Lucy Gets Trapped

S6;E2
~ September 18,
1967

Synopsis

Lucy
pretends to be sick to go to a big one-day sale, but when she wins
customer of the year, her picture will appear in the newspaper and
her lie will be exposed.

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy
Carmichael),

Gale Gordon (Theodore J. Mooney),

Mary Jane Croft (Mary
Jane Lewis), Roy
Roberts
(Mr. Cheever)

Guest
Cast

William
Lanteau
(Floorwalker) first appeared with Lucille Ball in The
Facts of Life
(1960). In addition to this episode of “The Lucy Show,” Lanteau
did four episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” He is best remembered for
playing Charlie the Mailman in the play and the film On
Golden Pond
(1981).

Bartlett
Robinson
(Mr. Wilkins) returned to star in a 1968 episode of “Here’s Lucy.”

Joan
Swift
(Laurie) makes the fourth of her six appearances on the series. Swift
also did two episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” Her final screen credit
was 1975’s “Lucy Gets Lucky” with Lucille Ball and Dean Martin.

The
last time Swift was on the series she also played a bank secretary
wearing pink, but her name was Dottie.

George
DeNormand (Clerk,
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.”

William
Meader
(Clerk, uncredited) had appeared as an airport extra in “The
Ricardos Go to Japan,” a
1959 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” He made many
appearances on “The Lucy Show,” most times as a clerk in Mr.
Mooney’s bank.

Leoda
Richards (Customer,
uncredited) made at least three background appearances on “I Love
Lucy.” This is the third of her four episodes of “The Lucy Show.”
She was also in the Lucille Ball film Yours,
Mine and Ours (1968)
and did two episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” Her main claim to fame
is her appearance at the party given by Captain Von Trapp in The
Sound of Music,
standing next to Christopher Plummer during the song “So Long,
Farewell.” Fellow extra William Meader is also at the party!

The
other customers and store clerks are played by uncredited background
performers.

This
episode was filmed on May 4, 1967. This is the first episode of
Season 6 to be directed by Jack Donohue, who directed all of Seasons
1, 2 and 3. During the hiatus Lucille Ball dismissed director Maury
Thompson when she heard he was seeking a pay increase. In the title,
the word “trapped” is not to be taken literally; Lucy is never
confined to a space as she was when “Lucy Gets Locked in the Vault”
(S2;E4) with Mr. Mooney. Here the word means to be “trapped in a
lie.” This is one of the few episodes concentrating on the
principal cast, with no celebrity guest appearances.

This
episode, like 31 others (seven from Season 6), somehow fell into
public domain, free from copyright protection. In addition to low
quality videos, this led to it being staged by a community theatre as
a play, evidence of which can be found on YouTube!

This
is the second episode to take place at Stacey’s Department Store. Mr.
Wilkins says there are 59 departments in the store. Lucy worked in
several of them in “Lucy Bags a Bargain” (S4;E17) when she takes
a part-time job in order to pay for a new dinette set.

Lucy
gives her address as Glenhall Apartments, 780 North Gower Street,
Hollywood, which was the real address of the Desilu Productions
building.
This is the second time Lucy has said her address aloud. The first
was in “Lucy the Babysitter” (S5;E16).

The
refrigerator Lucy likes at Stacey’s (the only one on the sales floor,
actually) is labeled a Duchess and it sells for $299.99. This is a
fictional brand made up by the production. Lucy’s kitchen
is green and this appliance is peach, so it doesn’t seem a good fit
with her current design scheme.

The range and oven Lucy peruses is
made by Jiffy, another fictional manufacturer.

At
Stacey’s, Lucy discovers she has been named ‘customer of the year’ by
being the ten millionth customer to enter the Women’s Sporting
Apparel Department. Lucy wins a set of golf clubs, a set of luggage,
a washing machine, a dryer, a dishwasher, a color television set, and
a refrigerator (the same one from the appliance department) stocked
with food.

When
trying to hide the newspaper with her picture in it from Mr. Mooney,
she summarizes that “The
temperature’s up, the stock market’s down, and Little Orphan Annie is
lost again!” Little
Orphan Annie
was
a comic strip character drawn by Harold Gray (1924-2010) who later
got her own radio, film, and TV programs. It was recently mentioned
in “Lucy and Art Linkletter” (S4;E16) as well as several episodes
of “I Love Lucy,” including at the end of “Lucy
Wants New Furniture” (ILL S2;E28).
Orphan
Annie was
famous for her mass of curly red hair and her pupil-less eyes.

Mr.
Cheever awards Mooney an extra week’s salary as a bonus for the free
publicity. Then, he orders Mooney to pay Lucy an extra week’s salary
out of it. In a mean-spirited twist ending, Mr. Mooney only rewards
her with half a week’s salary.

Callbacks!

Besides
Stacey’s, Lucy Carmichael also got into trouble at Bigelow’s
Department Store back in Danfield.

In “Lucy Meets Orson Welles”
(ILL S6;E3) Lucy Ricardo shops at Macy’s.

Lucy
Carmichael also pretended to be sick to get out of work in “Lucy
and Carol in Palm Springs” (S5;E8). In that episode Lucy told Mr.
Mooney she had the mumps!

Lucy Ricardo pretended to be sick in “Lucy
Fakes Illness” (ILL S1;E18) because Ricky wouldn’t let her into the
act!

Lucy
Carmichael is dangerous around refrigerators. In “Lucy the Disc
Jockey” (S4;E26) she pulled the guts out of her fridge. In order to
con Mr. Mooney into buying her a new one, Lucy wrecks her fridge in
“Lucy the Stunt Man” (S4;E5).

Blooper
Alerts!

The
episode opens with Lucy at her desk reading Theatre Magazine. This
seems an unusual choice for Lucy Carmichael, whose only theatre
experience was the Danfield Community Players. It would seem more
appropriate to have her reading a movie magazine.

The
ad on the back of the newspaper is heavily (and obviously) redacted
in order to conceal brand names.

In
this episode a portrait of George Washington has replaced the skyline
painting behind Mr. Mooney’s desk. It is the famous portrait painted
by Gilbert Stuart in 1796. The portrait is there for the sake of a
brief bit of business and a few lines spoken by Lucy, but the skyline
painting returns in the next episode.

The
‘unbreakable’ tableware is Melmac, something Lucy Carmichael uses at
home. Why would she need to test the claim in the store?