Lucy Bags a Bargain
S4;E17~ January 17, 1966
Synopsis
Lucy wants to buy a new dinette set, but Mr. Mooney won't give her the money so she takes a job at the department store. She gets moved around from department to department finally landing in sporting goods, where she wreaks havoc.
Regular Cast
Lucille Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Gale Gordon (Theodore J. Mooney)
Mary Jane Croft (Mary Jane Lewis) does not appear in this episode.
Guest Cast
Jonathan Hole (Mr. Collins, Stacey's Manager) was seen in eight Broadway plays between 1924 and 1934. His screen career began in 1951. This is the first of his three appearances on the series. He also did two episodes of “Here's Lucy.”
Barbara Morrison (Mrs. Walker) was an English-born actress making the first of her two appearances on “The Lucy Show.” She also plays an irate shopper in “Lucy’s Working Daughter,” a 1968 episode of “Here's Lucy,” in addition to two other episodes.
Mrs. Walker says she is a close friend of the store's owner as well as being a large stock holder. The character's name may have been influenced by the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street in which a mother and daughter named Walker (Maureen O'Hara and Natalie Wood) have an encounter with Santa Claus while working at Macy's Department Store. William Frawley (Fred Mertz) was also in the film.
Donald Foster (Vernon Walker) was a veteran of 31 Broadway shows between 1917 and 1956. On TV he is probably best remembered as Herbert Johnson on “Hazel” (1961-1964). This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.
Elvia Allman (Hat Customer) is best remembered as the barking Candy Factory foreman in “Job Switching” (ILL S2;E1) although she also played four other characters as well. She will make one more appearances on the series in “Lucy the Babysitter” (S5;E16).
Amzie Strickland (Hat Saleswoman) appeared with Lucille Ball in three films before playing Don Loper's salesgirl in “The Fashion Show” (ILL S4;E9).
Natalie Masters (Miss Murray, Home Funishings Saleswoman) played private eye "Candy Matson" on the radio series of the same name, which ran on NBC from 1949 to 1951. She will make one more appearance on “The Lucy Show.”
Bennett Green (Customer) was Desi Arnaz’s stand-in during “I Love Lucy.” He does occasional background work on “The Lucy Show.”
Joel Marston (Father) previously appeared as the supermarket clerk in “Lucy and Joan” (S4;E4). Marston was an internationally known dog breeder and proprietor of Starcrest Kennels in California. This is the second of his three appearances on the series. He retired to Jacksonville, Florida, where he became a water aerobics instructor.
Sid Gould (Wilcox) made more than 45 appearances on “The Lucy Show,” all as background characters. He also did 40 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” Gould (born Sydney Greenfader) was Lucille Ball’s cousin by marriage to Gary Morton. Gould was married to Vanda Barra, who also appeared on “The Lucy Show” starting in 1967, as well as on “Here’s Lucy.”
Roy Rowan (Store Announcer) was the off-camera announcer for every episode of radio’s “My Favorite Husband,” “I Love Lucy” as well as “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.” He was also the voice heard when TV or radio programs were featured on the plot of all three shows. He made a couple of on screen appearances as well.
Barbara Perry (Customer with the Green Sweater) makes the second of her two appearances on “The Lucy Show.” As of this writing she is still acting in TV and film.
Coincidentally, in her previous appearance as a frenzied housewife, Perry wore an over-sized cardigan sweater.
Renita Reachi (Customer, uncredited) was a costumer for “The Lucy Show” from 1966 to 1968. She was also Vivian Vance’s camera and lighting stand-in for “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show.” She was a costumer and/or made crowd appearances on “Here’s Lucy” and the Lucille Ball films Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) and Mame (1974).
Reachi is the customer holding a green sweater who tells Lucy that the crowd is because sweaters are on sale.
Paula Ray (Customer, uncredited) makes third and final appearance on the series. She was first seen as a member of the Danfield Art Society in “Lucy Gets Her Maid” (S3;E11).
Louise Lane (Customer, uncredited) makes the third of her four background appearances on “The Lucy Show.”
Lovyss Bradley (Customer, uncredited) appeared several times on the Desilu series “The Untouchables”. This is her only appearances with Lucille Ball.
Joan Carey (Customer, uncredited) was a frequent background player on “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show,” taking over as Lucy’s stand-in during this series. More than two dozen uncredited female extras play the frenzied shoppers and store staff at the bargain sale.
This is the first and only episode written by Henry Taylor, who teamed with Howard Ostroff, who penned two previous episodes in 1964.
The episode was filmed on October 21, 1965.
While working days for Mr. Mooney at the Westland Bank, Lucy moonlights at Stacey's Department Store in the Westland Shopping Center.
The dinette set that Lucy wants to buy is $99 plus tax but she looks at the price tag upside down and thinks it is only $66.
Lucy tells the customer shopping for a cocktail hat (Elvia Allman) that the black pillbox seems made especially for her, or Elizabeth Taylor. She then adds that if she ran into Richard Burton it would confuse him! Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were married in 1964. They will guest-star as themselves on a 1970 episode of “Here's Lucy.” Pillbox hats were popularized in the 1960s by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
Lucy says that she can even do the Watusi on stilts, but Mr. Collins tells her to leave the dancing to Fred Astaire. The Watusi was heard on the radio in “Lucy, the Rain Goddess” (S4;E15) and danced by Lucy, Viv and their sons in “Chris's New Year's Eve Party” (S1;E14). Dancer Fred Astaire starred in four films with Lucille Ball and was mentioned in the dialogue of “I Love Lucy.”
Walking on stilts, Lucy says that they are marvelous in Los Angeles because on a clear day you can see Catalina. Santa Catalina Island is located 22 miles from downtown Los Angeles. During the Ricardo's and Mertz's stay in Hollywood, they twice mention wanting to go to Catalina, but never got there.
Mrs. Walker calls Lucy Typhoid Mary. In “Lucy the Stock Holder” (S3;E25) Mr. Mooney called Viv Typhoid Mary. Cook Mary Mallon (1869-1938) was an asymptomatic carrier of the typhoid virus. She is said to have infected 22 people, three of whom died.
One of the few brand names on the shelf of the sporting goods department is the Wham-O Super Ball. It was first introduced in 1964 and quickly became one of the most popular toys of the decade. Made from a synthetic rubber called Zectron, it was known for its incredible bounce — up to several times higher than a normal rubber ball.
In the course of her employment at Stacey's, Lucy sells or demonstrates: perfume, ladies' hats, shoes, skin diving equipment, stilts, pogo sticks, fishing poles, ping pong balls, basketballs, handballs, and a motorized skateboard!
Callbacks!
Stacey's Department Store is undoubtedly named to sound like Macy's Department Store. Lucy Ricardo shopped in Macy's in “Lucy and Orson Welles” (ILL S6;E2).
Lucille Ball’s Mame Dennis roller skated through Macy’s in the movie Mame (1974).
Lucy also goes furniture shopping and mistakes the prices in “Lucy Gets Chummy with the Neighbors” (ILL S6;E18).
Lucy first walked on stilts in “Lucy and Her Electric Mattress” (S1;E12). As usual, she gets a round of applause from the studio audience for the stunt.
While working for Stacey's, Lucy is transferred from department to department just as Lucy Ricardo was when working for Kramer's Candy Kitchen in “Job Switching” (ILL S2;E2). The episode also featured Elvia Allman. In this episode Jonathan Hole (Mr. Collins) functions in the same capacity as Elvia Allman did in 1953, even repeating some of the same dialogue.
Lucy Carmichael wore scuba gear in “Lucy the Chaperone” (S1;E27) while Lucy Ricardo wore a skin diving mask in Macy's sporting goods department in “Lucy Meets Orson Welles” (ILL S6;E3).
Back in Danfield, Lucy also had problems at a department store when she broke into Bigelow's, a store named after one found in Lucille Ball's hometown of Jamestown, New York.
Blooper Alerts
Boom! As Lucy is on stilts reaching for a hand ball for Mr. Mooney the camera pans up and the shadow of the boom mic is visible.
“Lucy Bags a Bargain” rates 5 Paper Hearts out of 5