LUCY AND HARRY’S MEMOIRS

S5;E24
~ March 5, 1973

Directed
by Coby Ruskin ~ Written by Robert O’Brien

Synopsis

Harry
has sold the Unique Employment Agency for $25,000 and plans to retire. While
packing up the office, Lucy and Harry share memories.

Regular
Cast

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

Archival
Footage Cast

Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter) is the real-life daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. She
was born in 1951 just before the premiere of “I Love Lucy.”
Lucille Ball was actually pregnant during the filming of the show’s
pilot. Despite rumors to the contrary, Lucie Arnaz never appeared on
“I Love Lucy.” Lucie played Cynthia (as well as other characters)
on “The Lucy Show.” She has been twice married, to actor
Phil Vandervort (1971) and actor-writer Laurence Luckinbill
(1980–present). She has three children with Luckinbill:
Simon, Joseph and Katharine. She now lives in Palm Springs,
California, near the home once owned by her parents.

Desi
Arnaz Jr. (Craig
Cartrer) is the real-life son of Lucille Ball. His 1953 birth was
worked into the plot of “I Love Lucy” although Desi Jr. never
played the role of Little Ricky Ricardo. He did, however, appear on
the final half-hour episode of the series “The
Ricardos Dedicate a Statue” (ILL S6;E27) in
a crowd scene. He was occasionally seen as Billy Simmons and other
minor characters on “The Lucy Show.” At the time of filming
“Here’s Lucy” he was part of the band Dino Desi and Billy along
with Dean Martin Jr. and Billy Hinsche. Arnaz was married to actress
Linda Purl from 1980 until 1981. In 1987, Arnaz married Amy Laura
Bargiel. They lived in Boulder City, Nevada, with their daughter, and
own the Boulder Theatre, a cinema converted into a theatre and home
to the Boulder City Ballet Company. Amy died in 2005 after a long
battle with cancer. Desi Arnaz has a daughter, Julia.

This
episode (#120) was intended to be the final episode of the series.
The show had dropped out of the top 10 (#15 with a 21.9 share) so
Lucille Ball wanted to end the series.It was filmed without a studio
audience in one day. But CBS president Fred Silverman convinced Ball
to return for a sixth season. Rather than scrap the episode or undergo costly re-shooting, the
ending was slightly reworked to leave a window of possibility for a
sixth season.

The
night this episode first aired (March 5, 1973) “Here’s Lucy” was
on against a TV movie on NBC, Brock’s
Last Case
starring Richard Widmark. Widmark had guest-starred on “I Love
Lucy” in “The Tour” (ILL S4;E30), in which Lucy Ricardo scaled
the wall of his Beverly Hills estate to get a grapefruit as a
souvenir. The movie also featured character actor Dub Taylor, who
played Rattlesnake Jones in “Lucy Goes to the Rodeo” (ILL S5;E8).

The date of the first airing was also Jack Cassidy’s 46th birthday. Cassidy played Professor Zoorkin in a 1965 episode of “The Lucy Show”. Sadly, in 1976, he died tragically in an apartment fire.

Harry
and Lucy break open a magnum of Champagne vintage 1953.
Lucy says it was a very good year. For Lucille Ball, 1953 was the
year she gave birth to Desi Jr. and Lucy Ricardo gave birth to Little
Ricky. “I Love Lucy” was at the height of its success and
Lucille Ball graced the very first national edition of TV Guide.

Harry
plans to go on a fishing trip to Canada. Lucy suggests they go on
vacation together, which spurs her memory of their road trip to the Colorado River. There are two clips from “Lucy
Runs the Rapids”
(S2;E4) directed
by George Marshall and written by Gene Thompson.

Getting
tipsy, Harry thinks the wall is crooked, but Lucy realizes that it is
just the autographed framed photo of Richard Burton that is crooked,
not the wall. This jars her memory of the time she got Elizabeth
Taylor’s priceless diamond ring stuck on her finger.

The flashback
consists of one clip from “Lucy
Meets the Burtons”
(S3;E1), directed
by Jerry Paris and written by Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Davis.
Although Richard Burton’s headshot and coveralls are seen, the actor
is not in the archival footage.

Lucy
finds the parachute that Harry made to advertise the Employment
Agency when Lucy went skydiving.

There is a clip of Lucy jumping out
of an airplane from “Lucy,
the Skydiver”
(S3;E2) directed
by Herbert Kenwith and written by Larry Rhine and Lou Derman.

Lucy
has saved the cast from her broken leg after her skiing accident.
She plans to make a lamp out of it. When Harry reminds Lucy to pack
his barometer, she approaches it with a hammer. Harry stops her,
remembering the last time he set her loose to do home repair.

A clip
from “Lucy
the Fixer”
(S1;E14) follows, directed
by Jack Donohue and written by Milt Josefsberg and Ray Singer.

During
the last scene, the background music plays “September
Song” (without
lyrics) written by Kurt Weill for the 1938 musical Knickerbocker
Holiday. After
being used in the 1950 film September
Affair,
the
song was recorded by numerous singers and instrumentalists, most
notably Frank Sinatra.

Flashback
episodes were still rare in 1973. The first television ‘clips show’
of a scripted program was “The ‘I Love Lucy” Christmas Show” in
1956 although it wasn’t aired again until 1989.

Near
the end of its run, “The Lucy Show” also had a ‘clips show’ titled “Lucy and Viv Reminisce” (TLS S6;E16) starring Lucille Ball and
Vivian Vance. In this episode, Lucy Carmichael’s broken leg was a plot contrivance, not a reality, as it would be on “Here’s Lucy”.

FAST FORWARD!

If Lucille Ball had known what Burton had written about her in his diaries, she might not have praised him as a “great actor” – although his 1970 episode with Elizabeth Taylor was one of the most memorable of the series. The diaries (memoirs) were published in 2012, after his death.

“She is a monster of staggering charmlessness and monumental lack of humor….Milady Ball can thank her lucky stars that I’m not drinking. There is a chance if I had, I might have killed her!”

Ironically, Lucy Carter is drunk when praising Burton!

During the sixth and final season, Harry sells the Unique Employment Agency again. The new owner is Ken Richards who immediately changes the name. Harry develops a bad case of seller’s remorse. Like “Memoirs”, it was intended to be the series finale, but was not the last aired, preferring to showcase Lucie Aranz (Kim Carter) in its final episode, “Lucy Fights the System” (S6;E24).

Title Trouble! The word “memoirs” generally refers to a written or otherwise recorded accounting of a person’s past. The title should more accurately have been “Lucy and Harry’s Memories,” unless the title refers to the episode itself being a “memoir”.

Missed
Opportunity!
The most memorable thing in the office, the “Unusual Jobs for
Unusual People” sign, is taken down during the commercial break!
When Harry moved the office to Lucy’s home in “A Home is Not an
Office” (S5;E4) he carried the sign with him to its temporary new
location. This is only the second time that the audience has seen
that the sign covers a wall safe!

Last Minute Loophole! Lucy conveniently has a sign that says “Temporarily” under her blotter! The word is hastily written in the same hand and ink used by those who write the show’s cue cards! Lucille Ball also breaks the fourth wall to wink at the camera, something she rarely does.

Plot Prop! Lucy says she hates to take down the framed autographed photo of Richard Burton, and wants to leave it for last. This is the first and only time we have seen the photo decorating the walls of the Unique Employment Agency.

Door Stop! Although it would have been more poignant and fitting to fade out on the “TEMPORARILY OUT OF BUSINESS” sign, the door will not stay open on its own and swings closed after Lucy has left.