Corryveckan45's Replies


Great picks! William Holden was somewhat two-faced about the whole "pie incident," wasn't he? In the episode when Holden is hit with the pie, he originally protects Lucy and tells Ricky he asked a waiter who the "pretty redhead was" because he thought she should be in movies. But in the episode with John Wayne, Wayne says he's heard a lot about Lucy "from Bill Holden." Maybe Holden figured once the incident became public, he could tell the truth. I notice that in later Hollywood episodes, it's said that Lucy "threw a pie at William Holden." While I do think it was Lucy's fault Holden wound up with a face full of pie, she didn't throw it at him. I think in one of the episodes preparing for the European trip, Fred mentions that he was a Corporal in World War I. Someone mentions Paris and Fred says, "Dry your eyes you cute little Mademoiselles. Corporal Mertz is about to make his triumphant return!" In the Lucy/Desi Comedy Hour episode which re-imagines the first time Lucy and Ricky first met when Lucy took a cruise to Cuba with her friend Ann Sothern, there's a line of narration by Ricky that also on the cruise were the Mertzes on their honeymoom. Ethel is referred to as Fred's "child bride," which suggests that she was much younger than Fred. Check out Kiss Me Kate (probably her best showcase). Easter Parade, On the Town, etc. Really, in any movie she was a beautiful sexy dancer, and unlike most of the talented Hollywood dancing ladies, Miller did her own singing. As one critic said of her appearance in ON THE TOWN: "She's unquestionably a splendid animal." Two of my favorite "non-classic" episodes are "Lucy Goes to Monte Carlo" and "Ragtime Band." In the first, refreshingly, we find Lucy in a mess that, for once, at least initially, is not of her own making. To the contrary, poor Lucy does everything she can to set the Casino owners straight and still winds up with an unwanted fortune. Of course, she makes things worse, trying to hide her winnings from Ricky, but I like when she comes up with Ethel's French Aunt story, and when Ricky demands to know if she's telling the truth, she says, "If I'm not, may I drop dead!" then looks fearfully skyward starts checking her limbs, etc. In "Ragtime Band," the setup is pretty old hat. For the umpteenth time, Lucy promises Ricky will perform for a venue and he refuses to appear, but I like the way Lucy, Ethel and Fred each badmouth the musical abilities of the others to Ricky, especially Ethel's comments: Ricky: Maybe they'll improve with some more practice... Ethel: Maybe, but, well, you should have heard 'em. Lucy's saxophone sounds like a WOUNDED MOOSE calling to its' mate! Ricky (trying not to laugh): And Fred's violin? Ethel (resignedly): Oh, I make better music when I file my nails! The thing is, it's not simply that Darrin objects to Samantha using witchcraft. He has a blanket condemnation toward the Magical World in general. In the episode when he first meets Endora, he calls witchcraft "nonsense." I can understand why Endora (and Samantha's other relatives), as members of a blue ribbon witch family, find this comment deeply offensive. As in the episode where Darrin berates Samantha for using a speed up spell to get ready for a last minute dinner invitation for an important client and then berates for not repairing the flat tire in the pouring rain, Darrin generally is only amenable to the use of witchcraft when it benefits him. Before the incident with the flat tire, the episode makes it clear that the invitation was last minute. It's made clear that not only would Samantha have to rush to get ready even if she had no other responsibilities, but since Endora was late arriving to babysit Tabitha, Samantha had to prepare Tabitha's dinner, feed her and bathe her before Samantha could START getting dressed for the dinner. Darrin's response was not that of a helpful sympathetic spouse, but of a self-absorbed, clueless clod who changed into his tux and sat out in the car shouting at Samantha to "hurry up." Darrin also forbids Samantha from honoring some obligations she has to fulfill as a witch. In the episode when Darrin mistakenly takes Serena (posing as Samantha) on a second honeymoon, the situation has arisen because Darrin forbids Samantha from making a required appearance before the Witches' Council. Yes, he feels guilty about it, and tries to make amends by taking Sam on the honeymoon trip, but this is because he feels guilty about the harsh way he treated Samantha, not because he realizes that she has special obligations to the Witch Community. True, but Mrs. Trumbull was an elderly lady and she probably was having trouble sleeping even without Little Ricky's crying. I suspect she rented her apartment in the Mertzes' building because there was a "No Children Allowed" clause in the lease. Anyway, she sure did a 180 after she met Little Ricky, didn't she? She apparently had the magic touch to stop his crying when even Lucy and Ricky couldn't do it. By contrast, Ethel was just vain and clueless about how many times she boasted about her "act of kindness." Didn't see also tell the Grocery Boy and the Butcher? And, as I said, the topper was that every time she finished, she'd tell everyone to stop talking about it because she hated it when someone did something nice for someone else and then kept talking about it all the time. I liked when Lucy told her "That scene has had more performances than South Pacific!" Contemporary audiences are probably clueless about that reference, but at the time, the whole country was probably aware of what a Pulitzer Prize winning smash the show had been. PS I also wonder how many times Lucille Ball had to rehearse that bit when Lucy yanks the table cloth from underneath all those place settings without disturbing anything. I remember that episode. I really wanted someone to shut Ethel up. The way "Tallulah Mertz" she kept re-enacting it for everyone she met would drive anyone crazy, and then she kept saying, "Oh let's not talk about it. If there's anything I can't stand, it's someone who does something nice for someone and then talks about it all the time!" I think Lucy showed remarkable restraint in re-enacting the scene with Ethel and then immediately apologizing for doing so and explaining she "just couldn't stand it any longer." Also, I realize Ethel was angry when she said it, but given how upset Lucy and Ricky were when Ethel referred to Little Ricky's drum playing as "a racket," if I were Lucy, I think I would have been upset when Ethel, referring to Little Ricky, told Lucy to "Keep that squalling brat quiet!" As for the men, if Fred wasn't prepared to have Ricky agree with him about Ethel's harping on a subject until people become sick of it, he shouldn't have said anything. In my opinion, both Fred and Ethel were very thin skinned. Yes. Ethel did look great (and she struck a great pose when the door was opened!) in THE Charm School episode! She also had that classic line when Lucy suggested they visit Mrs. Trumbull: "Let's let her get a LOAD of us!" And you're right. Mae West was definitely a full figured lady, and was considered a great sex symbol. The only time I can recall Ricky mentioning Ethel's appetite was in the episode when Lucy and Ethel buy the walk-in freezer. Ricky refuses to eat the eggs Lucy has prepared for his breakfast because she didn't prepare any bacon or anything else with them. As he goes to leave for work and Lucy reminds him of the eggs, he says something like: "Well, I have a feeling they won't go to waste. I heard Ethel coming up the stairs." Yes, I remember that episode. Wasn't that the one when Lucy wanted to move to a larger apartment and Ricky said they couldn't afford it. It was a great comeback by Ricky! Isn't this also the episode when Lucy starts crying and running her fingers through her hair as she wails: "You don't love me anymore, Ricky! You don't care how hard I have to work! You don't care that Little Ricky hardly has any room to move around!:" Before she gets any farther Ricky starts imitating her, running his fingers through his hair, crying and saying: "I do too, Lucy! I love you very much! And I think it's terrible that you have to work so hard and Little Ricky has so little room!, etc." Putting Lucy in her place and forcing her to stop her scheme. One of Desi Arnaz's best bits in the series. I don't generally think it's appropriate for anyone to make fun of another person's weight issues, and Ethel definitely wasn't very overweight. In fact, I remember an early episode when Fred and Ethel show up at the Ricardos to go out to dinner and a movie, or something. Ricky has been frustrated with how long it has taken Lucy to get ready. Ethel is wearing a coat and looking cross and refuses to speak when Lucy says hello to her. Fred explains that Ethel is mad at him because he has a hard and fast rule about leaving on time. Ethel then wordlessly opens her coat to reveal that she's dressed in her slip. I recall Ethel as having a very nice figure in this shot. I remember in one of the Connecticut episodes, Ethel is still eating after the others have finished and everyone starts looking at her. Ethel asks Fred, "Haven't you ever seen you eat before? Fred replies, "I've never seen you do anything else!" Of course, there is an episode when Fred is complaining about possibly being Flag Bearer again for his Lodge's parade and Ethel says something like: "I doubt they'd want you to be Flag Bearer with that pot. Last year the Flag was two blocks ahead of the parade!" Doesn't Fred respond with something like: "How about a chorus of 'Cow Cow Boogie!' " Poor Ethel. Fred and Lucy were always making cracks about her weight, appetite, etc. No wonder Vivian Vance had ambivalent feelings about playing Ethel. Incidentally, I don't think Ricky ever made any disparaging comments about Ethel's appearance, did he? I know. Ricky was so good to Fred and Ethel. You'd think the Mertzes would contribute something to make things right, like Fred agreeing to pay for half the cost of the broken railing and busted washing machine in "Never Do Business With Friends." And for 15 years! Great choice! George Reeves was terrific in this episode, and his closing comment is one of the funniest in the entire series, emphasized by Lucy's look of shock and turning to face the wall in embarrasment. Yes, the William Holden episode was great. When Holden was so gracious about their encounter, I wonder who "Spinned the Beans Out of the Catbag" as Ricky would say, that later on, everyone seemed to have heard the truth. I guess in a town like Hollywood, it's not so hard to believe. In the John Wayne episode, he even mentions that William Holden told him some stories about Lucy, though that doesn't mean he mentioned their encounter at the Brown Derby...maybe he just mentioned her nose catching on fire. Great examples, PJ! I did notice that Fred had his hands in his pockets a lot. I didn't know it might have been due to a real life tremor, possibly due to alcohol consumption, but it could help to explain Ethel's complaint in the "Palm Springs" episode that he was always jingling his keys. At least it gave him something to do while he had his hands in his pockets all the time! lol 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!" 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! 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. 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. 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.