Lucy is a Kangaroo for a Day

S1;E7
~ November 12, 1962

Synopsis

Lucy
takes a secretarial temp job in order to afford a bicycle for Jerry’s
birthday. Lost in a modern office, she has disastrous contact with
the electric pencil sharpener, the water cooler, and the electric
typewriter. Her exasperated employer sends on out on an errand when
her knit dress gets caught in an elevator and unravels. Not wanting
to deliver the contracts in her unmentionables, Lucy borrows a kangaroo
costume to finish the job.

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Vivian Vance (Vivian Bagley), Jimmy Garrett
(Jerry Carmichael)

Ralph
Hart (Sherman Bagley), Candy Moore (Chris Carmichael), and Dick
Martin (Harry Connors) do not
appear in this episode.

Guest
Cast

Charles
Lane (Mr. Barnsdahl) makes the third
of his four appearances on the series as Lucy’s banker.

Sid
Gould
(Maitre D’) makes the first of his 46 appearances on “The Lucy
Show,” all as background characters. He also did 40 episodes of
“Here’s Lucy.” Gould (born Sydney
Greenfader) was Lucille Ball’s cousin by marriage to Gary Morton.
Gould was married to Vanda Barra, who also appeared on “The Lucy
Show” starting in 1967, as well as on “Here’s Lucy.”

Majel
Barrett (Miss Massey) was part of
the Desilu family long before she became known as ‘The First Lady of
Star Trek.’ She was seen in “The Desilu Revue,” a 1959 variety
show presentation of “The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse.” Four years later she was cast as Nurse Chapel on Desilu’s new space
adventure series, “Star Trek.” During this time she had a
relationship with the show’s creator Gene Roddenberry, marrying him in
1969, the same year the series was canceled. She was part of most all
iterations of “Star Trek” until her death in 2008.

John McGiver (Mr. Irwin) is a recognizable character actor who appeared in such hit films as Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), and Midnight Cowboy (1969). He did one more episode of “The Lucy Show” playing a Judge in “Lucy Is Her Own Lawyer” (S2;E23) before appearing opposite Lucille Ball as Mr. Babcock in the movie musical Mame (1974).

Norman
Leavitt (Clerk) appeared with
Lucille Ball in the 1950 film A Woman
of Distinction as well as The
Long, Long Trailer (1953). The
character actor also appeared on three episodes of “The Lucy-Desi
Comedy Hour.” He appeared in one more episode of “The Lucy Show”
in 1965.

William
Meader (Waiter) had appeared as an
airport extra in “The Ricardos Go to Japan,” a 1959 episode of
“The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” He made 15 more appearances on “The
Lucy Show,” mostly as a clerk in Mr. Mooney’s bank.

The Cavalier
Restaurant patrons are played by:

Paul
Cristo appeared in the audience of
The Most Happy Fella
during “Lucy’s Night in Town” (ILL S6;E22). He did two episodes
of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” and appeared in one more episode
of “The Lucy Show,” “Chris’s New Year’s Eve Party” (S1;E14).
Coming full circle, he was in the theatre audience of Lucy’s 1963
film with Bob Hope, Critic’s Choice.

Herschel
Graham was reported to be the
highest earning male extra of 1937! Ten years later he appeared in
the film Lured
with Lucille Ball. He played a passenger on the S.S. Constitution
in “Bon Voyage” (ILL S5:E13) and as a bullfight spectator when
“Lucy Goes to Mexico,” a 1958 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy
Hour.” He was an extra in Lucy’s 1960 film The
Facts of Life and did one more
episode of “The Lucy Show,” “No More Double Dates” (S1;E21).

Sam
Harris was born in Australia in
1877 and did a dozen films with Lucille Ball before appearing in the
audience of Over the Teacups
in “Ethel’s Birthday” (ILL S4;E8) and playing a subway passenger
in “Lucy and the Loving Cup” (ILL S6;E12). In between he was a
wedding guest in Lucy and Desi’s film Forever
Darling (1956). With William
Meader and Monty O’Grady he was in the airport when “The Ricardos
Go to Japan” in 1959. He went on to do five more episodes of “The
Lucy Show,” the last being “My Fair Lucy” (S3;E20), a parody of My Fair Lady,
a film he had also been in as an extra!

Ed
Haskett had appeared with Lucille
Ball in The Fuller Brush Girl
(1950). Like Paul Cristo, he would
also appear in “Chris’s New Year’s Eve Party” (S1;E14).

Caryl
Lincoln was one of the Goldwyn
Girls with Lucille Ball (and Barbara Pepper) in the 1934 Eddie
Cantor film Kid Millions.
She was an extra in five more episodes of “The Lucy Show,” most
of those with her husband, extra Bert Stevens.

Monty
O’Grady was first seen with Lucille
Ball in The Long, Long Trailer
(1953), and played a passenger on
the S.S. Constitution in “Second Honeymoon” (ILL S5;E14). With
William Meader and Sam Harris he was at the airport when “The
Ricardos Go to Japan” (1959). With Paul Cristo, Ed Haskett, and
Hazel Pierce, he was next seen in “Chris’s New Year’s Eve Party”
(S1;E14). He made a dozen more appearances on the series and a half
dozen on “Here’s Lucy.”

Hazel
Pierce was
Lucille Ball’s camera and lighting stand-in throughout “I Love
Lucy.” She also made frequent appearances on the show, although
only once did she speak, when she won the television auctioned off
by Ladies Overseas Aid in “Ricky’s European Booking” (ILL
S5;E10) and she shouted “I won!”. This is the first of her 21
un-credited on-camera appearances on “The Lucy Show.” In the
opening of season two, “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” (S2;E1), she
received screen credit as Mary Lou. She was also an un-credited
extra in the film Forever
Darling
(1956). Pierce died in 1984 at the age of 90.

Lucy says the new bicycle will cost $75.00. Adjusting for inflation, this would be equivalent to $650 today.

The
entire bit where Lucy’s knitted suit unravels was taken from the
script outline for “Lucy Goes to Broadway,” an
un-produced teleplay from 1961.

Lucy
mentions the Rockefellers, an
American industrial,
political,
and banking
family
that
made one of the world’s
largest fortunes
in
the oil
business
during
the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The
name Rockefeller is synonymous with money.

The
New York law office Lucy works in is recycled for
Mr. Mooney’s bank later in the series. Here the office is decorated with Hans Holbein etchings.

Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) was a German and Swiss artist and print maker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is considered one of the greatest portrait artists of the 16th century.

A startling intercom was also the source of comedy in the previous
episode, “Lucy Becomes an Astronaut” (S1;E6).

When
Mr. Barnsdahl is reading from the late Mr. Carmichael’s last will and testament he says “It’s
all here in glorious black and white.” During the transition from black and white to color films in Hollywood, movies were often billed as being in “glorious
technicolor.” Much of television was still in black and white in
1962, although color broadcasts were not uncommon. Unfortunately,
most of America still had black and white TV sets. “The Lucy Show”
would be filmed and broadcast in “glorious” color starting in
season two but not aired in color until season 4.

Lucy
breaks off the water cooler spigot and cannot control the flow of
water. Throughout the series Lucy seems to be comically incapable of
controlling open faucets, hoses, and devices that spout fluids. It
already briefly happened with the bathtub shower in “Lucy is a
Referee” (S1;E3).

Mrs. Carmichael is to meet Mr. Irwin and his client Mr. Madison at the Cavalier
Restaurant on New York City’s Park Avenue. The posh location was no
doubt chosen to contrast with Lucy’s silly kangaroo costume. In “Lucy Wants a Career,” a 1959 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour,” Lucy Ricardo also took a job in New York City, commuting from Westport.

Instead
of ending on a comic note, the episode ends sentimentally with mothers Lucy
and Viv pleased they’ve made Jerry happy on his birthday.

Lucy’s kangaroo suit later turned up in an episode of the Desi Arnaz series “The Mothers-in-Law” (1967-69). The calf area had to be widened for Jerry Fogel. In the above photo there is a slight difference in the color of the fabric in the inner leg.

Callbacks!

At
the start of the episode Lucy is rooting through the sofa cushions to
find extra money, something Lucy Ricardo did when she wanted to go to
Europe in 1955′s “Ricky’s European Booking” (ILL S5;E10). Back then she found $9.73
in between the sofa cushions, $29.95 in the sugar bowl, and $28.16 in
Little Ricky’s piggy bank.

Lucy also fiound $15.36 from GTHP –
Going Through Husband’s Pants. Here
Lucy Carmichael rhetorically asks “Whatever
happened to money falling out of men’s pants.”
Viv knowingly adds “Whatever
happened to men?” [That remark might also be seen as an observation of the series itself!] Lucy even says she raided Chris’s piggy bank – which only leaves
the sugar bowls unexplored.

Mr.
Barnsdahl reads from Lucy’s late husband’s will (section 6, paragraph
3), which says that he should not jeopardize Lucy’s financial security
by giving her small loans even though she will: “One – wheedle.
Two – lose her temper. And three – cry.”

From
“Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3):

Ethel:
“What
are you going to do, wheedle him?”

Lucy:
“No,
I’ve done that so much my wheedle is all worn out. And I’m not going
to be lovey dovey or cry or pout either.”

And
from “Lucy’s Club Dance” (ILL S3;E25):

Fred:
“Now,
listen, kids. I’ve known both of you for 13 years and I’ve seen and
listened to a lot of discussions. Now you’re going to harangue about
this, aren’t you, Lucy?”

Lucy:
“Yes,
I am.”

Fred:
“And
you’re going to nag him.”

Lucy:
“Well,
yes.”

Fred:
“And
if that don’t work, you’re going to wheedle.”

Lucy:
“Probably.”

Fred:
“You
might even cry. If all else fails. And eventually, Ricky, you’re
going to give in. Now why don’t you save the wear and tear on your
nerves, to say nothing of my nerves. Why don’t you do what she
wants?”

Lucy
getting a job hearkens back to “The Amateur Hour” (ILL S1;E14) and
“Job Switching” (ILL S2;E1). In both episodes one of the first
occupation on a list of positions available is stenographer. Here Lucy Carmichael dismisses
shorthand as just “squiggly squiggly.”

Lucy
says he was tops in her class when she went to secretarial school 15
years earlier but later admits that there were only two in the class.
In “Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana,” the first episode of “The
Lucy Desi Comedy Hour,” Lucy Ricardo tells Hedda Hopper that
before marrying Ricky, she was a secretary in New York in the same
office as her friend Susie MacNamara (Ann Sothern, above).
Sothern had just finished playing the same character on a CBS sitcom
titled “Private Secretary.”
The cruise takes place in 1940, whereas Lucy Carmichael says she was
in secretarial school 15 years earlier, which would be around 1947.

Lucy Carmichael made her own knit dress to wear on her first day at work.
Lucy Ricardo made her own dress in “Lucy Wants New Furniture”
(ILL S2;E28). Both dresses didn’t work out too well for Lucy.

Mr.
Irwin repeatedly tries to dictate a letter to “Whitfield, Hammond
and Warwick.” Hammond was also the name of the New York City real
estate agent in “The Sublease” (ILL S3;E31).

When
the bowl of onion soup falls in Lucy’s kangaroo pouch, her comic
discomfort is similar to when “Lucy Does the Tango” (ILL S6;E20)
with pockets full of raw eggs.

When
Lucy rapidly drinks Dixie cup after Dixie cup of water to try to keep up with the
broken cooler spigot, it is comically similar to Lucy Ricardo eating
chocolate after chocolate to keep up with the speeding assembly line
in “Job Switching” (ILL S2;E1).

Bicycles
were an integral part of the plot in “Lucy’s Bicycle Trip” (ILL
S5;24). In that episode, Schwinn provided all the bicycles in return for screen credit. A bicycle was also involved when Lucy lost her
dress on the dock before sailing on the S.S. Constitution in “Bon
Voyage” (ILL S5;E13).