THE WILD BLUE YONDER!

Lucy & Aviation

Thanks to Orville and Wilbur Wright, the world became a smaller place and travel by air become as commonplace as train or car travel. Lucille Ball and her many characters had lots of reasons to take to the ‘friendly skies’. 

Orville and Wilbur Wright were inventors and pioneers of aviation. In 1903 the Wright brothers achieved the first powered, sustained and controlled airplane flight; they surpassed their own milestone two years later when they built and flew the first fully practical airplane. The Wrights were mentioned several times in the Lucyverse:

• Olin Howland (Mr. Skinner in “First Stop” 1955) ~ As a young man he learned flying from the Wright Brothers.
• “Speech for a Civic Organization” (1949) ~ Liz (Lucille Ball) intends to speak about the Wright Brothers, despite her favorite husband’s objections.
• “The Good Years” (1962) ~ Orville and Wilbur were mentioned in this TV special starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda.
• “Swing Out Sweet Land” (1970) ~ Dan Rowan and Dick Martin played the Wright Brothers and Lucy voiced the Statue of Liberty in John Wayne’s TV special celebrating American history.  

As a busy radio, film and television star, Lucille Ball was constantly photographed boarding and disembarking from aircraft.  In the early days of air travel, most airplanes were boarded from the tarmac.

1930′s ~ Young model Lucille Ball holds a model airplane for a photo shoot. 

May 1938 ~ Publicists created fascinating and completely untrue backgrounds for Hollywood stars. In this article, correspondent Monroe Lathrop claims that Lucille Ball was a skilled aviatrix who shot crocodiles while flying over a jungle river! 

“On a visit to Colombia, Lucille, avid for new adventure, went with friends Into the jungle, meeting a flood that had swollen the streams and overrun the banks with huge crocodiles. Instead of heeding the natives’ warning, Lucille went to wireless station, ordered an airplane and rifles, and spent a day pumping lead into the big green saurians. Natives rewarded her with a generous helping of crocodile steak later.”

Five Came Back (1939) ~ Nine passengers from all walks of life and a crew of three take off from Los Angeles, bound for Panama City, but a sudden storm blows them off course and causes the plane to crash in the Amazon jungle. Lucille Ball played passenger Peggy Nolan. The B film helped Ball launch an A list career.

1940s ~ Lucille Ball poses in a biplane cockpit.

June 1943 – Newspapers reported that actor Jimmy Cagney had christened a B-17 bomber named The Lucille Ball. After it was scrapped due to battle damage, a second bomber was christened The Lucille Ball in 1944. 

A Woman of Distinction (1950) ~ Lucille Ball appears in a cameo as herself, a jet-setting movie star, in this Rosalind Russell / Ray Milland film. 

On “I Love Lucy”, the gang twice discussed flying, but changed plans.

In “Getting Ready” (1955), Lucy insists that air travel to Hollywood will be better for the baby, but when the Mertzes are added to the trip, a road trip is substituted. Little Ricky later flies out with his grandmother.

In “Lucy Makes Room for Danny” (1958), Ricky has a job booked on the West Coast and remarks that it is a good thing they aren’t flying due to Lucy’s over-stuffed luggage. The job is canceled, causing Ricky and Danny to work out the living arrangements.

“Return Home From Europe” (1956) ~ To get back to New York in time to play the Roxy, the Ricardos and Mertzes fly home from Europe, rather than go by ship. Unable to whittle down her luggage allowance, Lucy is intent on smuggling a cheese aboard, disguising it as a baby. 

There are establishing shots of Pan American World Airways (PAA) President Clipper Service. The Clipper in the insert shot is named Bald Eagle. There are two insert shots of Pan Am aircraft: one taking off, and one in mid-flight. The DC-7C (nicknamed “seven seas”) first entered service for Pan Am in December 1955 and was dubbed “the zenith of piston-engine technology.” Pan Am had 27 DC-7Cs flying during 1956. By 1958, jet travel began to overtake propeller airplanes.

The interior of the aircraft was recreated on the Desilu soundstage. The PAA logo is visible on blankets and tote bags, items provided by Pan Am for the use of their name and images of their aircraft as well as possible other promotional consideration. 

“The Ricardos Visit Cuba” (1956) ~ While in Miami, the gang flies to Havana to visit Ricky’s family. 

The gang once again flies Pan American Airways, the same carrier they took home from Europe.  The airline folded in 1991.  

As with their previous flight, there is an establishing shot of the plane in the air and the interior was recreated on the Desilu soundstage. The set is basically the same one used in “Return Home from Europe”.  It also features PAA branded promotional items. 

“Lucy Goes To Mexico” (1958) ~ After their exploits in Tijuana, Ricky and Maurice Chevalier perform on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Yorktown. The background of aircraft landing on the deck was done using a process shot.

“Lucy Goes To Alaska” (1959) ~ The Ricardos and Merztes fly to the brand new state of Alaska, where Ricky and Fred have bought some land and Ricky is doing a TV show with Red Skelton.  Although the action is set in and around Nome, the second unit footage was filmed in Lake Arrowhead, California, about 100 miles from Hollywood. The exteriors were done with doubles and none of the regular cast left their newly-purchased Desilu (formerly RKO) Studio. 

To get from Westport CT to Nome AK, the gang first flies United Airlines, then transfers to Alaska Airlines. There is establishing footage of both planes in mid-flight.

The set features a couple of travel posters for Alaska Airlines, enticing viewers to visit the 49th state for tourism. In the second half of the hour, a small propeller plane is introduced to rescue Red and Lucy from a blizzard.  

• RED: “What’s that blue stuff?”
• ESKIMO PILOT: “Sky.”
• LUCY (To Red): “You act as though you’ve never seen sky before.”
• RED: “I haven’t. I live in Los Angeles.”

The plane is buried in a snowbank. Lucy pays an eskimo pilot $100 to fly her and Red to safety. 

While the plane in the snowbank was filmed in the Hollywood studio, the safe landing was done at Lake Arrowhead using actor doubles. 

“The Ricardos Go To Japan” (1959) ~ The final time we see the gang airborne is on a trip to Japan. Although there is a poster for Japan Airlines (JAL)  in the airport…

 According to the establishing footage of the jet in mid-air, the foursome travels  on United Airlines.

The Facts of Life (1960) ~ The film about two marrieds flirting with infidelity has Kitty Weaver (Lucille Ball) waiting at the airport where a United Airlines jet can be seen on the tarmac in the background. 

“Mr. & Mrs.” aka “The Lucille Ball Comedy Hour” (1964) ~ A comedy special in which Lucille Ball plays the head of a studio trying to track down Bob Hope to star in a show about husband and wife television stars. The first half concerns Lucy’s tracking the elusive Hope all around the world. In San Francisco, there is establishing footage of a jet landing which was supplied courtesy of TWA, a carrier that went out of business in 2001.  

“The Victor Borge Comedy Theatre” (1962) & “Lucy Flies To London” (1966) ~ The unaired pilot for an unsold comedy anthology series hosted by Borge featured a sketch starring Gale Gordon and Lucille Ball as two strangers on a plane. 

It was filmed before “The Lucy Show” paired the two as a comedy duo. In the pilot, the characters were strangers. Gordon played a businessman and Ball a neurotic first-time flyer. 

When it came time for Lucy Carmichael to fly to London for the special “Lucy in London”, the writers realized they could recycle the script from the un-aired pilot for “The Lucy Show” episode. The dialogue is nearly identical, now with the added context that Mr. Mooney and Lucy are boss and secretary.

“Lucy in London” (1966) ~ An hour-long special set in England and filmed on location. The sequence involving Lucy de-planing from the Pan Am Clipper Jet had to be accomplished in between flights already on the tarmac at Heathrow. No planes were available to be grounded for a day of shooting. Coincidentally (or perhaps not) Pan Am was also the carrier when Lucy Ricardo flew home from Europe and from Miami to Havana on “I Love Lucy.”  

“Viv Visits Lucy” (1967) ~ To greet her old friend, Lucy meets her at the airport, where a backdrop shows jets on the tarmac. Lucy looks up and sees Viv’s flight approaching. 

• LUCY: “Oh, look! Someone’s hanging out of the plane. It look like Viv!”
• PILOT: “That’s the landing gear.”
• LUCY: “Oh.” 

“Little Old Lucy” (1967) ~ When the 90 year-old bank president (Dennis Day) needs an escort to the bank’s banquet, Lucy is volunteered.  Lucy and Mr. Mooney meet him at the airport, where jets can be seen in the background. 

“Lucy and Carol Burnett: Part 1 & 2″ (1967) ~ Lucy and Carol Tilford (Carol Burnett) sign up to be flight attendants, then put on a variety show celebrating aviation. They are employed by the fictional Globe World Airlines. 

Instead of asking bachlor GWA VP Mr. Brenner if he would like coffee, tea or milk, Lucy says “coffee, tea or me”!  Earlier in 1967, the book Coffee Tea or Me? was published. It was the alleged memoirs of two stewardess and their romantic and sexual escapades in the air. The popularity of this book may be the reason for this episode.

Frustrated by Lucy and Carol’s bungling, Mr. Brenner (Rhodes Reason) says “Is this any way to run an airline?”  The line gets a huge reaction from the studio audience. In 1963 a National Airlines TV commercial featured a flight attendant asking “Is this any way to run an airline? You bet it is!”  In 1966, singer Tom Paxton wrote and recorded a song with the same title.

In Part Two, their musical salute to aviation features Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen, stars of the very first Academy-Award winning motion picture Wings (1929), a movie about flight. Coincidentally, on the same day this airline-themed episode premiered, the supersonic Concorde was unveiled in France. Also on this date, newspapers announced the crash of a twin-engine plane in Madison, Wisconsin that killed recording star Otis Redding and six others.   

The revue ends with “The Army Air Corps Song” with flight attendants and college boys perched on the wings of a bi-plane. 

“Lucy and the Great Airport Chase” (1969) ~ Filmed on location at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Lucy and Harry get caught up in chasing down spies. Part of the chase takes them onto the tarmac with the jets. 

A Douglas DC-8-52 of United Airlines is on the right and Douglas DC-8-54AF Jet Trader of United Airlines Jet Freighter is in the background.

“The Carol Burnett Show” (1969) ~ In a sketch, Lucy and Carol play flight attendents and Harvey Korman plays a mysterious passenger with a Fidel Castro-like beard, cigars tucked in his breast pocket, and a Spanish accent. When this episode was aired, hijackings were in the news. 

“Lucy, the Sky Diver” (1970) ~ Trying to show her kids how dangerous their hobbies are, Lucy jumps from a plane!  Although there is second unit location footage of the plane and Lucy floating down on her parachute, Lucille Ball remained at the studio and the backlot with a recreation of the aircraft and a simulated parachute. 

“Lucy, the Part-Time Wife” (1970) ~ Lucy and Harry go to the airport to meet an old flame of his (Carole Cook). The airport background shows jets on the tarmac. 

“Lucy Helps David Frost Go Night-Night” (1971) ~ Lucy takes an assignment accompanying David Frost on a transatlantic flight so that he can get some rest. Thanks to Lucy, his flight is anything but restful!  The first class section of a 747 was recreated for the episode. 

The jet seen in the stock footage of the airport is a Pan Am Boeing 747 with an upper deck first class lounge.

David Frost reckons that he has taken 346 air trips or traveled 1,853,000 miles!

Mame (1974) ~ At the end of the film, Auntie Mame waves goodbye as she flies off to her next adventure. 

“Lucy Gets Lucky” (1975) ~ Although Lucy Collins takes the bus to Las Vegas to see her favorite star Dean Martin, at the end of the special she flies off into the sunset with him on his private jet. Dreams come true!