I Love Lucy
The Girls Want to go to a Nightclub
This episode aired on October 15th, 1951 at 9pm
Written by: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr.
Directed by: Marc Daniels
SUMMARY
While Lucy and Ethel wash the dishes, Ethel confesses she want to go to a nightclub (Copacabana) for her 18 year wedding anniversary. Meanwhile, in the livingroom, Fred tells Ricky he wants to go to a fight to celebrate the 18 year old tragedy. Both the guys and the gals decide to kill the other with kindness to convince the other party to celebrate it their way. An argument over how to celebrate ensues.
The girls decide to tell the boys that they’re going to the nightclub on their own- they’ll get dates. Ricky and Fred later agree that they’d do the same. Lucy pulls out her 11 year-old address book and calls old boyfriends, but they’re all either married, busy, or babysitting their grandchildren.
Ricky is also in a pickle as to who he should call. He calls a friend, Ginny, and asks if she knows of any available women. Lucy has a similar idea, and calls Ginny to ask of any available men. But Ginny tells Lucy of the boys’ plans for blind dates. So Lucy decided Ethel and herself would be the blind dates, and tells Ginny to call Ricky back with the news, and to tell the boys that their gorgeous looking blind dates will meet them at Ricky’s apartment at 8pm that Monday night.
Lucy and Ethel show up as a hillbilly mother with her daughter; both wearing horrid hair/makeup. Ricky and Fred are appalled and disgusted at first but they soon figure out it’s really Lucy and Ethel. When they reveal that they recognize them, they all hug it out and Ricky announces they’ll all go out to celebrate the Mertzes’ wedding anniversary. The screen goes dark and brightens up to reveal and enthused Fred and Ricky enjoying the fight, while Lucy and Ethel sit next to them all dolled-up and in sadness.
The Good
There’s something timeless about this show. Thebriliantly written lines are delivered with just the precise attitude it should be. Lucy had the best lines in this episode. The first line that stuck out for me was…
“..ever since I said ‘I do’ there are so many things we don’t.”
…which was a fresh line to me although I’ve seen this episode before -it just didn’t stand out to me the way it did today. Anyway, it’s a nod to the plateau or lack of excitement in marriage. Another line I really appreciated was…
“…We must know two men who are single and attractive. [Lucy and Ethel pause to think] Two men who are single. [pause again] Two men. [pause again] A boy and a dog?”
This being a line from when they first decide to go on dates. It seemed a bit strange to think that Lucy held onto an 11 year old address book (see ‘The Bad’ section), but the comedy balanced out a lot of the melancholy sides of marriage. That’s part of what made the show such a hit; it transparently shows the reality of love, marriage and friendship that wasn’t quite so expressed at a time when most sitcoms were about picture perfect families living an american dream lifestyle. Basically, it was ‘the simpsons’ of its time, and still remains relatable to this very day.
I thought the scene towards the ending with with Lucy and Ethel in disguise was brilliant. Lucy’s disguised voice enhanced her disguise all the more, and although recognizable, it was fun to see them both continue to disgust the boys as Ricky sings ‘Guadalajara’ for them, with Fred desperately clinging to him for safety from the girls.
The Bad
While I understand that the point of the show is not only to make you laugh, but in doing so, expressing the reality of love and marriage, I still felt for the girls in the ending. There was no compromise at all from the guys at all-even though they were planning on getting dates to go to the Copacabana just to keep an eye on the girls… but since their date plans with other women fell, they decided to take their wives to the fight. Like… they were planning on going with other women -but refuse to take their wives?? What?! and when they finally appease to the gals in their disguises- they still end up going to the fight? Still? Poor Ethel! I would have divorced someone who was that self-consumed on an anniversary day.
Again, I understand that this is meant to show the dark side of marriage in the light of comedy -that still seemed straight up unfair- then again, I guess that was how it was in the 50’s -about the women pleasing the men… am I wrong?
This next bit isn’t necessarily bad, just something that was confusing to me; which was Lucy’s address book. She had an eleven year old book with all of her old boyfriends’ info? Who does that?
18 years of marriage, and it took Fred THAT long to recognize Ethel in disguise? I think he might need some glasses!
Final Score:
My final score for this episode is 8 out of 10. All in all, the comedy definitely overpowers the mild sadness in the episode. Although I felt bad for Ethel in the end, it definitely made for a memorably hilarious episode.
Nostalgic Reviews 