S5;E16
~ January 16,
1967
Synopsis
When
Mr. Mooney challenges Lucy to find another job, she goes to an
employment agency that sends her out to babysit – a family of
chimpanzees!
Regular
Cast
Lucille
Ball (Lucy
Carmichael),
Gale Gordon
(Theodore J. Mooney)
Mary
Jane Croft (Mary
Jane Lewis) and Roy
Roberts
(Mr. Cheever) do not appear in this episode.
Guest
Cast
Mary
Wickes
(Mrs. Winslow) was one of Lucille Ball’s
closest friends and at one time, a neighbor. She made a memorable
appearances on “I Love Lucy” as ballet mistress Madame Lamond in
“The
Ballet” (ILL S1;E19).
In
her initial “Lucy Show” appearances her characters name was
Frances, but she then made four more as a variety of characters
including as Mary Jane’s Aunt Gussie. Wickes appeared in nine
episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” Their final collaboration on screen
was “Lucy Calls the President” in 1977.
The
last time Wickes appeared on the series was “Lucy and the Sleeping
Beauty” (S4;E9) which starred Clint Walker as Frank Winslow, the
same surname that Mary Wickes is given here.
Elvia
Allman
(Miss Allman) is
best remembered as the barking Candy Factory foreman in “Job
Switching” (ILL S2;E1)
although
she also played four other characters on “I Love Lucy”.
She last
appeared on the series in “Lucy Bags a Bargain” (S4;E17)
co-starring Jonathan Hole, who also appears in this episode.
Elvia Allman uses her own name in this episode. She runs the Unique Employment Agency.
Jonathan
Hole
(Jonathan Winslow) was
seen in eight Broadway plays between 1924 and 1934. His screen career
began in 1951. This is the second of his three appearances on the
series. He also did two episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”
Joyce
Smith
(Sister) was a member of the English singing group The Vernon Girls,
first formed in Liverpool in 1953.
The
Marquis Chimps
began appearing on television in 1955. Their trainer was Gene
Detroy. They appeared in several TV commercials and on “The Ed
Sullivan Show.” The chimps were the (non-human) stars of the
sitcom “The Hathaways” (1961-62) in which a suburban couple kept
three performing chimps as their children. The program lasted just
one season on ABC. The act’s last TV appearance was in 1976.
Mary
Wickes says the chimps names are Danny (red striped shirt), Charlie
(black striped shirt), and Bobbie (short for Roberta, the baby).
Charlie was the only one to have been billed on “The Hathaways”
although “The Lucy Show” may have changed the names of the other
two to make the names easier for Lucy to say and remember.
This episode as well as the entire fifth season of “The Lucy Show” (except for “Lucy Puts Main Street on the Map”) inadvertently fell out of copyright protection and entered public domain resulting in many low-quality VHS and DVD editions.
A black and white publicity still sent to media outlets.
Seeing
Lucy trying to fix her new electric typewriter with the heel of her
shoe, Mr. Mooney says “Those
boots were made for walking,”
a reference to the Nancy Sinatra hit song of 1966 “These
Boots Are Made For Walkin’.”
Lucy prefers her old manual typewriter saying “Tom
Edison himself couldn’t work this one.” Although
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) is credited with many modern
innovations, the typewriter is not one of them. The first
commercially viable typewriter is credited to inventor and politician
Christopher
Latham Sholes
(1819-90).
Lucy is trying to get used to her new electric typewriter – if she can remember to plug it in! Once she gets the hang of it, she says:
“It practically types by itself! I bet someday they do invent a typewriter that types by itself!”
Is Lucy predicting the advent of voice recognition software? Her fanciful wish has become a reality – without the clunky hardware.
Lucy
Carmichael says she lives at the Glenhall Apartments, 780 North Gower
Street.
This was actually the address of Desilu Studios (formerly RKO, now
Paramount) in Hollywood!
When
doing a word association test with Miss Allman, Lucy connects “hair”
with “dye” and then remarks “I
just use a little henna.”
Lucille
Ball started coloring her hair with Egyptian henna in 1942, to set
herself apart in technicolor movies. Her hair stylist Irma Kusely was
instructed to keep the formula under top secret. In
“The Publicity Agent” (ILL S1;E31) Lucy claims that she’s “not
a ‘maharincess’ but a ‘henna-rinsess’.” When a heavily bandaged
Lucy thinks there’s a fire in the apartment during “Fred and Ethel
Fight” (ILL S1;E22) the only thing she tries to save are two
bottles of Henna Rinse!
She
then associates the word “carry” with “Grant,” remarking that
“these days he can use a babysitter.” In 1966, actor Cary
Grant
became a father at the age of 62 and retired from screen acting. A
favorite of Lucy Ricardo’s, Grant’s name was mentioned five times on
“I Love Lucy,” although the closest Lucille Ball ever got to
working with Grant was on TV variety specials and award shows.
To
demonstrate her fitness for a babysitting job, Lucy’s repeats her
mother’s child-rearing poem:
“If
you want a happy baby, here’s the thing to try.
Keep
one end fed and the other dry.”
Lucy tells the woman at the employment agency that her two children are away at school, one of the few mentions of Chris and Jerry (who she last referred to as Jimmy) in quite a while.
Lucy tells Bobbie to say her prayers before going to bed and the chimp clasps her hands in the traditional praying position. This was obviously one of the ‘tricks’ that the chimps knew and was integrated into the script. “Lucy” shows rarely talk about religion. The notable exception is Lucy Ricardo telling Little Ricky to go to bed and say his prayers in “The I Love Lucy Christmas Show”.
The Winslows live at 1711
Valley Meadow Road. Valley Meadow Road is a real street in Sherman
Oaks, California, outside of Los Angeles, although in reality there
is no number 1711.
Then
entire second half of this episode consists of Lucille Ball (age 55)
ad libbing dialogue and business as the chimps went through certain
set comic routines, their trainer just off camera. A cigarette smoker, Ball is
noticeably winded by her ordeal with the unpredictable chimps.
This
is the first time live chimps have been part of a “Lucy Show”
episode. Previously, simian characters were played by actors in
monkey suits. The Marquis Chimps join a long line of live animal
actors Lucy has shared the set with: dogs, sheep, seals, dolphins,
donkeys,
deer, goats, geese, turkeys, chickens, rabbits, birds,
cows, horses, and bears. Many more will turn up in future episodes
and on “Here’s Lucy.”
Charlie
turns on the TV and a soap opera is on. Lucy tells him to turn it
off – he’s too young for “Peyton Place.” This is the third mention of the phenomenally successful TV show. Based
on a 1956 novel, “Peyton
Place” was
a primetime soap opera that aired on ABC from 1964 to 1969. The title
has become synonymous with the romantic problems and scandals of
small-town life. It was previously mentioned in “Lucy
and Joan” (S4;E4)
and
“Lucy’s Substitute Secretary” (S5;E14).
When
Lucy sings “Rock-a-bye Baby” to Bobby, Charlie gives her the
raspberry. Lucy says “Barbra
Streisand I’m not.”
From 1963 to 1968 singer Barbra
Streisand
was nominated for multiple Grammy Awards, winning several. At the
time this episode was filmed, Streisand had not yet made her first
film, an adaptation of her stage hit Funny
Girl in
1968.
She is now considered one of the most successful entertainment
artists in the history of show business.
Lucy
plays Brahms’ Lullaby on an electric organ that the Winslow’s just
happen to have in the chimps’ bedroom. Charlie once again gives Lucy
a raspberry so she says “if
you think you can do any better, you play.”
Naturally Charlie does! Both Lucy and Charlie’s playing is dubbed
from an offstage organ.
One of the toys in the chimp’s bedroom is Clancy The Great, a plastic-cast roller skating monkey, not unlike the Marquis Chimps, who also roller skate. He had pose-able arms and a removable cap. It was manufactured by Ideal Toys in 1963.
Callbacks!
Lucy
Ricardo was babysitter to rambunctious twins in “The Amateur Hour”
(ILL S1;E14). When taking the job, she tells Ethel that “for
$5 an hour I’d babysit with a baby gorilla!”
Be careful what you wish for! The
babysitting job to mind three Winslow “children” pays $5 and hour.
Fifteen years earlier Lucy Ricardo earned the same amount for sitting
with the Hudson twins. In
this episode Danny and Charlie Winslow play cowboys and Indians just
like Jimmy and Timmy Hudson did in 1952.
Elvia
Allman was also in the episode where Lucy Ricardo went to the Acme
Employment Agency and found employment at the Candy Factory in “Job
Switching” (ILL S2;E1).
Next to the chimps’ bunk bed is a yellow hound dog toy (possibly Disney’s Pluto), several of which were used in the toy factory scene in “Lucy and the Efficiency Expert” (S5;E13, inset photo).
Elephants are not new to Desilu. The final visual gag of “The Kleptomaniac” (ILL S1;E27) also featured a baby elephant. Lucy Carmichael dealt with a massive full-grown pachyderm in “Lucy Misplaces $2000” (S1;E4).
In 1965, Lucille Ball rode down a NYC street atop an elephant for the premiere episode of “The Steve Lawrence Show.” Ball was slated to play Angel the Elephant Girl in Cecil B. DeMille’s 1952 film The Greatest Show on Earth but fate intervened and Ball got pregnant and never got to make the film.
Flash Forward!
Lucy
visits the Unique Employment Agency when looking for a new job. This
is the name of the employment agency Lucy and Harry (Gale Gordon)
Carter work for in “Here’s Lucy.”
In
script supervisor Milt Josefsberg’s book on comedy writing, he described
how they reused the concept for a unique employment agency as the
basis for Lucille Ball’s new show. In this episode their motto is
“Odd Jobs for odd people” but in “Here’s Lucy” it is changed
to “Unusual jobs for unusual people.”
Live chimps were also seen on several episodes of “Here’s Lucy”.
Blooper
Alerts!
Experience Required! Lucy
tells Miss Allman that she has two years of business college but in
“Lucy’s College Reunion” (S2;E11), we learn that Lucy Carmichael attended
(fictional) Milroy University, a four-year liberal arts college.
Never Work With Children & Animals! Although
not seen on screen, the baby elephant brought on at the end of the episode went wild
and pushed Mary Wickes into one of the prop trees. The trainer had to
physically subdue the elephant to get it away from Wickes, who
injured her arm. Lucille Ball quickly scooped up the baby chimps in
her arms
to protect them. The final cut ends with the entrance of the baby elephant.
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
Leave a comment