Main Street U.S.A.

S5;E17
~ January 23,
1967

Synopsis

Lucy
and Mr. Mooney travel to a small town that is scheduled to get a new
freeway. When Lucy finds out how charming the town is, she leads the
band in opposing the highway.

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

Mel
Tormé
(Mel Tinker) returns to play Lucy’s neighbor Mel having previously
played the role in “Lucy in the Music World” (S4;E3). He will
also play Tinker in the next episode, “Lucy
Puts Main Street on the Map” (S5;E18). Tormé
was
a musician nicknamed ‘the velvet fog’. He was best known as a
singer of jazz standards. He was also a jazz composer and arranger,
drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of
five books. He composed the music for “The Christmas Song”
(“Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”) and co-wrote the lyrics
with Bob Wells. He died in 1999 at the age of 73.  

Tinker
says that Bancroft is his home town and that his parents still live
there. Lucy calls him “Tink”. 

John
William Sublett (John
Bubbles) was known
as the ‘Father of Rhythm Tap’  and was the original Sportin’
Life on Broadway in Porgy
and Bess
(1935). Since he did not read music, George Gershwin himself had to teach him
the songs note by note. Sublett was his birth name but his stage name
was Bubbles, which he uses as his character name here. He will also
appear in the next episode “Lucy
Puts Main Street on the Map” (S5;18), after which he had a stroke
and had to retire from show business. He died in 1986.  

Although
not the first black performer on a Lucille Ball sitcom, Sublett has the
distinction of being the first to be be billed as a guest star and to
be an integral part in the storyline. The character sold his auto repair garage and bought the livery stables! 

Paul
Winchell
(Doc Putnam) previously
played himself in “Lucy and Paul Winchell” (S5;E4). He was
born Paul Wilchinsky in 1922. Coming into the public eye in 1948, he
became one of the most famous ventriloquists since Edgar Bergen. He
hosted the enormously popular children’s television show
“Winchell-Mahoney Time” (1964-68) in which he shared the
spotlight with Jerry Mahoney, one of his most popular characters.
Winchell is fondly remembered as the voice of Winnie the Pooh’s pal
Tigger and (later) Papa Smurf. He returns to play Doc Putnam in “Lucy
Puts Main Street on the Map” (S5;18), as well as doing two episodes
of “Here’s Lucy.” Surprisingly, Winchell was also an inventor
who is credited with the artificial heart, among other innovations.
He died in 2005.

Although
he was most famous as a ventriloquist, Paul Winchell does not do
ventriloquism in this episode.

Hal
Smith
(Mr. Weber) is
probably best remembered as Otis Campbell, the town drunk, on “The
Andy Griffith Show” (also filmed at Desilu) even though in real life he never drank
alcohol. He appeared with Lucille Ball in the 1963 film Critic’s
Choice.
This is the second appearance on “The Lucy Show.” He will also
play Mr. Weber in “Lucy
Puts Main Street on the Map” (S5;E18) and
did one episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1972.

In
1966, Smith first voiced the Owl in Disney’s animated “Winnie the
Pooh” featurettes. A year later, Paul Winchell joined the
franchise voicing Tigger. In 1981, Smith also assumed the role of
Pooh, succeeding Sterling Holloway, who (coincidentally) appeared on
an episode of “That Girl” the very day this “Lucy Show” was
filmed.

Barry
Kelley
(Mayor Adler) was seen on Broadway in the original cast of Oklahoma!
as
well as appearing opposite John Gielgud in Hamlet.
This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Burt
Mustin
(Old Uncle Joe) was born in 1884. He didn’t do his first film until
age 67, although his stage and radio career started earlier. He was
generally cast as the stereotypical little old man. He is probably
best remembered as Mr. Quigley on “All in the Family” and Mr.
Lanson on “Phyllis.” He will play Old Uncle Joe in the next
episode and do a 1973 episode of “Here’s Lucy.” Mustin also
played Uncle Jeff in Lucy’s Mame
(1974). He died at age 92.

Uncle
Joe is said to be 105, although Mustin was merely 82 at the time of
filming.

Jackie
Minty (Newspaper
Boy) was a child actor who had done two episodes of “The Munsters.”
A week after this episode of “The Lucy Show,” he appeared on “My
Three Sons,” his final screen credit before leaving Hollywood.

Mabel
Smaney
(Townsperson, uncredited) was a busy Hollywood background artist
whose career spanned from 1939 to 1972.  

Max
Wagner
(Townsperson, uncredited) was another busy background artist. On the
night this episode of “The Lucy Show” first aired, he also
appeared as a townsperson on “The Andy Griffith Show,” which
followed “Lucy” on CBS.  

Farmer
Brown and the other citizens of Bancroft are played by uncredited
background artists. 

This
is one of five episodes (of 156) that does not feature a characters’
name in the title and only one of ten that does not have “Lucy”
in the title. 

The date this episode was first aired, Desilu Studios was busy filming “The Devil in the Dark”, an episode of “Star Trek” which aired on March 8, 1967. The episode featured “Lucy Show” background performers Janos Prohaska, Robert Hitchcock, and Monty O’Grady. Star William Shatner later said the episode was "exciting, thought-provoking and intelligent” and that “it contained all of the ingredients that made up our very best Star Treks.”

 

That evening, the episodes’s lead-in was “Mr. Terrific,” starring “Lucy Show” character actors Bill Quinn, Ellen Corby, and John McGiver (bottom left).  

This episode was filmed on December 8, 1966.

This episode, like nearly all others in season five, somehow fell out of copyright protection and into public domain, resulting in its appearance on many discount home videos and YouTube reproductions. 

Although stand-alone in their plots, this episode is
linked to the next one, “Lucy Puts Main Street on the Map”
(S5;E18), which also takes place in the small town of Bancroft.   

Main
Street U.S.A. was also the name that Disneyland (and subsequently all Disney Magic Kingdom theme parks) gave to its iconic
shop-lined boulevard, an idealized version of an American main street
at the turn of the 20th century.

The Daily Tribune is Bancroft’s newspaper. It costs five cents a copy. As usual, all the prop newspapers were created by Hollywood’s Earl Hays Press. The top left corner of the paper has the words “Flash News” which appeared on many Hays newspapers on Lucycoms.  

The episode is set entirely in the small town of Bancroft, a welcome change of pace for viewers.

Bancroft is located in
California (there is a state flag in the mayor’s office), but feels more like a mid-western or northeastern town.
Although this is a fictional location, there is a Bancroft outside of
San Francisco. At the time of filming, however, it was known as
Hookston, an unincorporated community in Contra Costa County. Bancroft / Hookston was also on a train line. 

A brass band (playing “Main Street U.S.A.”) ‘welcomes’ Mr. Mooney to Bancroft!  

Doc Porter’s General Store sells Fresh Ground Coffee for just 59 cents a pound!  This is a real ‘old fashioned’ bargain as the national average in 1967 was 90 cents a pound. Between 1967 and 2019 coffee experienced an average inflation rate of 3.89% per year. In other words, coffee costing $20 in 1967 would cost $145 in 2019! 

Next
to Doc Porter’s store is Grandma Thompson’s Bakery. This is likely a tribute to director Maury Thompson, the show’s Director and a long-standing member of the Desilu family. The new freeway is schedule to go right through Doc Porter’s store!  

Mel
Tormé
wrote
the original song “Main
Street U.S.A.”
especially for the episode. The song is very reminiscent as Lucy’s signature song, “Hey Look Me Over” from the musical Wildcat, probably intentionally so. The song will be heard again

in “Lucy Puts Main Street on the Map” (S5;E18). The ensemble was choreographed by series regular Jack Baker. 

At the rally, one of the protest signs reads “Freeways Bring Smog”. Four days after this episode first aired in January 1967, Time Magazine devoted its cover story to air pollution with a photo of a smoggy Los Angeles. The topic of smog  would also find its way into several “Lucy” scripts in the coming years. 

Mel
plays and sings with John Bubbles “In
the Town Where I Was Born”
a song written by Al Harriman, Dick Howard, and Bill Tracey in 1914.
During the song, Bubbles dances a soft shoe and Lucy joins in. “Lucy Show” regular staff member Marl Young arranged the dance music for Bubbles’ soft shoe. 

Lucy
says that a marching band on a freeway could “start
off with 76 trombones and end up with one piccolo player.”  “76
Trombones” is a show-stopping song from The
Music Man,
which first appeared on Broadway in 1957 and was filmed in 1962. The
film featured “Lucy Show” actors Mary Wickes, Ralph Hart, Charles
Lane, Max Showalter, Harry Hickox, John Breen, Ronnie Dapo, Ray
Kellogg, Natalie Masters, Larri Thomas, and Leon Altman.  The final
song “Main Street U.S.A.” with Lucy dressed in a colorful drum
majorette outfit, is very much in the style of The
Music Man.

When
Lucy gets on her metaphorical ‘soap box’ about the evils of progress and the joys of small town life, Mr. Mooney
says
“Well, thank you Carrie Nation.” Carrie
Amelia Nation
(1846-1911) was
a radical member of the temperance
movement,
which opposed alcohol
before
the advent of Prohibition.
Nation led many rallies and protests in aid of her cause. The
temperance movement began in 1874 in Chautauqua, New York, very near
where Lucille Ball was born in 1911, the same year Nation died.

Callbacks!

The character of Mel Tinker (Mel Torme) was introduced the previous season in “Lucy in the Music World” (S4;E3). He lived in the same L.A. apartment complex as Lucy and Mary Jane.  

During
the chess match between Bubbles and Doc Porter, there is an argument
over “jiggling” – whether a chess piece was officially moved or merely “jiggled.” The word “jiggling” instantly recalls the “I Love Lucy”
episode “The Young Fans” (ILL S1;E20) in which Peggy (Janet
Waldo) is told to “keep jiggling” Ricky’s legs due to his rheumatism. The use of the word was controversial with
the censors, thinking it implied the “jiggling” of other parts of
the body!  

A old fashioned soda fountain was also featured in “Lucy is a Soda Jerk”
(S1;E23).

FAST FORWARD!

In March 2009, King of Prussia Plaza in Pennsylvania, hosted a three-dimensional walk-through fantasy exhibit titled “Rockwell’s America: Celebrating the Art of Norman Rockwell.” Through the window of the Appliance & Repair Shop on “Main Street USA,” vintage televisions played a black-and-white episode of “The Lucy Show.”  Many Americans got their first view of the miracle of television through the appliance store window. 

In December 2011, the episode was released on an official and newly restored DVD. Images of Lucy in her “Main Street” costume and sipping her strawberry soda were featured in the photo collage on the Season 5 slip case. 

“Main Street U.S.A.” rates 3 Paper Hearts out of 5