LUCY AND CAROL BURNETT
S1;E17 ~ January 27, 1969
Directed by Jack Donohue ~ Written by Robert O'Brien
Synopsis
Lucy convinces Carol Burnett to participate in a benefit to raise money for Kim and Craig's high school gymnasium.
Regular Cast
Lucille Ball (Lucy Carter), Gale Gordon (Harrison Otis Carter), Lucie Arnaz (Kim Carter), Desi Arnaz Jr. (Craig Carter)
Guest Cast
Carol Burnett (Herself) got her first big break on “The Paul Winchell Show” in 1955. A years later she was a regular on “The Garry Moore Show.” In 1959 she made her Broadway debut in Once Upon a Mattress, which she also appeared in on television three times. From 1960 to 1965 she did a number of TV specials, and often appeared with Julie Andrews. Her second Broadway musical was Fade Out – Fade In which ran for more than 270 performances. From 1967 to 1978 she hosted her own highly successful variety show, “The Carol Burnett Show.” Lucille Ball made several appearances on “The Carol Burnett Show.” Burnett guest starred in four episodes of “The Lucy Show” and three episodes of “Here’s Lucy,” subsequently playing a character named Carol Krausmeyer. After Lucille Ball’s passing, Burnett was hailed as the natural heir to Lucy’s title of ‘The Queen of TV Comedy.’
The Audience at “The Carol Burnett Show” (in order of appearance)
Pearl Shear (Asks Carol if she was born in Texas) is probably best remembered as Zuleika Dunbar on TV's “The Waltons” (1976-81). In reality she was the mother-in-law of Ralph Waite (Pa Walton). This is her only appearance with Lucille Ball.
John Lindesmith (Serviceman who asks Carol how far she went in school) had made several appearances in uniform on an NBC series called “The Lieutenant” (1963-64) as well as being a member of the crew of the Enterprise on “Star Trek.” This is his penultimate screen credit.
Jerry Rush (Asks Carol if she went to a drama school) made nine mostly uncredited appearances on “The Lucy Show.” This is his second and last “Here's Lucy” appearance.
Virginia Hawkins (Asks where Carol got her early training) makes her screen debut with this episode. She went on to play Nurse Canford on “Medical Center” (50 episodes) and housekeeper Jeanette on “Dynasty” (68 episodes).
Laura Gile (Asks Carol her exact age) made only seven screen appearances in her career.
Gile's back is to the camera during her question.
Sean Morgan (Asks when Carol was born) is best remembered as Sean on “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett” (1964-66) although he also made several appearances on the Desilu series' “Star Trek” and “Mannix.” This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.
Carole Cook (Asks if Carol is going to make any more movies / Lucy's Singing Voice) played Thelma Green on “The Lucy Show” as well as many other characters. She was a protégé of Lucille Ball’s during the Desilu Playhouse years. Although born as Mildred Cook, Ball suggested she take the name Carole, in honor of Lucy’s great friend, Carole Lombard. Cook appeared in five episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” This is the second time she has dubbed Lucy's singing voice on the show.
Cook sits in the back wears a crazy hat and chews gum. In reality, Burnett had only done one feature film before this episode was filmed, Whose Been Sleeping in My Bed? in 1963.
Roy Rowan (Carol’s Announcer, uncredited) was also the announcer for “Here’s Lucy.”
The other audience members, the high school students, gymnasts, and band are played by uncredited extras – the majority of which were well beyond high school age.
This episode is also known as "Lucy and the New School Gym." Almost all of Carol Burnett’s “Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy” appearances were titled “Lucy and Carol Burnett” - but some have taken liberties to differentiate them.
The date this episode first aired, Charles Winninger died at age 84. He had played Fred Mertz’s old vaudeville partner, Barney Kurtz, in “Mertz and Kurtz” (ILL S4;E2). He is probably best remembered for playing Cap'n Andy Hawks in the original 1927 Show Boat on Broadway as well as in the 1936 film.
Coincidentally, in some areas, on the same day as this “Here’s Lucy” episode originally aired, the syndicated rerun of “I Love Lucy” was "Mertz and Kurtz”! A rather eerie coincidence. A half hour earlier, the syndicated “Lucy Show” (here known as “Lucille Ball”) reran the final episode of the series “Lucy and the ‘Boss of the Year’ Award” (TLS S6;E24). This means that viewers in this Canadian market (Alberta-Eastern British Columbia) could view all three of Lucille Ball’s sitcoms within two hours!
Summarizing the crazy premise on the “Here's Lucy” DVD introduction, Lucie Arnaz sarcastically (but humorously) says “Yeah. That could happen.” She adds that all the musical numbers were first rehearsed during the filming of the previous week's episode.
Everyone in the cast lip syncs to a pre-recorded music track and vocals. Lucille Ball's vocals are dubbed (once again) by Carole Cook. Cook also dubbed Ball’s singing voice on the very first episode of “Here’s Lucy.”
The episode is choreographed by Jack Baker and Anita Mann.
Special music is arranged and conducted by Marl Young.
Lucy and the kids attend a taping of “The Carol Burnett Show,” a program that Lucille Ball herself had already appeared on twice as a guest star and would return to twice more.
"The Carol Burnett Show” always opened with her taking questions from the studio audience, so this is recreated on “Here’s Lucy”. Carol’s answers confirm that she was born in San Antonio, Texas, got her degree at UCLA, did not go to drama school, got experience in high school plays, and that she has a younger sister.
A new episode of “The Carol Burnett Show” aired at 10pm on the same evening this “Here's Lucy” was first broadcast. Carol's guests that night were Martha Rae and Mel Torme, who had played Mel Tinker on several episodes of “The Lucy Show.” On NBC, frequent Lucy co-star (and neighbor) Jack Benny was appearing on “Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In”, a show whose second half hour competed with “Here's Lucy.” Also that night, “Gunsmoke” featured Eve Plumb, who would later play Patricia Carter, Lucy’s niece in a 1972 episode of “Here’s Lucy.” [Note that the grid above mistakenly calls it “The Lucy Show” instead of “Here’s Lucy”.]
“Here's Lucy” attempts to physically reproduce “The Carol Burnett Show” studio and stage, even using the CBS eye gold curtain. The audience section, however, is much smaller on “Here’s Lucy.”
Kim and Craig Carter attend (fictional) Angeles High School. In real life, Carol Burnett attended Hollywood High School in Los Angeles. Lucie Arnaz attended an all-girl Catholic High School and Desi Jr. went to University High School in West Los Angeles.
The title cards used to introduce each act where also the type used to tell the audience the names of the acts during a vaudeville show.
This old-fashioned technique of setting time and place was often used in musical episodes on “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy” like the above scene from “Lucy and Jack Benny’s Biography” (S3;E11).
Part I ~We Got No Gym
“Yes! We Have No Gymnasium” (aka “Yes! We Have No Bananas”) was written by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn from the 1922 Broadway revue Make It Snappy sung by Eddie Cantor, the song became a major hit. The song was often used by singer and comedian Jimmy Durante on “The Jimmy Durante Show” in the 1950s and 1960s.
Carol does a brief time step to the melody of “There's No Business Like Show Business,” a song written by Irving Berlin for the musical Annie Get Your Gun. It was sung (with lyrics) on both “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show.”
Part II ~ We Got the Money
Lucy and Carol say that students only learn visually today, so they present a visual lesson in Geography – a musical revue.
New York, New York
“The Lullaby of Broadway” was written by Harry Warren and Al Dubin. It was introduced musical film Gold Diggers of 1935 and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The song is now part of the Broadway musical 42nd Street.
St. Louis, Missouri
“You Came a Long Way From St. Louis” is by John Benson Brooks and Bob Russell. Della Reese had a hit with the song in 1964.
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
“Mention My Name in Sheboygan” was written by Bob Hilliard, Dick Sanford and Sammy Mysels in 1947. On “Here's Lucy” the second verse mentions New Orleans and the third Texas. In the 1947 original, the locations following Sheboygan were Paducah, Elmira, and Tacoma, with another version adding Asuza.
Part III ~ We Got Our Gym
Part III starts out with a marching band playing “Buckle Down, Winsocki.” The tune is from the 1943 film Best Foot Forward in which Lucille Ball played herself. The film was also partly set in a high school gym! The song, by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, was also part of the 1941 Broadway stage musical of the same name.
Craig sings “You Gotta be a Football Hero (To Get Along with the Beautiful Girls)” written by Al Sherman, Buddy Fields and Al Lewis (not the actor) in 1933. It is one of the most widely recorded and performed football anthems of all time.
Kim sings “All American Girl” written by Al Lewis (not the actor) in 1932.
There is a display of gymnastics. As in other performance episodes, Gale Gordon take the opportunity to do a cartwheel, something he (surprisingly) excelled at.
Every year from 1964 to 1972 (except for 1971) Gordon’s character found an excuse to do a cartwheel; four times on each series!
The finale is “Fit as a Fiddle” by Arthur Freed, Al Hoffman, and Al Goodhart in 1932. In 1952 it achieved fame after being featured in the classic film Singin' in the Rain.
The production designer have meticulously designed the final act in patriotic red, white, and blue - even down to the cans holding the gymnast’s talc!
Carol Burnett had already appeared on four episodes of “The Lucy Show” - twice as Carol Bradford and twice as Carol Tilford.
In 1967, dropout Lucy Carmichael went back to high school to get her diploma at Wilshire High School.
In 1963, Lucy Carmichael and Viv Bagley reminisced about their time at Shortridge High School. Unlike Angeles and Wilshire, this was not fictional, but the high school attended by writer Madelyn Martin.
Goodnight Everybody? Carol Burnett traditionally tugs on her left ear, a signal to her grandmother, who raised her. She usually did her iconic ear tug at the end of her episodes, but here she does it at the beginning.
Peek-a-Boo Hat! When Carol and Lucy pull their ten gallon hats down over their eyes in “Mention My Name Down in Texas” Carol's hat has a mesh peek box in the front so she can see where she is going, while Lucy's does not, possibly because it is Carol who has to lead the two offstage.
Props! The white football Craig tossed away during his solo number is stranded on stage during Harry’s cartwheel. Desi Jr. must stoop down to scoop it up during his entrance for the finale.
Sitcom Logic Alert! Perhaps the reason that Angeles High School doesn’t have a gymnasium is because they spent their entire budget on outfitting their auditorium with elaborate scenery, backdrops, and curtains! Also, if the school doesn’t have a gym, where do they store all the gym equipment used in the musical’s final act?
“Lucy and Carol Burnett” rates 3 Paper Hearts out of 5
Like Lucie says in the DVD introduction, the premise stretches credulity, but that was the case for most of these musical / guest star episodes. “Here’s Lucy” is competing with the variety show format, which was quite popular at the time. The drab set-up for the episode in Harry’s Office seems hardly necessary except that the show is primarily a sitcom, not a musical comedy variety show!