#joyce perry

Today in the Department of Before They Were Star Trek Stars, DeForest Kelley guest stars in "The Unvanquished," episode 23 of the fourth season of Laramie (original air date March 12, 1963).

Kelley plays one of a trio of brothers who have been committing thefts and blaming them on the Arapaho who are moving through the area on the way to a new reservation. When one of the brothers is accidentally killed by one of the migrants, whose father turns himself in to spare his son, the surviving brothers try to stir the town up into a lynch mob in the hopes that their own crimes will go undiscovered.

Other Trek connections: Joyce Perry, who co-wrote this episode, also wrote "The Time Trap," the twelfth episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series.

S5;E10 ~ November 21, 1966

Synopsis

Mr. Mooney asks Lucy to deliver some important contracts to the studio, where she meets John Wayne and worms her way onto the set of his latest picture. Naturally, Lucy doesn't behave and causes more trouble than a barroom brawl! 

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Gale Gordon (Theodore J. Mooney), Mary Jane Croft (Mary Jane Lewis)

Guest Cast

John Wayne (Himself / “Tall”) was born Marion Morrison in 1907. He made his film debut in 1926 and rose to become an iconic presence in the Western film genre. He was nominated for three Oscars, winning in 1969 for True Grit. He epitomized rugged masculinity and was famous for his distinctive voice and walk. His nickname ‘Duke’ came from his own pet Airedale. Wayne previously worked with Lucille Ball in a 1955 episode of “I Love Lucy,” also titled “Lucy and John Wayne” (ILL S5;E2).  He died in 1979 at the age of 72.

In the film he is shooting, Wayne's character is named Tall. Wayne was 6'4” and appeared in the 1944 film Tall in the Saddle.

Joseph Ruskin (Joe, the Director) appeared in four of the “Star Trek” series, the first being shot at Desilu. This is his only appearance on “The Lucy Show,” but he also does a 1968 episode of “Here's Lucy.”  

Bryan O'Byrne (Bryan, the Assistant Director) was an actor and (later) acting teacher who appeared in over 200 commercials.  This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.  

Morgan Woodward (“Pierce”)  was seen on many TV Westerns but is perhaps best remembered as Gibbs on “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” (1958-61). This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.  

Joyce Perry (Joyce, Studio Receptionist) makes the second of her two appearances on the series. She was also a screen writer, receiving Emmy nominations for “Days of Our Lives” and winning a WGA (Writers Guild of America) Award in 1975 for “Search for Tomorrow.”

Milton Berle (Himself, uncredited) was born Milton Berlinger in New York City on July 12, 1908. He started performing at the age of five. He perfected his comedy in vaudeville, early silent films, and then on radio, before taking his act to the small screen, where he would be proclaimed “Mr. Television” and later “Uncle Miltie.” He hosted “Texaco Star Theater” on NBC from 1948 to 1956. The variety show was re-titled "The Milton Berle Show” in 1954 when Texaco dropped their sponsorship. The program was briefly revived in 1958, but lasted only one season. In 1959 he played himself in “Milton Berle Hides out at the Ricardos.” This is the second of his three episodes of "The Lucy Show,” the first being “Lucy Saves Milton Berle” (S4;E13).  He also did two episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” On all but one, he again played himself. He died of colon cancer in 2002.

Berle makes a walk-through cameo appearance with no dialogue.

Kay Stewart (Commissary Waitress) was the subject of a feature story in the first edition of Life Magazine, which focused on the fact that she was apparently the first female cheerleader at a major university (Northwestern). This is her only appearance with Lucille Ball. 

Ed Nelson (Ed Nelson, uncredited) was seen in several episodes of Desilu’s “The Untouchables”.  This is his only appearance with Ball and Wayne. 

Nelson is a married actor friend of Mary Jane’s. He appears wearing a Civil War uniform with an arrow through his chest and sticking out his back. 

Danny Borzage (Accordionist, uncredited) appeared in 13 films with John Wayne from 1939 to 1967.  He also appeared with Wayne on a 1960 episode of “Wagon Train” directed by John Ford.  Both Borzage and Wayne were favorites of Ford's. This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.  

Victor Romito (“Bartender”, uncredited) makes the first of his two appearances on “The Lucy Show.”  He also appeared in four episodes of “Here's Lucy.” . He was seen as an extra in the 1960 Lucille Ball / Bob Hope film Critic's Choice. That same year he was seen with John Wayne in North to Alaska, and in 1962's How the West Was Won. 

Jerry Rush (Cameraman, uncredited) makes the fifth of his nine (mostly uncredited) appearances on the series. He also did two episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” 

Rush can also be seen in the background having lunch in the commissary scene. He wears a white shirt over his red shirt. 

Joan Carey (Script Girl, uncredited, above, lower right corner) appeared as a background performer in many episodes of “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show” also serving as stand-in for Lucy and others. 

The 'Barflys' (aka Stunt Men) are played by:

Jerry Gatlin was an actor and stunt man who later turns up in the Lucille Ball film Mame (1974).  He appeared with John Wayne in 13 films between 1961 and 1975.  

Bill Hart was an actor and stunt man who appeared in three films with John Wayne between 1960 and 1963.  This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Boyd 'Red' Morgan is an actor and stunt man who will also be seen in four episodes of “Here's Lucy.”  He did 11 films with John Wayne between 1956 and 1970.  

Chuck Roberson was an actor and stunt man who played minor roles in many films. He was a stunt double for John Wayne in more than 35 films and television shows. He played one of the firemen who rescues Lucy and Viv from their roof when “Lucy Puts Up a TV Antenna” (S1;E9), four years earlier.

In the commissary, Mr. Simon “a director” (who Lucy mistakes for Burt Lancaster), the studio doctor (who Lucy mistakes for Richard Chamberlain), an actor named Will, and more than a dozen other background players appear – all uncredited.

The episode indulges the old trope that movie actors eat lunch at the studio commissary in full costume and make-up. The commissary is named the Studio Cafe. We are reminded that Mary Jane works at the studio, although which studio is not made clear. Could it be Desilu?

Mr. Mooney dictates a letter to John Wayne about his bank's financial participation in a “film about a war wagon.” Gale Gordon emphasizes the words “war wagon” because that is the actual title of the film, which was released in May 1967. It co-starred Kirk Douglas, who made a cameo appearance in “Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (S4;E20). It also featured Chuck Roberson and Boyd 'Red' Morgan who appear as Barflys in this episode.  

Lucy mentions to Wayne that he usually stars opposite Maureen O'Hara, who also had red hair. Ball and O'Hara were both in the 1940 film Dance, Girl, Dance. Lucy also mentions that Wayne is usually directed by John Ford. Ford and Wayne collaborated on 23 films between 1928 and 1963. Ford directed Lucille Ball in the 1935 film The Whole Town's Talking.

Fawning over John Wayne, Lucy mentions his recently released films Cast a Giant Shadow (March 1966), In Harms Way (1965), and the Oscar-nominated The Sands of Iwo Jima (1949).  

Lucy says that Wayne has played characters who've served in every branch of the service and that Bob Hope should play a Christmas show just for him! Lucy's film co-star and friend Bob Hope was known for performing in USO shows overseas during the holidays to entertain the American troops.  Hope had a cameo in “Lucy and the Plumber” (S3;E2).  

In the saloon scene, the accordionist plays “Golden Slippers,” a song penned by James A. Bland in 1879. It was famously used in the 1948 John Ford film Fort Apache starring John Wayne.

In the Studio Cafe, Lucy mistakes a man named Mr. Simon for Burt Lancaster. They both are roughly the same  build.  She then mistakes the studio doctor for Richard Chamberlain, a joke referring to Chamberlain's most popular role as “Dr. Kildare” (1961-66) which ended its run on NBC a few months earlier.  She then mistakes Milton Berle for the janitor.  Berle is oddly dressed in an ill-fitting suit, a straw hat, and has a blacked-out tooth.  He has a bewildered expression on his face, as if he's still in character for a hillbilly movie.  It is unclear how Lucy might mistake him for a studio janitor.

Coincidentally, “The Lucy Show” stunt coordinator was named Jesse Wayne (no relation).  

Callbacks!

John Wayne previously guest-starred as himself on "I Love Lucy" in 1955. The episode was also titled "Lucy and John Wayne” (ILL S5;E2).  

Hanging on the wall in the studio commissary is a black and white headshot of Bob Crane from “Hogan's Heroes” (1964-71), a TV show filmed at Desilu. Crane played himself in a parody of “Hogan's Heroes” in “Lucy and Bob Crane” (S4;E22).  

Lucy Carmichael was previously on the film set of a movie western when she assumed the identity of Iron Man Carmichael in “Lucy the Stunt Man” (S4;E5). Curiously, while Lucy Carmichael is telling the director how to shoot the picture, she doesn't mention her experience as Iron Man. In 1954, Lucy Ricardo made her own western movie in her apartment in “Home Movies” (ILL S3;E20).

Blooper Alerts!

Who Am I? Lucy reveals that her maiden name is MacGillicuddy, same as Lucy Ricardo. At “Lucy's College Reunion” (S2;E11), Lucy Carmichael said her maiden name was Taylor. This is the second week in a row that the Lucy character has “forgotten” key information about her past. In the previous week's “Lucy Gets Caught Up in the Draft” (S5;E9) she said her son's name was 'Jimmy' when in fact it was 'Jerry.' Geoffrey Mark Fidelman’s The Lucy Book, says that although the production staff told Lucille Ball of her error, she insisted that she was right and would not change the reference. Perhaps this inconsistency about her birth name is also attributable to the staff's deference to Ball's faulty memory?

Sitcom Logic Alert! When Lucy sees Milton Berle in the commissary she says “Wait'll I tell the girls I nearly saw Milton Berle!”  This line sounds very much like Lucy Ricardo speaking, not Lucy Carmichael. Lucy Carmichael has already met TV star Milton Berle in “Lucy Saves Milton Berle” (S4;E13). Here, he looks directly at Lucy and Mary Jane but does not acknowledge them despite the chaos they previously brought to his life. Also, it is unclear which “girls” Lucy is talking about since Mary Jane seems to be her only female friend. Perhaps she is referring to the unseen secretarial pool at the bank?  Lucy Ricardo, however, would have bragged to all the “girls” of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League!  

Lucy the Director! When the Assistant Director calls the scene to be slated, he cups his hand over his mouth and purposely garbles the title of the film. This was a tactic Lucy Ricardo used many times on “I Love Lucy” when she wanted to be purposely vague about important details like her age. Later, when the Assistant Director shouts “Scene 856, Take One!” Lucy corrects him under hear breath: “Take Four!” Lucy is right, but it is hard to determine if this was Lucy Carmichael or Lucille Ball talking!  This scene, with Lucy Carmichael standing behind the camera and correcting the crew, probably mirrored Ball's own interactions with her “Lucy Show” staff.  

On a purely technical note, it is unlikely that any film would have 856 scenes! 

“Lucy and John Wayne” rates 2 Paper Hearts out of 5 

S4;E26 ~ March 21, 1966

Synopsis

When a heavy computer falls on Mr. Mooney's foot, Lucy has a rush of adrenaline to lift it up. From then on, she has super-strength and wreaks havoc with her new-found power. Lucy the superwoman is then brought into a lab to be examined by scientists.  

Directed by Maury Thompson ~ Written by Elroy Schwartz

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Gale Gordon (Theodore J. Mooney), Mary Jane Croft (Mary Jane Lewis)

Guest Cast

Robert F. Simon (Dr. Robert F. Simon) had a ten year run on Broadway (1942-52), in which he cut his teeth as actor and stage manager in everything from drama to musical comedy. He served as understudy to Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. He was seen with Lucille Ball in the 1960 film The Facts of Life and in a 1963 episode of “The Greatest Show on Earth.”

Parley Baer (Dr. Davis) previously played MGM’s Mr. Reilly in “Ricky Needs an Agent” (ILL S4;E29) and the furniture salesman Mr. Perry in “Lucy Gets Chummy with the Neighbors” (ILL S6;E18). This is the fourth of his five appearances on “The Lucy Show.” He also made two appearances on “Here’s Lucy.” He is perhaps best known for his recurring roles as Mayor Stoner on “The Andy Griffith Show” and Doc Appleby in “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

Herb Vigran (Mr. Vigran) played Jule, Ricky Ricardo’s music agent on two episodes of “I Love Lucy” in addition to playing movie publicist Hal Sparks in “Lucy is Envious” (ILL S3;23). He was seen in the Lucy-Desi film The Long, Long Trailer. He played the role of the baseball umpire (and eye doctor) in two previous episodes. He will be seen in just one more episode of “The Lucy Show.”  

Jack Perkins (Terrible Tony, a Wrestler) was a stuntman and actor often cast for his ability to play drunk. He also has quite a few credits as a brawler and a bartender. This is his last episode of “The Lucy Show.”

Lucy claims to have seen Terrible Tony on television. 

Joel Marston (George Denton, Reporter for the Daily Gazette, above left) previously appeared as the supermarket clerk in “Lucy and Joan” (S4;E4). Marston was an internationally known dog breeder and proprietor of Starcrest Kennels in California. This is his final appearance on the series. He retired to Jacksonville, Florida, where he became a water aerobics instructor.

Eddie, the Daily Gazette photographer, is uncredited.

Robert S. Carson (Coach from the US Women's Olympic Team) played bank employee Mr. Potter in “Lucy Saves Milton Berle” (S4;E13) and “Lucy at Marineland” (S4;E1). He was a busy Canadian-born character actor making the fifth of his six appearances on the series. He also made five appearances on “Here’s Lucy.”

Natalie Masters (Woman from Whamo Breakfast Cereals, below) was seen as a saleswoman in “Lucy Bags a Bargain” (S4;E17). She played private eye “Candy Matson” on the radio series of the same name, which ran on NBC from 1949 to 1951. This is her last appearance on “The Lucy Show.” 

John Perri (Man from Full-of-Pep Vitamins, above center) was previously seen as a supermarket checker in “Lucy and Joan” (S4;E4). He was seen on Broadway in The Boy Friend (1954), the musical that introduced Julie Andrews. This is his final appearance on “The Lucy Show.”

Joyce Perry (Lab Secretary) makes the first of two appearances on the series. She was also a screen writer, receiving Emmy nominations for “Days of Our Lives” and winning a WGA (Writers Guild of America) Award in 1975 for “Search for Tomorrow.”  

Sid Gould (Sid, Computer Deliveryman) made more than 45 appearances on “The Lucy Show,” all as background characters. He also did 40 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” Gould (born Sydney Greenfader) was Lucille Ball’s cousin by marriage to Gary Morton.

Bennett Green (Computer Deliveryman #2) was Desi Arnaz’s stand-in during “I Love Lucy.” He does frequent background work on “The Lucy Show.”

Gould and Green have no lines as the Deliverymen. The two also played Deliverymen in “Lucy the Robot” (S4;E23) delivering the very large box containing Lucy as Major Fun Fun.  

Alberto Morin (Bank Employee, uncredited) was born in Puerto Rico, and appeared in some of Hollywood’s most cherished films: Gone with the Wind (1939), Casablanca (1943), and Key Largo (1948). He was Carlos, one of Ricky’s “Cuban Pals” (ILL S1;E28) and the Robert DuBois in “The French Revue” (ILL S3;E7). His many background appearances on “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy” were all uncredited.

Hazel Pierce (Bank Employee, uncredited) was Lucille Ball’s camera and lighting stand-in throughout “I Love Lucy.” She made frequent on-camera appearances on the show. She was also an uncredited extra in the film Forever Darling (1956).

Joan Carey (Bank Employee, uncredited) was a background performer who appeared on “I Love Lucy,” “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.” She was also one of Ball’s camera and lighting stand-ins in later years. 

One other uncredited performer plays a bank employee who comes to Mr. Mooney's aid when the computer falls on his foot.

This is the final episode of season 4. Overall, season 4 rated #3 (a 27.7 share) in the Nielsen Ratings, the highest rating of the series thus far. The official DVDs of season 4 (with bonus material) were first released on April 26, 2011.

This is the first of three episodes written by Elroy Schwartz. He was born in Passaic, New Jersey, in 1923 and was the brother of Sherwood Schwartz.  As such, he wrote several episodes of his brother's most popular series: “Gilligan's Island” and “The Brady Bunch.”  

Indeed, the premise of this episode was taken from a script of “Gilligan's Island”!  On the series, the castaways discover cans of vegetables that turn out to be radioactive. Gilligan eats the spinach (the same vegetable that gave Popeye strength) and develops super-human strength. It was aired six months after this episode of “The Lucy Show” - September 26, 1966 - also on CBS. 

The idea of a sudden onset of super-human strength (aka ‘Hysterical Strength’) was a familiar trope on television, but based on real-life anecdotes, mostly about parents lifting cars to rescue their children. Comic book artist Jack Kirby claims he saw a woman lift a car off her baby, which inspired him to create the Incredible Hulk, whose first appearance was in 1962.

On the same evening this episode first aired (March 21, 1966), ABC broadcast the last new episode of  “Ben Casey” starring Vince Edwards.  Edwards did a cameo in “Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (S4;E20, above). “Ben Casey” was filmed at Desilu Studios. The series finale was directed by Marc Daniels, who had directed 39 episodes of “I Love Lucy” from 1951-53. 

“The Lucy Show” was replaced for the summer (July-September 1966) by the fourth season of “Vacation Playhouse,” an anthology series of unsold TV comedy pilots. One was titled “Where There's Smokey” starring Gale Gordon as a Fire Chief. The pilot was completed in 1959 but not aired until August 1, 1966. When the pilot wasn't picked up, Gordon took the role of Mr. Heckendorn, the landlord on “Make Room for Daddy,” also filmed at Desilu. On August 29, 1966, “Vacation Playhouse” aired “The Two of Us” starring “Lucy Show” cast members Mary Jane Croft (Mary Jane) and Barry Livingston (Arnold Mooney).  

When Mr. Mooney is getting a computer in his office, Lucy wants to ask it for dating tips. Mr. Mooney replies that it is a computer, not “Dear Abby.” Dear Abby is an advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen name ‘Abigail Van Buren’ and carried on today by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips. In 1965, CBS aired a radio version of Dear Abby’s column.  Lucille Ball also had a CBS radio series at the time. 

In this episode, Lucille Ball's hairstyle (probably a wig) has longer bangs and sides. This could be to cover the 'lift tape' (a sort of non-surgical face lift) that she wore on camera starting around this time.

To decide where to put the computer in the office, Mr. Vigran feeds it a punch card. Punch cards were widely used through much of the 20th century in the data processing industry. The IBM 12-row / 80-column punched card format came to dominate the industry. Many early digital computers used punched cards as the primary medium for input of both computer programs and data. While punched cards are now obsolete as a storage medium, as of 2012, some voting machines still used punch cards to record votes. 

When Lucy lifts the computer the second time (just to prove she can), she gets a round of applause from the studio audience!  This happens again when she lifts the desk in her apartment.  Apparently the audience completely invests in the silly premise that Lucy has developed super human strength.  

When Lucy inadvertently crushes the can of tomato juice, she says in a childlike voice: “Boy, it sure doesn't look like tomato juice!”  In the 1960s “Wow, it sure doesn't taste like tomato juice!” was the advertising slogan for V8, a beverage manufactured by Campbells. 

V8 got its name from the fact that it originally contained the juice of eight different vegetables. It was first marketed in 1933 and is still sold today. 

Lucy swats a fly with a rolled up magazine and breaks a support column in half. This is the same column that muscular Frank Winslow broke in half when he was startled awake and went into a karate chop in “Lucy and the Sleeping Beauty” (S4;E9). The column in “Lucy, the Superwoman” is much narrower than the one seen above.

When Lucy breaks the blood pressure machine causing a spurt of liquid into the air, Mr. Mooney shouts “Thar she blows!” "Thar she blows" is what the lookout on a whaling ship would shout when seeing a whale surface and blowing air out of its blowhole.

When Lucy sneezes and blows the paperwork off the shelves, Mr. Mooney says “Now I know why they name hurricanes after women.”  In 1953, after a brief two-year period of using the Greek alphabet, meteorologists began using female names for hurricanes. In 1979, after much pressure from women's groups, male names were integrated into the naming. Hurricanes now alternate between male and female names.

Lucy's twenty foot standing broad jump and hurdle stunts were accomplished by speeding up the film and putting Lucy on wires.  

It is likely that most of the lab scenes were shot without a studio audience due to the nature of the stunts involved. Also telling is that after Lucy does her first ‘flight’ the studio audience does not applaud, as they had for the much simpler stunts earlier in the show. 

Examples of Lucy's super human strength:

She lifts Mr. Mooney off his feet into the air when helping him up

She breaks the return carriage off her typewriter

She staples a document and breaks off the end of her desk

She closes a file cabinet drawer which smashes a hole in the wall

She rips the doorknob off Mr. Mooney's office door and then rips the door off as well

She closes her apartment door with a kick and splits it in two

She squeezes her grocery bag and collapses a can of tomato juice and cans of vegetables

She tears the door off her refrigerator

She squeezes 6oz of juice from a 3oz orange

She pulls the bottom off an ice cube tray

She swats a fly and breaks a pillar in half

She empties a full glass of cranberry juice in one sip

She saws through a table when cutting a slice of roast beef

She brings a professional wrestler to his feet with a handshake

She causes paperwork to fly off the shelves with a sneeze

She breaks a blood pressure machine

She kicks a tray into the air when her reflexes are tested

She nearly deafens the doctor when she talks into his stethoscope

She pitches an iron shot put ball through a glass window pane and a brick wall

She jumps twenty feet in her first attempt at the standing broad jump

She hurdles in the air over three men who are bending over

Callbacks!

Mary Jane says that the TV reporters are calling Lucy “Superman with prettier muscles.”  In 1957, Lucy Ricardo pretended to be the man of steel in “Lucy and Superman” (ILL S6;E13).

Lucille Ball also used wires to ‘fly’ as the Witch in “Little Ricky’s School Pageant” (ILL S6;E10). 

And again in “Danny Thomas’s the Wonderful World of Burlesque” aired just a few months before this episode of “Here’s Lucy”. 

Lucy operated a similar massive gray computer that was located in the bank lobby at the start of “Lucy and Bob Crane” (S4;E22), although neither she nor Mr. Mooney mention it in this episode.

Fast Forward!

In 1972, Harry Carter also gets a computer installed in the office to help with the workload in “Lucy’s Replacement” (HL S4;E19). 

Mrs. Carmichael wants to ask the new computer for dating tips like it is a mechanical Dear Abby. Two years later, Lucy Carter consulted a computer for dating tips in “Lucy the Matchmaker” (HL S1;E12).

The desk that Lucy Carmichael lifts with ease will turn up again as set decoration for Harry Carter’s Home in “Lucy’s Wedding Party” (HL S3;E8) in 1970. Lucy Carter dusts it, but doesn’t lift it! 

Blooper Alerts

Keep Jiggling, Viggie! When the computer is first installed, Mr. Vigran has a bit of trouble getting the second dolly out from underneath the computer so it can fall on Mr. Mooney’s foot.  After a few seconds of jiggling, it comes free. 

Desk Work! When Lucy lifts the desk in her apartment, the track for raising it off the ground can be seen underneath, despite being painted the color of the wall.

Super-Strong Sweet Tooth! Lucy comes home from work holding a shopping bag and 5 pink bakery boxes. Why does a woman living alone need five boxes of baked goods?  The boxes were a familiar item on the show and the Desilu props department must have had quite a few in stock!  Also, if Lucy went shopping on her way home, why doesn’t she have any stories of the mayhem she must have caused in the stores to tell Mary Jane when she comes over?  

I’ve Got A Beef! When Lucy picks the roast beef up off the floor, we can see that the roast has been glued to the plate! 

At the lab, Dr. Davis asks Lucy if she’s ever had any accidents. She says that except for fender benders, she hasn’t. She must have forgotten that she suffered a blow to the head and got amnesia just two years earlier! 

“Lucy, the Superwoman” rates 2 Paper Hearts out of 5