This is my all time favorite "I Love Lucy" episode. Ethel enlists Lucy's help in reminding Fred that her birthday is coming up. Ethel tells Lucy that she'd rather have an awful present than no present at all and they both laugh at the gift Fred gave Ethel the previous year. It was "too long to be a stole and too short to be a volleyball net."
To Fred's credit, this year he asks Lucy to purchase Ethel's gift for him as Ethel never seems to like the presents he gives her. After laughing with Ethel earlier about Fred's lousy taste in gifts, Lucy ends up buying Ethel a garish pair of hostess pants, a completely useless gift for practically minded Ethel. She wanted a toaster. Now Lucy and Ethel have been good friends for over a decade. Shouldn't Lucy also have known by now what kind of present Ethel would appreciate?
The girls get into an argument after Ethel laughs about the pants and "the idiot" who talked Fred into buying them. But all is well as they make up with each other during the play they all attend that evening.
Just as an aside, earlier in the episode we learn that Ethel is always borrowing Lucy's coat to wear when she goes out on special occasions, as her own coat is "so tacky." Wouldn't a perfect gift for Ethel have been a new coat? I think so! 😊
To Fred's credit, this year he asks Lucy to purchase Ethel's gift for him as Ethel never seems to like the presents he gives her. After laughing with Ethel earlier about Fred's lousy taste in gifts, Lucy ends up buying Ethel a garish pair of hostess pants, a completely useless gift for practically minded Ethel. She wanted a toaster. Now Lucy and Ethel have been good friends for over a decade. Shouldn't Lucy also have known by now what kind of present Ethel would appreciate?
The girls get into an argument after Ethel laughs about the pants and "the idiot" who talked Fred into buying them. But all is well as they make up with each other during the play they all attend that evening.
Just as an aside, earlier in the episode we learn that Ethel is always borrowing Lucy's coat to wear when she goes out on special occasions, as her own coat is "so tacky." Wouldn't a perfect gift for Ethel have been a new coat? I think so! 😊