Golden Earrings” in the 1947 film of the same
name.

His birth name was really Marvin, although he was known
professionally as ‘Murvyn.’ To add even more confusion, the credits
for this episode spell his name ‘Mervyn.’

Tom
McDonough
(Bank Guard) was an extra who had appeared in the 1958 film Auntie
Mame (Lucille Ball did the film of the musical version in 1974). His last screen credit was a background gorilla on TV’s
“Planet of the Apes.”

Sonita the Elephant (Carnival Elephant) was born in 1950 and adopted by trainers Charlie and Madeline Frank when she was just five years old. With the Franks at her side, Sonita marched in parades, performed in circuses, and did personal appearances. Sonita retired to a San Diego animal preserve in 1971.

On
the evening of October 22, 1962, President
John
F. Kennedy
went on live television to announces
that U.S. spy planes had discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba.
This important address may have delayed or pre-empted this episode
of “The Lucy Show” in some time zones.

Adjusting for inflation, the $2,000 Lucy misplaces would is the equivalent of $17,100 in 2020!

We
learn that Danfield has a bakery called Friehoffer’s. Unfortunately, Lucy and Viv are on a 153 calorie diet!

Among
her junk mail and bills, Lucy gets a letter from banker
Barnsdahl:

My
Dear Mrs. Carmichael:

Our Miss Thomas has informed me that your
checking account is overdrawn by the sum of $2.15. As executor of
your late husband’s estate, it is my duty to keep a close personal
watch on your finances. Will you please come in and straighten this
out at your earliest convenience.

After
four episodes, it is finally established that Lucy Carmichael is a
widow.

This is the first time the Danfield Bank is seen, but the location (using a different set) would figure into many future episodes, even employing Mrs. Carmichael.

When
Lucy reimburses Mr. Barnsdahl the $2.15 in cash she calls it his
“pound of flesh,” a reference that originated in Shakespeare’s
The
Merchant of Venice. “A
pound of flesh” is a figurative way of referring to a harsh
demand or spiteful penalty. But in the play money-lender Shylock
demands a literal pound of flesh as security when the merchant
Antonio comes to borrow money for a friend.

Lucy
calls the elephant Jumbo, which was the name of the elephant
exhibited by P.T. Barnum in the late 1800s. It was also the name of
an elephant in the 1935 Broadway musical Jumbo, which was released as
a film just six weeks after this episode aired.

One
bill is found by Lucy underneath a fat lady on a bench.

One
bill is found by Harry in a paper picker’s trash bag.

One
bill is found by Viv underneath an elephant’s foot.

Lucy promises the elephant that she’ll vote Republican if it will move its foot, but in an insert shot the elephant shakes his head ‘no’. Lucy quips that they got the only Democratic elephant. She is referring to the fact that the symbol of the Republican Party is an elephant, which first appeared in 1874 as a political cartoon in “Harper’s Weekly” drawn by Thomas Nast. The Democrats have the donkey, which originated with Andrew Jackson’s 1828 campaign.

One
bill is found by Mr. Barnsdahl stuck to the shoe of a woman in the
tunnel of love.

Unfortunately, this funny visual is not shown, just
reported by a soaking wet Barnsdahl, who apparently was tossed
overboard fighting for the shoe.

Harry quickly shows Jerry how to pass a football, the second week in a row that the sport has been featured.

The audience reactions once again include loud guffaws from Lucy’s new husband, Gary Morton.

Callbacks & Fat Forwards!

The
last time Lucille and Vivian worked with a live elephant it was in
“The Kleptomaniac” (ILL S1;E27).

A rogue elephant would injure Mary Wickes in the final moments of “Lucy the Babysitter” (TLS S5;E16) in 1967.

The
last time Lucy was on a diet was in “The Diet” (ILL S1;E3). Lucy
repeats her gag of dabbing her wet finger tip around the plate to get
every last crumb.

Chocolates
also were a catalyst for the comedy in “Job Switching” (ILL S2;E1).

Blooper
Alerts!

Butter Fingers! At
the bank, Lucy is wearing gloves, so the $2,000 check slips from her
fingers, but she grabs it before it can hit the floor. Later, in the
carnival scene, Harry drops one of the $500 bills on the ground, but Dick Martin
doesn’t notice it. He suddenly has it in his hand again a moment
later, so the recovery must have been edited out.

Never Work With… An animal trainer (probably Charlie Frank, the owner / trainer) can be glimpsed hiding behind the
elephant’s front left leg. The elephant lifts his rear right leg (the
one with the bill under it) long before the end of the scene, so Lucy
and Vivian just ignore it and keep going.

Ball was nervous about working with such a large elephant. For a while, it looked like Ball would refuse to go through with a scripted stunt. Word eventually reached the writers that Ball had finally agreed to do the elephant gag. Why? Vivian told her, “If you don’t want to do it, I will!” That convinced her!

Current Currency! The
$500 bill was last printed in 1934 and officially discontinued in
1969, so it is unlikely, but not impossible for Lucy to go to a bank and get this
currency. However, no version of the $500 bill resembles the
back of the prop bills used in the episode. Lucy remarks that
President McKinley has a lovely smile, so the bills must be from the
final series minted from 1928 to 1934.

What’s In A Name? In the carnival scene, in her excitement, it sounds like Lucy accidentally calls her son Jimmy instead of Jerry. Three years later, when Jimmy Garret was written out of the series, Lucy Carmichael reads a letter from her son where he is referred to as Jimmy instead of Jerry! Ball insisted, despite entreaties from the writers, that the character was named Jimmy and she would not be change her mind!

Design Dilemma! The
wall over the buffet has a fourth look in four episodes. The
three small paintings have now been replaced by one large one.