TV Trivia
by Michael Karol
& Craig Hamrick

Classic Moments: Lucille Ball
By Michael Karol
Originally posted September 3, 2006

I tried to limit my favorite Lucy TV moments to 10. It simply can't be done.

The traditional "top Lucy" episodes picked by fans (Vitameatavegamin, “Grape Stomping, etc.) are the ones that showcase Lucy by herself doing that fabulous slapstick we all love. I love those episodes, too, but my favorites tend to be the ones in which Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz are pitted against Ricky and Fred, or the two couples are pitted against each other. In these episodes, the comedy comes more out of the characters and situation than the slapstick.

1. Lucy sets her fake nose on fire and then dunks it in a cup of coffee to put it out while trying to hide from William Holden. (I Love Lucy)

2. Lucy and Ethel fight a losing battle with a candy conveyor belt. (I Love Lucy)

3. Lucy and Vivian try to fix their broken stall shower and almost drown. (The Lucy Show)

4. Lucy rehearses the tango with Ricky while hiding three dozen eggs on her person. (I Love Lucy)

5. Ethel responds to judge Gale Gordon with "We raise chickens," after Lucy and Ricky, and Danny Thomas and TV wife Marjorie Lord, have each pointed out their children to the court. (The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour)

6. "Ethel to Tillie. Ethel to Tillie." Madame Mertzola tries to raise the dead during a séance at the Ricardo’s apartment. (I Love Lucy)

7. Lucy and Ethel disguise themselves as Martians for a publicity stunt to make money to donate to Lucy's snooty friend's charity. (I Love Lucy)

8. Fred, Ricky, and Lucy clown behind Ethel, getting the real applause, while Ethel grandstands singing "Shortnin' Bread" in her hometown, Albuquerque. (I Love Lucy)

9. Ethel cuts Lucy's spaghetti with a manicure scissors at the Brown Derby because Lucy is being outstared by William Holden and freezes up while eating. (I Love Lucy)

10. The Mertzes and Ricky rehearse Lucy's trip to the hospital to have her baby. All goes well until the actual trip is necessary. (I Love Lucy)

11. Ethel tucks Fred tightly into bed so they can sleep in the fleabag motel they and the Ricardos have stopped in on their way to California. (I Love Lucy)

12. The "baby" that Lucy has on her lap during the airplane trip home from Europe, actually a large disguised cheese that customs wouldn't allow, "disappears" and Lucy's seatmate, also with child (the wonderfully outraged Mary Jane Croft) thinks Lucy's done something to the baby. (I Love Lucy)

13. Lucy and Ethel steal John Wayne's footprints from the Grauman’s Chinese forecourt and get tabbed as a "frowsy redhead" and a "dishwater blonde" in the papers the next day. (I Love Lucy)

14. A semi-hysterical Ethel keeps Ricky gabbing while Lucy (literally) flies by their L.A. hotel patio, having fallen off Cornel Wilde's patio. (I Love Lucy)

15. Lucy gets Liz Taylor's huge diamond ring stuck on her finger and substitutes her hand for Liz's during a press conference. (Here's Lucy)

16. Fred and Ethel enter with pieces of ceiling on their heads as a result of the Ricardos one-night-only stand playing "El Break-o the Lease-o" upstairs from the Mertzes. (I Love Lucy)

17. Lucy and Viv try to install a TV antenna on the roof of their house. (The Lucy Show)

18. The Ricardos and the Mertzes get stuck in a Swiss ski hut during an avalanche and fight over the last scraps of food. (I Love Lucy)

19. Mrs. Trumbull tells Lucy she has a fiery temper like her red hair, and Lucy gestures at Ethel, asking, "What about her?" Ethel: "Oh, mine's as cold as her dark roots." (The best friends are fighting over a washing machine.) (I Love Lucy)

20. Lucy and Ethel trick the boys into thinking they’re being assaulted working late in the restaurant where the foursome recently had dinner (Fred and Ricky made the girls "pay" for not having any money to take care of the tab by staying and washing the dishes). (I Love Lucy)

21. Lucy and Ethel create a stir in the newest Paris fashions, actually burlap sacks that Fred and Ricky had made to teach them a lesson. (I Love Lucy)

22. Ethel belts out "Lily of the Valley" and Lucy tries to get a note out (the chorus has been told to drown her out) as the Queen of the Gypsies in "The Operetta." (I Love Lucy)

"What were they thinking?" Lucy moment: Lucy Carter "meets" a dark-haired Lucille Ball who is promoting the film Mame during a Lucy look-alike contest. (Here's Lucy)

Michael Karol has written four books about Lucille Ball: Lucy A to Z, The Lucille Ball Encyclopedia, now in its fourth edition, with exclusive interviews and pictures — a best-seller sicne 2001; Lucy in Print, examining the press coverage of Lucy and her costars over the past 60 years; The Lucille Ball Quiz Book; The Comic DNA of Lucille Ball: Interpreting the Icon, a treatise on what turned Lucy into the legend and icon she has become; and his latest, published in 2011, The Lucy Book of Lists, an imaginative compilation of unique lists about his favorite redhead, with exclusive pictures courtesy of Heritage Auction house and a special list by Lucy and Desi's friend, Kaye Ballard! He has also written the best-selling book The ABC Movie of the Week Companion. A date gone wrong sparked his vampire/mystery novel KISS KILL: A Vampire's Tale. All are currently available on Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, and many other online and in-store sources. Visit here for more information.