LUCY AND TENNESSEE ERNIE’S FUN FARM

S1;E23
~ March 10, 1969

Directed
by Jack Donohue ~ Written by Bob O’Brien

Synopsis

A
farmer (Ernie Ford) wanders into the Unique Employment Agency in need
of farmhands. Instead, Lucy proposes they turn his farm into a
vacation spot for city folks. They start with a TV commercial to get
the word out!

Regular
Cast

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

Guest
Cast

Tennessee
Ernie Ford
(Ernie Epperson) was
the first and only celebrity to make three guest star appearances
(playing a variation on himself) on “I Love Lucy.” A popular
country singer of the 1950s, “I Love Lucy” was his first credited ‘acting’
job, before his big hit with the song “Sixteen Tons” in 1955.
Ford was first mentioned on season in “Lucy
Writes a Play” (ILL S1;E17),
when playwright Lucy mistakenly dubs herself the next Tennessee
Ernie, instead of Tennessee Williams. He then appeared (also as a
variation on himself) on “The Lucy Show.” This is his fifth and
final appearance on a Lucille Ball sitcom. Ford was fond of
alliterative character names. In addition to Ernie Epperson, he
played Homer Higgins on “The Lucy Show,” Loser Lumpkin on "The
Red Skelton Show,” and Kentucky Cal on the Desilu-produced "Make
Room For Daddy.” He died in 1991.

Epperson
owns the Broken Plow Farm in the ‘sue-burb’ of Calabasas.

The
Back Porch Majority
(Themselves) was
a folk music group founded by Randy Sparks in 1963. It was intended
to be a rehearsal space for The New Christy Minstrels, another group
Sparks had established in 1961, but it ended up becoming successful
on its own. The group released six albums and was chosen to provide
entertainment at the White House in 1965. They previously backed up
Ernie Ford on “The Lucy Show.”

The members of the group are Rusty Richards, Jet Sharon, Kathy Beaudine, Kittie McCue, and Kyra Carleton.

Larry
Billman
(Dancer, uncredited) was seen on Broadway in the short-lived musical
revue Vintage
‘60
(1960). He has less than ten screen credits and made his career in
charge of live entertainment for Disney theme parks. He died in May
2017.

The revue features a live cow, a donkey, and two horses. Other singers, dancers, and musicians appear uncredited.

Two days after this episode was first aired (March 12, 1969) Lucie Arnaz made the first of her three appearances on NBC’s “The Kraft Music Hall”, hosted by Wayne Newton and featuring Judy Carne and Tim Conway. Lucille Ball does not appear.

All
the singing and instrumentals are prerecorded, although naturally
Desi Jr. played his drum solos live. Lucille Ball has only one brief
line of solo singing during “Heavenly Music” and it does not
sound like her voice. It is very likely Carole Cook, who has been
Lucy’s ghost singer on two previous occasions. Gale Gordon is also
dubbed in that song.

When
Lucy asks the overalls-wearing Ernie if he is a farmer, Ernie replies
“Well,
I ain’t that Omar Shareef on his way home from a square dance!”
Actor Omar
Sharif
was nominated for a 1963 Oscar for Lawrence
of Arabia
and had won a Golden Globe in 1966 for Doctor
Zhivago.
There is a slight resemblance between Ford and Sharif because they
both wore mustaches for most of their public lives.

Lucy
and Ernie joke about Los Angeles’ smog problem. The word smog
is a
portmanteau
of
the words smoke
and
fog.
The problem was particularly acute in Los Angeles during the latter
half of the 20th century. So much so that the word smog became synonymous with Los
Angeles to many. Smog was the source of several jokes on “The Lucy
Show” after Lucy Carmichael re-located to Southern California, one of them during Ernie Ford’s last appearance in “Lucy and Tennessee Ernie Ford” (TLS S5;E21).

Ernie
says he drives a Model-T. The Ford Motor Company manufactured the
Model-T
between 1908 and 1927, and it is considered the first affordable car.

The
commercial that Lucy and Harry do for Ernie’s Fun Farm gives us a
glimpse of them as a dysfunctional married couple, complete with two teenage kids!

As
the bickering couple, Lucy calls her husband (Sheldon) Porky Pig and
the Jolly Green Giant. He calls her the Bride of Frankenstein.
Porky Pig
was one of the characters in the Warner Brothers cartoons voiced by
Mel Blanc. Blanc had appeared with Lucille Ball on radio, films, and
TV. The Jolly
Green Giant was
the mascot of a frozen vegetable company of the same name frequently
seen in television ads. “The
Bride of Frankenstein”
(1935) was a film sequel to 1931’s “Frankenstein” based on the
novel by Mary Shelley. Coincidentally, the Bride was played by Elsa
Lanchester, who guest starred on “I Love Lucy,” and an upcoming episode of “Here’s Lucy.”

Amidst the clutter of the living room is a bath towel stolen from the Commodore Hotel, a historic building in downtown Los Angeles that has recently been converted to apartments. The Commodore of Hollywood opened in 1927 and has been home to countless celebrities as they launched their careers.

One of the knickknacks on the coffee table is a glass bunch of grapes. If it looks familiar, it previously appeared in “Guess Who Owes Lucy $23.50?” (S1;E11) where there were two of them. After this appearance they became part of the living room set on “The Brady Bunch” which also filmed at Paramount. The recent reality show “A Very Brady Renovation” mentioned tracking them down.

Ernie
pays the bickering couple a quick visit to bid them come to his Fun
Farm, singing this a capella jingle:

“We’re
only 45 minutes from L.A.
People
all breathing fresh air.
Even a hog smells better than smog
When
you’re 45 minutes from there.”

The tune Ford uses is inspired by “45 Minutes from Broadway” by George M. Cohan, written in 1906 for a musical of the same name. The title refers to the length of time to travel by train from New Rochelle NY to Manhattan.

The
commercial turns into a fully-staged musical revue. Although a lot
of standards and show tunes are used, special lyrics to suit the plot
were written by Bob O’Brien.

The
orchestra plays “Oh,
What a Beautiful Morning”
from Oklahoma!
written by Rodgers and Hammerstein in 1943. A film version was
released in 1955. Lucy Ricardo once lied that she was in Oklahoma –
then confessed she spent two weeks in Tulsa once. Rodgers and
Hammerstein (aka Dick and Oscar) were names frequently dropped on “I
Love Lucy.”

The
Back Porch Majority sings “On
a Wonderful Day Like Today”
from the 1965 musical The
Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd
by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, who also sang it in “Lucy in
London” (1966, above).

Ernie
sings “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah”
a song written by Allie Wrubel and Ray Gilbert for the 1946 Disney
film Song
of the South.
It won an Oscar for Best Song.

Ernie
and the Carter Family sing “Heavenly
Music”
from the 1950 film Summer
Stock
written by Saul Chaplin and originally performed by Gene Kelly and
Phil Silvers wearing similar costumes.

Ernie
and the Back Porch Majority sing “Y’all
Come”
written by Arlie Duff in 1953. It was sung by Ernie Ford in
“Tennessee Ernie Hangs On” (ILL S3;E29). Coincidentally, in that
episode he was also on television, doing a (fictional) show called
“Millikan’s Chicken-Mash Hour.” Both times there were specially
written lyrics to suit the episode’s plot.

Kim
does a specialty dance backed up by the male ensemble – all wearing
sombreros. The choreography was by Jack Baker, with assistance from Anita Mann.

Lucy
and Harry do an unusual combination of a square dance and the Mexican
hat dance.

Craig
(also wearing a sombrero) does a drum solo using a variety of
instruments.

In
a spotlight, Ernie sings a quiet version of ”Little
Green Apples“
backed up by the Back Porch Majority. The song was written by Bobby
Russell
for
Roger
Miller
in
1968, becoming a Top 40 hit.

The episode ends with a
reprise of “Y’all Come” and a hoe down, natur’lly.

Lucy
Ricardo did a TV commercial to sell Aunt Martha’s Old Fashioned Salad
Dressing in “The Million Dollar Idea” (ILL S3;E13) where she also
played a bumpkin character.

In
the commercial, Lucy wears a blue chenille bathrobe that looks very
similar to the one that Vivian Vance wore in 1952’s “Breaking the
Lease” (ILL S1;E18) and other episodes. It is possible that it
could be the same robe from the Desilu wardrobe racks! It was also worn by Ann-Margret on a 1970 episode of “Here’s Lucy.”

At
the start of the musical revue, Lucy Carter is milking a cow,
something that both Lucy Ricardo and Lucy Carmichael also did! In
real-life, Lucille Ball owned a cow she called Duchess of Devonshire
when she lived with Desi at Chatsworth Ranch.

The
last time viewers saw Ernie Ford on “I Love Lucy” he was calling
a square dance.

This was also true of his “The Lucy Show” appearance. Here, the last time Lucy and Ford perform together,
he does the same thing. He even repeats a few of the same calls in
both episodes:

“Grab
yer partner, pat her on the head.
If
she don’t like biscuits, feed her corn bread!”

In November 1968, Lucille Ball appeared on “The Tennessee Ernie Ford Special” where she blacked out her teeth for comic effect.

Get the Door! During
the TV commercial, when Harry (as Sheldon) slams the front door, the
suction causes the closet door to swing wider open, momentarily
distracting Gale Gordon who quickly turns to see what is moving
behind him.

Fashion Magazine? In the commercial, ‘Craig’ browses through Fashions magazine, an unlikely choice for a teenage boy. Perhaps this iteration of Craig is destined to become a fashion designer?

Loose Lips! Although
Harry’s comical yodeling during “Heavenly Music” is obviously not
Gale Gordon’s voice, there are times he gets more involved with the
wayward daisy in Lucy’s hat than the lip synching.