MovieChat Forums > I Love Lucy (1951) Discussion > Great Episode, Illogical Ending

Great Episode, Illogical Ending

posted 5 years ago by [email protected] (5497)
7 replies | jump to latest

Ever have an episode that is fun and almost believable even with Lucy taking things too far?

I was just viewing "Lucy Gets a Paris Gown". Lucy does her usual extreme behavior like the phony hunger strike and hiding food all over the hotel room. It all makes sense in Lucy's world. She applies her strange logic to situations.

But the very ending? Lucy says that she and Ethel burned their fake "original" designer dresses. Where in the world would they find a place to burn clothes in a hotel??
It would be believable if it happened in the brownstone. They could've just taken the dresses and shoved them in the basement furnace in a fit of anger. But in a hotel, wouldn't the basement furnace be off limits to guests?

It's just one of those little things that could've been improved by a slight change in dialogue. If Lucy had just said, "We threw them out!", that would've made a lot more sense.

[–] steven1660 (140) 5 years ago

I think it's just a case of what would be funnier. They've used this many times on this show and countess other sitcoms. "we threw them out" just isn't as funny as "we burned them" I guess the writers wanted to go over the top.

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

Hi PJ, glad to see you post a thread. While I do think it's funny when Lucy says, "We burned 'em", it is illogical.

I think this is one of the episodes where I made YOU a convert. If memory serves, you thought this was too
derivative of the Don Loper ep. You are right, of course, but I don't care for the Don Loper show - it's a bore to
me. Also Lucy is just too MEAN to Ethel in the salon. Really, does she have to berate Ethel and tell her to "shut up?"

One ep I've always enjoyed is Lucy marketing her salad dressing. Okay, Caroline arranges for them to get FREE
TV advertising, so she can get in on the financial action. But wouldn't she need Charlie's okay? And wouldn't
Charlie consult with Ricky? Okay, MAYBE he wouldn't. But we're supposed to buy that Lucy and Ethel get a
SECOND day of FREE advertising to NOT make money?? Uh, I don't think so.

The final absurdity - discussed just two weeks or so ago - is Lucy and Ethel delivering all that dressing on roller
skates and shopping carts - ALL over New York. For heaven's sake, all they'd have to do is refund the money, and
tell the people they were out of business!

Yet for all the lack of logic...it's still a favorite of mine.

[–] [email protected] (5497) 5 years ago

Yes GB, I always preferred the Don Loper episode. I never really appreciated the subtle and not-so-subtle humor in this one.
However, the Don Loper one is based on a big illogical premise. Don Loper and Sheila MacRae are going over the final list of women who have to come in for their fittings and he includes Mrs. Joel McCrea.

Sheila MacRae says, "Frances can't come. She's leaving for Europe."

It seems that it would follow that whatever star's wife that replaced her would be wearing Frances McCrea's dress. Lucy would be having a fitting for that dress, not the one she bought hoping that it would only be $100.
At the start of the fashion show Don Loper announces that the dresses were part of his new collection. They were all very formal looking evening wear. Hard to believe that Lucy would've been wearing that simple black dress in the show. Of course the TWEED suit really didn't look like part of the collection either. LOL It was just something very uncomfortable for a sun scorched Lucy to grimace in.

The salad dressing episode, it is so funny but IT is likely that Caroline would have to get Charlie's "OK" before she gave them a free advertising spot. And Charlie, knowing Lucy, would probably have asked Ricky what his screwy wife was going to advertise!

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

I DO find it funny when Ricky touches Lucy's sunburned shoulder and she lets out that scream of agony! Very
funny. I also find it funny when Loper straightens out her collar - that look on her face!!!

And, as we've discussed before, I DO think Lucy was honest and tore up that check.

[–] Doghouse (447) 5 years ago

If you'll notice next time you look at it, pj, there's a fireplace at stage right in the Ricardo's hotel room. Given the decor and architecture, it looks like it might be a rather old hotel, so the fireplace may actually work.

Good enough for me.

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

How true. And this episode is much more logical than the salad dressing ep, although it's not nearly as enjoyable, in my
opinion.

[–] [email protected] (5497) 5 years ago

I probably noticed the fireplace a long time ago Doghouse. But I definitely forgot about it! I'd probably still be asking the same question. Their "designer dresses" were made out of burlap. I don't know for sure, but wouldn't burlap make a really smoky fire?
I guess I'm just thinking in terms of the 1970's and later on when smoke alarms became prevalent everywhere. I'm thinking that if you tried to burn stuff like that, the smoke alarms would go off! Of course if ILL took place years later , there wouldn't be all that smoking of cigarettes in restaurants and other public places.

Still, I suppose Lucy and Ethel could've burned their dresses.