"Oh Ricky, look - Hollywood's out there!" - Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) to her husband Ricky (Desi Arnaz) from the balcony of L.A's Beverly Palms Hotel
I Love Lucy: The Complete Fourth Season DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
Let's make this clear right from the start: the fourth season of I Love Lucy is, beyond a doubt, the best season of what is generally considered to be the greatest sitcom of all time. Sure, there were terrific episodes before this season - Lucy and Ethel mucking up a candy factory in "Job Switching," Lucy becoming soused on a vitamin supplement in "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" - and there are more to come - Lucy stomping grapes...and an Italian peasant...in "Lucy's Italian Movie" - but season four takes the prize for sustained excellence.
During I Love Lucy's third season in 1953-54, the series' ratings declined substantially, despite the fact that it was television's highest rated show overall. The show's creative team - creator/producer Jess Oppenheimer and writers Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll - also became concerned that the series' plotlines were becoming repetitive. When country star Tennessee Ernie Ford appeared in a pair of season three episodes as Lucy's "cousin" and produced a ratings spike, Oppenheimer, Pugh, and Carroll seized on an idea that they felt would fire up their creative juices and goose the ratings: in the fourth season, when Ricky is offered a part in a Hollywood film, the Ricardos (Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz) and the Mertzes (Vivian Vance and William Frawley) would head off to California. The change of locale would offer an unlimited number of new opportunities for Lucy to get in trouble, and major Hollywood stars (friends of Ball and Arnaz) could appear on the show as themselves. It was an audacious idea that could have been a spectacular failure. For three seasons, audiences had tuned in to watch a middle-class couple and their middle-class problems. Sure, Ricky was an entertainer, but not necessarily a successful one. How would the show survive if the Ricardos and the Mertzes were suddenly hobnobbing with celebrities? Quite brilliantly, as it turns out. The show became revitalized and energetic as Oppenheimer, Pugh, and Carroll, invigorated by the change in direction, crafted one classic script after another.
Of course, the couples don't skip off to California right away. Several episodes had already been filmed before the new concept was settled. While generally amusing, these pre-California episodes - including ones with Lucy battling a business manager hired by Ricky, Lucy pretending to be kidnapped in order to test Ricky's valiancy, and Lucy inadvertently ruining a morning talk show on which she stars with Ricky - are the perfect indication that a change was needed. While these episodes have their funny moments, they also feel like variations on previous I Love Lucy themes.
Things perk up considerably with the first batch of Hollywood-themed episodes. In "Ricky's Movie Offer," Ricky auditions for the role of Don Juan in a lavish MGM movie. The audition proves to be too tempting for Lucy and the Mertzes, who can't resist trying to get in on the act: Lucy does her best Marilyn Monroe impression while the Mertzes dress to the hilt as Spanish singers. Things get completely out of hand when the entire neighborhood attempts to horn in on the audition - including elderly Mrs. Trumbull (Elizabeth Patterson) and a trumpet-playing delivery boy. In subsequent episodes, Lucy nearly wrecks "Ricky's Screen Test" when she's chosen to be his scene partner, and the bandleader finally receives good news from Hollywood in "Ricky's Contract". . . but not before Fred, Lucy, and Ethel give him a false update in an attempt to cheer him up. Before Ricky's big break hits, Lucy attempts to impress her Cuban mother-in-law with her Spanish skills in "Lucy's Mother-In-Law." Lucy can't speak a lick of Spanish, and actually has her lines fed to her by a nightclub performer using a secret microphone. And the girls nearly bring down a Broadway house with their incessant arguments in "Ethel's Birthday." The basic plotlines of these episodes are quite conventional for the series - Lucy and the Mertzes attempt to weasel their way into show business much to Ricky's chagrin, Lucy comes up with a harebrained scheme that naturally goes awry - but the promise of a trip to Hollywood breathes new life into the familiar plotlines and situations.
The next six episodes deal with the Ricardos and the Mertzes planning for and embarking on their trip west. Most of these episodes are amusing, but several are out-and-out classics. In "Getting Ready," Ricky makes the ill-advised decision to put Fred in charge of buying the car that will take them across the country. The result: a Hoover-era Cadillac convertible with so little horsepower it practically needs an actual horse to pull it. Ricky saves the day when he buys a new Pontiac convertible in "Lucy Learns to Drive." After her own disastrous driving lesson (in which she attempts to make a U-turn in the Holland Tunnel), Lucy somehow feels qualified to teach Ethel to drive. The result, involving Fred's clunker becoming attached to first the front and then the back of the Pontiac, is hilarious. After numerous fights, extensive packing woes, and a surprise visit from Lucy's mom, Mrs. McGillicuddy (Kathryn Card), the gang finally begins their journey in the exquisitely crafted "California, Here We Come!" The episode's final scene, in which the foursome drives across the George Washington Bridge on the way out of town singing "California, Here I Come!" is transcendent in its joyfulness.
The travelers make their "First Stop" in a rundown Ohio café (the specialty of the house.and its only offering.is week-old cheese sandwiches), where they reluctantly rent a room that is perilously close to the railroad tracks. This joyfully stupid episode is not to be missed. The weakest episode in this cycle is "Tennessee Bound," featuring a return appearance by "Cousin Ernie" when a yokel sheriff nabs Ricky for speeding (and Lucy for smart-mouthing) in Ernie's hometown of Bent Fork, Tennessee. The episode does give TV fans the opportunity to see super producer Aaron Spelling (Charlie's Angels, Dynasty, Starsky & Hutch) in a rare acting role as a hick who lives in an abandoned gas station. The gang's final stop before Hollywood is in Albuquerque, NM, "Ethel's Home Town," where the entire population is under the mistaken impression that their hometown girl is a Hollywood-bound celebrity. This episode's best scene features Ethel performing musical numbers for a sold-out crowd of adoring Albuquerque fans while, unbeknownst to her, Lucy, Ricky and Fred engage in an increasingly ridiculous series of vaudevillian stunts behind her.
The remaining thirteen episodes of the season take place in La-La Land. Things start off on a high note with "L.A. at Last," in which Lucy, Fred, and Ethel dine and star gaze at the Brown Derby. Soon they encounter Eve Arden (who was then starring in Desilu's sitcom Our Miss Brooks), and William Holden, who decides to turn the tables on a nosy Lucy, treating her as the object of his affection. . .which seems like good revenge, until a flustered Lucy accidentally knocks a tray of pies onto the star. When Ricky brings Holden home later that evening, a mortified Lucy attempts to disguise herself with a highly malleable - and highly flammable - putty nose. This episode is a delight from start to finish.
In "Lucy Gets in Pictures," Lucy's greatest dream comes true when Ricky arranges for her to appear in the chorus of an MGM musical. The only problem is that she has to struggle against an oversized headdress that makes her reel around the set like a giraffe that has lost its center of gravity, once again proving that Ball is an undisputed master of physical comedy.
"The Dancing Star" is another inspired episode. Lucy's exaggerated letters back home detailing her imaginary exploits with Hollywood stars come back to haunt her when Carolyn Appleby (Doris Singleton) comes for a visit and expects to hobnob with celebrities. Carolyn arrives, Lucy admits her lie, and everyone has a good laugh. Nah - get real! Luckily, nearsighted Carolyn forgot her glasses on the airplane, allowing Lucy to fake a friendship with an unsuspecting Van Johnson as he sleeps by the hotel's pool. Lucy even arranges for Carolyn to watch as she "rehearses" with her pal Van for his musical revue. Van's dance partner is a tall redhead, and myopic Carolyn will never know the difference.until the airline unexpectedly returns her glasses. Lucy's poolside "chat" with Johnson is a hoot, as the scene in which she talks her way into becoming his rehearsal partner by playing off of Johnson's vanity.
Carolyn's vision problems are also the genesis of the outrageous "Harpo Marx" episode. After Carolyn postpones her travel plans so that she can attend a star-studded party Lucy is supposedly throwing, Lucy decides to save face by stealing her pal's glasses and impersonating the party's "celebrity guests," including Jimmy Durante and Clark Gable. Things go according to plan until the real Harpo Marx shows up just as Lucy dons his distinctive blonde wig. The famous mirror scene - in which Lucy mimics Harpo's behavior as if she is his reflection in a mirror - has justifiably earned its place in the pantheon of all-time-great sitcom moments.
Other California-based episodes include "Don Juan and the Starlets," in which Lucy becomes convinced that Ricky is cheating on her with his costars; "The Fashion Show," in which a badly sunburned Lucy participates in a Don Loper fashion show with other stars' wives, including Ms. Alan Ladd, Ms. Forrest Tucker, Ms. Dean Martin, Ms. William Holden, Ms. Van Heflin, Ms. Gordon MacRae, and Ms. Richard Carlson; "The Hedda Hopper Story," in which a new publicist concocts a scheme to get Ricky's name in gossip maven Hedda Hopper's column; "Don Juan is Shelved" in which Lucy has a run-in with MGM exec Dore Schary (actually played by Vivian Vance's husband, Phil Ober) when Ricky's film is cancelled; "Bull Fight Dance," in which Lucy blackmails Ricky into letting her participate in a charity TV show he's been picked to emcee, but the role he's chosen for her is full of bull; "Hollywood Anniversary," in which Ricky has some 'splaining to do when he forgets the date of his fifteenth anniversary; "The Star Upstairs," in which Lucy sees the opportunity to get her 100th star's autograph when actor Cornel Wilde moves into the hotel's penthouse; "In Palm Springs," in which petty arguments with their mates send the girls on a solo Palm Springs vacation, but guest star Rock Hudson whistles a sad tune that brings the couples back together; "Ricky Needs an Agent," in which Lucy attempts to jump start Ricky's career by pretending to be his agent with typically disastrous results; and "The Tour," in which Lucy decides to steal a grapefruit from Richard Whitmark's backyard while on a bus tour of celebrity homes.
I Love Lucy's preceding three seasons are classics in their own right, but the fourth season raises the stakes. The set and costume budgets seem to have been improved, the laughs are heartier, and even the brawls between the couples reach atomic proportions. Admittedly, not all of these episodes are created equally. While many of them are extremely funny, others are a bit lacking. "In Palm Springs," for example, feels padded and bland, as if guest star Hudson - who is admittedly handsome and charming - wandered onto the set one day and the writers quickly hacked out a script in which he could appear. But for the most part, season four presents one delight after another. Don't miss it.
The packaging of The Complete Fourth Season follows the example of that for the second and third seasons. The thirty episodes that make up the fourth season are divided onto five discs. The discs are housed in slim, clear keepcases. The maroon-toned front covers feature production stills from one of the disc's episodes along with a bright red "I Love Lucy" heart. The back covers include smaller production stills and a list of the episodes and extras found on the DVD. Because the cases are clear, the double-sided coversheets show through to the inside of the case. The interiors include episode titles, original airdates, production numbers and plot synopses. Production stills are also printed on the DVDs in similar color schemes. When the DVDs are removed, they reveal quotes from one of the disc's episodes. The five keepcases slide into a cardboard sleeve which continues the maroon-hued look. The packaging continues to be a winner.
The DVD menus are similar to previous I Love Lucy releases.
