#S6 E16 Collective

[soulerflaire]

I completely forgot about the Borg kids.

[x-files-polls]

Episode Descriptions:

Piper Maru: When a French salvage ship sends a diving crew to recover a mysterious wreckage from World War II, the crew falls prey to a bizarre illness and Agents Mulder and Scully join the investigation. The investigation leads to the discovery of a familiar face, and to Skinner's life being threatened.

Alpha: An Asian dog, called the Wanshang Dhole—thought to be extinct—is blamed for several killings. Mulder and Scully join an obstinate Sheriff, a seemingly eccentric hunter, and a reclusive canine expert to find it. However, there is more mystery to the expert than meets the eye.

The information from this poll is collected from Katy DeCorah's mapbox of Jane Robert's "Mapping the X-Files"

Episode Descriptions are taken from wikipedia for neutrality.

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (10-16 Mar 2024)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 Art Thief, Heart Thief (odetteandodile) - 58K, stucky white collar inspired AU - enjoyed how author took the WC set up (fbi art agent, criminal consultant) and made it theirs & perfect for stucky

💖💖 +195K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

Midlife Crisis (profoundalpacakitten) - MCU: stucky, 7K - reread, forever fave - the quiet, piercing, understated tenderness in this fic is unmatched

Progredi (justanotherStonyfan) - MCU: shrunkyclunks, 37K - the next installment in the fabulous Honey Honey series

Pistachios and Rose Water (goldsaffron) - The Old Guard: kaysanova, 15K - J&N spend 10 years putting down roots, building a home & collecting a found family as Nicky learns to express his love through food

Consensual Catfishing (foresthearts) - Stranger Things: steddie, 32K - modern AU, told via social media - delightful story! adored these characters & their voices and using all different sorts of SM to tell it. brilliant idea, adeptly executed. the art is also pretty great

they're going to send us to prison for jerks (greatunironic) - Stranger Things: steddie, 16K - another really fun modern steddie with a strong social media AU premise

Os Impurum (the_deep_magic) - The Eagle | The Eagle of the Ninth: Marcus Flavius Aquila/Esca Mac CunovalMarcus/Esca, 18K - solidly good fic about marcus/esca post canon, esp marcus discovering some new things about himself 😉

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Ghosts (US) - s3, e5

Game Changer - s6, e3

D20: The Unsleeping City: Chapter II - "For the Hoard!" (s7, e15)

D20: The Unsleeping City: Chapter II - "Treachery at Gramercy" (s7, e16)

D20: The Unsleeping City: Chapter II - "Two Sides of the Same Coin (Part 1)" (s7, e17)

D20: The Unsleeping City: Chapter II - "Two Sides of the Same Coin (Part 2)" (s7, e18)

D20: Adventuring Party - s3, e12-16

Um, Actually - s9, e2

D20: Fantasy High: Junior Year - "Cursed Out" (s21, e10)

D20: Adventuring Party - "Cool Ranch Communion" (s16, e10)

D20: Tiny Heist - "Big Little Crimes" (s4, e1)

D20: Tiny Heist - "Chicanery at Shoeby's Casino" (s4, e2)

D20: Tiny Heist - "Scheming and Scoring Fairy Dust" (s4, e3)

Agatha Christie's Marple - "The Secret of Chimneys" (s5, e2) [shout out to @leupagus for this rec; they were not wrong about the acting choices made here 🤩]

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

Worlds Beyond Number: Fireside - Fireside Chat for WWW ep001 The Open Door

What Next: TBD - Instagram’s Pedophile Problem

Desert Island Discs - Cillian Murphy, actor

WikiHole - Lenny Kravitz (with Paul F. Tompkins, Drew Tarver, and Heléne Yorke)

This Cultural Life - Andrew Scott

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Our 2024 Oscars Recap

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The Grave of XYZ

Vibe Check - Hey, Sis: featuring Morgan Parker

WikiHole with D'Arcy Carden - Fear of Dolphins (with Kumail Nanjiani, Emily Gordon, and Jonah Ray)

The Allusionist - 190. Craters

WikiHole with D'Arcy Carden - Tetris (with Adam Pally, Jon Gabrus and Blair Socci)

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The Lighthouse Keeper

⭐ Vibe Check - A Special Conversation with Afeef Nessouli

Short Wave - What We Know About Long COVID, From Brain Fog to Fatigue

⭐ Decoder Ring - Why Stylists Rule the Red Carpet

⭐ 99% Invisible #573 - Toyetic

You Are Good - My Best Friend's Wedding w. Sam Sanders

If Books Could Kill - Lean In

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Law of the Tongue

Imaginary Worlds - The Nine Lives of Red Dwarf

Today, Explained - Lip gloss, gum, and the Pill

Dear Prudence - My Ex Had Sex With My Brother. Help!

What Next: TBD - Is TikTok Cooked This Time?

Short Wave - Are We On The Brink Of A Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough?

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Love Lies Bleeding And What's Making Us Happy

Endless Thread - The Music Man, Part 1

Welcome to Night Vale #244 - A Multiplicity of Kevin

Today, Explained - Hollywood’s still not back

99% Invisible - The Power Broker #03: David Sims

Off Menu - Ep 233: Frankie Boyle (Live in Glasgow)

⭐ Hit Parade - Gotcha Covered Edition

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

The Donnas

Smooth Rockabilly

Respect: '60s Iconic Women

[los-ninos-tortugas]

RoTTMNT x Star Trek: Voyager, ideas and premise, let's talk!

So let's talk a little bit about a Donnie-centric crossover with Voyager. There will be a fic for this eventually but it probably won't be for a little while since I'm still in the brainstorming phase for this and focused on finishing "Adventurer's Journal" and updating "Nobody Invited You." But anywhosies,

I really just wanna combine two things I really really (two really's!) love. So how does Donnie get to the starship Voyager? Portal shenanigans of course,

"In hindsight, maybe asking Leo and Mikey to test their portal abilities at the same time to see if it was like "plugging two power-strips together" was a bad idea."

Now he doesn't land on the ship right away, that would be too easy. Donnie lands on some sort of desert planet, it's not too important. What's important is that he still thinks he's on Earth, and he activates his panic button and sets off to find some shelter while he waits for his brothers to come rescue him. I like to believe that the panic buttons have a pretty wide radius (Donnie's protective paranoia for the win) and, on a planet with no other signals to interfere with his, the distress signal is picked up by none other than our favorite lost starship.

The Voyager crew finds Donnie, passed out and dehydrated in the sand and picks him up.

Continuity wise, Donnie gets picked up post S6: E16 "Collective," not like, directly after. The amount of time since then is gonna be somewhat nebulous, but I want the other Borg children, namely, Icheb, to be on the ship at the time. (Edit: I’ve since decided that Donnie arrives earlier in the timeline than this. I’m not sure exactly when yet but definitely sooner than “Collective”)

I'm not gonna get too deep into Donnie's reaction when he wakes up in Sickbay, since when I finally get around to writing this fic that's probably gonna be most of the first chapter, just know that he's initially pretty freaked out to wake up surrounded by uniformed humans in a very high-tech, very medical setting, without his battle-shell.

But anyway, following the initial freakout, and finding out that he's in the future, things get pretty episodic, this is gonna be somewhat light on plot with the through-line of everyone just trying to get home one way or another. Angst is gonna be pretty light as well, mostly it'll just be concerning feelings of homesickness, restlessness, and not knowing how to actually deal with having adult supervision for once in his life. Otherwise it's fun times in space babeeyyyyy and character interactions.

I think I want Ensign Wildman (literally the only person outside of the main crew with parenting experience on the ship, or, well, the only one we really see, I know other people on the ship have kids but I don't care about them) to step up and volunteer to be Donnie's primary guardian while he's living on the ship. Is this mostly because I want Donnie and Naomi to hang out together? Yeah. Do I care? Nah, it's my AU and I get to say what happens.

That's all I have so far. I'll figure out more as I go along.

[urwatchingdisneychannel]

DisneyPlus’s Halloween Collection

The collection includes many movies and episodes all about Halloween and all things spooky. Not all Halloween episodes are included.

Movies and Series:

Frankenweenie

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Hocus Pocus

The Haunted Mansion

The Adventures of Icabod and Mr. Toad

Maleficent

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Z-O-M-B-I-E-S

Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2

Coco

Halloweentown

Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge

Can of Worms

Girl Vs Monster

Halloweentown High

Twitches

Twitches Too

Mom’s Got a Date with a Vampire

The Invisible Sister

Don’t Look Under the Bed

Phantom of the Megaplex

The Scream Team

Return to Halloweentown

Mr. Boogedy

Bride of Boogedy

The Ghosts of Buxley Hall

So Weird

James and the Giant Peach

Shorts and Specials:

Frankenweenie

Trick or Treat

Lonesome Ghosts

Mater and the Ghostlight

Vampirini: Ghoul Girls Rock

Captain Sparky vs the Flying Saucers

The Legend of Mor’du

The Simpsons Treehouse of Terror:

S2:E3

S3:E6

S4:E5

S5:E5

S6:E6

S7:E6

S8:E1

S9:E5

S10:E4

S11:E4

S12:E1

S13:E1

S14:E1

S15:E1

S16:E1

S17:E4

S18:E4

S19:E5

S20:E4

S21:E4

S22:E4

S23:E3

S24:E2

S25:E2

S26:E4

S27:E5

S28:E4

S29:E4

S30:E4

Disney Channel Halloween Episodes:

Phineas and Ferb S4:E18

Jessie S2:E1

Wizards of Waverly Place S3:E2

Big City Greens S1:E15

A.N.T. Farm S1:E14

Kim Possible S1:E14

K.C. Undercover S1:E24

Good Luck Charlie S2:E25

Girl Meets World S1:E11

Sonny With a Chance S2:E18

Raven’s Home S2:E16

Shake It Up S3:E25

Tangles: The Series S1:E13

Mickey Mouse Shorts S1:E10

Gravity Falls S1:E12

Star vs. The Forces of Evil S2:E11

Lab Rats S1:E17

Ducktales S1:E10

Ultimate Spider-Man S3:E10

Disney Junior Halloween Episodes:

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse S1:E17

Vampirina S1:E24

Puppy Dog Pals S1:E17

Doc McStuffins S1:E23

Jake and the Never Land Pirates S1:E22

The Lion Guard S1:E21

Imagination Movers S2:E6

Sheriff Callie’s Wild West S2:E17

Fancy Nancy S1:E11

Mickey Mouse Roadster Racers S1:E20

Muppet Babies S1:E15

Henry Hugglemonster S2:E15

Jake and the Never Land Pirates S2:E15

Imagination Movers S3:E9

Miles from Tomorrowland S1:E23

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse S5:E7

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse S5:E8

Jake and the Never Land Pirates S3:E19

Doc McStuffins S2:E25

Henry Hugglemonster S1:E20

Jake and the Never Land Pirates S4:E2

Jake and the Never Land Pirates S4:E6

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse S2:E11

Doc McStuffins S3:E11

[papermoonloveslucy]

RAY KELLOGG

November 12, 1919

Ray Kellogg was born on November 12, 1919. He was a big, burly character actor who appeared in more than 130 TV and film projects from 1942 to 1972.

From 1942 to 1954 he appeared uncredited in seven feature films. He made his television debut in a November 1954 episode of “I Love Lucy” titled “Ricky’s Screen Test” (ILL S4;E7). Kellogg plays the Assistant Director who startles Lucy with his loud “Quiet on the set!”. 

Once in Hollywood, Kellogg appeared in “Bullfight Dance” (ILL S4;E22) as the props man in charge of Lucy’s bull costume. 

His third and final series appearance was as a uniformed TWA airline crew member in “Return Home From Europe” (ILL S5;E26) in 1956.  He is called to the cabin when Lucy’s baby is revealed to be a cheese, causing mid-air chaos! 

In October 1957, Kellogg did an episode of the Desilu series “December Bride”. Desi Arnaz made an appearance as himself on his show in 1956.

In March 1960, Kellogg played a policeman on Desilu’s “The Untouchables”. This was just one of his many appearances as a uniformed law enforcement official. The episode also featured “Lucy” cast members Eleanor Audley, Hazel Pierce, and George DeNormand. In March 1966 “The Lucy Show” did a satire on “The Untouchables” that featured its stars Robert Stack, Bruce Gordon, Steve London, and Walter Winchell. 

Between 1958 and 1962, Kellogg made four appearances on Desilu’s “The Real McCoys” - two of which wearing blue. 

From 1954 to 1963, Kellogg made three appearances on “Make Room for Daddy” aka “The Danny Thomas Show” - all as policemen.  His 1954 appearance also featured Doris Singleton (Caroline Appleby). In 1958, the series switched from ABC to CBS and did reciprocal crossover episodes with “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” 

In 1963 he did an episode of Desilu’s short-lives series “Glynis” that also featured Saverio LoMedico, who played the Roman Bellboy in “Lucy’s Italian Movie” (ILL S5;E23). 

In early 1964, Kellogg was on the Desilu backlot to film an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” in which he played a truck driver. 

That same year, Kellogg reteamed with Lucille Ball on “The Lucy Show”. First, he played a country club doorman, who announces Mrs. Carmichael - on roller skates - in “Lucy the Good Skate” (TLS S3;E1). 

In “Lucy the Coin Collector” (TLS S3;E13) Kellogg is back in blue to console Lucy and Viv when a valuable collectible coin slips down the gutter in the street. 

Three months later he was yet another doorman in “Lucy Meets Danny Kaye” (TLS S3;E15). Mrs. Carmichael buys Henderson the doorman’s uniform to sneak into the hotel to see Kaye. 

Officer Kellogg is back when Lucy is put to test in “Lucy and Art Linkletter” (TLS S4;E16) in 1966. Is he a real cop, or an actor hired by Linkletter? 

In the middle of his “Lucy Show” run of appearances, Kellogg appeared in Bob Hope’s special "15 of My Leading Ladies" or "Richard Burton Eat Your Heart Out".  He played the director of a film starring Dina Merrill and had no scenes with Lucille Ball. 

Kellogg was back on the beat in “Lucy and the Ring-a-Ding Ring” (TLS S5;E5) in 1966. 

He gets a motorcycle when “Viv Visits Lucy” (TLS S5;E5) in January 1967. He is joined by John J. Fox as a Sunset Strip patrolman. 

In his final series appearance in January 1968, Kellogg (along with Fox) must apprehend “Lucy and the Stolen Stole” (TLS S6;E19), although she’s innocent of all charges.

In February 1965, he took a break from playing policemen on “My Three Sons”, filmed on the Desilu lot. 

Between 1962 and 1965, Kellogg did six appearances on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” also filmed at Desilu. In one, he traded his police blues for army khakis. In one, of course, he played a cop. 

From 1964 to 1969, he did four episodes of “Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.” as various characters (but no policemen). The series was originally filmed at Desilu and did a quick crossover with “The Lucy Show” in “Lucy Gets Caught Up In The Draft” (TLS S5;E9) in 1966.

He was back with Lucille Ball on “Here’s Lucy” as a party guest in “Guess Who Owes Lucy $23.50?” (HL S1;E11) in December 1968 with guest star Van Johnson. 

His final appearance with Lucille Ball three months later was (again) as a motorcycle cop in “Lucy Helps Craig Get a Driver’s License” (HL S1;E24) in 1969, although a month earlier he was seen on a “Jack Benny” special that also featured Lucille Ball but the two did not share any screen time. 

Kellogg’s final role was as a bartender (not a policeman) on three episodes of “Maude” in 1972.  

Ray Kellogg died on September 26, 1981 in Olympia, Washington, at age 61. 

[Note: Due to confusion with visual effects artist Ray Kellogg (1905-76), finding specific personal information about Kellogg through online sources is unreliable.]

[thephoenixiaproject]

Entry 02 (07/01/2020): Research, Inspirations and Ideas

Hi there!!

Welcome to entry number two! This project is still VERY much in the preparation stage, so I wanted to use this one as an opportunity to link all the sources that I’ve been using as a basis up until this point, as well as specific pieces of work that have inspired this project, plus some brainstormed ideas that might be experimented with in the future.

The next couple of entries after this will most likely be focusing on making some first demos, visual ideas, mood-boards, notebook scribbles, and maybe some character/story ideas too! I won’t lie, the scope of all the different areas does slightly scare me, especially since I have next to no experience in a lot of them - I feel like I’m flying by the seat of my pants!!

But I’m definitely going to make a lot of mistakes as I try some new skills and play with new concepts for the first time, so please bear with me as I stumble around in the dark for a while :D Expect most of my nonsense to eventually end up getting heavily changed, retconned, or cut entirely!

--------

A List of Sources (at the time of writing!):

AWARE - AWAreness during REsuscitation - A Prospective Study (resuscitationjournal.com, October 6th 2014) - The first piece I found! The start of this idea came when I was thinking about how my dreams worked (more on that later!), and for some reason I suddenly remembered one religious studies lesson I had in school when I was 14 I think? Part of the lesson was talking about out-of-body and near-death experiences, and out of curiosity I looked it up to see if anything had changed. That’s when I came across this!

“What Really Happens After Cardiac Arrest?” - The New York Academy of Sciences (nyas.org, December 6th 2019) - A talk on the subject led by the Lead Author of the 2014 study, held in late 2019! There’s loads of interesting information and anecdotes in here.

Life — after life: Does consciousness continue after our brain dies? (nationalpost.com, April 18th 2019 [Updated October 2019]) - This article goes very in-depth as well as referencing a LOT of different studies, some even offering opposing viewpoints to each other! There’s loads of quotes and studies here that I really want to look more into.

Greyson NDE Scale (iands.org, 25th April 2015) - The NDE scale referenced in the National Post article - would be cool to use this somewhere somehow??

Understanding the cognitive experience of death and the near-death experience (academic.oup.com, 14th July 2016) - A summary of the 2014 AWARE experiment, but that references past studies into the field (see below!)

Life Changes in Patients After Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (link.springer.com, 8th December 2011) - One of the referenced studies, this one includes a ‘life changes’ questionnaire at the bottom which might be another source of ideas.

A qualitative and quantitative study of the incidence, features and aetiology of near death experiences in cardiac arrest survivors (sciencedirect.com, February 2001) - An older study, but with very similar results to recent ones!

A Prospective Analysis of Near-Death Experiences in Cardiac Arrest Patients (link.springer.com, June 2002) - Another older study, includes characterisations of the experiences, some of which correlate with AWARE’s most commonly reported themes.

Possible source - What Happens When We Die? by Sam Parnia, M.D.(penguinrandomhouse.com, 1st January 2007) - I’m debating whether to look into this - it’s written by the same project leader as the AWARE study, but this book was written 7 years prior to it. I’m also fully aware that despite trying to look everywhere, the majority of my current sources stem from Dr. Parnia. (This might not be a bad thing! It’s just surprising to me that most of the recent studies into this field I can find out about stem from him.)

-------- Inspirations/Ideas:

Just a quick place to put current inspirations down! I’m sure that once I’ve finished this entry I’ll realise I’ve missed some out, so I’ll edit this as I go!

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD:

Bojack Horseman - S6 E15 ‘The View From Halfway Down (& S6 E16 ‘Nice While It Lasted’) - Netflix - The View From Halfway Down takes place within Bojack’s mind, after he commits suicide by downing himself in the pool of his former home. This episode has a LOT of themes which link to the studies:

Just like how some CA survivors reported on seeing their life ‘in review’, the characters are asked what the best and worst parts of each of their lives were, leading to conflict of ideals between them as well as trying to tackle large philosophical questions.

Black tar, representing impending death, begins the episode as a drip in the ceiling, before consuming all the all the characters one-by-one, followed by both Bojack and the dream world the episode takes place in. With newer theories on loss of consciousness and brain cell/tissue functionality arguing that it may be a gradual process of decay, rather than an instant loss, the black tar effectively mirrors this. Combined with the fact that Bojack becomes more frantic as the episode ends and the tar begins to chase him, as well as more supernatural events which begin happening, this may mirror the post-death ‘elevated state of consciousness’ idea.

For the first half of the episode, Bojack believes that he is in a recurring dream he has had many times before in his life, even stating how the dream will end event-by-event. However, once these happen but dream doesn’t end, things take a darker shift, and it takes him time to realise he might not be waking up. While being unaware of their own death might be a concept to try in the future (although a scary one), it does bring up the idea that final moments of consciousness may be very similar to the dreams a person normally has (or take place in a similar format with similar people).

While Bojack’s father, Butterscotch, does feature in the episode, he takes on the appearance of Secretariat, Bojack’s personal idol. A percentage of CA survivors reported that post-experience, they came out of hospital and care with a renewed sense of who their true friends and family were - here it’s represented as a father taking the shape of an idol (but keeping his father’s voice).

The 20-25 minute time length: Supervising director Mike Hollingsworth revealed in an interview that the episode took place over around 30 seconds - one of the many theories on the length of consciousness persisting after death is 20-30 seconds, but in an elevated state, perhaps leading to a longer perception of time (e.g. 20-30 seconds becomes 20-30 minutes of video/audio).

The world this episode takes place in is a connection of significant locations in Bojack’s life (e.g. the kitchen from Horsin’ Around, the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge which Secretariat jumped off), albeit with slight changes. Purely coincidentally, this is how a lot of my dreams function!!

While it’s still theorised as to whether Bojack is actually alive in Nice While It Lasted, or whether it’s a continuation of his NDE, this episode focuses on optimistic reflection and reconciliation with the other major characters in the show, a similarity to the reflection on friends, family and morals reported by CA survivors.

Rachel Joyce - ‘A Snow Garden and Other Stories’ (Published by Penguin Books, 3rd November 2016)

This is an incredible collection of seven short stories, each one told at different time periods by different characters, the events of each story being individually unique, and yet all of them are linked in some way!! My current plan is to make multiple stories based off the different experiences CA survivors have had, and I’d love to somehow be able to link them all like these short stories are, to be able to tell another story in and of itself!

I really need to find more short stories like these, since the end result(s) of this project will probably be in short-story format (maybe 20 minutes of video/audio per character?). This book’s given me a lot of ideas in terms of character building in a short format, as well as what the ‘link’ could be between each.

Some of the characters in the stories were scrapped characters from Joyce’s previous works - I’ve been trying to think a lot on how to best approach character design for this project (since I’ve never done it before!) and this seems to show to me that compelling stories could be founded off a character’s traits, and that this could be a good way to start?? I don’t know, I could be completely wrong!

All the stories focus on one specific life-changing moment for each main character, but either through narration of past events or it coming up in conversation. we get a fairly clear picture of each character’s lives, their mentality, and where it stems from.

Pixar Animation Studio’s ‘Sparkshorts’ Films: - What happens when you give Pixar artists 6 months and a set budget? So far, 8 incredible short films, all in different styles, each exploring different and very real themes!! (Seriously, please check these out, they’re all incredible and hard-hitting and so worth your time!)

Seeing how such strong themes are addressed in such short time is insanely cool, and is exactly the kind of thing I want to try and make! It’s also super inspiring to see what awesome films can be made under such constraints.

If I end up making films/audio/albums on multiple people, these films show that you can play around with animation style, aesthetic, and storytelling techniques to create just as much heart and soul as each other. Varying styles is something I’d love to try when representing different characters.

‘Gravity Falls’ - Hidden Codes/Messages and Stan’s Mind:

The hidden codes scattered throughout both seasons seems like a cool way to enhance an existing narrative, fill in gaps in backstory, or work to link multiple together!

The ‘memory rooms’ approach may be one way of experiencing the ‘life review’?

Conclusion:

And there we go! I’ll probably come back and add more later, but for now here’s a lil idea dump. At some point in the future I’ll talk about musical influences and ideas too!

This will probably be the last text-filled entry - I’m hoping to use future entires more like a logbook, where I put up demos of what I’ve been working on. There’ll definitely be explanations to stuff (that I’ll probably needlessly overexplain!!) but nowhere near this and the previous entry’s level of paragraphs!

University deadlines are getting closer, so progress will probably be a bit sporadic for the next month or so. But I’ll keep chipping away at this when I can!

[papermoonloveslucy]

THE ATTIC

September 23, 1949

"The Attic” (aka “Trapped in the Attic”) is episode #55 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on September 23, 1949.

This was the fourth episode of the second season of MY FAVORITE HUSBAND. There were 43 new episodes, with the season ending on June 25, 1950.  

Synopsis ~ One of George's old Glee Club friends is in town and George wants to find his old ukulele, so he and Liz search for it in the attic but get locked in.

“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George's boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benaderet was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Coope. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.

MAIN CAST

Lucille Ball (Liz Cooper) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father's garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his  roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.

Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz, a member of the surprise investigating committee for the Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), as one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and also played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). She died in 1996 at the age of 96.

Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release.

Bea Benadaret (Iris Atterbury) and Gale Gordon (Rudolph Atterbury) do not appear in this episode. 

GUEST CAST

Hans Conried (Mr. Benjamin Wood / Jimmy the Paper Boy) first co-starred with Lucille Ball in The Big Street (1942). He then appeared on “I Love Lucy” as used furniture man Dan Jenkins in “Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8) and later that same season as Percy Livermore in “Lucy Hires an English Tutor” (ILL S2;E13) – both in 1952. The following year he began an association with Disney by voicing Captain Hook in Peter Pan. On “The Lucy Show” he played Professor Gitterman in “Lucy’s Barbershop Quartet” (TLS S1;E19) and in “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” (TLS S2;E1). He was probably best known as Uncle Tonoose on “Make Room for Daddy” starring Danny Thomas, which was filmed on the Desilu lot. He joined Thomas on a season 6 episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1973. He died in 1982 at age 64.

The character’s first name is not mentioned here, but it is in other episodes where Conried plays Mr. Wood.

THE EPISODE

ANNOUNCER: “Even in the happiest of marriages both the husband and wife have little habits that prove annoying over the years. With the Coopers it’s George’s habit of reading the newspaper at the breakfast table.  Well, unable to break him of this habit Liz is setting up a counter irritant. As we look in on them now she has just started a barrage of toast munching… It’s a war of nerves!”

The episode opens at breakfast, where Liz is upset that George has buried himself in the morning newspaper instead of paying attention to her. 

This was a common complaint on early episodes of “I Love Lucy” as well. Ricky often didn’t lift his eyes from behind the newspaper.  

LIZ: “I’ll speak to Katie and asks her to buy quieter bread. Or, I could puree the bread and eat it with a spoon.”

The phone rings. It is George’s old friend Charlie Nichols. Charlie is a Bullfrog, a member of their college Glee Club. Liz translates the slangy conversation between the old friends for Katie. George riffs a few notes of “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” into the phone with Charlie. 

"Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” is a popular song from 1925 written by Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson. A week before this episode aired, it was also the title of a Universal motion picture starring Donald O’Connor and Gloria DeHaven. In 1980 the film was referenced in “Lucy Moves To NBC” which featured O’Connor and DeHaven in a show-within-a-show sitcom called “The Music Mart”. 

Liz anticipates that George will want to find his old ukulele for his reunion with Charlie. Naturally, she’s right and naturally Liz has no idea where it is! George reminds her of the time she disposed of all his old clothes, a hint at a future episode titled “Husbands Are Sloppy Dressers” (E95) which would become “Changing The Boys’ Wardrobe” on “I Love Lucy”.  

GEORGE: “A man’s old clothes are filled with sentiment.” LIZ: “That’s sediment, not sentiment!” 

On “I Love Lucy” saxophone wasn’t the only instrument she was able to play. Lucy first plays the ukulele in “Ricky Loses His Voice” (ILL S2;E9), “Little Ricky Gets Stage Fright” (ILL S6;E4), and again in “Don Juan Is Shelved” (ILL S4;E22). Lucy Carmichael strummed the uke in “Lucy’s College Reunion” (TLS S2;E11). Fast forward to 1972 and Lucy and Kim Carter play the ukulele in “Lucy Goes Hawaiian: Part 2″ (HL S3;E24).

Liz denies having thrown away George’s prized ukulele. Liz asks George the last time he saw it and he says it was “just the other night at the alumni dinner” - in 1938!  Liz says it’s probably in the attic, and off they go to look for it. 

On “I Love Lucy,” Lucy Ricardo visited the attic to find a musical instrument, too - “The Saxophone” (ILL S2;E2). Of course, she finds other memories along the way. This was the series’ only visit to the attic of 623 East 68th Street. 

In the attic, George thinks he sees a prowler - but it is just Liz’s old dress dummy!  

Lucy Carter and her kids visits the attic for antiques and get a lesson in family history lesson in “Lucy Takes Over” (HL S2;E23). When first entering the darkened attic, Lucy screams when she runs into the dress dummy, just like George!

The box marked ‘ukulele’ is actually filled with ski boots!  Liz’s labeling system has resorted in confusion about what’s inside each box.  

This warped logic foreshadows Lucy Carmichael and Lucy Carter’s crazy filing system on “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.”  It never failed to confound Mr. Mooney / Harry (Gale Gordon). 

Liz finds her corsage collection - dried flowers of corsages given to her by high school boys. George finds his old electric train. Liz wants to throw out the trains, while George wants to toss the corsages.  

"Lucy Goes To Sun Valley” (LDCH S1;E5) opens with Lucy searching the living room closet for Ricky’s guitar strings. While doing so, she runs across  a pressed corsage of violets that Ricky gave to her during their courtship.

Hours later, Liz and George still haven’t thrown away anything and still haven’t found the ukulele. They agree to try again after lunch - but the attic door is locked. George calls for Katie - but she’s gone downtown to take George’s Glee Club sweater to the cleaners and is then off for the afternoon.  

From the attic window, Liz yells to neighbor Mr. Wood (Hans Conried) but he is working on his motorcycle and can’t hear them. Jimmy the Paper Boy (also Conried) thinks they want their newspaper tossed through the attic window.  It hits George square in the face.

George decides to ram the door with his shoulder like they do in the movies, but to no avail. 

GEORGE: “They must use fake doors in pictures.” LIZ: “Maybe they use real men!”

George has landed on his ukulele, which emerges unharmed. He strums and sings a few more bars of “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” - much to Liz’s chagrin.

More time passes and they are still locked in the attic. Liz notices the calendar on the attic wall says March. 

LIZ: “I wonder if it’s been a tough winter?”  

Liz starts to cry, but George wants her to laugh it off and think of it as an exciting adventure. Hunger starts to set in. Liz finds a piece of their ten year-old wedding cake. Petrified!. She spies a piece of cheese in a mousetrap!   

It is here the episode starts to foreshadow “Lucy in the Swiss Alps” (ILL S5;E21) in which the Ricardos and Mertz’s are trapped in an Alpine cabin due to an avalanche, where hunger is also an issue.  

Panic sets in - Liz is stir crazy and wants George to jump out of the window to get help. George gets the idea to make a rope ladder out of old drapes and lower Liz to the ground. 

The idea of escaping a high confinement by knotting sheets (or blankets or curtains) together to form a rope ladder is a familiar trope. It was later used in “The Star Upstairs” (ILL S4;E25) when Lucy Ricardo finds herself trapped in Cornel Wilde’s upstairs suite and chooses this method of escape. 

LIZ: “Just a moment.  Who’s lowering whom?” GEORGE: “I’m lowering you’m!” LIZ: “Over my’m dead body you’m are!” 

This exchange is very similar to “Vacation from Marriage” (ILL S2;E6) which finds Lucy and Ethel trapped on the roof when the door locks behind them. Lucy gets the idea to put a plank across the alleyway (five flights up) to the neighboring building, but naturally she wants Ethel to go first!  Ethel is reluctant to be the one to go first!

Practically speaking, Liz is not strong enough to hold George’s weight, so she has to be the one to be lowered. As Liz climbs onto the window ledge, Mr. Wood sees her and thinks she’s going to kill herself!  He rushes into the attic to save her.

MR. WOOD: “You have so much to live for. You’re young! You’re beautiful! You’re vibrant! Think of your husband!  Think of the children!” LIZ: “I don’t have any children.” MR. WOOD: “Well I have eleven children, you can have a couple of mine.”

Liz explains that she wasn’t suicidal but that they were locked in the attic. She demonstrates by shutting the door - accidentally locking them in again!  Katie arrive just in time and admits that she’s been home the whole time - asleep on her good ear!  Just as they are about to leave - the wind slams the door shut. Katie calmly announces that the firemen will let them out when they arrive after the explosion. 

LIZ: “What explosion?” KATIE: “I left the pressure cooker on the stove!” 

[papermoonloveslucy]

Lucy and Viv Put in a Shower

S1;E18 ~ January 28, 1963

Synopsis

Lucy decides that her home needs another shower and asks Harry to help her install it. Harry and Eddie get out of helping by paying a local plumber to do the job under the guise of being an old friend. After Lucy drives him away with her meddling, she and Viv finish the job themselves, nearly drowning as a result!

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Vivian Vance (Vivian Bagley), Jimmy Garrett (Jerry Carmichael), Ralph Hart (Sherman Bagley), Dick Martin (Harry Connors)

Candy Moore (Chris Carmichael) does not appear in this episode, although the character is mentioned and is the catalyst for Lucy wanting to install a second shower. 

Guest Cast

Donald Briggs (Eddie Collins) makes the fourth of his seven appearances as Viv’s on-again / off-again boyfriend.

Eddie’s pet name for Viv is “Tootsie”. 

Stafford Repp (Joe Melvin, a plumber from Ridgebury) made a career of playing policemen even before he became famous as Chief O'Hara on TV’s “Batman” (1966-68). He played two different officers of the law on “Dennis the Menace” in 1962 and 1963, alongside “The Lucy Show’s" Mr. Mooney, Gale Gordon. Coincidentally, “Dennis the Menace” had their own Mr. Mooney, who was a police officer! Repp returned to “The Lucy Show” for “Lucy Is a Process Server” (S2;E27) and did 1970 episode of “Here’s Lucy” as (what else?) a police detective!  

This episode was filmed on December 13, 1962. It is sometimes referred to as “Lucy the Plumber”. 

This is one of two Season 1 episodes (as well as 30 others) that somehow fell out of copyright and into public domain, which accounts for its appearance in low-cost / low quality DVDs.  

The original broadcast was sponsored by Jell-O, and featured the product in the opening and closing credits. 

There was even a special commercial featuring Vivian Vance, Jimmy Garrett, and Ralph Hart in character extolling the ease and versatility of Jell-O. During season one all actors except Lucille Ball participated in such ‘in-character’ commercials. In her medium shots, Vivian Vance’s eyes are clearly reading from the teleprompter just over Ralph Hart’s head.

The day this episode aired, January 28, 1963, film director John Farrow (inset photo) died. Farrow directed Lucille Ball in the 1939 movie Five Came Back. The film was made at RKO Studios. In January 1963, RKO was known as Desilu Studios and Lucille Ball was its president. Farrow was married to another redhead, Maureen O'Sullivan, and left behind seven children, including daughter Mia Farrow.

Harry’s favorite dish is Eggs Benedict.

When Chris hogs the bathroom, Jerry and Sherman are washing their hands in the kitchen sink before going to the Y to play basketball. Jerry says that at the Y, “They frown on filth!” The Y has been mentioned in several episodes so far, and in “Lucy Digs Up a Date” (S1;E2) we see inside Danfield’s new YMCA.

Reinforcing the YMCA theme, the boys have a pennant for Indian Guides. The  youth nature program started in 1926, although the name later morphed into Y Indian Guides, then simply Y Guides.   

Lucy prices putting in the new shower with Paisley the Plumber. His prices are so high that Lucy says they are in danger of needing ��socialized plumbing.”

“The only way to get clean is to be filthy rich.” 

These jokes are clearly about the high cost of health care in America, which was a topical issue, even in the early 1960s. In 1962, President Kennedy appeared at a rally at Madison Square Garden to promote the King-Anderson Bill, an early form of Medicare. In February 1963, just a week after this episode aired, author Ayn Rand gave a talk in Ocean, New Jersey, against socialized medicine.  

When the water in the shower begins rising to shoulder level, Lucy says “Where’s Lloyd Bridges when you need him?”  Lloyd Bridges was the star of “Sea Hunt” (1958-1961), a TV series about a scuba diver which featured extensive underwater filming. He was also mentioned in the same context in “Lucy Buys a Boat” (S1;E30). Bridges played a doctor on the season five opener of “Here’s Lucy” in 1972.

To allow for another camera angle, the wall inside the shower stall opposite the taps was made of glass.  It is not visible when the camera shoots from the front. While it is supposed to be invisible (the ‘fourth wall”) it collects water drops and Lucy puts her hands on it for support. 

At one point Lucy doubts Joe is really a plumber and says “You could fool the panel on ‘What’s My Line’.”  “What’s My Line” was the name of a popular CBS quiz show which had three blindfolded celebrity panelists trying to guess the profession of a mystery guest by asking yes or no questions.  It ran from 1950 to 1967 so it aired during both “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show.” Lucille Ball was a celebrity guest six times between 1954 and 1965, one of which was broadcast just a few months after this episode. Desi Arnaz appeared on “What’s My Line” three times, one of which was alongside Lucy.

In this episode, both the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore are used as punchlines. Lucy voiced Lady Liberty in “Swing Out Sweet Land,” a 1971 TV special celebrating American history.  

When the water causes the plaster to fall from the ceiling, the production uses an insert shot of the water-stained kitchen ceiling. Of course, the show’s sets had no ceilings to accommodate lighting, so this shot had to be recreated and inserted into the film. 

VIV: “Lucy, I wanna tell you something. This is absolutely the last time I slip into my coveralls to be an apprentice on one of your dreadful little projects.” LUCY: “Aw, no. These are things we’re gonna look back on and laugh at one day when we’re old and gray.” VIV: “And from the way things are going that may be next week.”  

This sentimental dialogue at the end of the episode pretty much sums up Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance’s comic partnership. Of course, this is far from the last time she slips on those coveralls to help Lucy get out of a predicament. The pair did indeed stay friends off screen until they were old and gray.  

Between takes, the crew kept the set laughing with this funny sign. 

Shower Scenes! 

She’s not exactly Marion Crane from Psycho (1960), but Lucy’s shows had their fair share of shower scenes.

In the “I Love Lucy” pilot Lucy and Ricky Ricardo are standing in their bathroom in front of a shower curtain. 

Ricky RIcardo loved to sing in the shower - which actually moved locations!  In “Bonus Bucks” (1954) it was a shower stall and In “Little Ricky Learns to Play the Drums” (1957) it is a tub shower!  (BTW, both bathrooms are in their second, larger apartment.)

In “Lucy Goes to Sun Valley” (1958), everyone seems to interrupt guest star Fernando Lamas when he is trying to take a shower. She also interrupted the shower of Cornel Wilde in “The Star Upstairs” (1955).

At the end of “Lucy is a Referee” (S1;E3), Lucy Carmichael beds down in the tub and mistakenly turns on the shower.  

Viv took an unscheduled ‘safety’ shower in the chemistry lab when “Lucy and Viv Take Up Chemistry” (S1;E23). 

Lucy Carter barged in on Harry’s shower in “Lucy Stops a Marriage” (HL S3;E16) in 1970. 

Lucy Carter has a realization in the shower, when she visited Danny Williams on “Make Room For Granddaddy” (S1;E16) in 1971. 

Blooper Alerts!

Floor Plan Fiasco! This is the second time we have visited Jerry and Sherman’s bedroom, the first being “Lucy and Her Electric Mattress” (S1;E12). A quick pan to the left side of the room reveals that there is a dresser where the boys’ bunk beds were located. In that episode the Indian Guides pennant was just to the right of the door. It is now just to the right of the shower, which was formerly a closet.  

Talk Show Stories! Lucille Ball later stated that she nearly drowned during the filming of this episode, when she went to the bottom and found herself unable turn herself upright. Vivian Vance realized she was in trouble, and pulled Lucy up by her hair. Vance ad-libbed until Lucy could catch her breath and resume her lines. The near-disastrous moment was edited for broadcast so that we see Lucy go down, Viv react to her distress, and then Lucy surface again. It is clear there was an edit in the film due to water levels in the tank between the takes. This scene was probably rehearsed without water and then done in one take. Later in her career, Lucille Ball also stated that she nearly drowned while doing the grape stomping in “Lucy’s Italian Movie” (ILL S5;E23).  

Shoddy Construction! Grasping at the top of the shower door, Lucy accidentally knocks loose the chrome trim.  

Fast Forward!

At the end of the episode, Lucy convinces Viv to help her plaster the ceiling after the shower damage. Eleven months later, Lucy and Viv are once again plastering the kitchen ceiling after Sherman accidentally leaves the bathtub water running in “A Loophole in the Lease” (S2;E12).  

Lucy Carmichael again did her own plumbing in “Lucy and the Plumber” (S3;E2) starring Jack Benny and Bob Hope as plumbers!

A scene from this episode was included in “Lucy and Viv Reminisce” (S6;E16), the series’ only clips episode.

On “Here’s Lucy,” Richard Burton disguised himself as Sam the Plumber in “Lucy Meets the Burtons” (HL S3;E1). Burton recited Shakespeare while fixing her bathroom sink but an unimpressed Lucy Carter refused to pay extra for it! 

The episode was playing in the background during the short horror film Room To Breathe (2006). The show’s opening credit sequence was also included. It likely was chosen as it is in public domain and no royalty fee or permission were needed for its use. 

In 2017 “Will & Grace” repeated the shower stall stunt in “Who's Your Daddy?” (S9;E2) with Debra Messing (Grace) and Megan Mullalley (Karen) trying to keep their heads above water. In Spring 2020, the pair transformed into Lucy and Ethel for one of the final episodes of their sitcom's reboot. Lucie Arnaz was also in the cast. 

It seems that several real-life plumbers on Tumblr are Lucy fans!  Or plumbing fans!  Or both!  

“Lucy and Viv Put In a Shower” rates 5 Paper Hearts out of 5

A nominee for Best Picture 2019 in the Desilu Academy Awards!

[papermoonloveslucy]

Lucy is a Process Server

S2;E27 ~ April 20, 1964

Synopsis

When Lucy needs money for a summer vacation, she takes a job as a process server. The only trouble is her first summons must be delivered to none other than Mr. Mooney.  

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Vivian Vance (Vivian Bagley), Gale Gordon (Theodore J. Mooney)  

Jimmy Garrett (Jerry Carmichael), Ralph Hart (Sherman Bagley), and Candy Moore (Chris Carmichael) do not appear in this episode.

Guest Cast

Stafford Repp (Counterman) made a career of playing policemen even before he became famous as Chief O'Hara on TV’s “Batman” (1966-68). He played two different officers of the law on “Dennis the Menace” in 1962 and 1963, alongside “The Lucy Show”’s Mr. Mooney, Gale Gordon. Ironically, “Dennis the Menace” had their own Mr. Mooney, who was a police officer!  Repp previously appeared on “The Lucy Show” in “Lucy and Viv Put in a Shower” (S1;E18) as Joe the plumber. He also did a 1970 episode of “Here’s Lucy” as (what else?) a police detective!

The counterman does not have any lines, but Repp listens attentively to Mr. Mooney's ramblings.

Lee Millar (Stewart) was best known as the voice of Jim Dear (Lady’s master) in Walt Disney’s classic Lady and the Tramp. He was following in the footsteps of his parents, Verna Felton and Lee Millar Sr. She had played Mrs. Porter in “Lucy Hires a Maid” (S2;E23) but was best known for an array of Disney voices, including Jim Dear’s Aunt Sarah. His father was one of the actors who supplied the 'voice’ of Disney's Pluto. He made four appearances on “I Love Lucy,” although this was his only episode of “The Lucy Show.”

The credits list Millar as Stewart, but this could be due to Gale Gordon mis-pronouncing “steward” since the character is acting in the capacity of a ship's cabin steward.  

Richard Keith (Little Boy) was born Keith Thibodeaux in Lafayette, Louisiana, on December 1, 1950. He was cast out of 200 other young hopefuls to play Little Ricky from 1956 to 1960 on “I Love Lucy” because of his resemblance to Desi Arnaz and his remarkable talent on the drums. Fearing no one would be able to pronounce his last name, his professional name became Richard Keith, although it was never listed in the credits. In “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hours” he was simply credited as Little Ricky.

Keith's appearance on camera lasts about one second. At the train station, Lucy walks out the front doors to see if Mooney's car is parked in the lot. As she's leaving, a young boy walks in with his mother. He has no dialogue.  Initially, Keith figured into a longer scene with a malfunctioning candy machine, but the scene was cut for time when the episode was running long. 

Jose “Pepin” Betancourt (Porter) was a member of the Desi Arnaz / Ricky Ricardo Orchestra making a rare on-camera non-musical appearance with a line of dialogue.  

Richard Kindelon (George, Bank Guard) was primarily known as a casting director. He also was a stand-in on Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960).  

Uncredited background players play the people at the train station. [Although IMDB lists Hazel Pierce and Carole Cook among them, I cannot confirm their participation.]

CBS originally aired this episode in black and white. It was filmed on March 19, 1964. 

CBS broadcast repeats of “The Lucy Show” on April 6 and April 13, 1964. This is the first new episode since March 30, 1964. Coincidentally, on April 6 “The Andy Griffith Show” (which followed Lucy on CBS) broadcast an episode that starred Richard Keith (aka Little Ricky) as Opie’s pal Johnny Paul Jason. It is possible that his very brief wordless cameo on this episode of “The Lucy Show” was timed to capitalize on him being on the Desilu lot to film “The Andy Griffith Show.”  

Through a new employment agency located on Oak Street, Lucy is hired as a secretary by the Danfield Attorney Service. One of her duties will be to act as a process server. A process server is a person who personally delivers (as per law) writs, warrants, subpoenas, and other legal documents to someone called to court in a legal action.

Mr. Mooney says that if Lucy had her way, she'd use up her allowance until 1972. That year, Lucille Ball finished the fourth season of “Here's Lucy” and started the fifth playing Lucy Carter opposite Gale Gordon as Harrison Carter.  

To help Lucy practice her shorthand, Viv reads aloud from “Mother Goose”, a collection of nursery rhymes illustrated by Hilda Miloche and Wilma Kane first published in 1953 by Whitman Publishing Company of Racine, Wisconsin. 

A winter travel poster outside the double doors of the train station is for Greyhound Bus Lines. Although the episode was shot in winter, it was aired in spring and the girls are looking to take a summer vacation.  A companion poster was titled “Summer is Fun”. 

Outside the double doors on the left is a travel poster by René Jacques from 1960. It depicts the aqueducts Pont de Garde, near Nimes, in Provence, France. It was previously seen on the wall of the beach house kitchenette in “Lucy is a Chaperone” (S1;E27). Because this is a Danfield train depot, the bottom portion of the poster labeled “FRANCE” has been omitted.    

When Lucy tries to pick the pocket of the man in the station she thought was Mr. Mooney, the man is reading a newspaper called The Times. This is not, however, the masthead of The New York Times, but a fictional newspaper.  

Viv is planning on going to Lake Placid for the summer. Lake Placid is a resort community in the Adirondack mountains of Essex County, New York, approximately 290 miles due north of Manhattan. It was the site of the 1932 and 1980 winter Olympic Games.  

CALLBACKS!

Harry Bartell  played a Process Server in “The Courtroom” (ILL S2;E7) delivering the summons from the Mertzes to appear in court over their damaged television set. The character pretends to be a fan wanting Ricky’s autograph. 

Mr. Mooney tells Lucy Carmichael she’s used up her allowance until 1972. In “The Million Dollar Idea” (ILL S3;E13), Lucy tells Ethel she’s used up her allowance until June the 12th, 1978!

Lucy Carmichael mentions her prior experiences at Acme Employment Agency. This is the same name of the employment agency that found Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz jobs at Kramer's Candy Kitchen in “Job Switching” (ILL S2;E1).  

Missed connections and mistaken identity at the depot also happened at the Westport train station in “Lucy Misses the Mertzes” (ILL S6;E17).

The series previously visited the Danfield Train Station in “No More Double Dates” (S1;E21). Although the station looks to have had a bit of a face lift, the double doors to the platform and the newsstand are in the same place. A candy machine replaces the taxi call machine on the wall.

Lucy also had encounters with a moving train in “Lucy Visits the White House” (S1;E25) and “The Great Train Robbery” (ILL S5;E5).  

Mr. Mooney's wife Irma misses the ship because she had to buy one last sundress. Lucy Ricardo famously misses the S.S. Constitution by going back for one last hug with her son in “Bon Voyage” (ILL S5;E13). 

Fast Forward! 

Lucy Carter also worked as a process server in a 1968 episode of “Here’s Lucy.” She mixes up a summons and a bank deposit! 

Blooper Alerts!

Burger Blooper! When Mr. Mooney is eating a hot dog at the train station he says that he is eating a hamburger. The joke of Mr. Mooney squirting himself with mustard works better than it would with ketchup since Mr. Mooney is wearing a dark coat. The yellow mustard reads better on camera, and everyone knows that mustard is the proper condiment for hot dogs! Why Gale Gordon didn't just say “hot dog” remains a mystery.

Touch Typing! In this episode Viv says Lucy hasn't touched a typewriter since high school but in “Lucy the Babysitter” (S5;E16) Lucy say she has two years of business college. She was previously seen typing in “Lucy is a Kangaroo for a Day” (S1;E7) where she was also sent out on deliveries in lieu of being fired for incompetence.  

Any Port in a Storm! Mr. and Mrs. Mooney's cruise on a freighter to the Caribbean is for six weeks and the ship doesn't make its first port for 28 days. Any ship leaving New York harbor (even a freighter) would not need four weeks to reach a Caribbean port. A ship in motion would also need to refuel.

Sitcom Logic Alert! Lucy practices her typing and shorthand with a book of Mother Goose nursery rhymes. Her children are not toddlers anymore, so it is unclear why this book is so handily available on the bookshelf.  

“Lucy is a Process Server” rates 4 Paper Hearts out of 5