MovieChat Forums > I Love Lucy (1951) Discussion > Ethel's Age-Another Clue

Ethel's Age-Another Clue

posted 6 years ago by [email protected] (5519)
2 replies | jump to latest

Don't know why I am so OCD over this! GBennett and I went over Ethel's possible age a while ago.

I just watched the second season episode when Ricky is sick and Lucy stages the new show at the club. Fred brings her all the music for a show he and Ethel did years ago. it was at The Palace in Jamestown, New York.

It was the Flapper Follies of 1927. That was 25 years ago since the episode takes place in 1952. So, at the very minimum, Ethel eloped with Fred when she was just out of high school. So that would make her 43 at the time of the episode.
She would be at least a decade older than Lucy. In the following season in "Lucy tells the Truth", Lucy says that she is 33.

Why do these details bug me? LOL Any other details you wonder about?

[–] [email protected] (1732) 6 years ago

I always figured Ethel was supposed to be ten to twelve years older than Ricky, and about 20 years YOUNGER than
Fred. It happens. Lots young women marry older guys.

Back to another (pardon the pun thread). In "Lucy is Matchmaker", Ricky spies Lucy talking to Eddie Grant in the
hotel lobby. Eddie quickly walks away, while Lucy follows Ricky out, desperately trying to explain. In the very
next scene, Lucy is sitting in the polka dot top smoking, and looking glum. Ether enters and tells Lucy they - Fred and
Ricky - KNEW Eddie had a date with a married woman! Look closely, and you'll see that Ethel is wearing the
same dress LUCY wore just as they were about to leave for the movies in "Lucy's Schedule." Lucy wore that once;
Ethel wore it several times.

[–] [email protected] (5519) 6 years ago

Women and older guys? Oh yes, my brother-in-law is ten years older than my sister.

I have a friend whose parents met when her mom was about 21 and her dad was in his fifties. I never felt the need for a "father figure". Maybe because I already had one!

I will have to look at the dress Ethel is wearing when she talks to Lucy about Eddie Grant. I guess I missed it.