Ultimate I Love Lucy Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Previous episode: Too Many Crooks        Next episode: Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s29/ABMfisher/GoldenGloves.jpg http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s29/ABMfisher/VagrantWives.jpg

Plot[]

Lucy and Ethel hate how their husbands insist on wearing their old tattered clothes everywhere. After Ricky and Fred purposely wear their ratty clothes out to a movie, Lucy and Ethel decide to secretly get rid of all of the worn-out clothes their husbands have been saving for years and years. They sell the old clothes to a secondhand clothing store, but Ricky gets a call from the owner of the store, asking if he really wanted to sell these clothes.

To teach their wives a lesson, Ricky and Fred pretend to have bought clothes from Brooks Brothers. They got some empty Brooks Brothers boxes and put their old clothes inside. Lucy is not happy to see that her plot has been foiled.

But she soon gets her revenge. Ricky calls her from the club, telling her and Ethel to get all dolled up and come down to the Tropicana. What Lucy doesn't know is that Ricky has been named one of the "10 Best-Dressed Men in America," and Fred is being called Ricky's "fashion consultant." All Lucy can focus on is the hypocrisy of Ricky not being able to dress nicely to go out to a movie but will order her to dress all fancy when HE wants.

So, Lucy and Ethel wear Ricky and Fred's old clothes down to the Tropicana. Ricky and Fred are mortified. Lucy and Ethel are, too, once they see a photographer snapping pictures of them to put in the newspaper article about Ricky being named one of the "10 Best-Dressed Men in America"!

Trivia[]

  • Author of The Lucy Book, Geoffrey Mark Fidelman, feels the premise of this episode is unrealistic because of how much pride both Desi Arnaz and Ricky Ricardo took in their overall appearance and style.
  • One piece of Ricky's old clothes that Lucy sold was a sweater with a big "H" on the front and "Universidad de la Habana" on the back. Ricky said in episode #53 that his alma mater was Havana U, and the continuity here matches.
  • One of Fred's oldest pieces of clothing was a sweater that said "Golden Gloves: 1909." even though the Golden Gloves did not actually begin until 1928.
  • Lucy and Ethel sold their husbands' old clothes to Zeb Allen's Used Clothing Emporium.
  • Lucy was busy making spaghetti for dinner when Ricky called to tell her to get dolled up and come down to the Tropicana.
  • If Lucy hadn't convinced her to dress in Fred's ratty old clothes to go to the Tropicana, Ethel would have worn her blue crepe.
  • When Ricky finds out at the club that Lucy sold his old clothes to Zeb Allen, part of his rant in Spanish is saying that this is "the worst thing [Lucy] ever did to [him]."

Quotes[]

  • Ricky: What are we going to see?

Lucy: Oh, that movie we've been trying to get to for weeks, with Marilyn Monroe.

Ricky: Yeah, that'll make me forget my troubles!

  • Lucy: And that shirt! It looks like it came out of the rag bag!

Ricky: It DID!

  • Ethel: I don't know how you got Ricky to change. I couldn't do a thing with Raggedy Andy.

Fred: What's the matter with these clothes? They're comfortable.

Lucy: Fred, if you wanted to be comfortable, I'm surprised you didn't go in your pajamas and bathrobe.

Fred: Ah!

Ethel: Oh, no, you don't!

Lucy: Fred, Ricky is wearing a suit, a shirt, and a tie. Now, how are you going to feel?

Fred: Comfortable!

Ethel: It's no use, Lucy. You're beating your head against a stone slob.

  • Ethel: [Ricky]'s really attached to those pants, isn't he?

Lucy: Sometimes, I think it's vice-versa. You know, he doesn't hang 'em up in a closet, he stands 'em up in the corner!

  • Fred: Come on, little Lord Fauntleroy!

Ricky: That does it!

Lucy: Now, Ricky...

Ricky: Nobody's gonna call me "little Frontle-roo-ey"!

  • Lucy: How long do you think those two tramps will go on wearing those old clothes?

Ethel: Until they're condemned by the Board of Health.

Lucy: Exactly. Or until they've worn so thin that you can see through them, and they get arrested.

  • Lucy: Did you get arrested for vagrancy?

Fred: Almost!

Ethel: What?!

Ricky: Well, we were standing on the corner, just talkin'...

Fred: And I took my hat off to scratch my head...

Ricky: And a woman dropped a dime in it!

  • Ethel: I took everything that wasn't fit to wear out of his closet, and you know what?

Lucy: What?

Ethel: The closet's empty!

  • Lucy: All that was left was just some little ol' ashes, just ashes, worn-out ashes.
  • Ricky: And furthermore...

Lucy: "Furdermore" what?

  • Fred: What did I say? Come on now- let me in on it!
  • Lucy: You wanna go downtown and have dinner with the boys.

Ethel: Yes. What boys?

  • Lucy: Ethel! How much courage have you got?

Ethel: None!

Lucy: Come on now! I've got an idea.

Ethel: Oh, no, I'm a coward. I can't even wear purple, 'cause it clashes with the stripe down my back!

Advertisement