Yes, I remember that episode. Wasn't that the one when Lucy wanted to move to a larger apartment and Ricky said they couldn't afford it. It was a great comeback by Ricky! Isn't this also the episode when Lucy starts crying and running her fingers through her hair as she wails: "You don't love me anymore, Ricky! You don't care how hard I have to work! You don't care that Little Ricky hardly has any room to move around!:" Before she gets any farther Ricky starts imitating her, running his fingers through his hair, crying and saying: "I do too, Lucy! I love you very much! And I think it's terrible that you have to work so hard and Little Ricky has so little room!, etc." Putting Lucy in her place and forcing her to stop her scheme. One of Desi Arnaz's best bits in the series.
I don't generally think it's appropriate for anyone to make fun of another person's weight issues, and Ethel definitely wasn't very overweight. In fact, I remember an early episode when Fred and Ethel show up at the Ricardos to go out to dinner and a movie, or something. Ricky has been frustrated with how long it has taken Lucy to get ready. Ethel is wearing a coat and looking cross and refuses to speak when Lucy says hello to her. Fred explains that Ethel is mad at him because he has a hard and fast rule about leaving on time. Ethel then wordlessly opens her coat to reveal that she's dressed in her slip. I recall Ethel as having a very nice figure in this shot.
I remember in one of the Connecticut episodes, Ethel is still eating after the others have finished and everyone starts looking at her. Ethel asks Fred, "Haven't you ever seen you eat before? Fred replies, "I've never seen you do anything else!"
Of course, there is an episode when Fred is complaining about possibly being Flag Bearer again for his Lodge's parade and Ethel says something like: "I doubt they'd want you to be Flag Bearer with that pot. Last year the Flag was two blocks ahead of the parade!"
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[email protected] (5552)
16 days ago
I also thought Ethel looked great in the Charm School episode. She wore a skin tight gown and it's hard to pull off that look if you are as obese as Fred insinuated that she was.
Anyway in that era and earlier, women were thought to look attractive with a little meat on their bones, so to speak. Have you ever seen any of Mae West's films? She was hardly thin and yet she was considered one of the biggest sex symbols of her day.
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Corryveckan45 (145)
12 days ago
Yes. Ethel did look great (and she struck a great pose when the door was opened!) in THE Charm School episode! She also had that classic line when Lucy suggested they visit Mrs. Trumbull: "Let's let her get a LOAD of us!"
And you're right. Mae West was definitely a full figured lady, and was considered a great sex symbol.
The only time I can recall Ricky mentioning Ethel's appetite was in the episode when Lucy and Ethel buy the walk-in freezer. Ricky refuses to eat the eggs Lucy has prepared for his breakfast because she didn't prepare any bacon or anything else with them. As he goes to leave for work and Lucy reminds him of the eggs, he says something like: "Well, I have a feeling they won't go to waste. I heard Ethel coming up the stairs."
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[email protected] (5552)
8 days ago
Yes, I don't think Ricky ever said anything like that to Ethel's face.
In fact, the one time Fred and Ricky criticized each others' wives, they almost came to blows. It was in the "No Children Allowed" episode when Ethel defended Lucy's crying baby. But then she went overboard and repeated her good deed to everyone.
Fred initially said Ethel was wrong, but when Ricky agreed with him and said, "She can stay on a topic until it gets sickening", Fred immediately jumped to her defense.
Then Fred said that he didn't take any pot shots at Lucy although, "I'm loaded with ammunition!"
Both men felt it was okay to criticize their own wives, but they defended them when someone else did it.
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Corryveckan45 (145)
6 days ago
I remember that episode. I really wanted someone to shut Ethel up. The way "Tallulah Mertz" she kept re-enacting it for everyone she met would drive anyone crazy, and then she kept saying, "Oh let's not talk about it. If there's anything I can't stand, it's someone who does something nice for someone and then talks about it all the time!"
I think Lucy showed remarkable restraint in re-enacting the scene with Ethel and then immediately apologizing for doing so and explaining she "just couldn't stand it any longer."
Also, I realize Ethel was angry when she said it, but given how upset Lucy and Ricky were when Ethel referred to Little Ricky's drum playing as "a racket," if I were Lucy, I think I would have been upset when Ethel, referring to Little Ricky, told Lucy to "Keep that squalling brat quiet!"
As for the men, if Fred wasn't prepared to have Ricky agree with him about Ethel's harping on a subject until people become sick of it, he shouldn't have said anything.
In my opinion, both Fred and Ethel were very thin skinned.
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[email protected] (5552)
a day ago
Ethel was pretty thin skinned this time. It's one thing to rehash the story for Ricky and Fred and the girls in their club. But she told the manicurist at the salon and the cop on the beat, as if they would have a real interest in that story!
The one person's behavior that was really irritating was Mrs. Trumbull. She threatened to call the police if she heard the baby cry one more time! Well, gee, babies do cry! It's not illegal.
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