LUCY, THE SHERIFF

S6;E18
~ January 28, 1974

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

Synopsis

Lucy
finds out that her grandmother was the first woman sheriff of a
Montana town that is celebrating its centennial. She is asked to
play her grandmother at the celebrations, which include the
recreation of a bank robbery. Lucy is enjoying playing lawmaker until a couple of genuine robbers interrupt the celebration and take her hostage!

Regular
Cast

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

Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter) does not appear in this episode, although the final credits
do state “Lucie Arnaz Wardrobe by Alroe”

Guest
Cast

Ross
Elliott (Chuck
Stewart) played
the director of Lucy Ricardo’s Vitameatavegamin
commercial in
1952.  He played Ross, Ricky’s publicity agent in three other
episodes. From 1961 to 1964 he played another TV director on “The
Jack Benny Program.”  He
made one appearance on “The Lucy Show” in 1965. This is his
final appearance with Lucille Ball.

Stewart
is the Mayor of Cartridge Belt, Montana. The name Chuck Stewart was
adopted by the psychiatrist (Gerald Mohr) treating Lucy Ricardo in
“The Inferiority Complex” (ILL S2;E18).

Mary
Wickes (Clara
Simpson) was
one of Lucille Ball’s closest friends and at one time, a neighbor.
She made a memorable appearances on “I Love Lucy” as ballet
mistress Madame Lamond in “The
Ballet” (ILL S1;E19). In
her initial “Lucy Show” appearances her characters name was
Frances, but she then made four more as a variety of characters for a
total of 8 episodes. This is one of her 9 appearances on “Here’s
Lucy.” Their final collaboration on screen was “Lucy Calls the
President” in 1977.

Cliff
Osmond (Jake, left)
was born in Jersey City, NJ, in 1937. His career spanned from 1962
to 1996. This is his only time acting with Lucille Ball. 

John
Craig (Rusty, right)
appeared on Broadway with Ethel Merman in Happy
Hunting
(1956) and understudied the lead in
L’il Abner
as well as touring with the show. He was spotted by Hollywood agents
when the show played Las Vegas. This is his only time acting with
Lucille Ball.

Cliff Osmond (no relation to the singing family) provides the DVD introduction to this episode. 

Florence
Halop
(Little Old Lady) played one of the women on the party line in
“Redecorating”  (ILL S2;E18).  She is probably best remembered
for her final role, as the dead-pan Bailiff on “Night Court”
(1985) replacing Selma Diamond after her passing.  

Boyd
‘Red’ Morgan (Charlie)
was
an actor and stunt man who was seen in “Lucy
and John Wayne” (TLS S5;E10),
with whom he did eleven films. This is the fourth and final episode
of “Here’s Lucy.”

Orwin
C. Harvey (Sheriff
Bart Thomas) was
an actor and stuntman who played one of the singing and dancing
teamsters in “Lucy
Helps Ken Berry” (TLS S6;E21).
This is one of his nine appearances on “Here’s Lucy.” 

Vince
Deadrick Sr.
(Bandit #1)
was a stunt double for Steve McQueen and (later) Lee Majors. He is
one of only four actors to appear in both the original “Star
Trek” (1966), a Desilu production, and “Star Trek:
Enterprise” (2001). 

Gerald
Brutsche
(Bandit #2) was a stunt man and actor who was stunt double for Granny
(Irene Ryan, inset) on “The Beverly Hillbillies” as well as a appearing
in minor roles on the CBS series.  

The
woman Lucy calls Bertha and Brutsche uses as a shield is uncredited.

Walter
Smith
(Townsperson, uncredited, center) made
14 mostly uncredited appearances on the series. He also did one
episode of “The
Lucy Show.”  

Freida
Rentie (Townsperson,
uncredited, behind Smith) is the younger sister of Marla Gibbs. Rentie makes
the third and last of her uncredited appearances on the series.
Rentie was in the 1958 film South
Pacific and
1972’s The
Poseidon Adventure.

Al
Stewart
(Townsperson, uncredited) appeared as an umpire in the Lucille Ball
film Critic’s
Choice
(1963). This is his final screen appearance.  

The
other townspeople of Cartridge Belt, Montana, are played by
uncredited background performers.  

This
is Coby Ruskin’s last episode. Lucille takes over as Director during
the rehearsal process and fires Ruskin. This
is the only time that Lucille Ball is officially credited as
Director, though, unofficially, she ‘directed’ many episodes. Ball
also directed a 1980 pilot of a sitcom called “Bungle Abbey” that
was not picked up for series.

Lucille
Ball was proud of her family and heritage. Her genealogy can be
traced back to the earliest settlers in the colonies. Her
grandmother’s name, Flora
Belle Orcutt, is
used as Lucy Carter’s great-grandmother’s name in this episode.
She
will use the name Flora Belle again in the TV movie “Stone
Pillow” (1985).

The
town of Cartridge
Belt, Montana (founded
1874) is named after the Western holster belts that included straps
to hold ammunition to reload the pistols. Montana Cartridge Belts
became known as a style of holster.

As
an infant, Lucille Ball lived in Butte, Montana, where her father
died. For a while, her nickname was “Montana.” At the start of
her professional career, Lucille Ball often gave her birthplace as
Butte, feeling that it sounded more interesting to casting people
than Jamestown.  

Flora
Belle Orcutt (the fictional one) is supposedly the first
lady sheriff in
the West. In real life, the distinction of first woman sheriff has
been disputed. Some say it was Texan Emma
Banister (1918), but others claim it was Mary Roach (1922-27) because
Emma had inherited the position from her husband. Still others
believe the title belongs to Kansan Mabel Chase (1926).
Mrs.
James
Latty of Burlington, Iowa, was known as the first “Unofficial Woman
Sheriff" as far back as 1870. “Unofficial” probably
means an un-elected vigilante.

Harry
tells a story about the one who got away – a 22-pound (in earlier
tellings 18-pound) trout nicknamed ‘Old Spasher’ on the Rogue River
near Sagramore Falls in October 1968. “Here’s Lucy” had just
begun its first season in October 1968, airing episodes 3, 4, and 5 –
none of which mentioned Harry’s fish tale.

Town philanthropist Clara Simpson prematurely bursts into a chorus of “I Love Life,” written by Mana-Zucca and Irwin Cassel in 1923. It was recorded by such notable singers as Lawrence Tibbett and John Charles Thomas.  

Clara Simpson makes a citizen’s arrest of Harry for “wading after 2pm in Simpson’s Pond,” a violation of ordinance 32a, on the books since 1894.   

If
the day calendar on the wall of the sheriff’s office is for the year
1973, the episode takes place on Saturday, June 2, which may also
have been the filming date. There is a second calendar (month style)
on the wall behind the file cabinet. On that calendar the 2nd falls on a Friday.

When they wolf-whistle at Lucy, she calls jailbirds Jake and Rusty “little Richie Burton and Omar
Sharif”.  Lucy Carter met actor Richard Burton when she got Elizabeth Taylor’s expensive diamond ring stuck on her finger in “Lucy and the Burtons” (S3;E1). In “Tennessee Ernie’s Fun Farm” (S1;E23) Lucy asks the overalls-wearing Ernie if he is a farmer. Ernie replies “Well, I ain’t that Omar Shareef on his way home from a square dance!” Actor Omar Sharif was nominated for a 1963 Oscar for Lawrence of Arabia and had won a Golden Globe in 1966 for Doctor Zhivago.

Harry
says if Lucy were Sheriff at her grandmother’s time, Billy the kid
would have wound up being President. Henry
McCarty (1859-81), popularly
known as Billy
the Kid,
was an Old
West gunfighter
known
to have killed eight men.
Two days after Lucille Ball’s 63rd birthday, President Richard M. Nixon resigned in scandal. While not
a murderer, Nixon was considered to be a criminal for covering up the
Watergate scandal.

The
bank in Cartridge Belt is called Benson’s Bank. The name ‘Benson’ was
previously used for the weepy mother played by Norma Varden when “The
Ricardos Switch Apartments” (ILL S2;E26). The number above the
bank doors is 1874, which corresponds with the fact that the town is
celebrating its centennial.

With
Lucy as a hostage, the bank robbers plan to go to Canada. Lucy says
she can’t go because she’s not dressed for Canada. This is the only
reference to the country in the series.

In
addition to the cash, dimwitted Rusty (John Craig) also steals a bag
of pennies from the bank, which Sheriff Lucy uses to knock him out
just before she is rescued. When asked how she did it, Lucy holds up
the bag and says
“pennies from heaven.”
Coincidentally, the 1981 film Pennies
from Heaven
was Craig’s final film credit.  

With
two long-standing members of the Desilu family in the same cast, Mary
Wickes and Ross Elliott, a different configuration is worked out in
the final credits, with Wickes’ name centered and stacked.

Lucy
Carter / Lucille Ball’s family history was also at the heart of “Lucy
Takes Over” (S2;E23). Grandmother Flora Belle is also mentioned in
this episode.

Harry
wears the same fishing vest, plaid shirt, and hip waders he wears in
“Harry Catches Golf Fever” (S6;E12).  

One Bank Town! When
Charlie yells that “Dirty
Julius is robbing the bank” Lucy
asks “What
bank”?
Does Cartridge Belt have more than one?  The townsperson playing
Dirty Julius is never specified.

“Lucy, the Sheriff” rates 4 Paper Hearts out of 5

This is a very clever premise, incorporating the colorful old west backdrop without doing the familiar “making a movie” plot. It is also is a great way to incorporate tributes to Lucille Ball herself. The best part is the wonderful supporting cast.