Lucy Saves Milton Berle

S4;E13~
December 6, 1965

Synopsis

When
Milton Berle is doing research to play an alcoholic, he disguises
himself as a drunk and visits the soup kitchen sponsored by Mr.
Mooney’s bank. Lucy and Mary Jane recognize him and so he tells them
he is Milton Berle’s twin brother, Arthur. Lucy vows to get even
with Milton Berle for neglecting his brother and causes an uproar at
a press party.

Regular
Cast

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

Guest
Cast

Milton
Berle
(Himself) was
born Milton Berlinger in New York City on July 12, 1908. He started
performing at the age of five. He perfected his comedy in vaudeville,
early silent films, and then on radio, before taking his act to the
small screen, where he would be proclaimed “Mr. Television” and
later “Uncle Miltie.” He hosted “Texaco Star Theater” on
NBC from 1948 to 1956. The variety show was re-titled "The
Milton Berle Show” in 1954 when Texaco dropped their sponsorship.
The program was briefly revived in 1958, but lasted only one season.
In 1959 he played himself in “Milton Berle Hides out at the
Ricardos.” Berle continued to perform live, in films, and on
television specials for the remainder of his career. One of his
classic bits was to dress in drag, something only hinted at in this
episode. Berle will return for three episodes of "The Lucy Show”
and two episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” On all but one, he again
played himself. He died of colon cancer in 2002.

Milton
Frome
(Jerry Bike, Milton Berle’s Agent) played Sam, who Lucy Ricardo tried
to fix up with Dorothy, in “The Matchmaker” (ILL S4;E5). He will
also play a waiter in a 1972 episode of “Here’s Lucy” starring
Donny Osmond. He made a half a dozen appearances with Milton Berle
on “Texaco Star Theatre” from 1953 to 1956.

The
Agent’s last name is never mentioned. It is the same as Lester Bike,
Ernie Ford’s friend and TV host in “Tennessee Ernie Hangs On”
(ILL S3;E29).

Robert
S. Carson
(Mr. Potter) also played Mr. Potter in “Lucy at Marineland”
(S4;E1). He was a busy Canadian-born character actor making the
fourth of his six appearances on the series. He also made five
appearances on “Here’s Lucy.”

Charles
Cantor
(Old Man, Autograph Hound) was a stage and radio actor making his
penultimate screen appearance before passing away nine months later.

Eleanor
Audley
(Eleanor, Columnist) was first seen with Lucille Ball as Mrs.
Spaulding, the first owner of the Ricardo’s Westport home in “Lucy
Wants to Move to the Country” (ILL S6;E15). She returned to “I
Love Lucy” to play one of the garden club judges in “Lucy Raises
Tulips” (ILL S6;E26). Audley was a New York born actress who
performed in eight Broadway plays between 1926 and 1944. She
specialized in snobbish society matron types, most notably as Eddie
Albert’s mother on TV’s “Green Acres” (1965). She is probably
best known, however, as the voice of two of Disney’s most memorable
animated villainesses: Lady Tremaine, the wicked stepmother in
Cinderella
(1950);
and the evil Maleficent in Sleeping
Beauty (1959).
This is her last appearance opposite Lucille Ball.

Sid
Gould (Sid,
Reporter) 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.”

A
few of the others at the press party are played by:

Paul
Bradley
makes the last of his six appearances on “The Lucy Show” in
various roles. He will also be seen in two episodes of “Here’s
Lucy.”
Paul
Power was
seen in two episodes of “I Love Lucy” and two films with Lucille
Ball.
Louise Lane makes the first of her four background appearances on “The Lucy Show.”
Hazel
Pierce
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).

Other
uncredited extras play the other guests at the press party and the
men at the soup kitchen.

The
night this episode first aired (December 6, 1965) “The Lucy Show”
was followed by an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” (filmed at
Desilu) which also featured Milton Frome (Jerry Bike).

Jerry
Bike’s office is decorated with large photographs of Danny Thomas and
Bob Hope.

When Berle arrives, he flips them open to reveal four
photos of Milton Berle instead. Danny Thomas recently guest starred
in “Lucy Helps Danny Thomas” (S4;E7) as well as appearing in
“Lucy Makes Room for Danny,” an episode of “The Lucy-Desi
Comedy Hour.” Bob Hope teamed with Lucy in numerous feature films
as well as appearing as himself in the season six opener of “I Love
Lucy.”

When
Berle and his agent are discussing him playing a serious role, Berle
mentions Joe Levine. Joe
Levine was
the producer of the 1966 film The
Oscar,
in which Berle played a dramatic part. Although the film had finished shooting at the time of this episode’s initial broadcast, it
would not be released until March 1966, so the already obscure
reference would be lost on viewers. The film (which is not mentioned
by name in the episode) also featured Paul Bradley, who is an extra
in this episode, as well as Jesse Wayne, “The Lucy Show” stunt
coordinator.

As
examples of actors who did research by “living” their roles,
Jerry Bike cites Paul Newman as a prizefighter and Marlon Brando as a
cowboy. Newman played boxer Rocky Graziano in the bio-pic Somebody
Up There Likes Me
in 1956. Brando played cowboy Rio in One-Eyed
Jacks
in 1961. Neither film is mentioned by name in the episode.

Hearing
about Newman and Brando, Milton Berle facetiously wonders what role
Frank
Sinatra
is preparing for? This may be a reference to Sinatra’s love life after breaking off engagements to Lauren
Bacall in
1958 and Juliet
Prowse in
1962. It may also be referring to Sinatra’s ties to organized crime.
In 1963, he was stripped of his gaming license because a known
mobster was seen at his Lake Tahoe casino, one which Lucille Ball
herself was known to visit. Berle suggests he use Dean
Martin
as a role model to play a drunk. Martin’s affinity for alcohol has
been used as the source of humor previously on “The Lucy Show.”

Mr.
Mooney’s Westland Bank is sponsoring meals at the South Side Soup
Kitchen. Upon entering the run down soup kitchen, Milton Berle says
“I
was here once. Jack Benny took me here for dinner.”
Berle is playing upon Jack
Benny’s
persona of being a miser. Benny guest starred in “Lucy and the
Plumber” (S3;E2).

Berle introduces himself as Herman Berman.

LUCY: "Herman Berman; that’s a funny name.”
HERMAN / BERLE: “That’s nothing. My sister’s name is Sherman Berman.”

“Kellam DeForest was the resident fact checker and researcher for Desilu scripts. There happened to be a man living in the Bronx whose name was Herman Sherman Berman. As meticulous as his research was to discover any real life persons with the same name, Kellam couldn’t catch them all. That’s why film and TV companies have errors and omissions insurance. I think they sent Mr. Berman on an expense-paid trip to Las Vegas and he didn’t sue.“ ~ Howard Rayfiel, Where The Hell is Desilu?

Lucy brings up
comedian Shelley
Berman.
On New Year’s Day 1961 Lucille Ball was a mystery guest on “What’s
My Line?” where Shelley Berman was one of the panelists.

When
Mary Jane first recognizes Berle as someone famous, Lucy thinks he’s
Jackie Gleason.
In “Lucy Helps Danny Thomas” (S4;E7) she mistakenly attributes
the catch phrase “And
away we go!” to
Thomas when it was actually Jackie Gleason’s.

While
trying to remain incognito, Milton Berle mutters his famous
catch-phrase:
“I’ll kill you a million times.” His
cover is immediately blown.

When
Lucy is dressed as a poor flower seller, Mr. Mooney calls it a
“cheesy
Mary Poppins outfit.” Disney’s
Mary
Poppins
(1964) was an Oscar-winning film that featured Julie Andrews.
Although Mary Poppins never dressed as a poor flower seller, Julie
Andrews did dress this way on stage in My
Fair Lady as
Eliza Doolittle. My
Fair Lady and
Mary Poppins
were both Oscar contenders in 1965.

Callbacks!

Milton
Berle also lined his office with photos of himself in “Milton Berle
Hides out at the Ricardos”, a 1959 episode of “The Lucy-Desi
Comedy Hour.”

Fast Forward!

Two
seasons later, Lucy Carmichael will again meet Milton Berle for the
first time in "Lucy
Meets the Berles”
(S6;E1). The episode also features Mary Jane Croft and is directed
by Maury Thompson.

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