Lucy, the Philanthropist

S6;E11
~ November 20,
1967

Synopsis

Lucy
invites a man living on a park bench home for a hot meal. When Mary
Jane sees a newspaper story about an eccentric millionaire posing as
a hobo, Mr. Mooney is convinced the two are one in the same and
schemes to get in the man’s good graces.

Regular
Cast

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

Guest
Cast

Frank
McHugh
(Charles P. Snowden) was
born in 1898 and was a child performer. After vaudeville and other
stock companies, McHugh debuted on Broadway in The
Fall Guy
(1925). In 1930 he was hired at Warner Brothers as a contract player.
He
would appear in a dozen films with another very busy character actor,
Allen
Jenkins (an “I Love Lucy” veteran).
He appeared with Lucille Ball in the film Miss
Grant Takes Richmond
(1949). He died at the age of 83.

Writers
Fred S. Fox and Seaman Jacobs submitted their final draft of the
script on August 14, 1967.

The
day after this episode first aired (November 21, 1967) stage and
screen star Florence
Reed
died. She had appeared (uncredited) in 1937’s Stage
Door
with Lucille Ball.

Taking
a walk through the park (in heels) Lucy says to Mary Jane: “Stanley
didn’t hike this far to find Livingstone!” Doctor
David Livingstone was a 17th century missionary and explorer in central Africa, the first European
to see Victoria Falls. When reporter H.M. Stanley finally found him
in 1871, he supposedly greeted him with “Dr.
Livingstone, I presume?” The now famous quote was first spoken by Lucy in “Never
Do Business With Friends” (ILL S2;E31) when Lucy finds Ricky
through masses of hanging laundry.

The
ice cream cones Mary Jane brings buys have to be small enough for
Frank McHugh to gobble up in a couple of bites, so special cones were
made by the prop department.

Lucy
says that if Mr. Snowden doesn’t eat her ice cream cone she’ll have
to throw it away and probably a policeman would come by and arrest
her for littering. This is the plot of “Lucy Meets the Law”
(S5;E19) where Lucy the litterbug was also a suspect in a jewel
robbery.

Mr.
Mooney compares Mr. Snowden to Barney Baruch. Bernard
Mannes Baruch (1870–1965)
was an American financier
and stock
investor.
After his success in business,
he devoted his time toward advising US
Presidents
on economic
matters
and
became a philanthropist.

Mr.
Mooney says from the side he is often mistaken for Richard Burton,
but from the front it is Rock Hudson. Both of these men were two of
Hollywood’s most handsome leading men. Richard
Burton (with
wife Elizabeth Taylor) will guest star in a 1970 episode of “Here’s
Lucy” as himself. Rock Hudson also played himself, in “In Palm
Springs” (ILL S4;E26).

A
conniving Mr. Mooney asks Mary Jane if she can keep her newspaper
because he hasn’t read Peanuts today. Peanuts
was
a syndicated
daily
comic
strip
written
and illustrated by Charles
M. Schulz,
which ran from 1950 to 2000. The characters in the strip included
Charlie Brown, Linus, Snoopy, and (of course) their own Lucy.

Giddy
with the idea of getting rich, Mr. Mooney sings his own lyrics to
Dvorak’s “Humoresque”:

Twenty
thousand lovely smackers

Buy
a lot of cracker jackers

And
I feel it landing in my lap.

Pluck!
Pluck!

Lucy Ricardo sang “Humoresque” in “Bullfight Dance” (ILL S4;E22).

Lucy
says that “When
Mr. Mooney smells money he turns from Simon Legree to Rebecca of
Sunnybrook farms.”
Simon
Legree
is the
evil slave owner featured in the Harriet Beecher Stowe story Uncle
Tom’s Cabin
(1852).
The book was previously alluded to in “Lucy
is Her Own Lawyer” (S2;E23)
and “Lucy and the Countess Lose Weight” (S3;E21). Rebecca
of Sunnybrook Farm is
the title of a 1903 children’s novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin that
tells the story of Rebecca Randall and her two stern aunts in a
village in Maine. The hallmark of Rebecca’s character was her
cheerful optimism in the face of adversity. It was first mentioned
in “Lucy and the Winter Sports” (S3;E3) and “Lucy and Bob
Crane” (S4;E22).

We
learn that Mr. Griggs is the owner of the apartment house where Lucy
and Mary Jane live.

Callbacks!

Lucy
also turned philanthropist to feed the homeless by volunteering at a
soup kitchen in “Lucy Saves Milton Berle” (S4;E13).

Blooper
Alerts!

Mr.
Snowden wipes his face after gobbling up the ice cream cone, but some
strawberry ice cream remains on the end of his nose for the remainder
of the scene.