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Episodes When Lucy Cleaned Up Her Own "Mess"

posted a year ago by Corryveckan45 (179)
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Many episodes of ILL end with Lucy's shenanigans blowing up in her face and her making that classic "spider" face ("Ewww!")

But I've noticed there are a few episodes where Lucy manages to extricate herself from her own "disaster." I can think of 2 off the top of my head:

"Ricky Asks for a Raise": Lucy eggs Ricky into asking his boss Mr. Littlefield for a raise with disastrous results when Mr. Littlefield fires Ricky. Then, with the Mertzes' help she manages to get Ricky's job back by reserving all the tables at the Tropicana (I like her "Tallulah Bankhead" impression), and then, with the Mertzes in two, she comes in to the club and exits immediately, outraged, when she finds out Ricky isn't appearing at the club anymore.

"Ricky Needs an Agent": Lucy poses as Ricky's agent to ccompel MGM into giving him a motion picture by saying that he's wanted for a big musical on Broadway. It all backfires when Metro releases Ricky from his contract. Lucy manages to straighten things out by calling MGM and "warning" them that some woman is posing as Ricky's agent, and MGM rehires Ricky.

Any Others?

[–] [email protected] (6224) a year ago

I don't know if this counts. In the Hollywood episode when she buys the $500 dress at Don Loper's salon, she is willing to model a dress (actually an itchy tweed suit!) in the fashion show even though she had a terrible sunburn. She was going to get her dress for free. So she was willing to suffer some physical pain to get that dress.

But later, she does keep the check Ricky gave her to "buy back" the dress.

Also, in the episode when she bought the hostess pants for Ethel's birthday, she does apologize at the end of the episode. Actually both women do. They were a blubbering, crying mess while watching the play "Over the Teacups". The main character's best friend had just died.

In the Club Dance episode, Ricky makes the newspapers stating that he will be performing with an "all girl" band. Lucy came up with the idea of having some of the Tropicana musicians appear in drag at the dance.

[–] Corryveckan45 (179) a year ago

Gppd Examples, PJ,

I thought of the Don Loper episode, but didn't include it for the reason you've mentioned: that Lucy apparently kept the $500 check Ricky left. I've always been puzzled by this episode because in the Paris episode when Lucy wants a Paris gown, Ricky produces a photocopy of an agreement Lucy signed in which she promised never to ask for another expensive dress if Ricky bought her "a Don Loper original." Did Lucy buy another Don Loper dress with the check Ricky gave her?

You're right about Lucy apologizing in the "Ethel's Birthday" episode, but I tend to blame Ethel a little more for this mess than I do Lucy. Granted, Lucy made an inappropriate choice for Ethel's gift, and Ethel was freely venting her frustration over it while "Fred" wasn't there, but at least it wasn't one of "Fred's" crazy presents that no one could even figure out what they were! (I also felt really sorry for the poor guy who was just trying to watch the play and kept having it spoiled by Lucy and Ethel's bickering.)

She definitely figures a way out of the "girl orchestra" dilemma. Once again, I feel really bad for the band members who have to dress in drag (I hope Ricky gave them all bonuses!) but even though we don't see the performance, we're led to believe that the audience bought it.

[–] [email protected] (6224) a year ago

Concerning the Don Loper dress, perhaps Lucy signed the agreement before she went to the salon. But if I was Ricky, I wouldn't have believed Lucy's promise even if she got it notarized!

With the "all girl orchestra", I tend to think that the audience caught on and figured it was a clever publicity stunt. They were great musicians, but they were the homeliest "girls" ever. It's almost a dead giveaway when they walk out from behind the curtain. You can put a man in a wig and a dress, but he still walks like a man! lol

[–] Corryveckan45 (179) 10 months ago

I agree. I don't think the "All Girl Orchestra" fooled anyone, and the men, understandably, all looked embarrassed and upset as they came onstage.

I realize Ricky didn't want to upset Lucy, or hurt any of the other ladies' feelings, but it's frustrating that he couldn't just be honest with all of them and tell them that none of them had the talent/training to be an effective orchestra. Sometimes you have to be honest, even if it hurts.

Of course, it's also incredible that each of these ladies thought she was talented enough to play professionally.

[–] [email protected] (6224) 10 months ago

Yes it was funny that these women thought they sounded good!

I always get a kick out of the scene where Ricky brings some of his band to Ethel's apartment to demonstrate how to play "Twelfth Street Rag". Like you could learn to play like professional musicians after listening to them play a song! It takes years of practice.

[–] Corryveckan45 (179) 10 months ago

I always get a kick out of Ricky's reaction to the girls playing. After trying to encourage them by syaing the tune should be "bright, lively, etc." and the girls all agree. Ricky gives them the tempo and right after they start, he practically falls down when he hears how bad it sounds.

I also like Ricky's later comment to Lucy: "I am not going to be responsible for your sour sextet! (or is it "septet"? lol).

An unusual coda to this episode and "Ragtime Band": In the episode of The Lucy/Desi Comedy Hour with Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams, Ethel provides a lovely understated accompaniment to Adams' rendition of the standard "That's All." Guess she found a great piano teacher to bring out the genuine talent/ability she had under all those earlier sour notes.

She also plays the piano pretty well in the "Breaking the Lease" episode.

[–] [email protected] (6224) 10 months ago

Another episode (just thought of it) was when Lucy and Ethel sold their home made salad dressing. They did attempt to deliver all those jars by pasting labels on store bought dressing.

However, the ending was full of holes. How on Earth did they get those grocery carts down the stairs? The brownstone had no elevator. And New York City is a huge place. They would've been roller skating for days!!

That's true about Ethel's piano playing. In the early episodes like the one you mentioned, Ethel could play the piano.. Later on when the script called for it, she played badly.

[–] Corryveckan45 (179) 10 months ago

Right on, PJ!

It's a funny setup, but I never understood how Lucy and Ethel were supposed to get down the apartment house stairs with those shopping carts, and on ROLLER SKATES yet!

After all, weren't these the same dangerous steps a preoccupied dancing "Arthur Morton" fell down after he took one too many "sidesteps"? lol

And he didn't even have a shopping cart to contend with.

[–] [email protected] (6224) 10 months ago

The salad dressing episode was a classic as far as Ethel and Lucy doing those TV commercials. That was hilarious.

The women tried to fix the mess they created by underselling their product at a loss. But they would have probably been in legal trouble if any of the people they sold the dressing to also happened to have the same jar of store bought stuff!

AS an aside, I remember a similar thing that happened for real. My son was out in California going to school. He and his roommate ordered pizza one night and it took hours to be delivered. They thought it didn't taste at all like a fresh pizza from a pizzeria.

So they decided to drive to the place and check it out. It turned out to be a private home and when the guy opened the door they saw stacks of frozen pizza boxes from the grocery store. lol

They didn't report it or anything. They just gave him credit for being so clever.

[–] Corryveckan45 (179) 9 months ago

Lucy and Ethel hawking that salad dressing was one of the best Ball/Vance routines in the entire series, and wasn't Ethel terrific as "Mary Margaret MacMertz"?! I think she actually could have made a living as a commercial chef/spokesperson.

And yes, I agree they would have been n tremendous legal trouble (Fraud anyone?) if their customers found out they'd been sold a previously marketed brand of dressing.

That pizza delivery man was indeed fortunate that your son and his roommate were so forgiving. He'd likely have been in real trouble if they had decided to pursue charges against him, though they might have felt it wasn't worth all the hassle over a couple of pizzas.

Just shows how Art can imitate life, no? lol!

[–] [email protected] (6224) 9 months ago

I had that thought myself a long time ago. Forget the salad dressing, Lucy and Ethel could have made a fortune doing commercials for other peoples' products. They were hilarious.

[–] Corryveckan45 (179) 9 months ago

True. I guess the only problem would be whether the audience would take their efforts seriously. Remember how disastrous it was when they tried to "unsell" the salad dressing?

I especially liked the letter that said, "Keep kidding the product. That's the American Way! Please send me 3 jars!"

[–] Megan254 (380) 24 days ago

In The Seance, Lucy reads Ricky's horoscope and believes trouble will be in store for him, so she tells Mr. Merriweather no, thinking he's Ricky's barber, but he's a man who wants to hire Ricky for a show. Ricky takes Lucy down to his office to settle things. She tells him they're having a seance at their apartment that night. The poor man thinks he's talking to his late wife and late dog, but it makes him happy, and Ricky gets the job.

In Amateur Hour, Lucy buys an expensive dress, even though it's on sale. Ricky tells her that if she can come up with the money, she can keep it. Lucy gets a job babysitting two bratty twin boys, and then makes money being in the show with them.

[–] [email protected] (6224) 21 days ago

Lucy went on TV another time to fix up a mess. She went to visit Caroline Appleby to show off Little Ricky and the two women got into a fight over who had the cutest baby.

Caroline was upset and told her husband Charlie who ran a TV station. He was going to cancel Ricky’s appearance on the show. But Lucy came up with a plan. She introduced little Stevie Appleby as the “cutest baby” in the world.
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