I doubt it. In watching the show more closely since owning the DVDs, I've noticed that bringing Fred and Ethel into
the act happened very slowly, and didn't start until season two. After their first appearance (while Lucy was
'specting), Fred and Ethel attempt to audition a second time that season, with Ethel commenting that they were good.
But you're right - by the time of the Indian episode, Ricky clearly was using them for professional reasons. So who
knows?
I doubt,however, that Lucy, King Cat Walsh, and Fred and Ethel got paid a cent for their numbers in "Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined." It was clearly an audition.
What's more interesting is NONE of them really appeared to want to perform on that hick chicken/pickin' hour
(or whatever it was) with Cousin Ernie. Yet they all did well.
I also doubt Ricky paid any of them in Mertz and Kurtz. Ricky was just being a softie in letting them use the club.
But, as you wrote, Ricky had to follow unions. And Fred and Ethel had been professionals. But it's doubtful
they were still union by the early '50's.
To me, the funny thing is how Ethel and Fred get a quick musical number in that heart benefit Ricky is hosting for
Hollywood TV. I guess since Ethel and Fred got that movie part, they could be trusted! But, of course, Lucy "dolls"
up her horse costume for her number.
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[email protected] (5497)
5 years ago
Interesting points, but wasn't the Mertzes first appearance at the Tropicana when Ricky got sick and Lucy decided to "stage the show" herself? The Mertzes performed along with what Ethel called "the most beautiful line of showgirls" although by then they were a bit long in the tooth!
We're talking about a sitcom here, but I wonder what would happen in real life under the same circumstances. Ricky was the club manager and instead of hiring union workers, he got his friends to perform for free? He was taking away jobs (sort of).
Union rules are pretty serious. Would Ricky be allowed to hire "non-union" workers in the club? I've read about different unions and what they can and cannot do. I'm going by a memory form long ago. I read about unions that are on a movie set such as electricians and carpenters. You don't dare have a carpenter change a light bulb because that's an electrician's job. I'm exaggerating here. But unions have very specific rules.
Just wonderin' how it would work in real life.
Yes, all of them got paid performing in Milliken 's Chicken Mash Hour. But their fee went to buy Cousin Ernie a bus ticket HOME! Money that was well spent, they surely must have thought.
Ricky was quick to give Fred an Ethel a number in the Heart Benefit. But i think you meant that Lucy "dolled up" her ferocious bull costume, not a horse!
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[email protected] (1732)
5 years ago
I'd forgotten that Ethel and Fred's first number was indeed that roaring '20's show that Lucy staged. Despite
being seriously pissed off, he obviously was impressed enough with the couple's ability to give them another
bob. So, yes, I would think they were paid.
They must've also been paid in the Hollywood heart fund show or, I agree, Ricky would've been in serious trouble.
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