Hollywood Questions

[Madame X]

Just curious...

Where did Mrs. McGillicuddy stay while in Hollywood?

How come in Hollywood Carolyn Applebee can't see a thing without her glasses, but we never saw her with them before?

[NOVARick]

Originally Posted by Madame X

Just curious...

Where did Mrs. McGillicuddy stay while in Hollywood?

How come in Hollywood Carolyn Applebee can't see a thing without her glasses, but we never saw her with them before?

Mrs. McGillicuddy was probably sharing the second bedroom with Little Ricky since she was watching after him. Perhaps Caroline Appleby normally wore contacts. Back in those days, they only had those expensive hard lenses that no one could afford to lose. So it might not have been a good idea to travel with them. Glasses would have been much easier.

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by Madame X

Just curious...

Where did Mrs. McGillicuddy stay while in Hollywood?

How come in Hollywood Carolyn Applebee can't see a thing without her glasses, but we never saw her with them before?

Not only that, but what did Mrs. McG. do WHILE IN HOLLYWOOD? Ok, she was taking care of Little Ricky, but where did they go when they weren't in the hotel room? She and Little Ricky must have spent a lot of time at the park, shopping and doing a lot of sightseeing.

[Madame X]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

Not only that, but what did Mrs. McG. do WHILE IN HOLLYWOOD? Ok, she was taking care of Little Ricky, but where did they go when they weren't in the hotel room? She and Little Ricky must have spent a lot of time at the park, shopping and doing a lot of sightseeing.

They never mentioned another bedroom. There was the ep. where Lucy slept on the couch waiting for Ricky. He came and went and the maid came in to clean up. She went in to the bedroom and left, suggesting that was the only room to clean besides the main room.

Where was Mrs. McG. during all of the adventures? Poor Little Ricky. He had to hang with an old bat while his parents ignored him.

[Superbatboy]

I want to know who paid for the Mertzes hotel while they were in Hollywood. Considering Fred wouldn't even pay for his own train ticket home, not to mention not even willing to chip in for gas on the car ride over

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by Superbatboy

I want to know who paid for the Mertzes hotel while they were in Hollywood. Considering Fred wouldn't even pay for his own train ticket home, not to mention not even willing to chip in for gas on the car ride over

It is implied that the Mertzes' room was covered by MGM, as long as Ricky was working at MGM. When Ricky was done with the movie and Lucy and the Mertzes didn't want to leave yet, Ricky said he couldn't afford to stay because HE was now paying for the expenses, not the studio. That is when he agreed they could stay one more week so the three of them could go souvenir hunting.

As for Little Ricky, we never saw another bedroom, but there is a second door we see to the right of their bedroom (a view from the living room). In the episode where Lucy dances with the dummy that looks like Ricky, we see Lucy run into that room when she hears Little Ricky cry. At that point, as she runs in, Ricky comes out of THEIR bedroom, thus the reason why Lucy didn't see Ricky knock the dummy out of the chair and he sat there instead.

[NOVARick]

Originally Posted by Madame X

They never mentioned another bedroom. There was the ep. where Lucy slept on the couch waiting for Ricky. He came and went and the maid came in to clean up. She went in to the bedroom and left, suggesting that was the only room to clean besides the main room.

Where was Mrs. McG. during all of the adventures? Poor Little Ricky. He had to hang with an old bat while his parents ignored him.

They did show a second bedroom. It's to the right of Lucy and Ricky's bedroom. The door to this bedroom is to the left of the living room window, and to the right of the door to Lucy and Ricky's bedroom. In "The Hedda Hopper Story," the first time we see Mrs. McGillicuddy in California, she comes out of this bedroom, obviously having been in there with Little Ricky. Then we see Lucy go in there and come out with Little Ricky. In the shot where Lucy comes out of there, you can see a dresser and mirror, indicating this is a bedroom. Later in the episode, Mrs. McGillicuddy and Hedda Hopper come out of this same room and Hedda Hopper is commenting on what a beautiful grandson she has.

[Madame X]

Thanks, Rick. I'll check that out!

[NOVARick]

Originally Posted by Madame X

Thanks, Rick. I'll check that out!

When you check this out, see if you can figure out the dimensions of this room. From what I can tell, it seems to be impossibly narrow and small because you can see a wall to the immediate left side of the door. And obviously the wall on the right side can't be too far over because the balcony is not too far to the right of the bedroom door. And based on the balcony shots, the back wall of the bedroom would only be a few feet back from the bedroom entrance. So it seems like Mrs. McGillicuddy would have to sleep standing up, holding Little Ricky. Am I wrong?

[NOVARick]

It looks like the dimensions of that room changed during their stay in Hollywood. In the Hedda Hopper episode, you only see a back wall with a dresser and lamp, no wall is visible to the left. In fact, it appears the room may extend off to the left. In "Lucy and the Dummy" you see a different wall, which starts at the left side of the door and angles out around it. In this case, it doesn't appear the room could extend to the left. There also appears to be a Ricky caricature on the wall in this episode, and there is no longer a dresser and lamp in the background. When Lucy comes out of the room, it almost looks like she is coming from the balcony. Kind of like Fred in the Madame X episode when he runs off to the left down the hallway in a direction that would appear to be (based on the position of the living room window) off the ledge.

Originally Posted by NOVARick

When you check this out, see if you can figure out the dimensions of this room. From what I can tell, it seems to be impossibly narrow and small because you can see a wall to the immediate left side of the door. And obviously the wall on the right side can't be too far over because the balcony is not too far to the right of the bedroom door. And based on the balcony shots, the back wall of the bedroom would only be a few feet back from the bedroom entrance. So it seems like Mrs. McGillicuddy would have to sleep standing up, holding Little Ricky. Am I wrong?

[Ireneparalegal]

Let me add, when was Ricky ever working on Don Juan? I know the fab four were in Hollywood at least 3 months, so I guess we have to assume that Ricky was filming the movie in between episodes? Usually actors filming a movie, especially where they are the star, they are on the set early in the morning and remain on the set for approximately 12 hours, give or take. I remember reading a book where Joan Crawford was filming a movie and she was on the set at 4 a.m. and left the set around 8 p.m. only to return and do this on a daily basis for several weeks.

Ricky did publicity shots, did publicity promos such as opening a car-wash, judging a beauty contest, opening a car dealership, etc. Remember when Lucy mentioned all that when she was dissappointed at the lackluster way he was being used to promote his career? Ricky also went deep-sea fishing, he did a show where Lucy was the bull, he and Lucy celebrated their wedding anniversary, Ricky spent time with Colonel Wilde playing cards upstairs, Ricky spent the day with Richard Widmark, he and Fred spent the weekend in Palm Springs, etc. When did he have time to make a movie? No wonder Don Juan was shelved. But even later on the movie must have been made because they had the premiere in New York after the fab four return.

[NOVARick]

That's a good question. And remember before they even left for California it was mentioned that they would only be in Hollywood for something like three weeks? And the whole time they were there, as you note, it seemed like Ricky was spending most of his time doing publicity or partying. Perhaps we should assume that no scenes for Don Juan ever got shot, then after the project got shelved and the studio decided to put him in another movie, they had to extend his time in Hollywood. So maybe that movie (whatever it was) was filmed sometime between "The Tour" and "Lucy Visits Grauman's." In other words, during I LOVE LUCY'S the summer hiatus.

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

Let me add, when was Ricky ever working on Don Juan? I know the fab four were in Hollywood at least 3 months, so I guess we have to assume that Ricky was filming the movie in between episodes? Usually actors filming a movie, especially where they are the star, they are on the set early in the morning and remain on the set for approximately 12 hours, give or take. I remember reading a book where Joan Crawford was filming a movie and she was on the set at 4 a.m. and left the set around 8 p.m. only to return and do this on a daily basis for several weeks.

Ricky did publicity shots, did publicity promos such as opening a car-wash, judging a beauty contest, opening a car dealership, etc. Remember when Lucy mentioned all that when she was dissappointed at the lackluster way he was being used to promote his career? Ricky also went deep-sea fishing, he did a show where Lucy was the bull, he and Lucy celebrated their wedding anniversary, Ricky spent time with Colonel Wilde playing cards upstairs, Ricky spent the day with Richard Widmark, he and Fred spent the weekend in Palm Springs, etc. When did he have time to make a movie? No wonder Don Juan was shelved. But even later on the movie must have been made because they had the premiere in New York after the fab four return.

[Lodee]

Originally Posted by NOVARick

And based on the balcony shots, the back wall of the bedroom would only be a few feet back from the bedroom entrance. So it seems like Mrs. McGillicuddy would have to sleep standing up, holding Little Ricky. Am I wrong?

Wow, Mrs. McGillicuddy was quite the trooper! LOL! Even though 50 years ago they didn't know that people would be watching these episodes enough to pick up details like that, you would still think they'd think about things like that.

You know what episode always confused me? The one where they were supposed to pick her up at the airport and they get into the discussion about the time zones.

[Madame X]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

When did he have time to make a movie? No wonder Don Juan was shelved.

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by NOVARick

That's a good question. And remember before they even left for California it was mentioned that they would only be in Hollywood for something like three weeks? And the whole time they were there, as you note, it seemed like Ricky was spending most of his time doing publicity or partying. Perhaps we should assume that no scenes for Don Juan ever got shot, then after the project got shelved and the studio decided to put him in another movie, they had to extend his time in Hollywood. So maybe that movie (whatever it was) was filmed sometime between "The Tour" and "Lucy Visits Grauman's." In other words, during I LOVE LUCY'S the summer hiatus.

You know, in the episode where Don Juan gets shelved, it is said by Dore Schary that Ricky would be put in another movie. However, in the homecoming episode it was said that Don Juan is going to premiere in New York. What gives here?

Also, let me clarify they were in Hollywood for 3 months. That is why they had all that stuff on the apartment steps when they were going to try and put it all in the car trunk.
It was the European trip where they were going to spend only 3 weeks.

Lodee, don't feel bad, I too still get confused abt the time zones scene where Mrs. McG. is to be picked up at the airport.