LUCY AND HER PRINCE CHARMING

S5;E12
~ November 27, 1972

Directed
by Coby Ruskin ~ Written by Fred S. Fox and Seaman Jacobs

Synopsis

Lucy
is dating a handsome man (Ricardo Montalban) who turns out to be
royalty. When Harry finds out that the Prince is in love with Lucy,
he’ll stop at nothing to get the two married!

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy
Carter), Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter), Gale
Gordon (Harrison
Otis Carter)

Guest
Cast

Ricardo
Montalban
(Prince
Phillip Gregory Hennepin of Montalbania) was born in Mexico City in
1920. He appeared in hundreds of TV shows and films but is probably
best remembered for the mystical Mr. Roarke on “Fantasy Island”
(1977-84). He won an Emmy Award in 1977 for an episode of “How the
West Was Won.” Although he appeared with Lucille Ball on talk and
variety shows, this is his only acting appearance with Lucille Ball.
Montalban passed away on 2009.

The
Prince is from the Principality of Montalbania, a fictional country
the writers named in honor of their guest star.

Iggie
Wolfington
(Mr. Winstead, a Minister) first
won acclaim in the 1952 Broadway production of Mrs.
McThing
starring Helen
Hayes. In
1958, he created the role of Marcellus Washburn in original
production of The
Music Man
for which he was nominated for a Tony Award.
In a 1980 revival he played the role of Mayor Shinn opposite Dick
Van Dyke as the Music Man. In 1984 he was awarded the Screen Actors
Guild Life Award. This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Sid
Gould (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.

Gould
wears a beard and mustache and adopts an accent for this waiter
character.

Gloria
Wood (Dowager
Soprano) makes her fourth appearance on the series. She played Doris,
a member of Lucy’s Canary Club in “A
Home is Not an Office” (S5;E4) and
was one of Petula Clark’s back-up singers in “Lucy
and Petula Clark” (S5;E8).

Wood
is credited as a ‘Dowager’ although there is no indication that
she is a widow living on inheritance (the definition of the title).

Bob
Harks (Decorator, uncredited) Extra, stand-in, and double Bob Harks was born on September 20, 1927.
Harks appeared in his first film in 1968 and was seen in the
background of Mame
(1974). In 1970 he popped up on his first television show and was
seen in more than a dozen episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” He died at
age 83 in 2010.

Robert Hitchcock (Decorator, uncredited) appeared on many TV series’ including on “Bewitched” and ”That Girl.” He was seen in “Lucy and Phil Harris” (TLS S6;E20) at the piano bar. This is one of his many episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

The
string quartet at the ‘mock’ wedding, a young boy ring-bearer, a
young flower girl are all played by uncredited background performers.

The “Lucy” character has been seen with every big Latin star of her generation;

Desi Arnaz,

Cesar Romero,

Fenando Lamas, and now Ricardo Montalban. If Lucille Ball and Ricardo Montalban had been a real-life couple, they might have been known as Lucy & Ricardo, two names that sound good together!

In
1978, Lucie Arnaz again acted opposite Montalban as a guest star on
his long-running series “Fantasy
Island.”
She co-starred with Ronny Cox and frequent “Lucy” character actor
Robert Alda.

In
exchange for convincing Lucy to marry the Prince, he will give Harry
50 thousand grivnies (Montalbanian currency), which is equal to a
quarter of a million US dollars. Harry says the Prince is worth $200
million US dollars.

Harry tells Prince Phillip: “I only regret that I have but one sister-in-law to give to your country!” This is a paraphrase of words attributed to patriotic Revolutionary war spy Nathan Hale (1755-1776): “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”

When
Harry dons an ornate crown to give Lucy a clue about the Prince’s
occupation, Lucy at first guesses that he is a margarine salesman.
This is a reference to a popular series of commercials for Imperial
Margarine in
which a person who ate something with Imperial on it would instantly
have a crown appear
on their head (accompanied by a short fanfare).
The
commercials were spoofed on “The
Carol Burnett Show” and “Green Acres,” among others.

When
the Prince rings the doorbell, Kim, in a quavering soprano voice,
warbles
“Someday My Prince Will Come” a
song from Walt
Disney’s
1937 animated movie Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs.
It was written by Larry Morey and Frank
Churchill and
originally performed by Adriana
Caselotti,
whom Lucie Arnaz is doubtless attempting to mimic.

While
Lucy is elegantly dining at home with the Prince, Kim says she’ll be
splitting a veggie burger down at Grubby Bob’s Health Food Center.

When
Harry enters disguised as a Gypsy violinist, he plays Brahms’
“Hungarian
Dance No. 5.”
Naturally Gale Gordon is miming to a pre-recorded track. It is odd
that he doesn’t play the more romantic “Dark Eyes” which is
usually associated with strolling violinists in romantic restaurants.

Lucille
Ball is out of her cast from her skiing injury and wearing shoes
again. The pillows on the floor in front of the restaurant table are
there for Lucy to rest her foot on.

Harry
(disguised as a female palm reader) tells Lucy she faces the Curse of
Ali Baba:

Wild camels will trample your crab grass.
Crocodiles
will consume your credit cards.
Locusts
will invade your pantyhose.

When
Lucy realizes that it is Harry in the harem costume, she dumps a
pitcher of water on his head, fulfilling one of “Here’s Lucy’s”
major goals – to get Harry wet!

In
this episode, Lucille Ball wears the yellow dress she had made for
Lucie Arnaz’s 1971 wedding to Phil Vandervort.

Lucy
Ricardo made up an entirely fictional royal family of a fictional
country called Franistan in “The Publicity Agent” (ILL S1;E31).

The
Carter Family impersonated the Royal Family of mythical Capazonia in
“Lucy’s Impossible Mission” (S1;E6).

Lucy
Ricardo had an (off-screen) encounter with another Prince Phillip
(Mountbatten)
in “Lucy Meets the Queen” (ILL S5;E15).

After
the ‘mock’ ceremony is abandoned, a soprano (Gloria Wood) enters from
upstairs singing “Oh,
Promise Me,”
an
1887 art song by Reginald de Koven and Clement Scott. Viv Bagley (Vivian Vance) sang it when Lucy Carmichael’s sister got married in
“Lucy’s Sister Pays a Visit” (TLS S1;E15) in 1963.

Petal
Pushers!
A few petals fall off the white roses while Harry and the Prince are
doing their mock wedding in the office. Luckily, the scene fades out
shortly afterwards.

Where
the Floor Ends! When
Harry enters playing the violin, the camera pulls back to a wide shot
revealing where the living room carpet meets the concrete stage
floor. Also, next to the desk, one of the white flowers from the
many displays has fallen on the floor.