S6;E7~
October 23,
1967
Synopsis
When
the 90 year-old president of the bank is in town and needs an escort
to the bank’s banquet, Lucy is volunteered. She discovers that
although he is old, he is still very interested in the opposite sex! Dennis Day guest stars.
Regular
Cast
Lucille
Ball (Lucy
Carmichael / Abigail
Vandermere),
Gale Gordon
(Theodore J. Mooney), Roy
Roberts
(Harrison Winfield Cheever), Mary
Jane Croft (Mary
Jane Lewis)
Guest
Cast
Dennis
Day
(Cornelius Heatherington Jr.)
was an Irish
singer who’s name and career were synonymous with Jack
Benny’s,
working with the comedian on radio and TV. It was Benny who gave him
his big break in 1939 and Benny who kept him employed as a singer and
naive comic sidekick. His
“Gee, Mr. Benny!” became
a well-known catchphrase. Day would play second banana to the
comedian until Benny’s death in 1974.
Day died at age 72 of Lou
Gehrig’s disease.
The
character is the 90 year-old President of the Bank. He is a bachelor
who has two yachts, as well as homes in New York, Paris, and Hawaii.
Sid
Gould (Airport
Announcer, uncredited) made
more than 45 appearances on “The Lucy Show,” all as background
characters. He also did 40 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” Gould
(born Sydney Greenfader) was Lucille Ball’s cousin by marriage to
Gary Morton.
William Meader (Bank 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.
James Jackson (Commuter, uncredited) gained
fame as Farina’s older brother, Pineapple, in six of Hal Roach’s “Our
Gang” serials (1924-25). He
appeared with Lucille Ball in the 1963 film Critic’s
Choice
as well as this episode of “The Lucy Show.” With Sammy Davis Jr.
he was an uncredited extra in the 1964 film Robin
and the Seven Hoods.
He will be seen in one more episode of “Here’s Lucy”
guest-starring Ginger Rogers.
Judith Woodbury (Commuter, uncredited) nine (mostly) uncredited appearances on “The Lucy Show.” She also appeared in one episode of “Here’s Lucy.”
James Gonzales (Commuter, uncredited)
was a popular Hollywood extra who first acted with Lucille Ball in the 1953 film The Long, Long Trailer. He was seen in 23 episodes of “The Lucy Show” and 3 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”
The other airport extras are played by uncredited background performers.
Dennis
Day was mentioned on the previous week’s episode “Lucy Gets Jack
Benny’s Account” (S6;E6). In the same breath, Benny also mentioned
Phil Harris, who will guest star on “The Lucy Show” later in the
season. Script supervisor Milt Josefsberg, who also wrote for “The
Jack Benny Show,” is likely responsible for getting these
performers as guest stars.
The
Westland Bank is celebrating its 50th Anniversary, which means it was founded in 1917. Dennis Day’s
character bears more than a passing resemblance to the elderly banker
Mr. Dawes Senior played by Dick Van Dyke (insert) in Mary
Poppins
(1964).
We
finally learn Mr. Cheever’s first name: Harrison. This will also be
Gale Gordon’s first name in “Here’s Lucy.” In a previous episode
we learned that Mr. Cheever’s middle name was ‘Winfield’.
Lucy
borrows a mink stole from Mary Jane, who shares it with five others:
Mildred, Roselle, Ella, Edith, and Irving, who uses it as ‘date
bait.’
Mrs.
Mooney spent three weeks of her husband’s salary on an evening gown
with a mini-skirt. Mr. Mooney says she is bow-legged. This is yet
another incredible visual about Mrs. Mooney, a character that never
appears on screen.
Lucy
orders the banquet hall decorated in green and gold to match her new
gown. Luckily for Lucy, those are also Mr. Hetherington’s favorites.
Mr. Mooney wanted pink and purple because they are his old school
colors.
Heatherington
says he chartered the entire plane so he could have the stewardesses
all to himself. He says “It’s
the only way to fly.”
This
was the advertising slogan for Western Airlines, a US carrier that
was in operation from 1926 to 1987, before merging with Delta
Airlines. The
extremely popular slogan was first spoken on the series in “Lucy
Gets the Bird” (S3;E12) and then again when Lucy is getting shot
out of a canon in “Lucy and the Return of Iron Man” (S4;E11).
Whenever
Lucille Ball is called upon to play an old lady, she dresses in
clothes that are more befitting of the late 1800s than the present
day.
As
Mrs. Abigail Vandermere Lucy says her husband was a poor Texan named
Harvey. She only got wealthy when they struck oil digging Harvey’s
grave.
Lucy
gets a phone call from a bank secretary named Gladys to report that
Mr. Heatherington is on his way to Mr. Mooney’s office. In the
previous episode, “Lucy Gets Jack Benny’s Account” (S6;E6), we
hear Gladys’ voice on the intercom.
Callbacks!
Lucy
calls Heatherington the “Don
Juan of the stone age.”
Don Juan, a literary figure famous for wooing many females, was also
the first (but shelved) movie project of Ricky Ricardo. In “Ricky’s
Screen Test” (ILL S4;E6) Lucy took the role of one of his
conquests.
Lucy
Carmichael previously dressed as an old lady in “Lucy Helps the
Countess” (S4;E8) and “Lucy and the Soap Opera” (S4;E19) –
both times wearing the same dress!
Lucy
and Ricky Ricardo put on old age make-up hoping that “The Young
Fans” (ILL S1;E20) Peggy and Arthur will flee the horrors of old
age and find crushes on people their own age.
An older neighbor, Mr. Ritter (Edward Everett Horton) gets fresh with Lucy
Ricardo in “Lucy Plays Cupid” (ILL S1;E15) just the same way Mr.
Heathrington does here. In both episodes Lucy aggressively rebuffs
the advances of the men.
In
that same episode Bea Benadaret (as Miss Lewis)
dresses as the stereotypical little old lady, wearing something at
least 60 years out of style, and also tottering when she walked, just
like Lucy does here.
To
escape the amorous advances of Mr. Heatherington, Lucy (as Abigail)
swings around the room on the hotel bell cord. Lucy first swung on a
rope as Iron Man Carmichael and then again in “Lucy and Bob Crane”
(S4;E22).
Blooper
Alerts!
In
this episode, Lucy claims that she has never met a millionaire
before. Except that in “Lucy Meets a Millionaire” (S2;E24) she
dated wealthy Italian Umberto Fabriani.
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
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