HOBBIES

April 9, 1950

“Hobbies” (aka “Hobbies Have Consequences”) is episode #83 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on April 9, 1950.

Synopsis ~

Liz and Iris are tired of waiting at home on weekends while George and Rudolph are at the golf course, so they decide to leave half-smoked cigars around the house to make the boys jealous.

The episode has some elements that were later used on “I Love Lucy” in “The Golf Game” (ILL S3;E30) filmed on April 15, 1954, and first aired on May 17, 1954.

“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

Arthur Q. Bryan (Man in the Street) appeared with Lucille Ball in Look Who’s Laughing (1941). He is best remembered as the original voice of Elmer Fudd in the Warner Brothers cartoons. He also was an accomplished radio actor appearing for ten seasons as Doc Gamble on “Fibber McGee and Molly.”  In 1952′s “Ricky Loses His Voice” (ILL S2;E9) he played Mr. Chambers, new owner of the Tropicana, a former vaudevillian looking to return to the stage.

Jack Moyles (Man in the Street / Caddy) was best known for starring as café owner / amateur detective Rocky Jordan in the CBS radio serials “A Man Named Jordan” and “The Adventures of Rocky Jordan.”

EPISODE

ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers tonight, George and Liz are entertaining Mr. Atterbury and his wife Iris. Dinner is over, and Iris has called Liz to one side.”

LIZ: “George Cooper, you come back or I’ll perforate your Andorre!” 

The Principality of Andorra is a sovereign landlocked microstate on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees, bordered by France to the north and Spain to the south. 

Andorra is the sixth-smallest nation in Europe. 

At 1:30am Liz and Iris are playing their 15th game of cards and the boys are still in the other room looking at stamps!  George and Rudolph tell the girls they’d be welcome in the world of philately. 

LIZ: “Well phooey on philately! Who cares about those faded bits of colored paper?” 

Philately (or stamp collecting) was the theme of “Lucy and the Missing Stamp” (TLS S3;E14) first aired on December 21, 1964. Lucy accidentally mails a priceless stamp and goes to elaborate lengths to get it back. 

The girls want to go out and get a hamburger, but they boys say they need to get up early to play golf.  Liz and Iris are tired of playing second fiddle to the boys’ hobbies. 

The next morning, Iris rings Liz’s doorbell.

IRIS: “I just dropped Snead and Hogan off a the golf course.” 

Samuel Jackson Snead (1912-2002) was a professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for the better part of four decades and widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. William Ben Hogan (1912-97) was also considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He is notable for his profound influence on golf swing theory and his legendary ball-striking ability.

Iris has come by to talk about what they are going to do about their husbands’ obsession with hobbies like stamps and golf. Katie, a former golf widow herself, suggests she did what she did with her first husband, Clarence. Leave a smoldering cigar in the ashtray to make them jealous. 

Liz and Iris go on a hunt up and down the streets of Sheridan Falls to find a cigar butt – to no avail. They spot a man smoking a cigar, and Liz darts to get it as soon as she throws it to the ground. Before just as she does – a bum claims it for himself. He calls for help!

BUM: “Help!  This dame swiped my butt!”

LIz tries to buy if from him, but he gives it up thinking she’s crazy. Iris also found one!  They rush home to plant the cigars before their husbands come home. When George gets back from golfing, he sees the cigar and gets suspicious.

GEORGE: “Is there another?”
LIZ: “Another? You have no idea the trouble I had with this one.”

Liz warns him not to leave ‘a beautiful creature’ like her home alone so much. Just then, the phone rings. George answers it and it is Mr. Atterbury.  He wants to know if he’s got a cigar in his ashtray, too. He caught Iris planting the cigar while she thought he was asleep on the sofa.  They are wise to the girls’ tricks.

George calls her out on her deception. George tells her he intends to play golf tomorrow, too!

Next day Liz and Iris meet to plan another tact – operation stinker. They plan to join the boys on the links. Dressing in bloomers, they rush to the golf course to make their duo a foursome!  Mr. Atterbury insists that the girls don’t know how to play. Liz claims she saw it in the news reels. Liz doesn’t even know not to talk when a player is driving.

As Iris steps up to the tee, Liz calls her Didrikson.

Mildred Ella “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias (1911-56) was an athlete who excelled in golf, basketball, baseball and track and field. She won two gold medals in track and field at the 1932 Summer Olympics, before turning to professional golf in 1950 and winning 10 LPGA major championships. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest athletes of all time.

IRIS: “Is it alright to stand like this, Rudolph?”
RUDOLPH: “Don’t ask me. I didn’t see the newsreel.”

Iris hits the ball – but also the club – which goes flying twenty yards. George suggests Liz use a spoon, but Liz insists on a caddy. She swings and misses.  She swings four times – missing every time. 

LIZ: “Am I getting warm?”
RUDOLPH: “If you are, it’s from the exercise.”

Miraculously, Liz hits the ball and it lands a few feet from the hole.  Liz is mad at George for not telling her that was the goal all along!  George and Rudolph decide there’s no choice. They break their clubs in half!  

End of Episode