September 20, 2006
Brakes on a Train
I Love Lucy - "The Great Train Robbery"
First aired: October 31, 1955 on CBS
Recently aired: September 10, 2006 on TV Land
Written by: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, jr., Bob Schiller, and Bob Weiskopf
Directed by: James V. Kern
The Hollywood story arc wraps up with a mediocre episode (with the exception of one line that never fails to make me laugh. More on that later). Most of the episode features a lot of square pegs being shoved in to round plot holes in order to work in the comedy.
Lucy, Ricky, Fred, Ethel, Lucy's mom and Little Ricky are all aboard the the train they call the City of Los Angeles heading home to New York. Lucy wastes no time getting all the foreshadowing and exposition out of the way. This is Lucy's first time on a train, so she jokingly asks which car the spies are on. Then she asks what the emergency brake is for. Basil Exposition couldn't have done it any better.
The running gag here is that Lucy keeps pulling the emergency brake to stop the train. The first time she does it is to stop the train for Ricky, who has run back to the station to get Lucy's purse, which holds their train tickets. In real life, this would be the end of the emergency brake hijinks, but this is the Land of Lucy, a magical land where chocolate candies go faster and faster on a conveyer belt, and giant loaves of bread come out of normal-sized ovens. We're just gettin' warmed up.
The first time, however, is the charm. Frank Nelson, playing the conductor, taps Lucy on the shoulder and asks, "did you stop this train?" There's no way to describe here how funny he reads that line, but since he became famous on Jack Benny's radio and television show for getting a laugh with just one word, "Ye-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-s?", it's no wonder he nailed it.
Later, Lucy mistakes a jewelry salesman for a jewel thief. An easy mistake to make, since the jewelry salesman DRAWS HIS GUN ON HER! Lucy's peeking in to his compartment, and the guy says "Hold on a minute, Miss. I want to talk to you." Dude! You probably could have saved every one a lot of confusion if you had kept your weapon holstered. Then, in the lounge car, Lucy tells Ethel what happened. And guess who's sitting next to them. . .that's right - the real jewel thief. Because we all know that jewel thieves on the run from the law never stay in their compartment. They hang out in the lounge car.
It looks like they did a location shot (maybe at Union Station) of Fred and Ethel boarding an actual train. It also looks like they shot an interior of an actual lounge car for an establishing shot, and the set designers matched it for the rest of the scene.
As a kid, I thought it was really cool to hear the cast mention my home town of Riverside.
Until I looked at the I Love Lucy Episode guide, I never realized that the Hollywood story arc spanned two seasons: from February '55 ("L.A. at Last") to October '55 ("The Great Train Robbery"). That means that the Ricardos and Mertzes spent about eight real-time months in Hollywood, and no one ever suggested (after July 17 anyway) that they go to that new amusement park down the road in Anaheim.
First aired: October 31, 1955 on CBS
Recently aired: September 10, 2006 on TV Land
Written by: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, jr., Bob Schiller, and Bob Weiskopf
Directed by: James V. Kern
The Hollywood story arc wraps up with a mediocre episode (with the exception of one line that never fails to make me laugh. More on that later). Most of the episode features a lot of square pegs being shoved in to round plot holes in order to work in the comedy.
Lucy, Ricky, Fred, Ethel, Lucy's mom and Little Ricky are all aboard the the train they call the City of Los Angeles heading home to New York. Lucy wastes no time getting all the foreshadowing and exposition out of the way. This is Lucy's first time on a train, so she jokingly asks which car the spies are on. Then she asks what the emergency brake is for. Basil Exposition couldn't have done it any better.
The running gag here is that Lucy keeps pulling the emergency brake to stop the train. The first time she does it is to stop the train for Ricky, who has run back to the station to get Lucy's purse, which holds their train tickets. In real life, this would be the end of the emergency brake hijinks, but this is the Land of Lucy, a magical land where chocolate candies go faster and faster on a conveyer belt, and giant loaves of bread come out of normal-sized ovens. We're just gettin' warmed up.
The first time, however, is the charm. Frank Nelson, playing the conductor, taps Lucy on the shoulder and asks, "did you stop this train?" There's no way to describe here how funny he reads that line, but since he became famous on Jack Benny's radio and television show for getting a laugh with just one word, "Ye-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-s?", it's no wonder he nailed it.
Later, Lucy mistakes a jewelry salesman for a jewel thief. An easy mistake to make, since the jewelry salesman DRAWS HIS GUN ON HER! Lucy's peeking in to his compartment, and the guy says "Hold on a minute, Miss. I want to talk to you." Dude! You probably could have saved every one a lot of confusion if you had kept your weapon holstered. Then, in the lounge car, Lucy tells Ethel what happened. And guess who's sitting next to them. . .that's right - the real jewel thief. Because we all know that jewel thieves on the run from the law never stay in their compartment. They hang out in the lounge car.
A few cases of mistaken identity and tugs on the emergency brake later, the curtain finally falls on an episode that took five writers to paste together. Props to Frank Nelson for saving it.
Random Notes:It looks like they did a location shot (maybe at Union Station) of Fred and Ethel boarding an actual train. It also looks like they shot an interior of an actual lounge car for an establishing shot, and the set designers matched it for the rest of the scene.
As a kid, I thought it was really cool to hear the cast mention my home town of Riverside.
Until I looked at the I Love Lucy Episode guide, I never realized that the Hollywood story arc spanned two seasons: from February '55 ("L.A. at Last") to October '55 ("The Great Train Robbery"). That means that the Ricardos and Mertzes spent about eight real-time months in Hollywood, and no one ever suggested (after July 17 anyway) that they go to that new amusement park down the road in Anaheim.
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And you gotta love the Simpsons character who copies Nelson's timing and famous word. Makes me laugh every time!
# posted by 
: 12:57 AM
: 12:57 AM
I remember laughing my ass off at this episode. I think I found it funnier than John. And I too loved the fact they mentioned Riverside in the show (nobody ever mentioned Riverside)
I looked forward to seeing this episode because of Nelson, but as I was watching it, it just seemed that other than him, there wasn't a lot to it.
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