MovieChat Forums > I Love Lucy (1951) Discussion > Lucy's Selfishness

Lucy's Selfishness

posted 7 years ago by [email protected] (1732)
11 replies | jump to latest

We all know that Lucy was a very self-centered character, as human and funny as she was.
Sometimes she'd say something so ridiculous it was a mind-blower.

Here's one exchange that still gets me.

In "Lucy Hates to Leave", she and Ricky move in with Fred and Ethel. On top of that,
Lucy buys back all of their furniture, cramping everyone in that small apartment. Yet
Lucy asks Fred, "Where's Ethel?" After Fred tells her Ethel went down to get sandwiches
for dinner (which she obviously is PAYING for), Lucy replies with the unbelievable
"SANDWICHES?! After the way we've been working, I was looking forward to a HOT meal."

Uh, earth to LUCY. She and Ricky should've offered to TAKE THE MERTZES OUT FOR DINNER,
yet Lucy is expecting Ethel to COOK dinner after helping THEM all day.

I also think Lucy is "too big for her britches" when she's TELLING Ricky how to read for
Don Juan. "You're not doing the way I want you to." Oh, brother.

Any others?

[–] [email protected] (5856) 7 years ago

Lucy WAS expecting a "hot meal". Yeah, never thought about that one. They should have taken the Mertzes out to dinner. Mrs. Trumbull would probably have enjoyed babysitting little Ricky one last time.

However in fairness to Lucy, Fred DID rent their apartment right out from under them! it wasn't their fault that they couldn't get into their new house for a few weeks. However, in real life, the title search would have been taken care of when they signed the mortgage at the bank. Just a sitcom contrivance here.

But yes, Lucy did expect the Mertzes to be at her beck and call. In "Lucy Tells the Truth", she wants to go with Ricky to the auditions. She doesn't even ASK Ethel to babysit.

She just says, "Will you watch little Ricky? Thank you." And she runs to the bedroom to get changed.

She just expects Ethel to say yes.

In the episode when she tries to play matchmaker with Sam and Dorothy she keeps ringing Ethel's doorbell every hour all night because "Ricky isn't home yet!"

Lucy made Ricky angry because he needed to get to sleep and she expected him to stay up and entertain their guests, the guests which she sprung on him at the last minute. That was hardly Ethel's fault.
I can't imagine waking someone every hour all night long just because I had a problem. And to top it off, Lucy wants Ethel to go and sleep in her apartment to take care of the baby since she can't be there "just waiting for him."
A lot of selfishness in that scene!

[–] [email protected] (1732) 7 years ago

I also think it's rude of Lucy to beg Ethel and Fred to kiss up to each other, then when they come through (looking like
fools), Lucy glares at them and says, "Oh, shut up", followed by "It's too LATE, Ethel!" As if it's Fred and Ethel's fault
that Ricky acted like an ass (and I think Ricky IS very rude in this episode).

[–] AndrewHNPX (42) 7 years ago

Well she was almost unfathomably selfish in the screen test episode.

[–] [email protected] (5856) 7 years ago

Well Lucy said Hollywood was looking for "new faces".

"That face! That face! Get me that girl!"

It was a funny situation for a sitcom, but Lucy was really thoughtless. She almost destroyed Ricky's chances of getting into the movies. And she did want to go to Hollywood. So it was a doubly stupid move on her part!

[–] [email protected] (1732) 7 years ago

This episode marks a turning point. It was in the Hollywood arc that Lucy got so selfish that she became
completely destructive to Ricky's career. I also think it's dreadful what she does to both Ricky AND Orson
Welles, but I also abhor that offering, as I find it clunky. And the guest star thing had really gotten old.

Here's another in Lucy's ROYAL selfishness: Her behavior on the tour bus (Richard Widmark show) is beyond
belief. Yes, the bus driver baits her, but Lucy is soooooooooo selfish about the window seat, where they sat,
and expecting the driver to WAIT for her while she STOLE a grapefruit off Widmark's backyard tree!

[–] [email protected] (5856) 7 years ago

Oh I forgot about Lucy on the tour bus. She HAD to have the window seat because she was "right handed". Then she had to have the window seat on the other side.
Ethel asks: You have two right hands?

She did get her comeuppance when that rather large woman sat on her! LOL

Lucy didn't consider that she was trespassing on private property when she stole a grapefruit off Richard Widmark's tree, but she was.

Interesting coincidence in that years later Lucille Ball had to deal with tourists camping out on HER front lawn, the same lawn we see briefly in that episode.

[–] [email protected] (1732) 7 years ago

I can't imagine how Ball (and her neighbors, Jack Benny, for one) tolerated this. If it were me, I'd call the police,
which I'm sure she did. But then more tourists show up, right? I can't imagine doing that to a star (you know,
a PERSON). It's very creepy.

Two other similar stories:

In the same period as the Widmark show (1950's), the tour buses went through Beverly Hills frequently. One
time, Judy Garland walked out of her house, her hair on end, in a bath robe, to fetch the morning paper.
Just then a bus stopped out in front, and she could hear the bus driver - on his mic - saying, "THERE she
is! That's Judy Garland now - you know, she tried to commit suicide at MGM." Judy attempted to
buy up all the maps, but it didn't work.

John Anderson, the great character actor who appeared on "Twlight Zone", and "The Outer Limits"
had sci fi weirdos camped out on HIS front lawn (and he wasn't even a "star."). He could get quite gruff
with them, stating, "Don't you people have anything better to do??"

Lucy was good to fans (she was good to me, and she was WORKING), but I've heard she was a real
tyrant to work for.

[–] Gubbio (3893) 7 years ago

I've heard she was a real tyrant to work for.

I read that when she ran Desilu, some people referred to her as Lucille BALLS ! 😲

[–] [email protected] (5856) 7 years ago

gbennett--- I recall that you said Lucille Ball was very nice about signing an autograph for you backstage on "Life with Lucy".

However it's different to be gracious to fans while in public and another thing to have your privacy invaded at home or when you are going about personal business.

I used to watch the soap Another World years ago. Victoria Wyndham played "bad girl" Rachel Frame. I saw her on a talk show when she said that a woman accosted her in a department store and started hitting her with her purse.

The fan couldn't understand how Rachel could be so mean to "sweet Alice", her rival on the show. Some fans need a reality check!

[–] LuvvieHowell (16) 7 years ago

I completely agree with you. I've watched ILL for over 50 years and I still enjoy many episodes, but Lucy's incredible immaturity and selfishness are hard to take. Funny, i didn't notice then when I was much younger. Now I find her intolerable in some episodes.

She whines and complains SO MUCH.

[–] [email protected] (5856) 7 years ago

Lucy does whine like a five year old! She was SO thrilled with getting out to Hollywood. They arrived and were ushered into their beautiful suite. Ricky was invited to the studio for lunch, but Lucy was not invited.

Her immediate whiny-a@@ comment was, "I don't get to do anything!!" Boo hoo! What a crybaby.

Ricky suggested that she start unpacking. Her response, "After the fun of unpacking wears off, then what?"
Seriously Lucy, everyone has to unpack when they go on a long trip! She had this childish expectation that everything should be fun, fun, fun, all the time!
Of course her later encounter with Bill Holden at The Brown Derby was fun!