LUCY IS REALLY IN A PICKLE

S5;E15
~ January 1, 1973

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

Synopsis

Lucy’s
show business aspirations get her cast in a pickle commercial with
Harry as her agent. When the commercial is suddenly changed to a
duet song and dance number, Lucy and Kim become singing and dancing
pickles – literally.

Regular
Cast

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

Guest
Cast

Dick
Patterson (Steve
Thompson) made his Broadway debut in David Merrick’s Vintage
‘60,
and appeared in The
Billy Barnes People,
the national touring company of Bye
Bye Birdie, and
opposite Carol Burnett in Fade
Out, Fade In.
His last musical was Smile,
a spoof of beauty pageants. He was seen in “Lucy
Helps Danny Thomas” (TLS S4;E7).
This is the last of his four appearances on “Here’s Lucy.”

Steve’s
last name is never used in the dialogue, only in the closing credits.
Patterson wears an obviously false goatee for this role.

Marl
Young (Pianist,
uncredited) was also the musical director of “Here’s Lucy.” He
also appeared on camera in “Lucy and Petula Clark” (S5;E8).
Young later supplied the DVD introductions for several of the
musical episodes.

The
other musicians, stagehands, a cameraman and an engineer are all
played by uncredited background performers.

This
is the first new episode of calendar year 1973 aired on New Year’s
Day. This installment of “Here’s Lucy” is #111
originally aired on 1/1!

Lucy
is typing a novel for a friend to make extra money. Reading a page
from the manuscript, Harry thinks the Unique Employment Agency is
catering Roman orgies.

Lucy:
“Thank
goodness I remembered to bring Polly Parker’s Perky Pickles. Mmmm,
they’re delicious! Yes, Polly Parker’s Perky Pickles make any picnic
perfect. Polly’s Pickles will tickle your pallet. So next time you’re
planning a picnic, pick up a pint of Polly Parker’s Perky Pickles.”

The
TV camera in the studio is labeled KBEX COLOR. Similar to the way 555
is the prefix used for fictional telephone numbers, KBEX
were
the call letters for fictional TV and radio
stations.
They were used in many TV shows and films, including in Desilu’s
“Mannix” and “Mission: Impossible.” They will be used again
on “Here’s Lucy” in “Milton
Berle is the Life of the Party”
(S6;E19). Starting in 2005, the FCC (Federal Communications
Commission) started using KBEX for actual broadcast stations.

Lucy
tells Steve, the director of the commercial, that she can’t dance
because she broke her leg skiing. This is the first mention of
Lucy’s broken leg in several episodes.

When
Harry tells Lucy to ignore the doctor’s orders about dancing, she
snaps “Where
did you take your training? Johns Hopkins or Mayo?” Johns
Hopkins in Baltimore and the the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota are two of
the largest and most prestigious hospitals in the United States.
Ethel Mertz once mentioned that she went to Mayo:

FRED: You forget that lovely trip you took to Minnesota.
ETHEL: (sarcastic) Oh, that was a lot of fun. I went to Mayo Brothers to have my gallstones taken out.

Lucy mentions Mary Jane and Vanda, her friends at the office. (Neither Mary Jane Croft nor Vanda Barra are in the episode.) Harry says “I’m surprised you didn’t tell them where you were going to put your Emmy Award.” By this time, Lucille Ball had four Emmy Awards, but she was never nominated for “Here’s Lucy.”

In a rare inside joke, Lucy says “I understand having your own weekly TV show is a real grind.” Lucille Ball has been seen on a weekly television series since 1951 (with a short break between “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” and “The Lucy Show”) and is on her third weekly television series.

This
episode was inspired "Lucy
Does a TV Commercial“
(ILL S1;E30), the famous Vitameatavegamin show, also written by the
same writers. This time Lucille overreacts to the taste of sour
pickles as she rehearses her lines over and over. Just as the alcohol
in Vitameatavegamin caused Lucy Ricardo to flub her lines (“are you
unpoopular”) the distracting taste of the pickles causes Lucy
Carter to do the same.

In
“Lucy, the Part-Time Wife” (S3;E14) Lucy (pretending to be pregnant) tells nurse Gertrude that she’s had cravings for pickles and
ice cream, the usual TV trope craving for expectant mothers.
Interestingly, when Lucy Ricardo was expecting, she craved sardines
with her ice cream, not pickles.

Going
along with the trope, in “Lucy and the Countess Have a Horse Guest”
(TLS S4;E6) Lucy Carmichael fed her pregnant horse pickles.

In
“Lucy the Bean Queen” (TLS S5;E3) Mr. Bailey and Mr. Mooney were
in the pickle business before going into baked beans.

Consistency! The KBEX TV cameras say “color” but the TV studio has a black and white test pattern screen in it.

Props!

In
the TV studio the ladder is conspicuously stenciled L.B.P. – Lucille Ball Productions. This same goof will happen at the end of the year in “Lucy and Chuck Connors Have a Surprise Slumber Party” (S6;E13).

Oops!
When
Harry opens his briefcase to find the jar of pickles, he jostles an
ashtray on the coffee table that make a loud clattering noise.