MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE OFFICE

S6;E16
~ January 14, 1974

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

Synopsis

Harry
sells the business, but immediately has regrets. When the new boss
(Don Porter) gets everyone arrested for running a bookie operation,
Lucy and Kim scheme to get the agency back for Harry.

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy
Carter), Gale
Gordon (Harrison
Otis Carter), Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter / “Mrs. Pierpont Skyler of the Pasadena Skylers”)

Guest
Cast

Don
Porter (Ken
Richards) previously played Mr. Devery on “The Ann Sothern Show”
(1958-61), a Desilu production. In 1958 Lucille Ball guest-starred as
Sothern’s friend Lucy Ricardo who tries to play matchmaker between
Devery and Sothern’s character Katy. He had also appeared on Sothern’s
previous show, “Private Secretary” (1953-57). In 1974, Porter
appeared with Ball in Mame,
playing snooty Mr. Upson, father of her nephew Patrick’s intended, Gloria.
Later that same year, Porter appeared with Lucille Ball again in the
teleplay “Happy Anniversary and Goodbye.”

George
Chandler (Winston Shelby) made five films with Lucille Ball between 1938 and
1946. His final TV appearances was in 1979 having accrued more the
450 screen credits. He is probably best remembered as Uncle Petrie
Martin on “Lassie” (1954-56).

Shelby
says that his business is selling household appliances through the
mail, but he is actually acting as a bookie.

Billy
Sands
(Billy, left) played Lucy’s
milkman in both “Lucy’s
Lucky Day” (S4;E15)
and “Lucy’s Punctured Romance” (S4;E22). Sands began his
professional acting career in 1946 when he appeared on Broadway with
Spencer Tracy in Robert Sherwood’s Rugged
Path, but
he eventually became a television character actor who appeared
regularly as Dino Papparelli on “The Phil Silvers Show” and as
‘Tinker’ Bell on “McHale’s Navy.”

John
Wheeler
(Hank, right) was yet another actor Lucille Ball worked with on the movie
Mame.
Other musicals include the TV version of Wonderful
Town
in 1958 (his screen debut) and Sweet
Charity
(1969). In both cases he was in the New York stage productions and
came to Hollywood to work on the screen versions.

Dave
Morick
(Plainclothes Police Detective) played police officers on various
television shows. He was frequently seen as a background player on
“Hogan’s Heroes” (1966-71).

Neil
(Mrs.
Skyler’s Kitty Cat, uncredited) was brought up on milk.

Bentley
the chauffeur (the lion’s handler), and two uniformed policemen
appear uncredited and have no dialogue.

The title is a paraphrase of the catch-phrase “Meanwhile, back at the ranch.”

The expression originated as a stock subtitle in silent movies and at first the reference to the ranch was literal. Later, as the phrase became a cliché, it was used more and more loosely and with a growing sense of mockery or levity.

Lucy
says a depressed Harry looks like a recruiting poster for Forest
Lawn. Forest
Lawn Memorial Park
(aka Cemetery) is located in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood
of Los Angeles. Due to the many celebrities buried there and the
tourists that visit their graves, it has gained a reputation as a
“theme-park necropolis.” When Lucille Ball died on April
26, 1989 she was buried at Forest Lawn, but three years later was
moved to the family plot at Lake View Cemetery in Jamestown, New York. George Chandler (Mr. Shelby) is entombed at Forest
Lawn’s Glendale location, the first of their six properties.

When
Harry shows up at the newly-purchased office, the frosted
glass doors now read “Richards Employment Agency” and “Ken
Richards Manager.” However, the iconic wall sign saying “Unusual Jobs for Unusual
People” subtitled “Carter’s Unique Employment Agency” still
remains.

Porter
warns Lucy that he doesn’t appreciate humor. He says “If
I had wanted a funny secretary, I would have hired Phyllis Diller.”
Master impressionist Jim Bailey played comedienne Phyllis Diller in
“Lucy and Jim Bailey” (S5;E9).

Porter
is frustrated by Lucy’s filing system (a joke that hasn’t been mined
very often recently) and tells her to find him the Bradshaw file.
The name Bradshaw was
often one used by Gale Gordon in his dictation as both Mr. Mooney and
Harrison Carter. In
“A Home is Not an Office” (S5;E4) Harry
is looking for the Bradshaw file and Lucy has filed it under ‘G’
because Mr. Bradshaw reminds her of Cary
Grant.
In this episode, Lucy has filed it under ‘H’ because when she first
met Mr. Bradshaw he told her about his weekend in San Francisco, and
Lucy associates the city with the song “I Left My Heart
in San Francisco.”

Sitting
at a tiny typing table instead of his stately desk, Harry says he
feels like “Napoleon at Waterloo.” Napoleon
Bonaparte (1769-1821)
was a French statesman and military leader who rose to
prominence during the French Revolution. He was Emperor of
the French until his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
Harry played the ‘spirit’ of Napoleon (and Lucy is wife Josephine) at
a séance held by Helen Hayes in “Lucy and the Little Old Lady”
(S4;E17, above).

During
a meeting of “the office force”, Mr. Richards tells Harry that
the way he drums his fingers while talking on the telephone is
exceedingly irritating. This was the same bad habit Ricky Ricardo
was accused of by Lucy during “In Palm Springs” (ILL S4;E26, above).
Richards also asks Lucy if there’s any way for her to “dim” her
hair!

Hank
explains how the book-making racket works. When callers state the
model number of the ‘appliances’ they want to order, they are
actually gambling on horse races.

First
number = amount of bet
Second
number = race number
Third
number = horse number
Numbers
1, 2, 3 = win, place, show

They
field telephone calls from Mssrs. Clark, Frasier, McGee, Santiago and
Thomas, to name a few. These names could be completely random on the
part of the writers, or they could have had some significance.

When
Billy asks if anyone speaks Spanish, Lucy says that she does. She may
be just saying so to earn the $100 bonus for the most ‘orders’
because Lucy Carter has never demonstrated proficiency with any
language in the past. She says goodbye by saying “Que sera sera!”
This is French and most connected with the Doris Day tune “Que
Sera Sera” (1956).

This is the last episode shot for “Here’s Lucy,” but it was decided not to use it as the series finale. The last shot, of Lucy, Harry and Kim, toddling off into the ‘sunset’ certainly feels like a Hollywood ending.

Harry
also sold the Unique Employment Agency at the end of season five
for $25,000. This is the same price Harry got from Mr. Richards.

Kim
disguises herself as a stereotypical little old lady named Mrs.
Skyler, of the South Pasadena Skylers. In “Lucy and the Ex-Con”
(S1;E15), Wally Cox disguises himself as a little old lady named Mrs.
Perkins, of the Pasadena Perkins’. The connection between elderly
women and the California city doubtless is derived from the hit
song “The
Little Old Lady from Pasadena” (1964)
sung by Jan and Dean.

This
is the second time that a live lion has been seen on “Here’s Lucy.”
The first was in “Lucy in the Jungle” (S4;E13).

Souvenirs! When
Harry sold the business to Mr. Richards, he neglected to take his
precious barometer, something he told Lucy to carefully pack when he
first sold the business in “Lucy and Harry’s Memoirs” (S5;E24).

Kitty Litter! When
Bentley the chauffeur (actually the lion’s trainer) is about wrestle
with ‘Neil’, Lucie Arnaz says “Show
them how cuddly and kitty
he is”
which doesn’t make grammatical sense. No doubt that the presence of
a live lion on set had everyone a bit distracted. [The snake held by Lucie Arnaz in the above promo shot belonged to her! It does not appear in the episode.]