HARRY CATCHES GOLD FEVER

S6;E12
~ December 3, 1973

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

Synopsis

Harry
figures out that a stream is littered with gold so he and Lucy set
out to find it and then dupes the owner into selling it to him.

Regular
Cast

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

Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter) does not appear in this episode, nor is she mentioned in the
dialogue. The final credits do state, however, “Lucie Arnaz
wardrobe by Alroe.”

Guest
Cast

J.
Pat O’Malley
(Jed Tankerly) was
born in England, despite his Irish name. He played the music hall
circuit there before moving to the United States after World War II.
From 1944 to 1954 he appeared in half a dozen Broadway shows. He was
a Disney voice artist who worked on such animated classics as Peter Pan (1951), One
Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
and The
Jungle Book (1967).
To this day, he can be heard as several voices on the Disney parks
attraction The Pirates of the Caribbean. O’Malley was a regular on TV
“My Favorite Martian” and “Maude,” as Mrs. Naugatuck’s
fiance Bert. This
is his second and last appearance with Lucille Ball after having
played Scotsman Major McFarland in “Lucy Goes Into Politics” (TLS
S2’;E25).

Mr.
Tankerly calls himself “an ecology nut.”

Janos
Prohaska (Black
Bear) was an actor, stunt man, and animal imitator who is probably
best remembered as the talking cookie-mad bear on “The Andy
Williams Show” (1969) although due to his thick Hungarian accent,
his voice was dubbed. He first played a simian on “Lucy
and the Monkey” (TLS S5;E12).
This is third appearance on “Here’s Lucy” having played the
wild Gorboona in “Lucy’s
Safari” (S1;E22)
and a black bear in “Lucy and the Mountain Climber”
(S4;E2). Prohaska
died in a plane crash in 1974.

There
was no new episode the previous week, Monday, November 26, 1973.
There will also be no new episode next week, Monday, December 10,
1973. There are just a dozen episodes left of the series and only two more in calendar year 1973.

When
Harry finds the point on the map he believes there to be gold, he
sings “We’re
in the Money” (aka
“The Gold Diggers’ Song”). It is from the 1933 film Gold
Diggers of 1933
and
was written by Al Dubin and Harry Warren. It is now part of
the stage musical 42nd Street.
The song was also sung in “Lucy and the Gold Rush” (S1;E13).

When
Harry expects Lucy to charm Mr. Tankerly into giving them access to
his stream, she snips “It
isn’t easy jumping from pack mule to Playboy bunny!”
Playboy Magazine brought their bunny logo to life by dressing
cocktail waitresses with ears and fluffy tails.There have been several references (visual and verbal) to Playboy
Magazine in previous episodes, including their centerfold and the
iconic Playboy
bunny.

As
a way of telegraphing his imminent entrance, Mr. Tankerly sings a few
bars of “Oh
My Darling, Clementine.”
The song is usually
credited to Percy Montrose (1884), although it is sometimes credited
to Barker Bradford.
It has been heard in numerous film and television productions.

When
Harry demonstrates his panning technique (“Dip
/ Swish / Swirl / Tilt / Flip”),
complete with gyrating hips, Lucy says he looks like “a
fat Elvis Presley.”
Known as “the King of Rock and Roll,” singer Elvis
Presley (1935-77)
was known for his wild pelvic movements while singing, something that
got him in trouble on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” They only shot him
from the waist up to avoid being censored. Sadly, later in his life,
Elvis would gain weight, causing many to refer to later-life Presley
as “fat Elvis.” The singer was first mentioned on “I Love
Lucy” in 1957 by Ethel Mertz, who called him “that Elvis
whats-his-name.”

True
to form, where there is water, Harry ends up soaking wet!

In
the office, Harry dances in with the deed to Tankerly’s land, singing
“Oh,
Dem Golden Slippers,” a
minstrel song commonly performed by blackface performers in the 19th century.

Harry
paid $5,000 for the land and gives Lucy a single gold nugget worth $32 for her efforts. Turns out that Tankerly turned the tables
by “salting the stream” with gold nuggets to bilk devious buyers
who didn’t reveal their true intentions. On their way out to lunch,
Lucy says to Harry “So long, Goldfinger.” Goldfinger was
a James Bond film released in 1965. The title character was a wealthy
psychopath (played by Gert Fröbe) obsessed with gold. The
film was first mentioned in “Lucy and the Starmaker” (TLS S6;E4).

This
episode is nearly identical in plot to “Lucy and the Gold Rush”
(S1;E13) in which Harry also gets obsessed with finding “gold in
them thar hills” and the tables are turned by a folksy old
character. The only difference is that here both Kim and Craig are
not involved.

Lucy
fishing (and her revulsion by having to touch worms) is very
reminiscent of “The Camping Trip” (ILL S2;E29) in 1953.

Janos Prohaska previously played a Black Bear on “Here’s Lucy” in “Lucy and the Mountain Climber” (S4;E2).

Language!
Harry
calls his gear “mining equipment” when he is simply “panning
for gold” not “mining for gold.”

Oops!
It looks as if a roll of gray duct tape has been left on one of the
rocking chairs on the cabin porch set. Lucille Ball’s soft-focus lens
makes it difficult to positively identify the gray object.

Reel
Time!
When Harry offers Lucy the tub of worms to bait her hook, she says
“No
thanks, Harry. I’m not hungry.”
Four and a half minutes later, she suddenly wants lunch.