MovieChat Forums > I Love Lucy (1951) Discussion > Ricky Sells the Car

Ricky Sells the Car

posted 5 years ago by AndrewHNPX2 (119)
8 replies | jump to latest

So apparently Desi Arnaz hated this episode, assuming it's true, why do you think that was? Personally I find among the funniest of the series, especially the Mertzes attempting to ride the motorcycle.

[–] Ken12602 (481) 5 years ago

Probably because it made his character look really bad for forgetting all about the Mertzes.

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

I've never read Arnaz hated this episode, but Bart Andrews, author of the first tome on the series in 1976, wrote
that it's only a "fair" show. I agree.

While the Fred and Ethel motorcycle scene is hilarious (and, to me, their funniest) the episode feels stilted to me,
and never really goes anywhere. Kind of a letdown after so many strong Hollywood shows.

I personally enjoy it on occasion, and far prefer it over the train robbery episode that follows. "Train" a much better
episode in my opinion, but for reasons I've never known, I've never liked this offering.

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

The motorcycle episode feels "tired" to me. It reminds me of times when I've been on vacation and was ready to go home. I'm tired, tired of the hotel, tired of eating out, tired of being a tourist and I just want to leave. That's how this episode felt. Everyone was just tired and wanted to go home. Tempers were short. They had spent enough time together as a group and wanted to get back to their normal lives.

And then Fred goes ballistic at the thought of having to PAY for transportation back home. The last straw! lol

[–] AndrewHNPX2 (119) 4 years ago

So I watched this episode again, and one thing that really frustrates me about it is how utterly ungrateful and spoiled the Mertzes are here. Ricky more or less treated them to an all-expense-paid trip to Los Angeles, and they act like spoiled children because they might have to pay to get home themselves.

I almost feel like Ricky should have just left them there and let them figure out a way to get home on their own. I imagine Fred would have eventually gave in and just bought two plane tickets back, though their friendship with the Ricardos would have been irreparably damaged at that point.

[–] [email protected] (5497) 4 years ago

Fred could have bought two BUS tickets. In the long run, it would have been cheaper. On motorcycles they would have had to stop and find motel rooms to sleep in. You can just sleep on a bus.

I never knew what Fred was saving his money FOR! They didn't have any children. How big could their expenses have been? Fred's cheapness was a source of humor for the show. But really. He couldn't have been that broke that he had to squeeze every nickel.

[–] AndrewHNPX2 (119) 4 years ago

Well a lot of people who lived through the depression era had that mindset. I think the mentality was sort of like a compulsion to save money in case a new depression ever happened.

[–] [email protected] (5497) 4 years ago

I have heard about the Depression causing a lot of people to be like Fred. It's understandable that someone would be careful with his hard earned money.
But in Fred's case, he was just cheap! Of course he lived through the Depression. But he had a job. He was in vaudeville. He had an act with a partner, "Mertz and Kurtz". He and Ethel were also performers. When he left show biz, he had enough money to buy the brownstone, or at least enough to make a down payment. I highly doubt that he was wiped out financially.

The cheapness thing is usually played for laughs on sitcoms. Like on Seinfeld, George was the resident tightwad.

Once he asked Elaine to be honest with him and tell him one of his faults.
She said, "You are extremely careful with money."

George flipped. "Are you saying I'm CHEAP!"
Jack Benny made a career out of playing a cheapskate although in real life he was the opposite. He spent money on everything his wife wanted.

It doesn't matter how much money some people have. Some are generous with the little that they have. Some have more than enough to live on,but they are tightwads. It's more a "poverty of the spirit" than the pocketbook.

[–] MovieChatUser497 (18943) 4 years ago

Really? That episode was f-cking hilarious. Especially after Fred crashes the motorcycle and Lucy tells him "Ricky will pay for the train tickets" and Fred just goes "well who's going to pay for that" and then they start arguing again.