LUCY, THE PEACEMAKER

S6;E3
~ September 24, 1973

Directed by Coby Ruskin ~ Written by Robert O’Brien

Synopsis

Lucy moonlights as personal assistant to Steve Lawrence while he is having a spat with his wife, Eydie Gormé. Instead, Lucy sets her sights on getting the two back together again.

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carter)

Gale Gordon (Harrison Otis Carter) and Lucie Arnaz (Kim Carter) do not appear in this episode, although Gordon does receive opening title screen credit. The character of Kim will not return to the series until the fourth episode of season six. Despite her absence, the final credits do state “Lucie Arnaz Wardrobe by Alroe.” Kim is mentioned by Lucy in the dialogue.

Guest Cast

Steve Lawrence (Himself) was born Sidney Leibowitz in 1935. Between 1958 and 1960 he served in the US Army and was a vocalist with the US Army Band and Orchestra. After he was discharged, he started his singing career on television, night clubs, and recordings, often with his wife Eydie Gormé, who he married in 1957. He appeared in the 1964 Broadway musical What Makes Sammy Run? (Tony nomination) and returned to Broadway in 1968 for The Golden Rainbow. His screen acting career began in 1963. In 1979 he won an Emmy Award for “Steve and Eydie Celebrate Irving Berlin.”

Eydie Gormé (Herself) was born Edith Gormézano in 1928. She began singing straight out of high school, with various big bands. Her big break came after she joined the TV variety show “Tonight!” in 1953. She often sang with the up-and-coming Steve Lawrence. The two performed on the show for five years, and married in 1957. The pair won an Emmy Award in 1979. In 1986 Eydie Gormé sang the theme song for Lucille Ball’s last (short-lived) sitcom “Life With Lucy.” She died in 2013.

Steve and Eydie sang “The Facts of Life” over the closing credits of the 1960 Lucille Ball film of the same name. Written by Johnny Mercer, the song was nominated for an Oscar.

On September 16, 1973, Lucille Ball appeared on “Steve and Eydie on Stage” from Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. It was seen on NBC. Caesars Palace is also mentioned in this episode.

A big fan of Eydie’s, Lucille Ball interviewed her on her CBS radio show, “Lets Talk to Lucy” (1964-65).

Lucille Ball was a guest star on the very first “The Steve Lawrence Show” (1965) a variety hour on CBS.

A scene filmed for the beginning of the show was edited out due to time constraints. Set in the office, it involved Harry fretting about paying the bills. Because of this, Gale Gordon is not in this episode, making one of only three of the 144 episodes not to feature Gordon, albeit unintentionally. Rather than waste a good scene, it was re-staged in “Lucy Gives Eddie Albert the Old Song and Dance” (S6;E6).

In his book, I Had A Ball: My Friendship with Lucille Ball, author Michael Z. Stern recounts attending the filming of this episode on his twelfth birthday and then going backstage to meet Ball.

Lucille takes an opportunity to plug her upcoming movie Mame by singing a bit of “If He Walked Into My Life” while typing. Coincidentally, Eydie Gormé recorded the song in 1966. It won her a Grammy Award. The song was written for the 1966 Broadway musical. Steve thinks Eydie may be having an affair with Herman, their musical arranger. The name Herman was probably a tribute Jerry Herman, who wrote the music and lyrics for Mame, including “If He Walked Into My Life.”

Lucy rattles off other hit songs by Eydie Gormé: “I Wish You Love” (1957), “How Did He Look” (1955), and “Tell Him I Said Hello” (1966). The first two also had lyrics by Gormé. All were included on her 1960 album “Don’t Go To Strangers.”

Lucy says she knows how to keep a secret…and so does Mary Jane.. and so does Kim…and so does Sally, her hairdresser. Of these three, we have never met or previously heard of Sally. Lucille Ball’s real life hairdresser was Irma Kusely.

Steve and Eydie are staying in separate suites at the Wilshire Park Hotel. In order to reunite the couple, Lucy rents suite 901 under the pretense that their manager, Mr. Walker, is back from Europe and needs to see them.

Steve says it will take more than a yellow ribbon tied around an old oak tree to get him back with Eydie. This is a reference to the song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” written by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown in early 1973. It was a number one hit for Tony Orlando and Dawn.

Getting over their anger at one another, Steve and Eydie break into “Together (Wherever We Go)” a song by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim written for the stage musical Gypsy in 1959 and included in the 1962 film as well. Steve and Lucy rehearse the song for her possible Las Vegas debut.

When Lucy Carter rehearses a song with Steve Lawrence, her singing and dancing are terrible. This running gag first began on “I Love Lucy” and was also used during the first season of “The Lucy Show.”

Fighting again, Steve tells Lucy to call Las Vegas and have Caesars Palace change the marquee. The Las Vegas casino hotel was glimpsed in the opening location footage of “Lucy and Wayne Newton” (S2;E22). In that episode, the headliner was Frank Sinatra.

Signs! Signs! Everywhere a Sign! At the start of the episode, Lucy is posting a sign over the filing cabinets, which are now built in after several episodes of being out of the wall: “Carter’s Unique Employment Agency. All Kinds of Jobs for All Kinds of People.” This, despite the fact that there is already a sign in the office behind Lucy that says “Unusual Jobs for Unusual People. Carter’s Unique Employment Agency.” Why do they need two signs inside the office? There is yet a third sign laying on the table that does not get used or referred to.

Recycling! Suite 901 and Steve Lawrence’s suite were actually the same sets, redressed with different furnishings. There are a couple of items, however, common to both rooms. Fore example, the palm tree backdrop outside the window is exactly the same in both rooms. Can you spot the other commonalities?

Cut! The door to Steve Lawrence’s suite has trouble closing. In Michael Stern’s book “I Had A Ball” he recounts that it didn’t close properly for Lawrence and Ball called “Cut!” in order to do the entrance again. At the end of the episode, Eydie enters and immediately poses dramatically with her back against the door to assure that it stays closed!