Ultimate I Love Lucy Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Previous episode: Little Ricky Learns to Play the Drums            Next episode: Off to Florida

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s29/ABMfisher/MarioOrsatti.jpg http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s29/ABMfisher/PizzaMask.jpg

Plot[]

Mario Orsatti, a gondolier the Ricardos and Mertzes befriended in Venice, arrives on the Ricardos' doorstep. He says that he's in New York to see his brother, Dominic, but that Dominic told him he's staying with a sick friend named Sam Francesca. Lucy thinks that Dominic meant that he's in San Francisco, so Mario now needs to make enough money to get to California. Ricky gives him a job at the club, but he's a disaster. Ricky says that he has to go, but Lucy can't send him away. Mario then gets a job making pizzas in Martinelli's Pizza Parlor, but Lucy gets a visit from an immigration agent, and she learns that the visa Mario has prohibits him from working for money. Lucy has to take his shift making pizzas, and Ricky finds out the whole ugly mess. In the end, Mario gets enough to go to San Francisco, but shortly after he leaves, brother Dominic knocks on the Ricardos' door, explaining that he really was helping take care of a sick friend named Sam Francesca!

Trivia[]

  • Ever the perfectionist with props, Lucille Ball practiced making pizzas by throwing dough in the air at a real pizza parlor (Micelli's Pizza Parlor) in Hollywood. She became so good at it by filming time, after the episode was done being made, she made pizzas for the cast and crew at Micelli's, where she learned how to throw the dough.
  • The pizza maker who Lucy watches before she has to take Mario's shift was a real-life pizza maker at the local pizza parlor (Micelli's) where Lucy was taught.
  • When Lucy put the pizza dough over her head to hide from Ricky, she said that she realizes quickly that she needed to suck a hole through the dough so she could breathe. Watch closely, and you'll see her doing this.
  • The fake "law" Lucy makes up to explain to Mario why he can't work is officially called the "Taft-Hartley Visitors-from-Italy-Who-Work-in-Pizzerias-Get-Every-Third-Day-Off Amendment." Chances are Lucy had no idea that Taft-Hartley was really a tariff law.

Quotes[]

  • Ricky: We haven't played bridge since before we went to Europe.

Lucy: I know. I'll bet I've forgotten everything I ever knew about bridge.

Ricky: Good! Then maybe we can win.

  • Ricky: (to Mario) How could we possibly forget you?

Lucy: (not knowing Mario) Yeah, good ol'... you...

  • Lucy: (trying to remember where they met Mario) By the way, how are things in Florence?

Mario: I don't know. I was never in Florence.

  • Ricky: All we know is his name is Mario and he met us someplace in Europe.

Fred: Well, I got a clue.

Lucy: What?

Fred: He's Italian.

  • Fred: Rome?

Ricky: Naples?

Ethel: Genoa?

Lucy: San Remo?

Mario: Oh, San Remo!

Ricky, Lucy, Fred, and Ethel: (excitedly) San Remo!

Mario: Someday, I would like-a to go there.

  • Mario: Well, I've got-a $10. Is she enough [to get to San Francisco]?

Lucy: Oh, no, I'm afraid she isn't.

  • Mario: Borrowing [money] is no way to start a vacation in America, no.

Lucy: Well, why not? That's the way Americans always start their vacations.

  • Lucy: Well, I'm a fraid it's slack season for gondoliers in New York.

Fred: Unless you go down to Canal Street!

  • Lucy: He could work as a busboy.

Ricky: He can?

Lucy: Sure. He could make $60 in a couple of nights.

Fred: He CAN?! Well, if he won't take the job, I will!

  • Ricky: When I stopped singing "Babalu," [Mario] stopped to applaude.

Lucy: Well, so what? I've seen busboys applaude before.

Ricky: While they're carrying a tray full of dishes?

  • Ricky: [The maitre'd] tripped over mario, the whole thin' went up in the air, and that bride and groom have the world's first upside-down wedding cake.
  • Lucy: Well, honey, I don't think he's ever gonna believe that he should get all this money for just one night's work.

Ricky: Look, Lucy- he thought that America was a great country? Well, just tell him that it's a little greater than he thought it was.

  • Mario: My English is no so pretty good, but, in my country, when two men grab me, push me to the door, and kaploop, I'm-a fired!
  • Ricky: Mario's been gone for two days. He should be halfway to San Francisco.

Lucy: He SHOULD be...

  • Mr. Martinelli: You know how to make pizza?

Lucy: Yes. Yes, I majored in pizza in my high school cooking class.

  • Lucy: I know exactly what it costs [to fix Mario's damages]- $210.33. Ricky did everything but tattoo the number on my chest.
Advertisement