Lucy and the Stolen Stole

S6;E19
~ January 29, 1968

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Synopsis

Lucy
and Mr. Mooney go shopping for Mrs. Mooney’s birthday and wind up
being arrested for possession of a stolen fur stole.  Trying to get
his money back from the scam artist (Buddy Hackett), Mooney and Lucy
are jailed twice more!  

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball
(Lucy
Carmichael),
Gale
Gordon

(Theodore J. Mooney),  Roy
Roberts

(Harrison Winfield Cheever), Mary
Jane Croft
(Mary
Jane Lewis)

Guest
Cast

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Buddy
Hackett
(Harry
Barton) was born Leonard Hacker in 1923. He was a successful
nightclub comic who also had a film career.  He appeared in The
Music Man

(1962) and It’s
a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
(1963),
to name just two. Hackett was involved in two episodes of “What’s My Line?” with Lucille Ball as mystery guest. In February 1970, he sat next to Lucille Ball as Johnny Carson’s guest on “The Tonight Show.”  Hackett died in 2003. 

Harry
Barton lives at the Valley Vista Arms, 500 Old Oak Drive in the San
Fernando Valley.  A girlfriend of Mary Jane’s is dating Harry. 

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John
J. ‘Red’ Fox

(Officer Shapiro) 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.”

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Ray
Kellogg

(Police Officer) played
the barking Assistant Director (“Roll
‘em!”
)
in Ricky’s
Screen Test” (ILL S4;E6
)
and later appeared in Bullfight
Dance” (ILL S4;E22)
.
This is his final episode of “The Lucy Show.” He also did two
episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”  He
was also seen in The
Music Man

(1962) with Buddy Hackett. Just
as he does here, most most time he played a policeman.

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Roy
Engel

(Irish Police Officer) played a police officer in many films and TV
shows, including “My Favorite Martian” and It’s
a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
(1963)
with Buddy Hackett.  This is his only series appearance. 

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John
Harmon

(Frankie) previously appeared as a fur-stealing criminal in another crime-themed
episode “Lucy Makes a Pinch” (S3;E8). He will do one episode of
“Here’s Lucy.”  

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Sid
Gould
(Doorman
at the Pink Pelican, 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.

Kathryn Janssen (Pink Pelican Patron, uncredited) began doing background work in 1966. This is the last of her “Lucy Show” appearances. She went on to be spotted in three episodes of “Here’s Lucy”.

Joe
the Police Officer and the patrons of the Pink Pelican are played by
uncredited background performers.

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The
final draft of this script by Milt Josefsberg and Ray Singer is dated
November 16, 1967. It was filmed on December 7, 1967. 

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Lucy
has two goldfish – but she doesn’t know if they are male or female or
give them names. The fish are not tied into the plot and only there
for a few jokes about their gender.

Although
Lucy at first thinks it is a bird sanctuary, the Pink Pelican Club is
a backroom gambling casino.  

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Harry
drives a small red convertible sports car.  After some trouble
getting out of it, he grumbles that he should have gotten the next
larger size.

The
Officer describes the person who paid Mr. Mooney’s bail as a big
brute, about 6’3”, about 250lbs, muscular and tough looking. He
assumes it was Mr. Mooney’s brother, but Mr. Mooney says it was his
wife!

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By
the end of the episode Lucy and Mr. Mooney have been in jails in Downtown Los Angeles, in the San Fernando Valley, and in Beverley Hills (the nicest of the three). Mr.
Mooney says they’ve been in more jails than Bonnie and Clyde. Bonnie
Parker
(1910–34) and Clyde
Barrow

(1909–34) were
criminals who traveled with
their
gang
during
the Great
Depression,
robbing people and killing when cornered or confronted.  A popular
film about their lives was released in August 1967 (above) winning two
Academy Awards. The film also starred Michael J. Pollard, who played Mr. Mooney’s son Ted in a 1964 episode of “The Lucy Show.” 

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When
Lucy says “all’s
well that ends well”

Mr. Mooney calls her a red-headed Pollyanna. Pollyanna
was
a best-selling 1913 novel by Eleanor
H. Porter
that
is now considered a classic of children’s
literature. The title character’s name has become synonymous with a person who
has an overly optimistic outlook.
A Disney film version (above) was released in 1960 with Hayley Mills as the cheerful title character. The film featured one of Lucille Ball’s favorite character actresses, Reta Shaw, who had been in three episodes of “The Lucy Show” and would go on to do three episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”  

Callbacks!

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Lucy
ends up behind bars – again. The last time was in “Lucy Meets the
Law” (S5;E19, above)
when she was suspected of being a jewel thief.  Lucy
Ricardo was arrested and in jail in several episodes: “New
Neighbors” (ILL S1;E21)
in
New York City, “Tennessee
Bound” (ILL S4;E14)
in
Bent Fork, and “Lucy
Takes a Cruise To Havana” (1957)
 in
Cuba. 

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At
the end of the episode, Mr. Cheever is jailed for counterfeiting.
Lucy Ricardo was nearly jailed for the same thing after an encounter
with a forger in Paris.

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On
“I Love Lucy” Little Ricky also kept goldfish, which Lucy was in
charge of feeding. Their names were Mildred and Charles, although
Fred Mertz later nicknames one of the Moby, after the whale in the book and film Moby Dick

Blooper
Alerts!

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Familiar Fur! The
gray fur stole that gets Mr. Mooney and Lucy arrested is the same
costume piece that Mary Jane purchased with five others and loans to
Lucy in “Little Old Lucy” (S6;E7).  

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Mooney’s Memory Loss! Mr.
Mooney says he drives a 1955 Edsel. The last time we saw Mr.
Mooney’s car it was a red Volkswagen convertible in “Lucy and the
Ring-A-Ding Ring” (S5;E5)
.
Also, the Edsel was only in production from 1958 to 1960.  

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Lucy’s Memory Loss! At
the Pink Pelican Club Lucy says she’s never played a slot machine. In
“Lucy Goes to Vegas” (S3;E17) Lucy played the slot machines.

Lucy’s well-loved pink coat (worn in many episodes of “The Lucy Show”) turns up on the rack at a second hand store!  [Thanks to The Lucy Lounge for this observation]

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“Lucy in the Stolen Stole” rates 4 Paper Hearts out of 5

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