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| Lucille Ball | Lucy McGillicuddy Ricardo |
| Vivian Vance | Ethel Mertz |
| Desi Arnaz | Ricky Ricardo |
| William Frawley | Fred Mertz |
| Richard Keith | Little Ricky Ricardo |
| Johnny Jacobs | Announcer |
| Keith Thibodeaux |
| Director | William Asher
James V. Kern Ralph Levy |
| Producer | Lucille Ball
Jess Oppenheimer |
| Writer | Bob Carroll Jr.
Madelyn Davis |
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The sixth and final season of I Love Lucy finds new laughs in some old formulas while also expanding the hugely popular show?s horizons with a change of scene. Things get off to a familiar start when Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) gets in the middle of husband Ricky?s business--in this case, disguising herself as a hot dog salesman at Yankee Stadium in order to get near Bob Hope. Hope, she believes, has ignored Ricky?s offer to be the first act at his new nightclub. But, in fact, Hope had already agreed; Ricky was just sitting on the information to keep Lucy from getting typically ditzy in front of one of his celebrity pals. Not surprisingly, mayhem follows when poor Hope finds his hand slathered with condiments and his noggin bonked by a foul ball. Other celebrity sightings include Orson Welles, who copes with Lucy?s aspirations as a Shakespearean actress, and George Reeves, television?s Superman, who shows up unexpectedly, in costume, at Little Ricky?s birthday party. Meanwhile, Lucy--who didn?t want to disappoint the tyke--stands in a makeshift Man of Steel outfit on a window ledge, in the rain. A number of episodes concern Little Ricky (Keith Thibodeaux) now that he?s old enough to be a functioning character on the show. In "Little Ricky Learns to Play the Drums," the lad takes after his musician father and starts playing percussion, leading to some frayed nerves. A couple of episodes later, young Ricardo gets a bad case of stage fright at school, and Lucy suggests Ricky let him play the drums at the nightclub. (But then, of course, she has to figure out how to talk her son into performing.) A big change comes to I Love Lucy in the season?s second half, when the Ricardos decide it?s time to become homeowners and pull up stakes at their old Manhattan apartment. Moving to a nice, new house in Connecticut, they?re soon joined by Fred (William Frawley) and Ethel (Vivian Vance), and the season?s storylines take on a distinctly suburban flavor, with country clubs, barbecues, and gardens figuring into the comedy. With those developments, I Love Lucy came to a close after making television history as a much-beloved sitcom. Lots of special features, including multiple audio commentaries, flubs, lost scenes, and five episodes of My Favorite Husband, Ball?s radio show. --Tom Keogh |
| 30 mins 10/1/1956 1. Lucy and Bob Hope | |||
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Ricky is opening a new club, and he wants Bob Hope to appear at the grand opening. Lucy fears Hope won't appear because of her widespread reputation for monkey-wrench throwing, and wants to reassure him that this time she's butting out.
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| 30 mins 10/8/1956 2. Little Ricky Learns to Play the Drums | |||
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Little Ricky gets drums — and the Mertzes get headaches. So do Lucy and Ricky, but they're not about to evict themselves.
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| 30 mins 10/15/1956 3. Lucy Meets Orson Welles | |||
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Lucy tries to get in a skit with Orson Welles at Ricky's club, thinking it is a Shakespearean play that he will be doing. When Orson Welles tells Lucy she can be in the show, she calls her old high school drama teacher to tell her the news. Lucy's old teacher sends her whole drama class to Club Babalu to see Lucy perform. But poor Lucy! It turns out Welles only wanted her to be his assistant for a magic trick.
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| 30 mins 10/22/1956 4. Little Ricky Gets Stage Fright | |||
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Little Ricky is scheduled to play the drums in a children's orchestra. Although his parents and their friends the Mertzes are overcome with nervousness, Little Ricky seems calm until his big moment arrives; then he goes to pieces. His next performance is six months away, but Lucy feels she must do something about his stage fright now. Howard McNear, who played Floyd the barber in ""The Andy Griffith Show,"" guest-stars.
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| 30 mins 10/29/1956 5. Visitor From Italy | |||
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Mario, the Ricardos and Mertzes' gondolier in Venice, comes to New York to surprise his brother Dominic, but turns up at the Ricardos' apartment when he can't find him. Lucy is sure Dominic is in San Francisco and sets out to help Mario raise the bus fare. Her earnest efforts pay off in a surprising way.
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| 30 mins 11/12/1956 6. Off to Florida | |||
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When Lucy misplaces two train tickets to Florida, she and Ethel consult the classified section, hoping to share a ride with someone driving south. They team up with a peculiar middle-aged woman, Mrs. Grundy, who's bent on getting to Florida in record time.
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| 30 mins 11/19/1956 7. Deep Sea Fishing | |||
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It's Lucy and Ethel vs. Ricky and Fred in a fishing contest while they're on a Florida vacation. The wager: $150 (about what Lucy and Ethel had spent in hotel boutiques), so both sides do a little cheating to ensure a victory.
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| 30 mins 11/26/1956 8. Desert Island | |||
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Lucy and Ethel will do anything to keep Ricky and Fred from judging a Miami Beach beauty contest (and end up being menaced on a seemingly deserted island as a result).
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| 30 mins 12/3/1956 9. The Ricardos Visit Cuba | |||
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Still on their vacation, the Ricardos go to Cuba, where Ricky wants to introduce his relatives to Lucy and Little Ricky.
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| 30 mins 12/17/1956 10. Little Ricky's School Pageant | |||
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Little Ricky's school pageant — ""The Enchanted Forest"" — is coming up and it's coming up short on cast members, so the Ricardos and Mertzes volunteer. Ricky's a hollow stump, Fred's a frog and Ethel's the fairy princess (because she can fit into the costume). And Lucy? She's a witch.
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| 30 mins 12/24/1956 11. Christmas Show | |||
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It's Christmas Eve and Ricky warns his young son: "Santa won't bring the tree and the presents until you go to sleep." It takes some effort to cajole the boy, but after Lucy convinces him that Santa will have no trouble coming down the chimney ("he brings the North Pole with him and slides down it like a fireman."), he's off to bed. The coast clear, Fred and Ethel arrive with a Christmas tree. "It's a gift from me and Ebenezer," Ethel reveals about the five-dollar fir. The four friends begin to trim the tree until Lucy discovers "a branch on the right side that spoils the shape." Fred solves the symmetry problem with a pocket saw as Ricky says to Lucy, "Our lives have sure been different ever since you told me you were going to have a baby." We flash back to the sentimental moment at the Tropicana in 1952 when Lucy breaks the baby news to Ricky (from "Lucy is Enceinte"). This reminiscence over, we discover that Fred got carried away with his saw while listening to the baby tale - the tree is now a spindly stripling. While Fred goes off in search of a replacement, Ethel and Ricky start singing "Jingle Bells," but when Lucy joins in with her off-key rendition, they recall, once again in a flashback sequence, the barbershop quartet harmonizing of "Sweet Adeline" (from "Lucy's Show Biz Swan Song"). With the last note sung, we return to the Ricardo apartment just as Fred enters with a new tree - he got this "last minute" one for only fifty cents. The foursome starts decorating the tree and discussing Little Ricky's Christmas gifts, as Ethel realizes: "It seems like only yesterday he was born." This is the perfect lead-in to a flashback of Ricky, Fred, and Ethel rehearsing Lucy's trip to the hospital (from "Lucy Goes to the Hospital"). Finally, it's Christmas morning. The four principals are up early and wearing Santa outfits. When they hear Little Ricky approaching the living room, they hasten to the kitchen so the boy won't be disillusioned by seeing four Santas. Suddenly, however, there are five St. Nicks crowding the kitchen - who's the real one? The "real" one disappears optically as the Ricardos and Mertzes stare into the camera and say, hesitantly, "Merry Christmas, everybody."
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| 30 mins 1/7/1957 12. Lucy and the Loving Cup | |||
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Ricky's disapproval of Lucy's new hat leads to her trying on a loving cup which Ricky has planned to present to jockey Johnny Longden at a National Turf Association dinner. The problem is that Lucy can't get the trophy off her head.
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| 30 mins 1/14/1957 13. Lucy and Superman | |||
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When Stevie Appleby, Caroline's son, has a birthday party the same day as Little Ricky's, Lucy looks for unusual entertainment to lure the children. Ricky remembers that Superman is in town, and he invites him. But when Ricky is unable to corral Superman, Lucy is left with no choice but to dress as the Man of Steel herself. George Reeves makes a special guest-star appearance in this episode.
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| 30 mins 1/21/1957 14. Little Ricky Gets a Dog | |||
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The Ricardos' apartment begins to resemble a pet shop when Little Ricky gets a puppy. Lucy and Ricky are both determined to get rid of the puppy after their son brings it home -- as are their landlords, Fred and Ethel. They have a hard time overcoming Little Ricky's arguments that a puppy would be a welcome addition to a home that already boasts a canary, a frog, a lizard, a turtle, and some goldfish.
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| 30 mins 1/28/1957 15. Lucy Wants to Move to the Country | |||
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Lucy decides that it would be nice to move to the country and prevails on Ricky to place a comfortable deposit on a big house. Ricky agrees and puts a down payment on a house in Westport, Connecticut. It is not long before Lucy changes her mind. Lucy, Ethel, and Fred put on disguises to try and help poor Ricky get his deposit back.
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| 30 mins 2/4/1957 16. Lucy Hates to Leave | |||
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Lucy hates to leave behind her old friends Fred and Ethel, who also happen to be her landlords. But Ricky has told her to sell all their furniture. Lucy hates to part with her furniture almost as badly as she hates to part with the Mertzes. She persuades them to keep the furniture in their apartment, promising that it's ""just until we can move.""
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| 30 mins 2/11/1957 17. Licy Misses the Mertzes | |||
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As the Ricardos get settled in their new country home, they immediately wind up in a mix-up with their old friends Fred and Ethel Mertz. Missing their old friends already, Lucy and Ricky decide to visit the Mertzes. At the same time, the Mertzes decide to trek to the country to visit the Ricardos, and what began simply becomes complicated.
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| 30 mins 2/18/1957 18. Lucy Gets Chummy with the Neighbors | |||
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With the best intentions in the world, Lucy somehow causes a misunderstanding with her neighbors, the Ramseys. It all starts when Betty Ramsey offers Lucy some advice and a wholesale deal on furniture. For a time, the Ricardos' whole future at their Connecticut home seems threatened.
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| 30 mins 3/4/1957 19. Lucy Raises Chickens | |||
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The Mertzes find a way to stay with the Ricardos: chicken farming. But the scheme puts Lucy over her head in chickens when she and Ethel bring home 500 baby chicks before the hen house is ready.
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| 30 mins 3/11/1957 20. Lucy Does the Tango | |||
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Chicken-raising and practicing a tango for Little Ricky's school PTA meeting combine to get the Ricardos and the Mertzes in a verbal battle. It's up to Ricky, Jr. and his neighborhood pal Bruce Ramsey to straighten things out.
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| 30 mins 3/18/1957 21. Ragtime Band | |||
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Lucy decides to take part in the fundraising campaign of the Westport Historical Society, and offers to get her husband and his band to perform for their kickoff function. There's only one hitch -- Ricky won't do it. So Lucy decides to form her own band featuring herself, Little Ricky, and Fred and Ethel Mertz.
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| 30 mins 3/25/1957 22. Lucy's Night in Town | |||
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After spending six whole weeks in their new Connecticut home, Lucy dreams of a night in New York City and it turns into a nightmare. Four carefully hoarded tickets to the Broadway musical hit ""The Most Happy Fella"" are supposed to get the Ricardos and the Mertzes in to see the sold-out show. But difficulties arise when Fred Mertz gets nervous about pickpockets because he's carrying $500 in cash in his pockets.
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| 30 mins 4/1/1957 23. Housewarming | |||
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Fred Mertz installs an intercom system between the Mertz guest-house and the Ricardo main house. The intercom causes some confusion when Lucy and Ricky overhear what they believe to be plans for a housewarming party given for them.
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| 30 mins 4/8/1957 24. Building a Bar-B-Q | |||
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Lucy has a problem deciding what to do to get her vacationing husband, Ricky, out of her hair so she can do her housework. She and Ethel solve the problem by putting their husbands to work building a barbecue.
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| 30 mins 4/22/1957 25. Country Club Dance | |||
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The Ricardos and the Mertzes go with their neighbors, Ralph and Betty Ramsey, to the country club dance. A pretty visitor quickly convinces the men they are Romeos in disguise. This development forces the women into glamorous clothing and beauty treatments to prove that they, too, can be glamorous. Barbara Eden guest-stars.
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| 30 mins 4/29/1957 26. Lucy Raises Tulips | |||
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Suburban living gets Lucy into a flower-show competition, and she raises tulips with a vengeance as she tries to beat out her neighbor, Betty Ramsey, for first prize. Lucy asks Ricky to mow the lawn so that her garden will look just right. But he only mows half before taking off for a baseball game, leaving Lucy and Ethel to tiptoe through the tulips -- with the lawnmower.
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| 30 mins 5/6/1957 27. The Ricardos Dedicate a Statue | |||
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Lucy joins a community effort to establish a Revolutionary War monument. She manages to shatter any dreams she may have had of becoming a community leader when the statue is broken. Her efforts to undo the damage put her in a unique position when the time comes to unveil the statue.
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