LUCY AND WALLY COX

S2;E21
~ February 9, 1970

Directed
by Jay Sandrich ~ Written by Milt Josefsberg and Ray Singer

Synopsis

Harry’s
old friend Moose has a shy son who Lucy helps bring out of his shell
– until a plan to help him bravely foil a robbery goes awry!

Regular
Cast

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

Desi
Arnaz Jr. (Craig
Carter) and Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter) do not appear in this episode, although they are billed in
the opening credits.

Guest
Cast

Wally
Cox (Wally Manley) was a character actor best remembered for
being a panelist on TV’s “The Hollywood Squares” (1965-73) as
well as his hit series “Mr. Peepers” (1953-55). He played a
nervous musician on “Lucy Conducts the Symphony” (TLS S2;E13) and
a reformed safe cracker in “Lucy and the Ex-Con” (S1;E15). He
will make two more guest-star appearances on “Here’s Lucy.” Cox
died of a heart attack in 1973 at age 48.

Cox was known for playing less-than-masculine characters, so the name ‘Manley’ is a bit of an inside joke. Despite
being billed in the title by his real name, Cox never played himself
on his many guest appearances with Lucille Ball. Cox’s character doesn’t enter the story until 10 minutes into the 24 minute program and receives a warm round of applause from the studio audience.

LUCILLE BALL: “I adored Wally Cox. I worked with him every chance I got!”

Alan
Hale Jr.
(Moose Manley, Wally’s Father) is best remembered as the Skipper on “Gilligan’s
Island” (1964-92). Hale previously appeared as a Fire Captain on
“Lucy Puts Out a Fire at the Bank” (TLS S2;E9) the year before he
started playing the Skipper. Hale made his film debut at
age 12. He died in 1990 at age 68.

Moose
and Harry are old college buddies. He runs a detective agency with
branch offices in 30 big cities.

Chuck
Hicks (First
Stuntman, left) was
a stunt man and actor who was seen in “Lucy the Stunt Man” (TLS
S4;E5). Hicks was a long-time stunt double for Brian Dennehy. This is
his only time on “Here’s Lucy.” Boyd Red Morgan
(Bruce, Second Stuntman, right) is
an actor and stunt man who was last seen in “Lucy and John Wayne”
(TLS S5;E10), with whom he did eleven films. This is the first of his
four episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

In the 1970s, the first name Bruce was the generic name of a stereotypical gay man (complete with limp wrist and a lisp) in jokes about homosexual males. Here, Harry twice questions the name incredulously, having a hard time associating it with a masculine stunt man. The 1969 studio audience laughs, indicating they also make the connection.

Gil
Perkins
(Baby Face Johnson, First Crook, right) was aboard the train when
Lucy and Ricky headed home from California in “The Great Train
Robbery” (ILL S5;E5). Prior to that he was seen in The
Big Street
(1942) and The
Fuller Brush Girl
(1950) with Lucille Ball. This is his only appearance on “Here’s
Lucy.” X.
Brands (Lefty Logan, Second Crook, left) was his real name! A
family tradition held over from when an ancestor added the letter ‘X’
to his name to differentiate himself from another man of the same
name in town. X Brands was known for playing American Indians, despite
not being one. This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Harvey
Stone (Waiter) was born just three weeks after Lucille Ball in
1911. He had appeared in two plays at New Jersey’s Paper Mill
Playhouse in 1968. He will be featured in one more episode, also
directed by Jay Sandrich. In 1974 Stone died of a heart attack while
performing on a cruise ship and was buried at sea.

The
waiter has no dialogue, but his face says it all!

There
are a few diners in the background of the Cafe George, but their
faces cannot be seen.

This
is the first of three episodes to be directed by Jay
Sandrich.
The year after this episode, Sandrich won an
Emmy Award for his writing on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” He
won again for the same show in 1973 and earned two more Emmys for his
writing on “The Cosby Show” in 1985 and 1986. Sandrich first
joined the Desilu team in 1956 as Assistant Director of “I Love
Lucy” and “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” Sandrich remembers:

“I
was so young and caught in the middle of America’s favorite couple
breaking up. Psychologically, I didn’t know how to handle it because
I was in the middle. They all were wonderful people but naturally
there was tension.”

In April 1968, Gale Gordon joined Wally Cox as one of “The Hollywood Squares.” Host Peter Marshall had played Lucy Carmichael’s brother-in-law on “The Lucy Show,” so Marshall and Gordon had that in common! Marshall would also star in “Happy Anniversary and Goodbye” in 1974. Also in the grid that week was Jack Cassidy, who had guest starred on “The Lucy Show” in 1965.

Although
Hale and Cox play father and son, they were only three years apart.
Moose Manley says that his son is 33 years old.
In reality, this episode was aired a week before Wally Cox celebrated
his 45th birthday.

Moose
says that in college, Harry was known as ‘Blubber’ because he was
overweight and adds that Harry still holds the college record for
swallowing 86 goldfish in ten minutes. Goldfish swallowing
was a fad of the 1920s and ‘30s college students probably during
initiation rituals or on dares. This unusual trend has been
previously mentioned on other “Lucy” shows. Harry later recalls that
they went on panty raids, another college stunt popular with
fraternity boys during the ‘20s and ’30s.

When
Harry thinks Moose is using blackmail to allow Lucy time off to help
his son with his girl problems, Moose replies “You bet your
bippy it is!” The word
“bippy” means “ass” and the euphemism was used as early as
1880, but was re-popularized by “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In,”
“Here’s Lucy’s” competition on ABC. In May 1969 a song titled “You Bet Your Sweet Bippy” was released. This is just one of many
“Laugh-In” references on “Here’s Lucy.”

Story Time with Hilda & Madge – When
Lucy hears that Wally is afraid of girls, she relates a story of a
high school friend named Hilda who had a girl-shy brother. Moose blackmails Harry by threatening to tell Lucy a salacious story about a girl in Harry’s past named Madge.

Moose
gets a phone call from his secretary, Miss Hurlow. Miss Hurlow
was also the name of Robert Goulet’s secretary who was played by Mary
Wickes in “Lucy and Robert Goulet” (TLS S6;E8, above).

After the two stunt men completely destroy Harry’s office, one of them says “We’ve got to get it out of our systems. We’re not allowed to be violent on TV anymore!” In 1969, the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence submitted a report that brought television violence under careful scrutiny. That same year, Senator John Pastore requested that the Surgeon General appoint a committee to conduct an inquiry into television violence and its effect on children. Clearly this topic was in the news, and as a result gets a laugh from the studio audience.

The warehouse seems to be stocked with
children’s toys and games (as well as lamps and boxes of nylon). The Ideal board game Seven Keys
can be seen on the table near the door. It was based on the TV game
show of the same name (which, in turn, was based on Chutes and
Ladders) that ran from 1961 to 1965 on ABC and was hosted by Jack
Narz.

There is also a Roadmaster V gold wagon by AMF. American Machine and Foundry (AMF) Roadmaster division was primarily known for bicycles, but also created many wheeled children’s toys. This is the fifth iteration of their gold pull toy wagon, manufactured in the 1960s.

As
usual, Lucy has no control of hoses and Harry ends the episode
soaking wet! To be fair, so does Lucy!

Episodes
featuring stunts recall when Lucy Carmichael took a job as a stunt
person named Iron Man Carmichael on “The Lucy Show.” In “Here’s
Lucy,” however, Lucille Ball leaves the stunt work to others!

The gag of Harry’s glass door shattering was previously done to Mr. Mooney on “Lucy Gets Involved” (TLS S6;E17).

Oops! Picking
up the menus, Lucille Ball knocks over the
salt and pepper shakers. Nothing spills out (likely they were empty) and Lucy doesn’t bother to right them, knowing that the entire contents of the table will soon end up
on the floor anyway!

What Month Is It? Although the episode aired in February, the calendar in the storage room shows artwork of a line of graduating students in black cap and gown holding diplomas, usually indicative of May or June. The calendar year remains in soft focus throughout.

What’s
My Line?
Moose says he runs a detective agency, but is here supplying security
guards for a warehouse, quite a different business!

Wanted Dead or…? Moose
recognizes Baby Face and Lefty as “the
most notorious killers in the country.” If that is so, why are they robbing toy warehouses? Also, they are armed with guns yet are easily overpowered by Wally and Lucy who only
have toys to defend themselves!

Redecorating!

The model ship that usually sits on the shelf next to the office
doors has been replaced by colorful vases and feathers. This is
because the stunt men are going to wreck the office and need
breakaway glass for their demonstration. The water cooler has also
been removed for this episode.

Where The Floor Ends! During the destructive demo, the camera pulls back a bit too far revealing where the edge of the wall-to-wall carpeting meets the cement of the soundstage floor.

Gimme a Break (but not yet)! The glass in the door shatters while Harry is opening the door to leave, instead of when he shuts it, slightly marring the timing of the gag.