Lucy Meets Sheldon Leonard

S5;E22
~ March 6,
1967

Synopsis

Mr.
Mooney allows TV producer Sheldon Leonard to film a hold-up scene at the
bank. Lucy, trying earn a raise, thinks he is really a gangster and
is determined to foil his robbery.

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, although Mr. Mooney
does have two phone conversations with him.

Guest
Cast

Sheldon
Leonard
(Himself)
was
born Leonard
Sheldon Bershad
in New York City in 1907. In 1953 he played fast-talking salesman
Harry Martin, who sells Lucy Ricardo the Handy Dandy vacuum cleaner
in “Sales Resistance” (ILL S2;E17). Leonard was an integral part
of the Desilu family off-screen as well, directing “Make Room for
Daddy” including an episode that featured Lucy and Ricky Ricardo in
1959. He was one of the creators of “The Andy Griffith Show,”
also filmed at Desilu. Leonard may be best remembered as the Nick,
the bartender in the classic film It’s
a Wonderful Life
(1945). He died in 1997. His
name served as a namesake for the characters Sheldon
Cooper
and
Leonard
Hofstadter
in
the sitcom “The
Big Bang Theory,”
as the writers are fans of his work.

Sheldon
Leonard is a very important client of Westland Bank.

Fred
Stromsoe (Louie)
was an actor and stunt man who later appeared in a 1968 episode of
“Gomer Pyle: USMC” produced by Sheldon Leonard. This is his only
appearance with Lucille Ball.

Stromsoe
does not have any dialogue.

Harvey
Parry (Harry, above right)
played one of the Keystone Cops in “Lucy Meets Mickey Rooney”
(S4;E18). He was an experienced Hollywood stunt man and actor who
appeared with Lucille Ball in The
Bowery
(1933) and There
Goes My Girl
(1937). He acted opposite Sheldon Leonard in To
Have and Have Not
(1944) and Guys
and Dolls
(1955).

George
Sawaya
(Pete) had a small role in the 1967 film A
Guide for the Married Man along
with Lucille Ball. Sawaya appeared in “I Spy,” “Gomer Pyle:
USMC,” and “The Andy Griffith Show,” all produced by Sheldon
Leonard.

George DeNormand (Bank extra, uncredited) appeared in three films with Lucille Ball from 1937 to 1963. This is the just one of his many appearances on “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.”

Judith Woodbury (Bank extra, uncredited) makes one of her many background appearances on “The Lucy Show.” She also appeared in one episode of “Here’s Lucy.”

Characters
such as the voice on the intercom, Maggie the teller, and the bank
customers go uncredited. Off-screen characters Frankie and Charlie
are referred to but never seen or heard.

This
is the final episode of Season 5 to be broadcast, although the
previous week’s episode “Lucy and Tennessee Ernie Ford” (S5;E21)
was actually the last filmed. “Lucy Meets the Berles” (S6;E1) was filmed before
the break but held over to the next season. At just 22 episodes,
Season 5 was the shortest of all Lucille Ball’s sitcoms with the
exception of “Life With Lucy,” which was canceled after 8
episodes. Season 5 ended in fourth place in the Nielsen
ratings (26.2 share), the same as Season 1 but down one place from
Season 4.

This is one of 30 episodes to have fallen into public domain, the results being it has been reproduced on low-cost, low-quality home video.

This
episode was filmed on Friday January 20, 1967, one day later than the
show’s usual filming day. The day after this episode was filmed,
actress Ann
Sheridan died
at age 51. Sheridan starred in Murder
at the Vanities
with Lucille Ball in 1934.

The
day this episode first aired (March 6, 1967) singer and actor Nelson
Eddy died at age 65. Eddy starred in a 1956 episode of “Make Room
for Daddy” produced and directed by Sheldon Leonard and shot at
Desilu Studios. In 1956, Eddy, Lucille Ball and Desi Aranz were all part of “MGM Parade” saluting romance. Eddy was mentioned by Rudy Vallee on the very first “Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” in 1957. In 1971, Richard Deacon played Nelson Eddy to Carol Burnett’s Jeanette McDonald in “The Hollywood Unemployment Follies.” There’s no doubt that Ricky Ricardo’s Prince Lancelot in “The Pleasant Peasant” was heavily influenced by Nelson Eddy.

Lucy’s
excuse for being late to work is that the smog was so thick she
couldn’t find the bus. This is the second episode in a row to mention
Los Angeles’ smog problem. A week after this episode was filmed,
Time Magazine ran a cover story about it.

Lucy
jokingly says the last time she got a raise was on Flag Day – but
when the flag still had 48 stars. If this were factual, it would be
prior to July 3, 1959. The
next day the official flag of the United States went to 49 stars to
include Alaska, which last only one year until the most recent
iteration of the flag with 50 stars to represent Hawaii. We also know
this is a joke because Lucy did not meet Mr. Mooney until October
1963 and didn’t start working for him until 1965.

Lucille
Ball gets applause on her entrance into the third scene, indicating
the episode may have been shot out of sequence.

Sheldon
Leonard also gets a round of applause from the studio audience when
he finally enters nearly 11 minutes into the action. Up until then,
the episode has been about Lucy wanting a raise.

Mr.
Mooney quotes the Bible when he says
“The laborer is worthy of his hire.” The
adage was also spoken by Chaucer and Gandhi.

We
learn that Westland Bank is the third largest financial institution
in the city of Los Angeles with assets of 31 million dollars and 31
branches. We also hear that Mr. Mooney got his job with the bank by
marrying the boss’s niece. This means that Irma Mooney’s uncle was president of Westland Bank!

Over
the telephone, Mr. Cheever tells Mr. Mooney that Sheldon Leonard
produced “The Danny Thomas Show,” “Dick Van Dyke” and “I
Spy.” Leonard himself adds “Andy Griffith” (which followed “The Lucy Show” on the CBS Monday schedule) and “Gomer Pyle”
to his credits. Mr. Mooney and Leonard discuss his history of playing
gangsters as well as his transition to behind the camera. This
exposition also helps “Lucy Show” home viewers realize that
Leonard is more than just an actor, but a successful Hollywood
producer as well. Leonard introduces the concept of ‘shooting a
pilot’ – explaining to Mr. Mooney (and the viewers) that this does
not mean gunning down someone who flies airplanes!

Mr. Mooney (perhaps jokingly) says he speaks seven languages – but not Lucy’s!

Mr.
Mooney ends up all wet – again – when Lucy throws a bucket of
water on him thinking he is a bank robber.

The end of the episode turns very meta when Leonard says:

“I suddenly got this idea for a new television series. It would be about this kooky red headed girl. She works in a bank and she gets into all sorts of impossible situations and… forget it. Nobody would ever believe it.”

Blooper Alerts!

Health Check! When Lucy reports for work, she kindly asks Mr. Mooney “How are you? “How is Mrs. Mooney?” but never asks about his children! Much like Lucy’s own offspring – out of sight, out of mind!

Credit Check? Leonard asks Lucy if she’s ever done any acting. Lucy says “No, sir.” Faithful viewers will know this is not true. Lucy Carmichael has appeared on stage (as Cleopatra), TV (with Danny Thomas) , and film (as Iron Man Carmichael).

Alarming Bravery! Lucy says that it it brave for Leonard to enter the bank through the front doors. She should have known something is up when the bank’s alarm didn’t go off!

Cart Conundrum! As scrub women, Lucy and Mary Jane push a cart labeled “LAUNDRY.” Why would a bank’s cleaning staff have a laundry cart? The laundry cart has been noticeably padded to accommodate Leonard’s stunt of falling into it, a stunt which he performs himself!

Callbacks!

Lucy convinces Mary Jane to play a scrub woman to go undercover, just as Lucy Ricardo convinced Ethel Mertz to do in “Cuban Pals” (ILL S1;E28).

Lucy asking Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon) for a raise by sheepishly asking “You’re not going to give me a raise, are you?” is nearly identical to when Ricky sheepishly asked Mr. Littlefield (Gale Gordon) for a raise on a 1952 episode of “I Love Lucy.”

Sheldon Leonard and Gale Gordon both appeared in the feature film Here Come the Nelsons in 1952, eight months before the debut of the TV series “Ozzie and Harriet.”

Like Lucille Ball, Gale Gordon was directed by Sheldon Leonard when he made several appearances as Landlord Heckendorn (and other characters, including the Devil) on “The Danny Thomas Show” from 1959 to 1961.

Lucille Ball first worked with Sheldon Leonard when he played Harry Martin, slick salesman for the Handy Dandy Company in “Sales Resistance” (ILL S2;E17).

In January 1959, Sheldon Leonard directed Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz (playing Lucy and Ricky Ricardo) on an episode of “Make Room for Daddy” titled “Lucy Upsets the Williams Household” (S6;E14), a reciprocal appearance for the cast of Thomas’s show appearing on “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”

In 1965′s “Danny Thomas’ Wonderful World of Burlesque II” featuring Lucille Ball, Sheldon Leonard made a cameo appearances as a cigar vendor in the theatre aisle. Ball and Leonard did not share any scenes.

In May 1966, both Lucille Ball and Sheldon Leonard participated in a documentary TV film titled “The Magic of Broadcasting”.

Fast Forward!

Before his death, Sheldon Leonard was interviewed by The Television Academy Foundation for The Archive of American Television to talk about the influence of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz on television.

In his 1995 book, And the Show Goes On: Broadway and Hollywood Adventures, Leonard wrote:

“Operating on the well-founded belief that a comedy show needs an audience to give it the authentic response that canned laughter can never duplicate, Desi brought in an audience to watch and react, while he used multiple-camera shooting technique borrowed from live TV.”

Papermoon Loves Lucy