WON’T YOU CALM DOWN, DAN DAILEY?

S4;E9 ~
November 8, 1971

Directed
by Coby Ruskin ~ Written by Bob Carroll and Madelyn Davis

Synopsis

Hollywood
star Dan Dailey buys the building where Lucy and Harry work and Lucy
wangles a job working for him. But when Lucy’s starstruck nature gets
in the way of her work, Dailey conspires with Harry about how to go
about firing her!

Regular
Cast

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

Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter) does not appear in this episode, although she does receive
opening title credit.

Guest
Cast

Dan
Dailey (Himself)
started
his career in vaudeville, later making his Broadway debut in the 1937
stage version of Babes
in Arms.
He began his screen career in 1940 and was nominated for an Oscar for
his work in When
My Baby Smiles at Me
(1948). From 1969 to 1970 he played the Governor in the CBS TV
series “The Governor and J.J.” This is his only time working with Lucille Ball.

Mary
Jane Croft (Mary
Jane, left) 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.

Vanda
Barra (Vanda, right)
makes one of over two dozen appearances on “Here’s Lucy” as
well as appearing in Ball’s two 1975 TV movies “Lucy Gets Lucky”
(with Dean Martin) and “Three for Two” (with Jackie Gleason). She
was seen in half a dozen episodes of “The Lucy Show.” Barra was
married to Sid Gould so is Lucille Ball’s cousin-in-law.

Sid
Gould (Sam,
Waiter) 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 and was
married to Vanda Barra (Vanda).

Sam
is the waiter in the building’s luncheonette. He is never addressed
by name.

The
cashier and the other diners in the restaurant are played by
uncredited background players.

The
title is a parody of the song “Won’t
You Come Home, Bill Bailey” published
in 1902 and written by Hughie Cannon.
It was sung by Lew Parker in “Lucy and Her All-Nun Band”
(S4;E8). This is the second title to pun on the name of a familiar
song and not use the name “Lucy.” The first was “Someone’s On
the Ski Lift with Dinah” (S4;E7).

In
his DVD introduction to the episode, music director Marl Young
remembers that during rehearsals he would improvise on the piano
while Dan Dailey danced.

Lucy
mentions that she sent a poison pen letter to the network when they
canceled “The Governor and J.J.” Although the network goes
un-named, it was Lucy’s own employer, CBS.

We
learn for the first time that Mary Jane works for a trial lawyer.
She says that every week its like working on a “Perry Mason”
rerun. “Perry
Mason” (1957-66)
was a hit CBS TV courtroom drama starring Raymond Burr.

Peering
through the foliage behind her, Harry overhears Lucy bragging about
playing hooky from work. He says “Very
interesting!”
recreating the famous catch phrase from “Rowan and Martin’s
Laugh-In” spoken by Arte Johnson as the German solider (inset). Elizabeth
Taylor spoke the line in “Lucy Meets the Burtons” (S2;E1).

In
a previous episode, Kim reminds Lucy that Harry has fired her 14
times. This makes 16.

Dailey
asks Lucy to call Clark Caterers to set up a party for the building’s
tenants. The name of the caterer may be a nod to Wanda Clark,
Lucille Ball’s personal secretary.

Dan
Dailey dictates a letter to Betty James, 19 San Leone Drive, Las
Vegas, Nevada. Lucy correctly guesses that he is writing to Betty
Grable,
who was married to bandleader Harry James. Grable did four films
with Dailey and both Grable and James appeared as themselves on “The
Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” in 1958, “Lucy Wins a Racehorse” (above). Her name was mentioned in “Lucy and Carol Burnett aka The Hollywood Unemployment Follies” (S3;E22).

In
his penthouse office, Dan and Lucy suddenly break into a song and
dance routine to “I
Want to Be Happy.”
It was written by Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar for the 1925
musical No,
No Nanette which
was filmed in 1930 and again in 1940. The routine was choreographed
by Jim Bates. This is Bates’ first episode of the series, taking over
for dance director Jack Baker.

Dailey
starts to dictate a letter to Paul
Newman
at Universal Studios. Lucy says she saw Newman on the late show in
Winning,
a 1969 film about a race car driver.

Dailey
slips and mentions that he knows Robert
Young.
Young played two of television’s most enduring characters, the title
roles in “Father Knows Best” and “Marcus Welby M.D.” Harry
confirms that Lucy is star-struck and goes to pieces over Rin
Tin Tin,
a dog who was the star of film serials and his own television series.

Lamenting
not having Lucy around anymore, Harry and Dan Dailey quote the lyrics
(verbatim) to “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” from the stage
and screen musical My
Fair Lady
by Lerner and Loewe. Dailey says “If
Rex Harrison can talk through that song, we can too.”
Harrison ‘sang’ the song on Broadway, in the West End, and in the
1964 motion picture, for which he won an Oscar.

When
Harry suggests getting someone to act as Dailey’s wife in front of
Lucy, Dailey tells Harry that he likes the wife he has. In 1971 this
would have been his fourth wife, Carol F. Warner. In less than a
year after speaking those words, Warner and Dailey divorced. He
would stay single for the rest of his life (seven years). Lucy says
that she read in TV Guide that Dailey was a widower, but Dailey
corrects her that they were talking about his character on “The
Governor and J.J.”

In
some ways, this episode resembles “The Star Upstairs” (ILL
S4;E25) where a star-struck Lucy Ricardo goes to great lengths to
meet movie star Cornel Wilde, who is staying in the room above her.

Sitcom
Logic! Although
Dailey says his manager convinced him to buy the building, it doesn’t
make sense that a famous actor would want a second career managing an
office building.

Lapse
of Character Consistency!
After trying to get Lucy to quit by making advances on her in the
office doesn’t work – in fact, Lucy encourages it – Dailey tells
Harry he has a wife. Harry seems to think she knows that and it
doesn’t matter because he’s a big star. This is highly unlike
conservative Lucy.

Fact
Check!
In his DVD introduction to the episode, music director Marl Young
says that the episode originally aired on November 15, 1971, when
most agree that it was aired on November 8, 1971. It is also
presented out of chronological order on the disc.