Lucy and Viv Put in a Shower

S1;E18 ~ January 28, 1963

Synopsis

Lucy
decides that her home needs another shower and asks Harry to help her
install it. Harry and Eddie get out of helping by paying a local
plumber to do the job under the guise of being an old friend. After
Lucy drives him away with her meddling, she and Viv finish the job
themselves, nearly drowning as a result!

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, although the character is mentioned and is the catalyst for Lucy wanting to install a second shower.

Guest
Cast

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

Eddie’s pet name for Viv is “Tootsie”.

Stafford
Repp
(Joe Melvin, a plumber from Ridgebury) made a career of playing
policemen even before he became famous as Chief O’Hara on TV’s
“Batman” (1966-68). He played two different officers of the
law on “Dennis the Menace” in 1962 and 1963, alongside “The
Lucy Show’s" Mr. Mooney, Gale Gordon. Coincidentally, “Dennis the
Menace” had their own Mr. Mooney, who was a police officer! Repp
returned to “The Lucy Show” for “Lucy Is a Process Server”
(S2;E27) and did 1970 episode of “Here’s Lucy” as (what else?) a
police detective!

This episode was filmed on December 13, 1962. It is sometimes referred to as “Lucy the Plumber”.

This
is one of two Season 1 episodes (as well as 30 others) that
somehow fell out of copyright and into public domain, which accounts
for its appearance in low-cost / low quality DVDs.

The original broadcast was sponsored by Jell-O, and featured the product in the opening and closing credits.

There was even a special commercial featuring

Vivian Vance, Jimmy Garrett, and Ralph Hart in character extolling the ease and versatility of Jell-O. During season one all actors except Lucille Ball participated in such ‘in-character’ commercials. In her medium shots, Vivian Vance’s eyes are clearly reading from the teleprompter just over Ralph Hart’s head.

The
day this episode aired, January 28, 1963, film director John Farrow (inset photo) died. Farrow directed Lucille Ball in the 1939 movie Five
Came Back.
The film was made at RKO Studios. In January 1963, RKO was known as
Desilu Studios and Lucille Ball was its president. Farrow was
married to another redhead, Maureen O’Sullivan, and left behind seven
children, including daughter Mia Farrow.

Harry’s
favorite dish is Eggs Benedict.

When
Chris hogs the bathroom, Jerry and Sherman are washing their hands in
the kitchen sink before going to the Y to play basketball. Jerry
says that at the Y, “They
frown on filth!” The
Y has been mentioned in several episodes so far, and in “Lucy Digs
Up a Date” (S1;E2) we see inside Danfield’s new YMCA.

Reinforcing the YMCA theme, the boys have a pennant for Indian Guides.

The youth nature program

started in 1926, although the name later morphed into Y Indian Guides, then simply Y Guides.

Lucy
prices putting in the new shower with Paisley the Plumber. His
prices are so high that Lucy says they are in danger of needing
“socialized
plumbing.”

“The
only way to get clean is to be filthy rich.”

These jokes are clearly about the high cost of health care in
America, which was a topical issue, even in the early 1960s. In 1962, President Kennedy appeared at a rally at Madison Square
Garden to promote the King-Anderson Bill, an early form of Medicare.
In February 1963, just a week after this episode aired, author Ayn Rand gave
a talk in Ocean, New Jersey, against socialized medicine.

When
the water in the shower begins rising to shoulder level, Lucy says “Where’s Lloyd Bridges when you need him?” Lloyd
Bridges was
the star of “Sea Hunt” (1958-1961), a TV series about a scuba
diver which featured extensive underwater filming. He was also mentioned in the same context in “Lucy Buys a Boat” (S1;E30). Bridges played a
doctor on the season five opener of “Here’s Lucy” in 1972.

To allow for another camera angle, the wall inside the shower stall opposite the taps was made of glass. It is not visible when the camera shoots from the front. While it is supposed to be invisible (the ‘fourth wall”) it collects water drops and Lucy puts her hands on it for support.

At
one point Lucy doubts Joe is really a plumber and says “You
could fool the panel on ‘What’s
My Line’.” “What’s My Line”

was the name of a popular CBS quiz show which had three
blindfolded celebrity panelists trying to guess the profession of a
mystery guest by asking yes or no questions. It ran from 1950 to
1967 so it aired during both “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show.”
Lucille Ball was a celebrity guest six times between 1954 and 1965,
one of which was broadcast just a few months after this episode.
Desi Arnaz appeared on “What’s My Line” three times, one of which
was alongside Lucy.

In
this episode, both the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore are used
as punchlines. Lucy voiced Lady Liberty in “Swing Out Sweet Land,” a 1971 TV special celebrating American history.

When the water causes the plaster to fall from the ceiling, the production uses an insert shot of the water-stained kitchen ceiling. Of course, the show’s sets had no ceilings to accommodate lighting, so this shot had to be recreated and inserted into the film.

VIV:
“Lucy,
I wanna tell you something. This is absolutely the last time I slip
into my coveralls to be an apprentice on one of your dreadful little
projects.”
LUCY:
“Aw, no. These are things we’re gonna look back on and laugh at
one day when we’re old and gray.”
VIV:
“And from the way things are going that may be next week.”

This sentimental dialogue at the end of the episode pretty much sums up Lucille Ball
and Vivian Vance’s comic partnership. Of course, this is far from
the last time she slips on those coveralls to help Lucy get out of a
predicament. The pair did indeed stay friends off screen until they
were old and gray.

Between takes, the crew kept the set laughing with this funny sign.

Shower Scenes!

She’s not exactly Marion Crane from Psycho (1960), but Lucy’s shows had their fair share of shower scenes.

In the “I
Love Lucy” pilot Lucy and Ricky Ricardo are standing in their
bathroom in front of a shower curtain.

Ricky RIcardo loved to sing in the shower – which actually moved locations! In “Bonus Bucks” (1954) it was a shower stall and In “Little Ricky Learns to
Play the Drums” (1957) it is a tub shower! (BTW, both bathrooms are in their second, larger apartment.)

In “Lucy Goes to Sun
Valley” (1958), everyone seems to interrupt guest star Fernando
Lamas when he is trying to take a shower. She also interrupted the shower of Cornel Wilde in “The Star Upstairs” (1955).

At the end of “Lucy is a
Referee” (S1;E3), Lucy Carmichael beds down in the tub and
mistakenly turns on the shower.

Viv took an unscheduled ‘safety’ shower in the chemistry lab when “Lucy and Viv Take Up Chemistry” (S1;E23).

Lucy Carter barged in on Harry’s shower in “Lucy Stops a Marriage” (HL S3;E16) in 1970.

Lucy Carter has a realization in the shower, when she visited Danny Williams on “Make Room For Granddaddy” (S1;E16) in 1971.

Blooper
Alerts!

Floor Plan Fiasco! This
is the second time we have visited Jerry and Sherman’s bedroom, the
first being “Lucy and Her Electric Mattress” (S1;E12). A
quick pan to the left side of the room reveals that there is a
dresser where the boys’ bunk beds were located. In that episode the
Indian Guides pennant was just to the right of the door. It is now
just to the right of the shower, which was formerly a closet.

Talk Show Stories! Lucille
Ball later stated that she nearly drowned during the filming of this
episode, when she went to the bottom and found herself unable turn
herself upright. Vivian
Vance realized
she was in trouble, and pulled Lucy up by her hair. Vance ad-libbed
until Lucy could catch her breath and resume her lines. The
near-disastrous moment was edited for broadcast so that we see Lucy
go down, Viv react to her distress, and then Lucy surface again. It
is clear there was an edit in the film due to water levels in the
tank between the takes. This scene was probably rehearsed without
water and then done in one take. Later in her career, Lucille
Ball also stated that she nearly drowned while doing the grape
stomping in “Lucy’s Italian Movie” (ILL S5;E23).

Shoddy Construction! Grasping
at the top of the shower door, Lucy accidentally knocks loose the
chrome trim.

Fast Forward!

At the end of the episode, Lucy convinces Viv to help her plaster the ceiling after the shower damage. Eleven months later, Lucy and Viv are once again plastering the kitchen ceiling after Sherman accidentally leaves the bathtub water running in “A Loophole in the Lease” (S2;E12).

Lucy Carmichael again did her own plumbing in “Lucy and the Plumber” (S3;E2) starring Jack Benny and Bob Hope as plumbers!

A scene from this episode was included in “Lucy and Viv Reminisce” (S6;E16), the series’ only clips episode.

On “Here’s Lucy,” Richard Burton disguised himself as Sam the Plumber in “Lucy Meets the Burtons” (HL S3;E1). Burton recited Shakespeare while fixing her bathroom sink but an unimpressed Lucy Carter refused to pay extra for it!

The episode was playing in the background during the short horror film Room To Breathe (2006). The show’s opening credit sequence was also included. It likely was chosen as it is in public domain and no royalty fee or permission were needed for its use.

In 2017 “Will & Grace” repeated the shower stall stunt in “Who’s
Your Daddy?” (S9;E2) with Debra Messing (Grace) and Megan Mullalley (Karen) trying to keep their heads above water. In Spring 2020, the pair transformed into Lucy and Ethel for one of the final episodes of their sitcom’s reboot. Lucie Arnaz was also in the cast.

It seems that several real-life plumbers on Tumblr are Lucy fans! Or plumbing fans! Or both!