Lucy and the Submarine

S5;E2
~ September 19, 1966

Synopsis

Mr.
Mooney goes on training maneuvers with his old Navy buddy and
forgets to sign some important papers before he leaves the bank. To get his signature, Lucy disguises herself as a sailor to follow him aboard a submarine but gets trapped inside when the sub takes a
dive.

Regular
Cast

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

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

Guest
Cast

Roy
Roberts
(Admiral, above left) was born Roy Barnes Jones in Tampa, Florida in 1906.
His early career was on the Broadway stage, gracing such plays as Old
Man Murphy
(1931), Twentieth
Century (1932),
The
Body Beautiful
(1935) and My
Sister Eileen
(1942).
In Hollywood, the veteran character actor clocked over 900 screen
performances in his 40 year career, most of which were authority
figures. He and Lucille Ball appeared together in Miss
Grant Takes Richmond
(1949). Halfway through season 5 of “The Lucy Show” he will
assume the role of Mr. Cheever, Mr. Mooney’s boss at the bank, a
character he will play for 14 episodes. He was seen as various
characters in 5 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” In addition, he was a
regular on “McHale’s Navy” (Admiral Rogers), “The Beverly
Hillbillies” (John Cushing), “Bewitched” (Frank Stephens),
“Petticoat Junction” (Norman Curtis), and “Gunsmoke” (Harry
Bodkin). Roberts died in 1975 at age 69.

Robert
Carson
(Commander Bill Moore, above right) played
bank employee Mr. Potter in “Lucy
Saves Milton Berle” (S4;E13)
and
“Lucy
at Marineland” (S4;E1).
He
was a busy Canadian-born character actor making his last appearance
on the series. He also made five appearances on “Here’s Lucy.”

Steven
Marlo
(Marine Guard) makes the first of his two appearances on “The Lucy
Show.” He will return for “Lucy Visits Viv” (S5;E15).

Sid
Gould
(Laundry
Man, uncredited) 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.

Eddie
Ryder
(William Jones, Leering Sailor)
appeared as Bones Snodgrass on the “Our Miss Brooks” from 1953-54
under the name Eddie Riley. In addition to this episode, he was also
seen with Lucille Ball in the 1964 teleplay “Mr. and Mrs.”

Jerry Rush (Jerry Rush, Sailor, uncredited) makes the third of his ten (mostly uncredited) appearances on the series. He also did two episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Larry Anthony (Larry Anthony, Sailor, uncredited) makes his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Other
male background performers play sailors in the Navy yard and on the
submarine.

On
the same night this episode first aired (September 19, 1966), Roy
Roberts (the Admiral) was seen in “The Road West,” which followed
“The Lucy Show” on NBC.

This
is the only episode written by the team of
Dirk Bensfield
and Perry
Grant.
Both were integral writers on “The Adventures of Ozzie and
Harriet” (1952-1966), which ended its long run earlier in in the
year, freeing them up to take freelance projects like “The Lucy
Show.”

This
episode’s premise of Mr. Mooney forgetting to sign important bank
papers and Lucy following him to some exotic location is basically
the same as “Lucy the Rain Goddess” (S4;E15), but instead of a
dude ranch, the location is a submarine.

The
episode’s underscoring integrates “Anchors Aweigh,” the
march of the United
States Navy composed
in 1906 by Charles
A. Zimmermann.

Lucille
Ball’s voice sounds a bit scratchy during portions of the episode,
perhaps as the result of illness combined with heavy smoking.

Mr.
Mooney tells Lucy he’s going on a two-week training, but warns her
(in his best deep-voiced, measure tones) that “I
shall return!” These
were the immortal words of General
Douglas MacArthur
when he escaped the Philippines after being surrounded by the
Japanese in March 1942.

Coincidentally,
Lucy has a telephone conversation with Mr. Cheever, the Bank
President, in the same episode that features Roy Roberts (the
Admiral), who will play Mr. Cheever later in the season.

Lucy
Carmichael once again mentions that she is from Jamestown, which was
also the birthplace of Lucy Ricardo and the real hometown of Lucille
Ball.

Mr.
Mooney says he received the Victory Medal when he was stationed on
the SS Porpoise submarine in the South Pacific during World War II.
Later we find out that Mr. Mooney made all that up to impress Lucy
and that he was actually a housing officer stationed just outside of
Wichita.

Film
editor John Foley uses a ‘flip wipe’ to denote the passage of time
when Lucy changes clothes in the laundry van. This editing technique
was only used in one previous episode of “The Lucy Show,” which
usually uses a standard ‘fade’ to transition between scenes.

The
episode also employs brief clips of stock footage of sailors working
on a docked submarine and (later) of a sub moving through the water
and then resurfacing.

When
all the other sailors are holding up their ID and stating their names
to the guard in last name / first name order, Lucy says “Club,
Auto” and flashes her AAA
card!

Where
there’s water, rest assured Mr. Mooney will end up wet. In the
submarine his pants and shirt get drenched when he opens the hatch
after the sub is underway.

With
her floppy white sailor cap and bumbling demeanor, Lucy more than
resembles Gilligan, the goofy first mate of the SS Minnow on
“Gilligan’s Island,” a series that was then entering its third
and final season (of its original run) on CBS just as “Lucy” was
entering its fifth.

Callbacks!

Back
in Danfield, Viv’s son Sherman owned a submarine lunchbox, which was
seen in “Vivian Sues Lucy” (S1;E10) and “Viv Moves Out”
(S2;E22).

Sherman and Lucy’s son Jerry played with a toy submarine in
“The Loophole in the Lease” (S2;E12).

A
deflated Mr. Mooney admits to being stationed in Wichita during the
war. Wichita was also used as a punchline by the Kansan couple atop
the Empire State Building in “Lucy is Envious” (ILL S3;E22) just
before Lucy and Ethel appear as women from Mars. Clearly they’re not
in Kansas anymore!

Blooper
Alerts

Mr.
Mooney’s office changes configuration yet again. In the previous
episode there was a white wall and potted palm where a wood grain
wall and safe now are located.

Gale
Gordon mistakenly mixes his metaphors when he barks at Lucy: “While
I’m gone I want this office tip ship shape.” He starts to say
“tip top shape” but the line is likely the nautical
metaphor “ship shape.”

Back
in Danfield, Lucy and Viv often proudly mentioned that they were
WAVES, a Navy reserve program for women during World War II. Yet
here, when Lucy hears of Mr. Mooney’s service in the Navy, she says
nothing about it.

As
usual, Lucy manages to go unnoticed disguised as a male sailor
despite her bright red lipstick, blue eye shadow, and heavy
eyelashes. Until she removes her sailor cap, that is – then the
jig is up!