The Freezer – I Love Lucy episode 29, originally aired 4/28/1952
In The Freezer, Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball)and Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance) purchase a walk-in freezer from Ethel’s uncle, and then each order sides of beef – not realizing how much meat that actually is! (For those who don’t know, a single side of beef is typically over 700 pounds).
After being stuck with 1,400 pounds of meat, the girls first try to steal customers from a local butcher in order to get rid of the excess, and after failing at that they try to simply hide the meat bill from their husbands, In the process, Lucy gets accidentally locked into the meat freezer, and becomes a human Popsicle.
The Freezer is available as part of the season 1 of I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy Quotes
Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz): Hey, what goes here? Just two eggs. Where’s the bacon?
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Bacon happens to be 75 cents a pound.
Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz): Look, Lucy, I can’t eat eggs that way. They look absolutely naked.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Look the other way when you eat them.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Look, it says this freezer pays for itself.
Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz): Well let me see. (looks at paper) Hey, maybe we ought to get one.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Really?
Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz): As soon as it’s done paying for itself, tell it to come on over.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Gee, why is it that everything wonderful costs money?
Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): My Uncle Oscar is a butcher, and he has a big cold chest.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Why don’t you knit him a sweater?
Customer: Is this choice meat?
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Ethel, give the little lady her choice.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): That isn’t a side of beef. That’s a side of elephant.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): You don’t suppose they’d believe that a cow wandered in there and fell apart.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) [to Ethel]: Listen you take care of the ham, while I take care of the beef.
Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz): [to Ethel] What would you like for me to sing next?
Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): Anything at all.
Fred Mertz (William Frawley): How about that little Cuban ditty,”Let’s Vamosso To El Freezo?
Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz): Girls, we want to talk to you.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): About what?
Fred Mertz (William Frawley): I ran into Uncle Oscar today.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Start packing, Ethel.
Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz): Wait a minute girls, we’re not mad at you. We think it’s a wonderful idea that you got the freezer.
Fred Mertz (William Frawley): Yeah, that was a really smart business deal!
Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz): In fact, we like it so much, that we want to do our share, too. And just to get you started, here’s what we got! [pulls up a huge hunk of meat] 30 pounds of meat!
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Gee, swell!
Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz): Did you ever see this much meat in your life?
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): [knowingly] No … boy, that sure is a lot of meat, isn’t it, Ethel?
Meat Man: Sorry ladies, once a side of beef has been cut, we’re not allowed to bring it back.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Come on Ethel.
Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): What are we going to do?
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): I’m going to paste this animal back together again.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): [to a customer in butcher shop] Come here. Are you tired of paying high prices? Are you interested in a little high-class beef? Do you want a bargain? Tell you what I’m gonna do. Step up a little closer. I don’t wanna block the traffic. Now you look like a smart dame, what’ll it be? I got sirloin, tenderloin, T-bone, rump, pot roast, chuck roast, ox-tail stump …
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): It’s seventy-nine cents a pound.
Customer: How can you sell meat so cheap?
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): I’m glad you asked that. We rope, we brand, we butcher. We do everything but eat it for you. Seventy-nine cents a pound.
I Love Lucy Trivia
- Starting with this episode, Desi Arnaz began receiving screen credit as Executive Producer.
- The first appearance of Barbara Pepper (better known as Mrs. Ziffel from the Green Acres TV show) an old friend of Lucille Ball, dating back to when they were both chorus girls in Roman Scandals (1933) and appeared in many future episodes as well.