LUCY GOES TO PRISON

S5;E18
~ January 22, 1973

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

Synopsis

Lucy
goes undercover in prison to find out where an eccentric bank robber
Mumsie Westcott (Elsa Lanchester) hid her stolen cash. Trouble is,
Mumsie has an erratic memory only jarred by booze.

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy
Carter / “Dede Peterson”), Gale
Gordon (Harrison
Otis Carter)

Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter) does not appear in this episode, nor does she receive screen
credit. Kim (and Craig) are, however, mentioned in the dialogue.

Guest
Cast

Elsa
Lanchester
(Mumsie Westcott) was an English-born actress probably best known for
playing the Bride of Frankenstein and novelist Mary Shelley, in the
1933 film sequel to James Whale’s Frankenstein.
In
1950 she was nominated for an Oscar for Come
to the Stable (1949)
and was nominated again for Witness
for the Prosecution,
just one year after appearing
on “I Love Lucy” as a suspected hatchet murderess who drives Lucy
and Ethel to Florida. She was married to Oscar-winning actor Charles
Laughton. Lanchester died in 1986.

The
character was named after “Here’s Lucy” Property Master Ken Westcott. Mumsie has an unseen son named Cecil.

Roy
Roberts
(Warden Magginetti) was
born Roy Barnes Jones in Tampa, Florida in 1906. His early career was
on the Broadway stage. In Hollywood, the veteran character actor
accrued over 900 screen performances in his 40-year career, most of
which were authority figures. He and Lucille Ball appeared together
in Miss
Grant Takes Richmond (1949).
On “The Lucy Show,” he first appeared as a Navy Admiral in “Lucy
and the Submarine” (TLS S5;E2) before
creating the role of Mr. Cheever, the president of Mr. Mooney’s bank,
a recurring character he played through the end of the series. On
“Here’s Lucy” he played the Superintendent of the Air
Force Academy in
season two’s two-part
opener. He
will make one more appearance on the series.

The
character was named after “Here’s Lucy” Associate Producer
William Magginetti.

Jody
Gilbert
(Matron Wilson) appeared
with Lucille Ball and Gale Gordon on the 1952 special “Stars in the
Eye” celebrating the opening of CBS’s new Television City
studios. She also played a prison matron on “Lucy Meets the
Law” (TLS S5;E19). She previously appeared on “Here’s Lucy” In
“Lucy and the Raffle” (S3;E19). Gilbert was generally cast for
her size and imposing demeanor.

Queenie
Smith
(Helen, a Prisoner, left) was
seen in a dozen Broadway plays and musicals between 1919 and 1934. She co-starred in the 1936 film version of Show
Boat,
playing Ellie May Chipley. She was first seen with Lucille Ball in
“Lucy and Joan” (TLS S4;E4). She worked up until a year before
her death in 1978.

The character says only one word: “Alright!”

Joyce Jameson (Babe, a Prisoner, right) was part of the Broadway show The Billy Barnes Revue that also starred “Lucy” performers Ken Berry and Dick Patterson. She was frequently cast as the dizzy blonde on TV and in films.

The
first names of Jameson and Smith’s characters are never spoken aloud,
merely listed in the final credits.

The
Prison Laundryman and the two uniformed policeman are played by uncredited actors and have no lines.

The
day this episode first aired (January 23, 1973) former President
Lyndon B. Johnson
(LBJ) died at age 64. In “Lucy the Stockholder” (TLS S3;E25)
Lucy Carmichael is so grateful for her tax refund that she says she
wants to write “Lyndon” a thank you letter. In the same episode,
Mr. Mooney has a framed photo of LBJ above his desk.

January 23rd was also the birthday of Lucille Ball’s friend and co-star Ann Sothern. She was two years older than Ball.

This episode was partly inspired by the 1972 ABC TV movie Women in Chains. It starred Ida Lupino (her TV movie debut), who previously appeared on a 1959 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” June Whitely Taylor, a member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League on “I Love Lucy,” played a policewoman. The film also featured a character named Dee Dee played by Jessica Walter. Argyle Nelson, who was an editor on “The Lucy Show”, was the editor of the telefilm. Finally, both “Here’s Lucy” and Women in Chains were filmed at Paramount Studios.

Volunteering for the assignment to go undercover in prison, Lucy quickly identifies herself as “Prisoner #13579″. The odd numbers in numerical numerical order were specifically chosen to make them easier for Lucille Ball to remember without sounding silly (ie: 12345).

Lucy
goes undercover as a bank robber named Dede
Peterson,
which was the married name of Lucille Ball’s mother, Dede Ball (born
Desiree Eveyln Hunt). Dede married Edward Peterson after the death of
Lucy’s father Henry Ball. It is said that Dede attended every filming
of her daughter’s television shows. She was seen on camera in “Lucy
and Johnny Carson” (S2;E11). When Lucy Carter introduces herself
to Mumsie, there is a small laugh and the sound of one or two people
clapping from the studio audience. It is likely Gary Morton, Lucie
Arnaz, or another relative who gets this inside joke.

Mumsie
Westcott (Elsa Lanchester) is an imprisoned bank robber who has
hidden $300,000
but
the police don’t know where. The undercover prisoner will receive
$30,000 if they help find the stolen loot and the Unique Employment
Agency will get 15% of that fee. The prisoner will receive $400 a
week while in the clink, no matter what the outcome. Naturally, Lucy
volunteers for the assignment.

The
underscoring utilizes harpsichord music to reinforce Mumsie’s
whimsical weirdness.

The little whimsical songs that Mumsie sings throughout have no direct source. They seem to have been made up by the imagination of Elsa Lanchester!

Mumsie calls Lucy “Ducks” which is a Cockney term of affection. Lanchester, who was born in Lewisham, a borough of London, also peppers her dialogue with British slang words like “Blighters”,“Blimey” and “Bless Me Kippers” and calls her eyeglasses “Blinkers”. I guess she was fond of “B” words!

Mumsie
calls the scrawny potted plants on her cell windowsill her ‘family’
and has named them Cynthia
and Heathcliff.
She hopes that by putting them side by side they will give her
grandchildren!

When
Mumsie forgets who Lucy is only moments after first meeting her, she
says (not sings) “If
I’d known you were coming I’d of baked a cake.”
This is the title of a 1950 novelty song by by Al
Hoffman, Bob Merrill, and Clem Watts.
In the USA it was recorded by Betty Harris and Art Mooney’s
Orchestra.

At
Mumsie’s cabin on Griffin Mountain, Lucy is looking for the loot and
remembers seeing a Humphrey Bogart movie where they pushed a stone
and a hidden door opened. Humphrey
Bogart
never appeared on screen with Lucille Ball. However, in “Ricky’s
Movie Offer” (ILL S4;E5) Ricky
Ricardo
does an impression of Bogart. In “Lucy
and the Andrews Sisters” (S2;E6) Lucy
Carter blows a kiss to a large black and white poster of Bogart. In
“The
Bogie Affair” (S2;E13) Kim and Craig name a lost dog Bogie
because they claim it had the same sad look standing in the rain as
Bogart did at the end of the 1942 film Casablanca.

Lucy
Carter previously went undercover to help the police catch a crook in
“Lucy and the Ex-Con” (S1;E13)…

and again “Lucy and Ma Parker”
(S3;E15).

This
is not the first time the Lucy character has spent time behind bars.
On “I Love Lucy” Lucy Ricardo was jailed in
“New Neighbors” (ILL S1;E21)…

and in “Tennessee
Bound” (ILL S4;E14).

Lucy Carmichael
was put in the pokey in “Lucy
Meets the Law” (TLS S5;E19).

Lucy
Ricardo hilariously wreaked havoc in a laundry in “Bonus Bucks”
(ILL S3;E21).

Lucy Carter made trouble at a Chinese laundry in both
“Lucy, the Laundress” (S2;E17)…

and “Lucy and the Chinese Curse”
(S4;E18).

Working
in the prison laundry, Lucy fails to keep up with the fast pace of
the ‘assembly line’ – just as Lucy Ricardo did while wrapping
chocolates at Kramer’s Candy Kitchen in “Job Switching” (ILL
S2;E1).

Drinking
in jail was also the source for comedy when Lucy Ricardo and Susie
MacNamara’s (Ann Sothern) water jug is spiked while they are
detained in a cell in
Cuba in “Lucy
Takes a Cruise to Havana” (LDCH
1957).

You Crack Me Up! Lucille Ball can’t help chuckling a bit at Elsa Lanchester’s antics with the plants.

Oops!

When Lucy gets up to go to laundry detail, the chair nearly topples
over – but stops short of hitting the floor because the table is in
the way.

Regulation Footwear! While blue jumpsuits may pass as prison garb, it is highly unlikely that Babe (Joyce Jameson) would be allowed to wear open-toed wedgie sandals! It is likely that the the actress needed the extra height to appear more imposing.

Character
Consistency! In the prison laundry Lucy says she doesn’t know how to work a steam
press, but in “Lucy, the Laundress” (S2;E17) she not only worked
one, but accidentally made hamburgers while doing it! It appears
that the same steam press prop is used in both episodes.

Bleach Blots! From the very start of the episode, Mumsie’s blue jumpsuit has bleach stains on it. It becomes apparent what caused them later in the laundry room scene. Could Lucy have used real bleach during the earlier dress rehearsal?