S2;E25 ~ March 23, 1964
Synopsis
When
Mr. Mooney runs for Danfield City Comptroller, Lucy and Viv volunteer as
campaign staff. They make a mess of Mr. Mooney’s billboard and then
forget to confirm the Scottish Pipers for the rally, causing them to go undercover as bagpipers at the last minute.
Regular
Cast
Lucille
Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Vivian Vance (Vivian Bagley), Gale Gordon
(Theodore J. Mooney)
Candy
Moore (Chris Carmichael), Jimmy Garrett (Jerry Carmichael) and Ralph
Hart (Sherman Bagley) do not appear in this episode.
Guest
Cast
J.
Pat O’Malley
(Major MacFarland) was born in England, despite his Irish name. He
played the music hall circuit there before moving to the United
States after World War II. From 1944 to 1954 he appeared in half a
dozen Broadway shows. He was a Disney voice artist who worked on
such animated classics as Peter
Pan
(1951), One
Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
and The
Jungle Book
(1967). To this day, he can be heard as several voices on the Disney
parks attraction The Pirates of the Caribbean. O’Malley was a
regular on the TV series’ “My Favorite Martian” and “Maude,”
as Mrs. Naugatuck’s fiance Bert. He later appeared on a 1973 episode
of “Here’s Lucy.”
MacFarland
was born in the Scottish village of Glencairn, a real-life location. On “I Love Lucy” Lucy Ricardo says that her great-great-great-grandfather, Angus MacGillicuddy, lived in the [fictional] town of Kildoonan in Northern Scotland, located between [non-fictional] Golspie and Ullapool.
Howard
Caine (Paul
Roney, Campaign Chairman) was
last seen in “Lucy Goes to Art Class” (S2;E15) as Art Store owner
Harold. Caine was master of 32 foreign and American dialects. He was
featured on Broadway in Wonderful
Town, Inherit the Wind, Lunatics and Lovers, and
Tiger
at the Gates.
He also replaced Ray Walston as Mr. Applegate in Damn
Yankees.
On screen he played Lewis Morris, the representative from New York,
in 1776.
Sid
Gould (Sid,
Campaign Worker) was
first seen in “Lucy
is a Kangaroo for a Day” (S1;E7).
He made more than 45 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.”
Hazel
Pierce (Campaign
Worker, uncredited) 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).
Jean
Vachon (Woman at Rally, uncredited) makes
the third of her six appearances on “The Lucy Show,” all but one
uncredited.
The Tammy-Shanter Caledonian Pipe Band (The Scottish Pipers, uncredited) are a real-life bagpipe group from Southern California. Members of the band in the episode are: Jack McNicoll, Dan Hood, Jim Cairney Sr., Jim Johnson, Jim Cairney, Jr., Robby Conacher, Alec Walter, Trevor Atkinson, and Bill Lumsden.
“The Lucy Show” would often source Southern California community-based sports and musical groups to be featured on the show when the plot required it.
Other
background players play the remaining Campaign Staff and Rallyers.
As still photo from the episode was used for the collage on the cover of the season 2 DVD box set.
CBS originally aired this episode in black and white, depriving viewers of the colorful tartans of the bagpipers. Luckily, it was filmed in color.
On the date this episode first aired, actor Peter Lorre (Casablanca) died at age 59. Although he never worked with Lucille Ball, he did do a 1957 episode of “Playhouse 90″ opposite Gale Gordon.
Mr.
Mooney’s opponent in the city comptrollers race is named Ed Holly.
Edwin Holly was the name of a Desilu Studio Executive
(appropriately) in charge of accounting.
Lucy
says she has influence with several women’s groups:
- Volunteer Fire
Department – 24 votes - Danfield
Women’s Club – 32 votes - Gardening
Society – 50 votes
While
there have been many episodes involving the Volunteer Fire Department,
no prior story lines have involved the Women’s Club or the Gardening
Society.
Lucy’s
suggested campaign slogans for Mr. Mooney:
“Tippecanoe
and Theodore Too!”
- “Tippecanoe
and Tyler Too!”
was
a very popular and influential campaign
song
of
the 1840
presidential election.
Its lyrics sang the praises of candidates William
Henry Harrison
(the
"hero of Tippecanoe”)
and John
Tyler,
while denigrating incumbent Martin
Van Buren.
“A
Chicken in Every Pot and a Mooney in Every Garage!”
- “A Chicken in Every Pot and a Car in Every Garage”
was the slogan of 1928 presidential candidate Herbert Hoover.
Lucy
and Viv brag that they have experience producing shows for the PTA
and the Scout Groups. In “Chris’s New Year’s Eve Party” (S1;E14)
Lucy and Viv repeat the Charlie Chaplin silent movie sketch they did
at the PTA show the year before. “Ethel Merman and the Boy Scout
Show” (S2;E19) shows the results of their efforts and discusses the
previous year’s production.
While volunteering for Mr. Mooney, Lucy starts calling him “Chief”! After the third time, he barks “Please don’t call me Chief”! This was the same cry of Superman’s Perry White, editor in chief (!) of the Daily Planet in both the comic books and the television series. Young Jimmy Olsen was in the habit of calling White Chief, which he hated. The expression “Don’t call me Chief” has since become somewhat iconic, even being uttered by “The Simpsons.”
We
learn that Mr. Mooney is of Scottish decent, despite the fact that
his surname is Irish in origin. In honor of his roots, Mr. Mooney has
arranged for the World Famous Scottish Pipers for his campaign rally.
Mr.
Mooney’s election billboard is erected in the middle of town on top
of the Curry Building. Unusually for “The Lucy Show” there is an establishing shot of the building (above) before the scene to set the location.
When
Lucy visits Major MacFarland to beg them to come to the rally despite
her failure to confirm the booking, she calls herself Lucy MacPherson
hoping to engender Scottish solidarity. She further fibs that she
has a 93 year-old grandmother named Jeannie MacFarland.
At the rally, Mr. Mooney is dressed in full Scottish regalia. He apologies for his kilt, saying he hopes his legs don’t deter anyone from voting for him.
MR. MOONEY: “After all, I’m running for comptroller, not Miss America.”
The Miss America Pageant, a beauty (now scholarship) contess was first held in 1921 and continues today. It was first mentioned by Lucy Ricardo while trying to think of a way of getting Ricky’s name in the papers during “The Publicity Agent” (ILL S1;E31) 1952 and then again when Ethel tries to bolster Lucy’s sagging ego after hearing “Ricky’s Old Girlfriend” (ILL S3;E12) is in town.
Lucy
mis-uses the name Robert Burns, saying “the Robert on the Burns”
as a description of the Scottish landscape. Robert Burns
(1759-1796) was a Scottish poet. He wrote the lyrics to “Auld Lang
Syne.”
Lucy,
Viv and Major MacFarland harmonize on a chorus of
“The
Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond,“
a well-known traditional Scottish
song
first published in 1841.
Its authorship is unknown. The
lyrics “You take the high road and I’ll take the low road”
have been widely quoted throughout pop culture, even Lucy Ricardo.
In 1954′s “Million Dollar Idea” (ILL S3;E13) Lucy and Ethel skate off to deliver their carts of Aunt Martha’s Old Fashioned Salad Dressing saying:
LUCY: “You take the East Side and I’ll take the West Side and I’ll be in Jersey a-fore ya!”
Callbacks!
Lucy
and Viv have to lick 3,000 envelopes and stamps.
Lucy
Ricardo licks a lot of stamps in “Lucy Gets Into Pictures” (ILL
S4;E18). With Fred, Ethel, and Mrs. McGillicuddy she writes and
stamps 500 letters to Dore Schary in “Don Juan in Shelved” (ILL
S4;E22).
The
scene with Lucy and Viv putting up the billboard is reminiscent of
when Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz haphazardly wallpapered the bedroom
in “Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8).
When
hanging the section of the billboard photo of Mr. Mooney’s nose, Lucy
says “It looks like it was put on hot and it ran!”
In
“Staten Island Ferry” (ILL S5;E12) Lucy looks at her passport
photo and says “It
looks like my face was put on hot and it ran!” Although probably unintentional, Mr. Mooney’s pieced-together image makes him a bit like Adolf Hitler!
With
its Scottish-themed second half, the episode is very reminiscent of
“Lucy Goes to Scotland” (ILL S5;E17).
LUCY ON THE BALLOT!
The closest Lucy Ricardo comes to political activity is running for President – of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League – against Ethel! “I Love Lucy” episodes featured mentions of Ike and Mamie Eisenhower and Harry and Bess Truman, the two US Presidents and First Ladies that held office during the run of the series. There were also mentions of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and both Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, to name a few!
During the first season of “The Lucy Show” Lucy writes to Senator John R. Dodds to complain about the lack of a fire department in Danfield. John Dodds is actually the name of Vivian Vance’s second (and at the time, current) husband.
A few weeks later (in March 1963), Lucy and Viv visit President John F. Kennedy to bring him a model of the White House that their scouts created from sugar cubes. A voice double plays JFK from off-camera.
In “Lucy the Stockholder” (TLS S3;E25), Lucy Carmichael is so grateful for her tax refund that she says she wants to write “Lyndon” a thank you letter. In the same episode, Mr. Mooney has a framed photo of
President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) above his desk.
In 1971, Lucy Carter spoke to the President of the United States on the telephone in “Lucy and the Astronauts” (HL S4;E5). Although his name was not spoken, Lucy does, however, ask about his daughters. Richard Nixon had two daughters, Tricia and Julie.
President Jimmy Carter and his family figured prominently in the CBS Special “Lucy Calls The President.” Carter’s mother, Miss Lillian, even taped a cameo for the program!
This Carter-themed special even mentions President Ronald Reagan, who was previously mentioned in several episodes of “Here’s Lucy” during his stint as Governor of California. During his presidency, he was also mentioned on “Life With Lucy” (1986). A year later, Lucille Ball formally met Reagan when she accepted her Kennedy Center Honor.
Although no US President has actually appeared on a Lucy sitcom, charismatic and controversial Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty made a cameo appearance on a 1972 episode of “Here’s Lucy.”
On a 1969 episode of “Here’s Lucy,” Kim finds a ‘Win With Willkie’ button between the sofa cushions. Wendell Lewis Willkie (1892–1944) was the 1940 Republican nominee for President. His Democratic opponent, incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt, handily won a third term (pre-term limits).
Five years earlier on “The Lucy Show”, Lucy Carmichael finds a ‘Vote for Dewey’ button under her couch. Thomas P. Dewey, was a Republican who lost the US presidential election of 1948 to Democrat Harry S. Truman. This episode was broadcast right after the 1964 Presidential election.
Blooper
Alerts!
In Sync! When
Lucy is disguised as a Scottish drummer, she stops beating the drum
but the sound of the off-stage drummer continues for several seconds.
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
Leave a comment