LUCY AND JOHNNY CARSON

S2;E11
~ December 1, 1969

Directed
by George Marshall ~ Written by Milt Josefsberg and Ray Singer

Synopsis

When
Harry takes Lucy and the kids to the filming of an educational TV
show, Lucy wangles their way into “The Tonight Show” instead.
Playing ‘Stump the Band’, Lucy and Harry win dinner at the Brown
Derby. Unfortunately for Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon, Lucy seats
herself at their table.

Regular
Cast

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

Guest
Cast

Johnny
Carson
(Himself) was born in 1925
in Corning, Iowa. He was a talk show host and comedian, best known
for his 30 years as host of “The
Tonight Show”
(1962–92)
for which he received six
Emmy
Awards. Johnny Carson
and Lucille Ball appeared together many times on TV specials and
award shows. Carson played himself on “Lucy Moves to NBC” in
1980. He died in 2005 as an icon of late night television.

Ed
McMahon (Himself)
was born in 1923
in Detroit, Michigan. He was a comedian, actor, singer, game show
host, and announcer. He is most famous for his thirty year run as
Johnny
Carson’s
sidekick,
announcer,
and
second
banana
on
“The
Tonight Show.”
He acted with Lucille Ball on “Lucy Calls the President” (1977)
as well as one more episode of “Here’s Lucy” where he does not
play himself. He
died in 2009.

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

Sid
Kane
(Waiter) was born in New York in 1911, just like Lucille Ball. In
1971 he was a guest on “The Tonight Show.”
This is his only appearance on a “Lucy” sitcom.

Jim
Henaghan
(First Usher) was born in 1943 and is the son of performer Gwen Verdon (inset). This is his only
appearance with Lucille Ball.

Michael
McClay (Second
Usher) was born in 1949. e was the son of Lucille Ball’s publicity
director Howard McClay. In 1995 he wrote the book I
Love Lucy: The Complete Picture History of the Most Popular TV Show
Ever.
This is his only screen appearance.

Laurence
Temple
(Third Usher) was also born in 1949. According to IMDB, he has two
other screen credits.

Mike
Nicoletti (Fourth
Usher) was born in 1949. He is likely a relative of “Here’s Lucy”
assistant director Louis Nicoletti (inset).

Dede
Ball
(Woman in Audience, second row right on the aisle) was Lucille Ball’s mother. She was said to be in the audience of all her daughter’s TV
shows. She died in 1977 at the age of 84.

Jack
Berle (Audience
Member in first row left on the aisle, uncredited) was
the older brother of Milton Berle. This is the third of his eleven
uncredited appearances on the series. He also did two episodes of
“The Lucy Show.”

Edward
C. Short
(Audience Member in last row left third seat in, uncredited) made his
screen debut as a solo singer in the 1943 film musical Cabin
in the Sky.
This is his penultimate screen credit.

Paul King (Audience Member, uncredited) makes the first of his five background appearances on “Here’s Lucy.”

Charles
Cirillo
(Restaurant Patron, uncredited) played a singing and dancing truck
driver in “Lucy Helps Ken Berry” (TLS S6;E21). This is the first
of his two “Here’s Lucy” appearances.

Chester
Jones
(Restaurant Patron, uncredited) makes the first of his four
background appearances on “Here’s Lucy.”

The
final version of the script for this episode was dated August 6,
1969, Lucille Ball’s 58th birthday.

This is the last of eleven episodes directed by film director George Marshall, originally hired for his experience with location shooting, something much needed for the first four episodes of season two.

From
1968 to 1980 Lucille Ball made 16 appearances on “The Tonight
Show” with Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon. One appearance was just
two weeks before this episode initially aired. Desi Jr. made four
“Tonight Show” appearances with Carson, while Lucie made only one.

At
the time, “The Tonight Show” was done live in New York City.
Occasionally, the show would be done from Los Angeles. In 1972 the
show moved to Los Angeles permanently.

After
Craig jokes that Kim should wear three earrings, she quips
“Very funny. Which one are you today? Rowan or Martin?”
This is yet another of almost bi-weekly references to “Rowan
and Martin’s Laugh-In,” “Here’s Lucy’s” phenomenally successful competition on ABC.

Lucy
doesn’t want to say the word “bra” aloud with Craig in the room
so she spells it out. Mentioning undergarments would have been
unheard of on “I Love Lucy” or “The Lucy Show.”
Occasionally, men’s boxer shorts were used for comic effect, but
women’s ‘unmentionables’ were never mentioned or shown on air!

Harry
plans to take Lucy and the kids to the taping of an educational TV
panel show titled “The Origin of Money,” which Lucy says he
drools over saying like he’s watching Raquel
Welch take a bubble
bath. The sexy movie star was first mentioned as Jack Benny’s Palm
Spring neighbor in the second episode of the series. She was featured on the cover of Time Magazine (above) a few days before this episode first aired.

Johnny
makes his entrance on the episode smoking a cigarette. Carson
was a heavy smoker for decades and in his early days on “The
Tonight
Show” he often
smoked on-camera. As early as the mid-1970s, he would repeatedly say,
“These
things are killing me.” His
younger brother recalled that during their last conversation, Carson
kept saying, “Those
damn cigarettes.”
He died of emphysema at age 79.

Ed
McMahon uses his now classic intro of Carson: “Heeeeeeeere’s
Johnny!” when handing Johnny the telephone. It is a call from Joey
Heatherton, a singer/dancer who appeared on “The Tonight Show”
six times. When McMahon hears ‘Joey,’ he thinks Carson is referring
to Joey Bishop, who sat in for Carson as regular guest hos of “The
Tonight Show” from 1965 to 1988 for nearly 200 episodes.

Ed
McMahon jokingly tells Johnny he went down to Hollywood Boulevard to
see the stars in the sidewalk: Greer Garson, Debbie Reynolds, Douglas
Fairbanks Jr., Dean Martin (no star, just lying there in person).
Dean Martin’s persona of being a heavy drinker is contrasted with Ed
McMahon’s. Martin was a guest star on an episode of “The Lucy Show” (above).

Ed
leaves Johnny a box containing a small tape recorder that leaves a
message from Ed vowing to go on the wagon. During the playback, the
“Mission: Impossible” music plays on the soundtrack. The message
concludes with “This
tape will self-destruct in five seconds.”
This
is a spoof of the TV series “Mission:
Impossible”(1966-73),
which was a Desilu / Paramount series. The instantly recognizable
music is by Lalo Shiffrin.

The
“Tonight Show’s” iconic multi-colored stage curtain is reproduced
and the show’s theme music is used. “Johnny’s Theme” (aka
“It’s Really Love” and “Toot Sweet”) was composed
by Paul Anka.

Johnny
Carson’s monologue jokes about homes being carried away in landslides
in Benedict Canyon, outside Hollywood. Just a few weeks after this
script was finalized, Benedict Canyon was in the news regarding
Charles Manson’s murder of Sharon Tate, who lived in the Canyon. He
then jokes about Los Angeles traffic and the hippies on Sunset Strip,
common fodder for comedians of the time.

Lucy
plays ‘Stump the Band,’ a staple audience participation game on “The
Tonight Show.” Lucy stumps the band by singing “Snoops,
the Lawyer” a song
by Burt Kalmar and Harry Ruby made famous by Nora Bayes in 1920.
Lucy says it is a novelty song that her father used to sing. Because
Lucille Ball’s father died when she was young, she rarely mentioned a
father figure on her television shows. It is ironic that she does so
here, in the presence of her real-life mother, Dede.

For
winning ‘Stump the Band,’ Kim and Craig will be Carson’s guests at
the Factory Discotheque (which will account for the characters’
absence in the Brown Derby scene). The
Factory (named for the
furniture business on the first floor) opened in 1968. Only a few
years later, it transformed into Studio One, which was strongly
associated with the LGBT community. Lucie Arnaz was one of the many
celebrities who performed there during its heyday.

While
the kids are at the Factory (which is not shown), Lucy and Harry are
Carson’s guests at the Brown
Derby for dinner. The
real-life Hollywood
Brown Derby restaurant
was built by Wilson Mizner in 1929, the second of three Derby restaurants. Due to its proximity to movie studios, it became the place
to do deals and be seen. Clark Gable is said to have proposed to
Lucy’s friend Carole Lombard there and rival gossip columnists
Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper (who twice guest starred for Lucy)
are recorded as regular patrons. Its walls were decorated with
hundreds of framed celebrity caricatures. They, along with the
semi-circular booths, are reproduced on the “Here’s Lucy”
soundstage. The Hollywood Brown Derby closed in 1987 after a fire.

At
dinner, Lucy confuses a report by Walter Cronkite (left) on campus unrest
with Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show.” Lucy then confuses an Ed
Sullivan (center) routine about a boxing kangaroo with Johnny Carson’s
monologue. Unlike Carson and McMahon, Cronkite and Sullivan were CBS
employees! As the final insult, Lucy confuses Carson’s sign off
with that of the Reverend Billy Graham (right).

Lucy
mentions that she can’t wait to tell her Bridge Club that she dined
with Johnny Carson. We met club members Maude, Nelly, and Delores (above) in
“Lucy and Eva Gabor” (S1;E7).

Johnny
jokes that Ed’s sending money to a Clydesdale each month. This is a
reference to Ed McMahon’s association with Budweiser beer, a company
whose advertising featured a beer wagon pulled by Clydesdale horses.
Oblivious, Lucy says “Does
Alyce know?” This
is a reference to McMahon’s first wife, Alyce Ferrill.

Harry
distracts star-struck Lucy so that Carson and McMahon can escape the
restaurant by saying he sees Cary Grant. Although he never appeared
on any “Lucy” sitcom, Cary Grant is the first celebrity that Lucy
Ricardo saw at the Brown Derby when she arrived in Hollywood.

Incredibly,
although everyone at the table gets drenched at the end, Harry stays
dry! Still, wet = funny on “Here’s Lucy”!

The
Brown Derby scene is very similar to the Brown Derby scene in
“Hollywood at Last!” (ILL S4;E16) aka “L.A. at Last!”.

In “Lucy and Johnny
Carson,” Lucy jumps up when she sees Gregory Peck and causes the
waiter to spill a tray of drinks on Carson.
In
“Hollywood at Last!” Lucy jumps up when she sees Gregory Peck and
causes the waiter to spill a tray of cream pies on William Holden.

Technically,
the Brown Derby is featured in many of the “I Love Lucy” episodes
set in Hollywood, since its distinctive street sign can be glimpsed
from the Ricardo’s balcony!

Even
before “Hollywood at Last!” first aired in February 1955, Lucy
and Desi scheduled a special press screening of the show at the Brown
Derby itself. Brown Derby Owners Bob and Sally Cobb (for whom the
famous salad is named) co-hosted the event.

“Here’s
Lucy” also replicated the stage and studio audience of “The Carol
Burnett Show” in “Lucy and Carol Burnett” (S1;E17). Like that
show, the audience section of “The Tonight Show” is drastically
smaller than it was in reality. This “Tonight Show” studio
audience holds a mere 36 people! Like “The Carol Burnett Show”
they also replicated the show’s recognizable stage curtain.

“Lucy’s
Impossible Mission” (S1;E6) also satirized “Mission: Impossible”
and their famous self-destructing tape.

Insignificant Insignia! Since
“Here’s Lucy” was a CBS show filmed at Paramount and NBC owned
“The Tonight Show,” the ushers’ blazers have an non-specific red
shield crest on the pocket instead of the NBC logo or peacock.

Never Look at the Camera! The Second Usher (Michael McClay) briefly looks directly into the camera when he is supposed to be looking into Lucy’s handbag. Naughty!