Chris’s New Year’s Eve Party

S1;E14 ~ December 31, 1962

Synopsis

Chris
doesn’t want her mother to chaperon her New Year’s Eve party, so
Lucy, Viv and the boys go out for the night and leave the chaperoning
to Harry. When Harry calls Lucy at the restaurant in a panic, Lucy
rushes to save the party with a silent movie sketch.

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)

Although
Dick Martin appears as the waiter in the silent movie sketch, he has
no spoken lines in this episode.

Guest
Cast

Donald
Briggs
(Eddie Collins) makes the third of his seven appearances as Viv’s
on-again off-again boyfriend.

Tom
Lowell (Alan
Harper) makes his final appearance on the series as Chris’s prep-school boyfriend.

James
Gonzales
(Waiter) makes his second of 23 appearance on the series, having
already played Stan Williams in “Lucy Digs Up a Date” (S1;E2).
He will also make two appearances on “Here’s Lucy.”

The
New Year’s Eve diners at the Elm Tree Inn are played by:

Paul
Bradley makes
the first of his six appearances on “The Lucy Show” in various
roles. He will also be seen in two episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”
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 had
already appeared in “Lucy is a Kangaroo for a Day” (S1;E7).
Coming full circle, he was in the theatre audience of Lucy’s 1963
film with Bob Hope, Critic’s
Choice.
Bess
Flowers
was dubbed ‘Queen of the Extras’ in Hollywood and is credited
with more than 700 film and TV appearances from 1923 to 1964. She
was seen in
the audience of Over
the Teacups
in
“Ethel’s Birthday” (ILL S4;E8)
and The
Most Happy Fella during
“Lucy’s
Night in Town” (ILL S6;E22).
This is the first of her five uncredited appearances on “The Lucy
Show.” Not surprisingly, Flowers was a founding member of SEG,
the Screen Extras Guild (now part of SAG) in 1945. Coincidentally,
she did three films with Charlie Chaplin, who Lucy impersonates in
this episode.

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 second 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 uncredited extra in the film Forever Darling (1956). Pierce died in 1984 at the age of 90.
Ed
Haskett had appeared with Lucille Ball in The Fuller Brush
Girl (1950). Like Paul Cristo, he was also in “Lucy is a
Kangaroo for a Day” (S1;E7).
Shep
Houghton
began
working as an extra while still a teenager, taking background jobs
on weekends and attending high school during the week.
Between 1934 and 1947 he made three films with Lucille Ball,
including Too Many Girls, the movie that brought together
Lucy and Desi Arnaz. This is his only appearance on “The Lucy
Show” although he also does one episode of “Here’s Lucy” in
1971. Houghton was one of the Winkie Guards in 1939’s The Wizard
of Oz and a Southern Dandy in Gone With the Wind.
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).
He was at the airport when “The
Ricardos Go to Japan” (1959).
With Paul Cristo, Ed Haskett, and Hazel Pierce, he was he was a
restaurant patron in “Lucy is a Kangaroo for a Day” (S1;E7). He
made a dozen more appearances on the series and a half dozen on
“Here’s Lucy.”
Jean
Vachon makes
the first of her six appearances on “The Lucy Show,” all but one
uncredited.

Eight uncredited young men and women play the party guests at Chris’s New Year’s Eve party.

This is the second of three times a “Lucy” sitcom aired a new episode on New Year’s Eve, but the only time the episode has a New Year’s theme. The first was “The Adagio” (ILL S1;E12) in 1951.

On New Year’s Eve 1973, “Here’s Lucy” first aired “Lucy Plays Cops and Robbers” (HL S6;E14). Not a New Year’s Eve themed show, but the final season of the series.

On New Year’s Day 1968, “The Lucy Show” first aired “Lucy and Viv Reminisce” (S6;E16). This was primarily a clips show with new wrap-around material. This was a holiday treat for those fans of the show – and of Ball and Vance.

On New Year’s Day 1973, “Here’s Lucy” first aired “Lucy Is Really In A Pickle” (HL S5;E15). This whimsical episode has no holiday theme – but it is fun.

“Chris’s New Year’s Eve Party” aired opposite “Saints and Sinners” on NBC. On this night, Charles Lane appeared on the series. His role of Lucy’s banker Mr. Barnsdahl had been written off “The Lucy Show” earlier in the month.

Lucille Ball spent much of 1962 making Critic’s Choice with Bob Hope before the start of “The Lucy Show” during the summer of 1962.

This newspaper article (dated 12/31/62), does a brief feature on Lucy with the listing for this episode adjacent to it. The article is incorrect in listing Critic’s Choice as Ball and Hope’s “second joint effort.” It was actually their fourth. Despite the suggestion that they might collaborate on a film adaptation of The Great Sebastians, this never came to pass. Lunt and Fontanne had already done a 1957 TV version of their 1955 stage hit.

At the beginning of the episode, Lucy suggests that she and Viv go to Times Square or to a movie in the Village with a banana split afterwards. An unenthusiastic Viv shoots down both these suggestions.

Knowing that mentioning an actual year might ‘age’ the episode in syndication, no one mentions 1962 or 1963 during the New Year’s Eve celebrations. It is also absent from party favors and banners.

A boy named Peter Newguard is mentioned. He is a apparently a friend of Jerry and Sherman.

Lucy and Viv take their boys to the Elm Tree Inn which advertises $5.00 for dinner, a floor show, dancing, paper hats, and noise makers. Despite this terrific deal, Lucy, Viv and the boys are able to get a table with just a few hours notice. Waiting for midnight, the boys fall asleep!

Jerry doesn’t know how to fox trot, but he knows the Twist and the Watusi. “The Wah-Watusi” was released by the Orlons in 1962. It reached #2 on the Billboard charts.

Back at home, the grown-ups rescue Chris’s dull party with a silent movie sketch.

Lucy claims that their silent movie sketch got more applause than Flora’s Peabody’s homemade divinity fudge at last year’s PTA carnival! This
was the first time Lucille Ball did her Charlie Chaplin imitation on
television. A still of Lucy as Chaplin is included in the photo
montage on the season 1 DVD release.

The silent movie sketch is performed in the Carmichael living room and is
underscored with ragtime piano music by Scott Joplin.

When
Chris is unsure her friends will know who Charlie Chaplin is, Lucy
describes him as a stone-age Soupy
Sales.
Sales (born Milton Supman) was
a comedian best known for his children’s
television
show,
“Lunch with Soupy Sales” (1953-66), a series of comedy sketches
frequently ending with Sales getting a pie in the face, which
became his trademark.

Viv
calls Lucy Captain Kangaroo because she wants to turn Chris’s New
Year’s Eve gathering into a kids party. “Captain
Kangaroo”
was
a children’s
television series
that
aired weekday mornings on CBS from
October 1955 to December 1984. The Captain (Bob Keeshan) would tell
stories, meet guests, and indulge in silly stunts with regular
characters, both humans and puppets. Lucy mentions getting a new net
for the ping-pong table and ping-pong balls were often used as part
of the humor in “Captain Kangaroo.” Lucy dressed in a kangaroo
costume in “Lucy Is a Kangaroo for a Day” (S1;E7).

Lucy and Viv canceled New Year’s dates
with Eddie and Harry to be at Chris’s party. They all later turn up at
the party anyway!

LIFE Magazine featured a photo of Lucy as Chaplin in the issue of November 30, 1962, a month before the episode aired. This photo was later part of a a special issue of LIFE called “Classic Faces” (above).

FAST FORWARD!

Lucy repeated her Chaplin impersonation four years later in “Lucy Meets Mickey Rooney” (S4;E18).

In December 1967, Lucy broke into a bit of her Chaplin to entertain passengers when training to be a flight attendant in “Lucy and Carol Burnett: Part 1″ (S6;E14).

In 1974, a still photo from this episode turns up in the dressing room of Miss Lucille Ball in “Lucy Carter Meets Lucille Ball” (HL S6;E22).

CALLBACKS!

Lucy
says she and Viv previously did their silent movie sketch at the PTA
carnival. When Lucy Ricardo moved to Westport, she was often part of
PTA shows. “Lucy Does the Tango” (ILL S6;20) and “The
Celebrity Next Door” (1957) both mention the PTA.

Lucy
dancing the fox trot with her young son is reminiscent of when Lucy
Ricardo danced with young Kenneth Hamilton while Ricky was working
during their “Second Honeymoon” (ILL S5;E14) on the S.S.
Constitution.

Blooper
Alerts!

Snagged! Lucy’s
shirt tail momentarily gets snagged on one of the party hats when she
gets up to go to the sideboard.

Gravity! During
the silent movie sketch the napkin draped over Harry (the waiter’s)
arm falls to the floor. He then has trouble keeping it on his arm.

Papermoon Loves Lucy