MovieChat Forums > I Love Lucy (1951) Discussion > Love and True Friendship

Love and True Friendship

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

For all of Lucy's irritating and selfish ways, her worth to the CORE of the foursome really
shows through in many episodes.

Just last night, I watched a very funny fave, "Lucy Writes a Novel." Ricky, Ethel and Fred
are extremely concerned, then insulted, then ready for legal action, when Lucy's book
is supposedly published. Yet, once they realize the (obvious) truth, that "Real (!) Gone
With the Wind" was accepted by Dorance Publishing by mistake, they melt into support
for her. Understandable - Lucy's no longer a threat.

HOWEVER, once a depressed Lucy learns another publisher might be interested, Ricky,
Ethel, and Fred rush to help Lucy put all those torn pieces of manuscript together. Sure,
Fred is motivated by greed, but certainly Ethel and Fred are thinking with their hearts.

Curiously, the timeline is never revealed for this episode, but certainly, Lucy would've needed
at least a month to finish even a cruddy first draft of "Real Gone with The Wind." I
think it might've been effective to open the second scene (with the three searching the
apartment) with "One Month Later" on the screen. It would've shown a touch of reality,
and also a sense of tension (the three wondering what Lucy had written about them).
I also think "two weeks later" over the opening scene before Lucy gets her "acceptance"
letter would've also been effective.

My only complaint about this episode is the silly bit of Ricky EATING his hat. Way too
first-season broad for this (fairly) realistic time of the series.

[–] [email protected] (5490) 5 years ago

One of my favorite episodes! But it does seem rushed. It's more reasonable that it would take Lucy at least few weeks or a month to write a novel. It was funny to see her sitting at the typewriter just banging out a novel and sending it in right away.

Fred and Ethel "Nertz" were understandably annoyed at being called a "mother figure" and a "funny old coot". But really, they weren't famous celebrities. Who the heck would really know who they were? Ricky was a celebrity. But even he should have seen the publicity value in being "roasted" in a book as Nicky Nicardo. And from the sections that they read aloud, Lucy's novel appeared more like a humorous book and not a serious autobiography.

It would have made sense to see the timeline on the bottom of the screen,e.g., "One Month Later".

Everyone did rally around Lucy when she was so bitterly disappointed at being rejected. Ricky tells her to cry and then when she cries, "Don't cry."

"Make up your mind. Do you want me to cry or don't you?"

Ricky eating his hat was really silly!

In another instance, everyone really treated Lucy with kid gloves and kindness when she was expecting the baby. It's a natural thing to do. But they went out of their way to support her and not argue with her at that time.They supported her schemes like hiring the English tutor and learning to sculpt. Fred even posed for her in his union suit. And Ethel dressed up like a guy to sneak into Ricky's "Daddy Shower".