ILL cast on "Toast of the Town" + Lucy/Desi on "Make Room for Daddy"

[Bill S.]

While searching through IMDb.com, I found a couple interesting TV appearances made by some of the I Love Lucy cast members. First was an episode of Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town from 1954 in which Lucy, Desi, Vivian & William Frawley all appeared on the same show (info here). It says that they appear as themselves but I'm still a little curious about it. The second was an appearance Lucy & Desi made on Make Room for Daddy, in the 1959 episode "Lucy Upsets the Williams Household," (see here). In this episode, Lucy & Desi are credited as "Lucy & Ricky Ricardo." Does anyone have any additional information about these shows that they could share? Thanks.

[TV DVD Fan]

I saw a clip from TOTT that really touched me... it appeared on the "I Love Lucy 50th Anniversary Special" and I actually used in a book report on Desi Arnaz' life. He describes the hardships he went through in his early life and then says how grateful he is to America for giving him so much. It really is heart-warming and I don't see how anyone with a heart can watch it without a tear in their eye.

[Bill S.]

Thanks for the info TV DVD Fan. Nobody knows anything about Lucy & Desi's appearance on Make Room for Daddy? I'm really interested in getting my hands on these, I'm surprised they never included these as bonus material on any of the I Love Lucy DVD's.

[Kazza]

You probably need to ask on a different msg board. The Lucy Lounge has a lot of knowledgable people that can help you out.

[NOVARick]

Originally Posted by Bill S.

While searching through IMDb.com, I found a couple interesting TV appearances made by some of the I Love Lucy cast members. First was an episode of Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town from 1954 in which Lucy, Desi, Vivian & William Frawley all appeared on the same show (info here). It says that they appear as themselves but I'm still a little curious about it. The second was an appearance Lucy & Desi made on Make Room for Daddy, in the 1959 episode "Lucy Upsets the Williams Household," (see here). In this episode, Lucy & Desi are credited as "Lucy & Ricky Ricardo." Does anyone have any additional information about these shows that they could share? Thanks.

I've seen both shows. I know I have the Danny Thomas one lost somewhere in my mess of videos and DVDs. I haven't seen it in years. All I remember about the plot is very vague, something about Lucy and Kathy going out shopping and Lucy teaching Kathy how to scheme to get the dress she wants (Kathy knows Danny will find too expensive for her to buy). Lucy and Desi appeared on Danny's show in return for his appearance on their show. This "Danny Thomas Show" episode, I seem to recall, was broadcast about a month after "Lucy Makes Room for Danny" aired. At the end of that season, Lucy made a cameo on "The Phil Silvers Show." She appeared as, presumably Lucy Ricardo, auditioning as a (bad) singer. It was pretty much a surprise cameo and she had no dialogue. The following season, Lucy and Desi made a guest appearance as the Ricardos on a Milton Berle TV special, and then Lucy appeared as Lucy Ricardo on an episode of "The Ann Southern Show." Lucy, Desi, and Vivian also all made a guest appearance in a Bob Hope show in 1956 in which they spoofed "I Love Lucy" (Bob played Ricky and Desi was Fred). A lot of these guest appearances were payback to these stars who had previously appeared as guests on Lucy and Desi's shows. And Lucy continued this practice into the '60s and 70s, appearing on many TV series and specials for stars who had made guest appearances on her shows, in lieu of paying them.

Interestingly, in 1970, Lucy guest-starred on a later Danny Thomas series ("Make Room for Granddaddy") in which Danny Thomas played the same character as his earlier series (Danny Williams). But this time, Lucy was playing her "Here's Lucy" character, Lucy Carter in a plot similar to the comedy hour episode (or "Three's Company"): Lucy comes to visit her old friend, Kathy, but then because of a misunderstanding, Kathy suspects her of having an affair with Danny).

[Bill S.]

Originally Posted by NOVARick

I've seen both shows. I know I have the Danny Thomas one lost somewhere in my mess of videos and DVDs. I haven't seen it in years. All I remember about the plot is very vague, something about Lucy and Kathy going out shopping and Lucy teaching Kathy how to scheme to get the dress she wants (Kathy knows Danny will find too expensive for her to buy). Lucy and Desi appeared on Danny's show in return for his appearance on their show. This "Danny Thomas Show" episode, I seem to recall, was broadcast about a month after "Lucy Makes Room for Danny" aired. At the end of that season, Lucy made a cameo on "The Phil Silvers Show." She appeared as, presumably Lucy Ricardo, auditioning as a (bad) singer. It was pretty much a surprise cameo and she had no dialogue. The following season, Lucy and Desi made a guest appearance as the Ricardos on a Milton Berle TV special, and then Lucy appeared as Lucy Ricardo on an episode of "The Ann Southern Show." Lucy, Desi, and Vivian also all made a guest appearance in a Bob Hope show in 1956 in which they spoofed "I Love Lucy" (Bob played Ricky and Desi was Fred). A lot of these guest appearances were payback to these stars who had previously appeared as guests on Lucy and Desi's shows. And Lucy continued this practice into the '60s and 70s, appearing on many TV series and specials for stars who had made guest appearances on her shows, in lieu of paying them.

Interestingly, in 1970, Lucy guest-starred on a later Danny Thomas series ("Make Room for Granddaddy") in which Danny Thomas played the same character as his earlier series (Danny Williams). But this time, Lucy was playing her "Here's Lucy" character, Lucy Carter in a plot similar to the comedy hour episode (or "Three's Company"): Lucy comes to visit her old friend, Kathy, but then because of a misunderstanding, Kathy suspects her of having an affair with Danny).

Wow, thanks for filling me in. Hopefully these guest spots will turn up on a future I Love Lucy release, perhaps this rumored box set of the entire series.

[NOVARick]

Originally Posted by Bill S.

Wow, thanks for filling me in. Hopefully these guest spots will turn up on a future I Love Lucy release, perhaps this rumored box set of the entire series.

That would be nice. If there is another release of "The Danny Thomas Show," I would expect the Lucy-Desi guest spot to show up there. Season Five of that series was released a few years ago and it included Andy Griffith's guest spot that was the pilot for "The Andy Griffith Show." But no other seasons of TDTS have been released since then. One season of "The Joey Bishop Show" has been released and it included Joey Bishop's guest spot on "The Danny Thomas Show" which, like Andy Griffith's guest spot, served as the pilot for Bishop's self-titled sitcom.

[Benno123]

I'd like to see the clip of the cast of ILL (or atleast Lucy and Desi) on the Sullivan show from the fall of 1956 right before the 6th season premiere of the series. I never knew about their appearance until a few years ago when I first read The Lucy Book.

[TVistheBEST]

Originally Posted by NOVARick

That would be nice. If there is another release of "The Danny Thomas Show," I would expect the Lucy-Desi guest spot to show up there. Season Five of that series was released a few years ago and it included Andy Griffith's guest spot that was the pilot for "The Andy Griffith Show." But no other seasons of TDTS have been released since then. One season of "The Joey Bishop Show" has been released and it included Joey Bishop's guest spot on "The Danny Thomas Show" which, like Andy Griffith's guest spot, served as the pilot for Bishop's self-titled sitcom.

In you already don't know the Lucy Upsets the Williams household can be seen on you tube. also it is one of the episodes of the season six Make Room for Daddy series that was just released on dvd.
I was wondering if you ever came across the Lucy episode (Lucy Carter) 1970.

[SPLAIN]

I got mine off the net, actually, all the copies of their apperances on other people's shows, they were usually very good, especially the Thomas one althought he Hope one was on one of those Lucy compilation dvds.

[Lodee]

Originally Posted by Benno123

I'd like to see the clip of the cast of ILL (or atleast Lucy and Desi) on the Sullivan show from the fall of 1956 right before the 6th season premiere of the series. I never knew about their appearance until a few years ago when I first read The Lucy Book.

Are you talking about when they were promoting Forever Darling?

[Bill S.]

Originally Posted by TVistheBEST

In you already don't know the Lucy Upsets the Williams household can be seen on you tube. also it is one of the episodes of the season six Make Room for Daddy series that was just released on dvd.

Link...?

[Benno123]

Originally Posted by Lodee

Are you talking about when they were promoting Forever Darling?

No, the cast of I Love Lucy appeared via a Hollywood remote pickup on September 30, 1956 in a skit written by Schiller and Weiskopf. The only information I have about it is that in the skit Lucy overhears Desi calling Ed "person to person" and Lucy thinks they're going to be on that show. When she finally gets connected with Ed Sullivan, she cries out "You're not Edward R. Murrow!" Desi also mentions that the show is going to New Orleans, going to feature Jack Benny and some other guests, but none of this ever happens.

(All this is information I have from Geoffrey Fidelman's The Lucy Book.)

[Lodee]

That sounds interesting. I was thinking it's the one where she has the reel of films and it pops out all over.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...for Jack Benny to appear on "I LOVE LUCY" over the years, but the closest he ever got to working with Lucy & Desi in the '50s was a brief sketch in the November 1952 CBS special, "Stars In the Eye", which celebrated the opening of the network's "Television City" facilities in Hollywood. The reason he could not appear on their show (and vice versa) was the fact that they were sponsored by rival cigarette companies [Philip Morris vs. American Tobacco's Lucky Strike], and neither would allow their stars to exchange appearances.
Even when Philip Morris abandoned their sponsorship of "I LOVE LUCY" after the fall of 1955, the Arnazes were never able to arrange a guest appearance by Benny on their series, and HE never could find a way for them to appear on his program {he always said he never had guest stars on his show unless he had the right script to work with}. It wasn't until the fall of 1964 that Lucy finally appeared on his show in a filmed episode (he reciprocated, of course, by guest starring on "THE LUCY SHOW" that season)....