Questions regarding the episode where Little Ricky gets a toy drum - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Ireneparalegal · 04-08-2008, 02:46 PM

Why is there a towel handle IN THE SHOWER?

Also, we seen in the washing machine episode that the Mertz' kitchen (according to the back porch scene) is situated just like the Ricardo's kitchen -side by side. However from the Ricardos living room door, it seems the Mertz's apartment is somewhat down the hall. Can someone point out how this crazy layout could be?

tdr · 04-09-2008, 04:37 PM

I haven't seen this ep in a long time, but I think it was a bathtub with a shower; if so, the towel rack could be used if the person were taking a bath. I know there are situations like that, including in my own house.

The Mertz apartment has to be 'down the hall' from the Ricardos', so the only way that back porch scene is possible would be that, going right in the interior Mertz living room into the kitchen (which we see them do a few times), there has to be a 'bend' in the way to the kitchen-- 2 'right' turns-- meaning the kitchen would be in 'front' of the living room, from the audience's perspective, which means when we are looking into the living room, we are seeing "through" the kitchen. If so, why is there no way to the kitchen directly from the living room?

No-- wait a minute. I see another way... the Mertz kitchen is directly to the 'right' of the living room (from audience perspective), but their living room, lengthwise, is perpendicular to the Ricardo's apartment lengthwise-- meaning to walk from the Ricardo's front door to the Mertz' front door, you would go right (as they do), make a left turn after a few steps, then after about 16 feet make a right turn, then after a few more steps, another right turn.

This may sound complex enough to be a laugh, but think of the houses or buildings you have been in-- especially if they would have been basically the same as 50 - 100 years ago, and consider how many turns, or spans of a few steps before another turn, there are to get where you were going. It does make sense for 2 kitchens to be separated only by a wall, for the sake of plumbing. For the same reason apartments and motels usually have the bathrooms in 2 units side-by-side, and you can easily tell when your next-door neighbor is running water.

Lodee · 04-09-2008, 06:18 PM

Yeah, our bathroom shower used to have a towel rack in it too. We never used it though, except maybe to put a wash cloth on.

As far as the layout of the apartments, I think that changed according to the needs of the episodes.

Benno123 · 04-09-2008, 08:18 PM

I can't think of a bathtub/shower that I have been around (house, growing up, both grandparents' house, summer home) that doesn't have a towel rod in it.

I just found that it's easier to keep a towel dry by not hanging it on the rod when you're taking a shower!

Ireneparalegal · 04-09-2008, 10:21 PM

We had and currently have a bathtub/shower combo but there is no towel holder there. What made me always wondered abt that towel holder is that Lucy feels for the towel on the holder AFTER Ricky had been taking a shower. Why would she expect a towel to be there if Ricky was taking a shower?

It would be all wet.

SPLAIN · 04-10-2008, 01:03 PM

Irene, really, did you ever expect anything on this show to make sense? LOL!

Ireneparalegal · 04-10-2008, 07:37 PM

No.

But it is fun to post things here that always bothered me or that I discovered and share them with others to see what their response is.

Also, when Little Ricky is found laying on the Mertz' couch, is he supposed to be asleep or is he just laying there. I look at his eyes, but the camera shot is so quick I can't figure it out. I don't feel like pulling out my DVD.

Haunted_Armoire · 04-10-2008, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdr

I haven't seen this ep in a long time, but I think it was a bathtub with a shower; if so, the towel rack could be used if the person were taking a bath.

In my parent's house the upstairs bath has a towel rack hanging on the back wall of the shower/bath. The towel always gets wet because I forget to take it out. I think it's a dumbass place for a towel rack anyway. I think the positioning of the "Lucy" towel rack in "Little Ricky Plays The Drums" is for Lucy's convenience, mainly. So she can just walk straight ahead and "feel the wall" for it. In "Never Do Business With Friends" when we see Lucy and Ethel pushing the washer we're facing the balcony area. The Mertz apt. is to the right of the Ricardo dwelling. So anyone in the Ricardo apt. would exit left from the kitchen door to get to the Mertz's.

Haunted_Armoire · 04-10-2008, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

No.

But it is fun to post things here that always bothered me or that I discovered and share them with others to see what their response is.

Also, when Little Ricky is found laying on the Mertz' couch, is he supposed to be asleep or is he just laying there. I look at his eyes, but the camera shot is so quick I can't figure it out. I don't feel like pulling out my DVD.

As far as I can remember, Little R. is lying on the couch with his eyes closed with the ear muffs on to drown out the sound of the fighting. He may just be meditating.

Ireneparalegal · 04-10-2008, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haunted_Armoire

In my parent's house the upstairs bath has a towel rack hanging on the back wall of the shower/bath. The towel always gets wet because I forget to take it out. I think it's a dumbass place for a towel rack anyway. I think the positioning of the "Lucy" towel rack in "Little Ricky Plays The Drums" is for Lucy's convenience, mainly. So she can just walk straight ahead and "feel the wall" for it. In "Never Do Business With Friends" when we see Lucy and Ethel pushing the washer we're facing the balcony area. The Mertz apt. is to the right of the Ricardo dwelling. So anyone in the Ricardo apt. would exit left from the kitchen door to get to the Mertz's.

It is a dumbass place for a towel rack.

Yeah, knowing that scene with the ladies pushing the washer back and forth on the back porch, you see the Mertz's kitchen is right next to the Ricardo's kitchen. I see that wall in the kitchen where you see the refrigerator, I imagine what is behind that wall is where the hall is leading right out of the Ricardo's living room. At some point, behind that wall, the hall way runs there since we have seen the outside hall before and it is straight. It is confusing. I realize it is not meant to be realistic but it just makes me wonder abt the layout.

SPLAIN · 04-11-2008, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

No.

But it is fun to post things here that always bothered me or that I discovered and share them with others to see what their response is.

Also, when Little Ricky is found laying on the Mertz' couch, is he supposed to be asleep or is he just laying there. I look at his eyes, but the camera shot is so quick I can't figure it out. I don't feel like pulling out my DVD.

You don't have to tell me what that's like, you're talking with a guy who had seen the Vita ep a thousand times and had never noticed Lucy was standing there in the living room smoking while she's supposed to be sleeping it off, LOL!

Lodee · 04-11-2008, 05:14 PM

Yeah but I don't really think that was noticeable until the tapes came out and you could pause it and really look. I never noticed Fred standing in the doorway on the episode where they were wallpapering until someone pointed it out. Now it's so obvious I wonder how I missed it!

Irene, the errors bug me too.

Haunted_Armoire · 04-11-2008, 08:39 PM

One more observance. While I was watchin "Lucy Wants New Furniture" recently: When Lucy's in the kitchen and Ethel's outside helping her push the couch section in, Lucy says she'll help Ethel push but she has to go around and through the Mertz's apt. to get back into her own living room. She exits RIGHT out her kictchen door. This is wrong. She needed to go LEFT. Who knows where she ended up! Oh let's face facts: The Ricardos and The Mertzs lived in Manhattan's very first Corn Maze Apartment Complex! That's why Fred was always sayin' "Oh FOR CORN SAKES!!"

SPLAIN · 04-12-2008, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lodee

Yeah but I don't really think that was noticeable until the tapes came out and you could pause it and really look. I never noticed Fred standing in the doorway on the episode where they were wallpapering until someone pointed it out. Now it's so obvious I wonder how I missed it!

Irene, the errors bug me too.

True, back then i watched them on a black and white 21 inch screen and some people had smaller ones that that even, so how could you notice those. I was watching the Cornel Wilde one last week and noticed the spilled sauce on the rug that i had never seen before, you notice more on a BIG SCREEN tv, LOL! And the picture is so much clearer nowadays also, dvd hd and all that crap.

Haunted_Armoire · 04-12-2008, 02:47 PM

Sauce on the rug? Where's that? What kinda sauce? I'll have to check that out. I remember the coffee spilling all over the cart and down the tablecloth when Lucy's underneath it and Bobby moves it. The coffee just splooges all down the side of the cloth. They just kept right on filming though!

04-08-2008, 02:46 PM	#1
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,691	Questions regarding the episode where Little Ricky gets a toy drum Why is there a towel handle IN THE SHOWER? Also, we seen in the washing machine episode that the Mertz' kitchen (according to the back porch scene) is situated just like the Ricardo's kitchen -side by side. However from the Ricardos living room door, it seems the Mertz's apartment is somewhat down the hall. Can someone point out how this crazy layout could be?
	__________________ DALLAS COWBOYS ARE HERE AT TRAINING CAMP!!!

04-11-2008, 08:39 PM	#13
Haunted_Armoire Banned Banned!! Frequent Poster Join Date: Aug 27, 2006 Posts: 293	One more observance. While I was watchin "Lucy Wants New Furniture" recently: When Lucy's in the kitchen and Ethel's outside helping her push the couch section in, Lucy says she'll help Ethel push but she has to go around and through the Mertz's apt. to get back into her own living room. She exits RIGHT out her kictchen door. This is wrong. She needed to go LEFT. Who knows where she ended up! Oh let's face facts: The Ricardos and The Mertzs lived in Manhattan's very first Corn Maze Apartment Complex! That's why Fred was always sayin' "Oh FOR CORN SAKES!!"
	Last edited by Haunted_Armoire; 04-11-2008 at 11:40 PM.

04-09-2008, 04:37 PM	#2
tdr Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 23, 2001 Posts: 1,454	I haven't seen this ep in a long time, but I think it was a bathtub with a shower; if so, the towel rack could be used if the person were taking a bath. I know there are situations like that, including in my own house. The Mertz apartment has to be 'down the hall' from the Ricardos', so the only way that back porch scene is possible would be that, going right in the interior Mertz living room into the kitchen (which we see them do a few times), there has to be a 'bend' in the way to the kitchen-- 2 'right' turns-- meaning the kitchen would be in 'front' of the living room, from the audience's perspective, which means when we are looking into the living room, we are seeing "through" the kitchen. If so, why is there no way to the kitchen directly from the living room? No-- wait a minute. I see another way... the Mertz kitchen is directly to the 'right' of the living room (from audience perspective), but their living room, lengthwise, is perpendicular to the Ricardo's apartment lengthwise-- meaning to walk from the Ricardo's front door to the Mertz' front door, you would go right (as they do), make a left turn after a few steps, then after about 16 feet make a right turn, then after a few more steps, another right turn. This may sound complex enough to be a laugh, but think of the houses or buildings you have been in-- especially if they would have been basically the same as 50 - 100 years ago, and consider how many turns, or spans of a few steps before another turn, there are to get where you were going. It does make sense for 2 kitchens to be separated only by a wall, for the sake of plumbing. For the same reason apartments and motels usually have the bathrooms in 2 units side-by-side, and you can easily tell when your next-door neighbor is running water.

04-09-2008, 06:18 PM	#3
Lodee Member Senior Member Join Date: Jun 12, 2003 Posts: 1,562	Yeah, our bathroom shower used to have a towel rack in it too. We never used it though, except maybe to put a wash cloth on. As far as the layout of the apartments, I think that changed according to the needs of the episodes.

04-09-2008, 08:18 PM	#4
Benno123 Jenna Fischer Rocks My World!! Senior Member Join Date: Nov 01, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,036	I can't think of a bathtub/shower that I have been around (house, growing up, both grandparents' house, summer home) that doesn't have a towel rod in it. I just found that it's easier to keep a towel dry by not hanging it on the rod when you're taking a shower!

04-09-2008, 10:21 PM	#5
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,691	We had and currently have a bathtub/shower combo but there is no towel holder there. What made me always wondered abt that towel holder is that Lucy feels for the towel on the holder AFTER Ricky had been taking a shower. Why would she expect a towel to be there if Ricky was taking a shower? It would be all wet.

04-10-2008, 01:03 PM	#6
SPLAIN I Love Lucy Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Mar 04, 2002 Location: MONTREAL, CANADA Posts: 4,563	Irene, really, did you ever expect anything on this show to make sense? LOL!

04-10-2008, 07:37 PM	#7
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,691	No. But it is fun to post things here that always bothered me or that I discovered and share them with others to see what their response is. Also, when Little Ricky is found laying on the Mertz' couch, is he supposed to be asleep or is he just laying there. I look at his eyes, but the camera shot is so quick I can't figure it out. I don't feel like pulling out my DVD.

04-11-2008, 05:14 PM	#12
Lodee Member Senior Member Join Date: Jun 12, 2003 Posts: 1,562	Yeah but I don't really think that was noticeable until the tapes came out and you could pause it and really look. I never noticed Fred standing in the doorway on the episode where they were wallpapering until someone pointed it out. Now it's so obvious I wonder how I missed it! Irene, the errors bug me too.

04-12-2008, 02:47 PM	#15
Haunted_Armoire Banned Banned!! Frequent Poster Join Date: Aug 27, 2006 Posts: 293	Sauce on the rug? Where's that? What kinda sauce? I'll have to check that out. I remember the coffee spilling all over the cart and down the tablecloth when Lucy's underneath it and Bobby moves it. The coffee just splooges all down the side of the cloth. They just kept right on filming though!