I Love Lucy: Be A Pal

I Love Lucy: Be A Pal

Originally broadcast on CBS on Monday, October 22, 1951 at 9 PM ET.

Plot: Lucy thinks Ricky is ignoring her and seeks advice from a book to regain his attention.

Analysis: I hate to keep repeating what I say from review to review of this show, but this is another great example of the genius of the writers and Lucy’s talent as an actress to take believable situations and make them so extreme that you laugh, but it does not cross the line into the absurd. Highlights here include a toaster gag and Lucy’s version of Carmen Miranda, one where she actually got the permission of the original to do a parody of. Of note is while the characters of Lucy, Ricky and Fred are established, Ethel is still being refined a bit, not quite being as genteel as we would see in later episodes.

A few words on Lucy, or rather, Lucille Ball the actress. Ball was born in 1911 and for most of her early life was encouraged to enjoy the theater and vaudeville. She attended the School for the Dramatic Arts in New York, actually being a classmate of Bette Davis before being sent home when her professors thought she had no future as an actress. Despite missing two years of work to illness, she managed to make some headway as a fashion model and work on Broadway, but never with a huge amount of success. From there, she moved west to Hollywood, picking up small rolls in movies as well as appearances on radio. In 1940, she met Desi Arnaz while working on a movie together, hit it off off-camera and ended up eloping later that year. The two would continue to work in Hollywood and radio throughout the war years of 1941 through to 1945. Ball finally hit her biggest success with My Favorite Husband and the rest, as outlined yesterday, was history.

The Bottom Line: With a few real laugh out loud moments in the episode, besides the fact that it’s I Love Lucy, this is an easy one to recommend and enjoy. As to getting the episode, it is included with all the episodes from the first season on I Love Lucy: The First Season (http://www.amazon.com/Love-Lucy-Complete....94171617&sr=1-3). In addition, I Love Lucy: The Complete Series (http://www.amazon.com/I-Love-Lucy-Complete/dp/B000TGJ8B2/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1294171617&sr=1-1) includes this episode, plus the entire run of the show.

Next time, we return with another Tale of Tomorrow.