S6;E1 ~ September 11, 1967
Synopsis
Lucy needs to earn extra money, so she takes a job working as a secretary for Milton Berle. When Lucy hears overhears Berle rehearsing a love scene with Ruta Lee, she jumps to the conclusion that he is being unfaithful to his wife.
Regular Cast
Lucille Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Mary Jane Croft (Mary Jane Lewis)
Roy Roberts (Mr. Cheever) and Gale Gordon (Theodore J. Mooney), do not appear in this episode, although Gordon does receive screen credit at the start of the episode.
Guest Cast
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.” Berle continued to perform live, in films, and on television specials for the remainder of his career. One of his classic bits was to dress in drag, something only hinted at in this episode. Berle previously appeared on "The Lucy Show” in “Lucy Saves Milton Berle” (S4;E13) and did a cameo in “Lucy Meets John Wayne” (S5;E10). He also did two episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” On all but one, he again played himself. He died of colon cancer in 2002.
Ruth Berle (Herself) was born in 1921 as Ruth Cosgrove. Her only other ‘acting’ credit was playing herself on a 1962 episode of “The Jack Benny Show.” She married Milton Berle in 1953 and the two were together until her death in 1989. They had one child together.
Milton and Ruth are credited here as ‘Mr. and Mrs. Milton Berle.’ In “Lucy and Art Linkletter” (S4;E16) Doris Singleton played a character named Ruth Cosgrove.
Ruta Lee (Herself) returns to the series after playing Audrey Fields in “Lucy’s Substitute Secretary” (S5;E14). She was born Ruta Mary Kilmonis in Montreal, Quebec. Her first big film was as one of the brides in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1954. She started on TV in 1950 and has continually made guest appearances on dozens of series. Lee also plays herself in the TV film “Lucy Moves to NBC” in 1980. As of this writing, Lee is still acting in films.
This is the first episode of Season 6, the final season of “The Lucy Show.” It is the last episode directed by Maury Thompson but was filmed on June 8, 1967 before the show went on hiatus. During the break, Lucille Ball heard that Thompson wanted a raise and decided to dismiss him and bring back the show’s original director, Jack Donohue. Having made Desilu profitable again, Ball decided to sell Desilu to Paramount, dissolving the company by the end of 1967.
In Season 6, Gary Morton (Lucy’s husband) became Executive Producer of the show. The kaleidoscope opening was used once again, but the theme music was re-orchestrated. Also the ‘glamour shot’ (above) of Ball at the end of the opening is a different clip than Season 5.
This episode was screened at Lucy’s 2008 Birthday Celebration in Jamestown as part of “An Evening with Ruta Lee.” Lee talked about her work with Ball and shared anecdotes about the episode. Lee first met Lucille Ball at Del Mar Racetrack. They bonded over their love of polka dots! In 1974, Lee presented Ball with the Thalians Philanthropy Award for her support of mental health awareness, the first female every to receive the recognition.
The same evening this episode first aired (September 11, 1967) NBC broadcast “The Danny Thomas Wonderful World of Burlesque IV.” In addition to Thomas, the variety show featured “Lucy Show” guest stars Tennessee Ernie Ford, Mickey Rooney, and Phil Silvers. The second edition of “The Wonderful World of Burlesque” in December 1965 featured Lucille Ball.
Due to the cancellation of “Mr. Terrific,” “The Lucy Show’s” new lead-in was “Gunsmoke,” one of CBS’s biggest and longest running hits.
The evening also saw the premiere of “The Carol Burnett Show” on CBS. Burnett had previously made two appearances on “The Lucy Show” as Carol Bradford. The premiere episode of Burnett’s now-iconic variety show guest starred Jim Nabors, who had done a cameo appearance as Gomer Pyle in “Lucy Gets Caught Up in the Draft” (S5;E9). Lucille Ball herself would make four appearances on the show, one during each of its first four seasons.
On September 10, 1967 CBS censored Pete Seegar’s anti-war song “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy” during “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.” The network claimed the lyrics were an insult to President Johnson. Lucille Ball had also had her run-ins with the CBS censors during “I Love Lucy.” They asked that the writers find euphemisms for the word “pregnant” and once edited down a closing kiss between Lucy and Ricky that they claimed went on too long to be in good taste.
Lucille Ball gets entrance applause in scene two, indicating that the episode may have been shot out of sequence.
Lucy says to Mary Jane that Milton Berle doesn’t have his television show any more and is now producing pictures. Berle started on TV on NBC in 1948 with “Texaco Star Theatre” which continued to 1956. In 1958 he hosted “The Kraft Music Hall starring Milton Berle” (also on NBC) which ran until 1959. It was at this point that Berle appeared as himself on “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” writing a book (Earthquake, a real-life novel) because he no longer had a series to film. In 1966, Berle attempted a prime-time TV comeback with a new comedy-variety series on ABC. Unfortunately, high budgets and big-name guest stars couldn’t lure viewers away from competing shows and the program was canceled after one season. Berle never had a regular series again. When this episode of “The Lucy Show” was filmed in June 1967 Berle had been absent from weekly TV for just 5 months.
Lucille does her impression of a seal again. This is something that Ball started in her road show with Desi Arnaz before “I Love Lucy” and then repeated on the show itself as ‘The Professor’. She most recently did it (with real seals) in “Lucy at Marineland” (S4;E1).
Berle says that the director of the movie he is producing, The Friendly Sky, is named Lou Jackson. In real life that is the name of Berle’s agent.
Milton: Do you understand, Ruth dear, I want to grow.
Ruth: Then you ought to stop smoking.
Milton (an inveterate cigar smoker) is referring to artistic growth, while Ruth is referring to the dangers of smoking. Although there is little concrete evidence that smoking stunts growth, the claim has been around a long time. The US Surgeon General issued its first report on the dangers of smoking in 1964. In 1965, Congress required all cigarette packages distributed in the United States to carry a health warning.
Berle and his director want Robert Wagner to play the philandering pilot in The Friendly Sky. Wagner’s screen acting career began in 1950. Three weeks after this episode first aired, Wagner’s new film Banner premiered. The film wasn’t in general release, however, until December 1967. In January 1968 Wagner appeared with Berle on “The Joey Bishop Show,” which also featured Desi Arnaz.
Callbacks!
Confusion caused by a conversation overheard on an open intercom is the basis for the plot of “Housewarming” (ILL S6;E23), a 1957 episode of “I Love Lucy.”
Blooper Alerts!
Two seasons earlier, Lucy Carmichael also met Milton Berle for the first time in "Lucy Saves Milton Berle” (S4;E13). The writers obviously did not think audiences would remember (or care) that Lucy had met the TV star previously. The earlier episode also featured Mary Jane Croft and was directed by Maury Thompson.
Berle calls his new project The Friendly Sky, but the title on the scripts is The Friendly Skies.
When Lucy dumps the salad on Milton Berle’s head, Ruta Lee cracks up so badly she’s unable to say her lines. Ruth Berle also finds herself laughing uncontrollably. Lucy (the consummate professional) is the only one who doesn’t start laughing.
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