Lucy Meets Mickey Rooney

S4;E18~
January 24, 1966

Synopsis

Mickey
Rooney takes out a loan from Mr. Mooney’s bank to open an acting
school. Lucy and Mr. Mooney each wangle free acting lessons, which
culminates in a silent movie sketch.

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy Carmichael / ‘The Little Tramp’), Gale Gordon (Theodore J.
Mooney / ‘Shopkeeper’)

Mary
Jane Croft (Mary Jane Lewis) does not appear in this episode.

Guest
Cast

Mickey
Rooney
(Himself / ‘The Kid’) was
born Joe Yule Jr. on September 23, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York. He
first took the stage as a toddler in his parents vaudeville act at 17
months old. He made his first film appearance in 1926. The following
year, he played the lead character in the first Mickey McGuire short
film. It was in this popular film series that he took the stage name
Mickey Rooney.
He won a juvenile Oscar in 1934, which he shared with Deana Durbin.
He was nominated four more times and received an honorary Oscar in
1983. He appeared with Lucille Ball in the 1943 film Thousands
Cheer.
Rooney was married eight times. He died in 2014 at the age of 93.

Dorothy
Konrad
(Acting Student / “Rich Woman’) played
Danfield volunteer firefighter Dorothy Boyer in several season one
episodes and will appear just once more in the series.

George
Barrows
(‘Prisoner’) played
a gorilla in his very first screen credit, Tarzan
and His Mate (1934).
He donned the gorilla suit 18 more times from 1954 to 1978. His final
simian character was on “The Incredible Hulk.” His first
appearance on “The Lucy Show” was also as a gorilla, in“Lucy
and the Monsters” (S3;E18).
This is the second of his ‘human’ characters on the series.

The
Acting Students / ‘Keystone Cops’ are played by:

Jack
Perkins
was
a stuntman and actor often cast for his ability to play drunk. He
also has quite a few credits as a brawler and a bartender. He will
appear in one more episode of “The Lucy Show.”

Fred
Krone was
a stuntman and actor. He was a
lifetime member of the Stuntman’s Association of Motion Pictures.

Harvey
Parry was a stuntman and actor who
appeared with Lucille Ball in two films in the 1930s. He will do one
more episode of “The Lucy Show.”

Sid
Gould
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.”

Three
other female extras round out the acting class. A dog appears in the
silent movie sketch.

This
is the first and only episode written by Hugh Wedlock Jr. and Alan
Manings.

The
school Mickey Rooney wants to open is called The Players Showcase.

At
the start of the episode, Mr. Mooney is asking Lucy for the Nicoletti
file. Louis
Nicoletti
played bit parts on 20 episodes of “I Love Lucy.” His name was
given to the Florence hotel manager in “Lucy is Homesick in Italy”
(ILL S5;E22).

To
extend the loan to Rooney, Mr. Mooney goes to check with Bank
President Mr. Cheever. The character will not be seen for another
year and will be played by Roy Roberts.

Lucy: “Mickey
Rooney the actor?”
Mr.
Mooney: “No,
Mickey Rooney the plumber!”

In
“Lucy and the Plumber” (S3;E2) the plumber looked just like an
actor – Jack Benny.

When
Lucy’s lipstick smears across her cheek due to a sudden shock, Mr.
Mooney says “You
look like Geronimo!”
Geronimo
(1829-1909) was a prominent Native American warrior from the Apache
tribe who led rebellions to protect his homeland. Mr. Mooney is
referring to the ‘Indian’ war paint.

Mickey
Rooney mentions his alimony payments. At the time this episode was
filmed in late 1965, Rooney had been divorced four times. His fifth
wife died just one week after this episode first aired. He
re-married in September 1966 and would marry twice more before his
death.

Mr.
Mooney says to Lucy: “What
in the name of Bette Davis makes you think you can act?”
Bette
Davis
(1908-89) was a two-time Oscar winner who was nominated nine other
times. She was slated to appear as “The Celebrity Next Door” on
the “Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” but withdrew at the last minute and
was replaced by Tallulah Bankhead.

Lucy
lists her school acting credits: Mr. Roberts (in a 1948 play of the
same name), MacBeth (in Shakespeare’s tragedy of the same name),
Julius Caesar, and Captain Hook in Peter
Pan.
Apparently Lucy must have gone to an all-girls school since these
are all male roles! She fails to mention her experience playing
Cleopatra for the Danfield Community Players (S2;E1).

Praising
Mickey Rooney, Lucy tells him “Those
father and son talks with Judge Hardy helped a lot.”
Lucy is referring to Rooney’s portrayal of Andy Hardy in 16 films
between 1937 and 1958. Lewis Stone (above left) played Andy’s Judge father in all
but one. In the first film the father was played by Lionel
Barrymore.

While
playing drunk during an improv, Rooney says to Lucy “What’s
new pussycat?” The expression was also the title of a 1965 film written by Woody
Allen as well as its title song nominated for an Oscar in 1966.

In
Rooney’s acting class, Mr. Mooney rehearses Mark Antony’s famous
speech from Shakespeare’s Julius
Caesar:
“Friends,
Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.” Vivian Vance played Mark Antony to Lucy’s Cleopatra back
in Danfield.

The
underscoring to portions of the silent movie sketch is “Hello, Ma
Baby,’” a song written by Ida Emerson and Joseph E. Howard in 1899.
It is probably most associated with the singing and dancing frog in
the 1955 Merrie Melodies cartoon short “One Froggy Evening.”

Callbacks!

The
Charlie Chaplin silent movie skit Lucy does with Mooney and Rooney is
reminiscent of the one she did with Vivian Vance in “Chris’s
New Year’s Eve Party“
(S1;E14).

An
improv class gives Lucille Ball a chance to do her chicken imitation.
She first walked like a chicken as Lucy Ricardo to lead 500 baby
chicks back into their boxes in “Lucy Raises Chickens” (ILL
S6;E19).

Blooper
Alerts

Cuts! There
are obvious edits in the office scene, perhaps for time.

Hays Press! When
Lucy is nailing up the Theatre Guide poster on the studio wall, one
of the ads has the word ‘Palace’ in the same font found in the
newspaper in “Lucy, the Rain Goddess” (S4;E15) and “Ricky’s
Old Girlfriend” (ILL S3;E12)
in
1953! Most Hollywood prop newspapers were printed by the same company: the Hays Press.

Speilling! The
sign above the silent movie sketch grocery store say “Market Low
Prices on Meat’s” – with a possessive apostrophe.

Papermoon Loves Lucy