Lucy and the Safe Cracker

S2;E5 ~ October 28, 1963

Synopsis

Demonstrating
how she got locked in the vault for the press, Lucy accidentally
locks Mr. Mooney back in the bank vault. To help break him out Lucy
recruits Mr. Bundy, a reformed safe-cracker, now a candy store owner. The experience of opening the safe rekindles Mr.
Bundy’s criminal desires so he grabs a bag of loot and takes Lucy
and Viv hostage at his candy shop.

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Vivian Vance (Vivian Bagley), Gale Gordon
(Theodore J. Mooney)

Jimmy
Garrett (Jerry Carmichael), Ralph Hart (Sherman Bagley), and Candy
Moore (Chris Carmichael) do not appear in this episode, although
Sherman is mentioned.

Guest
Cast

Jay
Novello (Mr.
Bundy) was
born Michael Romano in Chicago in 1904 to Italian parents and was
fluent in the language before learning English. He played Mr.
Merriweather in “The Seance” (ILL S1;E7) and returned to the
series to play the nervous Mr. Beecher in “The
Sublease” (ILL S3;E31)
and Mario Orsatti, the “Visitor
from Italy” (ILL S6;E5).
This is the first of Novello’s two appearances on “The Lucy Show.”
Coincidentally, Novello’s second wife went by the nickname ‘Lucy’.
In 1965 he played the recurring character Mayor Mario Lugatto on
“McHale’s Navy.”

Mr.
Bundy is an ex-con who bought Grandma’s Dandy Candy Shop.

William
Woodson (Larry
McAdoo, Reporter for Danfield TV) makes the first of his two
appearances on “The Lucy Show.” TV viewers might recognize his
voice as the narrator on the opening credits of “The Odd Couple”
(1970-1972): “Can
two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other
crazy?”
He returns to “The Lucy Show” as the Emcee in “Lucy and Carol
in Palm Springs” (S5;E8).

James
Flavin (Sgt.
Wilcox) coincidentally appeared as the Immigration Officer searching
for Mario Orsatti (Jay Novello) in
“Visitor
from Italy” (ILL S6;E5).
He will return to “The Lucy Show” two episodes later to play
Sgt. Wilcox again in another bank-themed episode, “Lucy and the
Bank Scandal” (S2;E7). He appeared in four films with Lucille
Ball, including playing a police sergeant in Without
Love
(1945). During his long career he played so many officers of the law
that his IMDB photo is of him in a police uniform!

The bank employees are played by:

Hazel
Pierce was
Lucille Ball’s camera and lighting stand-in throughout “I Love
Lucy.” She also made frequent appearances on the show. Of her many
on-camera appearances on “The Lucy Show” only once was she given
a character name and credited, in “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” (S1;E1).
She was also an uncredited extra in the film Forever
Darling (1956).
William
Meader had appeared as an airport extra in “The
Ricardos Go to Japan,”
a
1959 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” He made more than 15
appearances on “The Lucy Show,” mostly as a clerk or a customer
in Mr. Mooney’s bank.
James
Gonzales
was a popular Hollywood extra who first acted with Lucille
Ball in the 1953 film The
Long, Long Trailer.
He was previously seen on the series as Stan Williams in “Lucy
Digs Up a Date” (S1;E2).
He will be seen in more than 20 future episodes of “The Lucy Show”
and 3 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”
Bert
Stevens
makes
his third appearances on the series. In many episodes he appears
opposite his wife, Caryl Lincoln, one of Lucy’s friends from her
Goldwyn Girl days. Stevens was the brother of actress Barbara
Stanwyck, whose given name was Ruby Stevens. He was seen in the
Tropicana audience for the Flapper Follies when “Ricky
Loses His Voice” (ILL S2;E9)
but
along with Lincoln, probably appeared on other episodes as well. He
appeared alongside Lucille Ball in five films.
Judith
Woodbury makes the first of her eight (mostly) uncredited
appearances on “The Lucy Show.” She also appeared in one episode
of “Here’s Lucy.”
Several
other background actors play the rest of the bank’s staff.

This episode was filmed on May 23, 1963. It continues the storyline of “Lucy Gets Locked in the Vault”
(S2;E4), although each episode stands on its own. This was also done
on “I Love Lucy” with the episodes “Lucy Visits Grauman’s”
(ILL S5;E1) and “Lucy and John Wayne” (ILL S5;E2).

Just
as in “Lucy Gets Locked in the Vault” (S2;E4), Lucy’s grocery
bag contains a package of paper napkins, a bottle brush, a can of
baked beans. Lucy left the vault clutching the box of uncooked
macaroni and Lucy and Mr. Mooney used the deck of children’s
playing cards to play poker.

Lucy
asks Viv to run next door to Dr. Jacoby and get a stethoscope. In
“Lucy and the Little League” (S1;E28) Dr. Jacoby was played by
Herb Vigran. He was, however, an eye doctor.

Because of their experience in the Navy WAVES established in “Lucy Becomes an Astronaut” (S1;E6), Lucy and Viv both know Morse Code.

Mr. Mooney’s telephone number is (311) 555-4568. Although phone numbers in this
time period were often identified with letter prefixes (ie: Klondike
5-4568) the joke of the number being confused with the combination to
the vault depends upon it consisting solely of digits. 555 was the common prefix for all film and television phone numbers.

Lucy
and Viv sing the Grandma’s Dandy Candy Shop jingle to the tune of
“I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad.” The traditional folk song
was
first published as “Levee Song” in 1894.
The
earliest known recording is by the Sandhills Sixteen in 1927.

Viv
makes a bad joke while the audience is laughing at Lucy’s face full
of chocolate. When hearing that Mr. Bundy the candy seller has turned
himself in out of guilt, Viv says “I
always knew he had a soft center.”
In “Job Switching” (ILL S2;E4) Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance) was
thrown out of the boxing department of Kramer’s Candy Kitchen for
pinching the chocolates to see what kind they were.’

Callbacks!

The
sponsor of the TV coverage is ‘Friendly Al, Used Car Dealer.’
In “Getting Ready” (ILL S4;E10) Al
Hergersheimer is the name of the used car salesman who sells Fred a
dilapidated 1923 blue Cadillac.

Lucy
having a face full of chocolate is a callback to Lucy Ricardo’s
experience chocolate dipping at Kramer’s Candy Kitchen in “Job
Switching” (ILL S2;E4).

Fast Forward!

On the first season of “Here’s Lucy” Wally Cox plays a nervous safe cracker in “Lucy and the Ex-Con” (HL S1;E15).

Blooper
Alerts!

Price Check! When
the man on the phone asks the cost of butter cream, Lucy, reading the
signs, tells Viv the light chocolate is $1.40 a pound, and the dark
chocolate is $1.35. When Viv repeats the information into the phone,
she accidentally reverses the prices.

Chamber of Commerce! Although
Mr. Bundy owns the candy store in Danfield, he is not mentioned in
“Lucy and Viv Become Tycoons” (S1;E20) when Lucy and Viv are
looking to sell their confections. In that episode Old Man Armstrong
is mentioned as owning the candy shop.

Recipe Receipts! When
Lucy is jamming candy into the mouth of Mr. McAdoo while singing the
jingle on camera, his mouth is covered with white cream, yet Mr.
Bundy gave Lucy a bag of chocolate covered cherries, a confection
that does not include cream.

Papermoon Loves Lucy