"I Love Lucy" - "Ricky's European Booking" Quiz

Answer: Ricky should go out for cigarettes and not come back for three weeks.

Ricky explained that he'd like to take Lucy, but it would only be a three-week trip, the band would be doing one-nighters, Ricky wouldn't have time for sight-seeing, and he couldn't afford to take Lucy. Ricky suggested that if he told Lucy the truth she would be reasonable, right? Fred didn't think so, but told Ricky he knew where he could get eight to five odds on it.

Answer: He would take her on a European trip later.

When Ricky told Fred his idea, Fred said it would never work. Ricky wanted to practice how it would sound, so he had Fred pretend to be Lucy. As soon as Ricky said that the band was going to Europe, Fred jumped up and down, ran to the phone, and in his best falsetto voice mimicked Lucy calling Carolyn to say she was going to Europe, and then hung up. Ricky insisted Lucy wouldn't do that, but when he told Lucy, she did exactly what Fred predicted she would do.

Answer: True

Ethel came running into the apartment, excited that Lucy was going to go to Europe (Carolyn told Marion, who told the grocery boy, who told the butcher, who told Ethel). After hearing the reasons Ricky had given Lucy for not taking her, Ethel became cynical and pointed out what a great set-up Ricky and the band would have on a European trip without any wives.

As it sunk in with Lucy, Ethel said, "Boy, did he ever pull the wool over your eyes". Ricky came out and pleasantly asked where Lucy had decided to go to dinner. Lucy, by now angry, told Ricky, "I know what you're up to, you Cuban wool puller", and stormed off.

Answer: Fred

Lucy wasn't talking to Ricky until she heard him on the phone with Barney. She then offered herself as manager, claiming if he gave her a chance she could get his boys all over Europe (Ricky said they play a lot better if they're all in one place). Upon finding out that Fred used to handle his own bookings when he was doing vaudeville, Ricky offered the job to Fred, who accepted.

When Lucy asked if she could go if she raised the money, Ricky agreed.

Answer: False

Ricky had agreed Lucy could go if she raised the money, and Fred had agreed to be the band's manager, leaving Ethel out. She said, "Don't mind me, I'll just stay here alone while you're all having a wonderful trip to Europe. I don't want to see Europe anyway.

It's so old. You just send me a postcard now and then, from wherever you happen to be", as she began crying. Fred agreed that if Ethel raised the money for herself, she could go too.

Answer: Television set

Looking for money in sofas, piggy banks and husbands' pants pockets only netted them $200, so the girls thought of staging a raffle to turn the $200 into the $3,000 they needed for the trip. Lucy assured Ethel it was honest, and then said they needed a good fake name for their charity.

They decided on Ladies Overseas Aid (they were ladies, they wanted to go overseas, and they needed aid). Lucy attempted to purchase a television set, but the store proprietor, Mr. Feldman, offered to donate the set, as well as print the raffle tickets with his ad on them.

Answer: Lucy and Ethel would be arrested for fraud.

As she was preparing to leave, Mr. Jamison from the district attorney's office knocked on Lucy's door. When he asked about the charity that the raffle money was going to, Lucy willingly told Mr. Jamison that the name of the charity was made up, and the money was for her and Ethel to go to Europe. Mr. Jamison told her that if they were selling tickets under false pretenses, they had committed a crime. Lucy said she wouldn't have done it if she knew it was a crime, so Mr. Jamison said if Lucy called off the raffle and gave the money back he would forget the whole thing.

Answer: It was given to the Ladies Overseas Aid.

By the time Lucy and Mr. Jamison arrived at Feldman's Appliance Store, Ethel had already drawn the winning number. Mr. Feldman had a surprise for Lucy and Ethel, he found the president of the real Ladies Overseas Aid, Mrs. Wolbert, and brought her there to accept the money in person. Ethel didn't want to do it, but Lucy made her give Mrs. Wolbert the money, letting them off the hook with Mr. Jamison.

Answer: False

The steamship company called Ricky at the recording studio, and told him that if the band played during the crossing, their passage would be free. Ricky thought he had to pay the passage for everyone in the band, but if they were to play on the ship he didn't have to. With the money he would save, he could take Lucy and Ethel.

Answer: She mortgaged the apartment building.

Lucy and Ethel came home to find Fred playing with building blocks. When Lucy asked where Little Ricky was, Fred said he was napping because he had gotten bored. Ethel explained that she had suddenly remembered that the building was in her name, so she mortgaged it for the money they needed for the trip. Fred fainted and didn't come to until Ricky told him very loudly that they could all go to Europe and it wouldn't cost him a cent. Ethel gave Fred the check from the bank, which he promptly tore up.