Lucy's Biggest Goofs


Since I'm watching season three, "Oil Wells" was next up. Lucy really messed up big time there! She convinced everyone that Mr. Johnson was a swindler. She based her conclusions on the flimsiest of evidence.

A police detective wanted to see him about some oil stock. Well, so what? It's doubtful that a detective would say anything specific about a case he was working on. And would an NYPD detective be investigating a swindler? Wouldn't that fall under the jurisdiction of the Vice Squad or even the FBI?

They all got mad at Lucy. But Fred knew the detective. All he had to do was ask him why he was interested in oil stock. He and the Ricardos were investing in it too. He only had to ask him if he was investing and was it a good idea.
Lucy made a huge goof here when she jumped the gun and convinced everyone that Mr. Johnson was a crook.

Lucy made some other goofs. Like in the first season when she "egged" Ricky to ask for a raise. "It was some of the rottenest egging I ever did."

Where else did she goof up and lose money?

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Well, her attempt to put her salad dressing on the market was not a bad idea as a rule, but she had no business
acumen. She didn't even figure the cost vs. profit. She just figured getting on Charlie Appleby's TV show
would make her rich.

If the dressing is a s good as everyone raves, perhaps it would've been smarter for Lucy to go into partners with
people who "know what they're doing", as Ricky puts it.

But a BIGGER goof is selling all of Fred and Ricky's sloppy clothes, then actually thinking Ricky and Fred believe
Lucy went to the trouble to wash them - in GASOLINE!

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Oh yes, forgot about the salad dressing debacle. She had a good product but no idea about how to manufacture and market it. She and Ethel might have made a go of it if they had gotten help.

And the whole idea of washing clothes in gasoline is nuts! Who does that? You can't get the gasoline smell OUT! I found that out by accident. In the winter when I pump gas I often get some on my gloves. I've learned to take my gloves OFF when I pump gas. A few times I decided to throw my gasoline scented gloves in with the laundry. Everything comes out gasoline scented. Now I just soak the gloves separately in the sink if I get gas on them.

Lucy made a big goof when she decided to sell her "Handy Dandy" vacuum cleaner door to door. She didn't think that one through, did she?

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How about Lucy thinking she could actually drive TWO cars as an unlicensed driver, get them unhooked, and
then get them back to the brownstone - before Ricky returned and found out? (!).

Then there's Lucy actually believing Ricky would buy her chicken-in-a-camera bag was a 3D photograph.

Some goofs that Lucy thought she'd tackle were within the boundaries of possibility. In "Lucy Tells the
Truth", all she had to do was NOT say anything at Caroline's. And in "Lucy Raises Tulips", I could see her
realistically believing she could handle a power mower.

Lucy was a childlike dreamer, but she wasn't dumb.

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When Lucy tells the truth or as Ethel said, "She got brutally frank...", it's hilarious. But refusing to answer personal questions is not the same as lying. She could have just kept her mouth shut but it wouldn't have been as funny.

Lucy driving two cars was a great off screen gag but such a goofy idea. She didn't have enough money to pay for the damage to the Pontiac so she drove both cars home. Now, what if she HAD enough money and they unhooked the cars? She could only drive ONE home. Then she'd have to hurry and get a taxi or take the subway to go and get the other car.

Another goofy element is the garage she took the cars to. What crazy mechanic would allow her to drive off with two cars hooked together??

You think he would've said, "Uh, hey lady, that's not very safe and probably illegal. Let me at least unhook them and you can drive the Pontiac home."
I can't believe a reputable mechanic would allow her to drive off like that.

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Yeah, so much of that ep is left to the viewer's imagination. I've never been through the Holland Tunnel,
but from what I've heard, Lucy's stunt would've DEFINITELY blocked traffic.

How about episodic SOLUTIONS that couldn't have possibly worked? Again, Lucy and Ethel on roller
skates, delivering the salad dressing. (riiiiiight).

The most ridiculous one is Lucy thinking she could steal John Wayne's footprints without HUNDREDS of
tourists noticing the first stab of a crowbar! I don't know what that theater was like in 1955, but in my
adult years, it was loaded with people 24 hours a day. But this one the WRITERS have to take the
blame for. And we're supposed to buy Fred, who fell asleep anywhere, and was SOUND asleep in the
middle of the night, would WAKE up because Ethel wasn't jabbing him in he ribs - in a twin bed, yet -
and make his way sans car (or notifying Ricky) to Hollywood Blvd. based on a hunch???

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Well I've been through the Holland Tunnel and Lucy would've definitely blocked traffic for hours with that maneuver! I also think that's it's likely the police would've detained them for a while, at least on the grounds of 'driving while stupid'. haha

Actually Ricky would've had reason to be furious because Lucy's little stunt would've garnered them a big traffic fine.

Delivering the salad dressing on roller skates looked funny, but really! First of all, as I wrote before, how would they get those carts up and down the steps of the brownstone while on roller skates? And if their salad dressing orders came from all five boroughs, that's a mighty big area to skate through! Lucy and Ethel would've been making deliveries for days. New York is hardly a small town.
I also wonder about how they managed to get ALL those jars of salad dressing home in the first place! They probably would have gone to several grocery stores and bought cases of dressing. Did they bring them home on the subway? ha And scraping all the original labels off the jars. Did you ever try to get ONE label off a jar? You have to soak it and scrape it.


I remember visiting Hollywood and we went to Grauman's (now Mann's) theater. I just HAD to step in John Wayne's block. I'm such a cornball. What I remember is how many tourists were there. There's no way you could pull off a stunt like that in secret. And even if Lucy somehow managed to get the block back to the hotel, how would she sneak it into the trunk of their car?

Of course that was a moot point since Ricky ended up selling the car and they took the train. How was Lucy going to explain THAT as part of her luggage? Of course that leads me to wonder what happened to the "six month supply" that John Wayne delivered to the hotel. Did they take those three slabs home? Lucy and Ethel could've each had one. Did they offer the third one to Carolyn Applby? Maybe for a price, lol!

I never understood why Lucy was reluctant to tell Ricky that she won all that money in the casino at Monte Carlo. Of course Ricky told her not to go there, but of course, Lucy disregarded his "orders". Why was she afraid to tell him she was a big winner? It turned out that he was happy about her winning but by then she had lost it all.

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