Ethels amusing bubble hat makes an appearance in the episode, “Tennessee Ernie Hangs On” (S3, 5/10/54)
It is by Mattel called Bubble-O-Bill. There are a couple of them in original box on eBay this week: https://www.ebay.com/sch/Other-Vintage-Antique-Toys/30/i.html?_sop=15&_from=R40&_nkw=bubble+hat+mattel
In the opening scene of the I Love Lucy episode “Lucy Goes to Scotland” Fred comes in with a Chinese dragon puppet to bring back to Little Ricky. When Lucy mentions she had never seen anything like this before Fred replies “Well when I was a kid they had toy dragons.” and Ethel remarks “When you were a kid they had real dragons!”
The toy is an articulated Chinese dragon made of bamboo that has a hole in the base to insert a bamboo stick as seen on the show, similar to the vintage example pictured here.
In the I Love Lucy Episode Ricardos Change Apartments Ethel discovers Little Ricky’s wooden Buzzy Bee pull-toy under the sofa cushion when she sits on Lucy’s sofa. The Fisher-Price Buzzy Bee is a classic that began in 1950 and is now a collectors item. Below is a 1950’s version seen on eBay this week.
In the I Love Lucy Episode, Season 6, Little Ricky Gets Stage Fright which aired on October 22, 1956, a wind-up mechanical toy drummer bear plays a role in helping Little Ricky overcome stage fright.
A similar bear seen on eBay is made in Japan in original box, and has a similar outfit and drum.
See it on eBay HERE The bear was also made in brown fur like this one on ebay – the bear on the show may have been the brown version.
In the episode, “Tennessee Ernie Hangs On” (S3, 5/10/54) Ethel comes to visit Lucy wearing a hilarious bubble maker on her head. She claimed Little Ricky left it in her apartment.
The actual toy is from Mattel and called Bubble-O-Bill.
See it on EBay
A Mattel Jolly Jack In The Box Music Box 1952 No. 461 is seen on the coffe table in the I Love Lucy episode Nursery School. This seems to be a hard to find scary looking Jack in the Box but I did see one in a closed auction on eBay HERE and a Mint in box one for sale at http://www.momandpopstoys.com/oddsends.htm
In the I Love Lucy episode “Lucy and Superman” Little Ricky is seen wearing his official Superman playsuit. A similar costume pictured below was seen in a past auction at liveauctioneers.com
In the above capture from the I Love Lucy episode “Ricky Minds the Baby” Fred Mertz tries to amuse Little Ricky with a squeek toy. The rubber squeek toy is a Mr Squawker The Duck toy made by Rempel of Akron Ohio who also produced Froggy the Gremlin which we looked at in a previous post.
From the original patent application:
Mr. Squawker the duck, [Fanciful figure of clothed duck in walking position] Rubber, H. 12 in,
Appl, author: Dietrich G, Rempel, © Rem-
pel Enterprises, Akron, Ohio;
10 Mar52; GP3259.
In the I Love Lucy episode “The Sublease” Little Ricky’s play table is among the items Lucy has to store at Fred and Ethel’s apartment. Little Ricky uses a state of the art 1950’s folding metal baby seat – a Cosco Feed-N-Play Table.There are a couple of them on eBay this week. Pictured below is one example. Click HERE to see the listing.
In the I Love Lucy episode Lucy is Envious we see a plastic toy rotary phone on the mantelpiece of the Ricardo’s living room. In this episode Lucy is short of cash and searches the house for coins. She tells Ethel she even looked in the baby’s piggy bank but only found a couple of IOU’s from Ricky inside. Little Ricky’s savings bank is a match for the two color red and white plastic telephone savings bank by Amerline.
The toy rotary telephone savings bank is by Amerline of Chicago, IL, copyright 1945 . Currently there is one for sale online in red and white pictured above.
CLICK HERE to See it on Etsy
There is also one on eBay HERE but is it not a 2-color phone like we see in the screen capture above – it is being sold as an original prop.