LUCY’S TENANT

S6;E7
~ October 22, 1973

Synopsis

Lucy’s
rental agent mistakenly lets Kim’s old room to Kermit Boswell (Jackie
Coogan), an obnoxious used car dealer. Lucy schemes to get rid of
him, first by making the woman-hating Boswell think she’s in love
with him and, when that doesn’t work, by pretending Harry is her long
lost husband.

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy
Carter), Gale
Gordon (Harrison
Otis Carter / “Captain Lionel Carter”)

Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter) does
not appear in this episode, nor does she receive credit in the
opening titles. Kim is mentioned in the dialogue. Despite her
absence, the final credits do state “Lucie Arnaz Wardrobe by
Alroe.” 

Guest
Cast

Jackie
Coogan
(Kermit Boswell) was
a child actor. In “Ricky’s
Screen Test” (ILL S4;E6) Lucy
Ricardo hopes Little Ricky will be “the
next Jackie Coogan.” Coogan
was once married to Flower Parry, who was a frequent extra on “I
Love Lucy.” He is, of course, best remembered as Uncle Fester
on TV’s “The Addams Family” (1964-66). He made two
appearances on “The Lucy Show” and will make his final appearance
with Ball in the 1975 TV film “Lucy Gets Lucky.” He died in 1984
at age 69.

Mr.
Boswell is a used car dealer. 

Mary
Jane Croft (Mary
Jane Lewis) 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. 

Mary
Jane’s uncle sells cars.  

Reta
Shaw
(Mrs. Witherspoon) started her career on the stage in such hits
as Picnic (1953)
and The
Pajama Game (1954),
for which she also did the film versions. She is best known for
playing maids, such as in Disney’s Mary
Poppins (1964)
and TV’s “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” (1968-70). She made three
appearances on “The Lucy Show” and three on
“Here’s Lucy.”  

Rhodes
Reason
(Keith Davidson) marks the last of his five episodes of “Here’s
Lucy” having previously appeared in “Lucy,
the Matchmaker” (S1;E12) and “Lucy
and the Gold Rush” (S1;E13). He
also appeared with Lucille Ball in the 1974 TV movie “Happy Anniversary and Goodbye.”

Mr.
Davidson is a rental agent.

To
tease the prim and proper Mrs. Witherspoon, Lucy calls
Harry “Cuddles, her Monday night boyfriend”. “Cuddles”
was the name given to Vivian Vance’s character in the musical revue
in “Lucy and the Lost Star” (TLS S6;E22).  Before that, it was
the nickname of one of Lucy’s old college girlfriends played by
Dorothy Konrad in “Lucy’s College Reunion” (TLS S2;E11). “Monday
night” was not chosen by accident. Lucille Ball’s sitcoms always
aired on Mondays, and she was known as “the Queen of Monday
nights.”  

The above line actually gets a smattering of applause of approval from some in
the studio audience – probably men. It is worth noting that 1973
saw the signing of the landmark Roe v Wade case by the Supreme Court,
and the self-proclaimed “battle of the sexes” between tennis
players Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. During 1972, a total of 22 state legislatures ratified the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) and eight more joined in early 1973, although the amendment never finally earned enough votes to be ratified nationally. 

Boswell
calls Lucy “Mary Poppins” probably due to her proper
attitude. Lucy was compared to the magical nanny (originally from the
novels of P.L. Travers and later from the 1964 Disney film) in
“Lucy’s Mystery Guest” (TLS S6;E10) and “Lucy Saves Milton
Berle” (TLS S4;E14). Coincidentally, Reta Shaw (Mrs. Witherspoon) played maid Katie Nanna
in the Disney film. Later, Lucy sarcastically calls Mary Jane “Peter
Pan” when she brings up Lucy’s age!  

Lucy
wonders why guys like Clint Eastwood don’t rent rooms. The
ruggedly handsome actor was previously mentioned as someone Lucy
would like to get stuck on a desert island with in “Lucy and the
Group Encounter” (S5;E14).

When
Lucy tries to convince Mr. Boswell that she’s in love with him, the
background music plays “A Fine Romance”
by
Jerome
Kern, composed for the movie Swing
Time
(1936).

Mary
Jane remembers seeing a movie starring Mary
Astor, Jack Oakie and
Don Ameche
where a long-lost husband comes back to stop a wedding. While Astor and Ameche
did a film together (Midnight
in 1939) and Oakie and Ameche also did a film together (Something
To Shout About
in 1943), the three stars were never in the same film. Lucille Ball starred with Oakie in The Affairs of Annabel (1938) and three other films. Lucy did “Lucky Partners,” a 1944 radio telecast with Don Ameche. 

The
plot of the last act of this episode is very similar to “The Quiz
Show” (ILL S1;E5), where Lucy Ricardo will win a
thousand dollars if she pretends a complete stranger is her first
husband in front of Ricky. 

A
fast talking (and bald) Milton Berle played purveyor of
used conveyances Cheerful Charlie in “Lucy and the Used Car Dealer”
(S2;E09).  

Getting
rid of an unwanted tenant has been a staple of “Lucy” sitcoms.
The best examples are “The Sublease” (ILL S3;E31, above) starring Jay
Novello as the tenant who won’t move out…

and “Viv Moves Out”
(TLS S2;E22), where Lucy Carmichael rents Viv’s room to a mother and
son musical act (Roberta Sherwood and Robert Lanning) who rehearse –
loudly – at all hours of the day and night.

Script Consistency!  This episode seems to settle the question of “Where is Kim living?” At the end of season 4, Kim moved into an apartment in Marina Del Rey. The episode was designed as a pilot for a spin-off series for the character, but it was not picked up. Kim’s whereabouts were kept deliberately vague for all of season 5.  Here, Harry finally says that she “has her own apartment.”   

“Lucy’s Tenant” rates 3 Paper Hearts out of 5

A great supporting cast and a good (though unsurprising) script. The costumes epitomize the tacky 1970s, even considering the ‘used car salesman’ chic worn by Coogan.