#jimmy garrett

1954-2021

James Coleman Garrett was born in Los Angeles, California, on September 23, 1954. Garrett is best known for playing Jerry Carmichael, the son of Lucille Ball’s Lucy Carmichael on “The Lucy Show”.  

Before being cast by Lucy, a six year-old Garrett made his screen debut on a December 1960 episode of “The Twilight Zone” (a show that began on “The Westinghouse-Desilu Playhouse) as a child who begs a down-and-out street corner Santa (Art Carney) for "a big turkey pot Christmas dinner".

A year later he was seen in the feature film The Second Time Around playing Debbie Reynolds’s son. The film also featured Andy Griffith.  

In March 1962, he played the son of Shirley Mitchell (Lucy’s Marion Strong), new neighbors on “Mr. Ed.”

In early 1962 Desilu purchased the rights to “Suzuki Beane”, a book written in 1961 by Sandra Scoppettone. A television pilot was made, with Katie Sweet as Suzuki and Jimmy Garrett as Henry, but the series was not picked up. It was to be part of a Victor Borge-hosted anthology series. No doubt this pilot was instrumental in Garrett being cast on “The Lucy Show.”  

During the summer of 1962, Garrett was cast as Lucy Carmichael’s son, Jimmy.  He was a regular character for seasons one and two, a recurring character in season three, and then disappeared from the series. During Garrett’s audition, Ball loved the way Garrett delivered his lines. Vivian Vance once noted that Jimmy had the “Fred Mertz” lines! 

Garrett’s image appeared on the box cover for “The Lucy Show” Game. The game was suggested for ages 9 to adult, so technically Garrett was not old enough to play when it was first issued. 

His character was even in “The Lucy Show” Gold Key Comic Books, although Jerry was given blue hair!  

Paper dolls!  Here his hair color is correct, but the pose is odd! 

Garrett was immortalized by legendary illustrator Robert Thompson. 

Garrett did 54 episodes of the series from 1962 to 1965.  

During season 1, he does not appear in episode 27. 

During season 2, he does not appear in episodes 1, 2, 5, 9, 11, 16, 17, 20, 24, 25, 27 and 28. 

During season 3, he does not appear in episodes 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25 and 26. 

During season 4 he appeared in two episodes. 

BEING ‘JERRY’ WITH A CAPITAL ‘B’! 

Breakfast with the Brood! 

Biking through the living room!

Beethoven! 

Big voices “buzz around buzz around”! 

“I’ll bet we’re the only people in the world two have two Christmas trees. One is green and one is - you’ll pardon the expression - white.” ~ Jerry Carmichael

Baby New Year 1962!

Badge Boys! Junior Firefighters finding poor wiring. 

Buy this! Doing an ‘in character’ commercial for Jell-O with Vivian Vance and Ralph Hart. 

Biding their time while the plumber installs a shower in their room, Jerry says that at the YMCA, “They frown on filth!”

Boxing Pip Corn!

Black Eyes & Bruises!

Band of Boy Scouts! 

A back and forth brew-ha-ha about how to measure rocket fuel!  (Seriously!) 

Baseball!  (Although this is the first time Garrett is on the series in color, CBS aired the episode in black and white.)

His Best Buddy! With Barry Livingston as Arnold Mooney #1.  

Bedtime!

Blue boy in a blue uniform!

Big time sub fans!

Bandages! Lucy and Viv practice their nursing skills on the boys. 

Broadway Birdies go “bob-bob-bobin’ along” with Ethel Merman. 

Borscht Belt Boy Scout!  Telling a joke during the Boy Scout Show.

Blaring the Beatles!  

Bunkhouse at camp! 

Boy in the band!  With Ted Eccles as Arnold Mooney #2. 

Book Look! 

Boo Blaster! 

Beau Brummels! For the entrance of the Countess!

When Lucy and Mr. Mooney relocate to California in season 4, Jimmy Garrett is in the first episode, but then Jerry is packed off to Boarding school - this time for good.  Well, almost...

Jerry comes home for the holidays in 1964 to join Mr. Mooney and the Bank’s choir, conducted by Lucy. This is Garrett’s final appearance in the role.

As Garrett’s commitment to Lucy came to an end, he did a day playing a paper boy on “Burke’s Law” (1963-66) an ABC crime drama starring Gene Barry and Sal Mineo. 

During this same time, he appeared on an episode of “My Three Sons” (1960-72) appearing opposite his Barry Livingston, who played Jerry Carmichael’s best friend Arnold Mooney, and Don Grady, who played Chris Carmichael’s boyfriend Bill in “Lucy is a Chaperone” (TLS S1;E27), although Garrett did not appear in that episode.  The series was filmed on the Desilu lot. 

In 1966, Garrett’s character came back in name only - although it wasn’t the right name!   When Lucy receives a letter from her son in the beginning of this episode, she calls him ‘Jimmy’ instead of correctly calling him 'Jerry.’ According to Geoffrey Mark Fidelman’s The Lucy Book, when Lucille Ball was handed the script for the first time, she complained that they had used the wrong name. She was reminded that it was 'Jimmy’ Garrett who played 'Jerry’ Carmichael. Ball still insisted that she was right and the reference was left as 'Jimmy.’ However it came about, it certainly is one of the biggest mistakes of the series.

In 1966, Garrett played a British Hooligan in the feature film Munster Go Home. 

His final acting credit, also in 1966, was courtesy of Desi Arnaz. He was cast in the pilot of “The Carol Channing Show,” but the show was not picked up for series. It was then - at age 12 - he left acting for good. But not show business....

As an adult, he worked first as a talent agent, and then a production accountant. He has been behind the scenes in such popular shows as “America’s Next Top Model,” “The Apprentice” and “Shark Tank.” 

Garrett was profiled in the 2016 book X Child Stars: Where Are They Now? by Kathy Garver and Fred Ascher. He often attends various meet and greets and collectibles shows, giving interviews and signing autographs. An interview with adult Garrett is a bonus feature on the season one “Lucy Show” DVDs. 

In 2015 he was recognized by the Southern California Motion Picture Council for his contributions to the entertainment industry. 

Your Step-by-Step Guide to Hosting a Perfect Thanksgiving Dinner!

First, remember to pay homage to the original settlers and the Native Americans, who started this wonderful tradition. 

A few days before the big event, make sure you stock up with a visit to your local supermarket.

You may even want to go to directly to the butcher for your turkey to make sure it is freshest!

If you’re a more adventurous hostess, a pork roast or ham would also be nice!  

Or even a rack of lamb!

Don’t worry if you forget something...

You can always send a friend or relative out later to pick up extra items.

Or maybe your grocer delivers?

Fresh cauliflower is nice as a side dish, although you may want to cook it a few hours before your guests arrive due to its strong smell. 

It is visually pleasing to serve some orange or yellow vegetables to give your table that autumnal look. 

But you can easily take a few time-saving shortcuts...

like canned... 

or frozen vegetables.   

Speaking of sweets, you’ll need to start baking at least a week in advance to make sure your oven is free for your turkey.

Leave a note for the milkman that you’ll need extra milk and cream for Thursday…

- not to mention lots of eggs…

and shortening!  

They’ll come in handy when baking your holiday bread. 

Especially shortnin’ bread!

And don’t forget the butter!

When designing your holiday menu, pies…

and cakes of every variety help top off the perfect meal.  

But if baking is not your forte…

Be creative!

You can always run down to the local bakery and no one will be the wiser!

You might also ask someone to bring something for dessert. Ice cream is always a crowd-pleaser.

If you’re lucky, one of your guests may even bring a fruit basket for your holiday table. 

To host a successful Thanksgiving Dinner, you’ll need to abide by a rigid time schedule!  Don’t forget to leave time to…

wash and iron the table linens...

make sure your cutlery is polished and in good shape...

and clean your oven and stove-top!  It will be working overtime!

Hopefully, you had a few moments to buy yourself something pretty to impress your guests. Just don’t go over budget!

Thanksgiving is a holiday centered on fattening foods, so it may be a good idea to fast for a few days before.

Get plenty of rest!  You don’t want to be dozing off during the big day.  There are tons of things to do.

 First, set up the children’s table.  

There will be lots of young people to feed and there’s never enough room at the adult table for all those young tykes.

On Thanksgiving eve, don’t forget to set your alarm!  

You’ll want to be up extra early to tackle a full day of cooking and family visits!

Prepare a light breakfast - you don’t want to fill up too soon!

Make sure you are dressed for cooking - you don’t want to stain that new dress!

Don’t be embarrassed to recruit your family to help you in the kitchen! Kids love to cook!

Be sure to put your bird in the oven early!  The smell of it roasting will fill the house when your guests arrive, but not if you forget to pay the gas bill! 

The proper hostess always serves a fresh green salad...

dressed with a delicious salad dressing, perhaps one made from an old family recipe. 

Remember to taste your food as you go - but don’t let your guests catch you or they’ll all want a bite!  

As the dinner hour approaches, you may want to put out some finger foods like a fancy pickle tray...

or an array of international cheeses. 

Finally, it is time to sit around the table.  

Start by having the youngest guest say grace.  

And then the host may propose a holiday toast! 

You may even want to serve a vintage wine with dinner. 

Then with as much fanfare as possible, produce the star of your show - your beautiful Thanksgiving turkey!

Enjoy your meal at a leisurely pace, but don’t get impatient if not everyone finishes at the same time! 

Don’t forget to leave room for dessert!  You may want seconds!  

End the meal with fresh hot coffee and tea. 

After dinner, volunteering at the local soup kitchen can reinforce the true meaning of Thanksgiving. 

Or you might consider showing home movies...

board games...

gathering for a good old fashioned sing-along...

watching football...

or just sit around telling heart-warming stories. 

But don’t forget that you still have to clear the table...

and generally clear away the remains of the feast.

and wash the dishes.

You will likely have lots of leftovers, so don’t hesitate to give your guests something to take home. 

Turkey makes excellent sandwiches...

or a hearty lunch-box snack for the man in your life!  

After your company has departed, tend to those last little details that come from having a houseful of guests. 

Hectic days like this can age even the most energetic hostess, but sleep soundly in the knowledge that you’ve served up the ideal Thanksgiving Dinner!  

Even when Little Ricky wasn’t on screen, you knew there was a child in the Ricardo home by the toys!  Toys also found their way into the Carmichael and Barker houses, both of which had children living there.  Even Lucy Carter, mother of teenagers, managed to play with toys once in a while.  Here’s a look inside Lucy’s toy chest! 

The most amazing collection of toys (circa 1953) was seen in “The Ricardos Change Apartments” (ILL S2;E26). 

In the hutch (which usually holds cartons of Philip Morris cigarettes), Lucy has stored Little Ricky’s Tricky Trolley (a Mattel toy), and his metal Fire Chief Action Pull Toy #34.  

Above Ricky’s head is a the box from Lionel Trains (conspicuously place and turned toward the camera), which Lucy calls “the Super Chief” as it circles the room!  And there’s that Teddy Bear - it will show up time and time again until 1959!

This inflatable punch toy has yet to be accurately identified.  Any guesses?  

Buzzy Bee, a pull toy, was made by Fisher-Price from 1950 to 1985. At the time, it sold for sixty cents!

A bath toy, Cleo was the goldfish from the Disney film Pinocchio (1940). When Ricky squeezes her, Cleo spits in his face!  

This was actually a TV tie-in (one of the first) called Froggy the Gremlin. The character made its debut on radio’s “Buster Brown Gang” in 1944, which was brought to television in 1951 as “Smilin’ Ed’s Gang” with Froggy as a puppet and – occasionally – a life-sized costume character. The program was seen on CBS from 1951 to 1953.

Tricky Trolley turns up again in “Face to Face” aka “The Ricardos are Interviewed” (ILL S5;E7), and...

“Lucy and Superman” (ILL S6;E13). 

Having invested in such a stockpile of toys, the props department re-used them time and time again. Cleo the Goldfish turned up again in “Ethel’s Birthday” (ILL S4;E9), along with Hi-Lo Safety Blocks with inter-locking grooves made by Halsam Products Company. 

The same blocks keep babysitter Fred busy in “Ricky’s European Booking” (S5;E10). 

On the coffee table in “Ricky Minds the Baby” (ILL S3;E14) is not only Cleo, but the “I Love Lucy” Teddy Bear.  Also on the coffee table is a roly poly panda toy made by Softskin.

In the same episode, Fred tries to entertain Little Ricky with Mr. Squawker, a rubber duck squeeze toy manufactured by Rempel Manufacturing of Akron, Ohio, that also turns up when “Lucy Tells the Truth” (ILL S3;E6).Little Ricky is teething on a rubber bunny toy.

In “Little Ricky Gets Stage Fright” (ILL S6;E4) we go inside Little Ricky’s room (formerly his nursery), where there are lots of toys!  

Little Ricky is discovered playing with his Keystone Tot Railroad, a wooden train set made by the Keystone Manufacturing Company. The box is tucked under the bed.

A key prop in the episode, the wind-up drummer bear toy was made in Japan and was sold with both brown and white fur. Fred says he bought it for 49 cents!  

A similar drumming bear turns up in a toy-filled episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1972, but Lucy Carter is more amused by the mechanical dog. 

In “Bonus Bucks” (ILL S3;E21), Ricky discovers this odd little squeeze toy cat while searching through Lucy’s well-stocked handbag!  He doesn’t quite know what to make of it!

In “Tennessee Ernie Hangs On” (ILL S3;E29) Ethel makes her entrance wearing Little Ricky’s Bubble-O-Bill Bubble Hat! The flying saucer-themed toy was made by Mattel.

A Mattel Jolly Jack-in-the-Box Music Box is a prop in “Nursery School” (ILL S5;E9). Had the toy been facing the camera, the product’s name would have shown and American would have seen the hideous face of one of the most nightmarish clowns in toy history!  Maybe that’s why Lucy is crying!

That same episode includes Little Ricky’s teddy bear, although later bears would be a darker shade of brown, this one is closer in appearance to the “I Love Lucy” bear sold commercially. 

The darker bear makes many appearances, all the way into “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hours.” 

Long before Little Ricky was born, the show featured a toy snare drum in “The Young Fans” (ILL S1;E20).  It was made by Ohio Art especially for children.

The drum came out of the prop closet again when “Ricky Sells The Car” (ILL S5;E4) and Lucy is packing up Little Ricky’s toys.  Lucy also holds the aforementioned Teddy Bear and a toy ray gun. 

The ray gun could be the same toy used by Lucy when threatening tourists atop the Empire State Building.  If you notice, Ethel does not have a ray gun.  Vivian Vance dropped hers while scaling the fence and it stayed on the floor for the entire scene! 

Also in “Lucy is Envious” (ILL S3;E23), Little Ricky’s toy telephone is left on the mantle.  The toy rotary telephone was also a savings bank!  It was made by Amerline of Chicago, IL, in 1945. Lucy no-doubt emptied the bank looking to fulfill her pledge to Cynthia Harcourt.  The same toy telephone earlier showed up in the collection of toys in “The Ricardos Change Apartments” 

Before “Lucy Goes to Scotland” (ILL S5;E17) in her dreams, the Mertzes have bought Little Ricky a toy dragon stick puppet. This plants the seed for her dream that Fred and Ethel are a two-headed dragon.  In fact, the toy is not Scottish or English, but Chinese in origin!  

Bunnies are the theme for Little Ricky in “Ricky’s Old Girlfriend” (ILL S3;E20). In addition to his rabbit toy, Cleo the Goldfish can be seen on the left!  The bunny motif helps viewers identify Little Ricky in the dream sequences, even though he is played by two different actors!

When preparing for Little Ricky’s birth, a doll was used for Lucy and Ricky to practice their parenting skills. The doll was also sold commercially. It was called “The Lucy Baby” and wasn’t assigned a sex in order to keep sales going after the Ricardo / Arnaz baby was born. 

This infant toy was designed with a suction cup to adhere to the baby’s playtable or highchair. The molded plastic top was in the shape of a mouse. Mickey?  

Toys were also an integral part of “Lucy and the Efficiency Expert” (TLS S5;E13) in which Lucy Carmichael works the assembly line at the Grantland Toy Factory 

She is under close supervision by an efficiency expert (Phil Silvers).

The shelves are stocked with toys like Nutty Mad Indian, and yellow Pluto dogs!  The battery operated toy was manufactured in the 1960s by Marx but would definitely not be “PC” today.

The Pluto dogs can also be spotted again when Lucy Carmichael babysits three chimpanzees in a 1967 episode. 

In a 1966 episode starring famous child star Jay North (”Dennis the Menace”), Lucy Carmichael takes the place of a life-sized toy soldier!  

In the background a toy Ferris Wheel was previously seen on the series when it was set in Danfield and in black and white! 

Lucy and Viv’s boys Sherman Bagley (Ralph Hart) and Jerry Carmichael (Jimmy Garrett) were big fans of submarines - and took this toy out on a rainy day!  

Dracula (Jimmy Garrett) fights Frankenstein (Ralph Hart) with a deadly ray gun in this 1965 episode of “The Lucy Show.” 

When Paul Winchell guest starred as himself on “The Lucy Show” in 1966 he brought his cast of characters, including Ozwald, half doll / half magic trick!  Many of Winchell’s figures were available in stores. 

An Austrian therapist (Elliot Reid) conducted an age regression experiment on Lucy Carmichael, Viv Bagley, and Mr. Mooney in “Lucy the Stockholder” (TLS S3;E25).  Being “big kids” they played with some large-sized toys!  

Much to the dismay of Uncle Harry, Lucy Carter sublets the Unique Employment Agency to a toy maker (Wally Cox), who fills the office with every toy imaginable on a 1972 episode of “Here’s Lucy”.

In an earlier “Here’s Lucy” episode featuring Wally Cox (1970), Lucy becomes a security guard and the warehouse is stocked with children’s toys and games. A wagon, a tricycle, several toy ducks. and the Ideal board game Seven Keys can be seen on the table near the door. 

When Lucy Carter forms a community advocacy group to get manufacturers to honor their warranties, a defective doll squirts water from every orifice but the expected one(s). Getting Gale Gordon wet was the goal of many episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” 

Unboxing items for a garage sale in “Lucy and Aladdin’s Lamp” (HL S3;E21), Kim Carter (Lucie Arnaz) finds her favorite doll, Clarabelle. Clarabelle also made an appearance in “Lucy, the Part-Time Wife” (HL S3;14), although she has on a different frock.

On a March 1970 episode of “Here’s Lucy,” Ma Parker’s criminal gang includes ‘Little Mildred’ aka ‘Milton’ played by Jerry Maren.  ‘Mildred’s’ doll looks as disheveled as he/she does!  

“NEVER WORK WITH CHILDREN OR ANIMALS” ~ W.C. Fields (Part 2 of 3)

“NEVER WORK WITH CHILDREN OR ANIMALS” ~ W.C. Fields (Part 3 of 3)