Lucy and Viv Take Up Chemistry

S1;E26 ~ April 1, 1963

Synopsis

Viv regrets letting Lucy talk her into joining her for a night school chemistry class. Lucy gets carried away trying to invent a youth serum and develops a huge ego between explosions. To teach her a lesson, Viv and the professor make her drink her own concoction, which acts as a sedative. When she awakens, she’s horrified by the results of her youth formula.

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, although
the character is mentioned

Guest
Cast

Lou
Krugman
(Dr. Adrian Vance) was
born in Passaic, New Jersey, in 1914. He made a memorable debut at
Desilu as the patient film director in “Lucy Gets Into Pictures”
(ILL S4;18). After that episode was filmed, Lucy sent him a telegram
telling him how impressed she was with his acting. She rewarded him
with appearances in “The Great Train Robbery,” (ILL S5;E5) and
the role of the Club Babalu’s Manager in “Lucy and Bob Hope”
(ILL S6;E1) and “Lucy Meets Orson Welles” (ILL S6;E3). He will
make two more appearances
on ”The Lucy Show.“

The
character’s surname is undoubtedly a tribute to Vivian Vance.

Hazel Pierce (Chemistry Student, below right, uncredited) 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 fifth of her 21 uncredited 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).

In the wide shots, viewers can see that Lucy and Pierce are both wearing the same shoes. As Lucy’s stand-in, the two probably shared wardrobe.

Maurice
Kelly
(Student that asks about life on other planets, above left) makes first and only
appearance on the series, although he went on to be
seen in three episodes of “Here’s Lucy,” one of which served as
his final screen credit.

Karen
Norris
(Della Fox, student with a head cold) makes the first of her six
background appearances on “The Lucy Show.” She also did one
episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1968.

Della Fox is the real-life name of “The Lucy Show” costumer.

Ronald
Keith
(Georgie, younger student) was a child actor best known for his
role as Leroy Forrester in “The Great Gildersleeve” (1955-56).
He also played Freddie on “Fury” (1957-58). This episode of “The
Lucy Show” is his last screen credit before leaving show-business.

Shep Houghton (Chemistry Student, uncredited) 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. He did two episodes of “The Lucy Show” and one episode of “Here’s Lucy.” Houghton was one of the Winkie Guards in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz and a Southern Dandy in Gone With the Wind (1939).

Alberto Morin (Chemistrty Student, uncredited) was born in Puerto Rico, and appeared in some of Hollywood’s most cherished films: Gone with the Wind (1939), Casablanca (1943), and Key Largo (1948). He was Carlos, one of Ricky’s “Cuban Pals” (ILL S1;E28) and the Robert DuBois in “The French Revue” (ILL S3;E7). His many background appearances on “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy” were all uncredited.

The episode was filmed on February 21, 1963. Gary Morton’s loud guffaw is especially audible on the soundtrack of this episode.

The afternoon this episode premiered, April Fool’s Day 1963, ABC TV presented the first broadcast of “General Hospital” and NBC premiered “The Doctors.”

In a rut, Lucy tells Viv that their only intellectual conversation is about whether Marshall
Dillon will ever marry Kitty. These are characters from the
long-running CBS western “Gunsmoke”
(1955-75): Matt Dillon (James Arness) and barmaid Kitty Russell
(Amanda Blake). Despite audiences wanting the pair to enter into a
relationship, it never came to be. Lou Krugman (Professor Vance)
played a barkeep on “Gunsmoke” (above) just one month after this episode
of “The Lucy Show” first aired.

Lucy
compares herself to Madame Curie. Marie
Curie
was a Polish-born
French
physicist
and
chemist
who
conducted pioneering research on radioactivity.
She was the
first
woman to win a Nobel Prize – twice!

Anticipating
that her formula for eternal youth has worked, Lucy says
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”
This is the question that the evil queen puts to her magic mirror in
the fairy tale “Snow White.” Coincidentally, Moroni Olsen, who played the Judge in “The Courtroom” (ILL S2;E7) was the voice of the slave in the magic mirror. Pinto Colvig, who voiced all the dogs in Lucy Carmichael’s neighborhood in “Lucy is Her Own Lawyer” (S2;E23) did the voices of Grumpy and Sleepy.

Lucy
mentions Chris’s drum majorette rehearsal. Chris being a drum majorette was was established in
“Lucy is a Soda Jerk” (S1;E23).

Some
of the other offerings at the Danfield Adult School offers are
‘Conversational French’ and ‘United States Foreign Policy in the
Middle East.’

After being stumped by Jerry and Sherman’s question
about the weight of rocket fuel, Lucy wonders if they offer ‘Cape
Canaveral at a Glance.’ Cape Canaveral and the space program were
mentioned in “Lucy Becomes an Astronaut” (S1;E6).

LUCY: “Shouldn’t we test it on a monkey first?”
VIV: “If there’s one thing the world doesn’t need, it’s younger monkeys.”

At
the end of this episode’s original airing, Vivian Vance and Ed Krugman do an
in-character commercial for new pink liquid Swan dish washing
detergent. Swan
was a brand
of
soap
introduced
by the Lever
Brothers
Company
in 1941 to compete with Ivory. Ivory won – Swan is no longer on the market.

Callbacks!

This
is the third “Lucy Show” that Lucy has had a comedic encounter with a shower.
The first time was in “Lucy is a Referee” (S1;E3) and the second
in “Lucy and Viv Put in a Shower” (S1;E18).

Lucille
Ball is no stranger to wigs and putty noses. She famously wore a
false nose when she met William Holden in “Hollywood at Last!”
(ILL S4;E16).

In “The Black Wig” (ILL S3;E26) Lucy Ricardo used
a dark wig to be more glamorous, the opposite of the effect here. Mrs. Carmichael says she hasn’t had dark hair since she was 16.

Fast Forward!

Four years later, Lucy Carmichael goes back to school full time in “Lucy Gets Her Diploma” (S6;E5).

Lucy Carmichael is fascinated by glass tubes, bubbling beakers, and Bunsen burners in “Lucy the Robot” (S4;E23).

Lucy and Mary Jane take a night class in auto repair in “The Not-So-Popular Mechanics” (HL S5;E22).

Blooper
Alerts!

Quiz Masters! Sherman
and Jerry argue about whether rocket fuel is measured by gallons or
tons, with Jerry saying that since that fuel is a liquid it’s
measured in gallons. However, in this case it would be measured in tons, as
the the weight of the fuel is a critical
factor, not the volume of the tank.

Oops! When
Lucy is about to do her experiment she asks Vivian to give her some
glass tubing. Vivian flubs her line by saying there is no “gas”
tubing.

Oops Again! When
changing seats to assure Viv is her lab partner, Lucy drops her
pencil. The student sitting next to her (Maurice Kelly) picks it up
for her.

Papermoon Loves Lucy