Lucy Discovers Wayne Newton

S4;E14~
December 27, 1965

Synopsis

When
Mr. Mooney’s dog runs away from Lucy, he turns up on Wayne Newton’s
farm. While there to retrieve him, Lucy hears Newton singing and
decides to introduce him to a record producer who just took a loan
out at the bank.

Regular
Cast

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

Mary
Jane Croft (Mary Jane Lewis) does not appear in this episode,
although Lucy does have a telephone conversation with her.

Guest
Cast

Wayne
Newton
(Himself) is
an American singer and entertainer. One of the best-known
entertainers in Las
Vegas,
he is known by the nicknames The ‘Midnight Idol,’ ‘Mr. Las Vegas’
and
‘Mr. Entertainment.’ His well-known songs include 1972’s “Daddy,
Don’t You Walk So Fast”
(#4 on the Billboard
chart),
“Years”
(1980),
and
his signature
song
“Danke
Schoen”
(1963). He will also play himself in two episodes of “Here’s
Lucy.”

Gary
Morton
(Mr. Morton) was
a comedian who worked the famed ‘Borscht Belt’ in the Catskills
Mountains. He met Lucille Ball shortly after her divorce from Desi
Arnaz and they married in November 1961. At her request, Morton gave
up his nightclub career and became a producer of “The Lucy Show.”
Morton also served as a warm-up comic for the show’s studio
audience. In early episodes of the series, his loud guffaw can be
heard on the laugh track. Frequent “Lucy Show” extra Sid Gould
was his cousin. He will make three appearances on “Here’s Lucy.”
Morton passed away in 1999.

Mr.
Morton runs the Morton Record Company. Gary Morton is also “The Lucy
Show” Production Consultant.

The
six disc jockeys and the band at the recording studio are uncredited.

This is the last new episode of 1965. The script was finalized on November 1, 1965. The previous week, Monday, December 20, 1965, CBS aired a rerun of “Lucy in the Music World” (S4;E3) where Lucy ‘discovers’ Mel Tinker (Mel Torme).

Wayne
Newton, although already a rising singer of pop songs, is literally
catapulted into stardom by this appearance. Wayne performs “Side
By Side”, “You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You”, and
an ode to his cow, “Bessie the Heifer.”
“Bessie
The Heifer”
is
a 1951 country-western
novelty
song
written
by Jimmy
Dickens
and
Boudleaux
Bryant.

Nelson,
Mr. Mooney’s dog is a black and white sheepdog.
This is Nelson’s first appearance since “Lucy’s Contact Lenses”
(S3;E10). Although we have not heard if Mr. Mooney’s children have
moved west, his dog has. Nelson’s professional name was Lord Nelson.

Mr.
Mooney invests $10,000 of his own money in Wayne Newton’s recording session, a considerable sum for such a notorious tightwad.

Lucy
tells Mr. Mooney Nelson was up late watching “Lassie.” The TV
series “Lassie” (about the adventures of a collie dog) was seen
on CBS from 1954 to 1971. Canine
star Lassie
was first mentioned on “I Love Lucy” in “The
Young Fans” (ILL S1;E20),
and most recently mentioned on “The Lucy Show” in “Lucy and the
Countess Have a Horse Guest” (S4;E6). Lassie made a guest appearance on “The Desilu Revue” in 1959.

Lucy
mentions Mr. Mooney’s boss, Mr. Cheever, although the character will
not be seen on screen until season five, more than a year away. When
he does appear he will be played by Roy Roberts.

Lucy
mentions that her grandmother had a farm when she was a kid.

In
addition to Nelson, Mr. Mooney’s sheep dog, Wayne Newton’s farm (and
later the recording studio) is populated by a donkey, a faun, a calf,
goats, a flock of geese, a turkey, a horse, two cows, chickens, a
rabbit, a lamb, and pigeons. A cow was last seen on “The Lucy
Show” in “Lucy and the Countess Lose Weight” (S3;E21). Pigeons
were used in “Lucy Helps the Countess” (S4;E8). A lamb (named
Clementine) was featured in “Lucy Buys a Sheep” (S1;E5). Horses
were used in “Lucy Visits the White House” (S1;E25), “Lucy and
Arthur Godfrey” (S3;E25) and “Lucy and the Countess Have a Horse
Guest” (S4;E6).

In 2019, Wayne Newton talked to Fox News about Lucille Ball and this episode:

“I played a country boy singing to animals on ‘The Lucy Show,’ and CBS wanted her company Desilu to produce a series around that character,” the singer recalled. “Just before the final papers were signed, I get a call from Lucy saying, ‘Wayne, I haven’t been able to sleep. Can my husband and I fly to Vegas tonight and meet you?’

“When she got here, she said, ‘We’re going to say a name and I want your reaction: Jim Nabors,’. “I said, ‘Gomer Pyle.’ She said, ‘Unless you want to be this country boy the rest of your life, turn the series down because it will ruin your life.’ I thought that was the greatest example of someone, being the great star she was, caring that much about somebody else.”

Blooper
Alerts!

Lucy
has trouble saying “Delicious!” when eating Wayne’s oatmeal
cookies. She swallows and tries again. While Lucy is talking a goat
unexpectedly eats the cookie from Lucy’s hand. She jumps. As
Newton continues with the dialogue Lucy’s laughs a bit and then
quickly regains her composure. At one point, the calf starts to
nibble on Mr. Mooney’s trousers!