I Love Lucy Episode Guide:
The First Season (1951-52)

Movie Clip ("The Ballet")

Filmed 3/2/51 (Kinescope) (Directed by Ralph Levy)
Story: Ricky tries to keep Lucy away while he does a TV audition, but when a clown has an accident and can't make it, Lucy shows up in his place.
Guests: Jerry Hausner (Jerry), Pepito (himself)

10/15/51: "The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub"
I Love Lucy Episode 2 - Filmed 9/15/51
Story: The Ricardos and the Mertzes agree to celebrate the Mertzes' wedding anniversary together. The girls decide on a night club. The men opt for the prize fights.

10/22/51: "Be a Pal"
I Love Lucy Episode 3 - Filmed 9/21/51
Story: Lucy thinks Ricky is losing interest in her, but finds a book full of advice on how to rekindle the flame.
Guests: Tony Michaels (Charlie), Dick Reeves (Hank)

 Based in part on My Favorite Husband #93 ("Be a Pal")

10/29/51: "The Diet"
I Love Lucy Episode 4 - Filmed 9/28/51
Story: Ricky provides an incentive for Lucy's diet by telling her she can appear in his show if she can fit into a size 12.
Guests: Marco Rizo (Piano Player)

 Based on My Favorite Husband #124 ("Iris and Liz's Easter")

11/5/51: "Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her"
I Love Lucy Episode 1 - Filmed 9/8/51
Story: After reading a murder mystery and listening to Ethel's fortune-telling, Lucy concludes that Ricky is trying to do away with her.
Guests: Hector and His Pals (Dog Act)

 Based in part on My Favorite Husband #80 ("Wills")

11/12/51: "The Quiz Show"
I Love Lucy Episode 5 - Filmed 10/5/51
Story: Desperate to win a $1000 jackpot to balance her household accounts, Lucy agrees to a quiz show stunt in which she has to introduce a stranger to Ricky as her "long lost husband."
Guests: Frank Nelson (Freddie Fillmore), Hazel Pierce (Mrs. Peterson), Phil Ober (Arnold), John Emery (Harold, the Tramp)

11/19/51: "The Audition"
I Love Lucy Episode 6 - Filmed 10/12/51
Story: Ricky tries to keep Lucy away from the club while he does a TV audition, but when a clown has an accident and can't make it, Lucy shows up in his place.
Guests: Pat Moran (Buffo, the Clown), Bennett Green (Stagehand), Jess Oppenheimer (network rep), Harry Ackerman (network rep), Hal Hudson (network rep)
 This is a remake of the I Love Lucy Pilot Episode

11/26/51: "The Seance"
I Love Lucy Episode 7 - Filmed 10/19/51
Story: Lucy and Ethel have taken up the art of the Ouija Board.
Guests: Jay Novello (Mr. Merriweather)
 Based on My Favorite Husband #24 & #88 ("Numerology")

"Ethel to Tilly"(.wav - 142K)

12/3/51: "Men Are Messy"
I Love Lucy Episode 8 - Filmed 10/25/51
Story: Tired of Ricky's messy habits, Lucy divides the apartment in half -- he can be a slob in his half, but not hers.
Guests: Hazel "Sunny" Boyne (Maggie), Lewis Martin (Jim White, the Photographer)
 Based on My Favorite Husband #91 ("George Is Messy")

12/10/51: "The Fur Coat"
I Love Lucy Episode 10 - Filmed 11/9/51
Story: Ricky borrows a mink coat for an act at the club, but Lucy thinks it's for her, and won't take it off.
Guests: Ben Weldon (Burglar)
 Based on My Favorite Husband #44 ("Anniversary Presents")

12/17/51: "Lucy is Jealous of Girl Dancer"
I Love Lucy Episode 11 - Filmed 11/16/51
Story: Lucy, upset by a gossip column item that links Ricky's name with a girl at the club, dons a disguise and heads for the Tropicana.
Guests: Helen Silver (Rosemary)

12/24/51: "Drafted"
I Love Lucy Episode 9 - Filmed 11/2/51
Story: Lucy and Ethel, convinced their hubbies are about to be drafted, start knitting them going away presents.
Guests: Hazel Pierce (Party Guest)
 Based on My Favorite Husband #116 ("George Is Drafted/Liz's Baby")

12/31/51: "The Adagio"
I Love Lucy Episode 12 - Filmed 11/23/51
Story: Lucy hears that Ricky needs a dancer for the Parisian Apache dance number at the club, and thinks she can fill the bill. But her Parisian dance teacher has more than dancing in mind.
Guests: Shepard Menken (Jean Valjean Raymand)
 Based in part on My Favorite Husband #66 ("The French Lessons")

1/7/52: "The Benefit"
I Love Lucy Episode 13 - Filmed 11/30/51
Story: Ethel wants Ricky for the club's benefit show, but Lucy thinks a husband and wife team would be more appropriate.
 Based on My Favorite Husband #35 ("Charity Review")

1/14/52: "The Amateur Hour"
I Love Lucy Episode 14 - Filmed 12/7/51
Story: Lucy makes an unexpected leap into show business when she takes care of twins who are to appear in an amateur hour.
Guests: Gail Bonney (Mrs. Hudson), David Stollery (Timmy Hudson), Sammy Ogg (Jimmy Hudson)

1/21/52: "Lucy Plays Cupid"
I Love Lucy Episode 15 - Filmed 12/13/51
Story: Lucy's neighbor, Miss Lewis, has designs on Mr. Ritter and wants Lucy to invite the two of them to dinner at the Ricard's apartment.
Guests: Bea Benaderet (Miss Lewis), Edward Everett Horton (Mr. Ritter)
 Based on My Favorite Husband #31 ("Valentine's Day")

1/28/52: "Lucy Fakes Illness"
I Love Lucy Episode 16 - Filmed 12/18/51
Story: Lucy fears that if Ricky keeps refusing to hire her as part of his night club act, she may just have a nervous breakdown.
Guests: Hal March (Himself)
 Based on My Favorite Husband #112 ("Liz Has the Flimjabs") 

2/4/52: "Lucy Writes a Play"
I Love Lucy Episode 17 - Filmed 12/22/51
Story: Playwright Lucy pens a drama with a Cuban locale. She figures Ricky for the star. The hitch: he refuses the part.
Guests: Myra Marsh (Club Chairwoman), Maury Thompson (Stage Manager)
 Based on My Favorite Husband #113 ("Liz Substitutes in Club Play") 

2/11/52: "Breaking the Lease"
I Love Lucy Episode 18 - Filmed 1/5/52
Story: Everyone is having fun at a mirth-filled "at home" evening with the Ricardos and Mertzes. But when the Ricardos continue singing after Fred and Ethel go back downstairs to their apartment, the Mertzes, as landlords, decide that the Ricardos' merrymaking has gone too far.
Guests: Bennett Green (Bum), Barbara Pepper (Party Guest), Hazel Pierce (Party Guest)

2/18/52: "The Ballet" [top photo][movie clip]
I Love Lucy Episode 19 - Filmed 1/11/52
Story: Lucy performs an unexpected stint as a ballerina, then has a lesson in burlesque from a professional comic. Includes the classic routine, "Slowly I Turned."
Guests: Mary Wickes (Madame LeMond), Frank Scannell (Burlesque Comic)

 More First Season Episodes

1951-52 1952-53 |1953-54 |1954-55 | 1955-56 | 1956-57