LUCY THE FIXER

S1;E14 ~ January 6, 1969

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

Synopsis

When
Lucy called to Harry’s house to take dictation, she tries to fix a
broken lamp.  In the process she succeeds in nearly wrecking Harry’s
home!

Regular
Cast

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

This
is the first episode of 1969.  It is one of the few to feature just
the principal cast members.  It is the only one to only include the
entire Carter Family! 

Coincidentally, the
title is the same as the 1968 film The
Fixer,
which would soon be nominated for Golden Globes and Oscars. The plots, however, have no similarity.

Three days before this episode first aired, Desilu regular Howard McNear died at age 68. He was best known as Floyd the barber on “The Andy Griffith Show” but also appeared with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in The Long, Long Trailer (1954) and as Mr. Crawford, Little Ricky’s music teacher in “Little Ricky Gets Stage Fright” (ILL S6;E4). 

In
her introduction to the episode on DVD, Lucie Arnaz compared her
mother and Gale Gordon’s physical comedy to that of Laurel and Hardy,
a comparison that has also been made by others. As Lucy Carmichael and Mr. Mooney, the pair pantomimed being Laurel and Hardy under the spell of Miss Pat, the Hip Hypnotist in “Lucy and Pat Collins” (TLS S5;E11). After Stan Laurel’s death, Lucille Ball appeared on “A Salute to Stan Laurel” which aired on November 23, 1965.

Although
Lucille Ball Productions (LBP) may have saved money on actor salaries with this episode, the production costs must have increased
substantially as Lucy had to destroy Harry’s living room – not once
but several times. Lucille Ball was a stickler for rehearsals, so
the entire set had to be reconstructed from scratch between rehearsals and filming.

At
the office, Lucy gets a call from her friend Isabel – if only for
the sake of a visual gag of locking the telephone with a chain and
padlock. Two weeks later, Isabel will make her first of two appearances played by Lucille Ball’s old friend Mary Wickes.  Although the Isabel disappears, Wickes goes on to create 7 more characters on “Here’s Lucy.” 

Thrifty Uncle Harry scolds Lucy for wasting office supplies!  He calculates that she has wasted 6 sheets of paper a day, which amounts to 30 sheets a week, 1560 sheets a year, and 15,600 in a decade! This was pre-recycling!  

“Rip ‘em with a beat, 
Tear ‘em with a paw,
Throw ‘em in the meat grinder
Rah rah rah!”

We
discover that Kim is a cheerleader. Lucy says she was also a high
school cheerleader and was voted Miss Cheerleader of 193–…
Needless to say, the decade is as much as Lucy is willing to share. In real life, had Lucille Ball stayed in high school instead of heading to New York
City to seek fame and fortune, the decade would have been the 1920s, not the ‘30s.  

Craig
is on the football team – he is a substitute offensive guard on the
third team. But he looks good in his uniform!  Lucy reminds him that
John
Wayne
started out as an extra. Wayne’s first twenty films from 1926 to
1930 were as an uncredited background performer.  The eventual Oscar
winner was a favorite of Lucille Ball’s, appearing as himself on both
“I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show.” He was mentioned on
“Here’s Lucy” in “Lucy, the Matchmaker” (S1;E12) and “Lucy
and Eva Gabor” (S1;E7).  

In a 1972 episode, college student Craig ponders switching from tennis (Desi Jr.’s real-life passion), to football, with some encouragement from guest star Joe Namath. This was the last appearance of Craig Carter. 

When
Craig says he wants to show his football inform to some friends, Lucy
guesses that he means Danny and Steve. Lucie adds Carol and Susie
and Doreen and Eileen and Josephine and Betty.  Interestingly, she
doesn’t add Annie, Lori, or Elsie – all female friends of Craig’s
mentioned (but not seen) in previous episodes. This is likely
because the episodes were written by different writers.  

Lucie
says her brother is the “Y.A.
Tittle of the teenybopper set.”
Yelberton Abraham Tittle Jr. (1926-2017), better
known as Y.A.
Tittle,
was a professional football quarterback
who played
for the San
Francisco
49ers, New
York Giants, and Baltimore Colts.  His final season was in 1964.

This
is the first time we visit Harry’s home.  

The painting of the Paris suburbs that Harry had hanging on the wall is by K. Chin (1920-95). During W.W.II, K Chin served as a mechanical draftsman with the US Air Corps, during this time he honed in on his skill at creating images with great detail. After working in advertising, Chin spent two years with Norcross Greeting Cards.

When Harry loses his patience with Lucy, he threatens her with physical violence!  Lucy tells him to take his arm out of the hole in the wall. Harry says that he can’t.

His reply is a tribute to “The Honeymooners” (1955-56) in which bus driver Ralph Kramden frequently said the same thing to his stoic wife, Alice. Coincidentally, the character of Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) appeared in a wordless cameo in the second episode of “Here’s Lucy”!  

When
Harry finds a kitten behind the wall, Lucy asks it “What’s
new pussycat?”
That
was the title of a 1965 film by Woody Allen and an Oscar-nominated
song of the same name by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The song was
made famous by Tom Jones and reached #3 on the pop charts.

Off
the many animals that Lucille Ball has had on her shows, this is the
first time she has ever worked with a house cat!  

On “Here’s Lucy,” wherever there’s water, Gale Gordon will get wet!  Kim finds what she thinks
are wires, but turn out to be pipes – pointed right at Uncle Harry. This
was a running gag on “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.”  

Harry wants to dictate a letter to Rylander Moser and Tibbet.  This is the same firm Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon) often mentioned on “The Lucy Show.”  

On
“The Lucy Show,” Lucy Carmichael’s daughter Chris was a cheerleader
and her son Jerry was a football player.  Like Lucy Carter, Lucy
Carmichael was also a cheerleader in school. Coincidentally, both times her school colors were blue and yellow.  

After
the carnage to his living room, Harry calls his sister-in-law
“Hurricane Lucy.” On “I Love Lucy,” when Lucy and Ethel make
a mess of reconstructing their Connecticut barbecue, Ricky guesses
that it was caused by “Hurricane Lucy and Hurricane Ethel.”  In
1971, a real Hurricane Lucy hit the Philippines.

FAST FORWARD!

A clip from this episode was part of “Lucy and Harry’s Memoirs” (S5;E24), closing up the Unique Employment Agency while slowly getting drunk on champagne. It was intended to be the final episode of the series, until Lucille Ball was convinced to do a sixth season.  Like “Lucy the Fixer”, the only characters are the Carter family, although Craig and Kim are only seen in archival footage. 

Make-Up! In
close-ups of Gale Gordon, viewers can see the stage make-up smudges
on his white shirt collar.

Wardrobe! After
the commercial break in the destruction scene, Lucy is suddenly
wearing blue gloves. Naturally, they perfectly match her outfit!

Sitcom
Logic Alert!
Harry finds a live kitten living behind his wall. He then simply
sets it down outside the living room door saying “go
home”!  It
is never mentioned again! Not only did a kitten survive behind the walls of a home, but it let itself out the front door!

Equipment in Frame! When
Kim is looking for the lost wires, the camera pulls back for a wide
shot and viewers can see the stage lighting near the top of the
frame.

Stunt-Ready Set! To
facilitate the stunts, the fireplace has no screen or grate, although
the production designers did remember ashes!

 “Lucy the Fixer” rates 5 Paper Hearts out of 5

Although the first act drags a bit, the second half is some of the best prop comedy Lucille Ball has done since “I Love Lucy”. It is also a great example of the comic timing of Gale Gordon.