MovieChat Forums > I Love Lucy (1951) Discussion > Lucy Leans to Drive

Lucy Leans to Drive

posted 5 years ago by [email protected] (1732)
10 replies | jump to latest

This is no longer a favorite of mine, and I rarely watch it (even though I loved it as a kid).
First, the "Fred goes into a trance" thing (for, what, a whole DAY?) is too silly, even for
ILL.

The main issue, however, takes this episode into a situation as silly as "The Ricardos Change
Apartments." We're supposed to believe that Lucy only had a few driving lessons twenty
years earlier (in high school), but is a LICENSED driver just a few weeks later in "First Stop??"
So many fans find it weird that the movie arc is suddenly dropped, but THIS part of the
Hollywood storyline is the most unbelievable to me.

If the episode had been changed to "Lucy Leans to Drive - Again", and Lucy had been
a licensed driver (needing only to refresh and get her license renewed) it would've worked
better. But the timeline just doesn't make any sense.

To make matters more absurd, we're supposed to buy that Lucy would DARE drive ONE
car, with another one attached behind it in NEW YORK TRAFFIC. After only ONE driving
lesson in twenty years!!

What's curious is that as ridiculous as "The Ricardos Change Apartments" is, I still love
the episode and find it fun (also to see the two apartment in one episode). "Drive" is
rather dull to me, and I find the beginning and ending very labored. Yes, Lucy's explanation
of what happened to her in the Holland Tunnel is cute, but it's outshone by the similar
scene in "Lucy Raises Tulips" (actually, in appearance, this scene also borrows from
"The Star Upstairs").

"Drive" is by no means a clunker, but it's one of my least favorites in the Hollywood saga.

[–] [email protected] (5501) 5 years ago

This was always a favorite of mine when I was a kid. I think it was mostly because of Lucy's hilarious explanation of her off camera run-in with her own vehicle.

Of course when I was older and had my own driver's license I would ask, "Wait a minute! How can Lucy ask Ricky to teach her to drive and the next day she's already on the road!"
Didn't she need to get a learner's permit?

And where was Ricky's head by allowing Lucy her first driving lesson in New York traffic?? Never mind the Holland Tunnel, just driving through the city streets would be daunting for a beginner. We lived in a small town and my dad took me to an empty store parking lot on Sundays and evenings to practice before I was ever allowed to drive on the street!

This episode works if you totally suspend your disbelief. It also contains one of the biggest continuity mistakes. Ethel wants to learn to drive too, but the season before she drove a station wagon from the lodge where she was staying to help Lucy become an "expert" at camping.

Also, "Fred in a Trance" really takes his cheapness to an extreme level. I find it unbelievable too. His behavior in this episode rivals the Hollywood episode where they give Ricky a little wrap party. Fred goes ballistic at the price of the caviar Ethel bought. Then he tells everyone "my life savings are wrapped up " in that jar. And he also sings, "I bought the caviar."
Fred's cheapness was played for laughs but when taken to extremes (like in these two episodes) it got on my nerves.

[–] steven1660 (140) 5 years ago

Well, yeah you have to suspend belief a little. But! My mom learned to drive on the streets of manhattan ahah. Also a friend of mine learned to drive, a few weeks later took the road test and got her licence pretty quick so it is possible. Some people can pick up driving pretty quick, and Lucy was pretty fearless so that's probably why. The Fred going into the trance thing was over done but it still makes me laugh.

[–] [email protected] (5501) 5 years ago

Oh i agree that Lucy could've picked up her driving skills quickly. She was fearless. It's not that hard if you really want to learn.
A lot of people, especially teen-age boys seems to know how to drive before they get their licenses. But they practice on back roads or parking lots. Or in the case of my ex-husband, they sneak out with the family car to practice. His mom could never understand why the gas gauge was low. He was driving around and, of course, not stopping to fill up the tank since he was only 14.

My quibble was about the legality of it all. Lucy wanted to learn to drive and it seems that the NEXT day she was out on the road with a learner's permit. Also, when she drove those two cars back to the garage, that was clearly illegal. If a cop had stopped her (and in reality, she probably would have been stopped!), she would've been fined. She was an unlicensed driver.

[–] [email protected] (1732) 5 years ago

You're right about teen-age boys, PJ. When I was a kid, I couldn't WAIT to learn how to drive. Even as a small
kid, I would cut out large drawings of the pedals and tape them to the wall above my bed. Then I would "drive"
around, pushing my feet into the "pedals."

When I was 13, my mom started to allow me to back out her Ford Pinto (!) from the garage into the driveway
before she'd leave for work. At night, she let me drive it back into the garage.

At 15 and a half, I got a driver's permit, and the day after my 16th birthday, I got my license.

And now? I HATE to drive. It's a tedious chore for me. I can't stand traffic or long drives.

[–] [email protected] (5501) 5 years ago

My nephew couldn't wait to get his license. He got a motorcycle. He loved riding around on it.

I feel sorry for people who have to drive to work in traffic. I can't stand that bumper to bumper thing. I did it years ago and I don't think I could do it now.
My current commute is about 25 minutes, but there's no traffic. I pass through one town (more like a village) and the rest is scenic countryside and farmland. I see more cows than cars!

Getting back to ILL and driving. Remember the scene (I think it was in "The Fashion Show") when Ethel and Fred went to Pomona? Fred wanted to sell their brownstone and raise oranges.
Obviously if they took the car, then Fred drove. It's interesting that the Mertzes "never had a car", as Ethel said, but Fred maintained his driver's license all those years. I don't know what it cost then, but to renew your license in PA is $35.00 and it's valid for four years. It probably varies from state to state, but I wonder what it cost Fred to keep his license current. And knowing how frugal he was, I wonder why he'd want that expense!

Ricky too. He must've kept up his license. You don't need to have a car to have a driver's license. I'm sure that in cities like New York, people without cars keep a license for I.D purposes and if they want to get a rental car on vacation.

Very convenient that Fred and Ricky kept up their licenses.

[–] [email protected] (1732) 5 years ago

You're right - I never even THOUGHT about Ricky and Fred maintaining their licenses. Ricky, especially.
Funny how we've always posted about Lucy's getting her driver's license, when Ricky surely would've
needed to update his. Maybe he learned in Cuba.

"First Stop" is the first "Lucy driving" ep after "Lucy Learns to Drive." I always find it funny that Lucy argues, "There's
no traffic now", as an excuse to drive safely. As if she couldn't have crashed into a hill or the median!!
And Fred and Ethel feel comfortable SLEEPING! And Ricky says, "Alright, I'll keep an eye on you." He
doesn't, of course, which is why they wind up back at that dumpy restaurant!! And, yes, Fred says, "I'd
take the wheel Rick, but I'm too tired!" So, yes, HE had to have a driver's license. And ETHEL had a VALID
driver's license in the fishing episode!

P.S.: Don't mean to rub it in, PJ, but if I walk to work, it's ten minutes; if I drive, about three.

[–] [email protected] (5501) 5 years ago

Short commute, not bad! I used to have a very short trip to work too when I was substitute teaching. I used to tell people that if a song came on the radio when I pulled out of my garage, I was at the school just as it was finishing. The kindergarten and first grade were in a building right in my neighborhood.. When I got called in there, it took me about a minute to drive to work.

Yeah, I forgot about Fred saying that he'd take the wheel. I also forget, did the Ricardos ever buy a car when they moved to Connecticut? I remember that they rented one to drive out to their new house. That was the episode when they got a flat when they drove to the train station to go and see the Mertzes.
Fred and Ethel walked to their house from the station, so it couldn't have been that far. But did Ricky walk every day to the station? I forget which episode it was in, but there was a time when Lucy said that Betty Ramsey was picking Ricky up at the station. It would seem that you'd need a car in the country for shopping. There weren't buses and subways like in the city.

[–] [email protected] (1732) 5 years ago

Yes, mysteriously, Lucy and Ricky have a car in the country (Lucy comments how SHE's the one
that has to close the garage door after Ricky backs it out in "Country Club Dance"). And we
see the tail end of the car, just before Lucy backs over the statue in that final episode.

Of course, as I always write, Lucy and Ricky apparently bought a car - off-camera. Seems it
would be a big expense, especially after all the new expenses they fear just before moving. Guess
they forgot to discuss it.

But there's strangers things than how fast they all renew their licenses for Hollywood. We're supposed
to buy that Lucy and Ethel deliver all that salad dressing on roller skates and shopping carts!!
Another ridiculous ep, but another gem, none the less, from the third year.

[–] [email protected] (5501) 5 years ago

Oh yeah, roller skates and shopping carts! That was a totally ridiculous ending to a very funny episode. I especially loved Lucy and Ethel's TV commercials for Aunt Martha's Old Fashioned Salad Dressing.
"I think Aunt Martha's had too many old fashions."

The logistics of the ending are too mind boggling to contemplate. First, how did Lucy and Ethel get ALL that store bought dressing home in the first place? Did the store deliver it to them? And what store carries that many jars of one particular dressing? I guess Lucy and Ethel had to go to several grocery stores.
And talk about peeling off labels and pasting their own on the jars. Have you ever tried to peel the label off ONE jar?? lol It can be labor intensive. Usually you have to soak the label in water and scrape and scrape. I can't imagine doing a thousand jars like that.

And the shopping carts...how did they maneuver them down the stairs? LOL And since Lucy and Ethel were on skates, how did they get down the front steps of the brownstone like that along WITH a shopping cart? Presumably, there were other brownstones or buildings with stairs that they were delivering to. Pretty tough to negotiate all those steps on skates.

And they probably got orders from people all over New York, possibly all five boroughs. Did the L.A. based writers know how huge New York City is? lol Also, Lucy and Ethel would have to keep returning home to pick up another shopping cart full of dressing. I'd say that they'd finish making their deliveries in about a week.

[–] [email protected] (1732) 5 years ago

Yes, the ending to this is a detractor's dream. Usually those I've met/known who don't like
the series (quiet a few, including family members) cite these absurd moments.