Lucy Puts Out a Fire at the Bank

S2;E9 ~ December 2, 1963

Synopsis

When
the town council refuses to fund the Danfield Volunteer Fire
Department, Lucy takes her brigade for some training to impress Mr.
Mooney, then sets a small fire at the bank to demonstrate their
worth!

Regular
Cast

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

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

Guest
Cast

Alan
Hale Jr. (Captain Burke) is best
remembered as the Skipper on the iconic TV series “Gilligan’s
Island” (1964-92). He made one more appearance opposite Lucille
Ball, in a 1970 episode of “Here’s Lucy.” His father was also a
screen actor. Hale junior made his film debut at age 12.

Irwin
Charone (Albert, Policeman) makes
the first of his five appearances on “The Lucy Show.” The
expressive character actor also did an equal number of “Here’s
Lucy” episodes. He died in January 2016 in Maplewood, New Jersey,
at the age of 93.

Mary
Jane Croft (Audrey
Simmons) played Betty Ramsey during season six of “I Love Lucy.”
She also played Cynthia Harcourt in “Lucy
is Envious” (ILL S3;E23) and
Evelyn Bigsby in“Return
Home from Europe” (ILL S5;E26).
She played Audrey Simmons for eight episodes. When Lucy moves to
California, she will play Mary Jane Lewis (the actor’s married
name) until the series finale. Her husband Elliott Lewis was a
producer of “The Lucy Show” from 1962 to 1964. She also played a
character named Mary Jane Lewis on “Here’s Lucy” from 1969 to
1974.

Mary
Wickes (Fran)
was one of Lucille Ball’s closest friends and at one time, a
neighbor. She made a memorable appearances on “I Love Lucy” as
ballet mistress Madame Lamond in “The
Ballet” (ILL S1;E19). She
also appeared as Fran in “Lucy
and the Runaway Butterfly” (S1;E29) and “Lucy Plays Cleopatra”
(S2;E1). This marks her third and
final appearance as firefighter Fran, but then makes four more as a
variety of characters. Wickes then appeared in nine episodes of
“Here’s Lucy.” Their final collaboration on screen was “Lucy
Calls the President” in 1977.

Hazel
Pierce (Firefighter)
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).

James
Gonzales (Teller
who yells “Fire!”)
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 was seen in more than 20 episodes of “The Lucy Show” and 3
episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Sid
Gould (Thompson)
was first seen in “Lucy
is a Kangaroo for a Day” (S1;E7).
He made 46 appearances on “The Lucy Show,” all as background
characters. He also did 40 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” Gould
(born Sydney Greenfader) was Lucille Ball’s cousin by marriage to
Gary Morton. Gould was married to Vanda Barra, who also appeared on
“The Lucy Show” starting in 1967, as well as on “Here’s
Lucy.”

Gould
tells Lucy “The
town council will see you now.”
He is not addressed by the name Thompson in the dialogue.

Three
uncredited men play the members of the Danfield Town Council. Five
uncredited women play the other members of the Volunteer Fire
Department.

This
episode was originally scheduled to air on November 25, 1963, but was
pre-empted for coverage of President Kennedy’s funeral.

To
appear in front of the town council, Lucy and Viv wear their dress
uniforms. Paying for these outfits was the subject of “Lucy Drives
a Dump Truck” (S1;E24). Bear in mind that viewers watching this
episode in its original airing still did not know that they were
bright red because CBS declined to air the series in color.

Viv
says the Volunteer Firefighters have been in existence for a year and
two months. The episode that introduced the brigade was “Lucy and
Viv Are Volunteer Firemen” (S1;E16) aired on January 14, 1963, just
short of eleven months ago.

The
Danfield Volunteer Fire Department has a service record of:

43
cat rescues; 12 of them of the same cat. This was likely Grandma
Sutton’s cat, a reference that has been made several times
throughout the series and the reason for the Fire Department’s first
alarm.
8
clogged up chimney flues unclogged.
16
piles of burning leaves were extinguished.
1
lawsuit against the city for water damage at the Armenian restaurant
for an incident surrounding flaming shish-kabob on a sword.

The
Volunteer Fire Department also provides Danfield with:

A
Little Theatre Troupe (seen in “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” S2;E1)
A
Barbershop Quartet (seen in “Lucy’s Barbershop Quartet” S1;E19)
A
Baseball Team (seen in “Lucy and Viv Play Softball” S2;E3)

Mr.
Mooney says they will have to get by with Broadway, the Metropolitan
Opera, and the New York Yankees. He wants Danfield to be served by
New Rochelle’s Fire Department. In previous episodes they were
served by Ridgebury.

Mary
Jane mentions her husband Harvey again. He plays poker with the boys
on Tuesday nights.

In
this episode, Viv says that Lucy doesn’t smoke. In real life Lucille
Ball was a regular smoker although she does a terrific job of playing
a non-smoker lighting up for the first time in this episode. Lucy
and Viv have ashtrays and cigarettes in their home as seen in “Kiddie
Parties Inc.” (S2;E2) and cigar and cigarette burns on their coffee table
in “Lucy Decides to Redecorate” (S2;E8). Mr. Mooney and Albert
both have cigarette lighters handy in their pockets. In
1963, smoking inside public spaces like a bank was not illegal. This
storyline would not be possible today.

Usually
it is Lucy who cannot control the flow of water from hoses or spouts,
but in this case Viv is the clumsy one.

Lucy
and Viv apparently live in the vicinity of a glove factory that
sounds a daily noon whistle.

Viv
mentions that she is going to use the smoke bombs for the cub scouts
to send up smoke signals. Lucy and Viv are den mothers of Pack 57, a
fact established in “Lucy Visits the White House” (S1;E25).

Callbacks!

On
“I Love Lucy” Ricky and Fred set a fake fire to trick Lucy in
“Fred and Ethel Fight” (ILL S1;E22).

Blooper
Alerts!

Name Game! When
Lucy and fellow firefighters go to rookie training school, Lucy calls
Fran by the actresses real name, when she says “Get
back in line, Mary! Just stay back there.”

Floor Plan! In
the opening scene Lucy and Viv wait outside the conference room at
the bank to see the town council. In “Lucy and the Safe Cracker”
(S2;E5) this same area featured a pay phone. In the final scene, the
second chair has been replaced by a metal waste basket for Lucy’s
smoke bomb gag.

Where The Sky Starts! When
Lucy is atop the fire ladder, the camera catches a glimpse of where
the sky drop meets the studio ceiling.