JERRY HAUSNER

May 20, 1909

James Bernard Hausner, known professionally as Jerry Hausner, was a radio and television actor, best known as Ricky Ricardo’s agent in “I Love Lucy” and as the voice of Waldo in “Mr. Magoo” and several characters such as Hemlock Holmes, The Mole, Broodles and Itchy in “The Dick Tracy Show.”  He also worked as a dialogue director for both of these cartoons.
On Broadway, Hausner had the role of Sammy Schmaltz in Queer People (1934). On radio, he was a regular on such shows as “Blondie”, “The Jim Backus Show”, “The Judy Canova Show”, “Too Many Cooks”, and “Young Love”. Hausner died of heart failure on April 1, 1993. He was 83 years old.

From 1948 to 1951, Hausner frequently appeared on Lucille Ball’s radio program “My Favorite Husband” on CBS Radio. 

The above happened on October 2, 1954, nine months after he left “I Love Lucy”. In addition to MacMurray, the episode also featured Bobby Jellison, who was just two months away from returning to “I Love Lucy” to play Bobby the Bellboy, after playing the Ricardo’s milkman in 1952. Coincidentally, Jellison and MacMurray would both appear in “Lucy Hunts Uranium” in January 1958.

Hausner created the role of Jerry, Ricky’s agent, in the original “I Love Lucy” pilot in early 1951. He was intended to be a series regular, but when the characters of Fred and Ethel Mertz were added to the series (they were not in the pilot), his role was scaled back. 

Jerry the Agent would appear in 8 episodes, all during the first 3 seasons of the series: 

1. “Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her” (1951)

2. “Lucy’s Show-Biz Swan Song” (1952)

3. “Ricky Has Labor Pains” (1953)

4. “Lucy’s Last Birthday” (1953) uncredited background appearance

5. “The Camping Trip” (1953)

6. “Changing the Boys’ Wardrobe” (1953)

7. “Ricky’s Old Girlfriend” (1953)
8. “Fan Magazine Interview” (1954)

Inexplicably (perhaps due to illness) in “The Handcuffs” (1952), Jerry the Agent is not played by Jerry Hausner but by Paul Dubov. Two months later, Hausner returned to the role that he originated. 

In “The Adagio” (1951), Ricky has a heated phone conversation with Jerry, although the character is not seen or heard.  Ironically, this is the same scenario that caused the rift between Hausner and Arnaz three years later. 

As a radio actor, one of Hausner’s specialties was baby cries.

In 1953 he provided the off-screen cry of Little Ricky in several episodes: 

• “The Indian Show” (1953) 
• “Lucy Hires a Maid” (1953)
• “No Children Allowed” (1953) 
• “The Club Election” (1953) 

Although Hausner is in one of the most famous episodes of all time, “Lucy Does a TV Commercial” (1952), he does not play Jerry. Instead, he is addressed as Joe and is one of the television studio crew. Oddly, in the episode’s first scene, Ricky is on the phone with Jerry, although we don’t see or hear him. 

During the filming of “Fan Magazine Interview” (1954), Hausner and Desi Arnaz got into a heated argument on the set. The basis for the argument was that he was not able to hear his cues during a telephone scene where he was located across the soundstage from Desi. Hausner quit the show and never appeared on the series again. 

From 1952 to 1954, while playing Jerry on “I Love Lucy,” Hausner was also appearing on the show’s main competition “I Married Joan” on NBC, where he played a variety of characters in eight different episodes. “Joan” and “Lucy” both initially filmed on the same lot.  Marc Daniels directed Hausner on both sitcoms. 

Despite his departure, Hausner later turned up on a 1963 episode of “The Lucy Show” as an indecisive customer at the soda fountain.  The story goes that in a fit of anger he told Desi Arnaz that he was not critical to “I Love Lucy” and that he would be around long after Desi was gone. When Lucille Ball hired him for this “Lucy Show” episode nearly nine years later, she reminded him of his statement and added “You were right.” Arnaz was initially executive producer of “The Lucy Show” but bowed out after a dozen episodes. Many sources say that Hausner and Arnaz patched up their hard feelings in the ensuing time. 

In 1964, Hausner made a guest appearance on “My Three Sons” that featured  William Frawley (Fred Mertz) as Bub. 

From 1962 to 1965 he made half a dozen appearances (as different characters) on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” which filmed on the Desilu lot. 

By 1968, Hausner and Desi’s relationship must have reconciled, because he made two appearance’s on Arnaz’s sitcom “The Mothers-in-Law”.  

His final appearance with Lucille Ball happened a decade later on a 1973 episode of “Here’s Lucy.” Here, Hausner’s character name is Jimmy, which is ironic since Lucille Ball once called her TV son Jimmy, when his character name was actually Jerry!