Though 'Miss Lewis' is supposed to be an elderly spinster, she is played by Bea Benaderet (the original choice to play Ethel Mertz) who, at 46, was in reality only 5 years older than Lucille Ball.
Guest star Edward Everett Horton is offered some elderberry wine by an elderly spinster in this episode. One of Horton's most famous roles is as Mr. Witherspoon in Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). In that film, Horton is offered poisoned elderberry wine by the amiable but murderous Brewster sisters, themselves elderly spinsters.
Bea Benaderet who plays Ms. Lewis in this episode was also the voice of Granny in the Merrie Melodies/Looney Tunes cartoons. Granny was the owner of Tweety, and Ms. Lewis has a canary in a cage in the corner of her apartment.
Although Vivian Vance and William Frawley were signed on to the series as co-stars they were not originally conceived to appear in every episode. It was thought in the series planning stages that some episodes would only include Lucy and Desi with guest stars and in those instances the Mertz's could be omitted. However, Lucy scribes quickly realized, with episodes such as this, that shows that omitted the Mertz's fell flat. Only one other episode later in the season "The Young Fans" would omit the Mertz's all together and only two episodes after that "Lucy Does a Television Commercial" and "Lucy's Mother in Law" only include one of the Mertz's. The earlier episode "The Audition" only included Frawley in it. In all of series 180 episodes Vance and Frawley would appear in 176 of them while Frawley in addition would be heard and not seen "Lucy Mother in Law" in which Fred calls to Ethel from off screen. Only two episodes"Lucy Plays Cupid", and "The Young Fans", both in season one, would omit them altogether.
At the time this episode aired, Bea Benaderet (Miss Lewis) was a regular on "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show" as George and Gracie's next door neighbor Blanche Morton.