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papermoonloveslucy · 8 years ago

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No More Double Dates

S1;E21 ~ February 18, 1963

Synopsis

When Lucy and Viv double date, there’s an argument about where to go and what to do. Lucy and Harry decide they’d like to spend a Saturday night alone, so they make up a story about having tickets to see a Broadway show. After being caught doubling back at the trains station, they go to a new restaurant where they naturally run into Viv and Eddie.

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Vivian Vance (Vivian Bagley), Candy Moore (Chris Carmichael), Dick Martin (Harry Connors)

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

Guest Cast

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

Leon Belasco (Violinist) was born in Russia in 1902. He was in three films with Lucille Ball before playing the art store clerk in “Lucy Becomes a Sculptress” (ILL S2;E15). He will also play the violin in “Lucy Conducts the Symphony” (S2;E13) and a Maitre d’ when “Lucy Meets Danny Kaye” (S3;E15).

Rolfe Sedan (Headwaiter) first worked with Lucille Ball in the 1934 film Kid Millions. Coincidentally, he played a cruise ship passenger alongside episode extra Bess Flowers. When Lucy Ricardo ate snails in “Paris at Last” (ILL S5;E18), Sedan played the Chef who was outraged that Lucy wants to put ketchup on his food! He is probably best remembered as Mr. Beasley the mailman on “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.”

Louis A. Nicoletti (Waiter) was an integral member of the Desilu family, having been a frequent extra on “I Love Lucy.” He made two more appearances on screen in “The Lucy Show” before taking over as Assistant Director in 1966. He performed the same chores for 26 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Allan Ray (Harry, a man in the Danfield train station) was seen on “I Love Lucy” as the clapstick boy at “Ricky’s Screen Test” (ILL S4;E6), a Brown Derby waiter in “Hollywood at Last” (ILL S4;E16), and a male nurse in “Nursery School” (ILL S5;E9). This is the second of his three appearances on “The Lucy Show.” He also played a hotel doorman in the 1963 Lucille Ball / Bob Hope film Critic’s Choice. In 1950 Ray and Gale Gordon were in the film A Woman of Distinction in which Lucille Ball played herself in a cameo. The Pink Pheasant Restaurant patrons (uncredited) are played by:

Bess Flowers (above) was dubbed ‘Queen of the Extras’ in Hollywood and is credited with more than 700 film and TV appearances from 1923 to 1964. She was seen in the audience of Over the Teacups in “Ethel’s Birthday” (ILL S4;E8) and The Most Happy Fella during “Lucy’s Night in Town” (ILL S6;E22). This is the second of her five uncredited appearances on “The Lucy Show.” Not surprisingly, Flowers was a founding member of SEG, the Screen Extras Guild (now part of SAG) in 1945.

Herschel Graham makes his second and final appearance on the series after being seen at the Cavalier Restaurant in “Lucy is a Kangaroo for a Day” (S1;E7). He was reported to be the highest earning male extra of 1937! Ten years later, he appeared in the film Lured with Lucille Ball. He played a passenger on the S.S. Constitution in “Bon Voyage” (ILL S5:E13) and was a bullfight spectator when “Lucy Goes to Mexico,” a 1958 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” He was an extra in Lucy’s 1960 film The Facts of Life.

Bernard Sell is an English-born background player making his first of three appearances on the series. He was also an extra with Lucille Ball and Bob Hope in their films The Facts of Life (1960) and Critic’s Choice (1963). He later turns up on a 1971 two-part episode of “Here’s Lucy” taking place on a cruise ship headed to Hawaii.

Other train station passengers and diners are played by uncredited and unidentified background performers.

The night this episode first aired (February 18, 1963) Lucy’s good friend and co-star Ann Sothern appeared on “I’ve Got A Secret”, which was the CBS lead-in for “The Lucy Show.”

Eddie says that while waiting for Viv he’s read the first two volumes of the Bobbsey Twins. These were children’s novels which related the adventures of two sets of twins: Nan and Bert and Flossie and Freddie. There were 72 books in all, the first appearing in 1904 and the last in 1979. Edward Stretemeyer wrote the first two books under the pseudonym Laura Lee Hope. In 1953’s “The Camping Trip” (ILL S2;E29) Vivian Vance had a line of dialogue that referred to Lucy and Ricky as the Bobbsey Twins.

DOUBLE DATE DILEMMA: WHAT TO SEE?

Searching for possible movies to see, Eddie prefers Ben-Hur (1959) at the Ritz over Two for the Seesaw (1962), because you get more actors for your money. Ben-Hur famously had a cast of 30,000. The movie was previously mentioned in “Lucy’s Sister Pays a Visit” (S1;E15). Ralph Hart (Viv’s son Sherman) was an extra in Two for the Seesaw. Viv wants to see What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (1962), but Lucy thinks it will be too scary. The film starred Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, who will make a guest appearance on “The Lucy Show” in “Lucy and the Lost Star” (S6;E22). Lucy says she wants to see “the Cary Grant picture at the Danfield Theatre.” She is probably referring to That Touch of Mink (1962). Herschel Graham, an extra in this episode, is also an extra in that film. Cary Grant was mentioned several times on “I Love Lucy.”

Lucy notes that movie tickets are $1.50.

On another date, Viv suggests “a good movie at the Bijou” but Eddie wants to see a western at the Danfield. Lucy chimes in that she heard “that new Doris Day picture is cute.” This is probably another reference to That Touch of Mink, since Cary Grant’s co-star was Doris Day. Day will be mentioned again on “The Lucy Show” in “Lucy is a Soda Jerk” (S1;E23) and “Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (S4;20). Although there were half a dozen westerns released in 1962, the most popular of those were The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance starring “I Love Lucy” guest star John Wayne, or Lonely Are the Brave starring Kirk Douglas, who will do a cameo in “Lucy Goes To A Hollywood Premiere” (S4;E20).

For movie times, Viv consults The Danfield Tribune. Lucy and Viv were on the front page of the newspaper in “Lucy Becomes an Astronaut” (S1;E6) and Lucy worked there part-time in “Lucy Becomes Reporter” (S1;E17). One of the headlines says ‘Hospital Fund Reaches Goal Building To Start Next Month’. Could this be the children’s hospital Viv’s women’s club was raising money for in “Lucy the Music Lover” (S1;E8)?

DOUBLE DATE DILEMMA: WHERE TO EAT?

For dinner, Harry suggests going to Tony DiBello’s for Italian food. DiBello’s will be featured in “Lucy Meets a Millionaire” (S2;E24). Viv suggests The Country Kitchen in Ridgebury. Eddie wants to dine where George Washington slept – the 300 year-old Colonial Inn. In season two, when “Lucy and Viv Open a Restaurant” (S2;E24), they transform a run-down cafe into what they name the Colonial Inn, even going so far as to dress like George and Martha Washington to attract diners. Lucy makes one more suggestion: The Café Tambourine, which is probably a gypsy tea room.

Despite all those suggestions and objections, all four end up at a new restaurant named The Pink Pheasant.

Lucy asks the Pink Pheasant violinist to play “Dark Eyes,” which is is the world’s most recognizable Russian romance song. It was first published in 1843.

DOUBLE DATE DILEMMA: DEPOT DRAMA!

When Lucy and Harry lie about missing their train, Eddie notes that the next one only makes one stop - in New Rochelle. The real-life New York town has already been mentioned several times in the series, establishing that Danfield (and nearby Ridgebury) are similar commuter suburbs of Manhattan. New Rochelle was also the home of Rob and Laura Petrie on “The Dick Van Dyke Show”, which was running on CBS concurrently with “The Lucy Show”. Meanwhile, nightly on Broadway, New Rochelle was being sung about as a housewife’s paradise in the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

The ‘call a cab’ box in the Danfield Station turned up again on “Hazel” (1961-66) starring Shirley Booth, a Screen Gems television show. The word ‘Danfield’ was covered up, but it is the same prop.

The top rack of the train station news agent displays a paperback copy of Tender is the Night. The 1934 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald was made into a hit movie in 1962. There is also a copy of the 1934 Civil War novel Arouse and Beware by MacKinlay Kantor. The book was filmed as The Man from Dakota in 1940. Kantor won a 1956 Pulitzer Prize for his novel Andersonville.

After two round trips to New Rochelle, Lucy remarks that if they’d been traveling in a straight line, they’d “be in Miami Beach by now.” The Florida resort city was also mentioned in the previous episode, “Lucy and Viv Become Tycoons” (S1;E20). Several episodes of “I Love Lucy” were set there in 1956.

Callbacks!

The Pink Pheasant restaurant is really just a re-dressed version of The Cavalier, a restaurant seen earlier in the season in “Lucy Is A Kangaroo for a Day” (S1;E7). They even use the same chairs!

Two couples barely missing each other at a suburban train depot was also the source of farcical comedy in “Lucy Misses the Mertzes” (ILL S6;E17) where the confusion took place at the Westport train station. Westport, like New Rochelle, was a real life commuter suburb for those employed in Manhattan and who took the train to work.

Two couples indecisive about where to dine is how “Lucy Changes Her Mind” (ILL S2;E21) starts off. In that episode, Ricky Ricardo orders “a sirloin steak; thick and juicy.” Here Lucy Carmichael tells the waiter at the Pink Pheasant to bring her roast beef “about that thick and nice and juicy.” In both episodes shrimp cocktails are ordered as appetizers. Throughout both series’ the writers were prone to describing meat as “thick and juicy.”

Men waiting for the women to get dressed for an evening out is the way that “Lucy’s Schedule” (ILL S1;E33) begins. Here, Harry and Eddie bring along books to read while waiting.

HARRY: “If you’re going to ask me to elope again, it’s a bad night for it. My ladder’s broken.”

This may be a reference to “Lucy Puts Up a TV Antenna” (S1;E9), in which Lucy and Viv borrow Harry’s ladder to get to the roof and then break it in half.

Eloping by leaning a ladder to a girl’s second story window was a common romcom trope. It will be seen again when Lucy and Mr. Mooney suspect his son Ted is going to elope with Lucy’s daughter, Chris!

A hungry Lucy hiding under a table is instantly reminiscent of “The Diet” (ILL S1;E3) - without the dog, of course.

Blooper Alerts!

Character Count? About Two for the Seesaw, Harry says “there are only two actors in the entire picture”. Although this was true of the 1958 play version by William Gibson, the film expanded the cast to include four other characters only talked about in the play. There were also many other uncredited actors, including “The Lucy Show's” Ralph Hart, who is coincidentally absent from “No More Double Dates”!

“No More Double Dates” rates 4 Paper Hearts out of 5

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