Guess Who Owes Lucy $23.50 – Here’s Lucy, season 1 – originally aired December 9, 1968
In Guess Who Owes Lucy $23.50, Lucy tries to hire Van Johnson to sing “Happy Birthday” … to a cow! No request too bizarre for Carter’s Unique Employment Agency, after all. So when a wealthy Texas oilman wants a celebrity to sing “happy birthday” to his cow …
But first — a Van Johnson look-alike plays a trick on Lucy and she gives him $23.50 to “fix his car”. So when Lucy goes to get it back, the real Van Johnson doesn’t recognize her. So he calls for his security guards to escort her back to her car. But when he realizes that a look-alike of his really took the money from her, he feels bad and heads to Texas to sing happy birthday to a cow for Cater’s Unique Employment Agency.
In the meanwhile, Harry doesn’t know that, so he & Lucy fly down to Texas for the party. Lucy’s disguised as the Italian songbird, “Gina Linguini“. And she’s asked to sing an Italian number — when she doesn’t know any! Thankfully, Van Johnson shows up at the last moment!
There’s some interesting in-jokes, as they reference their hit movie, “Yours, Mine, and Ours“. And, when Van’s throwing her out of his office, before realizing someone’s impersonated him, she says she’s now glad he was court-martialed in “The Caine Mutiny“!
Cast of characters
- Lucille Ball (I Love Lucy, The Big Street) … Lucy Carter
- Gale Gordon (The Lucy Show, Our Miss Brooks)… Harry Carter
- Lucie Arnaz (Here’s Lucy) … Kim Carter
- Desi Arnaz Jr. (House of the Long Shadows) … Craig Carter
- Van Johnson (In the Good Old Summertime) … himself / impersonator
- Jeff DeBenning (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) … Douglas Alamo Davidson. The wealthy Texan, who wants his cow, Ethel, serenaded! After all, she found his first oil well …
- Tommy Farrell (The Strip) … Morgan
- Nancy Howard (Yours, Mine, and Ours) … Secretary
- Orwin C. Harvey … Guard
- Ray Kellogg (The Red Skelton Hour) … Man
Trivia
- In one scene Lucy mentions to Van Johnson that she liked a movie he was in. She really liked the redhead, but felt Henry Fonda was too old for her. The movie is Yours, Mine and Ours. In it Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda are married, and Van Johnson plays Fonda’s best friend.