Just insane. True. Next to the Vita-Meta-Vegamin episode, this one makes it a toss-up as to which story is more famous. Definitely historical, and another episode all us kids grew up on. There's also some truth to it, all about getting a job.
Ricky and Fred claim Lucy and Ethel spend, spend, spend. What if they changed roles and earned a weekly paycheck? Done deal! The guys stay home and do all the housework, while the girls go get a job. Lotsa' Luck.
Thanks to writer Jess Oppenheimer there's some real tried and true bits in this story. Lucy and Ethel run through a list of odd jobs -- until they land the "perfect" gig working in a candy factory? Nothing goes right. The boss (played to the max by Elvia Allman) is a tough cookie and expects results.
Lucy and Vivian Vance are naturals at this wacky kind of stuff, best compared to Laurel and Hardy. Comes the OUTRAGEOUS assembly line gag; Lucy and Ethel have to wrap every single candy OR they're fired! To this day, you have to scratch your head and wonder how the heck could they have wrapped dozens of candies in a few seconds?
Behind the scenes, Lucy actually got injured. The lady in the classic candy dipper bit was an actual worker for See's Candies. It turns out she slapped Lucy too hard with a glob of chocolate, resulting in a partial black eye.
If you're a long time fan, this scene (or the idea behind it) was carried over many seasons later in the classic Italy episode, where Lucy is stomping grapes. The lady stomping the grapes ALSO smacks Lucy in the face. Any time I see that bit, I always think of this episode, also because the lady is NO smiles.
Look for Hazel Pierce in the background. She was Lucy's stand-in throughout the entire series and appeared in background roles.
Don't miss what Fred and Ricky are up to back home.
Ricky's FLAT cake wins the contest.
Best of SEASON 2. Remastered CBS dvd box set. Released 2003 and 2012. This famous episode has also been colorized and the box cover has a photo or sketch of Lucy from this episode.
