S6;E12
~ November 27,
1967
Synopsis
Working
from Mr. Mooney’s home, Lucy trips and falls. Mary Jane suggests she
see a lawyer (Jack Carter) who promptly insists that Lucy sue Mr.
Mooney.
Regular
Cast
Lucille
Ball (Lucy
Carmichael),
Gale Gordon
(Theodore J. Mooney), Mary
Jane Croft (Mary
Jane Lewis)
Roy
Roberts
(Harrison Winfield Cheever) does not appear in this episode.
Guest
Cast
Jack
Carter (Wallace
W. Wiley, Lucy’s Lawyer) was a well-known stand-up comedian who was
(at the time) married to Broadway star Paula Stewart, who had
appeared as Lucille Ball’s sister Janie in Wildcat
(1961). Carter was responsible for introducing Ball to fellow
comedian Gary Morton and served as best man at their wedding. He
also directed two 1971 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”
Wiley
is Mary Jane’s cousin. His nickname is Wiley Wally Wiley. His firm’s
name is ‘Wallace W. Wiley and Associates.’
Parley
Baer (Judge) previously
played MGM’s Mr. Reilly in “Ricky
Needs an Agent” (ILL S4;E29)
and
the furniture salesman Mr. Perry in “Lucy
Gets Chummy with the Neighbors” (ILL S6;E18).
This is the last of his five appearances on “The Lucy Show.” He
also played a Judge in “Lucy, the Meter Maid” (S3;E7). He will
make two appearances on “Here’s Lucy.” Baer is perhaps best
known for his recurring roles as Mayor Stoner on “The Andy Griffith
Show” and Doc Appleby in “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
Lew
Parker (Mr.
Garfield, Mr. Mooney’s Lawyer) is
probably best remembered as the restaurateur father of Ann Marie,
Marlo Thomas’ character on TV’s “That Girl” (1966-71). This
is the third 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 several Broadway musicals.
Irwin
Charone (Bailiff)
makes
the third of his five appearances on “The Lucy Show.” The
expressive character actor also did an equal number of “Here’s
Lucy” episodes. He died in January 2016 in Maplewood, New Jersey,
at the age of 93.
Sid Gould
(Process Server) 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.
Vanda
Barra (Nurse)
makes
the third of her six appearances on the series. She was married to
Sid Gould so is Lucille Ball’s cousin-in-law. She will also make 23
appearances on “Here’s Lucy” as well as appearing in Ball’s
two 1975 TV movies “Lucy Gets Lucky” (with Dean Martin) and
“Three for Two” (with Jackie Gleason).
Bennett Green (Medical Attendant, uncredited) was Desi Arnaz’s stand-in during “I Love Lucy.” He does frequent background work on “The Lucy Show.”
James Gonzales (Juror,
uncredited, left top row) was
a popular Hollywood extra who first acted with Lucille Ball in the
1953 film The
Long, Long Trailer.
He was previously seen on the series as Stan Williams in “Lucy
Digs Up a Date” (S1;E2).
He was seen in more than 20 episodes of “The Lucy Show” and 3
episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”
Hazel
Pierce
(Juror, uncredited, right bottom row) was Lucille Ball’s camera and lighting
stand-in throughout “I Love Lucy.” She also made frequent
appearances on the show. She was also an uncredited extra in the film Forever
Darling (1956).
Pierce was also spotted in the courtroom in “Lucy and the Runaway
Butterfly” (S1;E29) and “Lucy is Her Own Lawyer” (S2;E23).
The
remaining jurors and court officers are played by uncredited
background performers.
Lucy
says she left home at age 16. This is also the same age Lucille Ball
left Jamestown to head to Manhattan.
Mrs.
Mooney is away at a ‘reducing farm.’ Back in Danfield Lucy and Rosie
went to Lazy Days Fat Farm in “Lucy and the Countess Lose Weight”
(S3;E21).
In
Mr. Mooney’s study, Lucy trips over the ottoman.
“The Dick Van Dyke
Show” (1961-66) opening credits began with Van Dyke tripping over an ottoman
in his character’s living room. They also shot a version where Van
Dyke does a quick side step avoiding the ottoman. Director Carl
Reiner decided to alternate the opening between him falling and
missing the ottoman from week to week. According to Dick
Van Dyke,
viewers used to make bets on whether or not Rob Petrie would trip on
any given week.
Wiley
pretends to be on the phone to someone he calls “Sir” and says
“Give my regards to Lady Bird.” Wiley is trying to make
Lucy think he has President Lyndon B. Johnson as a client.
Wiley
says “There
are no small cases, only small lawyers.”
This is a paraphrase of the old show business adage “There are not
small parts, only small actors” which is attributed to famed acting
teacher Constantin
Stanislavski.
When
Wiley hears an the siren of an emergency vehicle outside, he rushes
to the window and regretfully says “I’ll get the next one.”
This intimates that Wiley is what is known as an ‘ambulance chaser,’
a lawyer who looks for injury cases to build a lawsuit on.
Feeling
she betrayed him, Mr. Mooney calls Lucy “a redheaded Benedict
Arnold” (or, as Lucy later recounts to Wiley) “a redheaded eggs
Benedict.”
On
the witness stand Lucy gives her address as 780 Gower Street, which
was the real life address of Desilu’s production offices.
Callbacks!
This
is not the first episode in which Lucy was involved in a lawsuit. In
Season 1 “Vivian Sues Lucy” (S1;E1) over a twisted ankle she suffered when she tripped over one of Jerry’s roller skates.
Although
Viv’s lawsuit did not go to court, Lucy Carmichael has been in a
courtroom several times: “Lucy and the Runaway Butterfly”
(S1;E29), “Lucy is Her Own Lawyer” (S2;E23, above) and “Lucy,
the Meter Maid” (S3;E7) with Parley Baer as the presiding Judge.
Gale Gordon played a Judge when the Ricardos sued the Williams family
in “Lucy
Makes Room for Danny”
(1958),
an episode of “The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour,” which was a crossover with the cast of “Make Room for Daddy” starring Danny Thomas.
Prior to that the
Ricardos and the Mertzes sued one another over a broken television
set in “The Courtroom” (ILL S2;E7).
On
“Here’s Lucy” Lucy Carter will be in front of a Judge played by
Hayden Rorke in “Lucy and the Raffle” (HL S3;E19).
Coincidentally, that episode also features Gale Gordon, Irwin
Charone, Sid Gould, and Vanda Barra.
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
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