LUCY AND EVA GABOR

S1;E7
~ November 11, 1968

Directed
by Jack Donohue ~ Written by Milt Josefsberg and Ray Singer

Synopsis

The
author of a controversial novel (Eva Gabor) is in town and needs a
quiet place to work so Harry volunteers Lucy’s home. Naturally, it is
anything but peaceful and far from quiet.

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy
Carter), Gale
Gordon (Harrison
Otis Carter), Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter), Desi
Arnaz Jr. (Craig
Carter)

Guest
Cast

Eva
Gabor
(Eva Von Graunitz) was born in Hungary in 1919. She came to America
with her sisters, Magda and Zsa Zsa. She began her screen career in
1941. She also appeared on Broadway five times between 1950 and
1983. Her signature role was glamorous socialite turned farm wife
Lisa Douglas on “Green Acres” (1965-71), also aired on CBS.
Gabor was married five times. She
was also a successful businesswoman, marketing wigs, clothing and
beauty products.
Gabor returned to “Here’s Lucy” to play herself in 1972. She
died in 1995.

Eva
Gabor also used Graunitz as her maiden name on “Green Acres”
which ran concurrently with “Here’s Lucy.”

Robert
Carson
(Martin Phillips) was
a busy Canadian-born character actor who appeared on six episodes of
“The Lucy Show.” This is the first of his five appearances on
“Here’s Lucy.”

Peggy
Rea
(Maude, above center) was seen on four episodes of “I Love Lucy,” mostly as one
of the members of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League, but also
as the Nurse that wheeled enceinte Lucy into the hospital. Rea was a
regular on “The Waltons” and “Grace Under Fire,” her last
series before her death in 2011. This is her only appearance on
“Here’s Lucy.”

Maude
is in Lucy’s bridge club.

Kay
Elliot (Nelly, second from right)
was the fifth of six actors to play Aunt Hagatha on “Bewitched.”
This is her only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Nelly
is in Lucy’s bridge club.

Gail
Bonney
(Dolores, above right) appeared
with Lucille Ball in the 1950 films A
Woman of Distinction and
The
Fuller Brush Girl.
She played Mrs. Hudson, mother of unruly twins, on “The
Amateur Hour” (ILL S1;E14)
as well as in “Lucy and the Ceramic Cat” (TLS S3;E16).
She had also appeared with Eva Gabor on a 1965 episode of “Green
Acres.” This is her only appearance on “Here’s Lucy.”

Dolores
is in Lucy’s bridge club. She is the president of the PTA.

Mickey
Martin
(Photographer) appeared with Lucille Ball in the 1934 film Kid
Millions
starring Eddie Cantor. He did one more episode of “Here’s Lucy”
in 1970, which was his final screen credit.

Sid
Gould
(Expressman) made
more than 45 appearances on “The Lucy Show,” all as background
characters. This is the third of his 40 episodes of “Here’s
Lucy.” Gould (born Sydney Greenfader) was Lucille Ball’s cousin
by marriage to Gary Morton.

Earl
Parker
(Newspaper Reporter) was seen mostly in TV westerns. He was a stunt
double for Vic Morrow. This is his only appearance with Lucille
Ball.

There
was no new “Here’s Lucy” episode on Monday, November 6, 1968
because it was the eve of a US Presidential election. Instead, CBS
sold the time slot to the George Wallace campaign, while Richard
Nixon bought time on another network. Regular programming resumed
later in the evening and Lucille Ball made a guest appearance (her
second) on “The Carol Burnett Show.” So Lucy was still on Monday
night!

This
episode of “Here’s Lucy” was aired on Veterans Day 1968.

Peggy Rea (Maude) introduced this episode on the “Here’s Lucy” DVD collection. Rea passed away shortly afterwards.

Two
days after this “Here’s Lucy” episode originally aired, “Green
Acres” broadcast the seventh episode of their fourth season, “A
Husband for Eleanor” (their cow).

Eva
Von Graunitz is the author of Valley
of the Puppets, a
title that parodies the 1966 Jacqueline Susann novel Valley
of the Dolls,
which was filmed in 1967. In the film, Peggy Rea (Maude) played
Neely’s (Patty Duke) vocal coach. Harry
says that Valley
of the Puppets
was banned in Boston. Lucy adds that it was even barred in Tijuana!

Harry
says he hasn’t read anything like it since Captain
Billy’s Whiz Bang.
Captain
Billy’s Whiz Bang
was
one of the most popular and notorious humor magazines of the 1920s.
It was created by Wilford Hamilton Fawcett, who had been a captain in
the US Army during World War I and gained the nickname Captain Billy.
The books were immortalized in the lyrics of the song “Trouble”
in Meredith Willson’s 1957 Broadway musical The
Music Man
which was filmed in 1962. The reference, however, is anachronistic
as the musical is set in 1912 and the first issue did not hit the
newsstands until 1919, seven years later! The humor magazine was
eventually sold to CBS Publications, a division of CBS, the network
that distributed “Here’s Lucy” and Lucille Ball’s other sitcoms.

Harry
compares his wise-cracking nephew Craig to Milton Berle. Berle guest
starred on episodes of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” and “The Lucy Show.” Desi Arnaz Jr. would co-stars with Berle on “Lucy and the Used Car Dealer” (S2;E9) above.

Craig
is dating the most popular girl in the class, Lori Wilson. Despite
this he seems smitten with Eva Von Graunitz. Eva Gabor was 48
years old at the time and Desi Arnaz Jr. was 15. In
her thick Hungarian accent Eva calls Lucy ‘Loosel’! The screenplay
Eva is writing concerns a love affair between William and Veronica
(or, as Eva says, Villiam and Weronica).

Dolores
asks Eva for her autograph – on a copy of The
Caine Mutiny,
the 1951
Pulitzer
Prize–winning
novel by Herman
Wouk.
It was turned into a stage play in 1953 and also a film in 1954. The
play is mentioned in “Lucy Meets Orson Welles” (ILL S6;E3).

Lucy
gets a phone call from Millie, who is in her bowling league.

When
a reporter pretends to be Eva’s brother, she tells Lucy she has no
brothers! Lucy asks about sisters. Eva rolls her eyes and says
“Boy,
oh, boy, oh, boy! Do I have sisters!”
This is an inside reference to Gabor’s famous siblings Zsa-Zsa and
Magda.

Where
there’s water, Gale Gordon is sure to end up wet. Here he is on the
receiving end of a flowing garden hose. This running gag began on
“The Lucy Show.”

When
Eva’s agent Martin Phillips is at the door, Lucy says “I
don’t care if you’re Tiny Tim!”
This is the third reference to “Rowan
and Martin’s Laugh-In” where
singer and ukulele player Tiny Tim was a regular performer. The
variety comedy show aired opposite “Here’s Lucy” on NBC.

The
name of Eva’s next book, Life
with Lucille (or,
as Eva says, ‘Loosel’),
is
eerily close to the title of Lucille Ball’s final television series
Life
with Lucy (1987).

The
episode ends with role reversal, Lucy dictating to Eva, invoking the
names of Cary Grant and John Vane (Wayne). John
Wayne
had guest starred as himself on both “I Love Lucy” and “The
Lucy Show.” While Cary
Grant
never appeared with Lucille Ball, his name was mentioned three times
on “I Love Lucy.”

Booby-trapping
the front door with buckets designed to tip over was first done in
“The Ballet” (ILL S1;E19) where Lucy Ricardo ended up drenched in
water.

Sitcom
logic alert! Mr. Phillips is looking for a ‘normal family’ where
successful writer Eva Von Graunitz can live while she writes a
screenplay. He is paying $500 a week. For that price he not might
rent her a private home, apartment, or hotel room. If she desired
privacy, why would she want a family environment?

Allergy Attack! Eva
Gabor gives a little ladylike sneeze while hosing down the shrubbery.

Consistency! Eva
says that Lucy (Loosel) will be the subject of her next book,
yet as the episode fades to black Lucy is dictating a screenplay,
not a book.