It's one of the most legendary scenes ever to have been spawned from a TV series and one of pop culture's most iconic images - you've likely seen it before, being featured in hundreds of merchandise tichokes and countless classic TV retrospectives and homages produced over the years. It's been heralded and held as a standard for all television comedy so long, few have managed to surpassed it, even as I Love Lucy begins to slide into the 80+ year mark.
Of course, I'm talking about the classic bit of Lucy, desperate for a her bit break in showbiz, wanting the success and fame her husband Ricky's had for so long.
Despite his initial refusals, Lucy goes behind his back, and lands the role of a spokeswoman for a tonic, only for the shoot to go haywire as she slowly grows more incoherent and drunk by the second, sloshing down the Vitameatavegamin, unaware that it's loaded with alcohol and that's she's getting hammered hard by the stuff by the minute.
For many, this is the definitive I Love Lucy episode, it's impact is bigger than the other gems in the series that have produced those iconic images that have seen seered into the TV lexicon for years from the series, such as "Job Switching", "Lucy Meets Superman", "Lucy Goes to the Hospital", and "Lucy's Italian Movie", and it's not hard to see why.
The episode's not perfect as many herald it to be - the plot drags in some places, but it does have some of Lucille Ball's best pieces of physical comedy ever recorded on film, - such as the gag, where Lucy shows how desperate for the showbiz life she really is, by literally shoving herself inside a TV, considering it in her eyes as rational housewife behavior, only to drop the cigarette box, trying to crawl out of the set.
Then - of course, the highlight of the entire half-hour, Lucy deciding to go behind Ricky's back, getting the job, and becoming the Vitameatavegamin spokeswoman. For the first few takes, things go well. Then minutes in, the shoot goes downhill, and the comedy begins. Within minutes, Lucy, as the takes continue, goes from following the script beat for beat, to getting a little woozy, to becoming a complete stammering, hiccuping mess who's turned the set of the commercial into a pub counter. It's the perfect example of a slow buildup being used for a perfect payoff.
But alas, don't expect a hilarious bit of Ricky becoming flustered at his wife's scatterbrain antics back at the apartment, or any sense of narrative eloquentcy. This is one of those Lucy episodes, where instead of the writers wrapping their weekly antics with an often surprising or satisfying ending, the episode ends abruptly, with no real punch or resolution.
Overall, it deserves definitely its rightful place in the television pantheon, and is a prime example of slapstick physical comedy done right.
Of course, I'm talking about the classic bit of Lucy, desperate for a her bit break in showbiz, wanting the success and fame her husband Ricky's had for so long.
Despite his initial refusals, Lucy goes behind his back, and lands the role of a spokeswoman for a tonic, only for the shoot to go haywire as she slowly grows more incoherent and drunk by the second, sloshing down the Vitameatavegamin, unaware that it's loaded with alcohol and that's she's getting hammered hard by the stuff by the minute.
For many, this is the definitive I Love Lucy episode, it's impact is bigger than the other gems in the series that have produced those iconic images that have seen seered into the TV lexicon for years from the series, such as "Job Switching", "Lucy Meets Superman", "Lucy Goes to the Hospital", and "Lucy's Italian Movie", and it's not hard to see why.
The episode's not perfect as many herald it to be - the plot drags in some places, but it does have some of Lucille Ball's best pieces of physical comedy ever recorded on film, - such as the gag, where Lucy shows how desperate for the showbiz life she really is, by literally shoving herself inside a TV, considering it in her eyes as rational housewife behavior, only to drop the cigarette box, trying to crawl out of the set.
Then - of course, the highlight of the entire half-hour, Lucy deciding to go behind Ricky's back, getting the job, and becoming the Vitameatavegamin spokeswoman. For the first few takes, things go well. Then minutes in, the shoot goes downhill, and the comedy begins. Within minutes, Lucy, as the takes continue, goes from following the script beat for beat, to getting a little woozy, to becoming a complete stammering, hiccuping mess who's turned the set of the commercial into a pub counter. It's the perfect example of a slow buildup being used for a perfect payoff.
But alas, don't expect a hilarious bit of Ricky becoming flustered at his wife's scatterbrain antics back at the apartment, or any sense of narrative eloquentcy. This is one of those Lucy episodes, where instead of the writers wrapping their weekly antics with an often surprising or satisfying ending, the episode ends abruptly, with no real punch or resolution.
Overall, it deserves definitely its rightful place in the television pantheon, and is a prime example of slapstick physical comedy done right.