MY FAVORITE HUSBAND: Season 3

September 2, 1950 – March 31, 1951

“My Favorite Husband” ~ Season three aired on CBS Radio from September 2, 1950 to March 31, 1951.  There were 29 half hour episodes sponsored by Jell-O. Episodes were also aired on Armed Forces Radio & Television Service (AFTRS) without advertising. 

Regular Cast: Lucille Ball as Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Cooper, Richard Denning as George Cooper, Gale Gordon as Rudolph Atterbury, Bea Benadaret as Iris Atterbury (and others), Ruth Perrott as Katie the Maid, and Bob LeMond, Announcer.  

Season 3 Guest Cast: Frank Nelson (7 episodes), Gege Pearson (6 episodes), Jerry Hausner (5 episodes), Hans Conried (4 episodes), Shirley Mitchell (3 episodes), Eleanor Audley (2 episodes), Elvia Allman (2 episodes), Shimen Ruskin (2 episodes), Sandra Gould (2 episodes), Sarah Selby (2 episodes), Alan Reed (2 episodes), Bobby Jellison (2 episodes), Richard Crenna, Sheldon Leonard, Jack Moyles, Leone Ledoux, Jay Novello, Wally Maher, Mary Shipp, Herb Vigran, June Foray, Ken Christy, Lester Jay, Viola Vonn, Janet Waldo, Frances Cheney, and Cliff Arquette. 

To Experience the Full Episode Blogs – for both “My Favorite Husband” and “I Love Lucy” – simply click on the hyperlinked (underlined) text. 

“Husbands Are Sloppy Dressers” ~ September 2, 1950

Synopsis ~ Liz and Iris are embarrassed by the sloppy clothes that George and Rudolph wear at home, so they sell the boys’ old clothes to the junkman. They attempt to reform their husbands’ dress habits.

• Basis for: “Changing The Boys’ Wardrobe” (ILL S3;E10) of “I Love Lucy”

“Gossip”* ~ September 9, 1950

• This episode is often confused with “Hair Dyed” (June 10, 1949). Basis for the “I Love Lucy” episode “The Gossip” (ILL S1;E24)

“Movies”* ~ September 16, 1950

“Fuller Brush Show”* ~ September 23, 1950

• Inspired by the motion picture The Fuller Brush Girl, in which Lucille Ball was starring at the time this show aired.

“Liz Becomes a Sculptress” ~ October 7, 1950

Synopsis ~ Liz decides that she needs a hobby, and the proprietor of the local arts and crafts store convinces her she’s a natural artistic genius when it comes to sculpting clay.

• Basis for “Lucy Becomes a Sculptress” (ILL S2;E15) of “I Love Lucy”

“Dinner for Twelve” ~ October 14, 1950

Synopsis ~ George has invited ten dinner guests on the maid’s day off and Liz is determined to prove to George’s mother that she can prepare a dinner for twelve without any help.

• This episode was fully animated and can be found on Vimeo. It was created by Wayne Wilson in 2012.

“Safe Driving Week” ~ October 21, 1950

Synopsis ~ When Liz gets a traffic ticket on the day George is Safety Week chairman, George decides to lock the car in the garage and hide the key.

“The Football Game” ~ October 28, 1950

Synopsis ~ Liz and Iris are determined not to go to the annual State University homecoming football game with the boys, until the boys tell them they aren’t planning to take them along this time.

• The plot bears some similarities to 1954′s “The Golf Game” (ILL S3;E30), in which Lucy and Ethel are tired of being left out of the boys’ sporting pursuits.

“The Two Mrs. Coopers” ~ November 4, 1950

Synopsis ~ It’s Liz’s birthday and she wants to forget all about it but she doesn’t want George to forget it!  George mistakenly thinks that it is his mother’s birthday and buys her present which Liz thinks is for her. But then he realizes that he has invited his mother’s friends over for a surprise party!

[On all known sources, this episode and “Liz’s Birthday” (November 25, 1950) are the same program. It is likely that one or the other has been lost. Because the titles might fit both programs, there is no consensus on which is lost and which is extant!]

“Vacation from Marriage”* ~ November 11, 1950

• Basis for “Vacation from Marriage” (ILL S2;E6) of “I Love Lucy”

“Liz Goes to Night School” ~ November 18, 1950

 Synopsis ~ Liz’s arithmetic skills are so bad, George sends her to night school where she somehow winds up in a math contest.

“Liz’s Birthday” ~ November 25, 1950

[This episode and “The Two Mrs. Coopers” are often listed as the same program. It is likely that one or the other has been lost. Because the titles might fit both programs, there is no consensus on which is lost and which is extant!]

“Marrying Off Peggy Martin” ~ December 2, 1950

Synopsis ~ Liz tries to play matchmaker for Peggy Martin with one of George’s clients, but both the client and George think that Liz is going after the guy for herself.

• Basis for the “I Love Lucy” episode “Lucy Is Matchmaker” (ILL S3;E27)

“Trying To Cash The Prize Check”~ December 9, 1950

Synopsis ~ Liz goes on the radio quiz show and wins a check for $500, but she only gets to keep it if she can cash it within 25 minutes, and the banks are all closed!

“The Christmas Cards” ~ December 16, 1950

Synopsis ~  Liz and George have their pictures taken for their Christmas cards, but then can’t agree on which shot to use.

“The Christmas Stag” ~ December 23, 1950

Synopsis ~ George says he is attending a holiday fundraiser, but Liz suspects it is nothing more than an excuse for a stag party. To discover the truth, Liz disguises herself as Santa Claus and infiltrates the party.

“Liz Has The Flimjabs” ~ December 30, 1950

Synopsis ~  Liz wants a mink coat from George, so she pretends to be sick in order to get his sympathy – and the coat!  George is on to her tactics, and decides to give her the scare of her life – literally!

• Basis for the “I Love Lucy” episode “Lucy Fakes Illness” (ILL S1;E16) 

“Liz Substitutes in a Club Play” ~ January 6, 1951

Synopsis ~ Liz is determined to play the lead in the women’s club play, even if she has to keep the leading lady from showing up. There’s only one problem: Liz has learned the lines for the wrong play!

• In part, the basis for the “I Love Lucy” episode “Lucy Writes A Play” (ILL S1;E17) 

“The Cuckoo Clock Conspiracy” ~ January 13, 1951

Synopsis ~ Liz bought George’s Christmas present, a cuckoo clock, with a rubber check, and now she needs to figure out a way to make good on it so the store owner won’t repossess the clock.

• In part, basis for “The Kleptomaniac” (ILL S1;E27)

“Liz Exaggerates” ~ January 20, 1951

Synopsis ~ Liz’s exaggerations become so bad that George cuts off her allowance until she can prove that she can consistently tell nothing but the truth. George finds her promise is kept, not wisely, but too well.

• In order not to be confused with the earlier episode “The Absolute Truth” (January 28, 1949), the script never uses the word “lie” – just “exaggerate”. Both of these episodes were combined for “Lucy Tells The Truth” (ILL S3;E6)

“George is Drafted – Liz’s Baby” ~ January 27, 1951

Synopsis ~ George gets a letter asking him to serve on the local draft board, and Liz thinks he’s been drafted.  George thinks Liz’s emotional state is because she is having a baby!

• Basis for the “I Love Lucy” episode “Drafted” (ILL S1;E11) 

“Liz’s Inferiority Complex” ~ February 3, 1951

Synopsis ~ After messing up a joke, bombing at bridge, and lousing up George’s breakfast, Liz develops an inferiority complex.

• Basis for the “I Love Lucy” episode “The Inferiority Complex” (ILL S2;E18) 

“The Misunderstanding of the Black Eye” ~ February 10, 1951

Synopsis ~ When the Atterburys ask how Liz got her black eye, Liz jokingly answers “Oh, George slugged me,” and now they won’t believe any other explanation.

• Basis for the “I Love Lucy” TV episode “The Black Eye” (ILL S2;E20)

“Renewal of the Driver’s License”* ~ February 17, 1951

“The Two Mothers-in-Law”* ~ February 24, 1951

“The Passports” ~ March 3, 1951

Synopsis ~  Liz is all set to get her passport and join George on a trip to Paris, until she discovers that the Hall of Records has no record of her birth!

• Basis for the “I Love Lucy” episode “The Passports” (ILL S5;E11) 

“The Surprise Party” ~ March 10, 1951

Synopsis ~ Iris lets slip that one of Liz’s friends is throwing a party Saturday night, and Liz and George aren’t invited. But which friend is it?

“Liz Hires a New Secretary for George”* ~ March 17, 1951

”Liz and Iris’s Easter” ~ March 24, 1951

Synopsis ~  The boys make a deal with the girls, if Liz and Iris can slim down to the same dress size they wore ten years ago, George and Rudolph will buy each of them a whole new Easter outfit.

• Basis for the “I Love Lucy” episode “The Diet” (ILL S1;E3) 

“The April Fool Joke”* ~ March 31, 1951

* = Episodes not available for preview. May be lost.