BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO

Unaired
Episode {originally
scheduled for broadcast December 13, 1986}

[Photos © Getty Images]

Directed
by Marc Daniels ~ Written
by Richard Albrecht and Casey Keller ~ Story by Laura Levine

Synopsis

Curtis
wants to retire so he sells his half of the store to Lucy. Lucy’s
extravagant spending threatens the store with bankruptcy while Curtis
gets bored with making birdhouses at home. When Lucy interviews
prospective new partners, Curtis swallows his pride and asks her to
take him back again.

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

Eddie
Barth
(Mr. Lawrence Mulgrew) was best known for his raspy voice and
growling the catchphrase “Everything
you want from a beer and less“
in the Miller Lite TV commercials. From 1981 to 1983 Barth played the
recurring character of Myron Fowler on “Simon & Simon.” He
died in 2010.  

According
to Leonard, Mr. Mulgrew is from Tarzana and enjoys water skiing, tree
surgery, and making prank phone calls. Leonard, who is imitating a
game show host, may be kidding.

Dick
Winslow
(Customer)
appeared in the films Thousands
Cheer (1940)
and Easy
To Wed (1943)
with Lucille Ball. He appeared in two episodes of “The Lucy Show”
and two of “Here’s Lucy.”  This is his penultimate TV appearance.
He died in 1991.

Brad
Gorman (Clerk)
was previously seen in “Lucy Gets Her Wires Crossed” (S1;E4). He
began
his TV acting with an episode of “Alice” in 1977 and also was
briefly seen in the Steven Spielberg film 1941.

Other
customers are played by uncredited background performers.

---

This
was the eleventh episode filmed, although it was scheduled to air
tenth on December 13, 1986 had the series not been canceled. The
final cut of the episode was finished on November 17, 1986.

This
is the second of two episode written by Executive Story Editors
Richard Albrecht and
Casey Keller.
This time, they work from a story by Laura
Levine.
A year prior, Levine had written an episode of “The Lucie Arnaz
Show,” which, like “Life With Lucy,” was pulled off the air
before its entire initial order of 13 episodes were broadcast.

”Breaking
Up Is Hard to Do“
is also the title of a song recorded by Neil
Sedaka
and written by Sedaka and  Howard
Greenfield.
Sedaka recorded this song twice, in 1962 and 1975, in two different
arrangements, and it is considered to be his signature
song.
Although it may have been the inspiration for the title, the song is
not heard or referred to during the episode.

Curtis: “Lucy has a brilliant business mind.”
Ted: “Are we talking about the same Lucy?”

A
key prop in this episode, used at the beginning and end of the show,
is a yellow Toysmith Pusterfix Bubble-Blowing
Bear.
Made
in Germany, it was the recipient of the Spiel Gut Toy Award.

As
the episode opens, Leonard is in the hardware store listening to a
tango on the radio and dancing with a feather duster. The song
playing is called “La
Cumparsita,” probably
the world’s most famous tango tune. It was also the same song
playing on the phonograph in the Ricardo living room when “Lucy
Does the Tango” (ILL S6;E27) with her pockets full of contraband
eggs. This dance, with its soggy climactic clinch, resulted in the
longest laugh ever recorded on “I Love Lucy.”

Lucille
Ball makes her entrance from the back room of the hardware store using Tango moves and the
studio audience applauds wildly.  

Lucy:
(to Curtis) “I’m
where it’s at and you’re where it used to be.”

Curtis
returns from a hardware convention in San Francisco telling Lucy a
colleague named Merrill
Ferguson
retired and is sailing around the world with an all-girl crew. Curtis
says Merrill may give new meaning to the term “Yo
Ho Ho.”
This is a rather racy joke for Lucille Ball’s shows, which were
generally more family oriented.  

In
the second scene, Lucy comes down the stairs of the living room
singing “Hey
Look Me Over,”
a song Lucille Ball introduced to the world in the Broadway musical
Wildcat in 1961. The song by Cy Coleman was often sung by Ball on
“The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.”

In
his first week of retirement, Curtis goes bird watching and sees a
swallow-tailed fly catcher, rarely seen west of Texas.

Lucy:
“I’ve
got to open up the doors of B Hardware.”
Curtis:
“B
Hardware?”
Lucy:
“Oh,
didn’t I tell you? We scraped the M off the door.”
Curtis:
“Oh,
yes. M isn’t there anymore. M retired and is having the T of his L.”

This
is the first time viewers see the back office of the hardware store.

Lucy: (to a framed photo of her late husband) “I really messed things up. I know, I can’t believe it either.”

Lucy
talks to a framed photograph
of her late husband Sam, although viewers only see the photograph from the back. Audiences will never know who – if anyone
– Lucille Ball is looking at. It could be Desi Arnaz, who was quite
ill with cancer and would only live another three weeks after this
episode finished production. It also could also be Lucille Ball’s
current husband, Gary Morton.

Although
the episode finishes on a comic note, there is a heartfelt hug
between Lucille Ball and Gale Gordon that clearly goes deeper than
the script. This is not the final episode produced, but by this time
Lucy doubtless knew of the show’s fate. Her voice breaks as she talks
to the framed photograph and Curtis. 

---

On
“Here’s Lucy” Harrison Carter (Gale Gordon) decided to retire and
sell the business not once, but twice. The first time was in “Lucy
and Harry’s Memoirs” (HL S5;E24), which was intended to be the
final episode, until CBS convinced Ball to do a sixth season…

…then
again in “Meanwhile, Back at the Office” (HL S6;E16), which was
the last episode shot, but not the last one actually aired.  

---

This
Day in Lucy History
{had this episode aired as planned on December 13th}

"Getting
Ready”
(ILL S4;E11) – December 13, 1954

“Lucy
the Choirmaster”
(TLS S4;E13) – December 13, 1965

“Lucy
and Candid Camera”
(HL S4;E14) – December 13, 1971