The Black Eye - I Love Lucy | clown ministry

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The Black Eye - I Love Lucy episode 48, season 2, originally aired 3/9/1953

A flashback episode, where Ricky explains about the time that Fred and Ethel didn’t believe Ricky about Lucy’s black eye. Lucy and Ricky are trying to read the same book, a murder mystery, which leads to some comedy as they first try to read together ("Madge walked into the darkened room only to find ... Lucy’s thumb"), only to have Lucy mumble as she reads out load. Since that’s not working, they try having one of them read to the other—but Ricky translates to Spanish as he’s reading, and Lucy tends to act things out—which Fred and Ethel overhear from the hallway, and imagine that the Ricardos are having a terrible fight, ending in the false assumption that Ricky has hit Lucy! Fred and Ethel go back to their apartment, to call the Ricardos and break up the ‘fight’. In the meantime, Ricky throws the book to Lucy, unintentionally hitting her and giving her a black eye.

When the Mertzes come up and see the black eye, they assume the worst. The next day, Ethel comes over, and doesn’t believe Lucy’s explanation of her black eye—and so she makes up a wild story about Ricky beating her after she mentioned her mysterious ‘boyfriend’. This leads to a major misunderstanding, and Fred urges Ricky to buy Lucy flowers to make it up to Lucy. Ricky refuses, since there’s nothing to make up for—but Fred decides to ‘help’ and sends off a bouquet of flowers to Lucy, meaning to sign Ricky’s name to the card—but signing his own name instead! Fred runs back to the apartment, meaning to intercept the flowers, but they’ve already arrived—and Ethel reads the card, thinking that her ‘fat old goat’ is Lucy’s mystery boyfriend. The girls spar, and Fred accidentally gets a black eye in the process. As he leaves, he meets Ricky in the hall, and gives him a black eye as well!

In the end, the Mertzes come to apologize to the Ricardos, as they realize that a person can get a black eye from accidentally being hit with a book—as Ethel enters, demonstrating her black eye!

The Black Eye is available as part of the season 2 I Love Lucy DVD collection.

Quotes from I Love Lucy - The Black Eye

Fred Mertz (William Frawley): [after Ethel has hit his nose by opening a door] I may never smell again!
Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): Wanna bet?

Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): [does not believe that Lucy got her black eye when Ricky accidentally tossed her a book with poor aim, and suspects abuse instead] This is Ethel, your friend, to whom you may turn in time of crisis.
Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball): Ethel, have you been drinking?

Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance): [to Lucy] So should we bring anything up? Cookies? Ice cream? Iodine?