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TV on TV!

Part 2 ~ The TV Shows of the Lucyverse

Although it may seem redundant, the worlds created by Lucille Ball on radio and television frequently created and mentioned other TV shows! Here are a few from “The Lucy Show” (1962-1968).

“Lucy Puts Up a TV Antenna” (1962)

When Lucy's TV set doesn't work, she discovers that the antenna has blown off the roof. Refusing to spend extra money to have one professionally installed, she talks Viv into helping her replace it. As the episode opens, Sherman and Jerry are excited that the All-American Football Team is going to be on TV. When the reception is poor, Lucy engages in the old practice of banging on the side of the set, something she claims she learned from her late husband.

LUCY: “What did we do before television?” VIV: “We used to hit the radio.”

With Lucy on the roof, Viv yells up the chimney, “I got carried away watching Art Linkletter. Come on down Lucy. He's about to go through a lady's purse.” “The Linkletter Show” (also known as “Art Linkletter's House Party”) was seen on CBS from 1952 to 1970. Lucille Ball appeared on the show in February 1965.

“Lucy and Viv Put in a Shower” (1963)

“Where’s Lloyd Bridges when you need him?” ~ Lucy Carmichael

Bridges starred “Sea Hunt” from 1958 to 1961, a series about a scuba diver which featured extensive underwater filming, so much so that his name become synonymous with underwater adventures. Bridges was seen in all 155 episodes of the CBS series. He was also mentioned in the same context in “Lucy Buys a Boat” (1963). Lucy says she bought the boat with the hull in the water so she didn’t notice the poor shape it was in. She adds that she didn’t have Lloyd Bridges with her at the time!

“Lucy’s Sister Pays a Visit” (1963)

Lucy’s son’s lunchbox features images from the television western “Lawman,” which ran on ABC from 1958-1962. A “Lawman” lunchbox is now part of the collection of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. The lunchbox shows up again in “Vivian Sues Lucy” (1963).

“Lucy Gets Locked in the Vault” (1963)

Danfield TV is on the scene when Lucy and Mr. Mooney finally get out of the vault.

“Lucy and the Safe Cracker” (1963)

Demonstrating how she got locked in the vault for Larry McAdoo (William Woodeson) of Danfield TV, Lucy accidentally locks Mr. Mooney back in the bank vault again! Taking advantage of the air time, Lucy gets in a commercial for Grandma’s Candy Shop, owned by the safecracker (Jay Novello).

“Lucy and the Plumber” (1964)

Lucy and her plumber (Jack Benny) appear on the television program “Talent Discoverer's Show”.

Hosted by Greg Gregory (Willard Waterman), the show is sponsored by Kiddie Cookies, baked beans, and varnish!

Lucy was already on the show once, so this time she disguises herself as Lucretia Carmucci, the talent discoverer of the title, presenting her plumber Harry Tuttle, who plays an arrangement of Donizetti on the violin.

“Lucy Meets Danny Kaye” (1964)

Lucy writes away for tickets to “The Danny Kaye Show” but is turned down.

Kaye offers to give her a walk-on role in the telecast – but Lucy manages to steal the spotlight anyway. In 1962 and 1964 Lucille Ball guest-starred on Kaye’s CBS TV program “The Danny Kaye Show.”

Kaye telephones Bill Paley to see if he has any spare tickets to give Lucy. William S. Paley (1901-90), was the chief executive who built the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) from a small radio network into one of the foremost radio and television network operations in the United States.

“Lucy and the Beauty Doctor” (1965)

When Lucy hears about a $25 beauty treatment, she tells Mr. Mooney the money is for a doctor. When the treatment turns out to be a hidden camera show named “Boiling Point”, Lucy must do whatever she can to stop it from airing and revealing her secret to Mr. Mooney.

“Boiling Point” hosted by Dick Patterson is modeled loosely on “Candid Camera,” a TV show that started in 1948 and continues (in some form) to this day. Its heyday was from 1960 to 1967, when it was a ratings winner for CBS on Sundays at 10pm.

“Lucy in the Music World” (1965)

When Lucy takes a job in a music producer's office, she wangles her new neighbor Mel Tinker (Mel Torme) into a gig on the musical variety television show “Wing Ding”.

“Wing Ding” is hosted by Reb Foster and presents The Six Bare Feet, The Torch Bearers, The DDTs, and The Tear Ducts (Lucy and Mel) singing the plaintive ballad "My Trousseau Just Lies on the Shelf.”

“Lucy Helps Danny Thomas” (1965)

When Mr. Mooney hires Lucy to get some important papers signed at a TV studio, she finds herself dancing on Danny Thomas's TV special instead!

Although this is not a real TV program, Thomas did host “The Danny Thomas Hour” for 22 episodes in 1967. Thomas was a Desilu regular, appearing in “Make Room for Daddy” (later “The Danny Thomas Show”) as well as doing a cross-over episode with “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”.

“Lucy and Art Linkletter” (1966)

Lucy is picked from Art Linkletter's studio audience and challenged not to utter a sound for 24 hours to win $200. In January 1966, CBS aired new episodes of “Art Linkletter’s House Party” daily at 2:30pm while “I Love Lucy” was in reruns at 10:30am.

During the 24 hours, Linkletter arranges for a one-armed man to burst into Lucy's apartment waving a gun and say that a guy has been chasing him for three years. This is a reference to the hit ABC series “The Fugitive” (1963-67) on which David Janssen was on the trail of a one-armed man who killed his wife. Three weeks after this episode of “The Lucy Show” was filmed, Doris Singleton (Ruth Cosgrove on “Lucy and Art Linkletter”) guest-starred on “The Fugitive.” The series was a Quinn Martin Production. Quinn Martin was a producer at Desilu and also married Madelyn Pugh, one of Lucille Ball’s longest lasting writers.

“Lucy and the Soap Opera” (1966)

Lucy disguises herself in a number of outrageous get-ups to gain access to the reclusive writer of “Camden Cove,” her favorite soap opera, to learn how the show will turn out.

Camden Cove is described at “the typical American town” so it was probably inspired by “Peyton Place,” a prime-time soap opera which aired on ABC from 1964 to 1969. Like “Camden Cove,” it aired three nights a week and dealt with the tangled relationships found in a small American town. Danfield was compared to Peyton Place in “Lucy and Joan” (1965).

“Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (1966)

LUCY (to Edwards): “Oh, doctor! Oh, doctor!”

Lucy disguises herself as an usher to meet celebrities. On the reception line, she asks Vince Edwards for his autograph. Vincent Edwards (1928-96) was probably best known as the title character on ABC TV’s “Ben Casey” (1961-66) which was filmed on the Desilu lot. A new episode of “Ben Casey” aired on ABC at 10pm on the night this episode of “The Lucy Show” premiered. It was directed by Marc Daniels, one of the directors of “I Love Lucy” and Jesse Wayne was the stunt coordinator, as he was for “The Lucy Show.”

“Lucy and Bob Crane” (1966)

Crane was best known as the clever Colonel Hogan in the CBS POW camp sitcom “Hogan's Heroes” (1965-1971), which was filmed at Desilu Studios.

In the episode, Crane is making a World War One film. A one-line gag features an appearance by John Banner, who played Sergeant Schultz on “Hogan’s Heroes”. He utters his famous catch-phrase from the sitcom.

SCHULTZ: “I know nothing!” CRANE: “Schultz! You're in the wrong war!”

Oscar Beregi plays Wolfgang Schmidt the director of the film. Beregi did two episodes of “Hogan's Heroes.” He was probably cast here for his resemblance to Werner Klemperer, who played Colonel Klink on “Hogan’s Heroes” who also wore a monocle.

“Lucy the Robot” (1966)

Jay North plays Mr. Mooney’s spoiled brat nephew Wendell. North was best known as the star of “Dennis the Menace” (1959-1963). During the show's final season, North played opposite Gale Gordon (Mr. Mooney) as John Wilson.

“You will keep that MENACE subdued for the next eight days!” ~ Mr. Mooney to Lucy about Wendell

“Dennis the Menace” also included a character named Theodore Mooney!

“Lucy the Gun Moll” (1966)

RUSTY: “So ya see, no one is really untouchable!”

The episode is a parody of “The Untouchables” (one of Desilu’s biggest hits) starring most of the original cast. Lucy plays a gun moll named Rusty. Robert Stack (who originally played Elliott Ness), agreed to appear as long as the character names were not the same as the original. Stack was joined by Walter Winchell, Bruce Gordon, and Steve London.

“The Untouchables” started out as a two-part pilot episode of “Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse” in April 1959. The show was introduced by Desi Arnaz and starred Robert Stack and the voice of Walter Winchell, both of whom were cast in the series, which began in October 1959 on CBS. The final episode was aired in May 1963.

“Lucy Puts Main Street on the Map” (1967)

To bring attention to the plight of the town of Bancroft, Lucy stages a spectacle on Main Street, calling all the television news programs to witness the event.

Dan McGowan (Dan Rowan) is a TV reporter with the National News Service.

“Lucy Meets Sheldon Leonard” (1967)

Mr. Mooney allows TV producer Sheldon Leonard to film a hold-up scene at the bank. Lucy thinks he is really a gangster and is determined to foil his robbery.

Over the telephone, Mr. Cheever tells Mr. Mooney that Sheldon Leonard produced “The Danny Thomas Show,” “Dick Van Dyke” and “I Spy.” Leonard himself adds “Andy Griffith” and “Gomer Pyle” to his credits. All of these shows were filmed at Desilu Studios.

The end of the episode Leonard says:

“I suddenly got this idea for a new television series. It would be about this kooky red headed girl. She works in a bank and she gets into all sorts of impossible situations and... forget it. Nobody would ever believe it.”

“Lucy Helps Ken Berry” (1968)

A dance instructor (Ken Berry) is about to default on his loan until Lucy arranges for him to be on “Ralph Story’s Los Angeles”, a local television show.

Ralph Story was well known in the Los Angeles area as a local TV personality as host of “Ralph Story’s Los Angeles” from 1963 until the late 1970s.

Ken and the his students perform “Steppin’ Out With My Baby” by Irving Berlin. For the finale, everyone sings “Pick Yourself Up” by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields.

Stay Tuned for Part 3! Same Time, Same Station!

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