Favorite I Love Lucy Episodes

The country club dance with a very young Barbara Eden

1) Hollywood At Last 2) Ethel’s Hometown 3) The Camping Trip

When Lil Ricky went to Nam and died, Ricky beating the shit out of Lucy and Ethel pegging Fred.

The Operetta, Ethel’s Birthday, Ethel’s Hometown, and Getting Chummy with the Neighbors.

The one where Lucy gets a business manager and pulls a fast one, and the Paris dress.

It's a mu mu!

The fashion Show

There was one I’d never ever seen before. Something about a lingerie salesman and innuendo that one of the gals was in his hotel room for a threesome. It was a classic misunderstood-overheard-conversation episode. But I was genuinely surprised at how adult the implication was. It was pretty scandalous for the time.

R6, I think that's the episode that the president of CBS said was the only ILL episode he hated.

It's hard to choose but I'd say these were my favorites (in no particular order):

1) The Operetta

2) The Fur Coat

3) Lucy is accused of being Madame X

4) Vacation from Marriage

5) Lucy Writes A Play

6) Fred and Ethel Fight

Most of my favorites came out of the show's early seasons before they turned it into a road show going all the different places they went.

Well the OP does have the biggest "potamus" I've ever seen

R5 Canadian Allied Petroleum is a great stock

The one where Lucy and Ethel got jobs at a diner and Lucy kept calling Ethel ‘Betty Please.’

Vitameatavegimen, the candy making episode, the side of beef episode, and the "I am the queen of the Gypsies, Gyp-Gyp-Gyp Gyp-Gypsies!" one.

One of them is swell and the other one is lousy.

This episode, "Getting Ready. " the one in which Fred buy an 1922 Cadillac for the trip to California

The one where Lucy kept laughing inappropriately at Harpo’s funeral.

The last season of the show where Lucy gets a Loving Cup stuck on her head.

The most famous episode of all, Vitavitavegamin from the very first season of the show. Expertly showed her classic comic skills.

Equal Rights

The Fashion Show

Italian Wig episode

Charm School episode

Phipps episode

The Operetta

Mr. and Mrs. TV Show

Ethel's Hometown

L.A. At Last

The Courtroom - Mostly for Lucy's "Onrehearse sespontaneous testimony".

[quote] My favorites are: 1. Ethel’s Birthday (Hostess Pants) 2. First Stop (Trip to CA-Cheese Sandwich Motel) 3. Madame X

So Madonna stole the title for her latest flop from "I Love Lucy?" Wow, she was desperate.

The John Wayne episode , we get to see his closeted Republican body .

The Maharincess of Franistan (hennarincess)

The one where Ethel thinks Lucy is trying to replace her with Betty Ramsey .

The Tallu episode

My three favorites are:

# 1 ETHEL'S HOME TOWN [Season 4, Episode 15] : The gang arrives in Ethel's hometown of Albequerque, New Mexico, where the locals are under the impression that she, and not Ricky, has been hired to star in a Hollywood movie.

# 2 MR. AND MRS. SHOW [Season 4, Episode 24] : Phipps Department Store offers Ricky a job as a morning TV show host, but only if it includes Lucy as well.

# 3 LUCY TELLS THE TRUTH [Season 3, Episode 6] : When Ricky and the Mertzes wager that Lucy can't go a full day without telling a lie, her husband and friends feel more than a bit stung by her unabashed honesty.

# 1 ETHEL'S HOME TOWN [Season 4, Episode 15] : The gang arrives in Ethel's hometown of Albequerque, New Mexico, where the locals are under the impression that she, and not Ricky, has been hired to star in a Hollywood movie.

"Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress"

THE PUBLICITY AGENT (“Maharincess of Franistan”)

LUCY IS ENVIOUS (“Women from Mars”)

ETHEL’S HOME TOWN

HOLLYWOOD AT LAST (William Holden, Brown Derby)

OFF TO FLORIDA (Elsa Lanchester, “Hatchet!!”)

LUCY DOES THE TANGO (Eggs in the pockets)

COUNTRY CLUB DANCE (Oh, but yes! Barbara Eden)

Oh wait! I forgot “The Seance”!

No love for the Baby Cheese? That's my absolute favorite. Also love the episode where Ethel and Lucy fight over Lucy's washing machine and, of course, Ethel Birthday.

Baby cheese is my vote too.

The Ballet is a good one too. Lots of funny moments with Mary Wickes as the dance instructor "Lower zee leg slooowly to the floor" and also the "slowly I turned" vaudeville routine.

The Dancing Star is not necessarily one of the funniest episodes but I do love the dance routine Lucy does with with Van Johnson. It's so classy and elegant. I remember years ago reading something about why Lucy's other shows were never as good as I Love Lucy and one of the observations was that the "Lucy" character stopped being classy and glamorous and slowly morphed into a clumsy and crass caricature of her former self. You can see the transformation in the first few seasons of The Lucy Show where at first Lucy is still very feminine and "ladylike" but as the show progressed and Mr. Mooney came along she stopped being a pretty housewife that got into trouble and became an annoying and incompetent employee. Maybe it was the writing or maybe it was just that Lucy got old and she couldn't pull off the original character anymore. She still had her moments every once in a while in certain episodes though, especially when paired with the right co-stars like Ann Sothern as The Countess. Its almost as if Lucy just needed that touch of femininity to make the character work, even if it didn't come from Lucy herself.

R32-Lucille Ball was 41 years old when I Love Lucy went on the air. She looked ten years younger on the show until it morphed into what we know as the Lucy Desi Comedy Hour. The episode when she tries to be a glamour girl. Time finally caught up with Lucille Ball and she looked her age or older. By the early sixties her voice was too raspy also-from all the cigarette smoking.

It's funny how we can all name dozens of our favorite ILL episodes (Job Switching, Vitameatavegamin , LA At Last, Lucy Tells The Truth, etc), but very few in her subsequent series, even though all her series were ratings winners. The only Lucy/Desi Comedy Hour I thoroughly enjoyed was the one with the Make Room For Daddy cast. The Lucy Show had a few good ones , like when Lucy and Viv put up an antenna, or tried to get into bunkbeds with stilts, but not much else. I can't think of anything good about Here's Lucy.

My all-time favorite has to be the Paris/dress episode with my all-time favorite scene being when Lucy and Ethel are parading in the potato sacks Ricky had turned into dresses for them. And lite the 2 posters above, my second favorite was the episode following when Lucy tries to smuggle the cheese onto the plane "His name is Cheddar....(uhh)....Chester!" And it was amazing how he lady on the plane looked just like Betty.

I love "The Freezer", with the sides of beef Lucy & Ethel try to sell at the butcher shop. That scene always makes me laugh out loud. And as a bonus Barbara Pepper makes an appearance!

Runner up is "Breaking the Lease" -- another one I laugh all the way through.

The funniest of all is "Lucy Does a Commercial" just because Lucy gets to do just about every great comictrickin her entire repertoire, and it just gets funnier and fiunnier as it goes (though the high point of all is the first time she takes a spoonful of Vitameatavegemin and says "Tastes just likecandy"). But my other favorites:

"Lucy Wants New Furniture" -- where she tries to save money by making her own dress and giving herself a home permanent. It has what is by far my favorite line from any "I Love Lucy" episode: "It's all right. I always wanted to look like a chrysanthemum."

"Hollywood at Last" -- What makes it so funny is the scene where William Holden turns the tables and stares at Lucy and unnerves her so much. Holden's face is so hilarious imitating her longingly staring at him, and Ball's stricken, confused facial expression is equally funny.

"Lucty Gets in Pictures" -- The one with Ziegfeld Follies headdress. One of Lucille Ball's funniest physical comedy bits.

"Mr and Mrs. TV Show" -- "Honey, you mean a Phipps Mattress rocks you to sleep!" "No, I mean sleeping on a Phipps Mattress is like sleeping on a rock!"

"Lucy in Enceinte" -- Not the funniest episode, but almost certainly the sweetest and most heartfelt (it's hard not to choke up when Desi sings "We're Having a Baby")

"Lucy's Last Birthday" --the second sweetest episode, with The Friends of the Friendless

Here’s Lucy just didn’t age well at all and the The Lucy Show has just been plain forgotten.

ILL is timeless.

I actually did like "The Lucy Show," at least for the first few seasons when she and Viv were just two regular working moms trying to raise their kids, but then Viv left, she got rid of the kids, moved to Hollywood, and then like with all of Lucille Ball's shows, she became obsessed with bringing on her celebrity friends every week and it just got to be unwatchable.

The best episodes of "The Lucy Show" are all from the first twom seasons, and they all involve Lucy and Viv doing very physical comedy. (They were enormous influences on "Laverne & Shirley"). They include:

*Lucy and Viv get a shipment of coal in the basement

*Lucy and Viv get trapped in the shower stall

*Lucy and Viv put up the TV antenna

The episode where Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel are fighting over a washing machine until they accidentally push it off the balcony and it crashes on the ground below.

Ones not mentioned yet:

The one where everyone in the building wants to audition for Don Juan. "I finally figured out where vaudeville went to die!"

And the one with Ethel's best scene, where Lucy falls off the balcony in Hollywood while Ethel is traying to keep Ricky from looking.

The Movie Star Upstairs! Yes, that is a riot. Vivian Vance gets to shine in that one. Hysterical.

"The Star Upstairs". Ethel distracts Ricky while Lucy is in the process of dangling/falling off the balcony.

"The Star Upstairs". Team Lucy and Ethel!!

It's the last season of the show and they've all moved to the countryside. Ricky and Fred build a nifty barbeque but Lucy thinks that her missing wedding ring may have ended up in the cement. At night Lucy and Ethel tear the barbeque apart to try and find the ring but to no avail then they put the barbeque back together again in a haphazard manner.

Ricky - It looks like it was hit by a hurricane!

Fred - Yeah. Hurricane Lucy and Hurricane Ethel!

Great episode.

One of the Connecticut episodes where Lucy tries to get Ethel and Betty Ramsey to warm up to each other and Ethel utters the famed "I have sufficient" line.

R47 the episode that sparked 1000s of Datalounge posts and poll choices

Ethel's reaction in the Star Upstairs episode when Lucy falls off the balcony and you see the little palm tree fall right behind her just a split second after.

I think my favorite of the Connecticut episodes was the one where they go into the city to see a Broadway show and Lucy, of course, screws up the tickets.

The bit with Lucy hanging over the balcony and Ethel’s reaction(s) is absolutely one of the best moments in the entire series.

Lucy Learns To Drive LA At Last Sticky Fingers Sal & Pickpocket Pearl Honorable mention to Lucy disguising herself as a chair to escape the actors she thinks are spies — the phone call with the cop is epic.

I also like the Staten Island Ferry episode as it's the only episode with Lucy and Fred together alone for any length of time.

R50

In that episode, the Ricardos & the Mertzes had gone to see the new Frank Loesser muscial THE MOST HAPPY FELLA whose big song hit was 'Standing On The Corner (Watching All The Girls Go By)"

I think what ultimately hurt Lucy was her obsession with having famous guest stars and doing songs with them. It worked beautifully the first go-round with the trip to Hollywood, because 1) the premise of Ricky doing a movie was plausible and 2) we could see Lucy as ourselves meeting a famous star. But after that storyline ended, all the subsequent movie star meetings became far-fetched and ridiculous.

One episode I loved which hasn't been mentioned was the one where Lucy learns to jitterbug for Ricky's show. The actual show is a disaster, but her practice session with her dancing partner is pretty good.

R54

Good observation. Many television series years ago used to suddenly have a lot of 'name' guest stars or they'd add a character to change the dynamics, i.e. a new baby, Cousin Oliver etc....

I like the one when Lucy, Fred & Ethel pretend to be crooks to get out of buying the house. “You’ll step on the Fingers’ toes, knuckles!”

[quote] And it was amazing how he lady on the plane looked just like Betty.

She looked a lot more like Cynthia Harcourt to me!

R56, it was "You'll step on the brain's toes, Fingers."

R57

The recurring character of Betty Ramsey wasn't introduced until the Ricardos moved to Connecticut.

What always bugged me was that early on Carolyn Appleby [Doris Singleton] was called Lillian Appleby and depending on the storyline her eyesight was fine or she was blind as a bat without much needed eyeglasses. This was also just before contact were en masse.

It was only her very first episode that Carolyn was Lillian Appleby. After that, she was always Carolyn. And we don't know if her eyesight was ever fine. It's just that she didn't wear glasses except for the two episodes in Hollywood.

Lillian decided to change her name when she found out she was going blind.

They used stars because "I Love Lucy," recycled the "My Favorite Husband" scripts, sometimes line for line exactly.

They ran out of usable scripts and the writers actually had to work to come up with ideas.

R62

And Lucy never knew when to call it quits.

All of my favorites have been mentioned except the one where Lucy plays Superman.

The one where Lucy and Ethel walk in on Fred giving Desi a blow job .

I love the episode where Lucy and Ethel get stuck on the roof of the apartment building. "Well, one of us can walk across the board to that other building and tell people that I'm up here."

Look what happened to YOUR washing machine.

R66 Yup, I love that one too.

Ethel to Tilly, Ethel to Tilly

Lucy Becomes a Sculptress

I think I Love Lucy was the funniest show in the history of tv. She was remarkable as Lucy Ricardo. And those skits are hilarious no matter how many times you see them.

But it's odd that in real life Lucy was not funny. She seemed to have no sense of humor. I remember watching her on Password. She was smart but no humor at all. It's like she was two different people.

[quote]But it's odd that in real life Lucy was not funny.

No, it's because the writing was great. LIsten to "My Favorite Husband."

Gale Gordon takes Fred's lines

Bea Benaderet and Ruth Parrott take Ethel's lines

And Richard Denning takes Desi's lines

And they are all just as funny

To me the radio show has a bit of an edge because it's more realistic as Lucy's character of Liz is less outrageous and more intelligent. And Liz's husband George (Ricky's part) is more comical. One thing that was noticable was that Desi was very concerned that the character of Ricky never be portrayed as the slightest bit dishonest. Hence some things were changed like George's character lies to the IRS but Ricky Ricardo never would. This also explains why Ricky insisted Lucy return the footprints she stole, when it just seemed to complicate the whole matter.

Lucy kept working because she didn't know how to do anything else.

Considering all the other things Gary allegedly talked her out of, Life with Lucy can be blamed squarely on him.

That said, which is the episode featuring Chers' mom Georgia Holt? I think it's awesome that Lucy and Georgia were close.

Fun fact: Lucy was the one who talked Cher into going back to t.v. with Sonny the second time.

Gary Morton should have talked them out of it.

I will now contact Tilly . . .

The reruns were funny when I was 5 years old. As an adult, not so much.

"Lucy Has a Baby", the episode where Ethel, Fred and Ricky practice for the moment where Lucy is ready to go to the hospital to have her baby is fucking hilarious. My sister and I still quote it and laugh 45-50 years later. The rehearsals versus the pandemonium is so funny!

"Hello, Mrs. Ricardo is coming to the hospital to have her baby now. Goodbye."

"Get the soot-case!"

"GO get it FRED!"

"Hey! Wait for me!"

R77, I think that was also the only episode in which Lucille Ball only appeared in half the episode.

R77, my husband and I will sometimes quote this episode whenever it's time to do something - go to bed, leave the house, etc. One of us will walk into the room like Ricky with our fist held in the air and announce, "The time has come! Go."

I like the episode where they share duties operating a restaurant together, the catch phrase from Ricky to Fred was "I have the name, you have the know-how."

R66, I love that line. I think it's as good a the line Lucy says to Ethel about "your washing machine." I don't see this episode mentioned a lot though.

The episode with the Voodoo man chasing Lucy all over the Tropicana stage and orchestra.

r81 meet r67

I love the Ethel's hometown, because, even though Ethel is uncharacteristically an asshole to all her friends, it's nice to see plain ol' Ethel finally have a day in the sun.

R83, I meant the episode with Lucy and Ethel on the rooftop doesn't get mentioned often, not the washing machine episode.

Ethel's Hometown. The upstaging by Lucy, Ricky and Fred was a riot. The whole episode is fun and Lucy never looked better.

Not a favorite episode but Bob Cummings in a bathtub was hot. He wasn't even all that young when he filmed it but you can tell he had a great body.

If not for "Ethel's Hometown" episode millions of gay children wouldn't know the lyrics to "Shortnin' Bread", and the correct way to hold a silk scarf while singing arias from "The Chocolate Soldier"!

It's the absolute zenith of the Ricardos/Mertzes! Hilarious.

"i'm sorry Ethel. I just couldn't take it one more time. That speech has had more performances than South Pacific!"

"what a trouper!"

"Harry and Bess Truman got the last tickets."

"Yes, let's let her get a load of us!"

Great quotes all...

R87

I'm pretty sure you're mistaking the guest star of that episode. That wasn't Bob Cummings; it was CORNEL WILDE. WILDE loved to show off his bod, and why not he worked hard on it. Cummings was never that kind of guy.

R90, no it was the Japan episode. It was definitely Bob Cummings.

R89, thanks for reminding me of one of my all-time favorite...the episode where landlady Ethel stands up for tenant Lucy, then tells EVERYONE about it repeatedly. Great episode, with a surprisingly sweet ending.

The Bob Cummings episode (alas in one shot can see he's wearing trunks) has one of the great, and hottest moments - when Lucy accidentally drops the necklace in the tub and reaches in to retrieve it, Bob grabs her hand and wryly tells her "I'll do the pearl fishing" (or something to that effect) .

Cummings had a great body and was an early advocate for health foods, exercise........ and drugs.

Wiki: "Despite his interest in health, Cummings was a methamphetamine addict from the mid-1950s until the end of his life. In 1954, while in New York to star in the Westinghouse Studio One production of "Twelve Angry Men", Cummings began receiving injections from Max Jacobson, the notorious "Dr. Feelgood". His friends Rosemary Clooney and José Ferrer recommended the doctor to Cummings, who was complaining of a lack of energy. While Jacobson insisted that his injections contained only "vitamins, sheep sperm, and monkey gonads", they actually contained a substantial dose of methamphetamine.

Cummings continued to use a mixture provided by Jacobson, eventually becoming a patient of Jacobson's son Thomas, who was based in Los Angeles, and later injecting himself. The changes in Cummings' personality caused by the euphoria of the drug and subsequent depression damaged his career and led to an intervention by his friend, television host Art Linkletter. The intervention was not successful, and Cummings' drug abuse and subsequent career collapse were factors in his divorces from his third wife, Mary, and fourth wife, Gina Fong.

After Jacobson was forced out of business in the 1970s, Cummings developed his own drug connections based in the Bahamas. Suffering from Parkinson's disease, he was forced to move into homes for indigent older actors in Hollywood.

The episode where they went to NYC to see "the Most Happy Fella" (Desi and Lucy had a stake in the play, which is why the Ricardos and Mertzes went to see it) is also a classic.

Bob Cummings appeared in a later season, when I Love Lucy was renamed The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. (What an awful title. I'm glad the DVDs eschewed that in favor of I Love Lucy, Seasons 7, 8, and 9".)

One of my favorites is "Lucy Raises Tulips". Lucy on the riding mower that's run amok will always make me laugh.

The way people came out of their houses to watch me ride by [on the lawnmower], you'd have thought I was Lady Godiva!

If I ever let my hair get dark at the roots, I'm afraid it's gonna be snow white!

Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Next thing I knew, I was on the Boston Post Road. Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): The Boston Post Road! Why did you go onto a busy highway like that?! Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): It wasn’t my idea! That beast has a mind of its own! I was on that road for a mile and a half. Against traffic all the way!

The other episode I love that no one has mentioned yet is "The Great Train Robbery". It's a great use of all four leads comic talent.

R73

You have that incorrect about when Cher reached out to Lucy for input. It wasn't about reuniting with Sonny to re-do the Sonny & Cher Show.

Cher has said she reached out to her after Sonny & Cher's marriage imploded. Vack then Cher was much different than today. She was terrified of how to live & work without him. He had been a very controlling figure & her entire career was wrapped up with him. Lucy told her she could build a new life & career away from him.

Other than the most popular ones these are my favorites -

#1 The 2 couples go on a trip. They stop for the night but the motel inly has 1 room with 2 beds. They rent it & during the night trains start coming thru where the 2 beds starts rocking & rolling across the room.

#2 Lucy decides to mow the yard for the first time using a riding lawn mower. She can't control it & off she goes.

#3 Lucy & Ethel learn to drive

Breaking the lease was my favorite growing up!

Sweet Sue🎶🎵

The only advice Lucy ever gave anyone was "stick with the money."

Ethel's birthday and the checkerboard britches

R91

That was on THE LUCY DESI COMEDY HOUR, not I LOVE LUCY.

The best episode is where Ethel called Lucy an ungrateful bitch and Fred joined in saying "as long as it's open season."

"Lucy/Desi Comedy Hour" still dealt with the Ricardos and Mertzes so I think it counts.

When Lucy pretended to be a chair.

R97 Did Lucy break into "Heart of Stone" like she does in "The Cher Show"

"Because MY friendship with the Ricardos means MORE to me than..."

Ethel's line cuing Lucy's hilarious response in "Breaking the Lease" always cracks me up. A friend and I use it as comic shorthand to signal "You're repeating yourself, dear."

I know it wasn't the I Love Lucy Show but I laugh so hard every time I see the show where Lucy & Ethel get stuck in the shower.

It cracks me up to this day just like every time I see the dentist scene between Harvey & Tim,

R107, I don't think that episode you're citing was "Breaking the Lease." That episode was called "No Children Allowed."

I like the one where Lucy poses as Ricky’s agent and gets him fired from MGM

I like the one where Ricky is waiting for an important call about the Hollywood movie, and Fred and Ethel screw it up. It was one of the few episodes where Lucy wasn't responsible for the trouble.

The Hollywood episode where they walk in on Caesar Ramiro sucking Ricky off. Comedy ensues

I like the one where Lucy and Betty are discussing eating each out out, and then Lucy says would you like to try Betty's vadge? And Ethel says "I've have sufficient."

Maybe not my favorite but forever burned into my consciousness...

How many times must we tell you, r113? The line is "I have sufficient," not "I've had sufficient"!!!

r115

You couldn't be more wrong.

]quote]That episode was called "No Children Allowed."

Yes, that's the one I mean, and it comes a couple seasons later. It is hilarious.

Sorry, r116, but that IS the line: "I have sufficient."

Proof is in the pudding.

After watching that last clip, I remembered that they lived on a houseboat

I remember a scene of Lucy barefoot in a huge wine barrel, smashing the grapes with her feet for making wine? I'd love to find that again.

You heard wrong r118

r116 is an idiot.

We’ve had sufficient of you two^

Those cunts at Hallmark took off "I Love Lucy" in the mornings! Assholes! I'm going to call them up and demand to speak to a manager!

I think it's back on Hallmark at 5 am Eastern--saw it this morning!

1) Flying home from Europe, sitting next to the Betty Ramsey character, telling her the big cheese was a baby. Next morning Betty asks where the baby is? "We ate it." 2) The one where Lucy can't figure out how to tell Ricky she's 'spectin'. So she goes to his club and has him sing a song for the newly knocked up frau. When the camera goes to her face in closeup and she's nodding to him I always well up.

One of my three favorites is ETHEL'S HOME TOWN

# 2 is the MR. AND MRS. SHOW

My 3rd is a tie between LUCY TELLS THE TRUTH & THE MILLION DOLLAR IDEA

I love the "Vacation from Marriage" episode. That's the one where Lucy and Ethel wind up on the roof in their night gowns. But, my favorite part of the epi is the beginning when Lucy and Ethel are complaining about the lack of freshness in their marriages. They talk about knowing exactly what Ricky and Fred will do as the morning wears on.

Lucy knows that Ricky will stagger in still half asleep, scratch his leg as he is pouring himself a cup of coffee and say that he could have slept all day. But then it is Ethel's turn and she looks at her watch and says that right now Fred is settling down to do the morning crossword puzzle and can't find his glasses. What follows is classic comedy and they all play it to the hilt. From Lucy and Ethel laughing out loud at Fred standing there with his glasses on top of his head to Fred getting aggravated at them for laughing at him.

I love it.

Life with Lucy just came out on DVD this week for those who want to see her last series in all its unfortunate mediocrity.

I loved Lucy Hives Ricky a Hair Treatment

I like the one that went dark, when Lucy smuggled a cheese onto the airplane back from Italy by pretending it was a baby. Then she found out she would have to pay for it and so she and Ethel ate the whole thing during the overnight flight, and when the woman next to her woke up and asked where the baby was, Lucy said, “Oh, that wasn’t a baby! It was a cheese! I ate it!” And the woman was carted off the plane by medics during her nervous breakdown, as she thought Lucy ate her infant while the woman slept next to her.

Uh ... she's not carted off the plane by medics,. r133. Mary Jane (or whatever she's called in that episode) is with everybody when they all convene in the airline office.

One of this morning's episodes was when Lucy invites Fred and Ethel along to California and they get all angry that they would have to pay for half the gas. No mention was made of all the money they would have to spend on a hotel room for a month.

I loved all the Hollywood episodes, but my favorite was the Bill Holden at the Brown Derby.

This totally squashes the rumors that Lucille and Vivian hated one another, or that Lucille was cruel to Viv. Lucy Arnaz says at the end of this video that she didn’t know William Frawley but that “Vivian was like Aunt Viv to me” and that she “lived with us on and off for years.”

Another vote for The Fashion Show with Don Loper and Shelia MacRae......and Amzie Strickland....."Deeper than this?"

The Tango and the eggs.

Women from Mars

Lucy tells the truth ("It's like a bad dream you'd have after eating too much Chinese food")

Lucy gets in the movies ("Don't you want to see me die?")

The Operetta

The Seance

Another fan of Lucy Tells the Truth (S03E06). "She not only told the truth, but she got brutally frank and told us all exactly what she thought of us."

Trivia...

[quote]Forced-to-Be-Honest Lucy reveals that she is 33 years old, weighs 129 pounds, and her natural hair color is "mousy brown." While we have no way of knowing Lucille Ball's weight at the time, her natural hair color in real life was indeed brown. As far as age goes, however, when this episode was filmed, Lucille Ball was really 42 years old. Lucy Ricardo was consistently 10 years younger than Lucille Ball's real age. One thing that is interesting about the weight Lucy gives in this episode is that she is said to weigh almost as much as she did in the beginning of "The Diet," even though she is clearly slimmer in this episode. Maybe the writers added on to her weight because she had a baby the previous year?

I think she weighed more than 129.

She still had to take the hostess pants in six inches in the seat though.

The telling the truth episode ends with Lucy trying to fake her way through an audition without lying. Lucy outdoes herself in the physical part, pretending to understand Italian and acting as the assistant in a knife throwing act with the extremely funny little Italian guy auditioning. She sashays around, being glamorous until she finally stands in front of the balloons and realizes what is going down. The funniest part is really the piano player in the background who can't or won't control his laughing at all that is happening in front of him.

The one where Lucy ruined a woman’s life by making her think that Lucy ate her own child during a red eye flight from Europe.

No tragedy is as potent as unexpected tragedy.

That knife-throwing routine was Lucy at her best. She was a brilliant physical comedienne.

Another vote for the Brown Derby. Way before my time and I still laugh every time I see that episode.

I would've loved to have seen the reaction of people during the first airing when they showed Holden have the food dumped on him. People must've been uproariously laughing.

You can hear them when you watch the episode. I’m sure they only did one take.

R148 Yes, Lucie Arnaz says in an interview on YouTube (“What’s the best acting lesson you learned from your mother?”) that she thinks they were “lucky” back in the old sitcom days in that they didn’t have the luxury of extra production time TV shows have now. She said they did one read through, one rehearsal, and then they recorded live in front of an audience, one time, straight through—whereas today they rehearse more, have a dress rehearsal in front of an audience, etc. She said today they have so much opportunity to figure out where the laughs are that they oftentimes overthink it and the performances feel less real and less spontaneous. Her mother insisted that everything was organized and planned in advance—because you only get one chance to get it right, and so everything that has potential to be funny had better be funny.

A vote for cheeses on the airplane. Never fails to make me laugh.

Lucie is full of shit to say they had "one read through and one rehearsal."

Lucille Ball was a stickler for rehearsal and spent a LOT of time getting it right. Read though on Monday, blocking rehearsal and rewrites on Tuesday, camera blocking and rehearsal on Wednesday, and then filming on Thursday night......

ANY book written about I Love Lucy is full of this information. In fact the first episode they filmed (not the first episode broadcast) - The Diet - they did film straight through with short breaks to reload the cameras.. But they decided that taking short breaks made it easier on the actors and the writers since they could take the time to change costumes. And the band would play to entertain the audience during those times.....

Yeah, Lucie is trying to gild the Lucy with that malarkey. Everything written about Lucy mentions her stickler for details and her professionalism when performing. You can even see her forging ahead when there is a blooper involved in the actual scene of a given episode. When a mistake is made, they don't break up and giggle and stop acting. It is full speed ahead until someone calls "cut." The blooper I love to see is when they are redecorating the Mertz apartment and Lucy and Ricky are discussing it in their kitchen. Lucy blows a line something about "painting the apartment and painting the old furniture" and Ricky immediately corrects her with: "you mean paint the apartment and reupholster the old furniture" and Lucy looks daggers at him and impatiently agrees about the line, but they keep right on going with the scene.

Lucie wants us to believe that Lucy was so adept at her craft that she didn't need to rehearse anything more than once.

BTW that was one of Frank Sinatra's biggest bitches on a movie set, he hated rehearsing and doing a scene more than a few times. He was known to walk off the set because he would get bored reciting the same lines over and over and going through the same actions.

Oops....and I forgot the dress rehearsal on Thursday afternoon before the filming on Thursday night.

[quote]In fact the first episode they filmed (not the first episode broadcast) - The Diet - they did film straight through with short breaks to reload the cameras..

"The Diet" was not the first episode filmed. That was "Lucy Thinks Ricky is Trying to Murder Her." It was filmed on Sept 8, 1951, but held back and was aired as the fourth episode. "The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub.," filmed on Sept 15, 1951, was the first one aired. "The Diet" was the fourth one filmed, aired between "Be a Pal" and "Lucy Thinks Ricky is Trying to Murder Her."

Thanks, R154, trying to write from memory and not looking things up always ends in tears.

I am horrified....and shame on Lucie Arnaz for getting involved in this. Sean & Megan at least have the comedy chops to do something with the material.....Deb MESSing is NOT the new Lucille Ball.....she is not even the NEW Marjorie Lord - although she does have Lord's annoying habit of pulling the corners of her mouth down after she says something because she thinks she just so damned funny.

STOP THE INSANITY.

BTW the photo seems to be from "Lucy Goes to the Hospital" which isn't mentioned in the article.

Whatever you may think, Messing looks EXACTLY like Lucy! Wow. Makeup is spot-on.

I really like "Ricky's Movie Offer" chiefly because of a hysterical ad lib by Vivian Vance. I cannot find it online, but after knocking out talent scout Ben Benjamin (Frank Nelson), Lucy & Ethel propose to make him think he's been sitting on the couch. While Lucy arranges his arms and lights a cigarette, Ethel combs his hair, gives it a slant over the forehead and then holds the comb below his nose to make him look like Hitler. Lucy/Lucille is not ready for this bit of business and tries desperately to keep her composure. Truly inspired on Vance's part.

Makes me wonder if this was the first bit of comic business about Hitler.

I think on Dec 20th another colorized episode will be shown. One when they are in Paris.

So many:

Loving cup

Lucy has her eyes dilated

Bull Dance

Oh, I hope it's the Jacques Marcel episode, r159!

Oops, I just saw that it's not the Jacques Marcel. But it's almost as good - the one where Lucy gets arrested for passing phony Francs, and in jail no one speaks English. But one guy speaks Spanish and German, and another speaks German and French, and Ricky speaks Spanish and English. So she explains to Ricky in English, he explains to a prisoner in Spanish, the prisoner explains it in German to a gendarme, and the gendarme explains it to the Chief of Police in French.

The Jacques Marcel one would have been a better choice. Merde.

I don't know their actual titles, but:

*Lucy is challenged by Ricky to save money to buy new furniture, only to make a disaster out of everything,. including her perm ("That's alright... I always wanted to look like a chrysanthemum...")

*Little Ricky is given a toy drum, and he plays the same rhythm over and over again until Lucy and Ricky Sr. can;t stop doing all their movements in the house to the beat

*The Friends of the Friendless (it actually made me cry the first time I saw it)

*William Holden at the Brown Derby. His facial expression when he leans over the side to stare at Lucy always just kills me, as does her discountenanced reaction

*The operetta

*The Phipps commercial ("I don't know WHAT they do to it...")

Too many! But the Vitameatavegamin gives me deep, belly laughs.

Amazing that so many decades later, this show is funnier than anything else on TV today.

OP, I assumed you want episodes, without including the classics? Am I correct?

There were no qualifications, r166. Some people's favorites just aren't the "classic" episodes, but some peoples' are.

R167 thank you.

I love this scene from the episode when they went to Albuquerque. I like the antics behind an unwitting, overly earnest Ethel. I imagine this is the sort of silliness that made Vaudeville a treasure.

And I never understood how the candy factory became Lucy’s most iconic moment, but Vitameatavegamin is earned. Her performance in this one-take classic is so, so impressive. It’s so hard for me to accept that Lucille Ball had little sense of humor off script because she was so freaking incredible when performing comedy.

R169 me, too.

The Loving Cup is my absolute favorite.

When I was growing up in the Seventies, the classic episodes were always considered by critics to be the chocolate factory episode and the stomping grapes episode. I was always surprised by that--I did not think they were the funniest at all.

Now the ones considered the big classic is Vitameatavegemin, which i think is much funnier. I wonder why those other two episodes used to be the critical favorites? They were like silent slapstick films.

When Lucy and Ethel are on the bus in the Richard Widmark episode always cracks me up.

Lucy’s interaction with the driver and her getting sat on are hilarious. Ethel laughing at her as she is being squashed is priceless.

I also like the episode where Lucy tries to set up the lingerie salesman with Sylvia Collins.

All of those mentioned plus:

Lucy learns to drive. Her description of what happened is so vivid some people think it's SHOWN on the episode. Very similar to her description of the runaway lawn mower and Betty's tulips.

[quote] When Lucy and Ethel are on the bus in the Richard Widmark episode always cracks me up.

Trivia...

[quote]Lucille Ball's actual house was used in the location shots for this episode. After Lucy and Ethel get off the bus to see "Richard Widmark's House" they are shown walking up to the house (which is located at 1000 N. Roxbury Drive, Beverly Hills, CA). The shots of Lucy going over the wall and inside the house were filmed on a sound stage at Desilu Studios.

[quote]Lucy said that, many years after this episode aired, she had fans actually climb over the wall of the house belonging to her and her second husband, Gary Morton, saying that they wanted to re-create what Lucy Ricardo did at Richard Widmark's house.

[quote]Richard Widmark plugs his new film Prize of Gold.

[quote]Very similar to her description of the runaway lawn mower and Betty's tulips.

Well, at least with the lawn mower, we got to see a couple of clips of Lucy riding by in the background, shouting for Ethel. That was pretty funny.

Lucy getting sat on by the big passenger is funny,but it is topped by the woman not even knowing she is sitting on someone because she thinks it is Ethel who is talking to her. Lucy's long time buddy Barbara Pepper is also a passenger.

Yes ,her saying “It sure is honey” after Lucy says that seat is taken is funny.

Just FYI Streaming on Hulu & Prime, but a few episodes are omitted.

".....black lace lingerie......."

Adding to the truth telling episode. I always loved her reading the three girls to filth before complaining about the dirty deck of cards still being used. Then as she deals the cards, she gets the biggest shit eating grin on her face as she scans the shocked faces around the table.

Fred asks if Lucy had taped her mouth shut after he finds out that not one lie was told with Ethel's retort: "I wish she had!!"

"Our only way out is to plead complete ignorance....."

"We'll never get away with that."

"We'd better or Ricky and Fred will be planting their footprints someplace and it won't be Grauman's Chinese......Ethel, how did those two cars get that way?"

"What two cars?"

[quote]Then as she deals the cards, she gets the biggest shit eating grin on her face as she scans the shocked faces around the table.

Another priceless moment is when she says, "It feels WON-dah-ful to tell the truth. You should try it sometime."

Any love for the Maharincess of Franistan?

Lucy Learns to Drive is a favorite. I laugh every time I drive through the Holland Tunnel (no mean trick, that) because of Lucy Ricardo.

Ethel Mertz : [Ricky wanders away in a daze after he and Lucy return from her first driving lesson] What's the matter with him?

Lucy Ricardo : Oh, he got mad at me while I was driving through the Holland Tunnel.

Ethel Mertz : Ricky let you drive through the Holland Tunnel?

Lucy Ricardo : Well, he didn't mean to. I got caught in stream of traffic and I couldn't stop.

Ethel Mertz : But you drove all the way through the Holland Tunnel!

Lucy Ricardo : Halfway through.

Ethel Mertz : What do you mean, halfway?

Lucy Ricardo : Well, Ricky was late for rehearsal, and I saw an opportunity t'... How was I supposed to know there wasn't room to make a U-turn?

Ethel Mertz : [astonished] You made a U-turn in the Holland Tunnel? Oh, brother, that must-a been somethin'.

Lucy Ricardo : Yeah. The policeman said the cars were backed up all the way to East Orange, New Jersey.

R182 &R184: When Lucy says telling the truth would make them all much better friends, I love Ethel’s line reading when she says, “Somehow I doubt that.” Also, notice that Lucy deals five hands in bridge instead of four, at least to start. Lucy was such a pro that she bit probably did it to create more noise and for the comic effect rather than just making a mistake.

LOL R186 - exactly......

"I bet if I skip my next henna rinse - my hair will be snow white!"

East Orange, New Jersey!

My favorite dialogue from “Ethel’s Birthday Present”:

Ethel: I refuse to go to the theater with anyone who thinks I'm a hippopotamus! Ricky: Did you call her that?!

Lucy: No!

Ethel: HA!

Lucy: All I did was intimate that she was a little hippy. But, on second glance, she HAS got the biggest 'potamus I've ever seen!

LUCY: Hello, MGM Studios? May I speak to Mr Ricky Ricardo, please. Yes this is Mrs. Ricardo - THE STAR'S WIFE.....oh he isn't....oh. Well you please tell him that I have been detained at the Don Loper Salon....thankyouverymuch.....

ETHEL: Well that was a subtle performance.....

THE FASHION SHOW

I'm glad that MeTV has started the series again, I've been watching one a day and I am surprised at how many of the great episodes were in the first season

r192, when does it come on MeTV?

Sometimes they would pronounce words bizarrely. Like, Lucy said "the Don Loper Say-lon."

It's on meTV weekdays at 6:30am eastern

Just watched Lucy's Schedule this morning, impeccable comic timing and still makes me laugh...

R194 I think it was that RKO Mid-Atlantic training......Ginger Rogers had it, too.

Lucy always said: "Pah-tio....."

"And now I'd like to sing a song I've had many, many requests for. Your favorite - and mine......'Shortnin' Bread'."

Nods to accompanist and pulls on the scarf in her hands.

That is Ethel Louise Roberta Mae Potter Mertz

Teensy & Weensy

Lucy Is Enceinte

Lucy's Backroom Abortion

Lucy's Hysterectomy

R199 only 'cos she's nasty.

r201

I loved how they never directly said it, you just saw Fred come on stage with a bloody wire hanger

r200=Chrissy Metz

Ethel's Hometown and Ethel's Birthday Present

"Off to Florida" from Season 6 is ONE of my favorite episode - pitch perfect from beginning to end

Lucy loses the train tickets to Florida, so she and Ethel hitch a ride with an odd older woman, Mrs Grundy - played by the brilliant Elsa Lanchester

But during the long trip Lucy & Ethel come to suspect Mrs Grundy is actually escaped hatchet murderess Evelyn Holmby - a gray-haired woman driving South in a cream-colored sedan.

And Mrs Grundy begins to suspect Lucy is the escaped ax-murderess - a radio bulletin reports Holmby has dyed her hair red and is traveling South with a blonde companion

Such an unlikely plot for a 1950s sit-com that somehow pulls all the threads together to become magical...

Memorable Lines

- Ethel: (eating watercress sandwich) Not bad. Not bad at all! - Lucy: Very tasty, if you like buttered grass.

- Ethel: (finding a hatchet in Grundy's car) We're just jumpin' to conclusions. She brought that hatchet along to, uh... To, uh... - Lucy: To what? Chop watercress?

- Lucy: (desperate for an excuse to get out of Grundy's car) I gotta stop someplace and call my landlady. - Mrs. Grundy: I thought you said SHE (pointing to Ethel) was your landlady. - Lucy: Oh, yeah. (turns to Ethel) Landlady, my bath tub's running over!

I like how Mrs Grundy said “blon-da”.

It’s weird that Mrs Grundy who is obviously a lesbian liked sleeping on the ground.

I also liked the ending when they got there an hour before the train did and Little Ricky had the tickets.....

R208, have you ever actually met a real lesbian of age?

They ALL like and have liked sleeping on the ground.

I say that with deep respect and admiration.

I love juicy

As a little gayling growing up in California, I loved hearing the New York references they sprinkled throughout the show. There may have been no Phipp's department store or Kramer's Kandy Kitchen, but here are some of the real places they mentioned:

Macy's, Gimbels, Saks, and Brooks Brothers

Lindy's and Schrafft's

Phone exchanges MUrray Hill, PLaza, and CIrcle

Bleeker Street and Flatbush Ave subway stations

Idlewild Airport

The Waldorf-Astoria and the Byram River Beagle Club

Westport, Scarsdale, the Holland Tunnel, and, as mentioned upthread, East Orange New Jersey

[quote]Bleeker Street

Oh, dear.

Did Mrs. Grundy ever attend Michfest?

R213 Oh shit, I deserved that.

Did they ever say what movie Rickie ended up doing ?

The one with Tallulah Bankhead

Don't forget the Boston Post Road...!

I don't think they ever named it.....after "The Ricardos Are Interviewed" it's never mentioned again....

Although I was always partial to Seven Brides for Seven Cubans and It Happened One Noche.

I prefer his theatrical work, such as A Tree Grows in Havana...

r216 "Ricky's 50-Load Weekend."

Vitametavegamin.

Whatever it was, I guess no one ever saw it because he was never asked to make another one

I thought Ricky’s movie got canceled. So they took a train back to New York (in another very funny episode).

No, r224, just his first movie, Don Juan, was canceled. But in the "Dore Schary" episode, Dore tells Ricky that they are picking up his option and he will have another film soon. In the episode right before they leave to go back to NYC, they have a little "wrap party" for Ricky, who has finished shooting that day (and then they are all depressed to realize they are going to have to go back).

That was always a peculiarity. His movie was canceled, yet he came back to New York regarded as a movie star...

R226, see r225. He did finish a movie, just not Don Juan.

The part of the train episode that still cracks me up is when Ethel and Fred come back covered in food over and over again, and finally they come back with rain coats, but where did they buy rain coats on a train?

When I think about it almost always when something on ILL really makes me laugh it is a line or look or delivery from Ethel. Of the 4 she, V V was the best IMO. When it comes to scenes with Ethel I never have sufficient.

R228 good question. And when you figure that one out you can explain to me what credit card Lucy expected to use when she was trying to talk the helicopter pilot into flying her all the way to Europe instead of dropping her on the deck of the ship. Widely accepted cards like Visa (nee BankAmericard), American Express, and Master Card didn't come into use until 1958. Since they lived in New York and didn't have a card, she wouldn't have had a gas card like Shell or Esso.

Maybe she was planning on using her Phipps-A-Plate?

Probably the Diner's Club, r230.

Teensy & Weensy

Ethel and Fred had probably packed their raincoats on the trip from NY. Either that, or they bought them in Palm Springs, where it was pouring rain.

Housewarming - I have sufficient

Just recently I was eating at one of my favorite restaurants where they show old movies and sitcoms on a film screen. This particular evening they were playing one of my favorite ILL episodes; the one about the gossip bet. No sound but it's amazing how I was able to follow the episode and knew about 90% of the dialogue. That was fun.

I consider ILL to be one of my all time favorite series. I have so many favorites but one that comes to mind is The Operetta where Lucy plays the Gypsy Queen. That episode is hilarious from beginning to end. My favorite moments: how Ethel turned ended her sweet solo song with some jazzy hussy singing (Vivian Vance was a treasure) and when the set vendors were taking the sets away during the actual production due to Lucy's bounced check.

As great as Lucille Ball was, the other three players, Desi, Vivian, and William, were almost just as good. That's why this show is such a well deserved classic. As I got older, I appreciated those three even more. All four had perfect comedic timing.

I think the show would have failed if any one of the 4 where played by a different actor, most especially Ethel.

As much as I love Bea Benaderet, I don't think she was right for Ethel.

And Gail Gordon was the worst part of every Lucy show, so his Fred Mertz would have been unbearable

Casting Vivian Vance was the smartest move Desi and Lucy ever made. Well, that and holding onto the rebroadcasting rights and using film to record the show (instead of video tape) so they could make a fortune on reruns. Hiring great writers helped, too.

The official abbreviation for the show on the scripts and in memos was LUCY not ILL.....Lucy specifically said she didn't want to look at a script everyday and see "ILL"......let's follow Mrs. Arnaz's dictum please.

ILL ILL ILL

Fuck her. I like ILL and it was Desi who wanted V V and WF and who decided on film. He was a brilliant. Great at casting and an amazing businessman who was able to really get a good read on the future of TV. Lucy basically was able to do what we saw on screen. Who knows how far Desi would have gone if he had not been such a drunk and male whore.

The story I read was that Lucy and Desi both went to the La Jolla Playhouse where Vivian Vance was performing. Lucy wanted to make sure that it was someone she would be comfortable working with.

That's not accurate, r242. Lucy had just turned 40 and had given birth to Lucie a few weeks prior and did not want to travel to La Jolla. Desi went with Jess Oppenheim. Desi was the one who immediately knew Vivian Vance was THE one, and who went backstage afterwards to start the ball rolling. He called Lucy to let her know about it.

True R243.

Ethel's singing in The Operetta was probably the first time in my childhood that I knew I was obsessed with women who were belters. There was something both so hysterical and exciting when she went from that tiny little head voice into that big, brassy belt.

I think The Freezer is pretty funny from start to finish and I'm very partial to Lucy is Envious when Lucy and Ethel get tricked into doing that stunt for the b-movie on the Empire State Building. It's so stupid, but so funny.

Lucy Cries Wolf is another good one that paints Lucy as damn near sociopathic when she decides to fake an attack by a robber to see how everyone will react.

r230 American Express had a "charge card" (specifically NOT a credit card) back then. And since they were going to Europe, they probably were AmEx customers. Don't they even mention in one or two of the European episodes that someone is going to be picking up mail or sending mail at the American Express office?

Yes, but people could get mail at the American Express offices without having American Express charge card. It was also the most popular brand of traveler's checks, so a lot of people went to the offices for that.

r245, The Freezer is one of my favorites as well, especially Lucy's last line when she realized that when Fred turned the furnace on, it was cooking all that meat she hid there.

"Don't ask questions. Just grab a knife, fork, a bottle of ketchup, and following me to the biggest barbeque in the (starts the Lucy cry) whole wide WORRRRLD! " LOL!!!

Well, we finally cleared up that mystery

I also like The Freezer......when the salesman says: "Lady, I couldn't take it back if you put it together and made it walk...."

Then Lucy and Ethel try to sell the meat at a butcher's shop......

"Are you tired of paying high prices? Are you interested in a little high class beef? I have sirloin, tenderloin, T-bone, rump, pot roast, chuck roast, ox-tail, stump....."

I love so many of the bits done on several misc. I Love Lucy shows, but nothing gets me to laughing like a lunatic while watching Lucy dining on snails in that French sidewalk cafe. Just the sight of her picking up that snail holder and clamping it to her nose is such a great sight gag. I also love that she holds up a snail and lets it know that one of his American cousins ate her geranium. Sadly, Hall mark has edited out her chat with the snail....just as it did with her chat with the big eared hound dog on the ocean liner taking them to Europe. Lucy holding back one of his ears and whispering in it, asking if he played ping pong. Genius.

R251 Maybe with some ketchup

Yea, the only way to see the uncut episodes is on the DVD sets. Little jokes and a lot of setups are edited out.

I think they original episodes were 26 1/2 minutes - leaving time for opening credits, opening commercial, station identification, and final alternate sponsor commercial and closing credits. The episodes are now shown with at least two minutes of extra commercials....

R246 American Express didn't introduce their charge card until 1958. "Bon Voyage" was filmed in December, 1955.

If Ricky's film "Don Juan" was shelved, but he DID star in a different MGM film in 1955, who would his female co-star likely to have been??

Jane Powell?

Arlene Dahl?

Cyd Charisse?

Debbie Reynolds?

I have to think these things up!

I don't remember too many episodes even though I've watched a ton in reruns. I do remember the salad dressing episode where Lucy and Ethel go into business.

R255 "and you forgot Lana"......"nothing but beauties and cuties."

Ethel's Birthday is very good.

Two comments are on the video clip posted by R234.

This one posted by a DLer. haha

It might have been mentioned above, but I missed it. The episode where Lucy buys furniture and Ricky keeps it at the club until she pays for it out of her allowance. She tries to save money by giving herself a home permanent and making her own dress.

The gossip-off between the girls and the guys. Fred & Ricky feed some untrue gossip to Ethel and Lucy to get them to gossip to each other. Just as they're about to serve Ricky & Fred breakfast in bed (their prize), there is evidence the gossip was true, so Fred & Ricky were the gossips. Turns out Lucy paid the guys to make it seem true. That was the first appearance of "Bobby, the Bellhop" from the Hollywood scenes, appearing as the milkman.

And Joan Blondell's sister Gloria plays Grace Foster!!!!