LUCY HELPS DAVID FROST GO NIGHT-NIGHT

S4;E12
~ November 29, 1971

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

Synopsis

Television
host David Frost comes to the Unique Employment Agency to hire a
traveling companion to assure that he gets some sleep on his flight
to London. When Harry hurts his leg, Lucy is sent in his stead.
Needless to say, with Lucy beside him Frost finds sleeping is not
easy.

Regular
Cast

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

Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter) is not in this episode, but does receive opening title
credit.

Guest
Cast

David
Frost
(Himself) was a prominent English television host and journalist.
His career began in the UK in 1962 hosting “That Was the Week that
Was” which led to “Frost on Sunday” in 1968. He is best
remembered for his US talk show “The David Frost Show” (1969-72).
His 1977 interviews with former President Richard M. Nixon were
eventually staged and filmed as Frost
/ Nixon
by Peter Morgan. Frost died in 2013 while aboard a cruise ship in
the Mediterranean. He was 74 years old.

Tommy
Farrell
(Sky
Marshal, above left) was on Broadway in three plays between 1942 and 1947. He was seen on “The
Lucy Show” twice. This is the second of his six episodes of
“Here’s Lucy.”

Suzanne
Taylor (Nancy,
First Class Flight Attendant, above right) began acting on television
in 1966. Her final credit was in 1975. This is her only appearance
with Lucille Ball.

Rosalind
Miles (Flight
Attendant) will make one more series appearance in 1972. Her screen
acting career lasted just seven years.

Mike
Howden (Flight
Attendant) played
small roles on Desilu shows like “Star Trek” and “Mannix.”
His
first series appearance was as the Ski Instructor in “Someone’s On
the Ski Lift With Dinah” (S4;E7).

Ivor
Barry
(“The David Frost Show” Producer) was
a Welsh-born
character actor who began his film career in England in bit parts;
moved to Canada in 1953 where he wrote and adapted scripts for radio
and eventually appeared on American TV.
He will play a French chef in “Lucy Meets Donny Osmond”
(S5;E11), his second and last appearance with Lucille Ball.

The
character wanders onto the set of “The David Frost Show” after
both David and Lucy have fallen asleep. He is not identified as the
show’s producer.

Hank
Robinson
(Passenger, uncredited) was a busy background player in Hollywood
seen on such shows as “Kojak,” “The Rockford Files,” and
“Gunsmoke.” He will appear in one more episode of “Here’s
Lucy” in 1972.

The
other first class passengers are played by uncredited background
performers.

The
evening this episode first aired “The David Frost Show” featured
Frost interviewing Lauren Bacall. Starting in 1970, Lucille Ball
appeared on “The David Frost Show” five times, with the fifth
appearance just two weeks before this episode first aired.

On
her DVD introduction to the episode, Lucie Arnaz (who was not
actually in this episode) is somewhat surprised that the title of the
episode includes baby talk like “Night-Night.” The episode,
however, does feature Lucy playing “mommy” to Frost and using the
words “beddy-bye” and “tummy” as she tucks him in to his
first class airline seat.

Complimenting
David Frost, Lucy mentions that she saw him on “The Carol Burnett
Show.” Frost had been one of Carol’s celebrity guests on March 22,
1971. Frost had also made appearances on “The Flip Wilson Show.”
Both Burnett and Wilson had been guest stars on “Here’s Lucy.”

The
jet seen in the stock footage of the airport is a Pan Am Boeing 747
with an upper deck first class lounge.

David
Frost reckons that he has taken 346 air trips or traveled 1,853,000
miles!

While
Frost is trying to sleep, Lucy wears her headset and hums along to
“Hey Look Me Over” while tapping it out on the glasses with her cutlery.
Lucille Ball introduced the song in the 1960 Broadway musical
Wildcat.

When
Lucy sees the Sky Marshal’s gun and thinks he is a hijacker, she says
that if Frost doesn’t help her apprehend him, he may be doing his
show from Cuba. The inference is that a hijacker would re-route the
plane to a communist country like Cuba. This is ironic considering
Lucille Ball (and Lucy Ricardo’s) relationship with the island
nation.

On
David Frost’s TV show Lucy Carter tells her life story beginning with
“I
was born in Jamestown, New York, and shortly after that we moved to
Montana…”
In reality, shortly after her birth Lucille Ball’s father moved the
family to Montana for work purposes, but when he died suddenly (Lucy
was just three), Lucy’s mother Dede moved the family back to
Jamestown, New York, where Lucy was raised. When Lucille Ball was a
young actor, she thought that it would sound more interesting to say
that she was born in Butte, Montana, rather than Jamestown. Early
motion picture directories (above) listed her birthplace as Butte.

This
is the first time we have seen Lucy Carter actually as a passenger on
a jet, although she says she had flown before and liked it (but not
the take-offs and landings). We have seen her jump out of an
airplane…

…and also in an episode set around Los Angeles International
Airport.

Pan
American World Airways (Pan Am) clipper
service is the carrier that brings the Ricardos and the Mertzes back
to New York in “Return Home from Europe” (ILL S5;E26).

They will
also use Pan Am when flying from Miami Beach to Havana in “The
Ricardos Visit Cuba” (S6;E9).
On both episodes there are insert shots of Pan Am aircraft, as well
as the Pan Am logo visible on blankets and tote bags. The airline
folded in 1991.

Lucy
Carmichael started her journey to London Lucy on British Imperial
Airways, a fictional carrier, in “Lucy Flies to London” (TLS
S5;E6).

She changes planes (and airlines) in New York, boarding Pan Am to get to Heathrow in “Lucy in London” (1966).

Lucy
Ricardo struggled to stay awake after
too much Dramamine in “The
Passports” (ILL S5;E11) and
when she was exhausted from her commuter lifestyle in “Lucy
Wants a Career”,
a 1959 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” In
1962, Lucy Carmichael had trouble staying awake during a classical
music concert in “Lucy the Music Lover” (TLS S1;E8).

Not
wanting to waste her one day in London, Lucy Carter plans to see the
changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, something Lucy Ricardo
did in “Lucy Meets the Queen” (ILL S5;E15) in 1956.

Sitcom
Logic Alert! Recounting David Frost attacking the Sky Marshal, Lucy says that
people thought that David Frost was the hijacker. The premise of the
episode was that Frost was so recognizable people would not let him
sleep – so how did the other passengers not recognize him? Or did
they think that famous interviewer David Frost was actually hijacking
a plane?