I LOVE LUCY

With Lucy still at the hospital, Ricky sings "There's a Brand New Baby at Our House," as Fred and Ethel look on. The three then recall with amusement Lucy's lack of sales resistance as a flashback carries us to the time Lucy spend $7.98 on a useless Handy Dandy Kitchen Helper.

After Ricky insisted she return it for a refund, Lucy bought a Handy Dandy Vacuum Cleaner for $102.60. When the salesman, Harry Martin, sold it to her, he said it cost only "eight dollars and ninety-five cents for the works." Unfortunately, that was all Lucy got, the works, and not the electric cord, the metal cover, or any attachments.

When Ricky learned of her extravagant purchase, he demanded its immediate return. But Lucy was scared stiff that Martin would probably sell her a Handy Dandy Bulldozer! Instead, she decided to unload the contraption on some other unsuspecting soul, starting off with Mrs. Simpson, a gruff, untalkative housewife who lived on the next block.

Using the Harry Martin sales pitch, Lucy failed to get rid of the machine and returned home a bedraggled, discouraged wreck. Lucy: "One more hour and they'd have reported the death of another salesman."

Even "sales resistant" Ricky was unsuccessful when he tried to return the vacuum to Martin; he wound up buying a Handy Dandy Refrigerator.

Special Notes: This episode, like the following four, utilized a "flashback" intro. These five episodes were originally written and filmed before the seven "baby shows" were written and filmed. In order to allow Lucille Ball enough time to relax before her baby was due (two months) and give her sufficient time to rest up after the boy's birth (two months), these episodes were saved for telecast after the baby shows aired; hence the flashback approach. A Westinghouse vacuum cleaner was used in the episode. Desi Arnaz composed the opening song (part of the flashback section) with Eddie Maxwell on the occasion of Lucie Arnaz's birth on July 17, 1951.