LUCY AND THE FRANCHISE FIASCO

S5;E20
~ February 5, 1973

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

Synopsis

Lucy,
Harry, and Mary Jane buy a frozen custard franchise. When business
goes cold, Lucy is forced to don a penguin suit and make an important
delivery.

Regular
Cast

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

Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter) does not appear in this episode, nor does she receive screen
credit. Except for the clips seen in the season five finale, the character
will not return to the series until the fourth episode of season six.

Guest
Cast

Mary
Jane Croft (Mary
Jane) 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.

Sid
Gould (Sam)
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
played Sam the luncheonette waiter a half dozen times, in addition to
many other characters.

Lola
Fisher (Mrs.
Archer Fleetwood III aka ‘Bunny’)
understudied
and replaced Julie Andrews on Broadway in the musical My
Fair Lady.
It was the third and last of her Broadway shows. Fisher makes the
last of her three “Here’s Lucy” appearances.

Bunny is a rich widow. She owns a yacht and is a member of the Westwood Country Club.

Clint
Young (Jimmy,
above left) was part of the very first episode of the daytime drama
“The Young and the Restless” which started airing less than two
months after this episode first aired. This is his only appearance
with Lucille Ball.

Jimmy
is Bunny’s brother. He likes to go deep sea fishing.

Coby
Ruskin
(Drunk) was the director of this and 67 other episodes of “Here’s
Lucy.” This is his first of two cameos on the series.

Bob
Harks (Custard Customer, uncredited) 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.

Buddy Lewis (Luncheonette Patron, uncredited) was previously seen in “Lucy Competes with Carol Burnett” (S2;E24) and will return for “Lucy and Chuck Connors Have a Surprise Slumber Party” (S6;E13).

His blonde female lunch companion goes unidentified and uncredited.

The cast also features live penguins.

According to Mary Jane, they escaped from the zoo.

Passersby, country club waiters, and Bunny’s other dinner
companions are played by uncredited background performers.

Reports are that writers

Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Davis

were not happy with this episode. Changes were made to the original script. In the original, there was some reference earlier on to having trouble with the frozen custard machine so it malfunctioning did not come out of the blue. The bit of Harry putting on his custard-filled hat was not in the original script.

The
evening this episode first aired (Monday, February 5, 1973) “Here’s
Lucy”’s lead-in “Gunsmoke” featured Roy
Roberts,
who guest-starred as the Warden two weeks earlier in “Lucy Goes to
Prison” (S5;E18). He created the role of bank president Mr.
Cheever on “The Lucy Show.” Roberts appeared on 20 episodes of
“Gunsmoke,” most of them as Mr. Bodkin.

In
her DVD introduction to the episode, Lola Fisher (Bunny) incorrectly
states that the show first aired on February 15th instead of February 5th. The DVD liner notes, however, give the correct date.

Harry is romancing a rich widow named Mrs. Archer Fleetwood III, who he calls Bunny. Love-struck Harry enters the luncheonette with a song on his lips: “I’m Falling in Love with Someone” by Victor Herbert from the operetta Naughty Marietta, first written in 1910. It was famously sung by Nelson Eddy in the 1935 film version.

The
Proud Penguin is a fictional frozen custard stand on Citrus Boulevard across
the street from the zoo. It will cost $3,000 for Lucy and Mary Jane
to buy the franchise. They each put in $500, while Harry invests the
other $2,000.

In the window of The Proud Penguin is a large poster advertising Eat It All cones. The company was a division of Maryland Cup Company.

Inside, the shelves are also stocked with Eat It All products.

MARY JANE: “Where are George and Lynn?”
HARRY: “Where are George and Lynn?”

The
Proud Penguin was previously run by George
and Lynn Stuart,
whose names are mentioned several times. In real life, Lynn Stuart
was the name of a fashion designer who created outfits for Lucille
Ball.
Her husband George also worked in the fashion industry. She was a
designer for both
the Shirt Tree and Mister Pants labels. She specialized in designing pants for women and appeared on a 1966
episode of “To Tell The Truth” (above) where she stumped the panel.

In a war of words with Harry, Lucy tells him that what happened with George and Lynn is “None of your beeswax” – meaning “none of your business.” Harry replies “Well, 23 skiddoo to you, too!”

The first record of “mind your own beeswax” appears in 1929 in a children’s book, with additional mentions appearing in 1934 and 1939.

There is no evidence to suggest that “beeswax” is anything more than a funny, and convenient, substitution for “business.”

23 skiddoo is a slang phrase popularized during the early 20th century. It generally refers to leaving quickly. The exact origin of the phrase is uncertain. Here, Harry is merely countering Lucy’s antiquated expression with another.

Lucy
and Mary Jane mention their astrological signs. As in real life,
Lucy is a Leo and Mary Jane an Aquarius.

Of the hundreds of live animals that Lucille Ball has worked with over the years, this is the first time she has worked with penguins.

Harry
gets all wet again – this time with meted frozen custard. It is likely that the custard stunt that ends act two was filmed after the final scenes with Lucy in the penguin costume due to the lengthy clean-up of the set and costumes.

The Westland Country Club is a nod to the Los Angeles bank where Mr. Mooney and Lucy Carmichael worked on “The Lucy Show” which was named the Westland Bank.

Lucy’s motherly affections toward baby birds was also on display in 1957′s “Lucy Raises Chickens” (ILL S6;E19), that time with baby chicks.

This
episode is partly based on “Lucy is a Kangaroo for a Day”
(TLS S1;E7) in which Lucy Carmichael has no choice but to wear a
kangaroo suit to deliver and important item to a swanky restaurant.
Both episodes were written by Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn (Pugh)
Davis and both featured actor Sid Gould as waiters.

Lucy
Carmichael dished out ice cream in “Lucy is a Soda Jerk” (TLS
S1;E23), stepping in for her daughter Chris at her part-time job.

Live penguins were also part of two Jack Benny specials in 1969 and 1970, both featuring Lucille Ball, although she was not onstage when the penguins made their appearance.

When the custard machine runs amok, Lucy’s desperation to hide the extra custard is very similar to when the candy conveyor belt sped up in “Job Switching” (ILL S2;E1). Like Lucy Ricardo, Lucy Carter even resorts to eating the merchandise and sticking the sticky sweets in her clothing!

While the plot of this episode has nothing in common with the 1939 play The Man Who Came to Dinner, it does share the mention of penguins and frozen custard. Also, both the Broadway play and the 1942 film starred frequent “Lucy” co-star (and friend) Mary Wickes (as the ‘frozen custard’ Nurse Preen). The play itself was mentioned in “Lucy’s House Guest, Harry” (S3;E20).

Get Rich Quick Schemes!

“Lucy
and Viv Open a Restaurant” (TLS S2;E20) that they figure will rake
in the cash – it doesn’t.

“The
Girls Go Into Business” (ILL S3;E2) when Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz buy Hanson’s Dress Shop figuring
it will turn a quick profit – it doesn’t.

They
switched to food service by opening
“The
Diner” (ILL S3;E27) hoping it will be a cash cow – it is an ‘udder’ disaster!

Cut! Mary Jane Croft fumbled her line “Boy, that’s a bunny with a lot of lettuce”. It was one of the very few retakes during the filming. Director Coby Ruskin encouraged the studio audience to laugh as if they were hearing the joke for the first time. They complied.

Tape! The brand name of the custard machine has been obscured by gray duct tape.

Recycling! The luncheonette uses the same Anker Cash Register as the custard stand (with a Proud Penguin emblem slapped on the side). Anker (Anchor in English, hence the logo) started manufacturing cash registers in Germany around 1900. By the mid-1970s, Anker was sinking financially (no pun intended). An attempt to restructure the company ended in bankruptcy in 1976, although subsidiaries of the company still exist today.

More Recycling!

The same plastic milk crates (with the brand name obscured by blue tape) were used in the previous episode “Lucy and the
Professor” (S5;E19).

Most Recycled!

The country club waiters wears the same gold jackets worn by several other waiters at various establishments in previous episodes.

Custard Continuity!

In the close-up insert shot of Lucy filling Harry’s hat with custard, the drips down the front of the machine suddenly disappear. They reappear again
in the long shot.

Sitcom Logic Alert! Obviously, the spewing machine was supposed to almost completely cover Lucy in custard – to the point that she is unrecognizable. It does not so Mary Jane’s line (”Is that Lucy?”) is too dumb, even for her!

Best Laid Penguins Plans! In the original scripted ending, a lone penguin entered on roller skates and Lucy said “What’s the matter? Couldn’t find your skate key?” The skating penguin, however, did not cooperate, so Lucy (still in her penguin suit) just ended the episode with a helpless shrug. The above photo shows the penguin skating on “The Jack Benny Birthday Special”, which also starred Lucille Ball.