Lucy Meets the Law

S5;E19
~ February 13,
1967

Synopsis

Lucy
thinks she’s being arrested for littering when she is actually being mistaken for a
red-haired jewel thief.

Regular
Cast

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

Roy
Roberts
(Mr. Cheever) does not appear in this episode.

Guest
Cast

Claude
Akins
(Lieutenant
Finch) appeared as himself (playing a giant native) in “Desert
Island” (ILL S6;E8). He
is perhaps best remembered for playing Sheriff Lobo in “B.J. And
the Bear” (1978-79) and its sequel “The Misadventures of Sheriff
Lobo” (1979-81). Akins died in 1994.

Iris
Adrian
(Hard Head Hogan) appeared on Broadway in the 1930s and was a
Ziegfeld girl. In Hollywood she did more than 160 films. This is
her only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Hard Head is a bouncer in a beer hall. She is in jail for assault and battery.

Ken
Lynch (Officer
Peters, below left) started playing policemen on TV in 1950 and continued to do
so for much of his career. This is his only appearance with Lucille
Ball.

Joseph
Perry
(Officer Miller, above right) started his screen acting career in 1956. His final
credit was playing Nemo for seven episodes of “Everybody Loves
Raymond” in 1999. He died the following year. This is his only
appearance with Lucille Ball.

Byron
Foulger
(Mr. Trindle) had played the leader of the Friends of the Friendless
in “Lucy’s
Last Birthday” (ILL S2;E25).
He previously appeared on “The Lucy Show” in “My Fair Lucy”
(S3;E20).

Mr.
Trindle is the proprietor of the jewelry store that was robbed.

Jody
Gilbert (Matron
aka ‘Tinkerbell’) had appeared with Lucille Ball and Gale Gordon
on the 1952 special “Stars in the Eye” celebrating the opening of
CBS’s new Television City studios. She was a regular on the CBS series “Life With Luigi”. She will also appear in two
episodes of “Here’s Lucy,” in one of which she also plays a
prison matron.

Two
passersby, the other women in the line-up, and the actual red-haired
jewel thief (above) are all uncredited. Interestingly, Hazel Pierce, who was
Lucy’s stand-in and frequent day player, is not in this episode.

Some video releases title this episode “A Case of
Mistaken Identity.” This is one of more than 30 episodes of “The Lucy Show” that have fallen out of copyright protection and are in the public domain, resulting in its appearance on many inexpensive video and DVD releases.

There was no new “Lucy Show” episode on Monday, February 6, 1967. Instead, CBS showed a repeat of “Lucy Gets Caught Up in the Draft” (S5;E9).

The final draft of the script was dated December 27, 1966. The above copy belonged to Julian Davidson, “The Lucy Show” music coordinator. The episode was filmed January 6, 1967, the first to be filmed after the holidays.

This
was the first and only episode written by Alan
J. Levitt.
It was also his first script for television. He went on to write
for “Maude” (1972-74) and one of Lucille Ball’s favorite sitcoms
“Three’s Company” (1977-78). Levitt shows a firm grasp of writing
farce, balancing Lucy’s belief that she has been arrested for
littering, with the audience’s knowledge that she is believed to be a
jewel thief, using cleverly worded dialogue that allows both Lucy and
police to have a conversation without giving away the misconception.

Mary
Jane tells Lucy that littering is against the “Keep America
Beautiful” Campaign. ‘Keep
America Beautiful’ was
founded in 1953 by a consortium of nonprofit organizations,
government agencies, concerned individuals, and American businesses
(including original “I Love Lucy” sponsor Philip
Morris).
‘Keep America Beautiful’ joined with the Ad
Council in
1961 to dramatize the idea that every individual must help protect
against the effects litter has on the environment. These included
the
popular 1963 television campaign “Every Litter Bit Hurts”
and the character ‘Susan Spotless’ in 1964. The organization is still
active today.

In
order not to implicate her friend, Lucy tells the policemen that Mary
Jane is the name of her cat. She says she likes to call the cat up
and say “What’s
new, pussycat?”
What’s
New Pussycat
was the name of a hit film of 1965 written by Woody Allen. Its title
song was nominated for an Oscar and was a big hit for Tom Jones.

When
thrown in the cell with a growling Hard Head, Lucy says she doesn’t
feel very welcome. The Matron remarks that “You’re
as welcome as the flowers in May.” “Welcome
as the Flowers in May”
was
a song written by Anne Young round 1903.

Trying
to be tough, Lucy tells Hard Head Hogan her ‘handle’ is “Steel
Knuckles Carmichael” but her friends call her “Knuck.” Hogan
continually gets the name wrong, calling her ‘Muck’ and ‘Cluck.’

Mr.
Trindle can’t positively identify the jewel thief in a line up of red
headed women. He says he didn’t anticipate so many red heads. Lt.
Finch replies “What
did you figure on? A bunch of Yul Brynners?”

Yul
Brynner (1920-85)
was an actor known for his bald head. He was mentioned on “I Love
Lucy” several times, generally comparing him with Fred, who was
nearly bald himself. At the time of filming, Brynner had just been
seen in The
Return of the Magnificent Seven,
a sequel to 1960’s hit The
Magnificent Seven,
in which he also appeared.

Finch
says the women in the line up would make Ma Barker look like a camp
fire girl. This is the second episode in a row to mention Ma Barker.
Kate
Barker
(1873–1935)
was the mother of several criminals who ran the Barker gang. She
traveled with her sons during their criminal careers. Barker was also
mentioned in “Lucy
and the Great Bank Robbery” (S3;E5) and “Lucy Puts Main Street on the Map” (S5;E18).
Ma
Barker was parodied as Ma Parker in a 1970 episode of “Here’s
Lucy” (above) played by Carole Cook.

Entering
the action late in the episode to vouch for Lucy, Gale Gordon gets a
smattering of entrance applause from the studio audience.

Callbacks!

Although
never incarcerated before, Lucy Carmichael’s previous brushes with
the law include: “Lucy and the Runaway Butterfly” (S1;E29), “Lucy
is Her Own Lawyer” (S2;E23), “Lucy the Meter Maid” (S3;E7) and
“Lucy Makes a Pinch” (S3;E8).

Behind Bars! Lucy Ricardo was arrested
and in jail in several episodes: “New Neighbors” (S1;E21) in New
York City, “Tennessee Bound” (ILL S4;E14) in Bent Fork, and
“Lucy Takes a Cruise To Havana” (1957) in Havana. Lucy also comes very close
to going to jail in “Ricky and Fred art TV Fans” (ILL S2;E30) for
stealing change from a cash register, and in “Paris at Last”
(ILL S5;E18) for forging Francs!

More Mistaken Identity! In “Ricky and Fred are TV Fans” (ILL S2;E30) Lucy Ricardo is mistaken for jewel thief ‘Sticky Fingers Sal’, and hauled down for questioning, just as Lucy Carmichael is here.

Fast Forward!

Lucy
Carter voluntarily goes to jail in a 1973 episode of “Here’s Lucy” that
also features Gale Gordon and Jody Gilbert as a Matron. This time
her cellmate is Mumsie Westcott, played by Elsa Lanchester, who may
(or may not) have been criminal hatchet murderess Eleanor Holmby when
Lucy and Ethel go “Off to Florida” (ILL S6;E6).

Lucy Carter also got her mug shot taken in “The Case of the Reckless Wheelchair Drive” (HL S5;E6). Again, she makes her ‘criminal face’ for the camera.

Intentional mistaken identity is behind “Lucy Carter Meets Lucille Ball” (HL S6;E22) where a look-alike contest brings out several Lucy doppelgangers, including Lucille Ball herself!