Home Movies

"" episode
"Home Movies"
	Season 3, Episode #19 ; #86 in Series
Series:
Network:
Air date:	March 1, 1954
Written by:	Bob Carroll Jr.; Madelyn Pugh; Jess Oppenheimer
Directed by:	William Asher
Production code:	3-19 / 086
	Episode guide
IMDB	Home Movies
Episode chronology
"Ricky Loses His Temper"	"Bonus Bucks"

Home Movies was the 86th episode of I Love Lucy, also the 19th episode of Season 3 of the series. The episode, was directed by William Asher, originally aired on CBS-TV on March 1, 1954.

Synopsis[]

When an advertiser agrees to make a pilot for a potential music TV show starring Ricky only, Lucy, Ethel, and Fred make a movie of their own.

Plot[]

Ricky is very proud of the home movies he has taken of Little Ricky. But nobody else enjoys them like Ricky. Lucy and the Mertzes find watching the home movies as boring as watching paint dry. One night when the Mertzes go over to the Ricardos' for a visit, they are once again roped into sitting through the boredom of the home movies. Lucy ends up falling asleep, and the Mertzes sneak out after the lights are turned out. When Ricky finds only one sleeping audience member at the end, he is furious.

The next morning, Ricky still gives the other three the cold shoulder. He does mention that he has to make an audition film, but that the Mertzes and Lucy aren't allowed to be in it, after their poor behavior at the home movies showing the night before. Naturally, this doesn't deter Lucy. She suggests that they make their own film pilot to show the producer. So, Lucy and Ethel star as two wild cowboys in the Old West. Fred enters the "saloon" at the end and arrests them both.

When Ricky finds out about the other film pilot, he forbids Lucy to show her version. He says that the producer is a very busy man, and that there will only be time to show the audition reel Ricky made. Lucy goes behind Ricky's back and quickly and shoddily edits together both films, using the best parts of both. When the movie is shown, it starts out with normal shots of Ricky singing, but soon, there are parts from the western, Ricky's number, and even Little Ricky's home movies. And what's worse- all the clips are either sped-up, backwards, or upside-down. The end product is hilarious, but everyone naturally thinks that Ricky's big chance has been blown. Surprisingly, however, the producer loves the film. He was expecting to watch yet another boring musical film, but what he saw had all those "delightful touches of comedy." When asked how he came up with the idea, Ricky sheepishly looks at a disapproving Lucy and mumbles, "It just came to me?"

Trivia[]

Parts of both home movie reels, Ricky's original baby clips and the messed-up end product for Ricky's audition, were cut short for syndication. The DVDs show the full scenes.
The clips of Ricky singing "Vaya con Dios" in the audition film are most certainly from when he sang the song prior to Lucy and Ethel singing "Friendship" in episode #69. He is wearing the same outfit and also strumming a guitar in episode #69.
We will never know if Ricky was serious about using Lucy and the Mertzes in his audition film, or if he just said that to make them upset that they treated him so badly.
In the western skit, Lucy is named "Tex" and Ethel is named "Nevada."
The pocket of the one cowboy painting's jeans clearly is made of some sort of rough material, so that Lucy could easily strike her match on it.
The name of the producer who comes to watch Ricky's film is Bennett Green, named for Desi's on-set stand-in.
One part of the episode that doesn't translate to modern day is the technology of the cameras and projectors. For example, when Fred asks about the different numbers on the camera, most likely, it dealt with frames per second (and why parts of the western skit were super sped up or backwards), but nobody ever outright explains what happened from playing with the dials. Also, it is just common knowledge nowadays that sound will be present when you record something. But apparently, back in 1954, getting a camera that recorded sound with picture was a novel thing.
Fred and Ethel tried their best to prevent Ricky from bringing up the idea of watching the home movies by talking nonstop and never letting Ricky take control of the conversation. Fred even starts babbling about how he recently bought an "all-around strawberry soda," meaning the sweet treat contained both strawberry flavoring and strawberry ice cream. Sadly, the Mertzes' efforts failed when they aat chewy caramels that made their teeth stick together.
This is another episode that is filmed without an audience. Once the gag reel of Ricky's audition has been made by the film editors, the entire filmed episode, including the gag reel, is shown to an audience, and their laughter is put on the episode.

Starring[]

Guest starring[]

Stanley Farrar ... as Bennett Green
Joseph and Michael Mayer ... as Little Ricky