THE FOOTBALL GAME

October 28, 1950

“The Football Game” (aka “The Homecoming Football Game”) is episode #103 [some sources say #102] of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on October 281, 1950.

This was the seventh episode of the third season of MY FAVORITE HUSBAND. There were 31 new episodes, with the season ending on March 31, 1951.  

Synopsis ~

Liz and Iris are determined not to go to the annual State University homecoming football game with the boys, until the boys tell them they aren’t planning to take them along this time.

The plot bears some similarities to 1954′s “The Golf Game” (ILL S3;E30), in which Lucy and Ethel are tired of being left out of the boys’ sporting pursuits. They first turn the living room into a basketball court and then want to learn golf so they can spend more time with Ricky and Fred. 

“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George’s boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benaderet was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Cooper. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.

MAIN CAST

Lucille Ball (Liz Cooper) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father’s garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his  roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.

Gale Gordon (Rudolph Atterbury / Police Announcer) had worked with Lucille Ball on “The Wonder Show” on radio in 1938. One of the front-runners to play Fred Mertz on “I Love Lucy,” he eventually played Alvin Littlefield, owner of the Tropicana, during two episodes in 1952. After playing a Judge in an episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” in 1958, he would re-team with Lucy for all of her subsequent series’: as Theodore J. Mooney in ”The Lucy Show”; as Harrison Otis Carter in “Here’s Lucy”; and as Curtis McGibbon on “Life with Lucy.” Gordon died in 1995 at the age of 89.

Bea Benadaret (Iris Atterbury) was considered the front-runner to be cast as Ethel Mertz but when “I Love Lucy” was ready to start production she was already playing a similar role on TV’s “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” so Vivian Vance was cast instead. On “I Love Lucy” she was cast as Lucy Ricardo’s spinster neighbor, Miss Lewis, in “Lucy Plays Cupid” (ILL S1;E15) in early 1952. Later, she was a success in her own show, “Petticoat Junction” as Shady Rest Hotel proprietress Kate Bradley. She starred in the series until her death in 1968.

Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release.

Ruth Perrott (Katie the Maid) does not appear in this episode. 

GUEST CAST

Frank Nelson (Tom Nelson, Sportscaster / Irate Fan) was born on May 6, 1911 (three months before Lucille Ball) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He started working as a radio announcer at the age of 15. He later appeared on such popular radio shows as “The Great Gildersleeve,” “Burns and Allen,” and “Fibber McGee & Molly”.  Aside from Lucille Ball, Nelson is perhaps most associated with Jack Benny and was a fifteen-year regular on his radio and television programs. His trademark was playing clerks and other working stiffs, suddenly turning to Benny with a drawn out “Yeeeeeeeeees?” Nelson appeared in 11 episodes of “I Love Lucy”, including three as quiz master Freddy Fillmore, and two as Ralph Ramsey, plus appearance on “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” – making him the only actor to play two different recurring roles on “I Love Lucy.” Nelson returned to the role of the frazzled Train Conductor for an episode of “The Lucy Show” in 1963. This marked his final appearance on a Lucille Ball sitcom.

James Bernard Hausner (Stadium Ticket Seller), 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.”  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.

GeGe Pearson (Pretty Female Fan) did two other episodes of “My Favorite Husband.” She will play a New York City tourist in “Lucy Visits Grauman’s” (ILL S5;E1) in 1955. She did the episode with her husband, Hal Gerard. The two actors were married in real-life. In 1956 the couple returned to CBS to appear in the same episode of “Damon Runyon Theatre.” She is perhaps best remembered as the voice of Crusader Rabbit. The couple died just a year apart in 1975 and 1976.

There is a second Female Fan who does not have any lines. 

THE EPISODE

ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the town of Sheridan Falls, it’s morning, and Iris Atterbury is coming up the walk of the Cooper family home at 321 Bundy Drive. Suddenly she gets a horrified look on her face and starts running up the steps!”

Iris repeatedly rings the Cooper’s doorbell and when Liz answers she tells her to call the police! There’s a bear in the Cooper’s backyard. Liz says it isn’t a bear, but George’s raccoon coat. Liz is airing it out in time for football season. Rudolph Atterbury is also a football fan and Iris, too, is dreading it. 

LIZ: “I just got a mental picture of them in their official costumes: raccoon coat, rooters cap, cowbells, and ukulele.”  

Full-length raccoon skin coats became all the rage with men, especially Ivy League collegiate types, in the 1920s and ‘30s.  In 1935, the leading men’s fashion magazine Men’s Wear reported: “The raccoon coat is back in fashion. More were seen at the climax football games in the East this season than at any time in the past ten years.” 

When the Great Depression hit however, the fur fad quickly disappeared. The trend also heavily influenced jazz musicians. Fred Mertz wore one to be cool in “Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined” (ILL S3;E11) in 1953, and Craig Carter wore won in “Lucy and The Co-Ed” (HL S3;E6) in 1970. Both times the men were trying to evoke a roaring ‘20s atmosphere. Crooner Rudy Vallee wore one in real life, so he also did so again when he guest starred as himself on “Here’s Lucy” in 1970. 

A rooters cap was a hat worn to a ‘root’ for the team at a sports event. It was generally in the team colors and sometimes had other identifying marks on it. 

Ukuleles were also associated with the 1920s and college life. A raccoon coat and a ukulele were standard at Ivy League football games of the ‘20s and ‘30s. Lucy Carmichael plays the ukulele at her college reunion in a 1963 episode of “The Lucy Show.”  Not surprisingly, Rudy Vallee was also associated with the ukulele.  Lucille Ball had a rudimentary knowledge of the instrument and played it in several sitcoms. On “My Favorite Husband” Liz and George get trapped in “The Attic” looking for his college ukulele. 

Cowbells were originally made to keep track of grazing cattle, but became associated with football fans as noisemakers in the ‘20s and ‘30s. They were so ubiquitous that the bells were even banned at some stadiums. 

Liz and Iris vow that she is not going to go this year, even though they have gone every year of their marriage.

GEORGE & RUDOLPH (chanting): “Rickety-Rax!  Rickety-Rax! Come on State!  Give ‘em the axe! Yayyyy!!!”

Liz and Iris decide to break the news to the boys that they aren’t going – when the boys tell them they aren’t taking them!  Liz and Iris are indignant!  They suddenly reverse their previous position on homecoming. The girls think the boys want to ogle the co-eds without their disapproving eyes.

IRIS: “I can hardly wait to get to the game and watch that old quarterback make a home run.”
LIZ: “Iris, it’s not a home run, it’s a touchdown. And isn’t a quarterback, it’s a second baseman.”
RUDOLPH: “It’s a shame not to take them along, George. Wouldn’t they love to see the jockey run 65 yards to a knockout?”

The boys agree that if the girls can learn all about football by game day, they can go along. Liz says that Rudolph has a book on it in the attic.  They find the book in an old trunk. It is dated 1906. 

IRIS: “Who wrote the book, Liz?  Red Grange? Ty Cobb?”
LIZ: “No, it must be the guy whose name is written on the cover: Rugby.”

Harold Edward ”Red“ Grange (1903-91) was an American football halfback for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and the short-lived New York Yankees football teams. He wrote his autobiography in 1953. Tyrus “Ty” Raymond Cobb (1886-1961) was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the last six as the team’s player-manager, and finished his career with the Philadelphia Athletics. Both athletes had candy named after them in the 1920s. 

The girls argue whether it is called a scrimmage or a scrummage, as it says in the book. They think the boys have been using the wrong terms all along! 

Iris and Liz have mistaken American Football for Rugby Football, an earlier form of football that originated in British schools. In 1880, the US College Football Rules Convention proposed that the “scrummage” be replaced with a "line of scrimmage” where the team with the ball started with uncontested possession. This change effectively started the evolution of the modern game of American football away from its rugby origins.

Liz reads out the rules as Iris listens intensely. End of Act One. 

ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers once again it’s two evenings later and we find Liz and Iris getting ready to impress George and Mr. Atterbury with their knowledge of football.”

Liz and Iris sprinkle their conversation with their newly-learned Rugby terms, much to the confusion of the boys. The talk about State’s players. 

LIZ: “Of course, we can’t expect any Rawson Robertshaws.”
RUDOLPH: “Rawson Robertshaw?  Who’s he?”
LIZ: “Ha! He was only the first free quarterback to disengage himself from the scrummage in order to assist the side hooker in getting the ball out of the scrum.” 

Albert Rawson Robertshaw (1861-1920, left, with his brothers) was an English rugby footballer who played in the 1880s. Robertshaw won caps for England while at Bradford FC in 1886 against Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, and in 1887 against Wales, and Scotland.

Rudolph realizes that they have learned from the book in his attic about Rugby, not American football. The boys tell the girls to stay home and watch the game on television. 

At the game, Rudolph is winded from climbing so high to get to their seats, especially in their bulky raccoon coats. They discover that there are two attractive girls (GeGe Pearson) sitting in their seats who refuse to move!  The boys decide just to sit next to them, even though they are not together. 

Watching from the Atterbury home on television, the play-by-play is provided by sportscaster Tom Nelson (Frank Nelson), who turns the camera on a quaint pair of oddly-dressed men high in the stands. It is George and Rudolph!  Liz and Iris see their husbands sitting next to the two young girls!  Iris is so mad she throws something at the TV screen and it shatters. They grab their coats and head for the stadium to confront them.

The stadium ticket seller (Jerry Hausner) says the game is sold out so Liz and Iris get an idea. They will disguise themselves as hot dog vendors to get in!  

In the 1956 season six opener of “I Love Lucy,” Lucy Ricardo disguises herself as a hot dog vendor to get closer to Bob Hope at Yankee Stadium. 

George and Rudolph immediately recognize their wives. 

LIZ: “Red hots!  Get yer red hots!” 
IRIS: “Ice cold pop!  I don’t know where mom is, but I’ve go pop on ice!” 

Red Hots were another name for hot dogs or frankfurters. Pop is a regional term for a carbonated beverage, known in other parts of the US as soda or coke. Here the writers skillfully play on the double meaning of pop, which is another term for father and ice, which can also mean “in trouble” or “detained”. 

George and Rudolph make a run for it – right onto the playing field. Sportscaster Tom Nelson reports that two the two men in the raccoon coats are being pursued by two hot dog vendors. They tackle the men, and the police storm the field to break up the melee. 

Back at home, Liz is comforting a groggy George. The phone rings. Someone who saw Liz on television has offered her a job playing tackle for the Los Angeles Rams!  

End of Episode!