Trivia / Here's Lucy

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• Creator Backlash:
  • Carole Cook, a friend and protégé of Lucille Ball who made numerous appearances both here and on Ball’s previous series, was the guest star in “Lucy and Ma Barker”. Despite this, Cook did not receive guest star billing. Though unhappy about it, she kept her mouth shut at the time, not wanting to affect her friendship with Ball, but later made it be known how hurtful she found this.
  • Though originally proud of her backdoor pilot episode, Lucie Arnaz later thought it was dreadful, and expressed relief it didn’t go to series.
  • Kaye Ballard, who guest starred in “Lucy and Harry’s Italian Bombshell”, was not at all happy about the unflattering padding she had to wear. She was even more upset when Executive Producer Gary Morton (Ball’s second husband) broke his promise to have her return to the show in a more glamorous role.
• The Danza: Lucille Ball as Lucy Carter.
  • Many supporting and recurring characters on this series used the actors’ actual first and last names as their character names. Examples include Mary Jane Lewis, Vanda Barra, Doris Singleton and Sid (Gould).
• Hostility on the Set:
  • Nobody on the show enjoyed working with Rudy Vallee. One of the writers called him “a pain in the ass,” while Lucie Arnaz blasted him for being unprofessional and foul, blaming everyone else while never accepting any responsibility.
  • Numerous clashes occurred during production of the famous “Lucy Meets the Burtons” episode. Neither Richard Burton nor Elizabeth Taylor appreciated Lucille Ball’s micromanaging and manhandling, causing Burton to write scathingly about what a “controlling, manipulative bitch” she was in later years. Additionally, after Ball shouted at Taylor to speak up during rehearsals, Taylor began addressing Ball as “Miss Cunt” for the rest of the shoot. Further complicating matters was Ball taking an immediate dislike to new director Jerry Paris, at one point calling him a horse’s ass and causing him to temporarily walk out.^note Ball would further show her contempt for Paris in an outtake from an episode the following season, improvising a “joke” about him raping a girl in the park. All problems aside, the episode became the highest rated of the series upon airing.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • Lucille's real-life children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. star as her character's children, Kim and Craig Carter.
  • Frequent bit player Sid Gould was a cousin to Gary Morton, Ball’s second husband and an executive producer on the show. Sid’s wife, Vanda Barra, was also a regular presence.
• Recycled Script:
  • The whole concept for the Unique Employment Agency was first used in The Lucy Show episode “Lucy the Babysitter”. The original slogan, “Odd Jobs for Odd People,” was changed slightly to “Unusual Jobs for Unusual People.”
  • “Lucy, the Cement Worker” repeats the knife throwing gag first seen in the I Love Lucy episode “Lucy Tells the Truth”.
  • “Lucy and Lawrence Welk” is very similar to I Love Lucy’s “Harpo Marx” episode. Both involve a friend of Lucy’s from back East visiting her in California. In both cases, the friend in question (Carolyn Appleby originally, now Vivian Vance) is terribly nearsighted and wears glasses, despite not needing them in any other episode. Lucy has told said friend that she’s chummy with celebrities and will introduce them, despite not knowing them at all. The friend’s glasses are hidden to keep up a charade (rubber masks originally, now a wax figure of Lawrence Welk from a museum), only for the celebrity in question to make a surprise appearance and save the day.
  • The concept of Lucy getting a ring stuck on her finger, used to great effect in “Lucy Meets the Burtons”, was first used in The Lucy Show episode “Lucy and the Ring-a-Ding-Ding”.
  • “Lucy is Really in a Pickle” takes many cues from the famous I Love Lucy episode “Lucy Does a TV Commercial”. Both feature Lucy forcing her way into starring in a commercial for a product whose taste she cannot stand.
• Throw It In!: In “Lucy and Harry’s Italian Bombshell”, Harry mistakes the Arvine Cosmetics Lady for his former flame and plants a big kiss on her, only for her to roundly thwack him with her purse before storming out. His subsequent line (“I’m glad she wasn’t selling door knobs!”) was a rare ad-lib by Gale Gordon. The laughter following this from Lucille Ball and Lucie Arnaz was completely genuine.
• Wag the Director: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton stipulated that the opening titles be modified to include their names. No other guest stars ever received title billing on this series.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Lucie Arnaz was very reluctant to do the series initially, as she’d already decided to pursue musical theatre in college. Fearing the possibility of embarrassing herself in front of a national audience and potentially hurting her future prospects, she came to an agreement with her mother that her character would be written out after a few weeks if they felt she wasn’t cutting it. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, and Arnaz went on to essentially receive six years of schooling on the set.
  • Doris Singleton was meant to have a regular role on the series. Her appearance in the first episode set her up to be Harry’s efficient morning secretary, while Lucy would’ve been his scatterbrained afternoon secretary. Her character was dropped after this single episode when it was decided to focus more on the children.
  • There was talk of Vivian Vance returning as a series regular for the fifth season, as alluded to by Viv mentioning she might stay in California in the penultimate episode of season four. This would’ve given Lucy a new female cohort, as the plan was for Lucie Arnaz to be spun-off into her own show. However, Lucie’s pilot did not sell, and Vance’s subsequent cancer diagnosis and stroke prevented her from making any more guest appearances, let alone becoming a regular again.
  • The fifth season was originally planned to be the last, with “Lucy and Harry’s Memoirs” serving as the series finale. However, shortly before filming, Ball agreed to return for another year, resulting in the ending of “Memoirs” changing slightly to show that the Employment Agency was only temporarily closing.
  • Had the series been renewed for a seventh season, Lucie Arnaz would not have returned, as she had already agreed to star in the national tour of Seesaw.
• Written-In Infirmity: Lucille Ball broke her leg in a skiing accident, causing Lucy Carter to suffer the same fate for a few episodes in the fifth season.
• You Look Familiar:
  • Carol Burnett first played herself before making two appearances as Carol Krausmeyer, another secretary who was something of a rival to Lucy Carter.
  • Eva Gabor initially played novelist Eva Von Gronyitz before returning as herself in “Lucy and Eva Gabor Are Hospital Roomies”.
  • Milton Berle first played a sleazy used car salesman called “Cheerful Charlie” and later returned as himself.
  • Besides his recurring role as Sam, Sid Gould played a variety of bit parts.
  • Vanda Barra usually appeared as Vanda, one of Lucy’s girlfriends, but occasionally played other minor female roles.
  • Carole Cook appeared in five episodes, each time as a different character.

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