#matson line

Matson Line

Highway of Trade and Travel...

S3;E23 ~ February 15, 1971

Directed by Jack Donohue ~ Written by Milt Josefsberg, Ray Singer, and Al Schwartz

Synopsis

Harry takes an usual job as a cruise director and recruits Lucy to be his unpaid assistant. Also on board are her kids and her old friend Vivian Jones (Vivian Vance). A shipboard rivalry erupts when Lucy and Vivian are both attracted to the handsome Captain (Robert Alda).

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carter), Gale Gordon (Harrison Otis Carter), Lucie Arnaz (Kim Carter), Desi Arnaz Jr. (Craig Carter)

Guest Cast

Vivian Vance (Vivian Jones) was born Vivian Roberta Jones in Cherryvale, Kansas in 1909, although her family quickly moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where she was raised. She had extensive theatre experience, co-starring on Broadway with Ethel Merman in Anything Goes. She was acting in a play in Southern California when she was spotted by Desi Arnaz and hired to play Ethel Mertz, Lucy Ricardo’s neighbor and best friend. The pairing is credited with much of the success of “I Love Lucy.”  Vance was convinced to join the cast of “The Lucy Show” in 1962, but stayed with the series only through season three, making occasional guest appearances afterwards. This is the fourth of her half a dozen appearances on “Here’s Lucy.” She also joined Lucy for a TV special “Lucy Calls the President” in 1977. Vance died two years later.

This is Vivian’s sixth cruise. She is unmarried. 

Robert Alda (Captain MacClay) originated the role of Sky Masterson in Broadway’s Guys and Dolls, winning the 1951 Tony Award. He is the father of Alan Alda of “M*A*S*H” fame. He made one appearance on the “The Lucy Show,” and this is his final appearance on “Here's Lucy.” Alda died in 1986.

Jean Byron (Mrs. MacCLay) is probably best remembered as Natalie Lane, mother of Patty Duke on “The Patty Duke Show” (1963-66) as well as well as Imogene Burkhart on “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” (1959-63). This is her only appearance with Lucille Ball.

The surname MacClay is a tribute to Lucille Ball's long-time publicist Howard McClay, who also loaned his name to characters on “The Lucy Show.” The end credits, however, spell 'McClay' as 'MacClay.'  

Anita Mann (Wendy) was assistant to the series' choreographer Jack Baker. This (and Part Two) are her only appearances of record on the show. She later choreographed for the Solid Gold Dancers and the Muppets. Mann won an Emmy Award for her work in 1996.  

Mann plays a bikini-clad blonde that Craig befriends aboard ship. Although credited as 'Wendy,' she is not identified by name in the dialogue.

Maurice Kelly (Sailor) was an English-born actor who played a student in “Lucy and Viv Take Up Chemistry” (TLS S1;E26). This is the second of his three appearances on “Here’s Lucy.” He died at the young age of 46 in 1974.

The ship's passengers and crew are played by uncredited background performers:

Nick Borgani appeared with Lucille Ball in the 1937 film Stage Door and in one episode of “The Lucy Show.”  

Paul Bradley made his six appearances on “The Lucy Show” in various roles. This is the second of his two episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

George DeNormand appeared in three films with Lucille Ball from 1937 to 1963. This is just one of his many appearances on “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.”  

James Gonzales was a popular Hollywood extra who first acted with Lucille Ball in the 1953 The Long, Long Trailer. He was previously seen on “The Lucy Show” as Stan Williams in “Lucy Digs Up a Date” (TLS S1;E2). He was seen in more than 20 episodes of “The Lucy Show” and 3 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Chester Jones makes the last of his four background appearances on “Here’s Lucy.”  

Paul King makes the third of his five background appearances on the series.  

Victor Romito was seen as the Bartender in “Lucy Meets John Wayne” (TLS S5;E10). He also appeared in four episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”  Romito was an extra in the 1960 Lucille Ball / Bob Hope film Critic’s Choice.

Bernard Sell was an English-born background player who made three appearance on the “The Lucy Show.” He was also an extra with Lucille Ball and Bob Hope in their films The Facts of Life (1960) and Critic’s Choice (1963).

This episode was first aired on February 15, 1971, which was Mary Jane Croft's 55th birthday. Although not in this episode, Croft will make her tenth of thirty appearances when the program resumes production for season four.

The final draft of this script is date March 30, 1970. A copy was donated by the estate of writer Milt Josefsberg to the Thousand Oaks Library’s American Radio Archives. 

Coincidentally, March 30, 1970 also saw the first broadcast of an episode of “Mayberry RFD” titled “Aloha, Goober”! In it, Goober’s Mayberry service station is competing to win a trip to Hawaii.  

The title of the episode(s) was doubtless inspired by the 1961 feature film Gidget Goes Hawaiian starring Deborah Walley. Walley would later be a regular on Desi Arnaz series “The Mothers-in-Law” (1967-69). The film also features a character named Lucy (played by Vivian Marshall). 

Originally, the two episodes were to be filmed aboard the actual SS Lurline and on location in Hawaii. When costs proved prohibitive, Lucille Ball Productions had a three-quarter scale model of the ship built on the Paramount lot. At the time, it was the second largest ship ever built at the studio. The sets occupied three sound stages. It even included a real swimming pool! 

These two episodes were a single-camera shoot and filmed without a live studio audience. Establishing shots of the ship and some dockside location shots were also used. 

Hawaii was a favorite getaway destination of the Arnaz family. The Season 3 “Here’s Lucy” DVD contains home movie footage of the family (and friends like Mary Wickes) vacationing together in Hawaii. 

In 2007, Lucie Arnaz remembered their trips to Hawaii fondly: 

"It was before my parents were divorced and the time when they were at their happiest. No arguing, no work to take them away, and they just loved being there and with each other.”

The SS Lurline was a real ship sailing from California to Hawaii for the Matson Steamship line from 1932 to 1963, when it was sold to the Chandris Lines and re-christened the RHMS Ellinis. The Matson Line then brought the Matsonia (first known as the Monterey) out of retirement and re-christened it the Lurline, keeping the historic name alive in their fleet. The Lurline sailed her last voyage under this name in June 1970, before being sold to Chandris and re-christened Britanis. During the 1980s it was briefly the oldest cruise ship in service. The vessel underwent one more name and ownership change before being deliberately sunk in 2000 after nearly 68 years at sea.

The episode incorporates some establishing locations shots of the Lurline departing from San Francisco with the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. 

There is also a location shot of Lucy standing on the dock taking photographs, although this is probably a double for Lucille Ball. With the distance, the streamers, and the camera in front of her face, it is difficult to tell for certain. 

The final draft of the script for this episode was dated March 30, 1970, ten months before it was aired in mid-February 1971. Because the Lurline sailed for the last time on June 25, 1970, the establishing shots had to have been filmed during April, May or June 1970.  

Harry pronounces Hawaii as 'Havaii' (with a 'v' sound instead of a 'w'). He also pronounces Los Angeles with a hard 'g.' Harry was a linguistic eccentric!  

Lucy says the ideal candidate for the cruise director position will be a combination of Cary Grant, Albert Einstein, Joe Namath, and Bob Hope. Lucille Ball did four films with Bob Hope and he appeared on both “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show.” Football player turned entertainer Joe Namath will guest star in a season 5 episode of “Here's Lucy.” Cary Grant has been mentioned on all of Ball's sitcoms, including the previous episode “Lucy and Carol Burnett” (S3;E22).  

When Vivian burst through the crowd, the production anticipates the home viewers reaction by inserting canned applause!  In previous episodes filmed in front of a live studio audience, this was their natural reaction, so one is used here as well. Even the background actors seem happy to see Viv, a character not seen on the series since “Lucy and Viv Visit Tijuana” (S2;E19) a year earlier. 

Among the many games and sports items that Assistant Cruise Director Lucy carries is Hasbro’s Automatic Bingo, first manufactured in 1969. Bingo is a mainstay of cruise ship pastimes. 

Lucy asks Viv if she is still looking to get married:

VIV: “I dream about orange blossoms so often I sleep with a smudge pot at the foot of my bed.”

Dreams about orange blossoms are said to indicate the search for true love. In orange groves, a smudge pot warms the trees to prevent the fruit from being spoiled by frost and cold weather. 

Lucy convinces Harry to disguise himself as rich southerner Colonel Hamilton Hart to woo Vivian away from the Captain MacClay. Harry's make up and wardrobe are identical to Colonel Harlan Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame!  

A montage of Lucy being kept busy shows her jogging, shooting skeet, playing tennis, and playing ping-pong.  

Jumping overboard may be the most extreme example ever of ‘getting Harry wet’ at the end of an episode.

VIVIAN: “Let me through! Let me through! There's only one person in the whole world who would board ship that way!  It's gotta be... Lucy!”

Boarding ship via the cargo net was a stunt Lucille Ball also did in “Lucy Takes A Cruise To Havana” (LDCH S1;E1) with Ann Sothern at her side - instead of Gale Gordon under her feet!

Another unconventional boarding was in "Bon Voyage" (ILL S5;E13), where Lucy Ricardo missed her sailing for Europe on the S.S. Constitution and was lowered by helicopter to the deck.

Assistant Cruise Director Lucy briefly plays ping-pong with a young boy, just as Lucy Ricardo did on the SS Constitution with Kenneth Hamilton. She first looked for a ping-pong partner by asking an idle bloodhound!

In 1955, Desilu recreated the SS Constitution on their Hollywood sound stage the same way LBP does the SS Lurline in 1971. Both episodes were filmed with the cooperation of the shipping lines, American Export Lines (1955) and Matson Steamship Lines (1970). Both were the most expensive episodes filmed to that date due to construction costs. 

In “Ricky's Hawaiian Vacation” (ILL S3;E22), Lucy Ricardo pulled out all the stops, including recreating island life in the living room in order to get Ricky to take her along on his booking at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu. When Ricky says no, Lucy schemes to go along by winning a TV quiz show with the Mertzes, but in the end they don’t win the trip. We never learn if Ricky actually went to Hawaii or not. 

ETHEL (about the idea of going on a quiz show): “I’d get a pie in my face. She’d get an all-expense cruise.”

It took nearly 16 years, but Lucy and Viv finally got that all-expense paid cruise to Hawaii. But she also did get a pie in the face at the end of the show!  

If being Viv being heroically rescued from a swimming pool while pretending she can’t swim sounds familiar, Lucy Ricardo also did it in “The Hedda Hopper Story” (ILL S4;E21). 

In the 1955 episode, Freddie Fillmore mentioned a former contestant named Cleo Morgan, which was the name of Lucille Ball’s cousin. She was later the producer of these two episodes of “Here’s Lucy” under her married name of Cleo Smith.

On February 18, 1965, the Douglas family on “My Three Sons” planned a "Hawaiian Cruise” (S5;E23), but illness forced the trip to be canceled. Uncle Charley decides if they cannot go to Hawaii, then Hawaii would come to them and he plans a luau in the backyard.  

FAST FORWARD!

In the 1970s and 1980s sitcoms took their cue from Lucy and also traveled to Hawaii. 

Probably the most famous of the shows was “The Brady Bunch”, which aired on ABC in 1972, just a year after Lucy’s trip. It, too, was a two-parter. Coincidentally, Eve Plumb (Jan Brady) also played Lucy Carter’s niece Patricia Carter later on in 1972!  

In 1980, also on CBS, “The Jeffersons” traveled to the 50th state. Instead of two parts, the show increased their stay to four half-hours!  The cast featured an actor named Fred Ball (no relation to Lucille Ball’s brother)! 

Hawaii was mention several times on the short lived “Life With Lucy” (1987). In the first episode, Curtis had just returned from vacationing there and in the second episode guest star John Ritter says that his wife is in Hawaii with the kids. In an un-aired episode, Leonard plans to use his vacation from M&B Hardward to go to Hawaii and lie on the beach. 

“Mama Goes Hawaiian” (1988) was also a two-part episode about a Hawaiian vacation. It starred Lucy’s protege Ken Berry and her pal Carol Burnett’s protege, Vicki Lawrence, as Mama. 

Props! When setting down a large stack of games so she can sit down for a minute, Lucille Ball is so worried that the stack will fall off the deck chair that she keeps her hand nearby to catch them if they do.

Doff Your Hat! When ‘the Colonel’ sits down next to Vivian, he removes his hat and places it on the table. Realizing that this is improper (and that the hat might be in the camera shot) he uses his walking stick to smoothly sweep the hat off the table onto the chair below it. Quick thinking! 

“Lucy Goes Hawaiian: Part One” rates 3 Paper Hearts out of 5

This episode is full of Easter eggs for “Lucy” fans with references to four different episodes of “I Love Lucy.” This feels like a cross between “The Love Boat” and “The Golden Girls.”  The ending with Harry and Viv both jumping overboard into the Pacific Ocean - at night - is a bit far-fetched, even for Lucy!

So I saw this photo allegedly from the mid-1950s, and of course, me being me, I had to figure out what ship this was.

This is the SS Monterey, which was built in 1938, and was renamed SS Matsonia in the late 1950s. She was owned and operated by the Matson Line, which had a few cruise ships in its service, and still operates a fleet of cargo vessels today. Back in the day they owned several of the famous and popular hotels in Hawaii at the time.

Lido deck lovers

Lurline, Matson Line ship

Hawaii & the South Seas

Matson Line

National Geographic, July 1959