In Hollywood when Lucy is mailing postcards, she says Lillian Applebee, but when she (Miss Applebee) visits to meet the stars, she is called Carolyn. I wonder what happened with that name?

Doris Singleton played the recuuring role of Caroline Appleby, including the Season 4 episode "Lucy and Harpo Marx" -- except in her first appearance in Season 2 ("The Club Election"), where her character was named Lillian Appleby.

Apparently Lucy was not the best with names and probably just went back to Lillian by accident, with no one catching the error.

A similar thing happened years later on "The Lucy Show," where she insisted that her son appearing in a later episode was Jimmy while actually he had been named Jerry earlier in the series (played by actor Jimmy Garrett). This time, people knew Lucy was in error, but they let it go...!

I wonder what happened with that name?

Same thing that happened with Ethel May, Ethel Louise, and Ethel Roberta. The writers just forgot what they'd said in previous eps. The original name of Doris' character was "Lillian". In later eps, it changed to Carolyn and stuck with an exception. In one of the later eps when Doris' role as "Carolyn" was already cemented, Desi flubbed and referred back to the original "Lillian". Either that or the writers forgot AGAIN and scriped it "Lillian" but I think it was Desi misspeaking. I think it was the Harpo ep or the other on where Carolyn is visiting CA on her way to Hawaii.

Easy to to just say that Lillian or Carolyn is the middle name.....my dad throughout his whole life has been known by some people by his first name and to others by his middle name! :lol:

Also to the Lucy gaffe on The Lucy Show--some people think Lucy knew what she was doing....that she was intentionally saying Jimmy in order to say hi to Jimmy Garrett in a non descript way :)

This subject reminds me of an old thread....

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=68242&highlight

You know you watch too much I Love Lucy when...

...something happens you don't like and you grimace with your front teeth showing and go "ih-iiiiih!"

...somebody gives you a flippant remark and you start yapping in Spanish.

...you suddenly find yourself singing, humming, or whistling "Sweet Sue."

...you find yourself thumping or tapping on a desk or table with a beat xxX xxX xxXXxX repeatedly.

...you can't keep your 'old sayings' in order-- instead you say something like, "Don't burn your chickens before your bridges is hatched."

...you see another old show with actor Jay Novello, and you say, "What do you know?-- it's Mario Beecher Merriweather!"

...you have a friend named Carolyn, but on rare occasions, for a reason completely unknown, you call her "Lillian."

...you already know you've watched too much Lucy, and you're determined to find out why you do it, so you look up a fizzykeeatrist.