December 9, 1949
“The French Lessons” (aka “Eavesdropping on French Lessons”) is episode #66 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on December 9, 1949.
Synopsis ~ Liz and Iris are humiliated when they can’t read the menu at a French restaurant, so they decide to take French lessons. The lessons lead to the prospect of a duel between her favorite husband George and her amorous French teacher.
This was the 15th episode of the second season of MY FAVORITE HUSBAND. There were 43 new episodes, with the season ending on June 25, 1950.
Note: This program was the basis for the “I Love Lucy” episodes “The Adagio” (ILL S1;E12), filmed on November 23, 1951 and aired on New Year’s Eve 1951, as well as “The French Revue” (ILL S3;E7), filmed on October 15, 1953 and aired a month later.
“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) 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.
Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz, a member of the surprise investigating committee for the Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), as one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and also played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). She died in 1996 at the age of 96.
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.
GUEST CAST
Hal March (Waiter) first appeared on the "I Love Lucy” in “Lucy Fakes Illness” (ILL S1;E16) using his own name to play an actor posing as the doctor who diagnoses Lucy with ‘golbloots.’ March got his first big break when he was cast as Harry Morton on “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” in 1950. He eventually lost the part to Fred Clark who producers felt was better paired with Bea Benaderet, who played Blanche, and here plays Iris Atterbury. He stayed with the show in other roles, the last airing just two weeks before his appearance as Eddie Grant in “Lucy is Matchmaker” (ILL S2;E27). In 1966 he was seen on “The Lucy Show.”
Rolfe Sedan (Jacques Duval, the French Teacher) first worked with Lucille Ball in the 1934 film Kid Millions. When Lucy Ricardo ate snails in “Paris at Last” (ILL S5;E18), Sedan played the French Chef who was outraged that Lucy wants to put ketchup on his food. He is probably best remembered as Mr. Beasley the mailman on “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.”
THE EPISODE
ANNOUNCER: “Tonight is a big social event in Sheridan Falls. A very swanky new French café is opening, with admittance by invitation only. The Coopers are dressing in their best formal clothes…”
George is having trouble with his collar button and they are due to meet the Atterbury’s for dinner at 8pm. Liz worries that they will not be able to read the menu if it is in French, so they plan to let the Atterburys order first and then order the same thing.
At the restaurant, Rudolph and Iris are waiting for the Coopers to arrive. Like George, Rudolph is also having trouble with a tight-fitting collar. Iris has spotted the menu and it is indeed all in French. They decide to let the Coopers order first and order whatever they decide upon.
The waiter (Hal March) arrives to take their order. Both the Atterburys and the Coopers hedge about who will order first. Doing ‘one potato / two potato’ in French, the waiter determines that Liz will be the first to order. She randomly points to something on the menu and, despite his attempted protestations, insists that he serve it!
WAITER: “Very well, Madam. Four orders of ‘closed on Mondays’.”
In TV’s "The French Revue” (ILL S3;E7), the waiter was played by Alberto Morin. Instead of ordering ‘closed on Mondays’, Lucy Ricardo orders ‘closed on Sundays.’ “I Love Lucy” aired on Monday nights and at the height of its success, business would sometimes close on Mondays due to everyone staying home to watch television!
The next day, Liz confesses to Katie the Maid that they couldn’t read the menu, so they hired a French tutor, who is first going to the Atterbury home, then to the Coopers’. Iris telephones to try out some of her newly learned French words. Iris reports that the teacher is a 31 year old bachelor.
The doorbell rings and it is Jacques Duval (Rolfe Sedan), the French Teacher. Instead of working at the dining room table, Duval insists that they sit together on the sofa – close. When Liz insists she is happily married, Jacques is unfazed and asks her to sit even closer.
Oops! Lucille Ball makes a tiny dialogue error when she says “My husband and I treat each other and trust each other implicitly.” She was probably not supposed to say “treat” but continues uninterrupted.
Duval teacher her the French words for pencil (le crayon) and pen (la plume).
LIZ: “Suppose I go to a restaurant and they aren’t serving pens and pencils?”
Liz repeats back a couple of standard French phrases and is duly impressed with herself.
LIZ: “I’m a regular parasite!”
Liz is mistaking ‘Paris-ite’ (a resident of Paris), for its homonym ‘parasite’ (an organism that thrives of the blood of another). The more usual word for a resident of the French capitol would be ‘Parisian.’
Next day, Liz is happily singing “The Last Time I Saw Paris” while she dials Iris.
“The Last Time I Saw Paris” was composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, published in 1940. It was sung in the 1941 film Lady Be Good by Ann Sothern and won the 1941 Oscar for Best song. Kate Smith had a top ten hit with the song in 1940 and Dinah Shore sang it in the 1946 film Till The Clouds Roll By.
Liz and Iris exchange pleasantries in French, before Liz reveals that she was flattered that Duval made advances – until she naturally said no. It turns out he did no such thing with Iris, much to her dismay!
At the bank, Rudolph and George are talking about their wives’ French lessons and how the teacher has a reputation as a cad. George immediately wonders if he flirted with Liz.
MR. ATTERBURY: “If a man will pass up Marjorie Main, he doesn’t pass up Betty Grable.”
Mr. Atterbury is comparing his wife Iris to 59 year-old character actress Marjorie Main and Liz Cooper to sexy pin-up girl Betty Grable. Main would star with Lucille Ball in the 1953 film The Long, Long Trailer. Grable would guest-star on a 1958 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” At the time of broadcast, Grable was on screens in The Beautiful Blonde of Bashful Bend while Main was seen in Feudin’, Fussin’ and A-Fightin’.
At the Cooper home, Jacques Duval is giving Liz another French lesson. She is having great trouble with the masculine and feminine of the language.
DUVAL: “With French, everything is either masculine or feminine. You Americans don’t have that.”
LIZ: “How long you been in this country, Jack?”
Meanwhile, George and Mr. Atterbury sneak into the house to spy on Liz and Duval. The listen at the kitchen door. George mistakes “Comment allez-vouz” (”How are you”) for “come out to the alley” and bursts into the room indignantly. Duval is offended at George’s assumption of impropriety and challenges him to a duel! The duel is set for tomorrow morning at dawn in the cemetery.
Later, Duval calls and Liz answers. He wants to back out of the duel, frightened of the outcome. Liz tells him she will tell George it is off, but decides to hold off until he is at the cemetery, just to teach him a lesson for not trusting her.
At the cemetery it is cold, dismal and foggy morning. George wonders why Duval picked the cemetery.
LIZ: “It saves time. It eliminates the middle man. I only hope my second husband has your courage.”
Liz spots a crowd of people including some photographers. It is Mr. Atterbury looking to get some publicity for the bank! Duval has turned up after all, and Liz is alarmed. Duval only came to get some publicity for his French classes.
Liz secretly instructs both men to shoot high over each others’ heads. While still pacing away there is a loud bang and both men drop to the ground! Mr. Atterbury wonders how they got shot since he loaded the guns with blanks!
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