I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy (1951)

33 mistakes in season 1

(11 votes)

I Love Lucy mistake picture

The Séance - S1-E7

Continuity mistake: After Lucy tells Mr. Merriweather that he's invited to the seance, when it cuts to Lucy unfolding the card table legs, note the couch behind her with one normal seat cushion on the left, but in the next wideshot there's an additional shorter cushion under the normal cushion. The small towel also repositions itself neatly on the couch. (00:11:55)

Super Grover

I Love Lucy mistake picture

Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio - S1-E32

Visible crew/equipment: At the start, after Fred and Ethel walk in, when Lucy and Ethel walk away from the kitchen shutters carrying things, the stage microphone and stand can be seen at the right side of the screen. (Later in the episode, when Lucy and Ricky appear in the quiz segment an identical microphone is on stage with them). (00:00:35)

Super Grover

The Kleptomaniac - S1-E27

Visible crew/equipment: When Lucy opens the closet door to show Ethel all the donated stuff for the bazaar auction, the boom mic (appears to be a double mic) dips down into view at the top of the screen (not visible in some streaming versions). (00:02:25)

Super Grover

The Moustache - S1-E23

Visible crew/equipment: After Lucy tells Ethel her plans for gluing on a mustache, Ethel congratulates her on the crazy idea, and in the next shot of Lucy in her bedroom just as she opens the door for Fred and Ethel, a crew member's arm moves into the shot at the right side of the screen. (00:06:15)

Super Grover

The Séance - S1-E7

Visible crew/equipment: After the first shot of Mr. Merriweather trying to contact Tilly on his ouija board, when it cuts to him answering the telephone we can see the moving shadow of the boom mic, on the door to the right.

Super Grover

The Girls Want To Go To the Nightclub - S1-E2

Visible crew/equipment: When Lucy and Ethel are talking about going to the Copacabana, just as Lucy leans toward Ethel before her remark about catching more flies with honey, the second camera/equipment can be seen at the right side of the screen. The same thing happens later, when Ricky laughs at the idea that Lucy and Ethel will have dates, as Ricky walks over to Fred standing at the desk, camera/equipment is visible at the bottom, right corner of the screen. (00:01:45)

Super Grover

I Love Lucy mistake picture

The Kleptomaniac - S1-E27

Revealing mistake: When Ricky brings home the psychiatrist, in all the long shots of the living room from the time Ethel walks around the coffee table toward Fred, we can see that all four coffee table legs have been propped up on stone blocks.

The Fur Coat - S1-E10

Revealing mistake: When Lucy is cutting up the fake fur coat to scare Ricky, it is clear that the parts that she has to remove are already cut and just loosely sewn in place.

luke f

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Lucy's Schedule - S1-E33

Visible crew/equipment: When Lucy and Mrs. Littlefield bring out the soup and then salad, at the start of the shots just as they leave the kitchen, the shadow of another camera can be seen on the edge of the set's "wall" at the right side of the screen. (00:20:25)

Super Grover

The Marriage License - S1-E26

Continuity mistake: After spending the night at the hotel, when Ricky goes to the front desk to speak with the "Justice of the Peace" it's 7:30 on the wall clock. Then, when Mr. Willoughby stands by the stairs and calls to his wife it's almost 7:40, but when Ricky gets ready to propose it's 7:30, but it's 7:45 when Mrs. Willoughby comes downstairs in the closeup, then back to 7:30 in the wideshot. (00:17:40)

Super Grover

I Love Lucy mistake picture

Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer - S1-E11

Continuity mistake: When Ethel walks in while Lucy's vacuuming, Ethel has the folded newspaper under her arm and there's only small print on the paper, but after Lucy offers Ethel a cup of coffee now the headline can be seen on the still folded paper under Ethel's arm. Then, when Lucy unfolds the paper we see both the front and back page filled with pictures and the headline, but that area of small print which was seen in the earlier shots does not exist on either side. (00:00:40)

Super Grover

The Benefit - S1-E13

Visible crew/equipment: While Ricky and Fred are in the kitchen, when Ethel tells Lucy she needs her help getting Ricky for the club benefit, in the shots facing Lucy the shadow of crew/equipment movement is visible on the shutters to the right. (00:04:30)

Super Grover

Ricky Ricardo: Fred, how often is Ethel's checking account overdrawn?
Fred Mertz: Never.
Ricky Ricardo: Never? How do you manage that?
Ethel Mertz: It's easy. I never had enough money at one time to open a checking account.
Fred Mertz: She spends money like I'm printing it in the basement.

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Show generally

Question: I know this show is from the time period when a lot of couples had two beds in their room. Just out of curiosity, when did it become acceptable to show a couple's bedroom with a single bed on TV?

Answer: According to Snopes.com, there is no definitive answer, but the mid-1960s is the most verifiable date with "The Munsters" being cited as the first, although others claim "The Brady Bunch" showed the first couple seen in a double bed. An early TV show from the late 1940s titled, "Mary Kay and Johnny" is also thought to have shown the married couple's bedroom as having a double bed, although probably not with them in it. However, this was when TV was aired live, and there are no surviving episodes, only anecdotal accounts.

raywest

Something that is funny is that in the movie "A Christmas Story," they show the parents having two twin beds in their bedroom. In a real situation, they should have shown them having a double bed. Lucy and Ricky had twin beds pushed together in an early episode, which would have been pushing television boundaries in that time.

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