LUCY AND EVA GABOR ARE HOSPITAL ROOMIES

S5;E2
~ September 18, 1972

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

Synopsis

In
the hospital with a broken leg, Lucy gets a new roommate – Miss Eva
Gabor. After the initial surprise wears off, Lucy starts to feel
dejected due to all the attention lavished on her celebrity roomie.

Regular
Cast

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

Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter) does not appear in this episode. Unlike previous episodes in
which she did not appear, Lucie does
not
receive opening title credit. She is, however, mentioned in the
dialogue.

Guest
Cast

Eva
Gabor
(Herself) was
born in Hungary in 1919. She came to America with her sisters,
Magda and Zsa Zsa. She began her screen career in 1941. She
also appeared on Broadway five times between 1950 and 1983. Her
signature role was glamorous socialite turned farm wife Lisa Douglas
on “Green Acres” (1965-71), also aired on CBS. Gabor was married
five times. She was also a successful businesswoman, marketing wigs,
clothing and beauty products. Gabor previously played romance
novelist Eva Von Graunitz in “Lucy and Eva Gabor” (S1;E7). She
died in 1995.

Mary
Wickes (Nurse
Sylvia Ogilvy) was one of Lucille Ball’s closest friends and at one
time, a neighbor. She made a memorable appearances on “I Love Lucy”
as ballet mistress Madame Lamond in “The
Ballet” (ILL S1;E19). In
her initial “Lucy Show” appearances her characters name was
Frances, but she then made four more as a variety of characters for a
total of 8 episodes. This is one of her 9 appearances on “Here’s
Lucy” returning to the role she played in the previous episode.
Their final collaboration on screen was “Lucy Calls the President”
in 1977.

Wickes
is listed in the final credits as “Miss Ogilvy” although her name
is not spoken in the episode. Her full name was stated in the
previous episode, “Lucy’s Big Break” (S5;E1).

Mary
Jane Croft (Mary
Jane Lewis) 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
Barra) 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 Lucille Ball’s cousin-in-law by marriage to Sid Gould.

For
the first time, Lucy introduces Vanda as “my
friend Vanda Barra”
using her full name.

R.G.
Brown
(Walter) had
appeared on “The Andy Williams Show” (1963) and “The Rich
Little Show” (1976). He previously
played the flamboyant insurance company manager in “Lucy’s
Replacement” (S4;E19).

June
Whitley Taylor
(Nurse) had appeared as Sally, one of Lucy and Ethel’s bridge-playing
friends in both

“No Children Allowed” (ILL S2;E22) and “The Camping Trip” (ILL S2;E29). Taylor
also played the same un-named Nurse in
the previous episode “Lucy’s Big Break” (S5;E1).

This
episode is the second installment in the longest story arc (Lucy’s
broken leg) of the entire series, and the first continued story since
Lucy cruised to Hawaii at the end of season 3.
This storyline was dictated by the fact that Lucille Ball actually
broke her leg skiing, necessitating scripts for the first half of
season five be tailored to her being in a cast.

Just
as in the previous episode, Lucy does not leave her hospital bed for
the entire episode. The above is a publicity photo since both stars were in separate hospital beds for the entire episode.

Eva
Gabor is said to be Lucy’s fourth hospital roommate, although we have
only seen one. In the previous episode, “Lucy’s Big Break”
(S5;E1) Lucy’s roomie was the monosyllabic Mrs. Foster (Dorothy
Konrad, above) whose only reply to Lucy was “Mmm hmm.”

When
first Lucy meets Eva Gabor she is so nervous she forgets her own
name. She checks her hospital wristband and hastily introduces
herself as St. John. It can be inferred that Lucy is at St.
John’s Hospital.
This is a real-life Catholic hospital located in Santa Monica,
California, founded in 1942. The hospital has a long list of
celebrity patients, but in 1972 actress Joi Lansing (above right), who was featured
in two episodes of “I Love Lucy,” died there of breast cancer.

Eva
Gabor tells Walter, her assistant, to cancel her dinner date with
Frank
Sinatra in
Palm Springs.
Frank
Sinatra was a resident of Cathedral City, located just outside Palm
Springs. In June 1971 Sinatra was inaugurated as honorary mayor of
Cathedral City and Eva Gabor attended the ceremony.
This episode would have been filmed around that time.

Lucille
Ball wanted to try something new with her hair this season, so her
hairstylist, Irma Kusely, ordered some longer wigs.
She styled them into a bouffant that made it easier to conceal the
lift tapes that Ball often wore to keep skin taut. In the script Eva
Gabor works in a plug for her wig company. When Lucy chimes in that
she has one of Gabor’s wigs, Walter churlishly asks if it is the one
she’s wearing. Lucy says no, but does not deny that she’s wearing a
wig at all. In reality, Lucille Ball was wigged in this episode.

Walter
gives Gabor a script
to study while she’s recuperating from her “foots” injury. The
title of the script is not mentioned. Gabor’s series “Green Acres”
aired its final episode on April 27, 1971. Her next TV project didn’t
come along until 1975, when she guest starred on CBS’s “Big Eddie.”

Lucy
calls Harry and drops clues about who is in the next bed. He guesses
Zsa
Zsa Gabor. Lucy says he is “half right.” Zsa-Zsa is Eva’s real-life sister.

Harry
fawns over Eva Gabor, saying he always watched “Green Acres” and
saw her in Present
Laughter and
The
Happy Time
on Broadway. The
Happy Time,
a comedy by Samuel Taylor, played over 600 performances on Broadway
from January 1950 to July 1951, although Gabor was not with the show
for the entire run. It was her Broadway debut. In February 1958 she
starred in a limited run revival of Present
Laughter
at the Belasco Theatre playing opposite author and director Noel
Coward.

Harry
tells Eva Gabor that her autograph is for his “little” niece.
When Lucy questions the word “little” (Kim is 20 years old),
Harry says that her name is Harry-ette. Next, Mary Jane comes
in asking for an autograph for her niece, M.J. Lucy notes that
Mary Jane does not have any brothers or sisters. Third, and finally,
Vanda comes in asking for an autograph for her niece Randi.

Walter
brings Eva Gabor’s dinner on a silver tray. He says it was prepared
especially for her by Chasen’s. Chasen’s was
a West Hollywood restaurant frequented
by entertainers.
Located on the border of Beverly Hills, it first opened in 1936 and for many years was the venue of the Academy
Awards party.
It was also famous for its chili.
The
restaurant closed for good on April 1, 1995.
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were regulars at Chasen’s and had their
own private booth there. The wrap party after “Lucy Meets the
Burtons” (S3;E1) was catered by Chasen’s.

In this episode Eva Gabor is victim of a rambunctious hospital bed.

The
out-of-control hospital bed was also mined for comic effect in “Lucy and Harry’s Tonsils” (S2;E5)…

on “The Lucy Show” in “Lucy and the Soap Opera” (TLS S4;E19)…

and in “Lucy Plays Florence Nightingale” (TLS S2;E14).

Eva Gabor previously played a version of herself, a romance novelist named Eva Von Graunitz, in “Lucy and Eva Gabor” (S1;E7). Graunitz was also her character’s maiden name on “Green Acres.”

Props!
When Lucy is holding the unopened split of Champagne, viewers can
see through the green glass of the bottle that it is only partially
full. In the next bed, Eva Gabor gets Lucy’s dinner and can tell by
just looking at it that the glass of milk in front of her is skim
milk.

Sitcom
Logic Alert! Lucy must be suffering from more than just a broken
leg. She has been in the hospital for a week and she is taking
pills.

Logistics! Lucy tosses Eva’s necklace right out the window.
Hospital windows do not generally open.