| "I Love Lucy" episode | ||||
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| Season 1, Episode #17 #17 in Series | ||||
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| Series: | I Love Lucy | |||
| Network: | CBS-TV | |||
| Air date: | February 4, 1952 | |||
| Written by: | Bob Carroll, Jr, Madelyn Davis, & Jess Oppenheimer | |||
| Guest stars: | Myra Marsh Maury Thompson | |||
| Directed by: | Marc Daniels | |||
| Production code: | 1x17 / 017 | |||
| Episode guide | ||||
 IMDB
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Lucy Writes a Play | |||
| Episode chronology | ||||
| ← Previous | Next → | |||
| "Lucy Fakes Illness" | "Breaking the Lease" | |||
Lucy Writes a Play was the 17th episode of Season 1 of I Love Lucy, also the 17th overall in the series. Directed by Marc Daniels and co-written by Bob Carroll, Jr, Madelyn Davis, and Jess Oppenheimer, it first aired on CBS-TV on February 4, 1952.
| "Lucy Writes a Play" | ||
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| Also see: | ||
| Full Credits | Transcripts | More Images |
Synopsis[]
Lucy pens a drama with a Cuban locale. She figures Ricky for the star. He refuses the part. So she changes her play from Cuba to England and has Fred take Ricky's spot. However, Ricky has decided to surprise Lucy and appear in the play, but the only problem is he has the wrong script.
Plot[]
Lucy is busily writing the script for the play that her women's club is going to put on, a little something called A Tree Grows in Havana, and she needs Ricky to appear in it. When Ricky sees the script, he immediately declines, so Lucy is then left with no alternative but to get Fred to agree to do the role. Deciding that Fred wouldn't be very good for portraying a Cuban character, Lucy decides to rewrite the play so that it is set in England. Later, however, Ricky decides that he wants to be in the play when he hears that some very important sponsors are going to be at the women's show, so he manages to trick Fred into giving him back the role. Ricky, though, doesn't know that Lucy has rewritten the play. This leads to some pretty disastrous results.
Did You Know?[]
Trivia[]
In this episode, Ricky calls Ethel the Bride of Frankenstein. Series cinematographer Karl Freund directed Frankenstein actor Boris Karloff in The Mummy.
Connections[]
- References
- 'Bride of Frankenstein (1935 film) - Ricky says Ethel in her gaudy senora costume looks like the Bride of Frankenstein.
Soundtracks[]
- Soundtrack Credits
- Theme From I Love Lucy (Instrumental) - Written by Eliot Daniel, Performed by Wilbur Hatch and the Desi Arnaz Orchestra
Scene excerpts[]
- Quotes
- Ricky: Excuse me, Mrs. Shakespeare, but would you mind telling me what this is all about?
- Lucy: Well, you see, all the women's clubs in town are having a big play writing contest.
- Ricky: I knew it, I knew it. This had to do with the Wednesday Afternoon Fang and Claw Society.
- Lucy: It's the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League. Gee, just think, if our play wins I just might become a big, famous playwright. I might become another Tennessee Ernie.
- Ricky: That's Tennessee Williams.
- Lucy: Oh.
- Ricky: [Ethel enters in a flowing black outfit bedecked with veils and gaudy jewelry] Who are you supposed to be?
- Lucy: Well, what do you think?
Ricky Ricardo: The Bride of Frankenstein?
- Ethel: Well!
- Lucy: She's a Spanish senora.
- Ricky: She suffers in the translation.
- Club chairwoman: You have just seen Mrs. Glazingham's play entitled Pearl One, Drop Two, or Much Ado about Knitting.
Cast (in Credits Order)[]
Starring[]
- Lucille Ball as Lucy Ricardo
- Desi Arnaz as Ricky Ricardo
- Vivian Vance as Ethel Mertz
- William Frawley as Fred Mertz
Guest Starring[]
- Myra Marsh as Club Chairwoman
- Maury Thompson as Stage Manager
