Unproduced episode of "The Lucy Show"

[RodMcK1]

On ebay there is a script for an episode called "Lucy Goes Commercial," which from the date of the script was intended for the early part of season three.   From the page you can view, the scene with Lucy and Chris appears much like the "Here's Lucy" scene in which Lucy teaches Kim to grocery shop in "Lucy's Working Daughter."

 

THE LUCY SHOW script Lucille Ball, Vivian Vance “Lucy Goes Commercial” | eBay

 

[Neil]

On 8/11/2021 at 2:19 PM, RodMcK1 said:

On ebay there is a script for an episode called "Lucy Goes Commercial," which from the date of the script was intended for the early part of season three.   From the page you can view, the scene with Lucy and Chris appears much like the "Here's Lucy" scene in which Lucy teaches Kim to grocery shop in "Lucy's Working Daughter."

 

THE LUCY SHOW script Lucille Ball, Vivian Vance “Lucy Goes Commercial” | eBay

 

Is this the one that's a VitaMeta/GuzzlersGin remake?  Few of those freelance writers were in tune with what makes a good Lucy show.   There was another 3rd season rejected script floating around: "Lucy & Chris: Which One's the Teenager?".....or was that a HL with Lucy & Kim?

[RodMcK1]

On 8/15/2021 at 1:38 PM, Neil said:

Is this the one that's a VitaMeta/GuzzlersGin remake?  Few of those freelance writers were in tune with what makes a good Lucy show.   

I don't know.  Only a few pages of the script were viewable online.

 

On 8/15/2021 at 1:38 PM, Neil said:

There was another 3rd season rejected script floating around: "Lucy & Chris: Which One's the Teenager?".....or was that a HL with Lucy & Kim?

That's a "Here's Lucy" script.  I have an original copy of that one.

[Mot Morenzi]

I bought this on an impulse the other day. I had it shipped to my home in the states for economical reasons, but will happily share details once I have access to it. 

[RodMcK1]

On 8/16/2021 at 10:35 PM, Mot Morenzi said:

I bought this on an impulse the other day. I had it shipped to my home in the states for economical reasons, but will happily share details once I have access to it. 

That would be great.

[teenageluminary]

Somewhat off-topic, but this book has a summary of an unproduced 2nd season episode of The Lucy Show, entitled "Lucy Flies A Helicopter." In the Desilu book, the authors mention that even after Desi Arnaz left the studio in 1962, Lucy would often send him scripts to review. At one point, Desi apparently reviewed this script and wrote a memo to the production staff where he had some pretty harsh things to say about it, so it's not surprising that it was shelved. 

Based on this book's summary of the script, it sounds like "Lucy Flies A Helicopter" was Bob and Madelyn's attempt to rehash some of the elements of the "Lucy Flies To Alaska" and "Lucy Wants A Career" episodes of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. The plotline would have had Lucy and Viv both apply to be a TV show host's Girl Friday. The TV host have to do a segment on board a helicopter, and Lucy and Viv would have accidentally knocked out the pilot and been forced to pilot the plane instead. 

The basic plotline doesn't sound too bad, at least compared to some of the awful scripts that Milt Josefsberg and his staff came up with in the later episodes. But I do think Desi Arnaz was correct in his assessment that several of the 2nd season episodes of The Lucy Show were not as grounded in reality as they could have been, and that the writers could have broadened their horizons by doing more episodes about home improvements and the Lucy character's experience as a single mother (as they had in the 1st season.) By the end of the 2nd season, virtually every episode seemed to revolve around Lucy's attempts to get Mr. Mooney to give her more money. 

[Mot Morenzi]

On 9/27/2021 at 5:48 AM, teenageluminary said:

Somewhat off-topic, but this book has a summary of an unproduced 2nd season episode of The Lucy Show, entitled "Lucy Flies A Helicopter." In the Desilu book, the authors mention that even after Desi Arnaz left the studio in 1962, Lucy would often send him scripts to review. At one point, Desi apparently reviewed this script and wrote a memo to the production staff where he had some pretty harsh things to say about it, so it's not surprising that it was shelved. 

Based on this book's summary of the script, it sounds like "Lucy Flies A Helicopter" was Bob and Madelyn's attempt to rehash some of the elements of the "Lucy Flies To Alaska" and "Lucy Wants A Career" episodes of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. The plotline would have had Lucy and Viv both apply to be a TV show host's Girl Friday. The TV host have to do a segment on board a helicopter, and Lucy and Viv would have accidentally knocked out the pilot and been forced to pilot the plane instead. 

The basic plotline doesn't sound too bad, at least compared to some of the awful scripts that Milt Josefsberg and his staff came up with in the later episodes. But I do think Desi Arnaz was correct in his assessment that several of the 2nd season episodes of The Lucy Show were not as grounded in reality as they could have been, and that the writers could have broadened their horizons by doing more episodes about home improvements and the Lucy character's experience as a single mother (as they had in the 1st season.) By the end of the 2nd season, virtually every episode seemed to revolve around Lucy's attempts to get Mr. Mooney to give her more money. 

I’d much rather see Lucy and Viv pilot a helicopter than Lucy and Mr. Mooney deal with guys in bear costumes, I’ll be honest. But yes, it does sound a little out there. Other episodes I can remember offhand which weren’t filmed Include “Lucy Plays Basketball” and “Lucy is a Calendar Girl”.

I’ll be sure to post a summary of this “Lucy Goes Commercial” script once I get it. 

[Neil]

For reasons still unknown to me, the original 4 wrote a bunch but not all of season 2.  Bob & Madelyn were on board for all 28 and even got sole writing credit on a few.  Fred Fox & Iz Elinson were the co-writers on a number of episodes.  In addition there were a few other writers.  I cannot tell the difference in the quality of shows with different writers, so I say Bob & Madelyn were the driving force.  It's unclear to me what the process was, as in, did the other writers do a first draft and then Bob & Madelyn did a polish? 

Desi and Bob&Madelyn had such a mutual admiration society, I can't see Desi knocking one of their scripts, so I'll bet the first draft of "Flies a Helicopter" was submitted by one of the outside writers.  However,  I think "Lucy Flies a Helicopter" sounds pretty funny! 

I did not know of Red Skelton's Guzzler's Gin sketch and how it might be the inspiration for Vitameta.  I've since seen it.  Red's style is totally different of course but the word he uses over and over again is "SMOOTH".  If "Lucy Goes Commercial" is the same script I saw, the writers have Lucy saying the same thing: smooth.  This episode was written for the 3rd season, not the 2nd. 

I've never heard of "Lucy is a Calendar Girl".  PLEASE don't tell me the special guest star was Hugh Hefner. 

[Mot Morenzi]

16 hours ago, Neil said:

I've never heard of "Lucy is a Calendar Girl".  PLEASE don't tell me the special guest star was Hugh Hefner. 

As memory serves, the season 6 DVD production notes mentioned it. It was hoped, I believe, that Henry Fonda would be the guest star, I think as a photographer who wants Lucy to pose for a calendar shoot. Something like that. Sorry, too tired to dig out my discs and check just now. But Lucy vetoed the show by writing a big “NO!!!” on the cover. 

[teenageluminary]

Quote

Desi and Bob&Madelyn had such a mutual admiration society, I can't see Desi knocking one of their scripts, so I'll bet the first draft of "Flies a Helicopter" was submitted by one of the outside writers. 

I think that like, Jess Oppenheimer, Desi had a really strong knack for planning and character development, and he was able to coax Bob and Madelyn into doing better rewrites and delivering their best work. And as the Desilu authors note - by this point in Season 2, certain CBS network executives and critics had pointed out that it looked like the show was coasting, and that the overall consistency wasn't as good as it had been during the first season. (In hindsight, this might also been the catalyst for Lucille Ball's famous "what are you doing, trying to ruin my career?" comment to Bob and Madelyn at the end of the season.) 

I think if Desi had spoken to Bob and Madelyn directly, however, he would have been more tactful than he was in this memo. 

Quote

Fred Fox & Iz Elinson were the co-writers on a number of episodes.  In addition there were a few other writers.  I cannot tell the difference in the quality of shows with different writers, so I say Bob & Madelyn were the driving force.  It's unclear to me what the process was, as in, did the other writers do a first draft and then Bob & Madelyn did a polish?

In The Lucy Book, Schiller and Weiskopf said that when they wrote scripts with Bob and Madelyn, they all typically sat down in a room together and came up with the basic plotline. Schiller and Weiskopf would then do the first draft, and then Bob and Madelyn would make edits, check for consistency, firm up the dialogue, and make each script sound like it came from one "voice." 

I would imagine that Bob and Madelyn followed a similar process with the other writers they worked with (i.e. Fred Fox and Iz Elinson.) While the scripts Fox and Elinson submitted on their own during the third season (i.e. Lucy Becomes A Father) are decent, the dialogue and plotting seem "off," and aren't the same as the episodes they did with Bob and Madelyn, so I agree that B & M were likely the driving force behind the episodes in Season 2.