MovieChat Forums > I Love Lucy (1951) Discussion > More on Carolyn

More on Carolyn

posted a year ago by Garyandfilm (548)
3 replies | jump to latest

Finished my week-long Carolyn Appleby marathon, which included "The Dancing Star", the Van Johnson offering I very rarely watch, as it's not a fave of mine, despite how strong the episode is.

One thing has always bothered me. Since Carolyn never had bad eyesight before (it was strong enough for her to read music in "Lucy's Club Dance"), I think it would've been sharper writing to have had Carolyn lose her contact lenses on the plane. This way, we could assume she always wore contacts. As for the sudden appearance of glasses, Carolyn could've mentioned that Charlie packed the glasses for her as an emergency backup. His doing this would've made sense considering how bad Carolyn's vision was.

Thoughts?

[–] [email protected] (6082) a year ago

Yeah, the whole "Carolyn loses her glasses" scenario was nonsense. She never wore glasses before OR after the Hollywood episodes. I am sure the writers had to come up with something to have Lucy impersonate all those movie stars and to have Carolyn be fooled by Lucy. So nearsightedness was their best option. LOL

Contact lenses would have been more believable. But I don't think they were as common as they are today. Very few people wore them in the fifties except for movie stars. At least that's what I've heard.

Regarding the Van Johnson episode, one of my favorite Hollywood episodes. Why don't you like it? It's funny and Lucy looks so wonderful in her dancing dress. And Ricky always said that she had "no talent". Bah! She sure could dance.

[–] Garyandfilm (548) a year ago

I'm baffled as much as you are, PJ. Everything about the ep works, but for some reason I cannot pinpoint, it's not a fave. But since I rarely watch it, I really enjoyed it last week, as it played so fresh for me.

Two of my mom's young friends wore contacts in the 1950s. They also had backup glasses. No reason why the writers couldn't come up with that premise.

Maybe when Carolyn had her nose fixed, her vision was impaired!!

Sad side note: a few minutes before 9:AM on April 26th, 1989, I turned on my TV as I was getting ready for work. It was L.A.'s KTTV, channel 11. A male newscaster was briefly running through morning news and announced that Ball had died at 5:45 AM at Cedars Sinai. I sat in total shock as they then broadcast two episodes - "The Dancing Star" and "Oil Wells." It was so hard to process - it had been a week since her surgery and Lucy had improved to the point where she was up and walking.

[–] [email protected] (6082) a year ago

That is a sad side note. I remember the day so well. I saw the headlines in the newspaper and I was on my way to the store. I cried in the car.

I always remember the day because it was my mom's birthday.

As for Carolyn wearing contacts, it would have made more sense. I used to wear them and once in a while I lost one, but I never lost both! Still it would've been better than her sudden need for glasses.