Season four of
The Lucy Show (the first to be networkcast in color, though the series had been filming in color since 1963) begins as Lucy (
Lucille Ball) packs up her family and moves from Danfield, Connecticut to Southern California. By a stunning coincidence, Lucy's longtime banker-nemesis Mr. Mooney (
Gale Gordon) has also relocated to California, still in charge of Lucy's trust fund. The plot proper gets under way when the Military Academy which Lucy's son Jerry (Jimmy Garrett) is to attend has been invited to Marineland of the Pacific for "Jimmy Piersall Day" (the famous ballplayer, of course, appears as himself). Because Jerry isn't officially enrolled, Lucy coerces Mooney into paying for their entrance fee at Marineland. Somewhere along the line, Jerry's rubber ball bounces into the dolphin tank--and of course Lucy dives in after it! Most of the subsequent slapstick mayhem involving Lucy, a group of dolphins and a sea lion named Cy was filmed without stunt doubles--that's really
Lucille Ball sloshing about in that tank. And if you look real carefully, you'll spot the actress' real-life mother DeDe Ball and her children Lucie and Desi Jr. among the Marineland spectators. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide