I Love Lucy - "Off to Florida!" (1956)

Lucy and Travel equal Trouble... and in "Off to Florida," that's exactly what she finds herself in. Granted, Lucy isn't to blame for most of the trouble she and Ethel encounter in this episode, but that doesn't make it any less funny.

Ricky, Fred, and Little Ricky set off to Florida for a few days of fishing, with Lucy and Ethel planning to join them later via train. Naturally, Lucy loses the train tickets, so the only option (or rather, the cheapest) is for them to scour the classifieds for someone looking to share a ride. That someone is none other than Elsa Lanchester. Lucy and Ethel think the ride sharing will work great until they set off with this Mrs. Grundy. She insists on driving from 4 a.m. to midnight, avoids the main highways, won't stop at any restaurant along the way or at any hotel, so Lucy and Ethel are left hungry and frazzled after sleeping in the car.

They turn on the radio one night to lull themselves to sleep and hear about Evelyn Holmby, the hatchet murderess who escaped from prison. The gray-haired woman was last seen in a cream-colored convertible, just like the one Mrs. Grundy has, heading south from New York City. Lucy instantly puts two and two together ("only travels at night... on back roads... won't stop anywhere...") and jumps to the conclusion that Mrs. Grundy and Evelyn Holmby are one and the same—an idea that Ethel at first dismisses until she remembers seeing the hatchet in the trunk!

"Hatchet!" - Lucy and Ethel

"We're just jumping to conclusions. She brought that hatchet along to, uh...to, uh..." - Ethel

"To what? Chop watercress?!" - Lucy

"Off to Florida!" was aired on CBS on November 12, 1956, as episode 6 in the sixth season of I Love Lucy. Lucy and the gang had already been to California and to Europe, so a trip to Florida was a great addition. The crazy redhead had already encountered every kind of character imaginable in previous episodes, so having her and Ethel meet up with a potential killer was a new one for the books—and what a great basis for comedy it made!

The episode is chock-full of humorous scenes, and the laughs escalate the nearer they get to the Sunshine State. The best scene is when they stop at a roadside coffee shop in Florida and Lucy, Ethel, and Mrs. Grundy all rush inside to call the police. When they learn the phone is out of order, they decide to gesture signs of distress to the waiter (Struther Martin), who says, "Y'all must be from up north," after watching the looney birds in action. 

"We have to stop so I can call my landlady and tell her my tub is running over." - Lucy

"I thought you said she [pointing to Ethel] was your landlady?" - Mrs. Grundy

"Oh....[facing Ethel] Landlady, my tub is running over!" - Lucy

Elsa Lanchester was perfectly cast as the dotty driver. This was her first appearance on I Love Lucy and one of her rare television roles in a sitcom. She always played eccentric characters so it seemed perfectly natural that she'd be an escaped criminal, or so Lucy thought. 

"Off to Florida!" is slightly different from the usual I Love Lucy episodes in that Ricky and Fred are only seen in the introduction and closing scenes. I guess the writers couldn't imagine a scenario with all four of them hitching a ride with a killer. Normally, their presence would be missed but this one is filled with so many funny moments you wouldn't even notice their absence. Check it out some time, it's well worth a watch! 

This post is our contribution to the 12th Annual Favorite TV Show Episode Blogathon being hosted by A Shroud of Thoughts. Click here to check out other reviews of favorite Classic TV episodes written by other bloggers.