Lucy and the Bank Scandal

S2;E7
~ November 11, 1963

Synopsis

When
Lucy suspects Mr. Mooney may be embezzling from the bank, she digs up
his back yard to find the money, only to puncture his new oil tank in
the process.

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Vivian Vance (Vivian Bagley), Gale Gordon
(Theodore J. Mooney), Jimmy Garrett (Jerry Carmichael), Candy Moore
(Chris Carmichael)

Ralph
Hart (Sherman Bagley) does not appear in this episode

Guest
Cast

Eddie
Applegate
(Bob Mooney) is probably best remembered for playing Richard Harrison
on “The Patty Duke Show” on ABC, a series that aired concurrently
with “The Lucy Show.” The same week this episode first aired he
was seen on that show. He died in 2016 at the age of 81.

This
is the second of Mr. Mooney’s sons introduced on the series. In
“Lucy Gets Locked in the Vault” (S2;E4) we met Arnold Mooney (Stanley
Livingston), a classmate of Jerry’s.

James
Flavin
(Sgt. Wilcox) played the role of Sgt.
Wilcox two episodes earlier in “Lucy and the Safe Cracker”
(S2;E5). 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!

Jack
Donohue (Man
at the Bank) was the director of this episode and 106 others. He
also directed 35 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” He will also be seen
as the Conductor in “Lucy Conducts the Symphony” (S2;E13).

In
the scene, Donohue approaches Viv to make a donation to the Hospital
Helpers but is told to “Go
away!”

When
Lucy asks Jerry to donate to the Hospital Helpers Fund, her voice
sounds as if it was over-dubbed. Jerry replies that he already gave
to the Volunteer Firemen’s Fund but coughs up a nickel anyway. In
“Lucy the Music Lover” (S1;E8) Viv was chairman of a benefit to
raise funds for a new children’s hospital.

Bob
says his father paid $300 for a convertible and bought Mrs. Mooney a
fur stole. That $300 is the equivalent to nearly $2,550 in 2020.
Chris theorizes that Mr. Mooney may have won the Irish Sweepstakes.
The Irish
Sweepstakes
was a lottery based in Ireland to benefit their hospitals. The first
‘legal’ lottery in the United States was in New Hampshire in 1964.

This
is the first mention of Mr. Mooney’s wife, whose name, we learn, is
Irma. She will remain off-screen for the entire series. The name was taken from the series “My Friend Irma” in which Gale Gordon’s mother was featured. We also
learn that they have a dog, although we don’t learn its name.

The bathrobe worn by Gale Gordon in this scene was later worn by Richard Deacon in the failed pilot for “The Carol Channing Show” (1966), produced by Desi Arnaz and written by Madelyn Davis and Bob Carroll Jr.

Conversion
from coal heating to oil heat began shortly after the Great
Depression but was slow to catch on, especially in the Northeast,
which heavily relied on coal. As the technology progressed, costs
for conversion decreased and many more homes moved away from coal to
oil heat. Coal features heavily in the comic finale of “Lucy Builds
a Rumpus Room” (S1;E11).

Mr.
Mooney talks on the telephone with Mr. Alan about his new oil burner.
It is guaranteed for one year and will use an estimated 10,000
gallons of oil over five years. The oil tank is buried in the back
yard. When Mr. Mooney hastily scribbles notes about the conversation
on a pad, Lucy mistakenly thinks that he has buried $10,000 in the
back yard!

Mr.
Mooney goes across the street to see Mr. Fox. Della Fox was a
wardrobe mistress on the series.

Lucy
wonders aloud what Perry Mason would do in a case like this. “Perry
Mason” (1957-1966) was a long-running TV series about a defense
attorney (Raymond Burr) that aired concurrently with “The Lucy Show”
on CBS.

Callbacks!

This
episode is full of clever callbacks to previous “Lucy Show”
episodes. Viv mentions hearing gossip from Flo
the Manicurist.
This was an off-screen character last mentioned in the series’ very
first episode “Lucy Waits Up for Chris” (S1;E1). The name Flo
may be a tribute to Lucy’s childhood friend Flo Pauline Lopus.

The
gossip concerns Miss
Tanner,
Mr. Mooney’s secretary, a character we met in “Lucy Gets Locked in the Vault” (S2;E5) where she was played by Ellen Corby (above). In this
episode she is mentioned as “not being at her desk.”

Viv
says that Flo once started a rumor that Grandma
Sutton had
run off with a 22 year-old cat food salesman! Grandma Sutton’s cat
got stuck up a tree in “Lucy and Viv are Volunteer Firemen”
(S1;E16). She was mentioned again in “Lucy Drives a Dump Truck”
(S1;E24) and “Kiddie Parties Inc.” (S2;E2).

Blooper
Alerts!

Knotty Problem! When
Lucy unwinds a rope to hoist Viv out of the hole it becomes knotted.
Lucille Ball still manages to get it untangled without much delay.

Oily Words! When
Lucy’s pick ax causes a gusher from puncturing the oil tank buried in Mr.
Mooney’s back yard, everyone complains that she damaged his oil
heater, when in fact it was his oil tank, not the heater.