Lucy's Cuts Vincent's Price

Here's Lucy: Lucy's Cuts Vincent's Price
1970 | Color | 30 Minutes | PG | Comedy | Mono | Paramount

Creators:

Milt Josefsberg

Ray Singer

Stars: 

Lucille Ball

Gale Gordon

Lucie Arnaz

Lucy has the winning bid on a painting at an auction and asks Vincent Price to appraise it for her. Lucy suspects it may have great value. Remembering that former client Vincent Price is a collector, Lucy calls on him for consultation. Vincent mistakes Lucy for an actress in his new horror movie and proceeds to rehearse a scene in his newly created evil laboratory.

Being a fan of I Love Lucy I knew this show existed but never really watched it. This time around Here's Lucy stars Lucille Ball and her long-time partner Gale Gordon and her real-life children Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. It was broadcast on CBS from 1968 to 1974. So Needless to say I was quite young when this was on. I was delighted to see a Halloween style episode starring Vincent Price to use as my springboard. 

After being tricked into a winning bid for a bad piece of art at an auction Lucy is struggling to find a way to pay for her mistake. Lucy happens to work for "Carter's Unique Employment Agency" where she learns that the painting could hold something more valuable and thanks to the agency's connections she gets in touch with Prices' Wife to set up an appraisal for the painting. And that's when the fun begins.

Price is filming a new horror film titled Who’s Afraid of Virginia’s Wolfman? He says it has the best title since he starred in The Giant Chihuahua That Ate Chicago. Price thinks Lucy is an actress who has come to his home studio to audition for the role of a victim in his new film. He locks her in the study and straps her to an examining table. Lucy’s terrified reaction makes Price wonder aloud if she uses the Stanislavski method.

When Vincent Price says the painting under the painting could be a Peter Paul Rubens Lucy asks what a Peter Paul and Rubens is worth. Of course, this now becomes a bidding war between her bachelor brother-in-law Harry, played by Gale Gordon. Harry says he could sell the painting to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a tidy profit. Lucy, of course, sells him the painting for 250 clams.

Of course, the joke is on Harry (no spoilers here) but the last laugh goes to Vincent who at the end of the episode, says he charges $250 for art appraisals: “That’s Vincent’s price!”. For never seeing an episode of the show I'm hooked. This was fantastic, funny, and just the right amount of fluffy humor that the world is missing today. Lucy and Vincent lit up the small screen for a solid 10 minutes of per laugh out loud entertainment. I have already jumped to episode one to make sure it was not a fluke and so far so good. 

“The Lucy Show” did a monster-themed episode titled “Lucy and the Monsters” (S3; E18) but instead of airing at Halloween it aired in mid-January. I will be checking out that episode tonight. If you have Amazon Prime you can check out the episode and it is worth tracking down.

Hey Lucy...I give you a hearty 

4 Bloody Heart's out of 5

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