The Lucy Show
Lucy Plays Cleopatra
TV Flash files “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” as a desk essential hour — The Lucy Show (1962–1968) on CBS, season 2, episode 1, aired 1963-09-30, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E01: listed hour 31 of 156 in the The Lucy Show guide, first listed hour of season 2. It aired 1963-09-30 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Lucy Buys a Boat” (S01E30). Next is “Kiddie Parties, Inc.” (S02E02).
Essential hour: “Lucy Plays Cleopatra”. Lucy Plays Cleopatra — season-two opener as costume dare, Ball's body comedy treating history as a prop closet.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The Danfield Volunteer firefighters put on a play of Cleopatra, but Lucy calls a firedrill and ditches and ends up getting the lead.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Lucy Plays Cleopatra sit in the The Lucy Show guide?
S02E01 is listed hour 31 of 156 — first listed hour of season 2, season 2 episode 1.
When did The Lucy Show S02E01 air?
Lucy Plays Cleopatra aired 1963-09-30 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Is this the same as I Love Lucy?
No. It is Ball's 1960s follow-up with a widow premise, Vance in the early years, and Gordon's Mr. Mooney as the later foil. Same slapstick engine, new household.
In the series
Why this series still plays
After I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball returned as a widow opposite Vivian Vance and then Gale Gordon's volcanic Mr. Mooney. Six seasons of bank hijinks and still-Olympic slapstick proved the redhead's stardom outlived the marriage brand. More Lucy without living forever in the 1950s apartment.
The body is still the instrument. After *I Love Lucy*, Lucille Ball returned on CBS (1962–1968) as widow Lucy Carmichael — later Lucy Carter — and kept a physical-comedy empire running without Desi as co-star. Six seasons. Vivian Vance co-starred in the early years before departing the regular cast. Gale Gordon's volcanic Mr. Mooney became the key foil. Bank hijinks, celebrity cameos, still-Olympic slapstick. The star brand outlived the original marriage premise. That is the craft argument, not the reunion lore.
Filed against
- Lucille Ball as Lucy Carmichael / Lucy Carter
Lucille Ball invented the sitcom industrial complex as Lucy Ricardo — physical comedy gold, multi-cam chaos, and a star marriage the public thought it owned. Off-screen Desilu power made her TV’s first true mogul-star. On TV Flash she…
- Vivian Vance as Vivian Bagley
Vivian Vance’s Ethel Mertz is I Love Lucy as live-audience architecture — six seasons of a star marriage the country thought it owned, blocking every multi-cam still copies without sending flowers. On TV Flash she is the friend as…
- Gale Gordon as Theodore J. Mooney
Gale Gordon’s Osgood Conklin detonated Our Miss Brooks as faculty-lounge volcano — 1950s catalog sarcastic-mentor sitcom, then The Lucy Show recasting the apoplexy as Mr. Mooney’s bank. TV Flash files him as the boss who could blow a…
- Mary Jane Croft as Mary Jane Lewis
Mary Jane Croft neighbor’d the slapstick as Mary Jane Lewis on The Lucy Show — Lucille Ball back as a widow opposite Vivian Vance then Gale Gordon’s volcanic Mr. Mooney, six seasons of bank hijinks, still-Olympic physical comedy. More…