ABSENTMINDEDNESS

February 25, 1949

“Absentmindedness” (aka “Liz’s Absent-mindedness”) is episode #32 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on February 25, 1949 on the CBS radio network.

Synopsis ~ Liz goes to see a doctor about her absentmindedness, and then reports her car to be stolen when she forgets that George dropped her off at the doctor! Liz takes a memory course. It works in reverse and she ends up with amnesia and George finds himself in jail.

“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 Benadaret 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.

REGULAR 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 as 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.

Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz (above right), 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.

Gale Gordon and Bea Benadaret had not yet joined the cast in the roles of Rudolph and Iris Atterbury.

GUEST CAST

Hans Conried (Doctor Millmoss / Doctor Grimly) 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.

Conried played Professor Millmoss in “Be Your Husband’s Best Friend” (December 4, 1948). 

Frank Nelson (Sergeant Nelson) 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”. This is one of his 11 performances on “My Favorite Husband.”  On “I Love Lucy” he holds the distinction of being the only actor to play two recurring roles: Freddie Fillmore and Ralph Ramsey, as well as six one-off characters, including the frazzled train conductor in “The Great Train Robbery” (ILL S5;E5), a character he repeated on “The Lucy Show.”  Aside from Lucille Ball, Nelson is perhaps most associated with Jack Benny and was a fifteen-year regular on his radio and television programs.  

Frank Nelson previously played Sergeant Nelson in “Liz Learns To Drive” (November 13, 1948) and would play Sergeant Nelson on TV in “Ricky and Fred Are TV Fans” (ILL S2;E30). 

Officer Joe is played by an uncredited and unidentified actor.  

EPISODE

ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers it’s about ten o’clock at night and Liz and George are just coming home. They’ve put the car in the garage and are walking around the house to the front door.” 

George and Liz are upset that they drove to the Ricky’s and they weren’t even home. Liz realizes that she got the night wrong and they aren’t due there till tomorrow night.  George says that Liz’s absentmindedness is getting out of control.  She can’t find her front door key – the fifth one she’s lost this month.  They ring the bell and Katie the Maid lets them in.  

When Liz explains why they are home so early, Katie says that she’s not surprised – the Ricky’s were there for dinner!  Liz invited them for dinner and forgot. 

GEORGE (dramatically): “This is getting serious. Who knows where it could lead?  First you forget little things; your keys, social engagements. Pretty soon you forget your friends, your family. You forget who you are. They find you wandering in the streets. They take you to a sanitarium. Give you shock treatments. But nothing does any good. And there you are; a nameless nobody!” 
LIZ (sarcastically): “Thank you, Olivia de Havilland.”

Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020) was a British-American actress whose cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time.  In November 1948, she appeared in The Snake Pit, a detailed chronicle of a woman during her stay in a mental institution. It earned her an Oscar nomination. She had been previously nominated for Gone With The Wind (1939) and Hold Back The Dawn (1941) and won for To Each His Own in 1946. She would win a second Oscar for The Heiress (1949). All were highly dramatic roles. 

George says that a co-worker took a course in memory training, but Liz doesn’t think she needs that drastic a step. Katie wonders which dress Liz wore to the Rickys. Liz insists she wore the blue one, but Katie says its still hanging in her bedroom. Liz checks under her coat and immediately decides to enroll in the course!  

George drives Liz to Doctor Millmoss’s Memory School.  He drops her off and takes the car to work.  The Doctor interviews Liz and guarantees she can improve her memory.  He tells her memory is based on association of idea.  To remember her name he associates COO with birds and PER with the purring of cats. 

DR. MILLMOSS: “I can never forget that your name is Birdie Katz!”

In reality, Richard Denning (George) was 34 years old when this episode aired.He turned 35 a month later. 

Mae West (1893-1980) was a stage and screen performer who capitalized on her sex appeal and was well-known for her scandalous sexual innuendo. Liz did an imitation of West in a 1948 episode “You Matrons League Tryouts”. In a 1977 episode of “Donny & Marie” (above) Lucille Ball did her Mae West impersonation yet again this time in full costume and make-up.     

Route 66 was not the same as the Lincoln Highway – except for three blocks – briefly! The Lincoln Highway was the first paved, transcontinental highway, ultimately stretching 3,400 miles, from New York to San Francisco. Route 66, however, is a different, but no less storied highway.

It originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles

The two historic highways cross paths only in the town of Plainfield, Illinois. They were one roadway briefly, when the postwar Route 66 Bypass alignment (aka Route 59) met the Lincoln Highway and merged together for three blocks.  Could this be the model for fictional Sheridan Falls?

Doctor Millmoss ends the first lesson because he has a house call to make on Bundy Drive. Liz says that since she lives on Bundy drive, she’ll drive him.  If she can only find her car keys – and then her car!  After a ten-minute search, she decides to call the police from the cigar shop pay phone. 

Sergeant Nelson (Frank Nelson) answers the phone and asks Liz to describe the car. She replies that it is a green Nash, which doesn’t clash with her hair. He asks her if she knows her license plate number.

LIZ: “My husband is on the Lincoln Highway and why don’t you come up and see me sometime?” 

The quote is Mae West’s signature line, which she first spoke as the character Lady Lou in the 1933 film She Done Him Wrong. What eventually became, “Come up and see me sometime,” began its life as, “Why don’t you come up some time and see me…” Nash Motors was founded in 1916 by former General Motors president Charles W. Nash. It continued to make vehicles even after it was acquired by AMC, who finally dissolved the make in 1957. 

Despite the tantalizing offer, Sergeant Nelson agrees to put out an APB for the missing car.  

Later, at the Sheridan Falls Police Station, Officer Joe hauls George Cooper in to be booked by Sergeant Nelson. They don’t believe him when he claims to be the car’s owner and vice president of the Second National Bank. 

NELSON: “Oh, sure you are. And I’m President Truman. And this is Margaret.”
JOE (falsetto voice): “Charmed, I’m sure!”  

Officer Joe sings randomly as he locks up George for auto theft!

Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) was the 33rd president of the United States from 1945 to 1953, succeeding Franklin D. Roosevelt after his death. His daughter Margaret (1924-2008) was the only child of Harry and Bess Truman. As such, he was a doting father, who was very protective of his daughter, who fancied herself a classical singer. 

Later, Liz arrives at the police station to press charges against the thief. She thinks he should get the ‘hot seat’ (electric chair). Officer Joe brings in George and Liz gasps!  

The police are convinced of George’s identity, but to cover up her memory loss, Liz pretends to have complete amnesia!  Sergeant Nelson says he knows all about ‘magnesia’ because he reads the medical page of Time Magazine. 

Lucy Ricardo pretends to have amnesia in “Lucy Fakes Illness” (ILL S1;E16). “Lucy Gets Amnesia” (TLS S3;E4) on “The Lucy Show” too, but isn’t faking.  

Sergeant Nelson and George try to remind her of who she is. George tries kissing her, but to no avail.  George promises to forgive her anything she’s ever done. Liz comes to her senses – until George’s tone turns threatening – then back to amnesia. The psychiatrist Dr. Grimly (Hans Conried) arrives and wants to know who “snapped her twig”.  Before the doctor can give her a sedative, Liz runs out the door.  

Catching up with Liz on the sidewalk, she is distraught that he may not love her anymore. A big smooch fixes everything.  Except that now George can’t find where he parked the car! They assume it is stolen and agree that one of them will have report it to Sergeant Nelson. Liz volunteers to be the one since they already think she’s crazy.   

During this Liz / George dialogue, Richard Denning stumbles over his lines a bit, but gets back on track. 

In “Ricky and Fred Are TV Fans” (ILL S2;E30) Sergeant Nelson (Frank Nelson) accuses Lucy and Ethel of being Sticky Fingers Sal and Pickpocket Pearl.

Before they get there, Sergeant Nelson and Joe are wondering if the Coopers may in fact have been Red Top Rosie and Willie The Weasel, who were also car thieves.  Just then, Liz walks in and Officer Joe draws his gun. Nelson accuses them of being Red Top and Willie.  She facetiously claims to be Lizzy the Louse and Cooper the Snooper. Dr. Grimly enters. 

LIZ: “Uh, oh. Snake Pit is back again.”

The Snake Pit (1948) was hinted at earlier in the episode with the mention of Olivia de Havilland in the context of sanitariums. 

Instead of a needle, Dr. Grimly intends to hypnotize her. It backfires and Sergeant Nelson goes under instead! Grimly snaps him out of it, but Liz teases him and says he did a naughty striptease while under hypnosis. Dr. Grimly takes another tact: word association. But after a rapid-fire exchange, Officer Joe reveals that the real Red Top Rosie has been in jail for years. Liz is free to go.

On the street she tells George why it took so long. They suddenly see their car and decide to drive it right home – but it is out of gas. The police race up and want to know where they are going in a stolen car!  

SERGEANT NELSON: “Well, what do you have to say this time?”
LIZ AND GEORGE: “Where am I?” 

End of Episode