Lucy Flies to London

S5;E6
~ October 17, 1966

Synopsis

Lucy
wins a trip to London but when she misses the plane, she must sit
next to Mr. Mooney on a flight to New York to make her connection.
First time flier Lucy causes havoc that is then blamed on Mr. Mooney.

Regular
Cast

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

Guest
Cast

Ben
Wrigley
(Unintelligible Ticket Agent, above right) was a British actor who appeared in My
Fair Lady
(1964) and Bednobs
and Broomsticks
(1971). He also did three episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Walter
Burke
(Cedric, Cockney Ticket Agent, above left) was a highly recognizable
Irish-American character actor whose small stature and wizened
features frequently found him cast as a leprechaun (a role which he
played on more than one occasion). This was his only appearance with
Lucille Ball.

Pat
Priest
(Flight Attendant) is probably best remembered as the second actress
to play Marilyn on “The Munsters,” taking over the role from
Beverly Owen, who left after season 1. She currently lives in Idaho
restoring and selling homes.

James
Wellman
(Airport Traveler) made just a dozen TV and film appearances between
1962 and 1975.

Romo
Vincent
(Passenger #1,aisle seat) was a Broadway performer from 1942 to 1959.
He later appeared in two episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Maury
Thompson (Passenger
#2, window seat) was the director of this episode (and all of seasons 4 and 5) of “The Lucy Show.” He started out as a camera coordinator on
“I Love Lucy.”

Joan
Swift
(Passenger #3, aisle seat behind Lucy) makes the first of her six
appearances on the series. Earlier in 1966, she appeared with Pat
Priest on an episode of “The Munsters.” Swift also did two
episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” Her final screen credit was 1975’s
“Lucy Gets Lucky” with Lucille Ball and Dean Martin.

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

This
episode is also known as “Lucy Goes to London.” It was
filmed on Thursday, September 15, 1966. It was designed as a lead-in
to the following week’s CBS special “Lucy in London,” which was
filmed on location in England in May 1966, four months earlier.

Although officially written by Bob O’Brien, former “Lucy Show”
and “I Love Lucy” writers Madelyn
Davis and Bob Carroll, Jr.
are credited with “special material.” This is because much of
the scene on board the airplane was taken directly from an unsold
pilot for an anthology series titled “The Victor Borge
Comedy Theatre.”

It was filmed just before the
official start of “The Lucy Show” and starred Lucille Ball, Gale
Gordon, and Norman Leavitt. The characters were unnamed.

The
night this episode first aired (October 17, 1966) Peter Marshall made
his debut as the host of “The Hollywood Squares.” Marshall had
played Lucy’s brother-in-law Hughie in “Lucy’s Sister Pays a Visit”
(S1;E15). Many “Lucy Show” cast members appeared on the
“Squares”: Wally Cox, Nancy Kulp, Ellen Corby, Jan Murray, Jack
Cassidy, Harvey Korman, Milton Berle, Bob Hope, Jay North, Ethel
Merman, Gale Gordon, Lucie Arnaz, Desi Arnaz, Jr., Desi Arnaz, and
Vivian Vance. Everyone but Lucille Ball herself!

Also
on the evening this episode first aired, Lucille Ball made her last
appearance on the quiz show “I’ve Got a Secret.” She was there
to promote her upcoming “Lucy in London” special by hosting a
Carnaby Street-style fashion show of London couture.

The
premise for getting Lucy to London is that she wins a contest writing
a dog food jingle.

Lucy does not sing, but recites it:

I
feed my doggy Arf Arf
I
buy it by the bunch.
I
know it’s tasty dog food
I
eat it myself for lunch.

It is hard to believe this would win
a prize let alone a trip to London.

When
an excited Lucy leaves Mr. Mooney’s office headed for her trip, she
slams the door and glass panel next to it shatters. Mr. Mooney sighs
and say “And they think there’ll always be an England.” “There’ll
Always Be an England”
is an English
patriotic
song, written and distributed in the summer of 1939, which became
highly popular upon the outbreak of World
War II.
It was composed and written by Ross
Parker
and
Hughie
Charles,
and a popular version was sung by Vera
Lynn.

Lucy
is flying out of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on British
Imperial Airways, a fictional carrier.

Stock footage shows the
exterior of the airport. In the opening moments of “Lucy in
London,” the special that this episode sets up, Lucy arrives in
England on a Pan American jet. Presumably, during Lucy’s transfer in New
York, she switched carriers!

When
the flight attendant asks if there’s anything she can do for Lucy,
Lucy replies that maybe later she’ll have some “coffee,
tea or milk.” This was an often
heard phrase on airplanes as flight attendants did their beverage
service. In 1967, just a few months after this episode aired, the
book Coffee, Tea or Me?
was published, the alleged memoirs of two ‘stewardess’ and their
romantic and sexual escapades in the air.

When
Lucy is sitting right next to Mr. Mooney on her flight (not unusual
for “The Lucy Show”) she says “What a small world!”
Mr. Mooney replies that with her on it [the world], no wonder they
are racing for the moon. Although the US did not put an astronaut on
the moon until 1969, it was the goal of NASA for much of the 1960s.
In “Lucy Becomes an Astronaut” (S1;E16) Lucy and Viv were chosen
for a women in space program.

Lucy
confesses that she’s never flown before. This must mean that her
cross country move from New York to California was by car, although
it is never overtly stated.

Callbacks!

Lucy
Ricardo went to London (by ship) in “Lucy Meets the Queen” (ILL
S5;E15) in 1956. Once there, she, too, had an interaction with an
unintelligible Englishman (Robert Shafto).

Lucy
Ricardo hilariously traveled by plane on her “Return Home from
Europe” (ILL S5;E26) disguising a cheese as a baby.

She also flew
from Miami to Havana in “The Ricardos Visit Cuba” (ILL S6;E9), a
flight that was a lot less eventful. Both times, Desilu had a
promotion agreement with Pan American Airlines to promote their
clipper service. Stock footage of Pan Am planes were used, although
naturally the cast never left the Hollywood sound stage.

Lucy Ricardo was
later seen in an airport (though not in the air) in “The Ricardos
Go to Japan,” a 1959 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”