LUCY AND ALADDIN’S LAMP

S3;E21
~ February 1, 1971

Directed
by Charles Walters ~ Written by Frank Gill Jr. and Vin Bogert

Synopsis

When
Lucy holds a garage sale, she discovers an old lamp. When wishes
start to become reality Lucy believes the lamp may posses magic,
until she loses it hiding it from Harry.

Regular
Cast

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

Guest
Cast

Mary
Jane Croft (Mary
Jane) 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). She died in
1999 at the age of 83.

George
Niese (Mr.
Frost) previously appeared in “Lucy Becomes a Father” (TLS
S3;E9). This is his only episode of “Here’s Lucy.”

Robert
Foulk
(Janitor) played
the policeman on the Brooklyn subway platform in “Lucy
and the Loving Cup” (ILL S6;E12)
and a Los Angeles Detective in “Lucy Goes To A Hollywood Premiere”
(TLS S4;E20). This is the third of his six
characters on “Here’s Lucy.”

This
is Foulk’s third episode in a row on the series.

William
Lanteau
(Mr. Minkle) first
appeared with Lucille Ball in The
Facts of Life (1960).
In addition to an episode of “The Lucy Show,” Lanteau did four
episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” He is best remembered for
playing Charlie the Mailman in the play and the film On
Golden Pond (1981).

Mr.
Minkle is the superintendent of the office building where Harry and
Lucy work.

The
Telegram Delivery Boy is uncredited and has no lines.

Some reports say this episode was filmed on April 6, 1970, ten months before its initial air date. However, that is a Monday, and most all episodes were filmed on Thursday or Friday after four days rehearsal, so this is unlikely.

This is the second of only two episodes directed by 1954 Oscar-winner Charles Walters. The previous entry was “Lucy’s House Guest, Harry” (S3;E20). He went on to direct two of the Lucille Ball Specials: “What Now, Catherine Curtis?” (1976) and “Three for Two” (1975). From 1942 to 1945, Walters served as dance director on six films starring Lucille Ball. This episode is mentioned in the biography Charles Walters: The Director Who Made Hollywood Dance by Brent Phillips.

Likewise, this was the second and final episode written by 1955 Emmy-winner Vin Bogert. The first was “Lucy Stops a Marriage” (S3;E16), which he also co-wrote with Frank Gill Jr. It was a posthumous credit for Gill, who died six months earlier. It was the penultimate screenwriting credit for Bogert, who died in 1978.

The title refers to the Middle Eastern folk tale of the boy Aladdin and a genie that comes from a lamp to grant him three wishes. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (“The Arabian Nights”), and one of the best known – although it was not part of the original Arabic text, but was added in the 18th century by Frenchman Antoine Galland. The story has been the basis for many screen and stage re-tellings, including the current Disney musical Aladdin.

Another television sitcom was based on the legend of Aladdin: “I Dream of Jeannie” (1965-70), which had just ended its long run on NBC. It starred Barbara Eden as the genie named Jeannie, who lived in a bottle rather than a lamp. Barbara Eden made her TV debut on “I Love Lucy.” Hayden Rorke, who played the long-suffering Dr. Bellows on the series, also did an episode of “I Love Lucy” and recently appeared on “Here’s Lucy” as a Judge.

In the first scene, Craig is wearing a top hat with a flower in it. The other actors (Mary Jane Croft and George Niese) seem a bit taken aback by it.

MARY JANE: “Oh! I like your hat. (under her breath) Bless your heart.”

MR. FROST: (Points at the hat, surprised) “Oh! Oh ho ho ho.”

Perhaps it is something Desi Jr. saw in the props pulled for the scene and took a liking to? It also many have some sentimental significance to the actor, but for such a visual statement, it does not figure into the plot, which is unusual.

At
the start of the episode, Kim is holding a heart-shaped
throw cushion that may be a tribute to the opening credits of “I Love Lucy.”

Lucy
gets a Western Union telegram from the (fictional) Murphy Soup Company to tell her she’s won a contest.

Lucy’s prize-winning soup jingle is to the tune of “Jingle Bells,” a song that was heard many times on “I Love Lucy.”

Aside from Ann-Margret, Craig would wish for two
tickets to the sold-our Rams Football game. After a dramatic thunder
clap, Craig gets a call from his friend Alan who offers him a ticket.
Craig says “How
sweet it is!” Sex
symbol and singing sensation Ann-Margret
charmed Craig in a season 2 episode of “Here’s Lucy.” The
Los Angeles Rams
would have been the Carters’ hometown football team. “How sweet it
is” was the catch phrase of actor / comedian Jackie
Gleason
(“The Honeymooners”), who made a cameo appearance in the second
episode of the series.

Craig
reads the October 1968 issue of McCall’s
with English actress Samantha Eggar on the cover. In
“Ricky Has Labor Pains” (ILL S2;E14), pregnant Lucy Ricardo is
reading the January 1953 McCall’s, which clearly has a cover
that says “Why I Love Lucy” by Desi Arnaz.

Kim
wishes for Jamoca Almond Fudge Ice Cream, her favorite. After a
dramatic thunder clap, Uncle Harry promptly arrives at the door to
deliver it! Jamoca Almond Fudge is a signature flavor of Baskin-Robbins, who first marketed it in 1959. It is made by combining Jamoca coffee ice cream with roasted almonds and a chocolate ribbon. The bag Harry is holding, however, is not branded with their logo: pink and brown polka dots encircling a large number 31, the number of flavors they offer.

The second scene opens with Harry and Lucy coming to work with a happy Harry (dreaming of great wealth if he got access to the lamp) paraphrasing Robert Browning’s verse drama Pippa Passes (1841). The original goes:

The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn:
God’s in his heaven –
All’s right with the world! — from Act I: Morning

Harry’s version replaces mention of larks and snails with “The sun is shining; the birds are singing” and omits any reference to the Deity altogether.

When Lucy won’t let Harry make any monetary wishes on her lamp, he storms off pouting and Lucy calls him Attila the Hun. Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in March 453. During his reign, he was one of the most feared enemies of the Roman Empire.

Mary Jane tells Lucy that there’s a sale on Italian knits at Morton’s Department
Store.
Morton is
Lucille Ball’s married name since her marriage to Gary Morton (nee Goldaper) in
1961. Gary Morton is also a producer on “Here’s Lucy.” The fictional Morton’s Department Store joins Morton’s Service Station, Morton Pictures, and a number of other businesses named Morton on the series!

The
janitor comes to empty the waste paper baskets idly singing “When Irish
Eyes Are Smiling.” The song was written by Chauncey
Olcott, George Graff Jr., and Ernest Ball in 1912. It was sung by William Frawley
(Fred Mertz) in the 1936 film It’s
A Great Life! and was heard on “I Love Lucy” in “The Star Upstairs” (ILL
S4;E25).

Harry
says the Unique Employment Agency is located in office #1506. This implies that they are on the 15th floor.

Finally finding the bottle in a dumpster, there is just one thing preventing Lucy from getting it back: a glass bottle! Preparing
himself for Lucy to hit his finger with a hammer to get a bottle off
it, he says “If
John Wayne can do it, so can I.” John
Wayne
appeared with Lucille Ball as himself on “I Love Lucy” and “The
Lucy Show.” Both episodes were titled “Lucy Meets John Wayne.”

At the end of the episode, Craig reveals that the lamp is just a novelty store item manufactured in Pittsburgh. A disappointed Lucy corrects him.

The Mexican border city was the location of “Lucy and Viv Visit Tijuana” (S2;E19) aired a year earlier.

It wouldn’t be “Here’s Lucy” if Gale Gordon didn’t get wet!

Garage Sale Treasures!

Hanging above the steamer trunk is Lucy Ricardo’s iconic blue polka dot dress from “I Love Lucy.” It was designed by Elois Jensen and was seen in many episodes of the series.

Next to the blue dress is an art deco poster of Sarah Bernhardt by Alphonse Mucha (1897). The poster was previously seen in the dorm room in “Lucy, the Co-Ed” (S3;E6) and in the studio of the knife thrower in “Lucy, the Cement Worker” (S2;E10).

The zebra lamp with the red shade was on the tables of the Red Devil nightclub “Lucy and Ma Parker” (S3;E15, left).

Unboxing
items for the garage sale, Lucie finds her favorite doll, Clarabelle.
Clarabelle
made an appearance in “Lucy, the Part-Time Wife” (S3;14),
although she now has on a new frock.

Lucy pulls out a fur-lined jacket she says
was worn by Joan Crawford in Mildred
Pierce.
The 1945 film won Crawford an Academy Award. Joan Crawford guest
starred on “The Lucy Show” in “Lucy and the Lost Star” (TLS
S6;E22). Craig says that judging by the shoulder pads she could have
worn it in The
Spirit of Notre Dame.
Craig is referring to a 1931 football-themed movie starring Lew
Ayres.

Search through the building’s trash for the lamp instantly brings to mind when the Ricardo’s and Mertz’s searched through the trash of 623 East 68th Street to find the pieces of Lucy’s torn-up roman a clef in “Lucy Writes a Novel” (ILL S3;E24).

Lucy and Harry were also up to their necks in trash in “Lucy the Process Server” (S1;E3) – this time in a department store basement – searching for an envelope of cash.

Leaky ceilings in need of plastering was also a plot point in two episodes of “The Lucy Show”: “Lucy and Viv Put in a Shower” (TLS ) and “A Loophole in the Lease” (TLS S2;E12). Both times the leaks were caused by overflowing tubs and showers, but here the cause is the continual rainfall.

Sound vibrations and not water was the cause of the ceiling collapse that ended

“Breaking the Lease” (ILL S1;E18).

Flashing way back to 1813, prolific novelist Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) penned a children’s book titled Harry and Lucy. In it, they marvel at the power of steam bursting through a kettle spout, comparing it to the magic of Aladdin’s Lamp. Not only did Edgeworth foresee the era of the steam-powered engine, she may have foretold “Here’s Lucy” as well!

Do You Live in a Barn? His arm in a sling, carrying an umbrella, and taking off his hat, Gale Gordon is unable to properly shut the front door, despite the fact it is pouring rain outside. Lucille Ball’s eyes dart over at it, doubtless wondering if she had time to close it without spoiling the take. She doesn’t – and it stays open for the rest of the scene.

Where
the Floor Ends! When the hole in the ceiling breaks open, the camera is back too far
and viewers can see where the carpet ends and the stage floor begins.

Sitcom Logic Alert! Only Lucy would find a miraculous lamp that grants wishes and hide it in a trash can in order to go on a shopping trip for discount sweaters!