Lucy and John Wayne

S5;E10
~ November 21,
1966

Synopsis

Mr.
Mooney asks Lucy to deliver some important contracts to the studio,
where she meets John Wayne and worms her way onto the set of his
latest picture. Naturally, Lucy doesn’t behave and causes more
trouble than a barroom brawl!

Regular
Cast

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

Guest
Cast

John
Wayne
(Himself / “Tall”) was
born Marion Morrison in 1907. He made his film debut in 1926 and rose
to become an iconic presence in the Western film genre. He was
nominated for three Oscars, winning in 1969 for True
Grit.
He
epitomized rugged masculinity and was famous for his distinctive
voice and walk. His nickname ‘Duke’ came from his own pet
Airedale. Wayne previously worked with Lucille Ball in a 1955 episode
of “I Love Lucy,” also titled “Lucy and John Wayne” (ILL
S5;E2). He died in 1979 at the age of 72.

In
the film he is shooting, Wayne’s character is named Tall. Wayne was
6’4” and appeared in the 1944 film Tall
in the Saddle.

Joseph
Ruskin
(Joe, the Director) appeared in four of the “Star Trek” series,
the first being shot at Desilu. This is his only appearance on “The
Lucy Show,” but he also does a 1968 episode of “Here’s Lucy.”

Bryan
O’Byrne
(Bryan, the Assistant Director) was an actor and (later) acting
teacher who appeared in over 200 commercials. This is his only
appearances with Lucille Ball.

Morgan
Woodward
(“Pierce”) was seen on many TV Westerns but is perhaps best
remembered as Gibbs on “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp”
(1958-61). This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Joyce
Perry (Joyce,
Studio Receptionist) makes
the second of her two appearances on the series. She was also a
screen writer, receiving Emmy nominations for “Days of Our Lives”
and winning a WGA (Writers Guild of America) Award in 1975 for
“Search for Tomorrow.”

Milton
Berle (Himself)
was
born Milton Berlinger in New York City on July 12, 1908. He started
performing at the age of five. He perfected his comedy in vaudeville,
early silent films, and then on radio, before taking his act to the
small screen, where he would be proclaimed “Mr. Television” and
later “Uncle Miltie.” He hosted “Texaco Star Theater” on NBC
from 1948 to 1956. The variety show was re-titled “The Milton
Berle Show” in 1954 when Texaco dropped their sponsorship. The
program was briefly revived in 1958, but lasted only one season. In
1959 he played himself in “Milton
Berle Hides out at the Ricardos.”
This
is the second of his three episodes of "The Lucy Show,” the
first being “Lucy Saves Milton Berle” (S4;E13). He also did two
episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” On all but one, he again played
himself. He died of colon cancer in 2002.

Berle
makes a walk-through cameo appearance with no dialogue.

Kay Stewart (Commissary Waitress) was the subject of a feature story in the first edition of Life Magazine, which focused on the fact that she was apparently the first female cheerleader at a major university (Northwestern). This is her only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Danny
Borzage (Accordionist)
appeared in 13 films with John Wayne from 1939 to 1967. He also
appeared with Wayne on a 1960 episode of “Wagon Train” directed
by John Ford. Both Borzage and Wayne were favorites of Ford’s. This
is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Victor
Romito
(“Bartender”) makes the first of his two uncredited appearances
on “The Lucy Show.” He also appeared in four episodes of “Here’s
Lucy,” also uncredited. He was seen as an extra in the 1960
Lucille Ball / Bob Hope film Critic’s
Choice.
That same year he was seen with John Wayne in North
to Alaska,
and in 1962’s How
the West Was Won.

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

The
‘Barflys’ (aka Stunt Men) are played by:

Jerry
Gatlin
was an actor and stunt man who later turns up in the Lucille Ball
film Mame
(1974). He appeared with John Wayne in 13 films between 1961 and
1975.

Bill
Hart
was an actor and stunt man who appeared in three films with John
Wayne between 1960 and 1963. This is his only appearance with Lucille
Ball.

Boyd
‘Red’ Morgan
is an actor and stunt man who will also be seen in four episodes of
“Here’s Lucy.” He did 11 films with John Wayne between 1956 and
1970.

Chuck
Roberson
was
an actor and stunt man who played minor roles in many films. He was a
stunt double for John Wayne in more than 35 films and television
shows. He played one of the firemen who rescues Lucy and Viv from
their roof when “Lucy Puts Up a TV Antenna” (S1;E9), four years
earlier.

In
the commissary Mr. Simon “the director,” Ed Nelson (an actor with
an arrow in his chest), an actor named Will (who Nelson greets), and
more than a dozen other background players appear – all uncredited.

The episode indulges the old trope that movie actors eat lunch at the studio commissary in full costume and make-up. The commissary is named the Studio Cafe. We are reminded that Mary Jane works at the studio, although which studio is not made clear. Could it be Desilu?

Mr.
Mooney dictates a letter to John Wayne about his bank’s financial
participation in a “film
about a war wagon.”
Gale Gordon emphasizes the words “war
wagon”
because that is the actual title of the film, which was released in
May 1967. It co-starred Kirk Douglas, who made a cameo appearance in
“Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (S4;E20). It also featured
Chuck Roberson and Boyd ‘Red’ Morgan who appear as Barflys in this
episode.

Lucy
mentions to Wayne that he usually stars opposite Maureen
O’Hara,
who also had red hair. Ball and O’Hara were both in the 1940 film
Dance,
Girl, Dance.
Lucy also mentions that Wayne is usually directed by John
Ford.
Ford and Wayne collaborated on 23 films between 1928 and 1963. Ford
directed Lucille Ball in the 1935 film The
Whole Town’s Talking.

Fawning
over John Wayne, Lucy mentions his recently released films Cast
a Giant Shadow
(March 1966), In
Harms Way
(1965),
and the Oscar-nominated The
Sands of Iwo Jima
(1949).

Lucy
says that Wayne has played characters who’ve served in every branch
of the service and that Bob Hope should play a Christmas show just
for him! Lucy’s film co-star and friend Bob Hope was known for
performing in USO shows overseas during the holidays to entertain the
American troops. Hope had a cameo in “Lucy and the Plumber”
(S3;E2).

In
the saloon scene, the accordionist plays “Golden
Slippers,” a
song penned
by James
A. Bland
in
1879.
It was famously used in the 1948 John Ford film Fort
Apache
starring John Wayne.

In
the Studio Cafe, Lucy mistakes a man named Mr. Simon for Burt
Lancaster.
They both are roughly the same build. She then mistakes the studio
doctor for Richard
Chamberlain,
a
joke referring to Chamberlain’s most popular role as “Dr. Kildare”
(1961-66) which ended its run on NBC a few months earlier. She then
mistakes Milton
Berle
for the janitor. Berle is oddly dressed in an ill-fitting suit, a
straw hat, and has a blacked-out tooth. He has a bewildered
expression on his face, as if he’s still in character for a hillbilly
movie. It is unclear how Lucy might mistake him for a studio
janitor.

Coincidentally,
“The Lucy Show” stunt coordinator was named Jesse Wayne (no
relation).

Callbacks!

John
Wayne previously guest-starred as himself on "I Love Lucy”
in 1955. The episode was also titled “Lucy and John Wayne”
(ILL S5;E2).

Hanging
on the wall in the studio commissary is a black and white headshot of
Bob Crane from “Hogan’s Heroes” (1964-71), a TV show filmed at
Desilu. Crane
played himself in a parody of “Hogan’s Heroes” in “Lucy and Bob
Crane” (S4;E22).

Lucy
Carmichael was previously on the film set of a movie western when she
assumed the identity of Iron Man Carmichael in “Lucy the Stunt
Man” (S4;E5). Curiously, while Lucy Carmichael is telling the
director how to shoot the picture, she doesn’t mention her experience
as Iron Man. In 1954 Lucy Ricardo made her own
western movie in her apartment in “Home Movies” (ILL S3;E20).

Blooper
Alerts!

Who Am I? Lucy
reveals that her maiden name is MacGillicuddy, same as Lucy Ricardo. At
“Lucy’s College Reunion” (S2;E11), Lucy Carmichael said her
maiden name was Taylor. This
is the second week in a row that the Lucy character has “forgotten”
key information about her past. In last week’s “Lucy Gets Caught
Up in the Draft” (S5;E9) she said her son’s name was ‘Jimmy’ when
in fact it was ‘Jerry.’ Geoffrey
Mark Fidelman’s The
Lucy Book,
says
that although the production staff told Lucille Ball of her error,
she insisted that she was right and would not change the reference.
Perhaps this inconsistency about her birth name is also attributable
to the staff’s deference to Ball’s faulty memory?

Sitcom Logic Alert! When
Lucy sees Milton Berle in the commissary she says
“Wait’ll I tell the girls I nearly saw Milton Berle!” This
line sounds very much like Lucy Ricardo speaking, not Lucy
Carmichael. Lucy Carmichael has already met TV star Milton Berle in
“Lucy Saves Milton Berle” (S4;E13). Here, he looks directly at
Lucy and Mary Jane but does not acknowledge them despite the chaos
they previously brought to his life. Also, it is unclear which
“girls” Lucy is talking about since Mary Jane seems to be her
only female friend. Perhaps she is referring to the unseen
secretarial pool at the bank? Lucy Ricardo, however, would have
bragged to all the “girls” of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts
League!

Lucy the Director! When
the Assistant Director calls the scene to be slated, he cups his hand
over his mouth and purposely garbles the title of the film. This was
a tactic Lucy Ricardo used many times on “I Love Lucy” when she
wanted to be purposely vague about important details like her age. Later, when the
Assistant Director shouts “Scene
856, Take One!”
Lucy corrects him under hear breath: “Take
Four!”
Lucy is right, but it is hard to determine if this was Lucy
Carmichael or Lucille Ball talking! This scene, with Lucy
Carmichael standing behind the camera and correcting the crew,
probably mirrored Ball’s own interactions with her “Lucy Show”
staff.