Lucy the Disc Jockey

S3;E26
~ April 12, 1965

Synopsis

Lucy
wins a mystery sound contest on the radio, winning $25 and the chance
to be disc jockey for a day. Naturally, things don’t go smoothly
when she takes over the studio.

Regular
Cast

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

Guest
Cast

Pat
Harrington
(Gordon Felson) is probably best remembered as Schneider on the 1975
sitcom “One Day at a Time.” Between 1959 and 1960 he played the
recurring role of Pat Hannigan in “Make Room for Daddy” also shot
at Desilu. He
died on January 6, 2016
at age 86.

His nickname is “Fair Felson”.

Variations
on the title of this episode include “Lucy and the Disc Jockey”
and “Lucy is a Disc Jockey.”

This
episode was not intended to be the season finale, “Lucy the
Stockholder” (S3;E25) was. It was shot in late 1964 and
was supposed to air on March 15, 1965 but it kept getting pre-empted
so it ended up being the season three finale.

This episode employs dozens of sound effects, many more than a usual “Lucy Show” episode. Sound Engineer Eldon E. Campbell and Glen Glen Sound Company deserve credit for their creativity.

From September 1964 to August 1965 (from shoot date to air date) Lucille Ball had her own daily radio show “Let’s Talk To Lucy” on CBS Radio. Although she did not play music, she talked to celebrities as herself, not in character, about a variety of subjects.

Viv
stayed up watching “The Late Late Show” on TV. They were airing
the James Cagney movie where he push the grapefruit into his
girlfriend’s face. Viv is referring to The Public Enemy
(1931). The film featured Sam McDaniel (Hattie’s brother) who was
the first African American face on “I Love Lucy” in “The Great
Train Robbery” (ILL S5;E5).

After
playing the mystery sound, Felson announces the return to “the
swing sounds of Jan Garber.” Jan Garber (1894-1977) was
born in Morristown, New Jersey, and became a bandleader known for ‘sweet’ and ‘swing’ jazz. His nickname was “The Idol of
the Air Lanes.”

There couldn’t be a show about radio without Lucy’s trusty red transistor radio. It turns up in every season of “The Lucy Show” – even when Lucy moves to California.

Listening
to the hourglass (egg timer) a sleepy Viv makes a joke about hearing
Lawrence of Arabia calling
for help. Lawrence
of Arabia
is
a 1962 epic
historical film based
on the life of T.E. Lawrence and
taking place mostly in the
desert.
It won seven Oscars including Best Picture.

Lucy
once again has trouble with the kitchen sink garbage disposal unit
just as she did in “Lucy, the Coin Collector” (S3;E13, right). Before
Lucy turns it on to hear what sound it makes, Viv asks her if the
plumber fixed it. These two episodes would have been aired closer
together had “Lucy the Disc Jockey” not been pre-empted so often.

Mr.
Mooney says that the ‘Name the Sound’ contest is the silliest thing
since Mrs. Hush. The Mrs. Hush contest was a feature of “Truth or Consequences” radio show in 1947. The quiz show had
already sponsored a Mr. Hush contest, where listeners had to
identify the voice of a person of note from whispered clues. After
more than two and a half months of guessing, Mrs. Hush turned out to
be Clara Bow. The winner received a new car,
private plane, home appliances, a mink coat, diamond ring and other
assorted prizes totaling $23,000 in value.

When
Mr. Mooney hears the cacophony of Lucy and Viv trying out different
sounds on various household objects, he calls it a “Housewives
Hootenanny.” “Hootenanny” was a television variety show
featuring folk music acts that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1964.
Lucy’s daughter Chris mentioned the show in “Chris Goes Steady”
(S2;E16) aired in January 1964.

Mr.
Mooney compares the noise in Mrs. Carmichael’s kitchen to a Spike
Jones rehearsal. Lindley
Armstrong ‘Spike’ Jones
(1911–65) was an American musician and bandleader specializing in
satirical arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Songs
receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gunshots,
whistles, cowbells and outlandish and comedic vocals. Jones was born
four months after Lucille Ball and died two weeks after this episode
finally aired.

Angry
that Mr. Mooney has also entered (and won) the contest after he said
it was silly, Lucy calls him a “banking Benedict Arnold.” Benedict Arnold (1741-1801) was an American soldier in the
revolutionary war who defected to fight for the British. His name
has become synonymous with a traitor ever since.

Lucy asks why Mrs. Mooney wasn’t the one defrosting the fridge. Mr. Mooney replies that she was out chopping wood, contributing to the series’ verbal depiction of Mrs. (Irma) Mooney as a sturdy woman.

Mr.
Mooney deems any voice contest between him and Lucy like comparing
Walter Cronkite to Donald Duck. Walter Cronkite (1916-2009)
was the voice and face of CBS News for nearly fifty years. He
reported on some of the most dramatic events of the 20th century, such as the Kennedy Assassination, the Vietnam War, and the
space program. He was considered to be “the most trusted man in
America.” Donald Duck is one of Walt Disney’s most enduring
cartoon creations. He first appeared in 1934 and his squawking raspy
voice was provided by Clarence Nash.

For
the contest, Mr. Mooney is prepared to recite the Gettysburg
Address, Hamlet’s Soliloquy, and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven.”
Lucy is prepared to recite Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Little Bo
Peep, and Tubby the Tuba.

Instead,
Mr. Felson asks them to do traditional tongue-twisters. They first
are asked to say “Big Black Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers” and then
(after Mr. Mooney loses to Lucy and threatens to examine the radio
station’s mortgage) “Red Leather Yellow Leather,” each three
times, fast and clear. Lucy wins again and receives applause from
the studio audience for her performance.

The
call letters of the radio station are WLDJ representing the first
letter of each word in the episode’s title: “Lucy the Disc Jockey.”

WLDJ
is a one-man radio station with one sponsor: Spangle Soda Pop. Gordon
Felson says he hasn’t had a day off in nine years. Although the name Spangle Soda Pop is fictional, there was a chew-able candy in England names Spangles.

This is one of the rare episodes in which a character actually speaks the title of the episode in the dialogue!

While
reading a sports report on the air, Lucy announces that Maury
Thompson is at bat. Maury was the camera coordinator for this
episode as well as on “I Love Lucy.” In “Drafted” (ILL
S1;E11) Ricky receives a letter from the War Department signed by
Maurice A. Thompson.

When
Lucy tries to see the title of the song on the spinning turntable and
gets dizzy, she says “No wonder. It’s a Dean Martin album.”
This is a joke about Martin’s drinking. She also made a joke about
Dean Martin and his proclivity for alcohol in “Lucy the
Stockbroker” (S3;E25). A year later, Lucy Carmichael dates Dean Martin. His stuntman is named Eddie Feldman, which sounds similar to Eddie Felson, the radio host played by Pat Harrington.

Lucy gets a phone request to play a song dedication to:

Hilda and Babs and Jan and Ella and Molly and Dotty and Roselle and Mimi (like Eisenhower) and Mildred and Doris and Nora and Emma and Maryann and Evelyn and Sadie and Emma (a redhead) and SueEllen (one name) and Gertrude and Estelle and Joan and Connie and Sylvia.

The man wants her to play “You’re
the One for Me.” The song was sung by Freddie Rose in 1927, so it is no surprise Lucy can’t find the record. Instead, she plays “Bing
Crosby Sings Stephen Foster.” The Crosby album was released in 1946.

For the ‘record’ (no pun intended), President Johnson’s wife was named Mamie, not Mimi.

When Lucy puts the needle down on the record, a voice sounding very much like Crosby’s sings to the tune of “Camptown Races”:

“Bum bum bum bum bum bum bum
Stephen
Foster.”

And then suddenly stops!

With
the studio covered in the white foam from the fire extinguisher, Lucy
sings a bit of “White Christmas” as the episode (and season
three) fade out. “White
Christmas”
is a 1942
Irving
Berlin song.

The Bing Crosby version is the best-selling single of all time. In
1965 The Supremes recorded it for their Christmas album.

SIGNING OFF!

This is the last episode featuring Vivian Vance as a
regular co-star. She will return for guest-star appearances in 3
future episodes.

This
is the last new episode to be broadcast by CBS in black and white.
When season four begins, viewers will finally see Lucy’s hair in
color!

This
is the last time Lucy and Mr. Mooney will live in Danfield, NY. The
pair relocate to California at the start of season four.

Some
insiders say that Vivian Vance had decided to leave the show unless
she got more creative control. Ball’s advisers tell her Vance wanted
a partnership, which wasn’t true. It was decided not to meet Vivian’s
demands, and Vance leaves the series. Lucille felt hurt and betrayed.
This is a decision Ball regrets for the rest of her life. Without
Vivian, Lucille toys with the idea of ending the series. Vivian
wanted to have the stories revolve more around her if she was going
to keep commuting to the set from Connecticut. She was exhausted and
her marriage to John Dodds was deteriorating because he was bisexual
and seeing other men when she wasn’t around. Vivian also felt that
Lucille let her down.

The closing scene for this episode (Lucy crying amid the radio station destruction) was featured in the season four kaleidoscope opening credit sequence.

“The
Lucy Show” was replaced for the summer (June-September) by
“Vacation Playhouse,” an anthology series of unsold TV pilots.

Callbacks!

Lucy
Ricardo was on the radio twice, both times on a quiz show hosted by
Freddy Fillmore (Frank Nelson): “The
Quiz Show” (ILL S1;E5) and “Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio” (ILL
S1;E32).

Both of those episodes featured an illuminated “ON THE AIR” sign, just like “Lucy the Disc Jockey.”

When Lucy flips an unlabeled switch on the console, it turns on a fan that blows away all her note cards. In “Redecorating the Mertzes Apartment” (ILL S3;E8) a fan mistakenly activated blows feathers from the recently disemboweled armchair all over the room, ruining all their hard work.

Blooper
Alerts!

Ice Box Inconsistency! For
this episode, Lucy’s modern refrigerator has been replaced by an
older model in order to facilitate the stunt of pulling the guts out
of it. The refrigerator has also moved locations to make the gag
physically possible.

Sitcom Logic Alert! Why would there be a switch for a free-standing oscillating fan on the console of a radio station control board?

Laugh Track! When the shelf of records comes crashing to the floor, Gary Morton’s loud guffaw can be heard on the soundtrack.

Hoser! Instead of plain water, the fire hose emits soapy suds, likely to imitate the foam that comes from a hand-held extinguisher. A fire hose would only produce plain water, not foam.

Name Game! When taking a song request, a caller gives a long list of women’s names. Repeating them as she jots them down, Lucy says the name “Emma” twice and adds “That the same Emma you mentioned? Oh, a redhead.” This may be a scripted line, but it sounds very much like an ad lib by Ball to cover herself after repeating the name.

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