Lucy Photos of the Week

Expectant mother-to-be Lucy Ricardo wants her child to be surrounded by educated people... so she hires an English tutor, Percy Livermore, to teach her, Ricky, and the Mertzes proper English. Ricky decides to get even when he discovers that in lieu of payment, Lucy has promised Percy he can perform at Ricky's club.

"Lucy Hires an English Tutor," the fourth installment of Lucy's pregnancy stories, was filmed by Desilu 50 years ago this week, on October 24, 1952. Guest-starring as Percy Livermore was character actor (and longtime radio performer) Hans Conreid. Conreid had already completed one second-season episode ("Redecorating"), playing a used furniture salesman. Because so many of these second-season episodes were filmed out of order, Conreid's two appearances finally aired only a month apart -- "Redecorating" on November 24 and "Tutor" on December 29.

One of the funniest, scenes in "Lucy Hires an English Tutor" found Ricky Ricardo grappling with the pronunciation inconsistencies between such words as "rough," "through" and "boughs," which somehow came out "booges." What a brilliantly-written, hilariously performed sequence!