| "I Love Lucy": Season 1 | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | |
 Season 1 DVD Cover | |
| Network | CBS-TV |
| Episodes | 35 |
| Aired from | October 15, 1951 - June 9, 1952 |
| Premiere | The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub |
| Finale | Ricky Asks for a Raise |
| Season guide | |
| Previous none |
Next Season 2 |
I Love Lucy season one lasted from October 15, 1951 to June 9, 1952, with a total of 35 episodes (not including the lost pilot).
Series overview[]
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired (U.S. dates) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season premiere | Season finale | |||
| Season 1 | 35 | October 15, 1951 | June 9, 1952 | |
| Season 2 | 31 | September 15, 1952 | June 29, 1953 | |
| Season 3 | 31 | October 5, 1953 | May 24, 1954 | |
| Season 4 | 30 | October 4, 1954 | May 30, 1955 | |
| Season 5 | 26 | October 3, 1955 | May 14, 1956 | |
| Season 6 | 27 | October 1, 1956 | May 6, 1957 | |
Season 1 (1951-1952)[]
- Vivian Vance is absent for three episodes.
- William Frawley is absent for three episodes.
| Ep.# | # in Series | Prod. Code | Title | Written by | Directed by | Film Date |
Original |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1-01 / 002 | The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | September 15, 1951 | October 15, 1951 |
| The Ricardos and the Mertzes agree to celebrate the Mertzes' wedding anniversary together. The girls decide on The Copacabana. The men opt for the prize fights. An old friend helps the girls play a trick on their husbands, but the men see through the ruse and turn the tables. | |||||||
| 2 | 2 | 1-02 / 003 | Be a Pal | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | September 21, 1951 | October 22, 1951 |
| Lucy thinks Ricky is losing interest in her. Ethel finds a book full of advice on how to rekindle the flame, and insists that Lucy take up Ricky's interests. Her attachment quickly becomes very annoying after failed attempts at seducing Ricky and joining his card game. Determined to remind Ricky of his childhood in Cuba, Lucy puts on a performance as Carmen Miranda. | |||||||
| 3 | 3 | 1-03 / 004 | The Diet | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | September 28, 1951 | October 29, 1951 |
| Ricky provides an incentive for Lucy's diet by telling her she can appear in his show if she can fit into a size 12. Can Lucy resist the tempatations of eating? | |||||||
| 4 | 4 | 1-04 / 001 | Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | September 8, 1951 | November 5, 1951 |
| After reading a murder mystery and listening to Ethel's fortune-telling, Lucy concludes that Ricky is trying to do away with her. | |||||||
| 5 | 5 | 1-05 / 005 | The Quiz Show | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | October 5, 1951 | November 12, 1951 |
| Desperate to win a $1000 jackpot to balance her household accounts, Lucy agrees to a quiz show stunt in which she has to introduce a stranger to Ricky as her "long lost husband."Frank Nelson makes the first of several appearances as game show emcee "Freddie Fillmore". | |||||||
| 6 | 6 | 1-06 / 006 | The Audition | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | October 12, 1951 | November 19, 1951 |
| Ricky tries to keep Lucy away from the club while he does a TV audition, but when a clown has an accident and can't make it, Lucy shows up in his place. (This is a remake of an original unaired pilot that was considered "lost" until 1990.) Absent: Vivian Vance as Ethel Mertz | |||||||
| 7 | 7 | 1-07 / 007 | The Séance | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | October 19, 1951 | November 26, 1951 |
| Lucy and Ethel have taken up the art of Numerology. When Ricky and Fred scoff, Lucy arranges for a "spirit" to show up at a séance that evening. Problems arise when Ricky and Lucy have the same idea! | |||||||
| 8 | 8 | 1-08 / 008 | Men Are Messy | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | October 25, 1951 | December 3, 1951 |
| Tired of Ricky's messy habits, Lucy divides the apartment in half—he can be a slob in his half, but not hers. Lucy gets the door and kitchen, while Ricky gets the bathroom and bedrooms. Unfortunately, Ricky-and his apartment-are going to appear in a magazine spread, and the photographer comes to the apartment! | |||||||
| 9 | 9 | 1-09 / 009 | The Fur Coat | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | November 9, 1951 | December 10, 1951 |
| Ricky borrows a mink coat for an act at the club, but Lucy thinks it's for her, and won't take it off. He arranges for Fred to pose as a burglar and "steal", it, but when a real thief comes in, Lucy manages to hang on to it! | |||||||
| 10 | 10 | 1-10 / 010 | Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | November 16, 1951 | December 17, 1951 |
| Lucy, upset by a gossip column item that links Ricky's name with a girl at the club, dons a disguise and heads for the Tropicana. | |||||||
| 11 | 11 | 1-11 / 011 | Drafted | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, * Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | November 2, 1951 | December 24, 1951 |
| Lucy intercepts a letter for Ricky that asks him to appear at a local Army station. She becomes convinced that he has been drafted. When Ricky asks Fred to join him, Ethel thinks the same, and they begin knitting their husbands going away presents. Ricky and Fred, however, think the girls are pregnant. | |||||||
| 12 | 12 | 1-12 / 012 | The Adagio | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | November 23, 1951 | December 31, 1951 |
| Lucy hears that Ricky needs a dancer for the Parisian Apache dance number at the club, and thinks she can fill the bill. But her Parisian dance teacher has more than dancing in mind. | |||||||
| 13 | 13 | 1-13 / 013 | The Benefit | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | November 30, 1951 | January 7, 1952 |
| Ethel wants Ricky for the club's benefit show, but Lucy thinks a husband and wife team would be more appropriate. Note: This episode was edited together with the episodes "Breaking the Lease" and "The Ballet", along with twenty minutes of new footage to create the unreleased I Love Lucy movie in 1953. | |||||||
| 14 | 14 | 1-4 / 014 | The Amateur Hour | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | December 7, 1951 | January 14, 1952 |
| Lucy makes an unexpected leap into show business when she takes care of a young boy who is to appear in an amateur hour. His desperate mother drops off his twin brother without telling Lucy, leaving her to take care of both rambunctiously rude children. Absent: William Frawley as Fred | |||||||
| 15 | 15 | 1-5 / 015 | Lucy Plays Cupid | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | December 13, 1951 | January 21, 1952 |
| Lucy's neighbor, Miss Lewis, has her eye on Mr. Ritter, the grocer. Lucy tries her hand at playing Cupid, but Mr. Ritter thinks that her dropped hints mean that she is attracted to him! Lucy must make herself a little less desirable to scare Mr. Ritter off. Guest Stars: Bea Benaderet as Miss Lewis and Edward Everett Horton as Mr. Ritter. Benaderet was one of the original choices to play Ethel Mertz but was unavailable. | |||||||
| 16 | 16 | 1-16 / 016 | Lucy Fakes Illness | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | December 18, 1951 | January 28, 1952 |
| Lucy fears that if Ricky keeps refusing to hire her as part of his night club act, she may just have a nervous breakdown. She suffers from the "three stages" of one-amnesia, delusions of being Tallulah Bankhead and regression to childish behavior. Ricky learns of the trick and quickly turns the tables by inviting a "doctor" to the house to examine Lucy! Hal March appears as "himself". | |||||||
| 17 | 17 | 1-17 / 017 | Lucy Writes a Play | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | December 22, 1951 | February 4, 1952 |
| Playwright Lucy pens a drama with a Cuban locale. She figures Ricky for the star. The hitch: he refuses the part. So she changes her play from Cuba to England and has Fred take Ricky's spot. However, Ricky has decided to surprise Lucy and appear in the play...only problem is he has the wrong script. | |||||||
| 18 | 18 | 1-18 / 018 | Breaking the Lease | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | January 5, 1952 | February 11, 1952 |
| Everyone is having fun at a mirth-filled "at home" evening with the Ricardos and Mertzes. But when the Ricardos continue singing after Fred and Ethel go back downstairs to their apartment, the Mertzes, as landlords, decide that the Ricardos' merrymaking has gone too far. Notes: I Love Lucy was briefly a radio program, also, and this episode, retitled "The Lease Breakers," was broadcast on February 27, 1952. Also, this episode was edited together with the episodes "The Benefit" and "The Ballet" to create the unreleased I Love Lucy movie. | |||||||
| 19 | 19 | 1-19 / 019 | The Ballet | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | January 11, 1952 | February 18, 1952 |
| Lucy performs an unexpected stint as a ballerina, then has a lesson in burlesque from a professional comic. Included is the classic routine "Slowly I Turned". Mary Wickes appears as the ballet teacher. Notes: This episode was edited together with the episodes "The Benefit" and "Breaking the Lease" to create the unreleased I Love Lucy movie. | |||||||
| 20 | 20 | 1-20 / 020 | The Young Fans | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | January 18, 1952 | February 25, 1952 |
| A teenager (Janet Waldo) has a crush on Ricky. Lucy tries pairing her up with another teenager (Richard Crenna) who quickly thinks that Lucy herself has feelings for him! The "old" couple decide to make themselves appear a bit longer in the tooth to fool their young chargers. Absent: William Frawley and Vivian Vance as Fred & Ethel Mertz | |||||||
| 21 | 21 | 1-21 / 021 | New Neighbors | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | January 25, 1952 | March 3, 1952 |
| After snooping in the new tenant's apartment, she finds herself over-hearing the couple talking about murdering her and Ricky; stealing their identities; and then blowing up the Capitol. Little does Lucy realize that the new tenants are rehearsing a scene for their job. Lucy sneaks out of the apartment and puts the apartment on lock-down as the Ricardos and Mertzes prepare to defend themselves. Hayden Rorke and K.T. Stevens both guest star as the new tenants. | |||||||
| 22 | 22 | 1-22 / 022 | Fred and Ethel Fight | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | January 30, 1952 | March 10, 1952 |
| The Mertzes have a row, and Lucy makes an attempt to patch up their marriage. In the end, it isn't their marriage that's in trouble; it's her own. | |||||||
| 23 | 23 | 1-23 / 023 | The Moustache | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | February 8, 1952 | March 17, 1952 |
| When Ricky grows a moustache, Lucy decides to fight fire with fire—she acquires a white beard. Things go bad when the beard won't come off and a movie agent decides to visit Ricky at the apartment. | |||||||
| 24 | 24 | 1-24 / 024 | The Gossip | Jess Oppenheimer
Madelyn Pugh Bob Carroll, Jr. |
Marc Daniels | February 15, 1952 | March 24, 1952 |
| The boys try to prove that women are bigger gossips than men. | |||||||
| 25 | 25 | 1-25 / 025 | Pioneer Women | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | February 22, 1952 | March 31, 1952 |
| The Mertzes and the Ricardos bet they can live the same pioneer existence as their ancestors. This episode contains the classic moment when Lucy's loaf of bread explodes from the oven. | |||||||
| 26 | 26 | 1-26 / 026 | The Marriage License | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | February 28, 1952 | April 7, 1952 |
| After taking another look at her marriage license, Lucy is not sure that she and Ricky are man and wife. | |||||||
| 27 | 27 | 1-27 / 027 | The Kleptomaniac | Jess Oppenheimer
Madelyn Pugh Bob Carroll, Jr. |
Marc Daniels | March 7, 1952 | April 14, 1952 |
| Ricky finds some extra money and silverware in the apartment and jumps to the conclusion that Lucy is a kleptomaniac. Joseph Kearns guest stars. | |||||||
| 28 | 28 | 1-28 / 028 | Cuban Pals | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | March 14, 1952 | April 21, 1952 |
| A visiting Cuban dance troupe asks Ricky to do a number with "Little Renita Perez"—a little girl he used to dance with in Havana. Lucy's all for it—until she finds out that "Little Renita" isn't so "little" anymore. She takes Renita's place at the club-but Ricky switches numbers, and Lucy is chased by a man in full voodoo garb! | |||||||
| 29 | 29 | 1-29 / 029 | The Freezer | Jess Oppenheimer
Madelyn Pugh Bob Carroll, Jr. |
Marc Daniels | March 21, 1952 | April 28, 1952 |
| Lucy and Ethel have a meat freezer installed in the basement and celebrate by buying two sides of beef, unaware of how much a side is. Now they must try to get rid of the excess, by peddling it to customers outside a grocery, before Ricky and Fred find out. Lucy learns the hard way how cold it is - she gets locked inside and is frozen stiff! | |||||||
| 30 | 30 | 1-30 / 030 | Lucy Does a TV Commercial | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | March 28, 1952 | May 5, 1952 |
| Ricky needs a girl to act in a commercial for his television debut. Lucy immediately volunteers, but Ricky denies her. Irrepressible Lucy goes to the set anyway, and ends up in the sponsor's "Vitameatavegamin" health tonic commercial. As the tonic is 23% alcohol, Lucy soon ends up completely drunk. Absent: Vivian Vance as Ethel Mertz. | |||||||
| 31 | 31 | 1-31 / 031 | The Publicity Agent | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | April 4, 1952 | May 12, 1952 |
| Feeling that Ricky's publicity has fallen off, Lucy dreams up a stunt which involves her posing as the "Maharincess of Franistan." | |||||||
| 32 | 32 | 1-32 / 032 | Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | April 11, 1952 | May 19, 1952 |
| Lucy is so impressed at Ricky's correct answers to a radio quiz show that she gets him on the show as a contestant. | |||||||
| 33 | 33 | 1-33 / 033 | Lucy's Schedule | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | April 18, 1952 | May 26, 1952 |
| After being late for dinner with his new boss (Gale Gordon), Ricky is determined to teach Lucy the importance of punctuality, so he puts her on a rigid time schedule. Gordon was one of the early choices to play Fred Mertz but was unavailable. He later starred with Lucille Ball in each of her later series. | |||||||
| 34 | 34 | 1-34 / 034 | Ricky Thinks He Is Getting Bald | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | April 25, 1952 | June 2, 1952 |
| Ricky's receding hairline is giving him much concern, so Lucy decides to give him painful scalp treatments. | |||||||
| 35 | 35 | 1-35 / 035 | Ricky Asks for a Raise | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, & Bob Carroll, Jr. | Marc Daniels | May 2, 1952 | June 9, 1952 |
| At Lucy's insistence, Ricky tries to pressure his boss (Gale Gordon's second appearance as "Mr. Littlefield") into giving him a raise...only to get him fired. To get his job back, Lucy and the Mertzes pose as various club-goers who leave after hearing Ricky isn't performing at the club anymore. | |||||||