S1;E13 ~ December 24, 1962
Executive Producer Desi Arnaz
Directed by Jack Donohue
Written by
Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Martin, Bob Weiskopf, and Bob Schiller.
Synopsis
The Carmichaels and Bagleys are spending their first Christmas together in Danfield and Lucy
and Viv do nothing but argue over their family’s special traditions.
In the end, however, the kids show Lucy and Viv the true meaning of
Christmas.
Regular
Cast
Lucille
Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Vivian Vance (Vivian Bagley), Jimmy Garrett
(Jerry Carmichael), Ralph
Hart (Sherman Bagley), Candy Moore (Chris Carmichael)
Dick
Martin (Harry Connors) does not
appear in this episode, although he is mentioned.
Guest
Cast
Tom
Lowell
(Alan Harper, right) makes his second of three appearances as Chris’s prep
school boyfriend.
We
learn that Alan Harper belongs to the country club. Although he sings
with the carolers, he does not speak in this episode.
Joe
Mell
(Ernie, the Butcher) makes the first of his five appearances as a
background player on “The Lucy Show.” He also appeared in a 1969
episode of “Here’s Lucy.” In 1964, he appeared in the TV special
“Mr. and Mrs.” (aka “The Lucille Ball Comedy Hour”), which
featured many of the Desilu regulars and was directed by Jack
Donohue, who directed “Together for Christmas.” In 1971, he was
a Taxi Driver on “Lucy and the Lecher,” a cross-over episode of
Danny Thomas’s “Make Room for Granddaddy” in which Lucille Ball
played Lucy Carter, her character from “Here’s Lucy.”
Bob
Stephenson (Johnny, the Parcel Post Delivery Man) makes the second of his two appearances on the
series, after playing the YMCA clerk (uncredited) in “Lucy Digs Up
a Date” (S1;E2).
The Mitchell Boys Choir (uncredited). Fourteen young boys from the troupe play the YMCA carolers. Unlike the real-life Mighty Mites
boys football team in “Lucy is a Referee” (S1;E3), they do not
get screen credit.
Robert Mitchell was an organist at St. Brendan Church in Los Angeles in 1934 where he organized a boys’ choir that he directed for 66 years. In 1936, the Mitchell Singing Boys, as they were also known, were cast in their first film, The Girl from Paris. Other films in which the choir appeared included Going My Way with Bing Crosby in 1944, The Bishop’s Wife with Cary Grant in 1947, and Blondie in Society in 1941. The Mitchell’s Boy Choir soon became America’s most popular Boys Choir and appeared in over 100 movies.
This is the first (but not the last) episode not to have Lucy’s name in the title. This episode was filmed before “Lucy and Her Electric Mattress” (S1;E12) and saved for broadcast on Christmas Eve. During the roll of the credits after the main title sequence, the theme music has jingle bells added to it. This is the second time this music was changed to fit the theme of the episode, an enhancement that was eventually dropped. The first was in “Lucy Is a Referee” (S1:E3) when it sounded like a marching band.
This
is the first Christmas the Carmichael and Bagley families have
celebrated at home together. We learn that Lucy usually takes her
kids to visit her mother in Jamestown and Viv usually takes her kids
to visit her uncle in Philadelphia. It is unclear if this is Uncle
Ned, who was mentioned in the previous episode “Lucy and Her
Electric Mattress” (S1;E12). Both Lucy and Viv will be taking the
train to their respective hometowns. It has already been established
that fictional Danfield is located on a rail line, not unlike New
Rochelle, a real-life New York town also mentioned in the previous
episode.
The
main conflict of the episode comes from marrying differing holiday
traditions:
When Lucy and Viv argue whether to buy a goose or a turkey for Christmas dinner, Ernie the butcher jokingly suggests stuffing the turkey with a goose! As silly as it seemed in 1962, the practice would become popular in the 1980s with the ‘turducken’ or ‘gooducken’ – a three-bird roast consisting of a a turkey or goose stuffed with a de-boned duck and chicken.
About
Viv’s propensity for mistletoe, Lucy remarks that the only way a man
could get into their house un-kissed would be through the coal chute.
Coal delivery, a common home heating method before the popularity of oil heat, played an integral part of the final moments of “Lucy
Builds a Rumpus Room” (S1;E11).
In
addition to buying gifts for the family and Harry next door, Jerry
also plans to buy for Tommy and Amy Shaffer – all with $1.10. This
is the first mention of Tommy and Amy.
Talking on the phone to Tommy, Jerry says,
“I’ll bet we’re the only people in the world two have two Christmas trees. One is green and one is – you’ll pardon the expression – white.”
This is a momentary acknowledgment of the headlines of the year. In 1962, President Kennedy dispatched troops to force the University of Mississippi (a state institution) to admit James Meredith, a black student. At the same time, he forbade racial or religious discrimination in federally financed housing.
Chris asks her mother whether it would be appropriate to buy Alan Harper a bottle of after shave, but Lucy is suspicious when her daughter confirms that he does indeed have whiskers! Although Alan stands next to Chris in the episode’s final moments, he doesn’t have any dialogue.
Sherman
talks about Mr. Everett at the Y. The YMCA was prominently featured
in “Lucy Digs Up a Date” (S1;E2) and mentioned in a couple of
other episodes. Jerry says he sang “White Christmas” for Mr.
Everett and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house! The sentimental
holiday song was written by Irving Berlin in 1942. The version sung
by Bing Crosby is said to be the best selling single of all time.
Jerry says he doesn’t know “Good King Wenceslas,” a popular carol
that dates back to 1852.
When their difference prove nearly irreconcilable, Lucy and Viv decide to give up on staying home for Christmas, and revert to traveling to see their families. Lucy says she left a note for the milkman. Until the end of the 1960s or so, most suburban homes had milk delivery, which involved leaving milk bottles on the porch (sometimes in a milk box). If a customer did not wish to have milk (or other dairy products) delivered that day – or for a period of days – it was standard procedure to ‘leave a note for the milkman’.
In
the final scene, the carolers (including Chris, Sherman, Jerry, and Alan) enter singing “Deck the Halls” and
then switch to “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” Lucy (or Lucille) brushes away a tear.
VIV: Merry Christmas, Lucy.
LUCY: Merry Christmas, Viv.
Callbacks!
Desilu
started doing a Christmas tag at the end of “I Love Lucy” in
1951. In 1956 they fleshed out the tag to a full episode featuring
clips. It did not enter syndication and wasn’t seen again until 1989
when the wrap-around segments (but not the clips) were colorized.
The fully colorized episode was seen in 1990 and has become a holiday
staple for CBS, airing along with a newly colorized “I Love
Lucy” episode.
Although this Christmas Eve “Lucy Show” would
remain in black and white, the series did air another holiday episode
in 1965 when the series was in color. Like this episode, the ending also featured an established singing group, the St. Charles Boys Choir, although they were credited. Like this episode, it also mentions Charles Dickens’ perennial favorite “A Christmas Carol.”
Like
Lucille Ball and Lucy Ricardo, we learn that Lucy Carmichael is from
Jamestown, New York, and has a living mother. While Vivian Vance and
Ethel Mertz were both raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Viv Bagley
hales from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is likely to assure that
she could convincingly travel home for Christmas within a reasonable
time.
Lucy
and Viv sing “Jingle Bells” while decorating their trees.
Although the song was sung in the “I Love Lucy” Christmas tag, in
“Lucy Goes to Sun Valley,” a 1958 episode of “The Lucy-Desi
Comedy Hour,” Lucy
says that Ricky proposed to her at Christmastime, so their ‘song’
is “Jingle Bells,” or – as Ricky pronounces it – “Yingle
Bells.”
The
literal “trimming” of the branches of the Christmas trees was
also done by Fred Mertz in “The ‘I Love Lucy’ Christmas Show.”
When
Lucy and Viv angrily take turns ripping the decorations off each
others trees, it is reminiscent of when Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz
ripped pieces off each others dresses while singing “Friendship”
in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3).
Blooper
Alerts!
Who? Johnny
the Parcel Post delivery man mistakenly calls Viv "Mrs. Bradley”
instead of “Mrs. Bagley”. Then Lucy
calls him Bob, the actor’s real name.
This dialogue overlaps Viv calling him Johnny, so the mistake is
partially obscured.
Murmurs! When
Lucy goes to the pantry to get the axe, a studio audience member can
be heard to say “She’s gonna chop
it down!”
Artificial! When
Lucy and Viv are tying the two butchered trees together, you can tell
that the trees are artificial. Viv must insert the severed top
portion of her white tree into the ‘trunk.’
The two trees fastened together symbolizes that the two families have become one!
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
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