S2;E18
~ February 3, 1964
Synopsis
When
Jerry and Sherman are producing their boy scout talent show, they ask
Lucy to get her ‘old friend’ Ethel Merman to headline. Merman is in
town under an assumed name so Lucy unwittingly recruits her to pass
herself off as the Broadway star, with just an hour of voice lessons
from Lucy.
Regular
Cast
Lucille
Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Vivian Vance (Vivian Bagley), Gale Gordon
(Theodore J. Mooney), Ralph Hart (Sherman Bagley), Jimmy Garrett
(Jerry Carmichael)
Candy
Moore (Chris Carmichael) does not appear in this episode.
Guest
Cast
Ethel
Merman was
born Ethel Agnes Zimmerman in Queens, New York, in 1908. Known
primarily for her powerful belt voice and roles in musical
theatre,
she has been called ‘the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy
stage.’ Among her many stage credits are: Anything
Goes (1934),
DuBarry
Was a Lady (1939),
Annie
Get Your Gun (1946),
Call
Me Madam (1950),
and Gypsy
(1959).
“There’s No Business Like Show Business” from Annie
Get Your Gun
became her signature song. It was also the title of a 1954 movie
musical starring Merman. Hollywood was not always friendly to Merman,
who was replaced for the film versions of Annie
Get Your Gun
(1950) by Betty Hutton, Gypsy
(1962) by Rosalind Russell, and DuBarry
Was A Lady (1943)
by Lucille Ball! DuBarry
Was A Lady
also included the song “Friendship” which was featured in “Lucy
and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3). In 1934 Ball and Merman
co-starred with Eddie Cantor in the film Kid
Millions.
Merman recreated her stage performances on TV in “Panama Hattie”
(1954) and “Annie Get Your Gun” (1967). Merman died in 1984 from
a long illness after a brain tumor.
James
Gonzales
(Bank Teller) 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.”
Four
other background actors play the bank staff and customers.
The original broadcast included commercials for Lux soap, Wisk laundry detergent, Pepsodent toothpaste, and Jell-O pudding.
This episode was re-run by CBS on May 25, 1964.
This
was the first of two episodes to feature Ethel Merman. Originally,
they were intended to be one episode, but the material seemed rushed
and the stars were enjoying the work so it was extended into a second
episode titled “Ethel Merman and the Boy Scout Show” (S2;E19).
The final scene of this episode was rewritten to lead into Part Two.
However, it wasn’t filmed until they shot the second episode a month
later. In that time, Desilu produced “Lucy Plays Florence Nightingale” (S2;E14), “Lucy Goes To Art Class” (S2;E15), and “Chris Goes Steady” (S2;E16).
Lucy
was a big fan of Ethel Merman and offered her this guest spot after
her Desilu pilot “Maggie Brown” (above) was not picked up for series.
Lucille Ball and Gary Morton attended the filming of the pilot and
Merman also was in the audience for an episode of “The Lucy Show.”
On the DVD extras, Jimmy Garrett recalls that Lucille Ball caught
him watching filming from the wings and whispered “Watch
very carefully. You’ll never see anyone better.”
Vivian
Vance understudied Ethel Merman as Reno Sweeney in the 1934 Broadway
musical Anything
Goes
by Cole Porter. Vance’s character of Ethel Mertz on “I Love Lucy” may have been named for Merman.
The
episode opens with Lucy doing the Twist, practicing for the this
year’s Boy Scout Show. Lucy says that last year she and Viv did a
soft shoe but it wasn’t well received. Lucy and Viv were established
as den mothers of their boys’ scout troupe in “Lucy Visits the
White House” (S1;E25). When the Twist is nixed by show producer
Sherman, Viv suggests the Charleston.
Jerry
says (not sings) “there’s no business like show business,”
the title of Merman’s signature song from Annie Get Your Gun.
Sherman
mentions that Ethel Merman would be easier to get as a headliner than
Captain Kangaroo. “Captain
Kangaroo” was
a children’s television series that aired weekday mornings on CBS
from October 1955 to December 1984. The Captain (Bob Keeshan) would
tell stories, meet guests, and indulge in silly stunts with regular
characters, both humans and puppets. Captain Kangaroo was previously
mentioned on “Chris’s New Year’s Eve Party” (S1;E14).
Lucy
says she met Merman at a record signing at Rudy’s Record Store 17
years ago. The inscription on the album reads:
“To my friend
Lucy. With kind appreciation, Ethel Merman.”
Viv says the
record album costs $5.95. An un-named record store was seen in “Lucy
The Music Lover” (S1;E8).
The
episode mentions Merman’s hit shows Annie Get Your Gun, Call Me
Madam and Gypsy.
Merman
is staying at Danfield’s Elm Tree Inn under the assumed name of
“Agnes Schmidlap.” Agnes is Merman’s real middle name. Lucy, Viv, and the boys spent New Year’s Eve at the Elm Tree Inn while their home was being used for “Chris’s New Year’s Eve Party” (S1;E14). Roberta Sherwood stays there in “Viv Moves Out” (S2;E22) so it seems the ideal location for female singers visiting Danfield!
Hearing
that Lucy has fibbed to her son about knowing Ethel Merman, “Agnes
Schmidlap” says she once told her daughter that she was best
friends with Mary Martin. Mary Martin (1913-90) was also a
Broadway star of some magnitude. Merman and Martin appeared together
on a 1953 TV special celebrating Ford’s 50th Anniversary.
They re-teamed on Broadway in a concert in 1977.
During
Lucy’s music lesson with “Agnes” Lucy demonstrates how to sing
like Ethel Merman by pinching her nose and singing a few bars of “I
Got Rhythm.” Agnes starts singing along, too, shutting off the
record player and belting out the final notes until Lucy realizes her
true identity. “I
Got Rhythm”
was composed by George
Gershwin with
lyrics by Ira
Gershwin for the 1930 Broadway musical Girl
Crazy.
It was introduced by Ethel Merman in her Broadway debut and she
recorded the song several times throughout her career. The song is now part of the musical Crazy for You.
After
the filming of this episode, Merman recalls that she and Vance went to Lucille Ball’s
house for some girl talk and Lucille styled their hair – to
disastrous results. Ball also threw Merman a bridal shower before
her month-long marriage to Ernest Borgnine in 1964.
Callbacks!
Lucy’s suggestion that she and Viv dance the Charleston recalls the ending of “Ricky Loses His Voice” (ILL S2;E9).
Lucy
credits the great Danfield vocal coach Dr. Gitterman (Hans Conreid)
of the Danfield Academy of Voice with teaching her how to sing
The vocal exercises Lucy Carmichael learned in “Lucy’s Barbershop Quartet” (S1;E19) are
repeated with Merman.
A month later, another powerhouse female singer rented Viv’s room, Roberta Sherwood (Roberta Shaeffer). Like Merman, Sherwood also was previously staying at the Elm Tree Inn and like Merman, Schaeffer was offered the episode after a failed pilot. Curiously, Lucy wears the same outfit in both episodes!
Fast Forward!
Carol Burnett imitates Ethel Merman singing “I Got Rhythm” in “Lucy and Carol Burnett: Part I” (S6;E14) while trying to entertain airline passengers.
Merman received the Pied Piper Award in 1982, with Lucille Ball at her side. Ginger Rogers and Hal David, too.
The three ladies were also together that year for an interview on “The Merv Griffin Show”.
Blooper
Alerts!
Anachronism Alert! Lucy
had a record album of Annie Get Your Gun which she claims
Ethel Merman autographed for her at a record store 17 years earlier,
which would be 1946, the year the musical premiered. However, 12-inch
long playing record albums weren’t introduced until 1953 and the
album seen in this episode isn’t the original green cover design but
a white cover that was introduced later. So the only album Merman
could have autographed in 1946 would have been a binder of 10-inch 78
RPM records.
Door Drama! When
Jerry and Sherman run off to tell the other scouts about Ethel Merman
starring in their show, they slam the front door shut. A few seconds
later, the door has swung open. When Lucy shows “Agnes” (aka
Merman) out, the door does not stay shut and Lucy has to hold it
closed with her hand until the scene fades out.
How Do You Work This Thing? Lucy
has trouble making the phonograph work. They had to stop filming to
get the instrument going properly. You can see Lucy having trouble
getting the record on the spindle before the cut.
Time Warp! The
bank wall clock reads 2 o’clock at the start of the scene. At the end
of the scene, nearly six minutes later, it still reads exactly 2
o’clock.
Continuity Crisis! Due to prior commitments, Merman could not come back to film the second episode for four weeks. The last scene of the first part was rewritten and re-shot at that time but by then, Lucille had begun wearing a different wig, Vivian had taken a holiday and was tanned, and Merman had changed the color of her hair from dark brown to auburn.
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
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