LIZ & GEORGE ARE HANDCUFFED

December 30, 1949

“Liz and George Are Handcuffed” (aka “Handcuffed for a Day”) is episode #69 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on December 30, 1949.

Synopsis ~ Liz is playing ‘cops and robbers’ with little Tommy Wood from next door, and lets him handcuff her and George with what turn out to be real handcuffs! During the time the Coopers are linked George finds himself under the hair dryer and Liz later has to stand by at the barber’s while her husband gets a shave.

This was the 18th 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” episode “The Handcuffs” (ILL S2;E4), filmed on November 23, 1951 and aired on October 6, 1952.  

“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 (Sally, the Beautician) 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.

Bea Benadaret generally plays Iris Atterbury, but the character does not appear in this episode.

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, but her character is mentioned.

GUEST CAST

Hans Conried (Mr. Hussy, the Locksmith) first co-starred with Lucille Ball in The Big Street (1942). He then appeared on “I Love Lucy” as used furniture man Dan Jenkins in “Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8) and later that same season as Percy Livermore in “Lucy Hires an English Tutor” (ILL S2;E13) – both in 1952. The following year he began an association with Disney by voicing Captain Hook in Peter Pan. On “The Lucy Show” he played Professor Gitterman in “Lucy’s Barbershop Quartet” (TLS S1;E19) and in “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” (TLS S2;E1). He was probably best known as Uncle Tonoose on “Make Room for Daddy” starring Danny Thomas, which was filmed on the Desilu lot. He joined Thomas on a season 6 episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1973. He died in 1982 at age 64.

Hal March (Mr. Curtis) 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.”

Johnny McGovern (Tommy Wood) was just 13 years old when he did this episode.  During this time he also played Little Beaver on the radio series “Red Ryder”.  He was eventually replaced by Sammy Ogg, who played one of the Hudson Twins on “I Love Lucy.” On television, he played Will Thornberry in four episodes of “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” from 1953 to 1955.

Tommy is the smallest of Mr. Wood’s eleven children.

EPISODE

ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers tonight we find them settled down for a quiet evening in the living room. George is at the desk working on some bank papers and Liz is busily scribbling in a notebook.”

George is telling Liz about a potential client named Mr. Curtis, who has a plastics company account that he is trying to get for the bank. Liz is working on George’s New Year’s Resolutions:

1. I promise to stop smoking cigars. 
2. After I break number one, I will not drop ashes on the living room floor. 
3. After I break number two, I will clean the ashes up myself. 
4. I will read the morning paper at the breakfast table. 
5. I will let Liz open charge accounts at every store in town – sign here, George.

Liz can’t come up with any resolutions for herself to keep, but George has!  He asks her to keep on budget – and to not hang her stockings in the bathroom!  

The phone rings and George overhears Liz playing out a scene from Dick Tracy with little Tommy Wood from next door, who got a Dick Tracy outfit for Christmas and has been playing cops and robbers with him ever since.  Liz says his sisters won’t play Tess Truehart to his Dick Tracy. George corrects her that she is now known as Tess Tracy, since Dick and Tess recently got married.  

LIZ: “You mean I’ve been playing around with a married man?”

Dick Tracy is an American comic strip featuring a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on October 4, 1931 in the Detroit Mirror, and it was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. Gould wrote and drew the strip until 1977,and various artists and writers have continued it. Dick Tracy has also been the hero in a number of films, two of which were released in 1947.  On December 25, 1949, just five days before this broadcast, Dick finally married his girlfriend, Tess Truehart.

Little Tommy ‘Tracy’ (Johnny McGovern) comes over to visit to show ‘Pruneface’ Cooper (Liz) his badge, handcuffs, and finger print outfit.

LIZ: “Tommy, is it true that no two people in the whole world have the same fingerprints?” 
TOMMY: “Nah, that’s a lot of bunk. I’ve already found three people who have exactly the same fingerprints; my daddy, Santa Claus, and the crook who broke into my piggy bank.”

Liz and Tommy continue to play cops and robbers. When George comes into the room looking for some ink, Tommy ‘arrests’ them both by putting handcuffs on them.  Tommy says the handcuffs are not toys, but ones his daddy had in the attic – and he doesn’t have the key!  Liz immediately calls Mr. Wood to ask about the key – but he doesn’t have one!

End of Part One

Bob LeMond does a live Jell-O commercial, giving a holiday recipe.

ANNOUNCER: “Well, Liz and George have been real buddy-buddy since little Tommy Wood inadvertently handcuffed them together several hours ago. Right now we find them frantically trying to get the darn things off.”

George is trying to file off the handcuffs – to no avail. Liz has called every locksmith in the phone book, but none are in their office at nearly midnight. Liz thinks they should call the police. George is reluctant because their pictures will be in all the papers. The account George is pursuing at the bank is handled by a conservative businessman who will not like the publicity.

GEORGE: “I can see the headlines now: ‘Dick Tracy captures Mr. and Mrs. George Pruneface!”

Pruneface is a fictional character in the long-running comic strip Dick Tracy, who first appeared in 1942. He is one of the series’ main villains and notable for his wrinkly face despite being a young man. His wife’s name was Ana.

Liz and George have trouble undressing for bed when handcuffed. They decide to sleep in their clothes.

The dilemma of undressing for bed is much more satisfactorily explored on television, where Lucy and Desi can actually do the things they only briefly describe on radio.

Next morning the alarm clock goes off at 8:30am. George realizes that he is late for work and Liz remembers that they are still handcuffed together.

George’s boss Mr. Atterbury telephones. George decides not to tell him that he is handcuffed to his wife. Liz tells Mr. Atterbury George is sick, stalling for time to find a locksmith. Mr. Atterbury says that if he is not at work by 10 am, he’s fired!

Later, Liz and George are still waiting for the locksmith to arrive. Liz has an appointment at the beauty parlor (Operation Henna) and George has to get to work.

The locksmith Mr. Hussy (Hans Conried) finally arrives. The Coopers are anxious, but Mr. Hussy takes his sweet time telling a story while examining the cuffs.

On television, the locksmith was named Mr. Walters and is played by Will Wright. He tells a slightly different, though no less long-winded story, while searching for the key.

Mr. Hussy has to go to his shop to get the key – which will take 45 minutes. To save time, Liz convinces George to come to the beauty salon with her!  

At Sally’s Beauty Salon they are impatiently waiting for Liz’s hair to be done and George reads to Liz from a magazine.

GEORGE (reading): “Flash: Biograph Studios announces a new young starring team: Theda Bara and Rudolph Valentino.”

Like most salons and doctors’ offices, the joke is that the magazines are woefully out of date!  Theda Bara (1885-1955) was a silent film star and one of the screen’s first ‘sex symbols’ known as ‘the vamp’. Lucy Ricardo embodied her as ‘the wicked city woman’ in “Tennessee Ernie Hangs On” (ILL S3;E29) to scare off Cousin Ernie. Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926) was the male equivalent to Bara’s sex symbol status in silent films. He was a favorite of Lucy’s Mother, Mrs. McGillicuddy on “I Love Lucy.”  Biograph began in 1912 in NYC and eventually had movie studios in California and cinemas nationwide. It was absorbed by a buy-out in 1948, months before this broadcast. There is, however, no record of Bara and Valentino ever collaborating working together or separately for Biograph. Since Valentino died in 1926, the magazine George is reading from is at least 25 years old!  

Sally’s telephone rings at the salon George picks it up. It is Mr. Atterbury, who recognizes George’s voice and tells him to get to work right away!  Liz dashes out of the salon without even taking the dye out of her hair! 

 At the bank, George and Liz go in the side door and are immediately confronted by Mr. Atterbury. Liz and George show him the handcuffs. Mr. Atterbury knows Mr. Curtis won’t tolerate Liz being present at their confidential business meeting so he comes up with a plan: Liz will get behind the sofa and George will drape his handcuffed arm behind the sofa so that Curtis doesn’t see Liz or the cuffs.  The dust behind the sofa makes Liz feel like sneezing.

On television, the sofa becomes a stage curtain and Lucy sticks her arm through it, making it look like Ricky’s arm while he is singing a song. The bit was so successful it was adapted for “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.”

Mr. Curtis comes in and Liz can’t help it – she sneezes!  Mr. Curtis takes the opportunity of the all-male meeting to tell a naughty story.

CURTIS: “Have you ever heard the story of the fan dancer with a cold?”

A fan dancer was a female burlesque performer who removed articles of clothing while hiding her private parts with large fans. Sally Rand (1904-79) was probably the most famous of these ecdysiasts (strippers).

Liz cannot stay hidden any longer and pops up from behind the sofa just in time for Mr. Hussy to come in with the key to the cuffs. Mr. Curtis is indignant. Liz demonstrates how easily such a thing could easily happen and accidentally cuffs herself to Mr. Curtis!

LIZ: “Well, at least I’ll find out what happened to that fan dancer!”

In the live Jell-O commercial, Lucille Ball plays Baby New Year (1950), and Bob LeMond plays Old Father Time (1949). The Baby laments the troubles of the world she’s coming into, but Father Time says at least they have Jell-O!  

LUCILLE / BABY NEW YEAR: “Happy New Year, everyone!”

END OF EPISODE