Lucy Episode Where Rickys Band Dress as Women

July 30, 2022 Post a Comment

(S3;E25 ~ April 12, 1954) Directed by William Asher. Written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. Filmed March 11, 1954 at Ren-Mar Studios. Rating: 59.1/85

Synopsis ~ With the treasury of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League $1.14, it is suggested they host a dance. When Ricky won't volunteer his services, the members form an all-girl orchestra that is woefully inept!

This episode was rerun during season five with a new opening in which Lucy and Ethel are studying French books for the upcoming trip to Europe. Ricky enters and announces he's booked to play the London Palladium. A messenger delivers two large gift-wrapped boxes, which turn out to contain travel toothbrushes as a going-away present from the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League – which is all their budget could afford. This leads remembering the club dance as a way to raise money for the club. Very few of these 'intros' survive as they were not part of syndication and only aired once or twice.

At the beginning of the club meeting, all the girls are gossiping about the marital problems of Jim and Dorothy Wynn. They are the same couple who sent Ricky flowers when he fibbed about his sprained ankle in "Lucy Tells the Truth" (S3;E6). Lucy wants to know if Jim really gave Dorothy a black eye. Lucy should know not to trust gossip about black eyes, since "The Black Eye" (S2;E20) Lucy got from Ricky tossing her a book was the source of lots of gossip!

ETHEL: "When Lucy plays the saxophone, it sounds like a moose with a head cold. I heard her play 'Glow Worm' once and no way."

Ethel is referring to Lucy's attempt at joining Ricky's act in "The Saxophone" (S2;E2).

The song that the girls try to play for the club dance is "Twelfth Street Rag." It was published by Euday L. Bowman in 1914. Years earlier, a friend of Bowman's opened a pawn shop on 12th Street. Bowman is rumored to have said "If you get rich on those three balls, I'll write a piece on three notes to make myself rich."The result became one of the best-selling rags of the ragtime era.

In Ricky's group, Marco Rizo plays the piano, Ralph Brady is on trombone, and Tony Terran on trumpet.

Ethel's keyboard skills seem to come and go. Here she barely can plunk out a tune, but in "Breaking the Lease" (S1;E18) and "The Operetta" (S2;E3), she's another Liberace! Marion Strong (Shirley Mitchell) is the troupe's publicist and doesn't play in the orchestra. This is the character's last appearance on the series, but we learn her husband's name is Bill. Besides Ethel on the '88's', Lucy plays her saxophone, Carolyn Appleby (Doris Singleton) plays the drums, Marie plays the trumpet, and Jane (Fern Jaros) plays the trombone. The latter three un-credited performers are new to the cast, and were likely hired for their familiarity with the instruments.

Blooper Alert! During the club meeting, Caroline mentions that Neeva Summer plays the violin and indicates the woman on her right. Marion chimes in that Jane Beebo plays the trumpet, pointing to the woman on her left. But when the troupe is assembled in Ethel's apartment, Lucy introduces the violinist as Marie and the trombonist as Jane Beebo. It was probably Lucille Ball who mis-identified the band members since she had the most dialogue to contend with while Doris Singleton and Shirley Mitchell only have a couple of lines, and probably would have gotten them right.

When news that Ricky is involved with Lucy's group hits the papers, Lucy does everything she can to avoid him seeing the news!

Oops! The headline of the New York Gazette reads "Bond Issue Defeated." The same exact prop newspaper was used in "Ricky's Old Girlfriend" (S3;E12).

RICKY: "Fred, would you like to get your coat and take a little stroll down to the corner newsstand with me?"

As Ricky and Fred round the corner headed for the newsstand, they are in front of Roseland, and the 8th Avenue Subway. It seems Ricky and Fred's "little stroll" to get a newspaper has taken them past quite a few "corners" from their East 68th Street apartment house.

Oops! The station for the 8th Avenue (IND) subway near Roseland was at 50 Street and 8th Avenue, a block South and another (long) block West.

The Roseland Ballroom was originally located at Broadway and 51st Street, but this location was torn down in 1956 (two years after this episode first aired) and move to 52nd and Eighth. That location closed for good in 2014.

At the news stand, there are three different issues of TV Guide displayed:

February 26, 1954 issue featuring Liberace. Liberace was mentioned three times on "I Love Lucy" and will guest star as himself on a 1970 episode of "Here's Lucy."
March 12, 1954 issue featuring Maria Riva, actress and daughter of Marlene Dietrich. Lucy would play Dietrich from The Blue Angel in a 1971 episode of "Here's Lucy."
January 12, 1954 issue with "I've Got A Secret" on the cover. Lucille Ball appeared on the game show four times.

There are also glimpses of periodicals like Art Photography, Auto Age, Life, Readers Digest, Sports, and National Geographic.

About the newspapers, Ricky mentions the morning and afternoon editions. At the time, there were seven daily newspapers in New York City, and most of them published a morning and an afternoon/evening edition. Today, newspapers are lucky to publish once a day, if they haven't gone online completely.

The newsstand also has a rack of paperback pulp novels in a display rack labeled Lion Books. Lion was formed in 1949 and sold in 1957. Their titles were 25 cents and sometimes featured provocative cover art.

"Ricky Loses His Temper" (S3;E19) features the same issue with "I've Got A Secret" on the cover. The Arnazes felt a debt of gratitude to the magazine for putting Lucy on the cover of their very first national edition exactly one year before this episode aired.

Two weeks after it was broadcast, Lucy graced yet another TV Guide cover, one of two in 1954. Lucy has been seen on a total of 36 TV Guide covers, more than any other person.

While Lucy is taking care of the newspaper problem, Ethel sits with Little Ricky, who is mentioned but not seen in this episode. Typically, Lucy would call Mrs. Trumbull for babysitting services.

For More about "I Love Lucy" andTV GUIDE Click Here!

For More about Magazines Seen on "I Love Lucy" Click Here!

For More about Newspapers Seen on "I Love Lucy" Click Here!

Oops! When Ricky's 'dragtime' band files out to take their places through a curtain.But after the last man is through the curtain, just before Ricky emerges, head down in embarrassment, a nearly imperceptible film edit was made. If you look closely you can tell by the movement of the curtain.

This is reportedly one of Desi Arnaz's least-favorite episodes, but he never said why. Perhaps it was having his band dress in drag in the final scene? This was five years before the release of Some Like It Hot, in which Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon dress like women to join an all-girl band. Marilyn Monroe, a star frequently mentioned on "I Love Lucy," was also in the film.

One of the best known all-girl orchestras was led by Phil Spitalny, who frequently appeared on Ed Sullivan's "Toast of the Town" in the early 1950s. In "Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer" (S1;E10), Ricky threatens his band by saying "The first fellow who acts like he's playing in his sleep is going to get traded to Phil Spitalny."In a way, that threat was made good in "Lucy's Club Dance!"

FAST FORWARD!

The idea of Ricky refusing to lend his services and Lucy forming an ad-hoc band to play in public was explored again during Season 6 in "Ragtime Band" (S6;E21).

Dances were popular social events in the 1950s and '60s. Here's a look at some dances attended by Lucy…

Sexy Diana Jordan (Barbara Eden) certainly was the attraction at Westport's "Country Club Dance." If she had a 'dance card' this might be what it looked like. Diana's heart belonged to Pat Boone!

Lucy Carmichael is also invited to a country club dance - but can't get her skates off in this 1964 episode of "The Lucy Show."

If a dance is thrown by the super rich, it is known as a soiree or a ball. Lucy Carmichael models herself after a fair lady named Eliza Doolittle in this 1965 episode of "The Lucy Show."

Here Lucy Carter is on the arm of a joker named Tony Rivera (Caesar Romero) in a 1969 episode of "Here's Lucy."

If it was drag that made Desi Arnaz uncomfortable, it didn't seem to bother William Frawley, who wore a wig and make-up in "Ricky Asks For A Raise" (S1;E35). In future Lucy-coms, Gale Gordon also often proved that "females are fabulous."