Lucy Visits the White House

S1;E25 ~ March 25, 1963

Synopsis

Lucy
and Viv’s son’s Cub Scout pack makes a replica of the White House
out of sugar cubes. The President is so impressed that he invites all
of them to the White House to present it to him. Calamity ensues when the
replica get destroyed on the train trip.

Regular
Cast

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

Candy
Moore (Chris Carmichael) does not appear in this episode

Guest
Cast

Elliott
Reid
(Ross Dowd, Annabel’s owner) had played Edward Warren, a parody of
Edward R. Murrow, in “The Ricardos Are Interviewed” (ILL S5;E7).
This is his first of two appearances on “The Lucy Show.” He also
made two appearances on “Here’s Lucy.” 

The character name is also the name the set decorator for “The Lucy Show” and “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” He is never referred to by name but it is written on the tack box underneath his horse.  The below TV Guide Close-Up also lists Reid as “The Voice” which probably means he providing the off-screen voice of President Kennedy, using Kennedy’s distinct New England accent.

Frank
Nelson
(Train Conductor) revives his memorable character of the frazzled
train conductor in “The Great Train Robbery” (ILL S5;E5). He has
the distinction of being the only actor to play two continuing
characters on “I Love Lucy”: Freddie Fillmore and Ralph Ramsey.
He also played five other characters on the show. 

This episode marks
his final appearance with Lucille Ball.  

Alan
Reed
(Charlie, Cafe Owner) is probably best remembered as the voice of
Fred Flintstone. He started his acting career in 1937. In 1967, he made an appearance on the Desi Arnaz series “The Mothers-in-Law”. He died in 1977 at the age of 69. 

Desi
Arnaz Jr. (Billy
Simmons) is the real-life son of Lucille Ball. His 1953 birth was
worked into the plot of “I Love Lucy” although Desi Jr. never
played the role of Little Ricky Ricardo. He did, however, briefly appear on
the final half-hour episode of the series “The
Ricardos Dedicate a Statue” (ILL S6;E27)
in
a crowd scene. His first series appearance was as one of the pee-wee
football players in “Lucy
is a Referee (S1;E3) and as a customer in the ice cream parlor in
“Lucy is a Soda Jerk” (S1;E23).
Here he plays Billy Simmons (Audrey’s son) for the first of four episodes. Desi Jr.
also appeared with his mother and sister on “Here’s Lucy.” 

Pat
Colby
(Bill, Annabel’s Groom, right) makes his first and only appearance on “The
Lucy Show.” A month earlier, he had appeared on an episode of “The
Andy Griffith Show” filmed on the Desilu backlot. 

The character is
never referred to by name.  

Annabel, Ross Dowd’s Horse (uncredited)

Duncan
McLeod
(President’s Aide) was born in Scotland in 1918. This is his only appearance on
“The Lucy Show.” His first screen credit came at age 38.
McLeod’s wife later married Lee Marvin.  

It
sounds as if McLeod’s dialogue was over-dubbed throughout, possibly
due to his Scottish brogue. 

Louis
A. Nicoletti (Cafe
Customer) was
an integral member of the Desilu family, having been a frequent extra
on “I Love Lucy.” He made one more appearance on “The Lucy
Show” before taking over as Assistant Director in 1966. He
performed the same chores for 26 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Allan
Ray
(Man on Train) was
seen on “I Love Lucy” as the clapstick boy at “Ricky’s
Screen Test” (ILL S4;E6),
a Brown Derby waiter in “Hollywood
at Last” (ILL S4;E16),
and a male nurse in “Nursery
School” (ILL S5;E9).
This is his third and final appearance on “The Lucy Show.” He
also played a hotel doorman in the 1963 Lucille Ball / Bob Hope film
Critic’s
Choice.
In 1950 Ray and Gale Gordon were in the film A
Woman of Distinction in
which Lucille Ball played herself in a cameo.

William
Meader (Another
Man) had
appeared as an airport extra in “The
Ricardos Go to Japan,”
a
1959 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” This is the second
of his 16 appearances on “The Lucy Show.”

Nine
uncredited young boys play the other cub scouts.

An uncredited actor plays the voice of the President.  

“The Lucy Show” did not air the previous Monday, March 18, 1963, because of the CBS special “Arthur Godfrey Loves Animals” with Shari Lewis, Mel Blanc, and Burr Tillstrom. 

The date this episode first aired (March 25, 1963) Felix Adler, screenwriter for The Three Stooges, died at age 79. Of his more than 175 scripts for the Stooges, Three Little Pigskins (1934) starred Lucille Ball. 

The morning of March 25, 1963, the CBS rerun of “I Love Lucy” was “Mertz and Kurtz” (ILL S4;E2).

Meanwhile, at the real White House on March 25, 1963,

President John F. Kennedy greeted the faculty and students of the French National War College.

March 25, 1963 was also the 9th anniversary of RCA’s first color television. Despite rapid advancement, programs like “The Lucy Show” are still shot and aired in black and white. 

Jerry,
Sherman and Billy are members of Pack 57 and Lucy and
Viv serve as Den Mothers of Den 8.

Lucy’s
phone number is KLondike 5-4320. The letters KL equate to 55 on dial telephones. The show is observing the TV and film tradition of
using “555” as a telephone exchange. Both Viv and the operator (who is not heard) think Lucy wants to talk to the White House Cafeteria! 

On
the phone with the White House, Lucy feels certain she’s speaking
with President Kennedy because he pronounced “replica” as
“replicker”. Kennedy was known for his broad New England accent.
In
addition to President Kennedy, the episode references First Lady
Jacqueline Kennedy…

LUCY: “I’m sure Jackie can make room on the mantle for a sugar cube White House.”

and their young daughter Caroline, age 5 ½. 

VIV: (Pointing to the sugar cube White House) “Look! There’s Caroline Sliding down the banister!”

The Kennedys also have a 2 ½ year old son, John Jr., who is not mentioned. In August 1963, 5 months after this episode aired, Mrs. Kennedy prematurely gave birth to a second son, Patrick, who died two days later. Three months after that, President Kennedy was assassinated. 

This
is the first time the series uses exterior establishing shots, in
this case railroad cars. This was also done on “I Love Lucy”
for “The Great Train Robbery” (ILL S5;E5).  

Lucy and Viv’s train to Washington DC makes stops in Greenview, Middlebrook, Flint Ridge, and Scottville. Like Danfield, all are fictional towns along a fictional railroad line.

Lucy sets the sugar cube White House down in the narrow train corridor, where it is decimated by the rush of passersby… 

…and ends up looking like a snowbank!

Lucy says it resembles Admiral Byrd’s headquarters
in the South Pole. Richard
Evelyn Byrd (1888-1957)
was a US Navy who claimed to be the first to reach the North and
South poles by air.

The
horse is named Annabel, which may be a tribute to Annabel Takes
a Tour (1938), a film in which Lucille Ball comically falls
from a horse. Lucy also rode a runaway horse in Mame (1974). Using
live animals is nothing new for “The Lucy Show.” In addition to
Annabel the horse, the first twenty five episodes have employed a
dozen dogs, a pen full of sheep, and a full-sized elephant!  

The prices at Charlie’s Cafe in Greenview reflect the 1963 economy. Other signs:

• No Dogs Allowed Please ~ Thank You
• Greenview Horse Show ~ Saturday & Sunday at the Fairgrounds

Charlie
at the Greenview Café says he won’t sell Lucy the sugar cubes
because he is a Republican! Lucy notes that the Boy Scouts are
bipartisan.

The horse that Lucy rides by the train window is not the real Annabel. Lucille Ball is atop a moving platform with a bobbing horse’s head attached. It would have been fascinating to see this scene from backstage! 

The anteroom of the White House is dominated by a large painting titled “The Bell’s First Note” (1913) by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. His paintings showed idealized portrayals of famous moments from American history. The complete series was shown at Independence Hall in Philadelphia from 1913 to 1930, then moved next door to Congress Hall. In later years, it was shown in a number of locations, including the Smithsonian Institution, before being returned to the Ferris family. His works were widely popular for many years, but modern critics are far less generous in their praise. 

While
in the White House, Jerry spots a rocking chair that the Aide
explains belonged to President Lincoln’s son Tad. When Lucy gets
stuck in the tiny rocker, the voice of President Kennedy says 

Off Screen Voice: “I’m happy to see I’m not the only person who is attached to a rocking chair.”

President Kennedy suffered from back pain and also often sat in a
rocker in the oval office.  

As the episode fades out and Lucy totters into the Oval Office with the rocking chair attached to her backside, the soundtrack plays “Hail To The Chief” the personal anthem of the President of the United States, composed by James Sanderson in 1812, but not adopted officially until 1954, just nine years before this episode first aired. 

Callbacks!

On
the train, Viv is the first to suggest visiting the dining car, just
as she is in “The
Great Train Robbery” (ILL S5;E5). Like this one, that episode also
took place on a moving train and featured Lucille Ball, Vivian Vance, Frank Nelson and Louis A. Nicoletti.  

The end result of Lucy’s exhausting ride on Annabel is not unlike Lucy Ricardo’s rambunctious ride on Danny Boy in “The Fox Hunt” (ILL S5;E16) and her out of control lawnmower ride across Westport in “Lucy Grows Tulips” (ILL S6;E26).

A few months earlier, a sketch from “The Bob Hope Show” (October 24, 1962)

was frighteningly prescient.
Lucy played a District Attorney and Bob a gangster named Bugsy Hope. A spray of gunfire comes through the window and Lucy remarks “Just what I wanted, a Jackie Kennedy hairdo.” Considering the tragic events of November 22, 1963, this clearly could never be re-aired. When  the clip was seen again in 1976 on “Bob Hope’s World of Comedy” and in 1989′s “Bob Hope’s Love Affair With Lucy” the lines are edited out. 

Fast Forward!

In “Lucy Decides To Redecorate” (S2;E8), first aired on November 18, 1963, Lucy refers to President Kennedy’s fitness program.He was assassinated four days later. The following week “The Lucy Show” was pre-empted for news coverage. 

The fact that Lucy and Viv are den mothers and Jerry and Sherman are cub scouts was introduced in this episode, but is explored again in “Ethel Merman and the Boy Scout Show” (S2;E19) and “Lucy and The Scout Trip” (S2;E26), which also features Desi Arnaz Jr. and gets Mr. Mooney into the act as den dad to his cub scout son, Arnold (Barry Livingston). 

Lucy Carter also spoke to the President of the United States on the telephone in “Lucy and the Astronauts” (HL S4;E5). In 1971, that would have been Richard M. Nixon. 

Lucy Whittaker has a telephone conversation with the President’s mother, Miss Lillian Carter, in the 1977 special “Lucy Calls The President”.  Miss Lillian played herself in a pre-taped cameo. 

Lucille Ball really visited the White House when she received a medal as part of The Kennedy Center Honors in 1986. Coincidentally, the arts award is named for John F. Kennedy and his family and also included a performance aired on CBS.  

Lucie Arnaz visited the White House several times. The first time was in 1972 and more recently in 2014.

Blooper
Alert!

Off Her Rocker? Tad Lincoln’s rocking chair is not in the White House, but held is from the collection at the Lincoln Home in Springfield, Illinois. It is now in the Lincoln Heritage Museum in Lincoln, Illinois. President Lincoln was sitting in a rocking chair when he was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre.  

Whereabouts?  There is no record that “The Bell’s First Note” (1913) ever hung in the White House. The closest it got was the Smithsonian Institution.