LUCY IS A SAX SYMBOL

S1;E5
~ October 25, 1986

[Photo © Getty Images] 

Directed
by Peter Baldwin ~ Written by Bob Fisher and Arthur Marx

Synopsis

While
clearing out the basement, Lucy finds her old saxophone. She wants to
teach her granddaughter to play, but Becky isn’t very enthusiastic
and doesn’t know how to tell Lucy the truth.  

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy
Barker), Gale
Gordon (Curtis
McGibbon), Ann
Dusenberry
(Margo Barker McGibbon),  Larry
Anderson
(Ted McGibbon), Jenny
Lewis
(Becky McGibbon), Philip
Amelio
(Kevin McGibbon), Donovan
Scott
(Leonard Stoner)

[For
biographies of the Regular Cast, see “One Good Grandparent Deserves
Another” (S1;E1)]

Guest
Cast

Brandon
Call
(Max) also plays Max in “Lucy is a Legal Beagle” (S1;E7). Call
was born in 1976 and was a regular on “The Charmings” (1987-88),
“Baywatch” (1989-90), and “Step By Step” (1991-98).  He was
cast as Kevin in “The Wonder Years,” but was replaced at the last
minute by Fred Savage.

Max
lives next door to the McGibbons and has a dog who doesn’t like the
sound of saxophone playing.

Tom
Williams (Voice
of Max’s Yelping Dog, uncredited) is an actor and voice artists who
worked extensively on “Adam-12” (1968-71). This is the last of
his three voices on “Life With Lucy.” He also provided a goose
honk and the buzzing of a fly. Williams retired in 2010.

---

This
was the fifth episode aired as well as the fifth episode filmed.

The
day this episode aired (October 25, 1986) Forrest
Tucker
(“F-Troop”) died. Although Tucker and Lucille Ball never acted
together, his second wife Marilyn Johnson appeared on “I Love Lucy”
as one of the Hollywood wives in 1955’s “The Fashion Show” (ILL
S4;E19). She was only identified on the episode as ‘Mrs. Forrest
Tucker.’  Johnson died in 1960.  

This
episode of “Life With Lucy” earned the second lowest rating of
the night and lost its time slot. Unfortunately, it was up against
the pre-game show of the 1986 World Series, which earned more than
double “Life With Lucy’s” share. This was a deciding game between
the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox. The Mets won the game in 10
innings after four hours of play. They won the series in the seventh
game on October 27, only the second time they have won the series.  

This
is the first of three episodes written by Arthur Marx and Bob Fisher.
Arthur
Marx was
the son of Groucho Marx, whose brother Harpo appeared with Lucille
Ball in a now iconic episode of “I Love Lucy.” Ball appeared with
Groucho in the 1938 film Room
Service.
It is ironic that his son should now be writing for Lucy since
Groucho once was quoted as saying “Lucille
Ball is not funny without a script!”
In 1965 Marx and Fisher collaborated on the stage play The
Impossible Years.
Bob
Fisher
previously wrote for the Desilu sitcom “Make Room for Daddy” and
for Desi Arnaz Productions on “The Mothers-in-Law.”  

Lucy: (Blowing one note on the saxophone) “Boy am I hot!”

When Lucy pulls the saxophone from the trunk, the audience immediately applauds due to their memory of when Lucy Ricardo played sax on “I Love Lucy.”  The first time Lucy pulled a saxophone from a trunk on “I Love Lucy” the trunk was located in the attic. Here, in a three story home, it is in the basement.

This episode takes place entirely in the McGibbon / Barker home.  There are no scenes set at M&B Hardware. 

In
the basement, it is Leonard (Donovan Scott) who is assigned the
physical comedy, not Lucy. He stumbles around while trying to pick up
magazines and knocks a loaded-down shelf on his head. Ouch!

Lucy
Barker says she learned to play the sax while a member of the
Pasadena High School Bulldog Marching Band, which is also where she
met her husband Sam, who played the flugelhorn. This indicates that
Lucy and her husband were both raised in Pasadena. Founded in 1874,
Pasadena High School’s colors are red and white and their mascot is
indeed the bulldog. Notable alumni include General George S. Patton,
Eddie Van Halen, and Bob Eubanks, among many others.

Lucy: “Sometimes a lip skips a generation.”

Lucy says it is a family tradition to play the sax, but that Margo did not have “the lip” for it. She thinks Becky is a good candidate for sax lessons. Donning
her old marching band cape and hat, Lucy manages to squeak out the
melody of “Marines’
Hymn" which
was originally written by Jacques Offenbach. 

When
Becky reads the inscription her grandmother had placed on her
saxophone for her, she at first reads “made
in Elkhart, Indiana.”  The Buescher
Band Instrument Company was
a manufacturer of musical instruments in Elkhart,
Indiana,
from 1894 to 1963.
Buescher
became the main supplier of student-grade saxophones to the H&A
Selmer Company. The Buescher brand was retired by Selmer in 1983. 

Margo
mentions that Lucy and Becky sat through a six-hour Three Stooges
Film Festival.

Max
(Brandon Call) presents Lucy her saxophone and says “If
it’s not too much trouble, would you favor us with a selection?”
This
sort of dialogue does not sit well in the mouth of a six year old
actor!

When
Lucy discovers that Becky has hidden a recording of her sax playing
so that she can go out and play, Lucy says “I’m
trying to decide if it’s real or it’s Memorex.” In
1972, Memorex, makers of audio tapes, launched their
now-familiar “Is
it live? Or is it Memorex?”
advertising campaign. This
would become the company slogan which was used in a series of
ads released through the 1970s and 1980s.
The joke earns a big laugh and round of applause from the studio
audience.

Lucy:
(about her hand being stuck in the saxophone) “It’s
the old story of a man, his mousse, and a tone-deaf dog.”

As
the episode fades out, Becky (Jenny Lewis) says to Lucy, “I
Love you. I only wish you played the electric guitar.” In
1998, 22 year-old Lewis and friends formed the rock band Rilo
Kiley
in
which she sings lead and plays – among other things – the
electric guitar!  The band does not, however, include a saxophone!

Lucy:
“It’s time that I started to make some new memories instead of
re-living my old ones…”

---

Lucille
Ball learned to play the saxophone in 1952 for “The
Saxophone” (ILL S2;E2, inset left) and
the skill was interpolated into several “I Love Lucy” episodes of
the series after that. Lucy Ricardo only seemed to know two songs:
“Sweet Sue” and “Glow Worm.”  

Even Lucy Carmichael on “The Lucy Show” knew how to play saxophone (although she also dabbled with the violin). 

Lucy Carter played the sax during the talent
portion of the Miss Secretary Beautiful competition in “Lucy
Competes with Carol Burnett” (HL S2;E24)…

…as well as when subbing on sax for a sick sister in “Lucy and Her
All-Nun Band” (HL S4;E8).

On
her morning jog, Lucy Barker passes a garage sale where she buys a
mask from Africa. African masks were part of “Lucy Goes To The
Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). Ricky Ricardo also
briefly wore an African mask in “Cuban
Pals” (ILL S1;E28) before
singing “Similau.” His
son, Desi Arnaz Jr., also briefly wore an African mask he obtained on
a scavenger hunt in “Lucy and Liberace” (HL S2;E16).  

Lucy’s
grandchild’s off-key sax practice drives everyone crazy, just like
Lucy Ricardo’s son’s incessant drumming did in 1956’s “Little Ricky
Learns To Play the Drums” (ILL S6;E2).

When
Lucy says that Becky should read the inscription she had engraved on
her newly-polished saxophone, Becky reads “Made
in Elkhart, Indiana.”
Lucy draws her attention to the real inscription: “To
darling Becky, with all my love, Grandma”.
Similarly, when Fred Mertz gave pregnant Lucy Ricardo a signed
baseball for her new baby, she reads the inscription: “Spalding!”
Fred then tells her to read the real autograph “Joe
DiMaggio.”  

---

This
Day in Lucy History ~ October 25th

"The
Matchmaker”
(ILL
S4;E4) – October 25, 1954

“Lucy
and the Countess Have a Horse Guest”
(TLS S4;E6) – October 25, 1965

“Someone’s
On the Ski Lift with Dinah”
(HL S4;E7) – October 25, 1971