LUCY’S VACATION

S3;E17
~
January 4, 1971

Directed
by Coby Ruskin ~ Written by Fred S. Fox and Seaman Jacobs

Synopsis

Lucy
wants to chaperone Kim on a trip to Palm Springs, but first needs to
convince Harry to fire her.  At the same time, Harry’s psychiatrist
tells him not to lose his temper with Lucy for a whole week, making
getting fired difficult for Lucy.

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy
Carter), Gale
Gordon (Harrison
Otis Carter), Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter)

Desi
Arnaz Jr. (Craig
Carter) does not appear in this episode, although he does receive
screen credit in the opening title sequence.

Guest
Cast

Parley
Baer
(Dr. Sumler Cunningham) previously
played MGM’s Mr. Reilly in “Ricky
Needs an Agent” (ILL S4;E29) and
furniture salesman Mr. Perry in “Lucy
Gets Chummy with the Neighbors” (ILL S6;E18).
He made five appearances on “The Lucy Show.”  He will return as
Dr. Cunningham (alongside Sid Gould) in “Lucy’s Bonus Bounces”
(S4;E16). Baer is perhaps best known for his recurring roles as Mayor
Stoner on “The Andy Griffith Show” and Doc Appleby in “The
Dukes of Hazzard.” He died in 2002 at age 88. 

His (unseen) secretary’s name is Miss Murdoch. He charges $50 an hour.

Kimetha
Laurie
(Jan) makes her ninth (and final) TV appearance with this episode.

Jan
is Kim’s friend. Her parents have a home in Palm Springs. It might
be coincidental, but she resembles Jan Brady (Eve Plumb, inset), a
character on “The Brady Bunch,” then in its second season on ABC. 

Sid
Gould (Mr.
Hilliard) made
more than 45 appearances on “The Lucy Show,” and nearly as many
on “Here’s Lucy.” Gould (born Sydney Greenfader) was Lucille
Ball’s cousin by marriage to Gary Morton.

Mr.
Hilliard is a window washer.  

The
cashier, waiter, and diners at the luncheonette are played by
uncredited background performers.

This
is the first episode of calendar year 1971. This year mark’s Lucille
Ball’s second decade on television.

On
the DVD introduction to this episode, Lucie Arnaz mistakenly says
that Parley Baer played Dore Schary in
“Ricky
Needs an Agent” (ILL S4;E29)
when in fact he played Mr. Reilly (above). Dore Schary was played by Phil
Ober (Vivian Vance’s husband) in “Don Juan is Shelved” (ILL
S4;E21).

Harry
keeps file cards of Lucy’s excuses for her lateness and absence.

Paul
Revere’s birthday is January 1st (in the modern calendar), so it would be a holiday anyway. Flag Day
is June 14th. 

It
is revealed that Kim does needlepoint.  

Kim
says that her Uncle Harry has fired Lucy 14 times!

When
Dr. Chamberlain asks Harry to iterate all the things Lucy does to
irritate him, he remarks that “at
$50 an hour, even Howard Hughes couldn’t afford that!”
Howard
Hughes
(1905-76) was known
during his lifetime as one of the most financially successful
individuals in the world. Later in his life, he was also known for his eccentric behavior.
This joke gets a round of applause from the studio audience.  

Although
he waffles and mumbles quite a bit, Harry does say “…and
then she had this ring stuck on her…”  likely
referring to when she got Elizabeth Taylor’s priceless diamond ring
stuck on her finger in “Lucy Meets the Burtons” (S3;E1). He then
says “…and
I was put in jail…” but nowhere in that episode (or any other) has Harry been jailed.
Perhaps Gale Gordon is ad libbing and confusing Harry Carter with Mr.
Mooney, who did go to jail once because of Lucy.

Back at the office, Harry
asks for the Rylander file but Lucy brings him the Mosier file
instead. This is the umpteenth mention of the names Rylander
and Mosier
by Gale Gordon in both “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.”
Carole Cook played a character named Lillian Rylander in “Lucy, the
Part-Time Wife” (S3;E14).

When
setting off firecrackers in the wastepaper basket, Lucy says that in
China it is the year
of the dog.
According to Chinese astrology, Lucy is correct, although it will
change to the year of the pig three weeks after this episode was
first aired.

Trying
to goad Harry into firing her, Lucy uses the window washer’s sponge
to douse him with water.  It wouldn’t be “Here’s Lucy” if Harry
didn’t end up soaking wet!

Kim
and Jan talk about needing a chaperone to go to Palm Springs. Lucy
Carmichael chaperoned her daughter Chris (and her friend Cynthia,
coincidentally played by Lucie Arnaz) on a spring break trip in “Lucy
is a Chaperone” (TLS S1;E27).  

Lucy,
Kim and Craig went to Palm Springs in the second episode of the
series. In real life, Lucille Ball had a vacation home in Palm Springs. 

Both Lucy Ricardo and Lucy Carmichael escaped to Palm Springs. In real life, Lucie Arnaz lives there today. 

When
Lucy gets up from the booth at the Luncheonette, she collides with a
waiter carrying a tray that goes flying into the air, just as Lucy
Ricardo did when at the Brown Derby in “Hollywood at Last!” (ILL
S4;E16). 

In 1969, Lucy repeated the gag with Johnny Carson standing in for William Holden. In both cases the action was set at the Hollywood Brown Derby.  Carson was covered in drinks instead of cream pies. 

In this episode, however, the next booth is empty. Kim remarks: 

“You see? You haven’t lost your touch!” 

The luncheonette where Lucy meets Kim for lunch is the same one seen in “Lucy and Rudy Vallee” (S3;E12). In that episode, the luncheonette was owned by Vallee and he worked there to pass the time. Naturally, he is nowhere to be seen in “Lucy’s Vacation.”  

Harry
wears glasses for most of the episode. Previously, he only wore them
when ogling a Playboy centerfold. With glasses, Gale Gordon
resembles Alvin Littlefield, owner of the Tropicana, a character he
played in two episodes of “I Love Lucy.”

Alphabet Soup!  Lucy
brings Harry the Mosier file, but she retrieves it from the file
drawer marked “A-D.”  

Props! There
is a small blue vase on Lucy’s desk with nothing in it that has never
been there before. Probably Lucy was supposed to put the plucked
orchid in it, but there was not enough stem for it to stay put, so
Lucy just lies it on her desk.

“Lucy’s Vacation” rates 3 Paper Hearts out of 5

This
episode isn’t terribly funny but it does have some minor joys. Gale
Gordon gives one of his most interesting performances here and the
interplay between him and Lucy is really good. It is also worthwhile
for Lucy’s outrageous outfit in the second half!  The twist ending is
not a surprise, but is fun.