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Tennessee Bound - I Love Lucy season 4, episode 112, originally aired 1/24/1955

Getting lost on their road trip to Hollywood, Ricky, Lucy, Fred and Ethel get lost in Bent Fork, Tennessee—the home town of Lucy’s ‘cousin’ Ernie, played delightfully by Tennessee Ernie Ford. Unfortunately, they are soon arrested for speeding by the local sheriff, who according to Cousin Ernie is "as popular as a skunk at a picnic." One thing leads to another, and the sheriff arrests Lucy, and holds her in jail. The rest of the gang ‘serenade’ the sheriff in the jail, covering the noise of the files that Ricky, Fred and Lucy are using on the bars of the cell. No sooner do they finish then the Sheriff comes in, sorry for overreacting before and opening the cell door to let Lucy out—however, the section that Lucy is holding on to stays in place as the rest of the door swings open, a classic visual joke.

Now that the whole gang is in jail, Cousin Ernie decides that their only way out is to agree to marry one of the Sheriff’s daughters, Teensy or Weensy—extremely overweight girls, of course. Instead, Lucy suggests a square dance to ‘celebrate’ the ‘engagement’—with our heroes using a handy rope to tie up the Sheriff and his daughters, and make their escape. Highlights include the performance of Birmingham Jail.

This episode is available as part of the DVD of I Love Lucy Season 4.

Funny quotes from I Love Lucy - Tennessee Bound

Cousin Ernie (Tennessee Ernie Ford): [Ending his Square Dance call]
They’re all tied up /
They’re tied up good /
Say ‘Hello’ to Hollerwood!

Cousin Ernie (Tennessee Ernie Ford): Cousin Fred, it’s time for desperate measures. You’ve heard of going up the creek without a paddle? We ain’t even got a boat!

Country boy: Shucks, you’re in Tennessee.
Lucy: Tennessee?
Ethel: Tennessee?
Ricky: Tennessee?
Fred: Tennessee?
Country Boy: You got a bad echo in that car!

Trivia from I Love Lucy - Tennessee Bound

This Tennessee Ernie Ford’s third, and final, appearance on I Love Lucy as ‘Cousin Ernie.’
Aaron Spelling appears as a gas station attendant—he became famous later on as a producer of many popular television shows.
An earlier version of the script had the gang use a taffy pull, instead of rope, to tie up the Sheriff and his daughters.