Lucy Gets Involved

S6;E17
~ January 15, 1968

Synopsis

When
Lucy borrows Mr. Mooney’s television set and drops it, she must take
a night job as a carhop in a drive-in restaurant to make extra money
to replace it.

Regular
Cast

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

Guest
Cast

Jackie
Coogan
(Mr. Burton) was
a child actor. In “Ricky’s
Screen Test” (ILL S4;E6)
Lucy
Ricardo hopes Little Ricky will be “the
next Jackie Coogan.”
Coogan
was once married to Flower Parry, who was a frequent extra on “I
Love Lucy.” He is, of course, best remembered as Uncle Fester on
TV’s “The Addams Family” (1964-66). He previously appeared on
“The Lucy Show” in “Lucy and the Military Academy” (S2;E10)
as well as a 1973 episode of “Here’s Lucy.” Their last collaboration was on the TV special “Lucy Gets Lucky” (1975).

Mr.
Burton is the proprietor of Phil’s Fatboy Burgers. It is never
established if Burton is the Phil in the company’s name.

Phil
Vandervort (Tommy
Watkins) previously appeared in “Lucy Gets Her Diploma” (S6;E5).
He also did 3 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Tommy’s father Walter Watkins is an important depositor at the Westland Bank where Lucy works. During
this and his previous appearance, Vandervort appeared opposite Lucie
Arnaz. The two were married from 1971 to 1977.

Irwin
Charone
(Man in the Blue Triumph) makes
the fourth 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.

Vanda
Barra
(Woman in the Blue Triumph) makes
the fifth 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).

Barra
has no dialogue in this episode.

John
J. ‘Red’ Fox
(Policeman) was
best known for playing policemen, which is what he did on five of his
eight appearances on “The Lucy Show” as well as three of his five
episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Lucie
Arnaz
(Dancer in Roadster, uncredited) was
the real life daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. She previously
appeared on “The Lucy Show” as Cynthia, a friend of Lucy’s
daughter Chris. She also did background appearances, most recently
with her brother Desi Jr. in “Lucy
at Marineland” (S5;E1).
She will do one more credited episode of “The Lucy Show” before
becoming a regular on “Here’s Lucy.”

Sid
Gould (Man
in Blue Ford Convertible, 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.

Shirley Anthony (Woman in Blue Ford Convertible, uncredited) made 13 appearances on “Here’s Lucy.” From 1994 to 1999 she played Sally on “The Rockford Files” TV movies.

Oddly, Gould is not paired with his real-life wife, Vanda Barra, in his short scene.

Two uncredited actors play diners inside the drive-in.

Although
the episode was written by Milt Josefsberg and Ray Singer, writer and
producer Ernest D. Glucksman and Martin Grupsmith are given a “story
by” credit line. This is their only collaboration with Lucille
Ball.

The title of this episode should probably have been “Lucy Moonlights as a Carhop” (or words to that effect) since that is the primary thrust of the plot. The sight gags rely primarily upon Lucy and Mr. Burton dropping dishes of food. The word “involved” is vague and gives no real clue what the episode is about.

The
episode features a Light Blue 1962 Triumph TR4 convertible. It was
previously seen in “Lucy, the Meter Maid” (S3;E7). Tommy Watkins
rides a white 1962 Honda Dream motorcycle. It was previously seen
parked inside Mel Tinker’s apartment in “Lucy in the Music World”
(S4;E3).

Other vehicles on screen include:

Blue Ford Convertible
Vintage
1920s Roadster
Blue Sports Car
Red VW Beetle with Moon Roof
Police Car

At the start of the episode, Mr. Mooney dictates a letter to Rylander Mosier and Tibbett. These names are frequently used by Mr. Mooney (and later Harry Carter) when asking Lucy to take dictation.

Later in the episode, he asks Lucy for the Jones file. Vivian Jones was the birth name of Vivian Vance. She also used it as her last name on “Here’s Lucy.”

Mr.
Burton calls Lucy Typhoid Mary. This is the third series reference to
Typhoid
Mary,
although this one is the first used in a food service
setting.

In “Lucy the Stock Holder” (S3;E25) Mr. Mooney called Viv Typhoid Mary.

Mary
Mallon
(1869-1938)
was a cook known as Typhoid Mary because she was an asymptomatic
carrier of the typhoid virus. She is said to have infected 22 people,
three of whom died. Here
Mr. Burton merely means she is the source of trouble.

Later
Mr. Burton refers to Lucy as a redheaded Calamity Jane. Martha
Jane Canary
(1852–1903),
better known as Calamity
Jane,
was an American frontierswoman known for her claims of being an
acquaintance of Wild
Bill Hickok and
fighting against Indians.
Again, the writers are looking for a creative way to say that Lucy is
a trouble maker. On “Here’s Lucy,” Harry also calls Lucy Calamity Jane in “Lucy the Cement Worker” (HL S2;E10), something he previously did in “The Great Airport Chase” (HL S1;E18).

Lucy
calls Mr. Burton an ‘upholstered Simon Legree’. Simon
Legree
was
the evil slave owner featured in the Harriet Beecher Stowe story
“Uncle
Tom’s Cabin” (1852).
In
“Lucy the Philanthropist” (S6;E11) Lucy says that “When Mr. Mooney smells money he turns from Simon Legree to Rebecca of Sunnybrook farms.”

Lucy
says Mr. Mooney is no Diamond Jim Brady. James
Buchanan Brady (1856–1917)
aka Diamond
Jim Brady (inset photo) was an American businessman, financier and philanthropist of the
Gilded Age who had a particular affinity for precious stones and
jewelry. Brady’s name was first mentioned on “I Love Lucy” in “The Business Manager” (ILL S4;E1). In the late 1960s, Lucy was announced to play Jane Russell to Jackie Gleason’s Brady in a film project that never materialized.

Tommy
Watkins (Phil Vandervort) says Lucy reminds him of her mother.
Little did she know that by 1971 Lucille Ball would actually be his
mother-in-law!

Roy
Roberts (Mr. Cheever) gets a smattering of exit applause from the
studio audience for his brief scene at the end of the episode.

Callbacks!

When Lucy drops the TV, Mary Jane sets down the grocery bag and viewers can see a pink bakery box inside. These boxes frequently turned up when the show was set in Danfield.

Two
broken television sets were also a major plot catalyst in “The
Courtroom” (ILL S2;E7). The sets belonged to the Ricardos and the
Mertzes. Lucy has traditionally had trouble with faulty television
sets.

Blooper
Alerts!

Gong Show! For
plot purposes, the table behind Mr. Mooney’s desk now holds a Chinese gong. It is gone by the next episode.

Dialogue Error! Lucy
says “I’m sorry” and then she cuts off Gale Gordon’s line,
which sounds like it was supposed to be “You should be”
but only comes out “Yoush”.

Saving Glass! Mr.
Mooney slams the door to his office, shattering the pane of glass in
the wall next to it. In previous episodes, this was a full pane of
opaque glass but here, for the purposes of the gag, it is only a half
wall of glass. The curtains remain closed for the rest of the
episode.

Auto Bingo! On
Lucy’s second night of work, the light blue Triumph has moved
positions in the car parking area and is occupied by new owners.
However, it still has a #3 service card in the window.

Going Down! When
the Policeman tells Tommy he has to go downtown for questioning actor
John J. ‘Red’ Fox (Policeman) says “Now
let’s go down the car.”
He was probably be supposed to say “Let’s
go down to the station”
or “Let’s get in the car.”

Tripping Hazard! When the Policeman is approaching Tommy, Mr. Burton is sweeping up the food that has spilled on the sidewalk. The broom handle momentarily dips into the Policeman’s path, nearly tripping him.

Name Game! When
Mr. Burton introduces himself to Mr. Mooney he calls his
establishment Phil’s Fatboy Barbecue. The neon sign on the drive-in
restaurant says Phil’s Fatboy Burgers. Lucy also calls it by that
name when reading about it in the want ads.

All Redheads Look Alike! At
the bank, Mr. Burton doesn’t recognize Lucy from the back even when
Mr. Mooney calls her Mrs. Carmichael. It is only when she faces him
that Mr. Burton goes ballistic.