ALL SIGNS LEAD TO FUN!

Follow the signs to “Here’s Lucy” hilarity!  

The most recognizable sign on television from 1968 to 1974 was this sampler-style sign for Carter’s Unique Employment Agency.  There were actually two different versions of the sign.  Here Harry moves the office to Lucy’s home and takes charge of the sign!  

No, not THAT Ethel – this was a cow that Van Johnson was hired to sing to! 

Lucy enlists Harry’s eye doctor to convince him to get his eyes examined! One sign supposedly says “Carter’s for Jobs” (in Latvian) and the other “Carter’s Gets Best Results” (in Rumakian…where they make rumaki!). 

Patty Andrews guest starred on this episode with Lucy and Kim dressing up as LaVerne and Maxene for an Andrews Sisters Fan Club show! 

After following a stranger to a run-down hotel, Kim slips away and leaves the man a message on the mirror.  The “nice man” in question was Andy Griffith.  

Lucy convinces Carol Burnett to participate in a benefit to raise money for Kim and Craig’s high school gymnasium.  These vaudeville-style title cards are a good indication of the show’s comedy roots. 

When Lucy crashes a Hollywood Studio to dig up celebrities for a benefit, she visits Morton Pictures.  Of course, the fictional studio was given her married name, Morton.  

In a musical episode set at Bullwinkle University, the football score gives the home team the lead!  Although there is a Keokuk in Iowa, the town of North Keokuk is actually in Oklahoma!  

At Kim’s college, Lucy crashes a faculty / student mixer to spy on her daughter’s professor boyfriend!  

This vaudeville title card was actually set in a vaudeville act depicting Jack Benny and his partner Debbie (aka Lucy)! 

In this case signs were painted along the walls of alliterative Cheerful Charlie’s used car lot. Signs also were needed to show the prices of the cars.  The character was played by Milton Berle with a bald head! 

Kim manages to secure popular singing star Donny Osmond for her benefit show.  Kim was a member of an environmental group to keep the beaches clean!

To advertise their new Frozen Custard stand, Lucy wore a sandwich board sign – and a penguin suit! 

Harry notices Lucy has spelled ‘Commerce’ with only one ’M’.  She says they ran out of ’M’s’ because her girlfriend needed them for the Marymount Mother of the Month membership meeting.  

More vaudeville title cards (and another blonde card girl) for the musical show-within-the-show “The Generation Gap Through the Ages.”

In the “Space Age” section of the “Generation Gap” musical, the kids do the “Jupiter Jump” while the adults do the “Moon Walk.”  

For a visual joke based on the topic of the day – race relations – an Asian named Murphy runs an Italian pizza parlor!  

More clothing signs get the message across in these two different episodes! 

Look closely!  The Unique Employment Agency has been sold to Ken Richards!  

If the calligraphy for the Carter Gold Mining Corp. looks familiar, it is the same hand that penned the signage for CBS’s “The Beverley Hillbillies,” “Green Acres” and “Petticoat Junction.”  

This sign states the title of the episode: “Uncle Ernie’s Fun Farm” as well as recalling his appearance on “I Love Lucy” when Ford, the Ricardo’s, and the Mertzes sang “Y’all Come.” 

When Lucy, Mary Jane, and Vanda are on a diet, Lucy makes access to the refrigerator difficult at best.  Thinking of snacking?  Forget it! 

When Lucie decides to picket for a raise, the protest signs look very similar to the show’s cue cards!  Even the calligraphy is the same!  Harrison Carter is a fink!  

A traditional sign tells us (and the characters) where they are!  Interestingly, it looks like a sign has been removed from the background for some reason.  Perhaps it was advertising or had contradictory information.  Lee’s Ferry, Arizona is a real place, although the scene may not have been shot there. 

This banner says it tall: place and occasion. The fictional Montana town of  Cartridge Belt was actually named after a style of Western gun holster! 

The scene was actually shot on a soundstage, not a United States Border Station in San Diego, California.   

After scrubbing clean a painting to find what they think is a priceless masterpiece, this classic “No Ball Playing Allowed” was revealed by Vincent Price.  The pun of “Ball Playing” on a “Lucille Ball” sitcom may have been intentional – or not! 

Product placement!  A fictional perfume called Mais Oui is sponsoring a look-alike contest.  Can you tell Lucy Carter from Lucille Ball?  

The gates to Wayne Newton’s ranch are ‘branded’ with his ‘brand’… 

Casa de Shenandoah!  The sign “Ranch Hands Wanted” was place by production to tie into the episode, but the gate signage was real. 

This same episode started with a montage of signs along the Las Vegas Strip!  Caesars Palace was hosting Sinatra and Little Richard during the second unit shooting. 

Never one to pass up free advertising, Harry has a parachute custom made to promote Carter’s Unique Employment Agency when Lucy takes up sky-diving.  

Although the script for the final episode was written, Lucille Ball agreed to do a sixth season so this sign was added with a wink to end season five.