LUCY AND VIV VISIT TIJUANA

S2;E19
~ January 26, 1970

Directed
by Herbert Kenwith ~ Written by Milt Josefsberg and Ray Singer

Synopsis

Lucy,
Harry and Vivian go sightseeing in Tijuana, but are stopped at the
border after agreeing to take back a plush animal that turns out to be carrying
contraband!

Regular
Cast

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

Guest
Cast

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 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 says she met Lucy Carter the
day they entered kindergarten. Jones is visiting from North Salem,
New York.

Don
Diamond (Pedro) was born in Brooklyn in 1921. He is probably
best remembered as Crazy Cat, the inept but scheming side-kick of
Chief Wild Eagle on TV’s “F-Troop” (1965-67). This is his only
appearance with Lucille Ball.

Pedro is the proprietor of Pedro’s Bazaar in Tijuana. He claims to have a 3 year-old niece living in Los Angeles named Estrellita (Spanish for ‘Little Star’).

Don
Megowan (Customs Inspector) played a stunt actor on the
western-themed “Lucy the Stunt Man” (TLS S4;E5). He was
frequently seen on TV westerns and action shows. This is his only
“Here’s Lucy” appearance.

Customers of Pedro’s
Bazaar and those crossing the border are played by
uncredited background performers.

The
alternate title of this episode was “Lucy and Vivian Vance.” The
two titles are used interchangeably, even on the series DVD.

The original broadcast of this episode on January 26, 1970 may have been pre-empted or delayed in some areas due to a televised address by President Richard M. Nixon during which (for the first time on live television) he signed a veto calling a $19.7 billion appropriation bill for education “the wrong amount, for the wrong purpose, at the wrong time.”

On ABC, a half-hour before “Here’s Lucy,” action series “It Takes A Thief” (starring Robert Wagner) managed to nab Hollywood legend Bette Davis as a guest star. Lucille Ball had always wanted Davis to guest-star on her shows, and came close twice, but it never came to pass.

Five days earlier (January 20, 1970), Lucille Ball was a guest on “Garroway,” a daytime talk show on WNAC-TV, Boston, which host Dave Garroway hoped would be picked up for national syndication. The program lasted into early 1970 and never aired outside Boston. The show was canceled when management decided to show old movies instead of local live shows. Two years later, Garroway was a presenter and an honoree (along with Lucille Ball) when Zenith Presents a Salute To Television’s 25th Anniversary on ABC. Ironically, Garroway was an NBC star (”The Today Show”) and Lucy was associated with CBS.

Don
Diamond (Pedro) introduces the episode on DVD. He remembers how
professional and convivial Lucille, Vivian, and Gale were on the set.

Naturally, Vivian Vance gets a warm round of applause from the studio audience when she makes her first entrance, cheerfully coming downstairs for breakfast in the Carter kitchen.

VIV: “Smile and the world smiles with you. Snore and you sleep alone.”

After Kim lists all the various breakfast items, Viv says yes to all of them. It seems jokes about Viv’s appetite that began on “I Love Lucy” are still a source of comedy for the writers.

Likewise with Lucy’s real age. When queried by Craig, Viv laughs and says “The shadow knows!” The introduction from “The Shadow” radio program “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!,” spoken by actor Frank Readick, has earned a place in the American idiom.

Vivian
mumbles in her sleep. Lucy remembers hearing the names Gregory,
Cary, Kirk, and Rock. These names refer to movie stars Gregory Peck, Cary
Grant, Kirk Douglas, and
Rock Hudson. While Peck and Grant were merely mentioned on “Lucy”
shows, Douglas and Hudson actually appeared on them. Kirk Douglas
did a wordless cameo in “Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (TLS
S4;E20) and Rock Hudson guest starred on “In Palm Springs” (ILL
S4;E26) with Vivian Vance.

Craig
suggests that on their way to Tijuana they visit the San Diego
Zoo. Located
in Balboa Park, it is one of the most famous zoos in the world. It
first opened in 1916 and is still in operation today. The Zoo
was last mentioned in “Lucy, the Helpful Mother” (S2;E15) and will be mentioned again in “Lucy in the Jungle” (S4;E13), both of which featured live animals.

When Lucy tries to butter up Harry to borrow his car to drive to Tijuana, she puts a rose on his desk, sharpens his pencils and replaces his blotter. Before the advent of computers, large sheets of blotting paper were placed atop desks to protect the wood surface from the ink from leaky fountain pens. Even after the advent of the ballpoint pen, blotters were common desk accessories. Carrying a single desk blotter was Fred Mertz’s idea of helping Lucy and Ricky move when “The Ricardos Change Apartments” (ILL S2;E26).

Harry
gets a telephone call from the Morton Service Station that his
car is ready to be picked up. It cost Harry $297 for a tune-up!

In today’s economy (adjusting for inflation) that is the equivalent of nearly $2,000. He
says “That’s what I get for letting relatives do my repair
work.” This implies that Harry and Lucy have relatives
with Lucille Ball’s real-life surname, Morton. Ball married Gary Morton in
1961 and he is a producer on “Here’s Lucy.”

Angry about the tune up bill, Harry barks into the phone “Who tuned it? Leonard Bernstein?”
Leonard Bernstein was a tremendously popular classical and
musical theatre composer and conductor. In late 1969 he made
headlines by stepping down from his position with the New York
Philharmonic in order to have more time for composing.

Viv calls Lucy’s brother-in-law “Horrible Harry,” a nickname that she used about him during her first visit to California in “Lucy, the Matchmaker” (S1;E12) where a computer dating service matched them up! Both episodes mention Viv’s crush on Rock Hudson.

When the action switches from Los Angeles to Tijuana, the underscoring naturally features “La Cucaracha” ("The Cockroach”), a traditional Spanish folk song very popular in Mexico, especially during the Mexican Revolution. It was memorably played by a Bavarian Polka Band in “Lucy in the Swiss Alps” (ILL S5;E21).

Modeling a fancy black lace shawl with a rose in her teeth, Viv thinks she looks like Dolores del Rio, although Harry suggests she resembles Pancho Villa. Dolores del Rio (1904-83) was one of Mexico’s first film actresses to have international appeal. Pancho Villa (1878-1923) was a Mexican revolutionary general and one of the most prominent figures of the Mexican Revolution.

Wearing over-sized sombreros, Lucy and Viv do an impromptu “Mexican Hat Dance.” It was memorably performed by Lucy and Ricky Ricardo in “Breaking the Lease” (ILL S1;E18) where it was referred to as “El Break-o the Lease-o” and performed using air hammers and trash can lids! It dates back to the 18th century but became internationally famous after Russian dancer Anna Pavlova added it to her repertoire after visiting Mexico in 1919.

When Harry demonstrates the jai alai (which he pronounces ‘Jay Alay’) at Pedro’s Bazaar, he accidentally breaks open a piñata which costs $25. Jai alai is ball game that originated in Spain but was also very popular in Mexico. At the height its popularity in the 1970s, some venues would routinely see thousands of fans each night. An extended players strike all but ended the sport in the USA.

Pedro says he can’t travel to the US because he can’t drink the water! Americans traveling to Mexico and other foreign countries were warned not to drink the water, lest they risk dysentery. Just two months before this episode first aired, Jackie Gleason starred in a film version of Woody Allen’s 1966 play, Don’t Drink The Water. The joke gets a round of applause from the Los Angeles studio audience.

One of Viv’s bargains is a multi-colored serape, marked down from $75 to $3.98 due to a few enchilada stains. Lucy jokes…

LUCY: “You’ll be the only girl on your block with a sloppy serape!”

Their souvenir haul includes:

A large wicker basket
A straw donkey
Bongos (for Craig)
A tin mask (to scare the kids at Halloween)
a white plush monkey (for Kim)
and a pink plush monkey (that Harry agreed to carry back to Los Angeles for Pedro’s niece, Estrellita) inside of which the Customs Officer discovers…

HARRY: “Gallstones?”

When Harry tells the officer that Lucy and Viv will vouch for his identity, the girls suddenly adopt Spanish accents and call themselves Conchita (Lucy) and Lolita (Viv), women that Harry picked up in a bar! The girls disavow any knowledge of the gem-stuffed monkeys.

CUSTOMS OFFICER (to HARRY): “Do those monkeys belong to you?”
HARRY: “No! One is my secretary and the other is her friend!”

Harry
drives a 1970 yellow Plymouth Satellite convertible license
plate JNA-035. In “Lucy at the Drive-In Movie” (S2;E8) Harry
drove a 1965
Yellow Dodge
Dart convertible
license plate WMO-526, which was the same car Craig took his driving
test in during “Lucy Helps Craig Get a Driver’s License”
(S1;E24). Harry not only seems to have bought a new car, but a new
license plate to go with it!

Also in line to cross the border is a
1968 red Sunbeam
Alpine GT.
The passengers appear to be the same couple seen shopping in Pedro’s
Bazaar in the previous scene.

The line of cars also features a red
1970 Dodge Challenger.

This episode is very closely modeled on “Lucy Goes To Mexico,” a 1958 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” that kicked off the second series of hour-long episodes.

Both episodes had Lucille
Ball and Vivian Vance driving to Tijuana from Southern California…

…haggling at a gift shop, mentions of J’ai Alai, wearing polka dots…

…and being detained at the border. The contraband item in 1958 was
a pink cashmere sweater. Here it is a pink stuffed monkey. Some of the scenery and props used in 1958 are recycled here.

That set (as well as Lucy in a ‘sloppy serape’ and sombrero) was also seen in an un-aired Westinghouse corporate film (informally titled “Lucy Buys Westinghouse”) where Mrs. Lucy Arnaz (the only time she is ever called by her married name on television) wants to outfit her dressing room with Westinghouse products and follows the spokesman (played by Ross Elliott) on a tour of Desilu Studios, including a ‘hot’ set for

“Lucy Goes To Mexico.”

When
the candy cascades out of the piñata, Lucy momentarily stuffs some
down her blouse to hide it, just as Lucy Ricardo did with the candy at
Kramer’s Candy Kitchen in “Job Switching” (ILL S2;E1).

Lucy Ricardo had problems at the border (of Italy and France) in “Lucy’s Bicycle Trip” (ILL S5;E24).

Don McGowan follows in the footsteps of previous Desilu Customs Officers, Frank Nelson in “Return Home From Europe” (ILL S5;E26) and Charles Lane in “Lucy Goes To Mexico” (LDCH S2;E1), two of Desilu’s busiest and most popular character actors. Coincidentally, “Lucy and Viv Visit Tijuana” was first aired on Lane’s 65th birthday. He would live to the age of 102!

When Viv is dressed in her bargain serape and discount sombrero and speaking with a Mexican accent, she instantly reminds us of the time Ethel Mertz helped Ricky recall his youth in Cuba during “Be A Pal” (ILL S1;E2). While still in costume, she greeted actress Theresa Wright (above) who was in the audience for the filming that evening.

Turning the tables on Lucy and Viv for pretending they didn’t know him, Harry then tells the Customs Officer that he never saw Lucy and Viv before in his life! This same twist ending was first used when Ricky and Fred tried to explain that they aren’t really burglars in “Equal Rights” (ILL S3;E4) but Lucy tells the Police Officers that she’s never seen them before in her life!

You Break It…You Bought It! When Lucy and Viv turn to react to one another about Harry’s false modesty with Pedro, Viv gets momentarily distracted when her right arm nearly tips over a vase on the shelf behind her. She is also trying to balance on all the candy on the floor after Harry burst the piñata.

Lemon Law! Since
this episode was filmed at the end of 1969 and aired at the start of
1970, it would be highly unusual for a brand new 1970 Plymouth
to require $297 in repairs so soon.

Where Do I Live? Vivian
says she is from North Salem, New York, but in her first
appearance on “Here’s Lucy” she said she was living in Santa Fe,
New Mexico. In the previous episode she claimed to be from “back East.” In real life, Vivian Vance did actually own a home (above as it appears today) in North Salem, NY, which is in
Westchester County, about 50 miles north of Manhattan. It is possible
that Vivian Jones moved back East sometime after her last visit to
Lucy Carter in “Lucy, the Matchmaker” (S1;E12).