Lucy and the Starmaker

S6;E4
~ October 2,
1967

Synopsis

Mr.
Cheever gets his nephew (Frankie Avalon) a job at the bank, but the
young man has his heart set on a career in show business instead.  After hearing him sing, Lucy
sets out to make his dreams a reality by getting a famous movie producer to come
to the bank.

Regular
Cast

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

Guest
Cast

Frankie
Avalon
(Tommy
Cheever) was born in Philadelphia in 1939.  A recording star and
musician, Avalon’s movie career took off when paired with Annette
Funicello in Beach
Party
(1963) and its string of sequels. He played Teen Angel in Grease
(1978)
and considers “Beauty School Dropout” to be his most
popular song.  He returned to work with Lucille Ball in a 1973
episode of “Here’s Lucy” titled “The Carters Meets Frankie
Avalon.”  

Tommy
is Mr. Cheever’s nephew.  His uncle calls him ‘Thomas’ but Lucy calls
him ‘Tom.’  Tommy calls Mr. Cheever ‘Uncle Windy,’ a diminutive of
his uncle’s middle name ‘Winfield.’  We have yet to learn Mr.
Cheever’s first name.  

Lew
Parker (Nelson
Penrose) is
probably best remembered as the restaurateur father of Ann Marie,
Marlo Thomas’ character on TV’s “That Girl” (1966-71). This
is the second of his five appearances on “The Lucy Show” and he
will return for two episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” From 1928 to
1973 he appeared in Broadway musicals, which must have come in handy
during this especially musical episode.

Penrose is a movie producer at the studio where Mary Jane works.  He is the
“Starmaker” of the title.  

George
DeNormand (Customer,
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.

Murray
Pollack
(Customer, uncredited) was
seen as one of the party guest in “Country
Club Dance” (ILL S6;E25),
the episode that introduced Barbara Eden. Coincidentally, he later
appeared on half a dozen episodes of “I Dream of Jeannie.” Like
William Meader, he was at the airport when “The
Ricardos Go to Japan”
(1959). He was seen in the 1963 movie Critic’s
Choice with
Lucille Ball. Here he makes the second of two appearances on “The
Lucy Show” and returned for three episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Other
bank clerks and customers are played by uncredited background
performers.

This
is the first of three “Lucy Show” episodes co-written by veteran
TV comedy writer Seaman
Jacobs.
Jacobs teamed  with Fred S. Fox, who had previously written for the
show.  Jacobs and Fox will return to pen 27 episodes of “Here’s
Lucy.” Their final
draft of “Lucy and the Starmaker” was dated May 15, 1967.

This is another episode that has fallen into public domain. Some unofficial releases title this episode “Catch a Rising Star” or “Lucy the Starmaker.”

The
day this episode first aired (October 2, 1967) Thurgood Marshall
was
sworn in as the first African-American justice of the United States
Supreme Court.
It was a year of change on the civil rights front. The first black
man to ever play a credited supporting role on a Lucille Ball sitcom
was John Bubbles in “Main Street U.S.A.” (S5;E17) and “Lucy
Puts Main Street on the Map” (S5;E18). In her personal life Ball
was pro civil rights, even insisting that her black maid be able to
ride the main elevator at her upscale New York apartment instead of
using the service elevator as was mandated.

That
same evening on CBS, Lucille Ball made the first of her four guest
appearances on “The Carol Burnett Show.”  Burnett had played
Carol Bradford on two episodes of “The Lucy Show.”  Lucy
considered Burnett a protege. The official Season 6 “Lucy Show”
DVD collection features a
sketch with Carol and Lucy as feuding car rental agencies at the
airport who beat up Tim Conway (above). Carol
Burnett will return to “The Lucy Show” for two more episodes,
this time playing a character named Carol Tilford.

The
day after this episode first aired Disney voice artist Pinto Colvig
died at age 75. He was
the original voice of Pluto and Goofy and provided all the dog barks
in “Lucy is Her Own Lawyer” (S2;E23).  

Frankie
Avalon gets a warm welcome from the studio audience.  

Mr.
Mooney also had a nephew on the series, Wendell Mooney played by Jay
North in “Lucy the Robot” (S4;E23).  

Mr.
Mooney offers Tommy a cigarette from a box on his desk and Tommy
smokes it.  Unlike “I Love Lucy,” recreational smoking is not a
part of “The Lucy Show.”  Smoking is only used if it is part of
the comic action of the scene and then only rarely.  Lucille Ball,
however, was a life-long smoker off screen.  In
1965, Congress required all cigarette packages carry a health
warning. In 1969, cigarette advertising on television and radio was
banned.

Lucy’s
trusty transistor radio makes yet another appearance.  When she
switches it on while having lunch at her desk, it briefly plays a
jazzy version of “This
Can’t Be Love,”
a song
from
the 1938
Rodgers and Hart musical
The
Boys from Syracuse.

When
Lucy turns on the radio again, she hears a song she says is one of
her favorites, “Walking Happy.”  Tommy agrees and performs it for
Lucy in the office.  As ‘gaffe squad’ members have pointed out,
Avalon is poorly lip-syncing the song. It is the title tune from the 1966
Broadway musical Walking
Happy with
music by Jimmy
Van Heusen and
lyrics by Sammy
Cahn.
The show was nominated for six 1967 Tony
Awards,
including Best Musical, but won none.  The
title song was originally meant to be used in the 1963 film Papa’s
Delicate Condition,
sung by Jackie
Gleason,
but was dropped before the film’s release. In the lyrics, the words
“chappie” and “bloomin’” betray that the show is set in
England.  It was based on the play Hobson’s Choice by Harold
Brighouse.

When
Lucy expresses her thwarted theatrical ambitions, Tommy replies
“Well,
everyone can’t be another Annette Funicello.”
This is an inside reference to former Mousketeer and Frankie
Avalon’s frequent co-star on screen.  They were so often paired that
the names ‘Frankie and Annette’ became one in the public’s mind.  

Lucy’s
wacky filing system (a running joke on the series) finds the bottles
of lemon pop filed under “C” for “Cold Lemon.”  

After
singing for Lucy, Tommy says he never thought he had more than an
average voice.  Lucy replies “if
that is an average voice Elizabeth Taylor is an average housewife.”
 Glamorous
movie star Elizabeth
Taylor
was frequently mentioned on both “The Lucy Show” and “I Love
Lucy.”  Taylor married actor Richard Burton in 1964 and the two
will appear together as themselves on “Here’s Lucy” in 1970.  

When
Mr. Mooney cuts off Tommy’s ‘audition’ after a few notes Lucy says
“Dizzie
Gillespie would have had a better chance with Lawrence Welk!”  John
Birks
Gillespie
(1917–
93) was a jazz
trumpeter,
composer, and singer.
He
was particularly known for his bluesy riffs and free-form style.
Lawrence
Welk (1903-92)
was
a hugely popular bandleader who would appear as himself on a 1970
episode of “Here’s Lucy.”  He was known for his waltzes, a much
more structured and straight-laced musical sound than jazz.  Gillespie would
definitely not be a good fit with Welk’s Champagne Music Makers. Welk
was previously mentioned in “Lucy and Clint Walker” (S4;E24).  

When Mr. Mooney threatens to send Lucy to Fort Knox to be made into gold bars and carved up ingot by ingot, Lucy says to Tommy: “Who does he think he is? Goldfinger?” Goldfinger was a James Bond film released in the US in early 1965. The title character was a wealthy psychopath (played by Gert Fröbe) obsessed with gold.  Fort Knox, an Army base in Kentucky where most of the US gold reserves are held, is also featured in Goldfinger. Mr. Mooney gets exit applause after laying out his gold-plated plan to fire Mrs. Carmichael.  

After
luring producer Penrose to the bank on the pretense of verifying his
signature on a check, Tommy sings“I’m
Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover” written
by Harry Woods in 1927 but with original lyrics pertaining to the
episode. 

Tommy,
with the full bank staff and customers participating, sings “When
the Feeling Hits You”
by Bobby Doyle.  It was also the title of a 1965 album by Sammy Davis
Jr. 

Tommy also plays the trumpet during the number, which is the musical talent that
got Avalon into show business as young man.  

Callbacks!

Lucy
previously tried to advance the career of a young male singer named
Wayne Newton in “Lucy Discovers Wayne Newton” (S4;E14).  

Blooper
Alerts!

During
some parts of the song “Walking Happy,” you can hear
Frankie Avalon singing, but his mouth isn’t moving.
It this were “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Avalon would certainly be told
to sashay away!  

During the number the camera pulls back too far and
we can see where the office carpeting meets the cement sound stage
floor.  This is a regular occurrence on “The Lucy Show.”  

Mr.
Mooney says Mr. Cheever “owns” the bank!  No one person “owns”
a bank. Banks
are ‘owned’ by investors who may or may not be depositors. Banks are
for-profit corporations, with declared earnings paid to stockholders
only.  

Lucy
tells Tommy that when she came out to Hollywood she wanted to be an
actress and it took her a long time to realize she just didn’t have
it. In previous episodes it was clear that Lucy’s brushes with show
business were more happenstance than the desire to fulfill career
goals.  In “Lucy Meets Sheldon Leonard” (S5;E22) the TV producer
asks her if she’s ever done any acting and Lucy promptly replies “No,
sir.”  

Lucy
offers Tommy a “bottle of pop.”  Being raised on the East Coast,
Lucy would probably refer to the carbonated beverage as “soda” or
“soda pop.”   The bottles also have no labels on them.  

“Lucy and the Starmaker” rates 3 Paper Hearts out of 5