BEHIND THE WHEEL!

Lucy & Cars  ~ Part One

In the 1950s, the lure of the open road and the new media of television collided (metaphorically speaking), and “I Love Lucy” was at the forefront of popularizing automobile travel! 

“Liz Learns To Drive” (1948) ~ George teaches Liz to drive and she immediately gets in an accident. Through a communications mix-up, George thinks Liz has intentionally run over George’s high school sweetheart, Myra Ponsenby!

LIZ: I’m looking at you through an automobile ad. The new Nash has blue eyes for headlights. And your ears look like both doors are wide open.

“Liz Teaches Iris To Drive” (1950) ~ The Atterburys have bought a new car but Rudolph refuses to teach Iris how to drive. Liz readily volunteers to be Iris’s driving instructor.

LIZ (To Iris, about the rear view mirror): That’s so you can put on lipstick while you’re driving and still keep one hand on the wheel.

“Safe Driving Week” (1950) ~ 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.  

• GEORGE: They’re having a big ceremony at the site of the new automobile club. There’s going to be a parade of all the drivers in town who haven’t gotten a ticket in ten years. 
• LIZ: Well, that’ll be a short parade.

On “I Love Lucy,” the first time we hear about a car is in “The Marriage License” (1952). Ricky says it is a 125 mile drive to Greenwich (Connecticut), but we never learn where the car they drive comes from. Whether it was rented or owned, it later cost just $3.25 to fully gas up the mystery vehicle. In “The Camping Trip” (1953), Lucy recruits Ethel as her accomplice in besting Ricky. Ethel drives up to the camp site and waits in the (unseen) car for instructions. Here, Ethel knows how to drive and has a car, but but only a year and a half later, she claims she’s never learned. 

A magazine ad for 1952 Henry J featured Lucille Ball andDesi Arnaz. They got a HJ Corsair as part payment for their appearance. The Henry J was built by the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation and named after its chairman, Henry J. Kaiser.  The car was marketed from 1950 through 1954.

“Getting Ready” (1954) ~ The first time we see a real automobile on the series is when the gang is getting ready to drive to Hollywood. 

Although Lucy has her heart set on a blue Cadillac convertible, Fred visits his old friend  Al Hergersheimer, a used car salesman from Brooklyn who used to be in vaudeville with the Mertzes. He sells him a dilapidated 1923 blue Cadillac convertible for $300.

Needless to say, Lucy and the gang are disappointed in Fred’s taste in cars. 

“Lucy Learns To Drive” (1954) ~ The 1955 Pontiac Star Chief convertible used starting with this episode was part of a product placement deal with General Motors. The script even has Ricky promoting that the car’s 180 horsepower and automatic transmission. Pontiac replaced its straight eight with a new V-8 engine in 1955. In her book Laughing with Lucy, writer Madelyn Pugh says that each of the writers received a new car for two years because of this agreement.

This episode features both the Cadillac and the Pontiac, which – through a convoluted set of circumstances – get locked together!  

“California, Here We Come!” (1955) ~ Fred has sold the Cadillac (and is in a daze about the money he’s lost) and the Pontiac takes center stage.  

Packing the Pontiac for the road trip was a challenge. 

Second unit location footage of the Pontiac (a road-worthy version) is seen departing New York City and crossing the George Washington Bridge. The actors in the location vehicle were doubles for the cast, who remained in Hollywood. 

After the Pontiac drives off down 68th Street, the episode employs a mix of studio film and second unit footage of the car driving to the on ramp and over the bridge. Footage shot during that day also is used in rear projection for the driving sequence.

The scene where the Ricardos and Mertzes sing while crossing the bridge is the first process shot ever used on television. According to head editor Dann Cahn:

“I packed up and I met an agency in New York and I went across the George Washington Bridge and made that famous first process shot for television – which was when they went across the bridge singing ‘California Here We Come.’ They were in the Pontiac with the top down, but they were sitting on the sound stage with the audience. And behind them was the what we called a process film plate, which I shot out of the rear end of a station wagon going across the bridge, and it was projected behind them on the screen. And that was the first process photography for television.”

Oops! In the scene playing behind the foursome, you can see the Pontiac driving on the bridge behind them! This was footage shot by the director, still unsure of how it might be used.

“First Stop” (1955) ~ The episode opens with second unit footage of the Pontiac driving through Ohio. A very funny sequence has the gang searching for a place to eat by following roadside signs.  

It is intercut with studio-shot film of the actors in the car on the soundstage. 

At the end of the episode, Mr. Skinner booby traps the Pontiac after stealing the steering wheel. 

“Tennesee Bound” (1955) ~ The Pontiac is seen speeding across a rural bridge. When the on-location scene was filmed, second unit director Jack Aldworth wanted the car to go faster. So he got behind the wheel himself and was promptly pulled over for speeding, just as in the episode! He got the charges dropped when he discovered that the police officer was a huge Lucy fan. 

The studio Pontiac pulls into a gasoline station manned by a hayseed played by future producer Aaron Spelling. 

“Ethel’s Hometown” (1955) ~ Before arriving in New Mexico, there is second unit footage of the Pontiac at the Texas Ann Hotel in Amarillo, where the gang have an overnight stay. 

There is also roadside footage of the Pontiac entering Albuquerque on the famous Route 66. 

“L.A. at Last!” (1955) ~ The gang arrive in Hollywood with extensive establishing footage of the Pontiace on the famous Los Angeles freeway. 

The Pontiac with the actor doubles drives into frame. Coming alongside is a 1953 Studebaker. 

The Pontiac pulls into the entrance of the fictitious Beverly Palms Hotel. This is the last we see or hear of the Pontiac until “Ricky Sells the Car” (1956) at the end of their stay in Tinseltown. 

Before pulling into the driveway of the hotel, they pass a 1946 Cadillac Funeral Coach. Ominous!?! 

“The Tour” (1955) ~ Background vehicles populate the second unit footage of the tour bus driving through Beverly Hills. Here, a 1950 Chevrolet Styline Special is headed the opposite direction. 

In another scene, the tour bus passes a 1950 Pontiac Chieftan. 

A 1955 Imperial passes the bus as it approaches Lexington Drive. 

“The Homecoming” (1955) ~ The gang pulls up to 623 East 68th Street in a taxi cab. The lighted sign atop the cab says ‘sky-view’ which refers to the fact that the vehicle is equipped with a sunroof so tourists could gawk at the skyscrapers during their trip. The sky-view feature was closely associated with DeSoto cabs. The side of the car says Globe Cab Company. The front end of the cab is different color, indicating it might have been cobbled together from several vehicles.

“Staten Island Ferry” (1956) ~ In second unit location footage, a car pulls out of the entrance / exit of the Staten Island Ferry dock. 

“Bon Voyage” (1956) ~ Cars and taxis are seen in the second unit establishing footage in front of New York International Airport where Lucy hires a helicopter to take her to the ship. 

“Off To Florida” (1956) ~ When Lucy looses her train tickets, she must hitch a ride to Miami with a suspected hatchet murderess!  

For the exterior location footage, a 1949 Dodge Wayfarer was driven.

A 1951 Dodge Coronet was used in the studio shots. Few viewers noticed the difference. 

The location footage was likely filmed in Southern California. As usual, the actors never left the studio. 

“Lucy and Superman” (1957) ~ Looking down from the ledge, Lucy sees traffic on East 68th Street, including a taxi cab. 

“The Ricardos Dedicate a Statue” (1957) ~ While seraching for Fred the dog, viewers catch a glimpse of a 1957 Ford. Ford was the show’s sponsor in the final season. Lucy decapitates the statue by not looking in the rear view mirror! 

LUCY: I jumped in the car and forgot all about the trailer and backed right into that elm tree. 

This is the only mention of the Ricardos owning a car during the Westport episodes. 

“Lucy Takes A Cruise To Havana” (1957) ~ The first of the hour-long episodes features location footage of Ricky and Carlos’ carriage navigating the Havana harbor highways alongside a line of cars. When politcal tensions turned violent, Desi Arnaz told his second unit director and crew to get back to the States immediately. 

“The Celebrity Next Door” (1957) ~ New neighbor Tallulah Bankhead’s chauffeur (Richard Deacon) borrows the Ricardos’ paint sprayer, which runs amok ruining her new 1958 Ford Country Sedan. 

“Lucy Hunts Uranium” (1958) ~ During the location footage and the extensive automobile chase scenes in the episode’s second half, the Ricardos drive a Custom Cab Ford pickup truck, guest star Fred MacMurray drives a 1957 Ford Thunderbird and the Mertzes are still driving the same 1922 Cadillac roadster that Fred bought for the trip to California in 1955, even though it was supposedly used as a trade-in for the Pontiac! 

While shooting in the desert, the crew had difficulty making one of the cars come to a skidding stop to complete the scene. Frustrated, Desi Arnaz finally got into the car himself and performed the stunt perfectly. After receiving applause from the cast and crew, it was discovered that the camera had no film in it! Desi went ballistic while the rest of the crew got hysterical.

One of the Ford commercials aired during the original broadcast of this episode featured three-time “I Love Lucy” guest star Tennessee Ernie Ford (no relation to Henry).

While the series was sponsored by Ford, William Frawley and Vivian Vance promoted the 1957 Ford Fairlane 500. 

Lucy and Desi demonstrated the features of the 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyline with retractable roof. 

“Lucy Wins a Racehorse” (1958) ~ Establishing footage of the exterior of Roosevelt Raceway is from the POV of a busy car parking lot!  

In establishing footage of the racetrack, the starting gates were pulled by a 1948 Chrysler Windsor. 

“Lucy Goes To Mexico” (1958) ~ While in San Diego, the gang goes by car to Tijuana, Mexico. 

Location footage at the Mexican border shows Lucy, the Mertzes and guest star Maurice Chevalier driving a white 1958 Buick Century convertible. 

The car’s trunk is spacious enough to comfortably accommodate a small Mexican boy or an aging French singer! 

The episode also utilizes a 1958 Buick Limited Riviera 750.

The episode is comprised of studio filming, second unit footage with actor doubles, and stock footage. The main cast never traveled to Mexico or San Diego.  

A Tijuana traffic jam sequence was recreated in studio. 

“Lucy Goes To Alaska” (1959) ~ features a 1948 Willys Jeep racing through the bleak landscape. 

In addition to second unit footage, the jeep was buried in a snowbank recreated in the studio. 

“Lucy Meets the Mustache” (1960) ~ Lucy disguises herself as Ernie Kovacs’ chauffeur driving a 1960 Lincoln Continental Landau four-door hardtop. 

Lucille Ball posed in front of the car for this rare publicity still. 

• ETHEL: A phone in a car! 
• LUCY:That’s what I call luxury!

Coincidentally, during this filming in late 1959, Lucy hired a new driver, Frank Gorey.