Lucy and the Golden Greek

S4;E2
~ September 20, 1965

Synopsis

Lucy’s
new neighbor Mary Jane fixes her up with a lifeguard, a mousy man who
only comes alive when under the spell of Greek music.

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Gale Gordon (Theodore J. Mooney), Mary Jane
Croft (Mary Jane Lewis)

The
is the first appearance of Mary
Jane Croft
as
Mary Jane Lewis. Croft previously played the recurring role of Audrey
Simmons when the show was set in Danfield.
She was married to former “Lucy Show” producer Elliott Lewis
meaning that Mary Jane Lewis is Croft’s legal name as well as her
character name.

Guest
Cast

Howard
Morris (Howard Coe) is probably best remembered as Ernest T. Bass
on “The Andy Griffith Show,” which filmed on the Desilu lot. His
last appearance as Bass aired just one week after this episode of
“The Lucy Show” and was the lead in to “Lucy in the Music
World” (S4;E3). From the mid 1960’s Morris was active as a voice
artist for hundreds of cartoon characters. On Broadway, he played
Rosencrantz to Maurice Evans’ Hamlet, as well as appearing in
two musicals. This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Howard
is a professional lifeguard who has lived in California sixteen years
and never had a date. His real name is Howard Colansankis and both
his parents are Greek.

Robert
Fortier
(Jim Wells) was
a dancer, actor, sailor and a commercial fisherman. He originated
roles on Broadway in Pal
Joey
(1952) and Me
and Juliet
(1953). Fortier appeared in 47 feature films and TV productions from
1950 to 1985. He frequently worked with director Robert Altman. This
is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Joe
DeSantis
(Headwaiter) was a veteran of a dozen Broadway plays from 1932 to
1980 as well as more than 150 screen credits. This
is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Sid
Gould
(Waiter) 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.”

Various
background performers play the customers of the Golden Greek, the
Greek dancers, and the quartet.

The
episode was filmed on June 3, 1965. On that date, American astronaut
Ed White performed the first US spacewalk during the Gemini 4
mission. The
title of the episode refers to a restaurant, not a character.

When
the episode opens, Mary Jane says Lucy has been in Los Angeles about
a month. She also manages to re-cap Lucy’s life since she left
Danfield thanks to the apartment’s thin walls and a gossipy landlady.
This is especially helpful for loyal viewers who may have missed
“Lucy at Marineland” (S4;E1), where pretty much the same
exposition was provided.

Lucy has brought her portable transistor radio with her from Danfield. It was featured in all three episodes that ended season three.

The
layout of Lucy’s second floor Los Angeles apartment is not unlike
that of her Danfield home. The only addition is a plant-filled patio
off the kitchen door.

Gale
Gordon pronounces ‘Los Angeles’ with a hard ‘g’ (as in ‘angle-eez’)
something he will do throughout “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s
Lucy.”

Mr.
Mooney equates California to the Statue of Liberty: “Give me
your tired, your poor, your weak, your lunatics, your cuckoo birds –
and they all flock here!” This is a very loose paraphrase of
Emma Lazarus’s 1883 poem “The New Colossus” inscribed at the
pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. While Mr. Mooney is saying these
lines the underscoring is the patriotic song “America.”

For
her blind date, Lucy wears a blue and green chiffon dress that
perfectly matches her apartment. She also wears a blue satin coat
that gets a few murmers of appreciation from the audience. Mary Jane
told Lucy not to “dress to kill” for the date. Lucy replies that
she’ll just dress to “wound him a little.” Lucille Ball spends
the entire episode dressed in blue, a color that favored her. This
may be a reaction to the fact that CBS is now airing the series in
color.

Handing
the patrons tambourines, the headwaiter says “You can bang alone
with Mitchapopolis.” This is a pun on “Sing Along With
Mitch” (1961-1964), a very successful music TV show hosted by
bandleader Mitch Miller. He was previously mentioned in “Lucy Puts
Up a TV Antenna” (S1;E9).

After
Howard tweaks Lucy cheek relentlessly, she calls him “Zorba the
Tweak,” a pun on the title of the 1964 Oscar-winning film Zorba
the Greek starring Anthony Quinn.

For
the Greek folk dance where the men dance together, all the other
dancers remove their suit coats except Howard and Jim.

Callback!

The
sequence where love-crazed Howard chases Lucy around the dance floor
is vaguely reminiscent of when a jealous Lucy Ricardo was pursued
through Ricky’s African dance number in “Cuban Pals” (ILL
S1;E28).

Blooper
Alert!

Not
unlike her kitchen in Danfield, the layout of Lucy’s Hollywood
kitchen will change from episode to episode, depending on the plot
needs.