March 5, 1950
“Women’s Rights – Part 1” (aka “Liz Promotes Equal Rights for Women”) is episode #78 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on March 5, 1950.
Synopsis ~ Liz and Iris start a campaign for equal rights, so George and Rudolph take them out to dinner but insist they pay their own check. With no choice but to do dishes, Liz plots to make the boys resent abandoning them – but even when everything is patched up they still want equal rights.
Note: This program was used as a basis for the “I Love Lucy” episodes “Equal Rights” (ILL S3;E4), filmed September 24, 1953 and first aired on October 26, 1953.
Starting this week, most stations moved “My Favorite Husband” from its usual Friday night time slot to Sunday afternoons. This accounts for differing broadcast dates for this episode, which was still heard on March 3rd in many markets.
Before the broadcast began, a CBS newscaster announced the delay of the schedule program to say that John L. Lewis (president of the United Mine Workers) had ordered all soft coal workers back to work immediately – in light of a new contract being signed. The end of the strike was headline news the next morning, March 6, 1950.
“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.
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 (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.
GUEST CAST
Joe Forte (Waiter) was born in England in 1893. He spent his childhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He began his career in vaudeville, then movies playing an uncredited role in A Ten Minute Egg (1924) and Doctor Carroll in Reefer Madness (1936). He began his radio career in 1934. He did episodes of Desilu’s “December Bride” and “The Real McCoys”. His last movie was playing a concessionaire in Roustabout (1964).
EPISODE
ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers, it’s Wednesday evening and they’re getting ready to go out to dinner with Mr. Atterbury and his wife Iris. As usual, George is dressed on time and is going in to see how Liz is doing…”
Katie the Maid and Liz are still picking out dresses. George is tired of her saying “I haven’t a thing to wear”. Katie urges Liz to tell George that Congress has passed a law giving women equal rights with men – the 22nd Amendment.
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. It seeks to end the legal distinctions between men and women in matters of divorce, property, employment, and other matters. The first version of an ERA was written in 1923. Twenty seven years and multiple revisions later, it had still not been passed. In 1950, the ERA was passed by the Senate with a provision known as “the Hayden rider”, which aimed to keep special protections for women only. Though opponents were marginally more in favor of the ERA with the Hayden rider, supporters believed it negated the amendment’s original purpose—causing it not to be passed in the House. If it had passed it would have been the 22nd Amendment, as Liz states – but in 1951 the 22nd Amendment instead became one that prescribed new presidential term limits.
LIZ: “You’d better enjoy your power while you’ve got it, Mister Man; it won’t be long now! The 22nd Amendment is going through if we have to fight it to the finish – and we will!”
Liz adds that in certain states she couldn’t work in a blast furnace or a bowling alley. Liz emphatically reads a message of support from a magazine as the doorbell rings. Katie reports that it is Mr. Atterbury and his whimpering slave!
Iris thinks Liz’s call to arms was the radio, but George says it was just “Pauline Revere.”
Paul Revere (1734-1818) was a silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, and Patriot in the American Revolution. He is best known for his midnight ride to alert the colonial militia in April 1775 to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord. On an October 1964 “The Jack Benny Program” Benny played Paul while Lucille played his wife, who was really the one responsible for warning the colonists!
Liz wants to get Iris on the ERA bandwagon, but it appears that she knows nothing about it. Mr. Atterbury keeps trying to change the subject and it becomes apparent that he has been cutting articles about the ERA out of their newspapers and magazines so Iris won’t see them! Iris is eager to known what new-found freedoms she is entitled to. George says she might be a pin girl at the bowling alley and Rudolph says she might work a blast furnace.
Liz declares a revolt!
IRIS: “You hear that, Rudolph? From now on I’m revolting! And get that smirk off your face.”
LUCY: “We’re revolting!”
RICKY: “No more than usual.”
The same gag was used when Lucy and Ethel realize how many dishes they have washed in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25) on March 31, 1952. Coincidentally, Ruth Perrott also appeared in the episode, playing a member of the Society Matrons League.
The boys agree to equal treatment for Liz and Iris. Liz tells George her coat is in the closet.
GEORGE: “Well, go get it, buster! You’re a big boy now!”
Rudolph starts to tell an off-color story, but when Iris asks if it is for mixed company, he insists that there are no ladies present. Liz asks George to put on her coat, but he refuses based on equality. The boys don’t hold the door for their wives – in fact that zoom off in the car without them!
End of Part One
Announcer Bob LeMond does a live Jell-O commercial, providing a recipe for Orange Scotch Pudding, made with Jell-O butterscotch pudding.
ANNOUNCER: “As we return to our little experiment in equal rights for women, we find Liz and Iris, who have demanded these rights, have caught up with their husbands and have, in fact, just finished a bountiful dinner.”
After dinner, Mr. Atterbury is offering cigars to everyone and surprisingly Liz takes him up on the offer. George instructs her how to smoke a cigar. Liz accidentally swallows the tip and chokes on the smoke!
LIZ: “They are a little stronger than the chocolate ones I learned on.”
Mr. Atterbury calls the waiter (Joe Forte) over and asks for four separate checks, claiming equal rights. George isn’t paying for Liz, either, even though she has ordered Lobster Thermidor instead of hamburger. Liz has no cash, and neither does Liz, so she asks George for a loan. He refers her to the bank president, Mr. Atterbury.
IRIS: “We’re dead!”
Rudolph tells her to come down and see them first thing in the morning. Liz and Iris volunteer to wash dishes to work off their bill.
Back at home, Rudolph and George are worried about the girls, who are still not home after marching into the kitchen to wash dishes.
Back at the restaurant, Liz and Iris have finished washing the dishes and received car fare from the waiter – but they decide not to rush right home. For revenge, Liz schemes to scare the boys by phoning them up and telling them there’s a big party going on in the restaurant. In the background, Iris laughs and pretends to be the subject of male attention.
LIZ: “I’ve gotta go now, the sinks are loaded.”
GEORGE: “Sounds like the dishwashers are, too!”
When George insists they come down and get them, Liz lies and says they met a nice man and are washing his dishes. Meanwhile, the waiter has ushered Iris out claiming she was drunk. He saw her hugging a palm tree saying “You’re gorgeous”!
Mr. Atterbury is quite sure Liz and Iris are just making up a story, so he is not in a rush to rescue them. The phone rings and Rudolph picks it up. This time it is Liz making party noises in the background. Rudolph demands she return home at once. Iris hangs up and the waiter ejects them both from the restaurant for being drunk!
The girls finally get home and George and Rudolph are indignant. They insist that Liz and Iris go out an earn a living if they insist on being equal with men. Liz accepts the offer, saying that in return the boys have to stay at home and do the cooking and cleaning. They agree to the terms starting tomorrow – but Liz breaks it to them that tomorrow is Thursday – maids day off!
End of Episode
In the live Jell-O commercial, Lucille Ball and Bob LeMond travel to England. The orchestra plays a fanfare of “Rule Britannia”. LeMond plays an American tourist asking Lucille (a local) what town he is in.
BOB: “What town is this? Is this Stratford-on-Avon?”
LUCILLE: “No, it is Pudding-on-Jello!”
Bob asks Lucille a riddle involving a picture. In return, Lucille tries the riddle on his pal Clement (Gale Gordon). Clement then asks “What puddings are a trio of treats?” Bob answers Jell-O puddings: chocolate, butterscotch and vanilla.”
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
Leave a comment