If you like to paint its easy to mock up your own version of the “I Love Lucy” cruet.
Search eBay for a “Rooster cruet” like the one in the picture above Seen HERE . You will notice the back is blank. so you can paint your own ivy design like the I Love lucy one. You will need acrylic paint, green and yellow for the leaves (there is a touch of yellow at the tips of the leaves), and brown for the branches and some brushes including a fine one to do the fine lines. Use the picture of an original Thompson cruet below for inspiration. Click Here to find a Rooster Cruet on eBay
Seen on eBay this week is a cruet set advertised as the set from I Love lucy CLICK HERE to view the listing. There is a cert from a prop house but I don’t know if there is any direct provenance to anyone who can verify the authenticity. I am curious that the funnel is present because I assumed it went missing as the funnel is not seen in several episodes of the show. It appears that ivy leaf pattern on the cruet offered on eBay is not an exact match for the cruet seen in the screen shot above when you compare the placement of the ivy leaf shapes. The cruets were hand painted so no two are exactly alike.
If you read the previous post about the Thompson ivy cruet set you will be aware that similar cruet sets from George S. Thompson of Pasadena, Ca. under the Olde Thompson label can still sometimes turn up on for sale, so you may be able to find an identical one for less if you are patient.
Ivy Cruet set Offered on eBay recently. Photo: eBay
Note: I am not an expert on original props and cannot verify the authenticity of any items claimed to be from the show. As always exercise caution and look for reliable provenance.
Little Ricky’s Toys in the episode “Ricardo’s Change Apartments”
In the episode “Ricardo’s Change Apartments” Lucy is running out of space to store all the baby items. In the screen capture above we can see some of the now very collectible 50’s era toys belonging to little Ricky. On the top shelf to the left there is a Cohen Fire Chief tin pull toy, On the second shelf on the left is a Mattel Tricky Trolly – the original box is to the right of the same shelf. On top of the Tricky Trolley box appears to be a toy drum similar to Ricky’s toy drum we looked at in a previous post.
Cohen Fire Chief tin pull toyCohen Fire Chief tin pull toy and original box at liveauctioneers.com
Owl Bookends on the set of “I Love Lucy” Lucy Meets Charles Boyer 1956
In the scene pictured above from “I Love Lucy” episode Lucy Meets Charles Boyer we see Ethel speaking to Lucy on the set of Ricardo’s hotel room in Paris. In the background we can see the owl bookends we looked at before in the Ricardo’s living room, later they moved to a shelf in Ethel’s living room when she got Lucy’s old furniture, and now the are in the Paris hotel set. The book title appears to be “An Introduction to French” and a possible candidate for this book is:
Lucy’s kitchen had several salt and pepper shaker sets, usually they were on the large side up to 4″ or more which made them easier to spot on set. This time we are looking at a more average sized 3 piece plastic salt and pepper shaker set marked Superlon Product Chicago IL USA on the base of the holder. In the screen capture above they are next to the Plas-tex set we looked at previously.
Three piece plastic salt and pepper shaker set marked Superlon Product Chicago IL USA similar to the set on I Love Lucy
Similar set on eBay this week – click picture to see it on eBay
In the spisode “Lucy Gets Homesick in Italy”, after climbing the 4 flights up to get to her room in the Italian hotel, dubbed “the bridal suite” Lucy sits down to recuperate.
Next to her is a table with a unique, antique French Brass candlestick sitting there.
(Odd that it seems to be French and not Italian.)
Similar candlesticks to one see above on the set of “Lucy Gets Homesick in Italy” Credit: antiqueblueonline.com
The prisms were taken off and the top part is slightly different, but looks very close to this Girandole, complete with base.
When Lucy promises Ricky in the episode “Lucy Goes to Monte Carlo” that she and Ethel will not go to the Casino, she picks up
a Michelin PARIS guidebook to find a restaurant. Of course she picks “Le Grille” that just HAPPENS to be IN the casino.
1950’s Michelin PARIS guidebook seen on Etsy
While maybe not the exact book, these are very close:
In the I Love Lucy Season 5 episode Paris at Last Lucy sets out to explore Paris and “discovers” an artist whose paintings she hopes will become valuable some day. However Lucy’s meets another kind of artist – a con artist. The painting Lucy buys is a view of Notre Dame Cathedral from the Left Bank. Of course this scene is filmed in the studio, however assuming the “artist” is painting the scene before him, this places Lucy and the artist Charpentier in the vicinity of Quai Saint Michel. The building with the awning to the right of the painting is Hotel Le Notre-Dame SAINT-MICHEL which I recognized immediately because it is where I stayed when I was in Paris a few weeks ago. It is an interesting boutique hotel in a listed Paris building, with interior decor by Christian Lacroix. It’s a great location for exploring the area and we had a view of Notre Dame from the room and a Brasserie on the ground floor under the awning. Just around the corner is the famous Shakespeare & Co bookstore.
View of Notre Dame from Quai Saint-Michel, ParisGoogle Maps View of Quai Saint-Michel, Paris, Hotel Notre Dame on the right – click for Google street view
Establishing shot of American Express at 11 Rue Scribe, Paris, from I Love Lucy episode Paris at Last
Incidentally, Lucy meets the artist in front of the American Express office, a film clip of American Express at 11 Rue Scribe, Paris, is used to establish the scene. This is approx 2 miles away from the Notre Dame location the artist is supposed to be painting.
American Express building at 11 Rue Scribe, Paris, in Google Maps
The American Express building at 11 Rue Scribe, Paris, is now home to a Nespresso Cafe and is no longer an American Express office.
Ethel Refers to a Fodor’s Britain 1955 guide book, Lucy Meets the Queen ,I Love Lucy Season 5
In the Season 5 episode Lucy Meets the Queen the Ricardos and the Mertzes arrive in London, and Lucy and Ethel go to the palace in hopes of seeing the Queen. Ethel is seen referring to a copy of the Britain 1955 edition of Fodor’s Modern Guides – Lucy is hoping to catch a glimpse of the Queen but gets distracted when she tries in vain to make one of the palace guards smile, and as a result she misses her chance when the Queen does come out.
Britain 1955 edition of the Fodor’s Modern Guides series.The original dust cover for the book Ethel is holding would have been like this one.
The guide book Ethel refers to is titled Britain 1955 from the Fodor’s Modern Guides series – Fodor’s Modern Guides, Inc was founded in 1949 to provide practical information for tourists, with updated yearly editions . For that era, this was new concept in guides books which became essential for the 1950’s traveler.
Vintage Donkey Party game also known as Pin The Tail On The Donkey seen on eBay
Similar Scene by French artist Eugène Galien-Laloue for sale on eBay
