when Lucy bought those pants for Ethel's birthday (pretending they were from Fred). When Ethel found out Lucy had bought them, she should have been nicer about not liking them.

All I know is her ungratefulness made for one of the funniest Lucy and Ethel fights in the whole series!:lol:

I have always gathered that from Ethel's reaction in the episode. I can see her being mad at Fred for buying her something like that, because it may suggest he likes young women who wear that -- but if Lucy buys it for her, she's basically giving her own touch of style. I dunno, maybe I'm blind at it all.

I wonder if Ethel's treatment of Lucy wasn't a little out-of-character for her, but I agree that it made for a funny quarrel between them -- so it was needed to set that up. It was played very well.