MARY JANE’S BOYFRIEND

S6;E20
~ February 18, 1974

Directed
by Jack Donohue ~ Written by Fred S. Fox and Seaman Jacobs

Synopsis

Mary
Jane has a new boyfriend – who happens to fall for Lucy.  Now it’s
up to Lucy to figure a way out of her love triangle.

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”.  The character is
mentioned by Lucy in the dialogue.

Guest
Cast

Mary
Jane Croft (Mary
Jane, left) 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. 

This Mary Jane Croft’s last appearance on “Here’s Lucy.” 

Cliff
Norton
(Walter Butley) played
Sam the Plumber in “Lucy
Meets the Burtons” (S3;E1) whose
coveralls were later worn by an incognito Richard Burton and turn up
when Lucy is packing up the office in “Lucy
and Harry’s Memoirs” (S5;E24).
Prior to that, he appeared in two episodes of “The Lucy Show.”
This is the third of his three appearances on the series. 

Butley
owns a meat market.

John
Gabriel (Jack
Thomas) was the original professor in the pilot of “Gilligan’s
Island,” but was replaced by Russell Johnson when the show was
picked up for a series. He is probably best known as Dr. Seneca
Beaulac (1975-89) on “Ryan’s Hope.” He also played Andy Rivers
in half a dozen episodes of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” This is
his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Roy
A. Rowan
(Voice of the Power of Positive Thinking Tape) was announcer for all
of Lucille Ball’s television shows as well as doing the voice of some
TV and radio announcers. On several occasions he appeared on camera
as well.

This
is the
only episode of this series to feature a story dependent on Mary Jane
Croft’s character of Mary Jane Lewis. 

In
her DVD introduction to the episode, Lucie Arnaz recalls that Mary
Jane Croft was a very calming presence on the set, something that was
appreciated in the high-pressure world of TV production.  

Mary
Jane’s dating life has been discussed before: 

• In “Lucy Goes on Her
  Last Blind Date” (S5;E16), Mary Jane says that she is dating a man named
  Marvin. 
• In “Lucy and the Group Encounter” (S5;E14) she is paired
  off with an unidentified man who might well be the previously mentioned Marvin. 
• In “Goodbye,
  Mrs. Hips” (S5;E23) Mary Jane tells Lucy and Vanda that she has a
  new boyfriend who
  has curly brown hair, blue eyes, and dimples. Mary Jane admits that he is a little bit
  short. 

It helps to realize that season six episodes were frequently aired out of filming order so the word “new” is misleading in the larger picture of Mary Jane’s love life. 

Harry
recalls also being caught up in a triangle while in college. He
dated both Betty and Mercedes on alternate days and rested on Sunday.
This is the second biblical joke about “resting on the seventh
day,” the first less than four minutes earlier.

Harry
calls Walter “meathead” because when he walked in the door, Lucy
had just plopped a package of ground round on his head. “Meathead”
was also what Archie Bunker frequently called his son-in-law Mike
Stivic on “All in the Family,” a show that began airing on CBS in
1971.  

After
suggesting a solution to her love triangle, Harry says “In
affairs of the heart, Dear Abbey always comes to me!”
Dear
Abby is
an advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen
name ‘Abigail Van Buren’ and carried on today by her daughter,
Jeanne Phillips. In 1965, CBS aired a radio version of Dear
Abby’s column while Lucy aired her own radio show, “Let’s Talk to Lucy.”  

Lucy
is reading a copy of (fictional) Vanity
Magazine
in bed. This magazine was seen at the start of season five when Lucy
broke her leg and was confined to bed.

Mary
Jane says that she’s been going to charm school. Lucy Ricardo and
Ethel Mertz attended Phoebe Emerson’s Charm School (inset) to get their
husbands to pay attention to them at parties.

Line! When Walter brings both Lucy and Mary Jane flowers, Lucy steps on Mary Jane’s line with her “thank you.”  

Oops!
When
Walter removes the package of ground round from his head, a
brown-colored item designed to help the prop stay on his head falls
to the floor. Lucille Ball watches it fall, but does not stop to
pick it up or draw attention to it. Instead of calling “cut” to pick it
up, the item stays on the floor in full view as the scene continues.
This sort of thing previously happened in “Lucy in the Jungle”
(S4;E13) when Lucy carried luggage on her head.

Props!
Lucy closes the window and draws the curtain after getting rid of
Walter, but the window shade at first gets caught on the outside of
the drapes. Lucy quickly adjusts the blind and continues.

“Mary Jane’s New Boyfriend” rates 3 Paper Hearts out of 5 

The trope of a romantic triangle is explored in an uninspired episode. It is only entertaining because Mary Jane Croft is the star.