Lucy and the Pool Hustler

S6;E13
~ January 8, 1968

Synopsis

Lucy
gets free passes to a pool hall and enters a tournament to play
against a hustler (Dick Shawn) disguised as a woman.

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

Dick
Shawn (Ace
Winthrop / Laura Winthrop) was born Richard
Schulefand
in 1923. He was a nightclub comic and singer who became known for
his eccentric characters in The
Producers
(1967) and It’s
a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
(1963). Aside from appearing together on a 1955 episode of “The Ed
Sullivan Show” this is his only appearance with Lucille Ball. He
died in 1987 at age 63.

Ace
Winthrop has been away three years in the Army.

Stanley
Adams (Harry
Norton) makes
the second of his three appearances on “The Lucy Show.” He was
also seen with Lucille Ball in Critic’s
Choice
(1963).

Norton
is the proprietor of Norton’s Ball and Cue Salon (formerly Norton’s
Pool Room).

Herbie
Faye
(Mr. Devlin) was a character actor who is best known for playing Sam
Fender on “The Phil Silvers Show” (aka “Sergeant Bilko”). He
also appeared with Silvers in the Broadway musical Top
Banana.
He will appear in four episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Remo
Pisani (Andy)
was a stunt man and actor making the first of his two appearances on
the series. He was born in New Jersey in 1919 and died there in
2004.

Joan
Swift (Joan, right)
makes the last 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.

This
is the first time that Joan (the bank secretary) has not worn pink.
In this episode Vanda wears pink. Lucy calls her “Joanie” in the
dialogue.

Vanda
Barra (Vanda, left)
makes
the fourth 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).

The
character is not referred to by name, only credited as Vanda.

James
Gonzales (Tournament
Spectator, uncredited) 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.”

Kathryn Janssen (Bank Customer, uncredited) began doing background work in 1966. This is her third of at least 4 “Lucy Show” appearances. She went on to be spotted in three episodes of “Here’s Lucy”.

Monty
O’Grady (Bank
Customer, uncredited) was first seen with Lucille Ball in The
Long, Long Trailer (1953)
and played a passenger on the S.S. Constitution in “Second
Honeymoon” (ILL S5;E14).
He was a traveler at the airport when “The
Ricardos Go to Japan” (1959).
He made a dozen appearances on the series and a half dozen more on
“Here’s Lucy.”

Bank employees, customers, and tournament spectators are played by uncredited background players.

This
episode has been published on several sites and publications as
premiering on December 4, 1967. The DVD release and extras confirm
the date as January 8, 1968.
This makes it the second new episode aired in 1968. [Note: “Lucy
and Carol Burnett Part 1” (S6;E14) and “Lucy and Carol Burnett
Part 2” (S6;E15) were aired on December 4 and 11, 1967,
respectively, out of filming order. “Lucy and Viv Reminisce”
(S6;E16), consisting mostly of clips of previous episodes, was aired
on New Year’s Day 1968.]

The
final draft of the script by Robert O’Brien, Sam Locke, and Joel Rapp
was submitted September 22, 1967.

The
episode opens at the bank with Lucy counting cash. The underscoring
hints at the song “We’re in the Money” by Harry Warren and Al
Dubin. It was first heard in Gold Diggers of 1933 which
featured “Lucy Show” alumni Charles Lane (Mr. Barndsdahl) and
Joan Blondell (Joan Brenner). The song is now part of the stage
musical 42nd Street.

When
Mr. Mooney flirts with Ace disguised as Laura the underscoring is the
theme from the movie Laura (1944) by David Raskin. The film
featured “Lucy Show” background players Bess Flowers and Sam
Harris.

Lucy
says she used to shoot pool as a kid because her father made her play
– but she got sick of it. This is one of the few times Lucy Carmichael mentions her father. Lucille Ball was raised by her grandfather
and she was very close to her mother. This was also the case with
her TV characters.

The
year before this episode was filmed, Dick Shawn appeared in drag in
the comedy What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? In 1984, Shawn
again appeared in drag as Mae in the movie Angel.

Lucille Ball was an avid game player and loaned her name and image to a table top pool game by Milton Bradley called Pivot Pool.

Callbacks!

Male
drag was the comic payoff of “Lucy’s Club Dance” (ILL S3;E25)
with the Ricky Ricardo Orchestra dressed as women. This was Desi
Arnaz’s least favorite episode.

Fred
Mertz (William Frawley) hilariously played a women in “Ricky Asks
for a Raise” (ILL S1;E35) to convince Mr. Littlefield that Ricky
Ricardo was the only reason she came to the Tropicana.

Unsurprisingly,
‘Mr. Television’ also appeared in drag when “Milton Berle Hides out
at the Ricardos,” a 1959 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”

Blooper
Alerts!

Office? Although
it is momentary, Mr. Mooney is sitting at a lobby desk during the
bank scene so it is possible that this is one of those episodes where
his desk is not in his private office.