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Star Guardian by Sam Perin

LUCY SUBLETS THE OFFICE

S4;E21 ~ January 31, 1972

Directed by Coby Ruskin ~ Written by George Balzin and Sam Perrin

Synopsis

Harry is losing money so a loan officer instructs him to put Lucy in charge. Her first act as boss is to lease office space to an eccentric toy salesman (Wally Cox) who turns the Unique Employment Agency into a playground!

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carter), Gale Gordon (Harrison Otis Carter)

Lucie Arnaz (Kim Carter) does not appear in this episode, although her name does appear in the opening credits. Lucy is on the phone with Kim as the episode opens. Despite not being in the episode, Lucie Arnaz does the introduction on the series DVD.

Guest Cast

Wally Cox (Tommy Tucker, Toy Tycoon) was one of Lucille Ball’s favorite character actors and best remembered for being a panelist on TV’s “The Hollywood Squares” (1965-73) as well as his hit series “Mr. Peepers” (1953-55).

Cox played a nervous musician on “Lucy Conducts the Symphony” (TLS S2;E13), a shy bachelor in “Lucy and Wally Cox” (S2;E21), a reformed safe cracker in “Lucy and the Ex-Con” (S1;E15), and an on-edge jeweler in “Lucy and the Diamond Cutter” (S3;E10). Cox and Lucille Ball both appeared in the 1967 film A Guide for the Married Man. This is his fourth and final appearance on “Here’s Lucy.” Cox died of a heart attack in 1973 at age 48.

Tommy Tucker was the name of the cue card man on “Here's Lucy.” Lucille Ball and Tucker would often play word games together.

Richard Deacon (Elmer Zellerbach, Loan Officer) is probably best remembered as Mel Cooley on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (1961-66). He appeared as Tallulah Bankhead’s butler in “The Celebrity Next Door,” a 1957 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” He was employed again by Desi Sr. as a regular on “The Mothers-in-Law” (1968). This is the second of his two appearances on "Here’s Lucy.”

Mr. Zellerbach has two college-age children. His first name is never used in the dialogue and the final credits only list him as “Loan Officer.”

The date this show was originally aired, Time Magazine published a cover story on Flip Wilson, TV's first black superstar. Wilson was a guest-star on “Here's Lucy” on September 13, 1971.

This episode was originally sponsored by Lipton Tea, Wesson Oil, and Whirlpool. On the DVD, commercials for each are included.

Lucy tells Mr. Zellerbach that she has two children, Kim and Craig, who are both in college. Craig has been mentioned consistently over the past four episodes after not being mentioned for more than 3 months.

LUCY (to Harry): “The reason this business is failing is because your head is full of 20 year-old, tired business techniques. While my head is new and fresh. It has nothing in it!”

Lucy charges Tommy Tucker $75 a month to sublet a corner of the office. To come up with the cash, Tucker reaches into his pants pocket...jacket pocket...breast pocket...sock...shoe...and change purse! The studio audience gives Cox a round of applause for the extended exchange. Harry (or, as Lucy calls him here, ‘HC’) has the miraculous ability to know how much money is in his hand without even looking! This too, garners a small round of applause from the studio spectators.

Amidst his loose change Tommy hands Lucy, is a streetcar token, which he quickly takes back. From 1873, the streetcar served as a popular mode of transportation throughout the Los Angeles area. Widespread adoption of diesel buses ultimately led to the abandonment of streetcars on March 31, 1963, nine years before this episode first aired.

Harry slides down the sliding board into the kiddie pool, getting soaking wet. Getting Harry wet was part of most all episodes of the series. Off screen, Lucille Ball joking called Gale Gordon ‘old soggy crotch’ and here he lives up to the name!

One of the three inflatable punching bags in the office is Bozo the Clown. The character first appeared on television in 1949 starring Pinto Colvig. In 1964, Colvig did all the dog barks and howls in “Lucy is Her Own Lawyer” (TLS S2;E23). After the creative rights to Bozo were purchased by Larry Harmon in 1956, the character became a common franchise across the United States, with local television stations producing their own Bozo shows featuring the character.

The large wide-eyed rag doll under the slide was previously seen in the 1969 musical film Sweet Charity as set decoration for Charity’s apartment. It is just behind Chita Rivera in the above scene. Both “Lucy” and Charity were filmed at Universal.

The toy-filled Unique Employment Agency looks very similar to the Ricardo living room when Lucy wanted to convince Ricky that their tiny apartment was not big enough for their growing family in “The Ricardos Change Apartments” (ILL S2;E26).

Both featured inflatable punch toys, plush animals, and a sliding board that served as the only entrance into the room.

When Tommy Tucker is demonstrating the remote control somersaulting dog, there is a wind-up drumming bear on the desk nearby that does not get demonstrated. This toy is very similar to the one used in “Little Ricky Gets Stage Fright” (ILL S6;E4). To help his son overcome his fear of drumming in public, Ricky wound up the drumming bear to show him he had nothing to be afraid of. Although very similar, the toys are different models.

Mr. Zellerbach says that he usually advises financially strapped companies like the Unique Employment Agency to hire an efficiency expert, which is exactly what Mr. Mooney did for the Westland Bank in “Lucy and the Efficiency Expert” (TLS S5;E13), an episode of “The Lucy Show” in which toys also play an integral part of the story. The Efficiency Expert was played by Phil Silvers who sends Lucy to work the assembly line at a toy factory.

Lucy Carmichael and Vivian Bagley played with some super-sized toys as part of an age-regression experiment in “Lucy the Stockholder” (TLS S3;E25).

The Ricardos sublet their New York apartment to the nervous Mr. Beecher (Jay Novello) in “The Sublease” (ILL S3;E31).

The Ricardos sublet their Connecticut home to the Williams Family in “Lucy Makes Room for Danny” (LDCH S2;E2).

Miss-Take! Mr. Zellerbach calls Lucy “Miss Carter” despite noting that she has two dependent children.

What’s My Line? Richard Deacon often glances off at the teleprompter.

Gag Gift! This episode features a new desk for Harry in order to accomplish the novelty hand in a box gag. In order to hide the “hand” actor, this version of Harry’s desk goes all the way to the floor, where Harry's usual desk had dowel legs. The ‘hand in a box’ is reminiscent of Thing, a helpful hand in a box on TV’s “The Addams Family.”

Edit Room! Tommy Tucker is never shown re-setting the Rube Goldberg-like “Tantrum Breaker” (aka “Spanking Machine”). In order for the machine to work again with Harry at the show's finale, the entire mechanism would need to be re-set. Although the action of the scene is continuous, the re-set is never shown on screen.

For a closer look at “Lucy’s Toy Chest” - a complete look at the toys seen on all the Lucille Ball sitcoms - click here!

“Lucy Sublets the Office” rates 2 Paper Hearts out of 5

Two things about this episode save it from being bland: First, Lucy running the Employment Agency gives us a bit of a glimpse into the sort of no-nonsense executive Lucille Ball really was. Second, Lucy's child-like joy playing with the toys with Wally Cox. The range is worth a watch!

LUCY’S WEDDING PARTY

S3;E8 ~ November 2, 1970

Directed by Jack Donohue ~ Written by Sam Perrin and Ralph Goodman

Synopsis

Harry goes to his college reunion and leaves Lucy to house-sit. When a friend of Mary Jane's loses her wedding venue due to a mix-up, Lucy invites her to use Harry's house. But when Harry comes home unexpectedly, Lucy must play hide the wedding guests!

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carter), Gale Gordon (Harrison Otis Carter)

Desi Arnaz Jr. (Craig Carter) and Lucie Arnaz (Kim Carter) do not appear in this episode.

Guest Cast

Mary Jane Croft (Mary Jane) makes her sixth series appearance as Mary Jane. Croft played Betty Ramsey during season six of “I Love Lucy.” She also played Cynthia Harcourt in “Lucy is Envious” (ILL S3;E23) and Evelyn Bigsby in “Return Home from Europe” (ILL S5;E26). She played Audrey Simmons on “The Lucy Show” but when Lucy Carmichael moved to California, she played Mary Jane Lewis, the actor’s married name and the same one she uses on all 31 of her episodes of “Here’s Lucy. Her final acting credit was playing Midge Bowser on “Lucy Calls the President” (1977). She died in 1999 at the age of 83.

Lyle Talbot (Freddy Fox) previously played Harry's lawyer in “Lucy Takes Over” (S2;E23). He was a ‘B’ movie actor who made several films for Ed Wood, including what is considered one of the worst films ever made Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959). This is last appearance on the series. He was previously seen on two episodes of “The Lucy Show.”

Freddy Fox is an old college classmate of Harry's at Bullwinkle State.

Bruce Gordon (Grandfather Konstantine Kasos) played Frank Nitti on “The Untouchables” (a Desilu show) as well as a parody of that program on “The Lucy Show” called “Lucy the Gun Moll” (TLS S4;E25). Gordon had appeared on Broadway in the long-running play Arsenic and Old Lace (1941-44) with Boris Karloff. He was also on Broadway with Charlton Heston and Katherine Cornell in Antony and Cleopatra (1947-48). He died in 2011 at age 94.

The character says he is 77. Gordon was just 54 at the time of filming.

Paul Picerni (Father Lambros) makes the first of his four appearances on “Here's Lucy.” He also appeared with Lucille Ball in the 1975 TV movie “Lucy Gets Lucky.”

In the final credits this character is listed as “Mandikos”. This may be a hold-over from an earlier version of the script.

Cynthia Hull (Cleo Menikos) played Ann on the Desilu show “Here Comes the Brides” (1968-69). This is her only appearance with Lucille Ball.

The character's first name is probably an homage to Cleo Smith, Lucille Ball's cousin and the series' producer. Cleo is the bride.

Sam Chew Jr. (Joe Andropopolas) comes from one of the oldest families in Pennsylvania. This is just his fourth screen credit in a career that featured hundreds of TV and film appearances.

The character is billed in the final credits as “Groom”. He has no dialogue.

Joan Carey (Wedding Guest, uncredited) was one of the few actors to appear in the background of “I Love Lucy,” “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.” She also served as Lucille Ball’s camera and lighting stand-in.

The wedding guests, musicians, and dancers are played by uncredited background performers.

The episode is introduced on the series DVD by Bruce Gordon (Grandfather Kosos) and Paul Picerni (Father Lambros).

On this date, in the metro New York TV market, a viewer could watch a rerun of “The Lucy Show” at 10am (WCBS), a rerun of “I Love Lucy” at 7pm (WNEW), and this new “Here’s Lucy” at 8:30pm (CBS). The TV Guide cover that week featured Mike Connors (”Mannix”) who would appear as Joe Mannix on “Here’s Lucy” in 1971. “Mannix” was the last successful TV show to be produced by Desilu.

When Lucy tries to sneak into the office in the morning, Harry tells her to stop tiptoeing through the tulips. This is yet another in a nearly weekly series of references to “Here's Lucy's” competition on ABC, “Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.” A regular performer on the show was a stringy-haired eccentric named Tiny Tim, who had a hit song with “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” which he also played on the ukulele.

When Lucy says she knows one Greek named Spiro, Mary Jane immediately thinks she's referring to Spiro Agnew (1918-96), the 39th Vice President of the United States under Richard M. Nixon. Like Nixon, Agnew later left office in disgrace and was replaced by Gerald Ford, who then replaced Nixon as President. Lucy corrects Mary Jane that she is referring to Spiro Shapiro who owns a Greek restaurant down in Chinatown.

The series also mixed cultures for comedy in the opening scene of “Lucy and the Generation Gap” (S2;E12) which was set in Murphy's Pizza Parlor, owned by Murphy Irving Fong!

When Harry enters the office in his old college threads, Lucy calls him handsome Joe Namath, a professional football player who also had a career in show business. In 1972 he guest-starred as himself on “Here's Lucy.”

It is mentioned that Lucy is a widow, something that is rarely discussed.

Harry and Freddy carry Bullwinkle pennants that were last used in “Lucy, the Co-Ed” (S3;E5) during the song “Collegiate.”

“Lucy and the Golden Greek” (TLS S4;E2) also featured Greek dancing and co-starred Mary Jane Croft.

Harry's home is decorated with the very same roll-top desk that Lucy Carmichael had in her living room on “The Lucy Show.”

“I Love Lucy” had a wedding episode where Lucy Ricardo re-did her vows. In real-life, Lucy and Desi also renewed her vows in a Catholic Church on June 19, 1949 after being married for nine years.

On “The Lucy Show” Lucy Carmichael hosted the wedding of her sister Marge (Janet Waldo).

Memory Lapse! Harry just recently put on an show for the alumni at Bullwinkle University in "Lucy, the Co-ed" (S3;E5). Isn't that a sort of reunion? Why another one so soon? Also in "Lucy the Co-ed" (S3;E5), the college is called BU (Bullwinkle University) but here it is named BS (Bullwinkle State) for the sake of the double entendre.

Throwing Shade! When Lucy backs away from Harry in the final scene, she bumps into the lamp shade which wobbles. Lucille Ball, however, never loses focus!

Shut the Door! After Lucy fetches Harry and Freddy's coats from the closet, the door swings open. Without much ado and barely a glance to her right, Lucille Ball reaches over and shuts it as the scene continues.

Sitcom Logic Alert! Why doesn't Lucy just send the kids to the movies and use her own home for the wedding?

“Lucy’s Wedding Party” rates 3 Paper Hearts out of 5

This episode has a straightforward plot and lots of laughs. Even though it is not a musical episode, they manage to incorporate two full Greek wedding dances! Getting a bit cheekier, this episode offers two racier jokes: the acronym BS (Bullwinkle State) on Harry's shirt and saying that Harry is full of it (popularity). The interaction between Harry and Lucy at the end of the episode seems especially realistic and free from the usual farcical hysterics. Instead of getting wet, Harry ends up wearing the wedding cake!