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LUCY AND THE LITTLE OLD LADY

S4;E17 ~ January 3, 1972

Directed by Coby Ruskin ~ Written by Fred S. Fox and Seaman Jacobs

Synopsis

When a kindly widow from out of town (Helen Hayes) comes to the Unique Employment Agency looking for a part-time job, Lucy gives her a place to stay and Harry buys some real estate from her. Kim becomes suspicious that she may be running a con game so they plan to hold a fake séance to get Harry's money back.

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carter), Gale Gordon (Harrison Otis Carter), Lucie Arnaz (Kim Carter)

Guest Cast

Helen Hayes (Kathleen Brady) had a career that spanned over 80 years on stage and screen. She was known as 'The First Lady of the American Theatre'. She was born in 1900 in Washington, DC, and was a child actress who eventually worked on Broadway and Hollywood winning a 1932 Oscar for The Sin of Madelon Claudet. On Broadway, she won Tony Awards in 1947, 1958, and a special Tony in 1980. She has had two Broadway Theatres named after her. The Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in theater in the Washington DC area was named in her honor. In 1928, Hayes married playwright Charles MacArthur (The Front Page) and they adopted a son, actor James MacArthur (“Hawaii 5-0”). In 1970, she received her second Oscar for the film Airport. In 1974 she teamed with Mildred Natwick on “The Snoop Sisters,” a TV detective series. Helen Hayes died in 1993 at age 92. The lights of Broadway were dimmed in her honor.

Mrs. Brady is a widow from Dubuque, Iowa. Helen Hayes uses an Irish accent for the character.

Hank Brandt (Johnny Muldoon) was born in 1934 in New Jersey. He began his screen acting career in 1961. He previously played one of the astronauts in “Lucy and the Astronauts” (S4;E5). He will do one more episode in 1973.

Johnny Muldoon is Mrs. Brady's nephew, a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Sid Gould (Luncheonette Waiter, uncredited) made more than 45 appearances on “The Lucy Show,” and nearly as many on “Here’s Lucy.” Gould (born Sydney Greenfader) was Lucille Ball’s cousin by marriage to Gary Morton.

The waiter merely walks by in the background and has no dialogue.

The other diners and staff at the luncheonette and the guests at the séance (Kim's friends) are played by uncredited background performers.

This is the first episode of 1972, the start of Lucille Ball's third decade on television.

During the late 1960s, after watching one of Helen Hayes' performances, Lucille Ball wrote the actress a letter to express her admiration. Hayes wrote back and suggested the two might work together someday. Lucy asked her secretary Wanda Clark to save the note in her scrapbook, but chalked up the offer to collaborate as mere politeness.

While Helen Hayes was appearing in Long Day's Journey Into Night in Washington, DC she got very ill and had to be hospitalized. Doctors told her that she was allergic to the backstage dust and should no longer work on the stage. Lucille Ball's offer to play Mrs. Brady came along at the perfect time. Television gave Hayes a new direction and prolonged her career for many years.

Fun Fact: Eugene O’Neill’s drama Long Day’s Journey Into Night premiered in 1956 at the (now defunct) Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway. In 1958, Helen Hayes starred in Eugene O’Neill’s A Touch of the Poet at the Helen Hayes Theatre.

Lucille Ball later said of Hayes:

"I can recommend a performance in company with Helen for giving any actress a true perspective of things. If that experience doesn't give you a sense of humility, nothing will. I found myself devoting as much attention to watching her perform as to actually performing with her. She set the standard for the rest of us."

Helen Hayes plays Kathleen Brady, which is also the name of the biographer who wrote Lucille: The Life of Lucille Ball, published in 1994 by Billboard Books.

The character Hayes plays here capitalizes on her Oscar-winning role of Ada Quonsett in Airport (1970), a sweet little old lady who cons the airlines and stows away to get free air travel. On “Here's Lucy” the plot relies on the premise that Mrs. Brady could be a con artist.

Mrs. Brady receives 'messages' from her late husband Michael from her guides in the spirit world, Napoleon and Josephine Bonaparte. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was a French statesman and military leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. He was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again briefly in 1815. Joséphine de Beauharnais (1763–1814) was the first wife of Napoleon and thus the first Empress of the French.

Harry theorizes that Mrs. Brady may be like the sweet little old ladies in Arsenic and Old Lace, poisoning people with elderberry wine. That is the cue for Mrs. Brady to serve Harry a glass of her late husband's favorite drink – elderberry wine! Lucie Arnaz ad libs the line “That was just a play!” Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring opened on Broadway in 1939 and ran until 1944, during which time Helen Hayes starred in four other Broadway plays. It was made into a film by Frank Capra in 1944. In 1969, Helen Hayes starred in a TV version with Lillian Gish (inset photo), Bob Crane, Fred Gwynne, and David Wayne. The play / film was previously mentioned was in “Lucy and the Ex-Con” (S1;E15).

When Mrs. Brady comes to Harry for financial advice, he brags that “Dun and Bradstreet don't make a move without me!” Dun and Bradstreet is a financial analytics firm founded in 1841 in New York City. They are still in business today, headquartered in Short Hills, New Jersey.

Mrs. Brady has some property she needs to sell located on the northeast corner of Molby and Delaney Streets, in Dublin, Ireland. The Irish consulate tells Harry it is worth $25,000. Harry manages to get Mrs. Brady to part with it for $5,000.

When Harry sees the opportunity to cash in on Mrs. Brady's Dublin property, he sings a bit of "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That's an Irish Lullaby)" a classic Irish-American song originally written in 1913 by composer James Royce Shannon for the Tin Pan Alley musical Shameen Dhu. The song was brought back to prominence by Bing Crosby in 1944's Going My Way. Crosby's single sold over a million copies and peaked at #4 on the Billboard charts.

When Harry hears Lucy and Kim's scheme about the fake séance, he says “If this is the ship of fools, would you let me off at Catalina?” Ship of Fools was an Oscar-winning film released in 1965 based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Katherine Anne Porter. Catalina, an island off the Los Angeles coast, has been the punchline of many jokes on “Here's Lucy.”

In “The Seance” (ILL S1;E7) the Ricardos and the Mertzes fake a seance to conjure up Tilly for Mr. Merriweather (Jay Novello) in order to further Ricky's career.

Lucille Ball has played stereotypical 'little old ladies' many times. Lucy Carter went gray in “Lucy and the Ex-Con” (S1;E15) and in “Lucy and the Celebrities” (S4;E10, above).

Lucy Carmichael aged herself for “Lucy Helps the Countess” (TLS S4;E8), “Lucy and the Soap Opera” (TLS S4;E19) and “Little Old Lucy” (TLS S6;E7).

Lucy Ricardo donned old age make-up in “The Young Fans” (ILL S1;E20) and in “The Girls Go Into Business” (ILL S3;E2, above).

Kim Carter (Lucie Arnaz) took a page from her mother’s playbook and donned the Little Old Lady garb in “Meanwhile, Back at the Office” (S6;E16).

Elderly character actress Ruth McDevitt played an (even more) eccentric little old lady in “Lucy and the Diamond Cutter” (S3;E10). McDevitt may have been considered for the role of Mrs. Brady, but during her episode there was an incident on set that resulted in McDevitt having to receive medical care.

Sitcom Logic Alert! Unlike the classic ‘Ethel to Tilly’ séance on “I Love Lucy” this séance seems a bit overly elaborate for a home-spun spirit raising. It includes

pre-fabricated dummies for Lucy and Harry;

a quick change with elaborate costumes for Harry and Lucy to play Napoleon and Josephine;

a theatrical spotlight in the living room to heighten the drama;

a huge dining room table that appears just for this episode;

three background performers (“Kim's friends”) to fill out the party.

Lucy and Harry do not disguise their voices (which Lucy Ricardo and Fred Mertz did so memorably on “I Love Lucy”) and Lucy's bright red hair (that Mrs. Brady previously remarked on) is not wigged. In short, Mrs. Brady would have to be a real con artist or in the throes of dementia to think the séance was real! But that's the show biz!

“Lucy and the Little Old Lady” rates 4 Paper Hearts out of 5

The Queen of Comedy meets the First Lady of the American Theatre in a memorable episode. Hayes looks to be having a wonderful time in the role and it is a joy to watch.

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