S3;E24~
March 22, 1965
Synopsis
When
Lucy hears about a $25 beauty treatment, she tells Mr. Mooney the
money is for a doctor. When the treatment turns out to be a hidden
camera show, Lucy must do whatever she can to stop it from airing and
revealing her secret to Mr. Mooney.
Regular
Cast
Lucille
Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Vivian Vance (Vivian Bagley), Gale Gordon
(Theodore J. Mooney)
Guest
Cast
Dick Patterson (Himself)
made
his
Broadway debut in David
Merrick’s
Vintage
‘60 and
served as a replacement for Dick Van Dyke in the original cast of Bye
Bye Birdie.
He went on to appear opposite Carol
Burnett
in
Fade
Out, Fade In
(1964) and his last musical was Smile
(1986),
a spoof of beauty pageants. He was in the film musicals Can’t
Stop the Music
(1980), Grease
(1978), and
Grease
2
(1982). In September 1966, Patterson and his wife Gita were seen on
“Lucy Week” of the game show “Password” along with other
“Lucy Show” performers. Patterson will appear once more on “The
Lucy Show” and in four episodes of “Here’s Lucy” – all in
character roles. He died in 1999 at the age of 70.
As usual in cases like this, Patterson was not really playing himself, just using his own name and aspects of his personality. He was never the host of a hidden camera show.
Tommy
Farrell (Pete
Murdock) appeared with Dick Patterson in a 1961 episode of “The
Roaring 20’s” on ABC. He was on Broadway in three plays between
1942 and 1947. Farrell will
appear once more on “The Lucy Show” and in six episodes of
“Here’s Lucy.”
Pete
is never referred to by his surname Murdock, it only appears in the end credits.
Steve
Geray (Dr.
Hugo Fleisher) was
born Istvan
Gyergyay in 1904 in the former Austro-Hungarian empire. He acted
with Lucille Ball in the 1940 film
Meet the People.
This is his only TV appearance with Ball.
The
doctor is from Vienna where Fleischer (spelled in the credits as ‘Fleisher’) is a common German and Yiddish
family name. Its literal meaning is “butcher” although
“fleish” means “flesh” which would correspond to a
beautician. The name “Hugo” means “intelligent.”
Sid
Gould (voice
of the Radio Announcer) 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.”
Carole
Cook
(voice of Lady Cynthia) was
seen as Lucy’s neighbor Thelma Green in four episodes. She was a
protege of Lucille Ball’s during the Desilu Playhouse years.
Although she was born as Mildred Cook, Ball suggested she take the
name Carole, in honor of Lucy’s great friend, Carole Lombard. Cook
also went on to appear in five episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”
This
is the first time Gould and Cook are heard, but not seen. The name Cynthia had already been used on the series as one of Chris’s friends, played by Lucie Arnaz. A snooty Cynthia Harcourt was played by Mary Jane Croft on “I Love Lucy.”
Bennett
Green (Bennett, a Cameraman) was Desi Arnaz’s stand-in during “I
Love Lucy” and does occasional background work on “The Lucy
Show.”
Patterson calls Green by his first name. There is a second
cameraman who is not identified. Neither is credited.
This episode was shot in color but first aired in black and white.
The
previous week (March 15, 1965) “The Lucy Show” was pre-empted for
President Lyndon B. Johnson’s address to a joint session of Congress
calling for new legislation to guarantee every American the right to
vote.
An
hour before this episode first aired, Vivian Vance appeared on the
CBS quiz show “I’ve
Got a Secret”
just as Lucille Ball had done two weeks earlier. Vivian purposely
talked very fast because her secret was that everything they said was
being written down in short-hand backstage. Carol Channing
(appearing on Broadway at the time in Hello,
Dolly!)
was one of the panelists.
LADY CYNTHIA (voice on radio): “Good morning, ladies. How would you like to have your biggest beauty problem behind you?”
VIV (listening to radio): “That’s where mine is now.”
Lucy and Viv listen to the radio show “Morning Magazine of the Air” which
presents Lady Cynthia’s Beauty Tips. It is from this broadcast that
Lucy hears about a $25 beauty treatment by Dr. Fleischer.
Lucy’s red transistor radio will turn up many times on “The Lucy Show”, even after Lucy moves to Los Angeles.
Gale
Gordon gets exit applause after calling Lucy stupid! Lucy then says
he has a good heart – without a trace of irony.
The
treatment turns out to be a hidden camera show gag for a (fictional)
TV show called “Boiling Point.” The show is modeled loosely on
“Candid Camera,” a TV show that started in 1948 and continues (in
some form) to this day. Its heyday was from 1960 to 1967, when it
was a ratings winner for CBS on Sundays at 10pm.
When
Patterson impersonates Dr. Fleischer and Pete his assistant Hans,
their fake beauty treatment consists off applications of tomato
paste, grated provolone cheese, tuna fish, peaches and whipped cream!
The prize (for Lucy reaching her ‘boiling point’) is a five year
supply of fly paper.
When
Lucy realizes she is on television, she waves into the camera, saying
hello to Viv, Jerry, Chris and Sh– (she stops short before saying
“Sherman”). With the exception of Jerry, the children had their
last appearance in “Lucy and the Old Mansion” (S3;E22), two
episodes earlier.
After getting a beauty treatment from the real Dr. Fleisher, Lucy’s black hair bow is reminiscent of Rose Marie (inset), who played Sally Rogers on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (1961-66), also filmed at Desilu. After the death of her husband in May 1964, Rose Marie’s bow was always black.
The painting in Patterson’s office that slides aside hiding the camera is called “The Knockout” and was painted by French artist Luc-Albert Moreau (1882-1948) in 1927.
As the painting slides to the side, the laugh track uses the famous “I Love Lucy” “Uh, oh!” which indicates that the insert shot was probably not done in front of a studio audience, or at the very least, it was “sweetened” to heighten the reveal of the hidden camera.
Viv disguises herself as a male window washer to photograph them in a clutch. Patterson pops a cigar into her mouth and brags that they are imported and cost $50 a box.
PATTERSON: “Cigar smoking is about the only thing women haven’t taken up yet.”
I guess he hasn’t been watching “Lucy”!
To
blackmail Dick Patterson, Lucy disguises herself with a dark wig and
French accent as a dancer from the Can-Can-a-Go-Go, where Patterson
dined the previous evening.
When
Lucy opens the door, another door in the hallway reads “Doris Grau,
Inc. Public Relations.” Doris
Grau
was a Hollywood script supervisor. She was later the voice of Doris
the Lunch Lady on “The Simpsons,” a show she also worked on as
script supervisor. She
will also be named as the recipient of one of Mooney’s gifts in
“Lucy the Choirmaster” (S4;E13).
Disguised
as a can-can dancer named Gigi, Lucy croons a bit of “C’est
Magnifique,” a
song written by Cole Porter for his 1953 musical Can-Can.
The play was made into a film in 1960 and the song sung by Frank
Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine. “Lucy Show” actors Leon Belasco,
George DeNormand, and Sam Harris were all seen in the film. Lucy’s
fake name was also the title of a French-themed musical film; Gigi
won
the Best Picture Oscar of 1959.
Callbacks!
Lucy’s
culinary-inspired fake beauty treatment is quite similar to Lucy
Ricardo’s extreme hair-growth treatment when “Ricky Thinks He is
Going Bald” (ILL S1;E34). In 1952, Lucy used oil, eggs, and
vinegar – a concoction Ricky likens to a Caesar salad. In 1965,
Lucy Carmichael wonders if the treatment will include oil.
Lucy
first disguised herself as a can-can dancer in “The French Revue”
(ILL S3;E7). In that same episode, Vivian Vance went undercover as a
man with a mustache, just as she does here!
Lucy
Ricardo also wore a “Black Wig” (ILL S3;E26) and went
unrecognized, trying to get her husband into a compromising position,
just as she does here with Mr. Patterson.
Fast Forward!
The can-can costume Lucy wears is the same one that will be worn (lengthened a bit) by Joan Blondell in “Lucy, the Stunt Man” (S4;E5).
In 1970′s “Lucy, the American Mother” (HL S3;E7), Craig places a hidden camera in the Carter living room to capture footage of Lucy for his student film.
In December 1971, Lucy Carter appeared on a hidden camera show (or so she thought) – the original “Candid Camera”! Alan Funt, who originated the show and hosted, was the guest star.
On “Jack Benny’s 20th Anniversary Special” (1970) Janet the Maid (Lucille Ball) reveals that Mary Livingstone’s been on TV the whole time because Jack has hidden a camera behind a painting of Betsy Ross.
Blooper
Alerts!
State of the Art? The
TV camera that “Boiling Point” uses is actually an old fashioned
film movie camera.
Sitcom Logic Alert! It’s hard to believe that Lucy does not see the huge hole in the wall with the camera in it while stealing back her agreement.
Reflections on Redacting! When
Lucy is looking at herself in the hand mirror after the beauty
treatment, viewers can see that the reflective side of the mirror has
been grayed out to avoid reflecting the studio lights. During this
scene Viv is reading a magazine which, as usual, has the masthead
taped over.
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