LUCY IS ENVIOUS
Episode #89, Aired March 29, 1954

Lucy reads in the paper that Cynthia Harcourt, a wealthy woman with whom she went to school, will be in town the next day on a charity drive.

The next day, Cynthia calls and Lucy tells her she's given to so many charities that she has nothing left. Cynthia says Lucy could give a few dollars like her classmates Renita, Adele and Hazel did; they gave amounts such as 6 and 8. So Lucy says to put her down for 5.

Cynthia, in her fur, arrives at Lucy's. Lucy makes up a story that they spend most of their time in the country in their mansion. As Cynthia gets out her book, Ethel says she can put her down for 5 too, so Cynthia enters the amount and audibly says 500.

The girls are horrified to realize they are contributing $500 each! They decide to look for work to pay their contributions. Lucy looks in the paper and finds an ad that needs 2 girls with courage for a publicity stunt with high pay. Lucy calls and says she and Ethel can keep a secret.

They meet who placed the ad. He explains his studio is premiering a picture tomorrow, "Women From Mars". As a publicity stunt, two Martian women will abduct an earthman on top of the Empire State Building for $500 each. The girls take the job.

The scene just before Cynthia calls Lucy, she is vacuuming the apartment. She's using a Westinghouse just like the model in the "Sales Resistance" episode, except that the machine has a dark house (presumably maroon since that's the color of the original hose) instead of the white hose seen in the "Sales Resistance" episode. I've seen the "Lucy is Envious" episode many times but somehow the vacuum cleaner never registered! I saw it on TV today and actually it was Arlee who saw it first. He said "Look there!" and pointed at the vacuum cleaner.

Later on, when Lucy is getting ready to go out to see Cynthia, the Westinghouse is still in the living room, the hose handle crooked around the corner of a chair. When I was a little kid, there were few thrills greater than going into someone's home and seeing the vacuum cleaner set up and ready to go!