I LOVE LUCY: TENNESSEE ERNIE HANGS ON {COUSIN ERNIE, PART 2 OF 2} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of comedies about the escapades of Lucy Ricardo, a zany redheaded housewife with show business aspirations, her Cuban-born bandleader husband Ricky Ricardo, and their best friends and neighbors Fred and Ethel Mertz.
Continued from B:12744. The Ricardos are still plagued by Cousin Ernie, who still refuses to return to Tennessee. Ricky has a solution: since Ernie is too proud to simply accept a bus ticket back home, Ricky will plant it in the hallway for Ernie to “find.” However, their plan backfires: Ernie assumed the ticket was lost and gave it to a hobo he met on the street that he believed was the rightful owner.
Later, Lucy and Ethel ponder how to get rid of Ernie after he accidentally wrecks her television set. They concoct an idea: make it seem that the Ricardos are broke and Ricky lost his job, so as to convince Ernie that they’ve run out of food and get him back to his hometown. Ernie sees Lucy in rags and she shows him her empty fridge and cupboards. Fred and Ethel appear to help Lucy with her deception. She manages to convince Ernie to leave.
Later, Fred and Ethel arrive to move Ernie’s bed out, but Ernie comes back. He says he’s deciding to stay after all, feeling guilty about leaving the Ricardos in their time of need. Ricky returns and is confused, having not been in on Lucy’s scheme. Ernie reveals that he spread word of the Ricardo’s “situation” to their neighbors, who all pitched in and took up a collection for their benefit. Ricky is furious at this situation.
Lucy and Ethel speak later about their predicament. Lucy returned the collection money, noting that the leftover money was all Ernie’s. She gives up on trying to get rid of him. Ricky returns, having calmed down, noting he can’t stay mad at Ernie. Ernie reveals a solution to the Ricardo’s “money troubles:” he has gotten them all, including Fred and Ethel, an appearance on his favorite television show, “Millikan’s Chicken-Mash Hour,” as his back-up band. They protest until he reveals he plans to use part of the money from the appearance to get back home. They then agree and appear on the show with him. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: May 10, 1954 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:25:57
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: B:12745
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1951-1957
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Desi Arnaz … Executive Producer
- Jess Oppenheimer … Producer, Writer
- William Asher … Director
- Madelyn Pugh (See also: Madelyn Davis) … Writer
- Bob Carroll Jr. … Writer
- Wilbur Hatch … Music by, Conductor
- Eliot Daniel … Music by
- Lucille Ball … Cast, Lucy Ricardo
- Desi Arnaz … Cast, Ricky Ricardo
- Vivian Vance … Cast, Ethel Mertz
- William Frawley … Cast, Fred Mertz
- Tennessee Ernie Ford … Cast, Cousin Ernie
- Rick Reeves … Cast, TV Show Announcer