Episode guide for the first season of Lucille Ball’s first classic sitcom, I Love Lucy
- The Girls Want to Go to a Night Club – I Love Lucy episode 02, originally aired 10/15/1951
- For the Mertzes’ eighteenth anniversary, Ethel wants to celebrate by going to the Copacobana, while Fred wants to go to the fights. An argument ensues, Lucy and Ethel telling Ricky and Fred that they’ll go to the Copacabana without them, complete with male companions. Ricky and Fred decide that they’ll go to the fights without the wives, accompanied by girls from Ricky’s workplace. Lucy and Ethel decide to disguise themselves as the boys’ “hillbilly” dates – culminating, after some slapstick, with everyone going together to the fights.
- Be a Pal – I Love Lucy episode 03, originally aired 10/22/1951
- Lucy Ricardo fears that her husband Ricky is losing interest in her. Ethel Mertz recommends the book How to Keep Your Honeymoon from Ending. Chapter 1 suggests that the wife dress up for breakfast – which results in Ricky not even looking up from his newspaper to see the lovely Lucy. Chapter 2 suggests that she be a pal, resulting in Lucy joining Ricky, Fred and two friends for a game of poker — and beating them all. Chapter 3 suggests surrounding her spouse with things that remind him of his childhood, so Lucy redecorates the apartment with a Cuban theme including sombreros, palm trees, a flock of chickens and a mule. Lucy even lip-syncs to Carmen Miranda, just before Ricky convinces Lucy of his love with a kiss.
- The Diet – I Love Lucy episode 04, originally aired 10/29/1951
- In order to be part of Ricky’s show, Lucy starves and steams her way into losing 12 pounds of weight in 4 days.
- Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Do Away with Her – I Love Lucy episode 01, originally aired 11/5/1951
- After reading a murder mystery, and after Ethel predicts Lucy’s imminent death with fortune-telling cards, a misunderstood conversation makes Lucy suspect that Ricky is trying to do away with her.
- The Quiz Show – I Love Lucy episode 05, originally aired 11/12/1951
- To win $1,000 on a radio quiz show, Lucy pretends to have been previously married to someone else — and has to introduce him to Ricky.
- The Audition – I Love Lucy episode 06, originally aired 11/19/1951
- When Buffo the Clown doesn’t show up for Ricky’s TV audition, Lucy clowns it up in his place. This is a partial recreation of the I Love Lucy pilot, using the special props and routines prepared by Pepito the Spanish Clown
- The Seance – I Love Lucy episode 07, originally aired 11/26/1951
- In this episode, Lucy gets superstitious with the daily Horoscope. When she explains to theatre producer Mr. Merriweather that Ricky’s horoscope is not Ricky’s day and he should say no, Lucy once again convinces Ricky to invite Mr. Merriweather to contact his beloved Tilly. However, the Ricardos get a big surprise of who Tilly really is.
- Men Are Messy – I Love Lucy, episode 08, originally aired 12/3/1951
- Lucy decides to teach Ricky a lesson about his messy habits.
- The Fur Coat – I Love Lucy, episode 10, originally aired 12/10/1951
- Lucy falls in love with the fur coat that Ricky brought home for their anniversary — only it’s a prop from the club that Ricky brought home to show Lucy. Lucy is so in love with the fur coat that she won’t even remove it at bedtime; so Ricky arranges to have Fred pretend to be a cat burglar to steal the coat. Until a real cat burglar comes along …
- The Adagio – I Love Lucy episode 12, originally aired 12/17/1951
- Lucy wants to learn the Apache dance from a Frenchman (Shepard Menken) and makes Ricky jealous – ending with a pistol duel in Lucy’s bedroom.
- Drafted – I Love Lucy episode 09, originally aired 12/24/1951
- A wonderful ‘mix-up’ episode, when Ricky receives a letter from the War Department ordering him to appear at Fort Dix, Lucy assumes that he has been drafted. In reality, he’s entertaining the troops, and invites Fred to come along after learning that he has an old vaudeville Civil War routine that he can perform as well. Lucy and Ethel, misunderstanding, start to knit socks for the boys — which the boys misinterpret to mean that the girls are pregnant.
- Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Dancer – I Love Lucy episode 11, originally aired 12/31/1951
- After an item in a gossip column. Lucy becomes jealous until Ricky swears that nothing is going on. While fixing Ricky’s favorite meal, Lucy finds black lace in Ricky’s pocket, and thinks that her suspicions are confirmed. She sneaks into Ricky’s show to spy on him and chorus girl Rosemary
- The Benefit – I Love Lucy episode 13, originally aired 1/7/1952
- Lucy gets Ricky to perform for Ethel’s womens club, but only if she can perform too.
- The Amateur Hour – I Love Lucy episode 14, originally aired 1/14/1952
- Lucy baby-sits two terrible tots to earn money to pay for an expensive dress, and then joins them for a talent show, where Ricky is the Master of Ceremonies.
- Lucy Plays Cupid – I Love Lucy episode 15, originally aired 1/21/1952
- Lucy tries to get two elderly singles together, but they get the wrong ideas. Guest-starring Edward Everett Horton.
- Lucy Fakes Illness – I Love Lucy episode 16, originally aired 1/28/1952
- Lucy feigns mental illness in order to persuade Ricky to let her perform, but once Fred informs Ricky that Lucy is faking it, Ricky gets his revenge by having an actor friend pretend to be a doctor, who informs Lucy that she has the “gobloots”.
- Lucy Writes a Play – I Love Lucy episode 17, originally aired 2/4/1952
- Lucy writes a play for her woman’s club, but when Ricky won’t perform it, she changes it from the Cuban setting A Tree Grows in Havana to an English setting, The Perils of Pamela with Fred as the lead. Ricky later changes his mind when he learns that a Hollywood talent scout will be in the audience, but he’s using the original script while everyone else uses the new version.
- Breaking the Lease – I Love Lucy episode 18, originally aired 2/11/1952
- After a fight, Lucy & Ricky want to move, but Ethel & Fred won’t end their lease; so Lucy & Ricky have a little party with his band, until 4:00 a.m. Once the actual moving day comes, however…
- The Ballet – I Love Lucy episode 19, originally aired 2/18/1952
- In order to perform at Ricky’s club, Lucy gets ballet lessons from Madame Lamond (Mary Wickes) – hilarious, but a failure. Since the other opening is for a clown, she hires a burlesque clown to teach her the “Slowly I Turned” routine. However, Ricky hires her for ballet.
- The Young Fans – I Love Lucy episode 20, originally aired 2/25/1952
- Ricky & Lucy each have teenagers (Janet Waldo & Richard Crenna respectively) with crushes on them. They decide to nip the problem in the bud by dressing as senior citizens.
- New Neighbors – I Love Lucy episode 21, originally aired 3/3/52
- After eavesdropping on the new neighbors rehearsing a play, Lucy mistakenly thinks that they are planning on killing their upstairs neighbors – Lucy and Ricky
- Fred and Ethel Fight – I Love Lucy episode 22, originally aired 3/10/1952
- Lucy and Ricky try to patch up a fight between Fred and Ethel. They succeed, but then start fighting themselves. Fred and Ethel try to patch things up between Ricky and Lucy, ending in Lucy pretending to be in bandages trying to escape from a burning building, and the Ricardos are reconciled — but Fred and Ethel are fighting again.
- The Mustache – I Love Lucy episode 23, originally aired 3/17/1952
- After Ricky grows a mustache for a TV role, he teases Lucy with the idea of keeping the mustache. Giving Ricky a taste of his own medicine, she glues a white beard on her own face — which won’t come off.
- The Gossip – I Love Lucy episode 24, originally aired 3/24/1952
- Ricky and Fred bet Lucy and Ethel that the girls’ can’t stop gossiping — but the girls turn the tables on them.
- Pioneer Women – I Love Lucy episode 25, originally aired 3/31/1952
- After Lucy and Ethel demand dishwashers, Ricky and Fred argue that they’re “too soft” and bet the girls that they can’t “rough it” like in pioneer days. The bet is on, with Ricky riding a horse to and from work, and Lucy trying to bake old-fashioned bread gets a nine-foot loaf of bread attacking her out of her oven…
- The Marriage License – I Love Lucy episode 26, originally aired 4/7/1952
- Lucy is convinced she and Ricky aren’t married once she realizes that Ricky’s last name is misspelled on their marriage certificate – so she wants to repeat their vows in the original city
- The Kleptomaniac – I Love Lucy episode 27, originally aired 4/14/1952
- Lucy is accused of stealing cash and valuables. The innocent Lucy decides to play along and teach Ricky a lesson.
- Cuban Pals – I Love Lucy episode 28, originally aired 4/21/1952
- When some of Ricky’s friends from Cuba come to visit, they suggest having “little Renita” dance with Ricky at the club. Lucy agrees, until she sees the lovely woman that Renita has grown into — and conspires with Fred and Ethel to have Renita not show up in time at the club, with Lucy filling in — for a dance number that she never expected.
- The Freezer – I Love Lucy episode 29, originally aired 4/28/1952
- Lucy and Ethel get a walk-in freezer from Ethel’s uncle, and then order two sides of beef – not realizing how much meat that actually is! Trying to hide the meat bill from their husbands, Lucy gets accidentally locked into the meat freezer
- Lucy Does a TV Commercial – I Love Lucy episode 30, originally aired 5/5/1952
- This is the classic Vitameatavegamin episode. Lucy gets a job on a TV commercial, pitching VitaMeatavegamin – a health tonic that’s more than 20% alcohol. With multiple takes required, Lucy gets more and more … relaxed, with one of the funniest episodes of television ever.
- The Publicity Agent – I Love Lucy episode 31, originally aired 5/12/1952
- To increase business for Ricky, Lucy poses as the Maharincess of Franistan.
- Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio – I Love Lucy episode 32, originally aired 5/19/1952
- After Ricky knows all of the answers to a radio quiz show, Lucy signs him up for the show — not knowing that the reason that he knew the answers was that Ricky saw the show being recorded earlier in the day.
- Lucy’s Schedule – I Love Lucy episode 33, originally aired 5/26/1952
- After Lucy’s lateness ruins a dinner with Ricky’s boss (played by Gale Gordon), Ricky puts Lucy on a strict schedule. Bragging about Lucy’s time management, he brings his boss home for dinner again — with Lucy determined to teach them a lesson about being speedy.
- Ricky Thinks He’s Going Bald – I Love Lucy episode 34, originally aired 6/2/1952
- After Ricky starts wearing a hat around the apartment, Lucy thinks he’s worrying too much about growing bald. Lucy gives Ricky’s scalp the treatment — and he likes it!
- Ricky Asks for a Raise – I Love Lucy episode 35, originally aired 6/9/1952
- Lucy convinces Ricky to demand a raise. When he doesn’t get it, she plots how to convince Ricky’s boss just how valuable Ricky is to the business