Lucy Dates Dean Martin

S4;E21
~ February 14, 1966

Synopsis

Dean
Martin’s stunt double Eddie makes a date with Lucy to take her to a charity
ball, but when he is suddenly called to the set, Dean takes Lucy to
the event instead, pretending he is Eddie.

Regular
Cast

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

Guest
Cast

Dean
Martin
(Himself / Eddie Feldman) was
born Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio,
in 1917. He made his screen debut in a short playing a singer in Art
Mooney’s band, but his first big screen role was 1949’s My Friend
Irma with Jerry Lewis. This began a partnership that would be one of
the most successful screen pairings in cinema history. Later, he
also worked frequently members of “the Rat Pack”: Frank
Sinatra, Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Sammy Davis Jr. His persona
was that of a playboy, usually seen with a glass of booze and a
cigarette. Martin and Lucille Ball appeared on many TV variety and
award shows together and made the TV movie “Lucy Gets Lucky” in
1975. He died on Christmas Day in 1995 at age 78.

Stunt man Eddie Feldman supposedly acted on the Broadway stage.

Tommy
Farrell
(Harry) appeared
in “Lucy and the Beauty Doctor” (S3;E24). He was on Broadway in
three plays between 1942 and 1947. Farrell will appear in six
episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Sid
Gould
(Bandleader) 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.

Roy
Rowan
(Radio Announcer, uncredited) was the off-camera announcer for every episode of
“I Love Lucy” as well as “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s
Lucy.” He was also the voice heard when TV or radio programs were
featured on the plot of all three shows. He made a couple of on
screen appearances as well.

Leon
Alton
(Charity Ball Attendee, uncredited, below left) appeared
with Lucille Ball in The
Facts of Life
(1960)
and Critics
Choice (1963).
He also was seen in three episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Leoda
Richards
(Charity Ball Attendee, red dress, uncreidted) made
at least three background appearances on “I Love Lucy.” In 1934, she appeared on Broadway in Anything
Goes,
which also starred a young Vivian Vance. This is the second of her
four episodes of “The Lucy Show.” She was also in the Lucille
Ball film Yours,
Mine and Ours (1968).

Richards is the woman in the red dress who says “I’ve always been a fan of yours, Dean.” The blonde in blue, who also has a line, has not been identified.

Paul Power (Charity Ball Attendee, uncredited) was seen in two films with Lucille Ball, two episodes of “I Love Lucy,” and three episodes of “The Lucy Show.”

Rudy Germane (Charity Ball Attendee, uncredited) did three films with Lucille Ball as well as a “Sunday Showcase: The Lucy-Desi Milton Berle Special” in 1959.

Uncredited background performers play the waitstaff, musicians, and other guests attending the Charity Ball.

Appropriately for a ‘dating’ episode, this episode was first aired on Valentine’s Day 1966.

This
episode was filmed January 6, 1966, the first one of the new year. Coincidentally, that same night “The Dean Martin Show” aired its first episode of the new year on ABC TV.

Immediately following the initial broadcast of this episode on February 14, 1966, “The Andy Griffith Show” featured Keith Thibodeaux (aka Richard Keith aka Little Ricky) in his last of 13 appearances in Mayberry.

Lucille
Ball cited this episode as her personal favorite of the entire
series. She also said that outside of Vivian Vance, Dean Martin was one of the few people who always made her laugh.

Lucille Ball’s first appearance with Dean Martin was on his radio show with Jerry Lewis in December 1948. Lucy was then the star of her own radio show, “My Favorite Husband.”

This episode continues the depiction of Lucy as a maven of Hollywood collectibles
and trivia which originated with the previous week’s episode “Lucy
Attends a Hollywood Premiere” (S4;E19, above).

Lucille
Ball tries out a new hairstyle in this episode.

During their cocktail conversation, Lucy mentions to Eddie that the first time she saw Dean Martin was he working with Jerry. ‘Eddie’ replies “Jerry who?” Lucy mentions their ‘split up’ – a time when Martin and Jerry Lewis went their separate ways after two decades of performing together. Lewis later said he initiated the split in order to allow Dean to shine in his own right. In talking about their break-up, Lucille Ball might very well be speaking about her own high-profile split with Desi Arnaz, also a pairing of a musician and comic actor that also made the public worry about their subsequent careers and personal lives.

For his part, Lewis never appeared on a Lucy sitcom, but did act opposite Ball in “Danny Thomas’s Wonderful World of Burlesque” in 1965 and “The Jack Benny Birthday Special” in 1969.

During the 1960s, Martin’s son Dino joined with
Lucy’s son Desi Jr. and Billy Hinsche to form the teen boy band Dino, Desi and Billy.

In return for Martin appearing on this episode of “The Lucy Show,”
Lucille Ball appeared on “The Dean Martin Show” (above, with Kate Smith) which aired four
days earlier on February 10, 1966.

EDDIE: “Dean’s drinking is all exaggerated… Actually, he doesn’t care for the stuff.
LUCY: “He doesn’t?”
EDDIE: “No, but I like a little sauce, if you’ve go something.”

Martin’s legendary propensity for drinking was used for humor in this and several
previous episodes. Much to his dismay, Lucy Carmichael makes martinis with lemon juice in place of vermouth and white
cooking wine for gin.

Dean
Martin gets entrance applause from the studio audience as Eddie
Feldman AND as then again as himself.

Eddie
Feldman says that while Lucy is attractive, she is no Liz Taylor.
Or Gina Lollobrigida. Or Brigitte Bardot. Elizabeth
Taylor
has been mentioned several times since Lucy arrived in Hollywood.
She was also mentioned on “I Love Lucy” and made a guest
appearance on “Here’s Lucy” as herself. Gina
Lollobrigida
was twice mentioned on “I Love Lucy” and appeared on “The Dean
Martin Show” twice in 1969. Brigitte
Bardot
is constantly voted one of the sexiest film stars in history.

Tickets to the Charity Ball cost $100 each.

The starting bid for the memorabilia is $1,000. For
the fundraising auction, Hollywood studios and celebrities donated:

Cary
Grant’s
pipe – Grant was an avid pipe smoker on screen and off, although he
became a militant anti-smoker later in life. He was mentioned five
times on “I Love Lucy.”
John
Wayne’s
saddle – Wayne was known for his roles as cowboys on horseback. He
played himself on a season 5 episode of “I Love Lucy” and will do
so again on a season 5 episode of “The Lucy Show.” Mr.
Mooney dictates a letter to Wayne, thanking him for donating the
saddle. The opening bid will be $1,000. Lucy is clearly enamored of
Wayne, just as Lucy Ricardo was in 1955.
Elvis
Presley’s
guitar – early in his career, the rock and roll icon generally
played guitar when he sang. Presley was was
mentioned by Ethel as “that Elvis What’s-His-Name” in “Lucy
Misses the Mertzes” (ILL S6;E17)
as well as three previous mentions on “The Lucy Show.”
Kirk
Douglas’s
bow – this is probably the golden bow Douglas used in Ulysses
(1954). Douglas made a cameo appearance in the previous episode,
“Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (S4;E20).
Brigitte
Bardot’s
bikini – the voluptuous French film star was often scantily dressed
in her films.
Marlon
Brando’s
t-shirt – from A
Streetcar Named Desire
(1951) sent over by Warner Brothers. Brando was mentioned on “I
Love Lucy” the day after he won the Oscar for On
the Waterfront as well as in “Lucy Visits Grauman’s” (ILL S5;E1).
He appeared with Dean Martin in the 1958 film The
Young Lions.
Audrey Hepburn’s red beaded jacket – From Danger in Paris. [See Blooper Alert at the end of this blog for more about this item.]

About Audrey Hepburn’s red beaded jacket, Martin says “The last time I saw anything that fancy was on Liberace.” Piano player and entertainer Liberace was known for his flamboyant costumes. He was mentioned on “I Love Lucy” and played himself on an episode of “Here’s Lucy.”

The
band at the Charity Ball plays a medley:

”(I’d
Like to Get You on a) Slow Boat to China“ –
by
Frank
Loesser,
published in 1948.
"On
the Sunny Side of the Street” –
a 1930
song
composed by Jimmy
McHugh
and
lyrics by Dorothy
Fields introduced in the Broadway musical Lew
Leslie’s
International Revue.
“This
Can’t Be Love”
– from
the 1938
Rodgers
and Hart
musical
The
Boys from Syracuse.
It
was also included in the 1962
musical
film,
Billy
Rose’s Jumbo.

Lucy
says her favorite albums are Frank Sinatra, Jack Jones, and Andy
Williams – leaving out Dean Martin, much to Martin’s chagrin. The
singers Lucy mentions are all contemporaries of Martin’s:

Jack
Jones – appeared on four episodes of “The Dean Martin Show” between 1965
and 1967.
Frank
Sinatra – was part of the ‘Rat Pack’ with Dean Martin and the two did ten films
together. Sinatra was roasted on “The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast”
in 1978.
Andy
Williams – hosted the 23rd Annual Golden Globe Awards on February 28, 1966 (just two weeks after
this episode of “The Lucy Show”) in which Dean Martin presented
the Cecil B. DeMille Award to John Wayne.

Instead of records, Lucy turns on the radio, which is playing an instrumental version of “Everybody Loves Somebody Sometimes” and naturally ‘Eddie / Dean’ sings along. The song was written in 1947 by Sam Coslow, Irving Taylor, and pianist Ken Lane. Although it had been recorded by others, it was Dean Martin’s 1964 recording that was #1 on the Billboard Pop Charts.

A radio bulletin (the voice of Roy Rowan) about Eddie Feldman saving Dean Martin’s leading lady from a runaway horse gives away the masquerade.

LUCY: “Why didn’t you tell me you were Dean Martin right off the bat? I’d have gone out with you anyway!”

Callbacks!

Dean Martin never appeared on “I Love Lucy,” but his wife did! Jeanne Biegger (billed only as Mrs. Dean Martin) appeared as herself wearing a Don Loper dress in 1955’s “The Fashion Show”
(ILL S4;E19). The couple divorced in
1973 and she died in August 2016. In this episode of “The Lucy Show” the fact that Dean is married is mentioned, although once again, her name is not specified.

Much
of the humor of the show is derived from the audience knowing that
Dean Martin is playing both parts, while the characters do not. This
concept was similar to what was supposed to be the source of humor in
“Don Juan is Shelved” (ILL S4;E21) with producer Dore Schary
playing himself as well as an actor Lucy hires to be Dore Schary.
The concept was thwarted, however, when Schary withdrew from the
episode just before filming, and the role of Dore Schary was assumed
by Phil Ober, Vivian Vance’s (then) husband.

Fast Forward!

Dean Martin appeared as himself on “Ann-Margret: From Hollywood With Love”, a 1969 TV special that also starred Lucille Ball as herself and Celebrity Lu.

Although Dean Martin did not appear, his name was seen on the marquee of the Riviera Hotel when Lucy Carter went to Las Vegas in 1970’s “Lucy and Wayne Newton” (HL S2;E22). Martin was a Las Vegas mainstay at the Riviera.

Also in 1970, Lucille Ball (and dozens of other stars) make guest appearance on “The Dean Martin Show” season six opener.

Again in 1970, Lucy and Martin both did cameos on “Jack Benny’s 20th Anniversary Special” although the two did not share any scenes together.

This was also true of “Jack Benny’s Carnival Nights” in 1968, with both stars involved in separate scenes.

In 1975, Lucy Collins took a bus all the way to Las Vegas just to meet her idol, Dean Martin in “Lucy Gets Lucky”. Naturally, Lucy and Martin end up walking into the sunset together happily ever after. Like this “Lucy Show” episode, Dean again sings “Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime.”

That same year (1975), Martin hosted and roasted Lucille Ball on his “Dean Martin Celebrity Roast”, a series from Las Vegas.

A year later (1976), Martin also paid tribute to Lucille Ball on the TV special “CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years”.

In 1984, Martin again paid tribute to Lucy on an “All Star Party for Lucille Ball”, singing a specially written song about her.

Seeing Double!

Other episodes about celebrity doppelgangers like Eddie and Dean (different characters who look alike played by the same actor) include:

Plumber Harry Tuttle is a dead-ringer for comedian Jack Benny (and everyone tells him so) on a 1964 episode of “The Lucy Show.” In this case, the ‘real’ Benny never shows up.

Robert Goulet actually had two doppelgangers on a 1967 episode of “The Lucy Show”: Chuck Willis (left) and Arthur Finster (right).

“Lucy and Candid Camera” (HL S4;E14) starred host Allen Funt as himself and a criminal imposter who goes unnamed.

Lucille Ball’s old friend and film co-star Van Johnson also played his unnamed criminal imposter on a season one episode of “Here’s Lucy.”

And perhaps the best known example of the genre, Lucille Ball as herself and as Lucy Carter on a 1974 “Here’s Lucy.” This is the only time both characters occupy the same screen at the same time!

Blooper
Alerts

Fictional Film! Lucy admires (and later wears) a red beaded jacket she recognizes as one worn by Audrey Hepburn in 1937’s
Danger in Paris (aka
Cafe Colette aka
K-33). She says it was sent
over by Paramount. Danger in Paris
did not star Hepburn and was not
released by Paramount. This is likely something Lucille Ball wanted to wear so a story was made up for it.

Mary Jane Cut? When Eddie goes inside to get Lucy a wrap, the scene transitions with a flip wipe to his immediate return with the Hepburn jacket. As he comes in, we see Mary Jane leaving the terrace. It is unlikely that Mary Jane Croft would be an ‘extra’ in a scene – let alone be in wardrobe – just for this glimpse of her back!

Ladylike Behavior? Lucy invites ‘Eddie’ up to her apartment for a drink, something a single woman would likely not do in 1966 without connotations of ‘staying the night’. Of course, on a television show, the action needs a convenient place to be set, hence the apartment rather than a front porch or restaurant.

Papermoon Loves Lucy