“The Audition”, Season 1, Episode 5, Filmed 10/12/51, Aired 11/19/51

I was watching tv trying to think of how to open this blog, all of a sudden, a PC Richards commercial comes on with one of my long lost friends, Olivia Jane Long. I met Miss Olivia Jane Long on my first professional tours, she was playing “Aunt Polly”, in “Tom Sawyer” while I played “Becky Thatcher”. We were on a tour full of boys so we were forced to be roommates. We found out quick we had many things in common, We were easy going, had Vera Bradley bags, we loved our sisters and we LOVED “I Love Lucy”. As much as we liked everyone on tour, we knew the importance of having a girls night, ordering in Pizza and watching “I Love Lucy”, a mini therapy session on the road. That’s one of the best things about tours, sometimes you meet someone who is exactly like you.
Well, I told you we would watch it again, “The Audition” was aired November 19, 1951 and it was revamped from it’s original version shot during the pilot. Just to recap, Lucy wants to be in the show that’s going to be the audition for a possible television show Ricky would have. Ricky’s clown gets hurt and Lucy fills in. Instead of Ricky, Lucy gets offered a contract, however she chooses being Ricky’s wife over a career in television (much different the Lucilles real life)
This version is much cleaner and tighter. There is more focus on the comedic talents of Lucille and Desi and less on the description of their life and the clown, not to knock the clown, I like him much better then the clown in the pilot, however it was nice to not have so much focus on him.
In this episode, Ricky sings the song that made him famous as Ricky and Desi, “Babalu”. Babalu is a Spanish song that is about the call of the Jungle Drums. It’s almost like an Ancient warrior chant. Ricky also plays the Conga drum that became one of his trademarks. Desi’s family was very wealthy in Cuba. When the country went to war, his family fled to Miami. Desi started working right away to help his family, one of his first jobs was cleaning birdcages, but the job that he was really good at was playing the Conga drums. For years he toured with bands playing the Conga drums and soon had his own band that he lead. Who could resist a man with his voice paired with a smile like his. NOT ME!