LUCY AND THE EX-CON

S1;E15
~ January 13, 1969

Directed
by Jack Donohue ~ Written by Robert O’Brien

Synopsis

The
Unique Employment Agency sends Rocky (Wally Cox), a reformed safe
cracker, on an assignment as a janitor.  When the place is robbed,
Rocky is the number one suspect.  Disguised as old ladies, Lucy and
Rocky go undercover to catch the real crook.  

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy
Carter), Gale
Gordon (Harrison
Otis Carter)

Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter) and Desi
Arnaz Jr. (Craig
Carter) do not appear in this episode.

Guest
Cast

Wally
Cox
(Rocky Barnett) was probably best known as America’s favorite science
teacher “Mr. Peepers” (1952-55) on NBC. Cox had played a nervous
musician on a 1963 episode of “The Lucy Show.”  This is the first
of his four appearances (playing different eccentric characters) on
“Here’s Lucy.”  He was also a regular panelist on “The
Hollywood Squares.”  Cox died in 1973 at age 48.  

Rocky
is short for Rockingham.  

Bruce
Gordon
(‘Doc’ Morgan) is best known for playing Frank Nitti on the Desilu
series “The Untouchables” (1959-63).  He played a version of the
character when “The Lucy Show” parodied “The Untouchables” in
1966.  

Doc
Morgan is so named because he uses a stethoscope when safe cracking.
Bruce Gordon was not related to Gale Gordon.

Irving
Benson
(Irving)
was an ex-vaudevillian
Milton Berle hired to appear as a heckler named Sidney Spritzer on
his variety shows.
This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.  He died at the age
of 102.

Vince
Howard
(Policeman, extreme left) was much more at home in hour-long crime
dramas (like “Mannix” or “Mission: Impossible”) than in
sitcoms.  Many of his 125 TV and film credits were as law enforcement
officials.  Howard also played a policeman on “Lucy and Mannix are
Held Hostage” (S4;E4).  

Larry
J. Blake
(Policeman) appeared as a Native American Medicine Man in “Lucy the
Rain Goddess” (TLS S4;E15).  He was an ex-vaudevillian making the
first of his eight “Here’s Lucy” appearances.

Some
of the patrons of the Seadrifter Café (uncredited) are played
by:

• Don
  Anderson
  was
  seen in the last two episodes of “The Lucy Show” as well as
  making three appearances on “Here’s Lucy.”

• Victor
  Romito was
  seen as the Bartender in “Lucy
  Meets John Wayne” (S5;E10).
  He also appeared in four episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”  Romito was
  an extra in the 1960 Lucille Ball / Bob Hope film Critic’s
  Choice.

• Chalky
  Williams played
  a police officer (uncredited) in “The Ricardos Go To Japan” in
  1959.  He was an uncredited extra in many TV and film westerns, often
  found sitting on a bar stool.  

The
scantily clad blonde waitresses, the taxi driver, and the other
Seadrifter patrons are played by uncredited background performers.

For his employment application, Rocky lists his aliases: Riley, Murphy, Shapiro, Agnew, and Smith.

Bruce
Gordon introduces this episode on the “Here’s Lucy” DVD
collection.  He passed away in 2011.  

Lucy
sends Mr. Barnett to Parker Import Company for a job as a maintenance
man (aka janitor).

Lucy
goes undercover as Abigail Throckmorton and Rocky as Lydia Perkins
(of the Pasadena Perkins’) from the Ladies Civic Betterment
Committee.  The mention of Pasadena gets a laugh from the studio
audience because of the Beach Boys hit song “The Little Old Lady from
Pasadena” (1964) sung by Jan and Dean. Ball and Cox are dressed as stereotypical
little old ladies.  

Lucy
and Rocky decide to fake getting drunk to gain access to Doc’s
office, which allows Lucy to deliver the clever line:
“Might I have a Mai Tai?”
The
Mai
Tai
is an alcoholic cocktail based on rum, Curaçao liqueur, orgeat
syrup, and lime juice, and usually adorned with Polynesian-style
decorations like paper umbrellas and tropical flowers. Doc says his
Mai Tai’s have seven different kinds of rum.  

After
too many Mai Tais, Lucy drunkenly croons a few bars of “Sweet
Leilani,”
a
song featured in the 1937 film Waikiki
Wedding.
It won the Academy
Award and Bing
Crosby’s
recording of it became one of the biggest hits of 1937.
The music then segues into “The Hawaiian
War Chant,”
a traditional island melody first written in 1860. Lucy dances
energetically shaking her maracas – and other body parts.  

When
Lucy and Rocky pass out (as planned) Doc says “Irving!
Give me a hand with arsenic and old face.”
Arsenic
and Old Lace
was a 1939 Broadway play and 1944 film where two elderly spinsters
serve lethal glasses of elderberry wine to unsuspecting older
gentlemen and bury them in their basement!

Lucy
Carmichael recruited the help of an ex-con safe cracker (Jay Novello, above)
to get Mr. Mooney out of a the bank vault in “Lucy and the Safe
Cracker” (TLS S2;E5).

Lucille Ball first performed “The Hawaiian War Chant” with Vivian Vance in “Ricky’s Hawaiian Vacation” (ILL S3;E22, inset).  She performed it again in “Lucy and Carol in Palm Springs” (TLS S5;E8).  Ball and Vance will sing it again on “Here’s Lucy” in “Lucy Goes Hawaiian” (S3;E23, above).  

This
is not the first time Lucille Ball has played the archetypal little
old lady.  Lucy Ricardo made herself old to ward off the affections
of Arthur Morton (Richard Crenna) in “The Young Fans” (ILL S1;E20)… 

…and then again
to seal a real estate deal in “The Girls Go Into Business” (ILL
S3;E2). 

Lucy Carmichael aged herself in “Lucy Helps the Countess”
(TLS S4;E8) and “Lucy and the Soap Opera” (TLS S4;E19) – both
times wearing the same costume!  

Mrs. Carmichael also poses as a
wealthy octogenarian in “Little Old Lucy” (TLS S6;E7).

Auto Owner? Lucy
tells Rocky she doesn’t own a car, but in a previous episode Lucy
audibly sideswipes the garage when coming home from work – blaming
both the wide car and the narrow garage, of course. 

Safe Keeping! A big black safe has been moved into the Unique Employment Agency offices for the sake of the episode’s plot. 

Door is Ajar! When
Lucy and Rocky enter the Seadrifter Café, they leave the door open.
Doors left open or ajar was a frequent occurrence on “The  Lucy
Show.”

“Lucy and the Ex-Con” rates 4 Paper Moons out of 5