A few days before the taping of this episode it was revealed that Lucille Ball had been a member of the Communist Party in the 1930s after she had moved to Hollywood. Before the taping of the show began Desi Arnaz started to do his usual warm-up of the audience. But instead of telling some jokes he talked about the revelation of Lucille's past and tried to downplay it by quipping, "The only thing red about Lucy is her hair." She was one of the few people in Hollywood who managed to escape a past affiliation with the Communist Party relatively unscathed.
Lucy makes some disapproving comments about the proposed name "EthelLu" for the dress shop. The name of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's production company, including that for "I Love Lucy", is a portmanteau of similar construction- "DesiLu".
Mrs Hansen provides several sad reasons for needing more money from selling the shop. Among them, her mother is in the hospital and needs an operation, and the car needs to be repaired--since her grandmother wrecked it driving to the hospital. Mabel Paige, who played Mrs Hansen, was 73 years old at the time.
Before the girls take over the dress shop, there is no telephone on the counter. When the girls are running the shop, the telephone is on the counter ready for use. And when Lucy returns to the apartment, that telephone is already on the coffee table instead of it's typical location on the desk.
In many Lucy episodes, you can predict when someone will be making or receiving a telephone call in a because the phone will appear on the coffee table or other easy-to-reach area. This staging technique is common when a prop is needed only for a particular story line.
In many Lucy episodes, you can predict when someone will be making or receiving a telephone call in a because the phone will appear on the coffee table or other easy-to-reach area. This staging technique is common when a prop is needed only for a particular story line.