Lucy and the Military Academy

S2;E10 ~ December 9, 1963

Synopsis

Fearing
he is lacking male role models, Lucy enrolls Jerry in military
academy. She immediately misses him and goes to great lengths to
visit him, despite the academy’s rules.

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Vivian Vance (Vivian Bagley), Jimmy Garrett
(Jerry Carmichael), Candy Moore (Chris Carmichael)

Gale
Gordon (Theodore J. Mooney) and Ralph Hart (Sherman Bagley) do not
appear in this episode.

Guest
Cast

Leon
Ames
(Colonel Anderson) was a veteran of a dozen Broadway plays between
1933 and 1958. On TV he is probably best remembered as Gordon
Kirkwood on “Mr. Ed” (1963-65), including an episode aired the
day before this episode of “The Lucy Show.” During the 1960s and
‘70s he
also owned a Ford Dealership in San Rafael, California.
This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Jackie
Coogan (Lt.
Ruggles) was a child actor. In “Ricky’s Screen Test” (ILL S4;E6)
Lucy Ricardo hopes Little Ricky will be “the next Jackie Coogan.”
Coogan was once married to Flower Parry, who was a frequent extra on
“I Love Lucy.” He is, of course, best remembered as Uncle Fester
on TV’s “The Addams Family” (1964-66). He makes one more
appearance on “The Lucy Show” as well as a 1973 episode of
“Here’s Lucy.” His final appearance with Ball was in the 1975 TV film “Lucy Gets Lucky.” He died in 1984 at age 69.

The
name Ruggles may be a tribute to Fancy
Pants
(1950) starring Lucille Ball and Bob Hope, a remake of the 1935
Charles Laughton film Ruggles
of Red Gap.
Coogan is never addressed by name in the episode.

Stephen
Talbot
(Cadet Clark) was the real-life son of Lyle Talbot, a B-movie actor
who recently appeared on the series in “Kiddie Parties Inc.”
(S2;E2) and will appear in the next episode “Lucy’s College Reunion”
(S2;E11). This is Stephen’s final acting credit before taking a
break from show business. He returned to become an Emmy-winning news
producer for PBS.

Lee
Aaker (Cadet
Blake, right) was best known as Rusty on “The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin”
(1954-1959). This episode marks his final screen acting credit.

Sid
Gould (Mailman)
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.”

A
dozen cadets from Page Military Academy play
Jerry’s classmates. A half dozen older actors play the cadets in
training.

Amy
bought Jerry a farewell soda at the drug store. Amy, who’s last name
is Shaffer, was first mentioned by Jerry in “Together for
Christmas” (S1;E13).

Lucy
is sending Jerry to military academy so he’ll have male
companionship, but no one mentions Sherman (Ralph Hart), Jerry’s
roommate and Viv’s son. Oddly, Sherman is absent and unmentioned when
Jerry goes off to military school. In the final scene, however,
Jerry says that he misses Sherman.

On
the telephone to the Academy, Lucy pretends to be the operator
(pinching her nose) with a long-distance call from Jerry’s 99
year-old great grandmother in Long Beach, California.

Jerry
is staying in Wellington Hall at Longridge Academy.
The extras and the uniforms are courtesy of the Page Military
Academy in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1908 by Robert and Della
Page Gibbs. It is still in existence today under the name Page
Academy.

Lucy
brings out Jerry’s bronzed baby shoes, which Viv says were in the
attic. In a previous episode, they were on the bookcase leading into
the kitchen.

When
disguised in fatigues, Lucy adopts the name Cosgrove. Cosgrove was Ruth Berle’s maiden name before she married Milton.

Cadet
Thornton demonstrates the obstacle course. Ruggles then rattles
off the order of cadets up next: Blake, Kelly, Cosgrove, Steiner and
Altman. The obstacle course consists of a tire step, rope swing,
fence climb and a tunnel crawl. Naturally, Lucy has trouble with
every one of them.

At
the end of the episode, Jerry returns home, but in
the first episode of season four Lucy will enroll Jerry in military
school again upon their arrival in California.

Callbacks!

Colonel
Anderson sits on Jerry’s suitcase in order to close it. Ricky
Ricardo did this in “Lucy Makes Room for Danny” a 1958 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”

When
Lucy pretends to be the operator she pinches her nose closed to
create a more nasal, remote voice. Lucy Ricardo did this in “The
Publicity Agent” (ILL S1;E31).

Blooper
Alerts!

Pulling Rank! Jackie
Coogan plays
an instructor who is listed in the credits as Lieutenant Ruggles even
though he wore the stripes of a Master Sergeant, the appropriate rank
for an instructor at a military academy.

Uniformity! Despite
attending Longridge Academy, Jerry’s uniform clearly says ‘Page’ on
his collar and hat.

Familiar Territory! When
Lt. Ruggles marches his troops from the rifle range to the obstacle
course, the background landscape is exactly the same as the previous
scene.