LUCY SUBLETS THE OFFICE

S4;E21
~ January 31, 1972

Directed
by Coby Ruskin ~ Written by George Balzin and Sam Perrin

Synopsis

Harry
is losing money so a loan officer instructs him to put Lucy in
charge. Her first act as boss is to lease office space to an
eccentric toy salesman (Wally Cox) who turns the Unique Employment
Agency into a playground!

Regular
Cast

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

Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter) does not appear in this episode, although her name does
appear in the opening credits. Lucy is on the phone with Kim as the
episode opens. Despite not being in the episode, Lucie Arnaz does
the introduction on the series DVD.

Guest
Cast

Wally
Cox
(Tommy Tucker, Toy Tycoon) was
one of Lucille Ball’s favorite character actors and best remembered
for being a panelist on TV’s “The Hollywood Squares” (1965-73)
as well as his hit series “Mr. Peepers” (1953-55).

Cox played a nervous musician on “Lucy
Conducts the Symphony” (TLS S2;E13), a shy bachelor in “Lucy and Wally Cox” (S2;E21), a reformed safe cracker in “Lucy
and the Ex-Con” (S1;E15), and an on-edge jeweler in “Lucy and the Diamond Cutter” (S3;E10). Cox and Lucille Ball both appeared in the 1967 film A Guide for the Married Man. This is his fourth and final appearance on “Here’s Lucy.” Cox died of a heart attack in 1973 at age 48.

Tommy
Tucker was the name of the cue card man on “Here’s Lucy.”
Lucille Ball and Tucker would often play word games together.

Richard
Deacon
(Elmer Zellerbach, Loan Officer) is
probably best remembered as Mel Cooley on “The Dick Van Dyke Show”
(1961-66). He appeared as Tallulah Bankhead’s butler in “The
Celebrity Next Door,” a
1957 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” He was
employed again by Desi Sr. as a regular on “The Mothers-in-Law”
(1968). This is the second of his two appearances on “Here’s
Lucy.”

Mr.
Zellerbach has two college-age children. His first name is never
used in the dialogue and the final credits only list him as “Loan
Officer.”

The
date this show was originally aired, Time
Magazine
published a cover story on Flip Wilson, TV’s first black superstar.
Wilson was a guest-star on “Here’s Lucy” on September 13, 1971.

This
episode was originally sponsored by Lipton Tea, Wesson
Oil, and Whirlpool. On the DVD, commercials for
each are included.

Lucy
tells Mr. Zellerbach that she has two children, Kim and Craig, who
are both in college. Craig has been mentioned consistently over the
past four episodes after not being mentioned for more than 3 months.

LUCY (to Harry): “The reason this business is failing is because your head is full of 20 year-old, tired business techniques. While my head is new and fresh. It has nothing in it!”

Lucy charges Tommy Tucker $75 a month to sublet a corner of the office. To come up with the cash, Tucker reaches into his pants pocket…jacket pocket…breast pocket…sock…shoe…and change purse! The studio audience gives Cox a round of applause for the extended exchange. Harry (or, as Lucy calls him here, ‘HC’) has the miraculous ability to know how much money is in his hand without even looking! This too, garners a small round of applause from the studio spectators.

Amidst his loose change Tommy hands Lucy, is a streetcar token, which he quickly takes back. From 1873, the streetcar served as a popular mode of transportation throughout the Los Angeles area. Widespread adoption of diesel buses ultimately led to the abandonment of streetcars on March 31, 1963, nine years before this episode first aired.

Harry
slides down the sliding board into the kiddie pool, getting soaking
wet. Getting Harry wet was part of most all episodes of the series. Off screen, Lucille Ball joking called Gale Gordon ‘old soggy crotch’ and here he lives up to the name!

One
of the three inflatable punching bags in the office is Bozo
the Clown.
The
character first appeared on television in 1949 starring Pinto
Colvig. In 1964, Colvig did all the dog barks and howls in “Lucy is Her Own Lawyer”
(TLS S2;E23). After the creative rights to Bozo were
purchased by Larry
Harmon in
1956, the character became a common franchise across
the United States, with local television stations producing their own
Bozo shows featuring the character.

The large wide-eyed rag doll under the slide was previously seen in the 1969 musical film Sweet Charity as set decoration for Charity’s apartment. It is just behind Chita Rivera in the above scene. Both “Lucy” and Charity were filmed at Universal.

The toy-filled Unique Employment Agency looks very similar
to the Ricardo living room when Lucy wanted to convince Ricky that
their tiny apartment was not big enough for their growing
family in “The Ricardos Change Apartments” (ILL S2;E26).

Both featured inflatable punch toys, plush animals, and a sliding
board that served as the only entrance into the room.

When
Tommy Tucker is demonstrating the remote control somersaulting dog, there is a
wind-up drumming
bear on
the desk nearby that does not get demonstrated. This toy is very similar to
the one used in “Little Ricky Gets Stage Fright” (ILL S6;E4). To
help his son overcome his fear of drumming in public, Ricky wound up
the drumming bear to show him he had nothing to be afraid of.
Although very similar, the toys are different models.

Mr. Zellerbach says that he usually advises financially strapped companies like the Unique Employment Agency to hire an efficiency expert, which is exactly what Mr. Mooney did for the Westland Bank in “Lucy and the Efficiency Expert”
(TLS S5;E13), an episode of “The Lucy Show” in which toys also play an integral part of the story. The Efficiency Expert was played by Phil Silvers who sends Lucy to work the assembly line at a toy factory.

Lucy
Carmichael and Vivian Bagley played with some super-sized toys as
part of an age-regression experiment in “Lucy the Stockholder”
(TLS S3;E25).

The Ricardos sublet their New York apartment to the nervous Mr. Beecher (Jay Novello) in “The Sublease” (ILL S3;E31).

The Ricardos sublet their Connecticut home to the Williams Family in “Lucy Makes Room for Danny” (LDCH S2;E2).

Miss-Take!

Mr. Zellerbach calls Lucy “Miss Carter” despite noting that she
has two dependent children.

What’s My Line?
Richard Deacon often glances off at the teleprompter.

Gag
Gift! This
episode features a new desk for Harry in order to accomplish the
novelty hand in a box gag. In order to hide the “hand” actor,
this version of Harry’s desk goes all the way to the floor, where Harry’s usual desk had
dowel legs. The ‘hand in a box’ is reminiscent of Thing, a helpful hand in a box on TV’s “The Addams Family.”

Edit
Room! Tommy
Tucker is never shown re-setting the Rube Goldberg-like “Tantrum
Breaker” (aka “Spanking Machine”). In order for the machine to work again with Harry at the
show’s finale, the entire mechanism would need to be re-set. Although the action of the scene is continuous, the re-set is never shown on screen.

For a closer look at “Lucy’s Toy Chest” – a complete look at the toys seen on all the Lucille Ball sitcoms – click here!