I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy (1951)

40 mistakes in season 3 - chronological order

(11 votes)

Sentimental Anniversary - S3-E15

Continuity mistake: While Lucy's showing Little Ricky the pictures in the album, we see Lucy's fingernails are not polished, but in the closeup of her hand pointing to the photo the fingernails have dark polish on them. This happens again when Lucy's looking through the album with Ricky.

Super Grover

Home Movies - S3-E19

Plot hole: Toward the end of the episode, when the spliced-together movie is shown, there are several scenes from the movie Lucy, Fred and Ethel shot, often showing all three of them on screen at the same time. The problem is that no one else was there with them, yet the camera follows them as they move around the room. Who was running their camera?

Jeff Swanson

Home Movies - S3-E19

Factual error: In the film Lucy and the others make, there is a long sequence of footage played forwards, then "mistakenly" repeated backwards. With the equipment and techniques they were using, this would have required not only making a complete copy of the segment, but also reversing the order of individual frames. Just feeding the film in backwards would have also flipped the image vertically. The result seen would be nearly impossible to produce accidentally.

I Love Lucy mistake picture

Bonus Bucks - S3-E20

Continuity mistake: After Ricky takes out the extra expenses from the prize money, when starched-up Lucy walks into the office Fred's holding the last dollar bill, and in the closeup of Ethel's and Fred's shocked reactions to Lucy's appearance we see Lucy's hand holding the dollar, but in the next wideshot Lucy's open hand is empty so Fred gives her the dollar. (00:24:35)

Super Grover

I Love Lucy mistake picture

Ricky's Hawaiian Vacation - S3-E21

Continuity mistake: When Ricky has five seconds left on Freddie Fillmore's show, in the wideshot Ricky starts singing "Let's have another piece of" and he's holding the paper with his right hand while snapping the fingers of his left, but it cuts to Ricky's closeup and the paper's now in his left hand while he's snapping the fingers of his right hand. (00:24:40)

Super Grover

Lucy is Envious - S3-E22

Continuity mistake: When Martians Lucy and Ethel are sneaking up behind everyone on the Empire State Building, in the closeup Ethel has a toy gun tucked into her belt just as she climbs over the fence, but in the next wideshot her toy gun is already lying on the observation deck floor. (00:17:25)

Super Grover

I Love Lucy mistake picture

Lucy Writes a Novel - S3-E23

Visible crew/equipment: While Lucy starts taking notes about Ethel, Fred walks in and soon asks, "What's going on this booby hatch," then just as Lucy rushes back to the desk, we can see the end of the set wall and there's some kind of partition in front of the kitchen set. (00:02:35)

Super Grover

I Love Lucy mistake picture

Lucy Writes a Novel - S3-E23

Visible crew/equipment: When Lucy tells Ricky, Fred, and Ethel that she made a carbon copy of the novel they just burned in the fireplace, the actors' tape marks are visible on the carpet when Lucy says, "Pardon me," in the wideshot. Then later, when Ricky, Fred, and Ethel walk in while Lucy's typing up her sequel, they stand at tape marks again. (00:11:05)

Super Grover

Lucy Writes a Novel - S3-E23

Character mistake: When Fred, Ethel, and Ricky confront Lucy on what she wrote about them in her novel Ricky states "I'm so hammy I should go lie down between two slices of rye bread." This is incorrect. Lucy wrote "He turned into such a big ham you could stuff him with cloves."

Rob245

Lucy's Club Dance - S3-E24

Other mistake: When Ricky and Fred hold up the newspapers with the big holes in the back page, we see the front page with the headline "Bond Issue Defeated", and it should look familiar since it's the same front page that was used in the episode "Ricky's Old Girlfriend", with the article about Carlotta Romero. (00:18:15)

Super Grover

I Love Lucy mistake picture

The Diner - S3-E25

Visible crew/equipment: During the scenes at the small diner when it's open for business, such as when Marco walks in, there are two small chalk T-marks on the floor in the area near the door. The T-marks are also visible when Ethel and Fred walk back inside. (00:12:35)

Super Grover

The Black Wig - S3-E26

Visible crew/equipment: When Lucy and Bert (Roberta) walk into the back of the salon, there are a few chalk marks on the floor to the right of the styling chair, and a few moments later that's where both Doug and Bert stand when Doug doesn't recognizes Lucy at first. (00:03:40)

Super Grover

I Love Lucy mistake picture

The Black Wig - S3-E26

Visible crew/equipment: During the scenes in the living room after wig-wearing Lucy comes home in a huff about Ricky, an actor's mark is visible on the carpet at the fireplace, and there's a T-mark on the carpet between the couch and desk.

Super Grover

I Love Lucy mistake picture

The Sublease - S3-E30

Visible crew/equipment: After Lucy and Mr. Beecher sign the lease, just as they all start heading toward the door, the taped T-mark is visible at the bottom of the screen at the edge of the carpet (presumably for the second camera dolly offscreen at the left). Then as Mrs. Hammond walks out, a bit of overhead set equipment can be seen at the top right side of the screen. (00:12:45)

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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Drafted - S1-E9

Question: Why would Ethel think Fred's enlisted? He wouldn't be allowed in due to his age right? I know the plot yet this thinking makes no sense.

Rob245

Answer: There is no reason. It's a just a silly plot device, typical of the era. Women characters were often portrayed as making uninformed assumptions or decisions.

raywest

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