I Love Lucy: Season 3

1953 · 31 episodes · ★ 8.7

What Season 3 of I Love Lucy

The season opens with Lucy Ricardo convinced she deserves a place in show business. She lives in New York with Ricky, a singer and bandleader, and with their landlords and best friends, Fred and Ethel Mertz. Because they are far more involved in the nightclub, Lucy feels left out and looks for any opening to sneak in. Her ideas, almost always rushed, get her into fashion ventures, a charity contest or a French magazine that Ricky has forbidden her to join. Ricky and the Mertzes stop her again and again, while Ethel usually goes along with her every scheme. The episodes mix small ambitions with household chaos, from a family budget ruined by salad dressing to a bet about telling the truth.

31episodes

Oct 5, 1953aired

May 24, 1954latest episode

13.2 hrtotal runtime

Season 3 Episodes

3x01 Ricky's 'Life' Story
Oct 5, 1953 · 25 min
Lucy is upset because a 'Life' magazine feature on Ricky's home life didn't include a picture of her.
Directed by William Asher · Starring Louis Nicoletti
3x02 The Girls Go Into Business
Oct 12, 1953 · 24 min
Lucy and Ethel are all set to go into business when they buy a new dress shop. But what to call it? Ethelu's? Lucyeth's? Unfortunately, naming the shop isn't their only problem when they are unable to sell any dresses and must sell the shop.
Directed by William Asher · Starring Mabel Paige, Emory Parnell, Kay Wiley, Barbara Pepper
3x03 Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress
Oct 19, 1953 · 26 min
Lucy and Ethel buy the same dress for the upcoming talent show for the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League. True, they'll be doing a duet, and their number is Cole Porter's corny "Friendship" but wearing the same dress isn't exactly what they had in mind. Meanwhile, Lucy needs to persuade Ricky to host the show, so she decides to use a little reverse psychology.
Directed by: William Asher · Starring: Shirley Mitchell, Ruth Perrott, Doris Singleton
3x04 Equal Rights
Oct 26, 1953 · 26 min
Lucy and Ethel demand equal rights for women. Okay, say Ricky and Fred at the restaurant: separate checks for the four of them. Thus begins Lucy and Ethel's careers as restaurant dishwashers. So they plot revenge: they'll scare their husbands by claiming to have been robbed.
Directed by: William Asher · Starring: Lawrence Dobkin, Fred Aldrich, Richard Reeves, Louis Nicoletti
3x05 Baby Pictures
Nov 2, 1953 · 26 min
The Ricardos and the Applebys always brag to each other about their little sons. But when Lucy's and Caroline Appeby's exchanges turn hostile and sarcastic, Ricky worries that it will jeopardize a TV job that's been offered to him by Caroline's husband.
Directed by: William Asher · Starring: Hy Averback, Doris Singleton
3x06 Lucy Tells the Truth
Nov 9, 1953 · 25 min
Ricky and the Mertzes bet Lucy that she can't go twenty-four hours without telling a lie. The outcome? Lucy insults all her friends and has to admit her real age, weight, and hair color. But she nearly gets a part on a TV show, by telling the truth, more or less.
Directed by William Asher · Starring Shirley Mitchell, Mario Siletti, Doris Singleton, Charles Lane
3x07 The French Revue
Nov 16, 1953 · 26 min
Ricky is planning a French revue for the club, and since Lucy is determined to be in it, she hires a Frenchman to coach her. When Ricky forbids her to come near the place, she tries various disguises, and finally succeeds as a chorus girl.
Directed by William Asher · Starring Alberto Morin, Fred Aldrich, Richard Reeves, Louis Nicoletti
3x08 Redecorating the Mertzes' Apartment
Nov 23, 1953 · 26 min
It's redecorating time at the Mertzes', and Lucy and Ricky volunteer to help. But when Fred turns on a fan as Lucy is unstuffing a chair, the paint and feathers they were using go flying. Lucy feels responsible for the ruined furniture, so she gives Ethel her own living room furniture as a gift.
Directed by William Asher
3x09 Too Many Crooks
Nov 30, 1953 · 25 min
Lucy sneaks into the Mertzes' apartment to borrow one of Fred's suits so that she can order him a custom-made tweed suit for his birthday. This leads Ethel to think that Lucy is the notorious neighborhood burglar, "Madame X", and she goes spying on her friend to prove it.
Directed by: William Asher · Starring: Alice Wills, Allen Jenkins, Elizabeth Patterson
3x10 Changing the Boys' Wardrobe
Dec 7, 1953 · 24 min
Lucy and Ethel are disgusted by their husbands' old clothes, so they secretly give them away to a secondhand store. Unfortunately for them, the boys find out about their plan, and buy everything back. Later on, Ricky learns that a magazine has named Fred and him as two of the "Best-Dressed Men in New York City." He and Fred, dressed in tuxedos, invite the girls to meet them at the club for pictures. The girls arrive in their grubbiest attire.
Directed by William Asher · Starring Oliver Blake, Alberto Calderone, Lee Millar, Paul Power
3x11 Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined
Dec 14, 1953 · 26 min
Lucy finally gets her chance to be in show business, when she tricks Ricky into letting her do the "Jitterbug" in one of his shows. She's terrific during rehearsals, but problems occur when Lucy accompanies Ricky (who's been suffering from headaches) to the eye doctor just before the show. There, the doctor decides to examine Lucy's eyes, as well. He puts some eyedrops in Lucy's eyes which "relaxes" them, but Lucy's vision is blurry for the next twenty four hours. Naturally, this causes problems since Lucy has to perform that night.
Directed by: William Asher · Starring: Dayton Lummis, Arthur Walsh, Shepard Menken
3x12 Ricky's Old Girlfriend
Dec 21, 1953 · 25 min
Ricky is jealous when Lucy comes up with a long list of ex-boyfriends, so he invents an old flame-who just happens to be in town. Her name? Carlotta Romero, with whom Ricky DID perform years before.
Directed by William Asher · Starring Rosa Turich, Jerry Hausner, Lillian Molieri
3x13 The Million Dollar Idea
Jan 11, 1954 · 26 min
The Ricardo household budget is in shambles (as usual) after Lucy decides to put her salad dressing on the market. Her plan? To market it on a TV morning show on the station her friend Caroline Appleby's husband runs. Home economist Mary Margaret McMertz (Ethel) will invite "an average housewife," (Lucy) to taste the dressing on the air.
Directed by William Asher · Starring Frank Nelson
3x14 Ricky Minds the Baby
Jan 18, 1954 · 25 min
Ricky agrees to watch his son, but while Daddy is engrossed in a football game, Little Ricky wanders off. Lucy finds him in the hallway, and calls Ricky to ask where the baby is. Panicking, Ricky searches everywhere, before Lucy walks in with his son.
Directed by William Asher
3x15 The Charm School
Jan 25, 1954 · 26 min
It's time for charm school for Lucy and Ethel when their men eye a pretty woman at a party. But Ricky and Fred are anything but charmed by the results.
Directed by: William Asher · Starring: Natalie Schafer, Tyler McVey, Maurice Hill, Vivi Janiss
3x16 Sentimental Anniversary
Feb 1, 1954 · 26 min
Lucy and Ricky want to spend their 13th wedding anniversary alone, but the Mertzes have another idea: a surprise party.
Directed by: William Asher · Starring: Hazel Pierce
3x17 Fan Magazine Interview
Feb 8, 1954 · 26 min
A reporter for a fan magazine, Eleanor Harris, spends an "average day" with the Ricardos. Of course, it's anything BUT average for the happily married couple. And they might not be one so happily married, thanks to a publicity stunt that Ricky's agent Jerry has cooked up.
Directed by: William Asher · Starring: Kathryn Card, Jerry Hausner, Joan Banks, Elvia Allman
3x18 Oil Wells
Feb 15, 1954 · 25 min
The Ricardos and Mertzes as oil millionaires? Lucy and Ethel get a hot stock tip from their new neighbors from Texas. But Ricky and Fred say no. At first, anyhow. But are these neighbors swindlers? Lucy and the gang eventually think so, so they come up with a plan to find out.
Directed by William Asher · Starring Sandra Gould, Ken Christy, Harry Cheshire
3x19 Ricky Loses His Temper
Feb 22, 1954 · 26 min
Ricky explodes when Lucy buys an expensive hat. She offers to return it, and bets him he'll lose his cool over something else before she buys another hat. But no matter what she does to provoke him, the hot-tempered Cuban remains unruffled.
Directed by William Asher · Starring: Madge Blake, Byron Kane, Max Terhune
3x20 Home Movies
Mar 1, 1954 · 26 min
Ricky's home movies move the Mertzes to walk out, and prompt Lucy, Fred and Ethel to make a movie of their own, a "Western musical drama" shot in the Ricardo living room. But that's not to mixed up with a TV pilot Ricky's making, is it?
Directed by William Asher · Starring Stanley Farrar
3x21 Bonus Bucks
Mar 8, 1954 · 26 min
A dollar bill takes a zany trip-with the Ricardos and Mertzes in hot pursuit. It's a winning bill (worth $300) in a newspaper contest. It belongs to Ricky, but he gallantly slips it into Lucy's purse. Gallant isn't necessarily smart: Lucy unthinkingly gives the bill to the grocery delivery boy-who gives it to Ethel in change. The wild ride has only begun!
Directed by: William Asher · Starring: John Frank, Frank Jaquet, Tony Michaels, Patsy Moran
3x22 Ricky's Hawaiian Vacation
Mar 22, 1954 · 26 min
Ricky's band is to play in Hawaii-and guess who wants to go also? Lucy's plan: to go on a game show that gives away airline tickets. It calls for some trickery, and Lucy just might meet her match in the show's host, Freddie Fillmore, a prankster par excellence.
Directed by William Asher · Starring Frank Nelson
3x23 Lucy Is Envious
Mar 29, 1954 · 25 min
Lucy's past fibs to her rich and snotty ex-schoolmate are about to catch up with her when she unwittingly pledges $500 to a charity drive. In order to come up with the money, she and Ethel agree to a publicity stunt that puts them on top of the Empire State Building posing as women from Mars.
Directed by William Asher · Starring Mary Jane Croft, Herb Vigran, Dick Elliott, Kay Wiley
3x24 Lucy Writes a Novel
Apr 5, 1954 · 26 min
Lucy writes a novel in which the characters are thinly-veiled caricatures of Ricky, Fred and Ethel. Too thinly veiled, Ricky, Fred and Ethel think. So they burn it. But not before Lucy gets a copy to a publisher.
Directed by William Asher · Starring Pierre Watkin, Dayton Lummis, Bennett Green
3x25 Lucy's Club Dance
Apr 12, 1954 · 25 min
The Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League forms a quintet (with Lucy on sax) as a fundraiser. It's no way to raise money (Ethel likens Lucy's sound to a "moose with a head cold"). Maybe bandleader Ricky can whip them into shape--but first, Lucy has some persuading to do.
Directed by William Asher · Starring Shirley Mitchell, Doris Singleton
3x26 The Black Wig
Apr 19, 1954 · 26 min
Lucy plays a black-wigged temptress to test Ricky's fidelity. The result makes makes her see red so she schemes to get even. But she won't divorce him. Ethel agrees: "Yeah, stay married to him," she says. "That'll teach him."
Directed by: William Asher · Starring: Douglas Evans, Bennett Green, Eve McVeagh, Louis Nicoletti
3x27 The Diner
Apr 26, 1954 · 26 min
The Ricardos and the Mertzes buy a diner, name it "A Little Bit of Cuba" and go to work. Well, the Mertzes go to work; the Ricardos "greet." Not surprisingly, relations are soon strained. Can a food fight be far behind?
Directed by: William Asher · Starring: James Burke, Fred Sherman, Don Garner, Joe Miller
3x28 Tennessee Ernie Visits
May 3, 1954 · 26 min
The corn starts popping when Tennessee Ernie Ford comes to visit in Part 1 of a two-part episode. He's Lucy's "Cousin" Ernest, an earnest young man from Bent Fork, Tenn., who knows nothing of city ways and is inadvertently infuriating. He's got to go but he's so sweet that they can't just throw him out. What to do? Lucy will pose as a wicked city woman, and "vamp" him out of town.
Directed by: Marc Daniels · Starring: Tennessee Ernie Ford
3x29 Tennessee Ernie Hangs On
May 10, 1954 · 26 min
Lucy gets sick of an extensive visit by Tennessee Ernie, who claims he is her cousin. She tries to get rid of the likeable character by pleading poverty. The scheme backfires when Tennessee Ernie promotes a benefit hoedown to assist Lucy and Ricky. Look for "Ernie Ford and His Four Hot Chicken Pickers" in this episode.
Directed by William Asher · Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford, Richard Reeves
3x30 The Golf Game
May 17, 1954 · 26 min
Championship golfer Jimmy Demaret visits the Ricardos when Lucy and Ethel arrive at a bizarre scheme for combating their "golf widowship." The girls install a basketball court in the Ricardo living room and pretend to be as deeply absorbed in the game as their husbands are in the fairways.
Directed by: William Asher · Starring: Jimmy Demaret, George Pierrone, Louis Nicoletti
3x31 The Sublease Season Finale
May 24, 1954 · 26 min
The Ricardos are off to Maine for the summer, so they decide to sublet their apartment. Their landlords, the Mertzes, don't like the idea, and like the potential tenants even less. Nor are they wild about their new roommates.
Directed by William Asher · Starring Jay Novello, Virginia Brissac