LUCY AND LAWRENCE WELK

S2;E18
~ January 19, 1970

Directed
by Herbert Kenwith ~ Written by Martin A. Ragaway

Synopsis

When
Vivian visits, she expects Lucy to fulfill her promise to arrange a
date with Lawrence Welk. Lucy doesn’t know Welk, so she
borrows a wax dummy of the bandleader and convinces nearsighted Vivian to give up her glasses. When the kids secretly convince the real
Lawrence Welk to come to dinner, everything ends “wunerful
wunerful”!

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy
Carter), Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter), Desi
Arnaz Jr. (Craig
Carter)

Gale
Gordon (Harrison
Otis Carter) does not appear in this episode, although he does
receive opening title credit. Harry is said to be playing golf.

Guest
Cast

Lawrence
Welk
(Himself) was a musician, accordionist,
bandleader,
and television impresario,
who hosted the television program “The Lawrence Welk Show” from
1951 to 1982 on ABC. His style came to be known to his audiences as ‘champagne music.’ His catchphrase was “wunerful,
wunerful” spoken with his slight German accent. Welk’s
trademarks included his “uh-one,
uh-two”
song intro and a perpetual bubble machine. He died in 1992 at the
age of 89.

Vivian
Vance
(Vivian Jones) was
born Vivian Roberta Jones in Cherryvale, Kansas in 1909, although her
family quickly moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where she was raised.
She had extensive theatre experience, co-starring on Broadway with
Ethel Merman in Anything
Goes.
She was acting in a play in Southern California when she was spotted
by Desi Arnaz Sr. and hired to play Ethel Mertz, Lucy Ricardo’s
neighbor and best friend. The pairing is credited with much of the
success of “I Love Lucy.” Vance was convinced to join the cast
of “The Lucy Show” in 1962, but stayed with the series only
through season three, making occasional guest appearances afterwards.
This is the second of her half a dozen appearances on “Here’s
Lucy.” She also joined Lucy for a TV special “Lucy Calls the
President” in 1977. Vance died two years later.

Vance
uses her birth name as her character name in all of her “Here’s
Lucy” guest appearances. Vivian Jones (the character) is from Cherrvale, Kansas,
just like Vivian Vance.

Mary
Jane Croft (Mary
Jane Lewis) makes
her fourth series appearance as Mary Jane. Croft played Betty Ramsey
during season six of “I Love Lucy. ” She also played Cynthia
Harcourt in “Lucy
is Envious” (ILL S3;E23)
and
Evelyn Bigsby in “Return
Home from Europe” (ILL S5;E26).
She played Audrey Simmons on “The Lucy Show” but when Lucy
Carmichael moved to California, she played Mary Jane Lewis, the
actor’s married name and the same one she uses on all 31 of her
episodes of “Here’s Lucy. Her final acting credit was playing
Midge Bowser on “Lucy Calls the President” (1977) with Vivian Vance. She died in
1999 at the age of 83.

Nancy
Howard (Secretary)
appeared
with Lucille Ball in Yours,
Mine and Ours
(1968).
This is the third and final appearance on “Here’s Lucy.”

This
is the first of five episodes written by Martin
A. Ragaway,
who won a 1961 Emmy Award for his work on “The Red Skelton Show.”

When this show first aired, Lucille Ball and her children were actually in New York City, having been introduced from the audience of “The Ed Sullivan Show” the night before, January 18, 1970.

The date this episode originally aired (January 19, 1970) CBS launched Operation 100, a plan to beat NBC’s ratings in the last 100 days of the season, using the slogan “The man can’t bust our network." This was a riff on the campaign CBS Records (Columbia) used to appeal to the youth market in the late 1960s.

Also on this date, actor Hal March (born Harold Mendelson) died at age 49 of lung cancer. March had appeared in two episodes of “I Love Lucy”,

a 1966 episode of “The Lucy Show” (above), and the Lucy film A Guide For the Married Man (1967).

This episode was first aired on the 27th anniversary of one of the most-watched episodes of television to that time, “Lucy Goes To the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). It is estimated that 72% of the American public who owned a television tuned in to see the birth of Little Ricky. The event was even more remarkable in that it coincided with the birth of Desi Arnaz IV (Craig Carter here), who turned 27 years old on the day this episode aired in 1970.

Both Lucille Ball and Lawrence Welk were known for their frequent (and unique) use of the word “wonderful.”

In
February 1969, Lucille Ball had appeared on “The Jack Benny Birthday
Special” which also featured Welk and singer Ann-Margret, who
will guest star on “Here’s Lucy” two weeks after this episode
airs. Other “Lucy” supporting actors who participated in the
special: Dennis Day, Carole Cook (ghost singer), Gail Bonney, Larry
Blake, Robert Foulk, Frank Gerstle, John Harmon, Ray Kellogg, Tyler
McVey, Benny Rubin (above, with Welk), Rolfe Sedan, and Olan Soule. It was written by
Sam Perrin and George Balzer, who wrote several episodes of “Here’s
Lucy” and choreographed by “Here’s Lucy” choreographer Jack Baker.

On
the series DVD the episode is introduced by Norma Zimmer, one
of Welk’s Champagne Dancers, who also was featured as a Kildoonan
Townsperson in the dream musical episode “Lucy Goes to Scotland”
(ILL S5;E17). Although not featured in this “Here’s Lucy”
episode, Zimmer recalls that Welk, who did not consider himself an
actor, was thrilled and proud to be asked to share the screen with
Lucy.

Gary Morton’s loud laughter can clearly be heard on the soundtrack. Some sources mistakenly report this to be Desi Arnaz Sr.

KIM: “All the girls are ironing their hair!”

The episode opens with Craig ironing Kim’s hair with a clothes iron on an ironing board! As odd as this seems, this was actually done during the 1960s when straight hair became fashionable. In the 1970s, straight hair became easier with the advent of the hair iron, made specifically for hair use.

The
studio audience starts applauding for Vivian Vance as the doorbell
rings and before she’s spoken or entered!

Vivian
Vance wears the same type of white-frame eyeglasses she wore as Vivian Bagley
on “The Lucy Show.”

When
Mary Jane also gushes about Lawrence Welk, Lucy remarks “He
turns on more people than warm Postum.” Postum
is
a powdered roasted-grain
beverage
once
popular as a coffee
substitute.
It was developed by the Post Cereal Company (hence the name) in 1895
and is still sold in limited areas today. Later seasons of “I Love Lucy” were sponsored by Sanka, a similar caffeine-free coffee beverage.

Lucy
says that Welk is in town performing at the Palladium. The Hollywood
Palladium is
a theater
built in 1940 and
located
at 6215 Sunset
Boulevard
in
Hollywood,
California.
It has a dance floor including a mezzanine and a floor level with
room for up to 4,000 people.
Coincidentally,
the Palladium is across the street from what was CBS
Columbia Square,
the home of CBS’s
Los Angeles radio and television operations from 1938 until 2007.

When
Welk’s secretary announces that there are a couple of teenagers (Kim and Craig) to see
him, he asks if they are picketing and hostile. In the late 1960s
teenagers were in the news as frequently involved in protests and
marches involving the Vietnam War.

Lawrence
Welk is first seen practicing his golf stroke in his office.
Like Desi Arnaz Sr. and Gary Morton, Welk was a big fan of golf and in 1964 founded a
company known as Welk Resort Group which still operates properties in
North America including golf resorts.

Mary
Jane tells Lucy that they have a wax figure of Lawrence Welk at the
Movieland Wax Museum where her friend is the manager. She adds
that they also have one of Cary Grant, both of which require nightly lipstick removal from amorous visitors! Grant was last
mentioned in “Lucy Protects Her Job” (S2;E14) as well as several
previous episodes of this and Ball’s other sitcoms.

The real-life
museum was located in Buena Park, Caliifornia. In addition to a wax Welk, a wax Lucille Ball was installed in 1963. Needless to say, the actual museum wax figure of Welk (seen above) was not used in the episode. The museum closed
permanently in 2005.

Lucy
phones Sam Lutz to find out how much Lawrence Welk is paid. He tells
her that Welk gets $7,500 a night. Sam Lutz (inset) was the
name of Welk’s real-life manager and the producer of his television
show.

Vivian
is reported to be doing touristy things like visiting Disneyland and
Knotts Berry Farm. When Ethel Mertz was a tourist in Hollywood, she
wanted to visit Knotts Berry Farm, but jealous Lucy was too
angry with Ricky to enjoy it. “The only knots you’ll see today
will be on Ricky’s head.” Disneyland
would open a month later and be mentioned in “Lucy the Bean Queen”
(TLS S5;E3) in 1966.

When
Vivian returns from the Universal Studios Tour she says she saw:

John
Wayne’s Saddle –
In “Lucy Dates Dean Martin” (TLS S4;E21) John Wayne’s saddle was
an auction item for the Bank Charity Ball. Wayne played himself on
a season
5 episode
of
“I Love Lucy” and did so again on a season 5 episode of “The
Lucy Show.”
The last time Vivian Jones visited Lucy Carter on “Here’s Lucy”
she lied and said that she was in town to be in a movie with the
western star.

Doris Day’s Bicycle – In real life, Doris Day was an avid bike rider. She rode to the studio on many occasions and pedaled around Beverly Hills until the police finally told her they couldn’t guarantee her safety.

Dean
Martin’s Bartender –
This is a joke at the expense of Martin’s reputation as a heavy drinker.
It is coincidental that it follows a mention of John Wayne’s saddle,
which was seen in “Lucy Dates Dean Martin” (TLS S4;E21).

Vivian
visited the studio commissary and sat in the very chair Bob Hope
sat in, which was still warm. Vivian Vance and Bob Hope worked
together on “Lucy and Bob Hope” (ILL S6;E1).

VIV (To ‘LAWRENCE WELK’): “I watch your show every Saturday night!”

“The Lawrence Welk Show” began airing in June 1955 and had a remarkable 16 year run on ABC TV before being syndicated for a further 11 years ending in 1982. Welk was as associated with Saturday nights as Lucille Ball was with Mondays. Two days before this episode first aired (January 17, 1970) Welk’s guest was Ted Mack, legendary bandleader and talent scout.

This
episode is closely modeled on “Lucy Meets Harpo Marx” (ILL S4;E28).
Vivian takes on the part of the nearsighted Carolyn Appleby and Mary
Jane helps Lucy arrange the deception much like Ethel (Vivian Vance)
did in 1955. The premise somehow comes off as more believable here.
Lucy does not have steal Viv’s glasses but simply convinces her to
take them off to look better for her date. Instead of Lucy wearing a
disguise, she borrows a wax mannequin of the star.

Lawrence Welk was one of the most-mentioned celebrities on “The Lucy Show” (1962-67) despite never appearing on it in person. He rectifies that here.

In “The Loophole in the Lease” (TLS S2;E12), the plot hinged on Lucy stealing Viv’s white-framed eyeglasses.

Although
this is the first time Welk has actually been on set with Lucille
Ball, his face was seen on a record album that Lucy Carmichael won at
a bank picnic in “Lucy and Clint Walker” (TLS S4;E24).

In “Lucy and the Starmaker” (TLS S6;E4), Mr. Mooney cuts off Tommy Cheever’s (Frankie Avalon) ‘audition’ after just a few notes. Lucy remarks that “Dizzie Gillespie would have had a better chance with Lawrence Welk!” Gillespie was famous for free-form jazz riffs on the trumpet, while Welk was best known for the polka, waltzes, and more structured genres of music.

When Viv goes to shake the wax Welk’s hand, quick thinking Lucy extends her own hand for Viv to shake instead. The gag also got big laughs in “The Handcuffs” (ILLS2;E4), “Lucy The Music Lover” (TLS S1;E8), and “Lucy Meets the Burtons” (HL S3;E1).

In the second episode of “Here’s Lucy”, When Kim and Craig are on vacation at Jack Benny’s home in Palm Beach, Kim compares her brother’s ping pong game with Lawrence Welk. This line was likely an ad-lib by Lucie Arnaz to time the hitting of the ball over the wall.

Welk facetiously claims to be writing a song for The Beatles. In “Lucy’s Birthday” (S1;E18), Welk was contrasted with Ringo Starr, the drummer for the Beatles, when the kids are trying to find their mother a date for her birthday.

In “Lucy The Shopping Expert” (S1;E20) a year earlier, Lawrence Welk was the punchline of a joke when Lucy insists on shaking the canned goods and listening to the noise they make.

In “Lucy and the Drum Contest” (S3;E4), Craig says that Buddy Rich is his favorite musician. Uncle Harry says his is Guy Lombardo, who Lucy tells the kids is the Lawrence Welk of Harry’s generation. Lombardo and Welk were both popular bandleaders and cultural icons. The above photo of the two men (and

Gila Rosenhause) was taken in 1971.

Sitcom
Logic Alert!

The premise of this episode seems to ignore the fact that Vivian
visited Lucy in Los Angeles less than a year before. She says that
Kim
“must have grown a foot”!
When talking to the kids about Vivian, Lucy refers to “back East”
which confirms that Lucy previously was from New York, but ignores
that Vivian was last living in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Lucy lies about
knowing Lawrence Welk, but in “Lucy the Matchmaker” (S1;E12) it
was Vivian who lied about knowing John Wayne.
While Lucy Carter admits to her
children that she’s lied to Vivian about knowing celebrities, she
forgets that she has met (to date) Jack Benny, Van Johnson,
Oscar-winner Shelley Summers (aka Winters), novelist Eva Von Graunitz (aka Eva Gabor), Carol Burnett, country singer Ernie Epperson (aka Ernie Ford), Patty Andrews, Johnny Carson, and
Liberace!
The ultimate lapse in believable coincidence comes when Welk wears the
exact same outfit to the dinner date as the wax figure (above).
Vivian really should be able to recognize Lucy’s deep voice saying “wunerful wunerful’.
Inexplicably,
Welk (the character) seems to want imitate the waxworks instead of be
himself.

Not
being an actor, Welk’s eyes often distractingly glance over at the teleprompter for
his lines. He smiles at his own jokes, and anticipates rather than reacts.