Little Ricky keeps his pet fish, named Mildred and Charles, in a large shallow glass fish bowl. If you search eBay for vintage fish bowl you will usually find a few just like the fish bowl Lucy is carrying in the above screen capture from the I Love Lucy episode Little Ricky gets a Dog
The Anchor Hocking 1 gallon fish bowl is a good match for Little Ricky’s one.
In the Season 5 episode of I Love Lucy entitled Lucy Hates to Leave Lucy is awake at night worrying about the move to their new house in the country. On the bedroom shelf there is a hexagonal alarm clock.
The shape and dial of the clock is an exact match for the white dial verson of the Telechron “Dorm” alarm clock. A closer look at the clock in the screen capture reveals it to be missing the cover in front of the dial. With the cover removed we notice clips at edges of the clock face to keep it in place. Pictured below is a black version of the same clock on Etsy (US) and from the photo we see how the window in front of the dial is curved and catches the light and would be too reflective for the studio lights- a practical reason for removing the front cover on set.
Telechron Alarm Clock on Etsy (US)
In an earlier post we looked at the owl bookends on the I Love Lucy set. The were identified as Vienna Cold Painted Bronze bookends like those seen on Etsy HERE. Since that post I came across another pair quite like them. They have the heavy stone/marble base and are painted metal but the metal appears to be cast iron on the spots where some paint was missing.
See the Borghese Owl Bookends on Etsy (US) and another pair on eBay this week.
The most expensive are the Vienna pair but the others work well as less expensive substitutes. I got a Borghese pair and am tempted to try to repaint them to look like the Austrian pair after watching the video below on how to paint a marble effect for the base.
Lucy and Ethel use a Crestwood Tape recorder on the episode Oil Wells (15 Feb. 1954). The Ricardo’s new neighbors claim to be Texas oil tycoons and a tape recorder features prominently in the story line. The Crestwood tape recorder was a new model that was widely promoted that year. Reporting on the appearance on the show an article in the popular Tape Recording magazine 10-1954 p. 42 followed with a picture of Lucy and Ethel on set.
On eBay recently I came across a listing for a vintage Crestwood tape recorder that looks very like the one used on the I Love Lucy show – click on the picture below to see the listing.
The Crestwood is the second tape recorder we have seen on the I Love Lucy show – previously we looked at the Webcor tape recorder used by Ricky to record his song “There’s a Brand New Baby in Our House“.
In the I Love Lucy episode “Lucy and Superman” Little Ricky is seen wearing his official Superman playsuit. A similar costume pictured below was seen in a past auction at liveauctioneers.com
In the above capture from the I Love Lucy episode “Ricky Minds the Baby” Fred Mertz tries to amuse Little Ricky with a squeek toy. The rubber squeek toy is a Mr Squawker The Duck toy made by Rempel of Akron Ohio who also produced Froggy the Gremlin which we looked at in a previous post.
From the original patent application:
Mr. Squawker the duck, [Fanciful figure of clothed duck in walking position] Rubber, H. 12 in,
Appl, author: Dietrich G, Rempel, © Rem-
pel Enterprises, Akron, Ohio;
10 Mar52; GP3259.
In I Love Lucy Season. 2 episode 13 Lucy Hires an English Tutor Lucy prepares for motherhood by studying to become “a walking book of knowledge” for her new baby. On her bedroom shelf we see a selection of reference books, among them a set of decorative hard bound history books.
The Great Events of the Great War Volumes 1-7 Hardcover – 1923, Edited By Charles F. Horne and Walter F. Austin (Author) 7 volume set. “These volumes are an earnest effort to give the reader such frank and full information as will enable him to comprehend clearly this greatest of all wars.”
Detail from the eBay listing: “This copy of The Great Events of the Great War is registered in the name of Captain George Hl Ormrod, the binding design on these volumes is an authorized facsimile of the original art binding on the official French copy of the Versailles Peace Treaty, which was signed by President Poincare and Foreign Minister S. Pichon, and deposited in the Archives of the French Government, gilt decorated front covers and spine, top edges gilt”
A fine Nesco breadbox and canister set expertly restored to look like the set in the Ricardo’s kitchen on I Love Lucy – pictured above- submitted by a contributor to this blog who was inspired by the previous blog posts. “With the help of my dad, who sandblasted, painted and clear coated everything and a friend who helped with the graphics, I too now have those Nesco canisters that are used in my kitchen every day!”
Read more about the original Nesco design in this post.
Seen on Etsy this week is a metal matchbox holder for your kitchen wall just like the one in Lucy Ricardo’s kitchen. You place an open matchbox with the open end down through the top and the matches can easily be accessed via the chute at the base. These were practical when the gas stove had to be lit using a match or flint tool. Now they are sought for their retro appeal.
Lucy keeps her household accounts in a classic record keeping book. Boorum and Pease record keeping account books have been around for over 100 years and look similar in style to Lucy’s account book and they are available on Amazon.
Boorum & Pease Canvas Account Book, Record, 20 Lb., 9 1/2 x 6-Inches, 200 Pages, Olive Green (667-R)
Boorum & Pease 3738150R Record/account book, blue/red cover, record rule, 9-5/8 x 7-5/8, 150 pages
