Kathryn Card (October 4, 1892 - March 1, 1964)

Kathryn Card began her career on the stage and soon radio followed. She made her first film appearance in 1945's Kiss and Tell which starred Shirley Temple. 38 more films would follow between 1945 and 1964. Her final film The Unsinkable Molly Brown starring Debbie Reynolds was released three months after Card had passed away. One thing worth mentioning is that Card played the school principal in the 1960 movie Please Don't Eat the Daisies which was later adapted into a television series of the same name in 1965. Her television appearances included "The Long Ranger", "Fireside Theatre", "Climax!", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "Letter to Loretta", "Mr. Adams and Eve", "Playhouse 90", "Our Miss Brooks", "The Eve Arden Show", "Perry Mason", "Philip Marlowe", "Dennis the Menace", "Wagon Train", "Westinghouse Playhouse", "Rawhide", "The Virginian", "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour." OK now...let's get down to business!!!! Kathryn Card played Mrs. McGillicuddy on "I Love Lucy." And she was wonderful! Her first appearance is in the classic episode "California, Here We Come!" Lucy, Ricky, Little Ricky, Fred and Ethel are prepared to head out for California when Lucy receives word that her mother has invited herself along. During the course of the episode there an argument between the five adults but eventually everyone becomes friends again and they prepare to depart. When Mrs. McGillicuddy learns that the road trip will take "two whole weeks" she decides she'll go by plane and take Little Ricky with her. This was an excellent device for the writers to use, because it got both Mrs. McGillicuddy and Little Ricky "out of the way" so the famous "New York Four" could take this road trip. Once settled in California Mrs. McGillicuddy and Little Ricky join the family. But....but....her appearances are scarce. She appears in "The Hedda Hopper Story", "Don Juan is Shelved", "Hollywood Anniversary" and "In Palm Springs." I read somewhere that she appears briefly at the beginning of "Ethel's Home Town" but I have never seen the original print of that episode so I can not confirm or deny that statement. I thought it would have been restored when the season was released on DVD but it was not. In the episode "Harpo Marx" Ethel mentions that she just saw Mrs. McGillicuddy leaving for the zoo with Little Ricky. A piece of dialogue written to explain their absence and also it allowed Lucy and Ethel to fool Caroline Appleby without interuption. Now here's where I have an axe to grind..... Season five begins with the episode "Lucy Visits Grauman's." In the beginning of the episode Lucy and the Mertzes have a little cake party to celebrate Ricky's completion of his film. Mrs. McGillicuddy is nowhere to be found or mentioned. Next... "Lucy and John Wayne"and "Lucy and the Dummy" nothing, not word. Finally in "Ricky Sells the Car" it is mentioned that Ricky has purchased the train tickets on the family plan, one for him, Lucy and Mrs. McGillicuddy. The baby didn't need one. At least she gets to go back to New York. In "The Great Train Robbery" she is not seen at after the conductor shows her to her correct compartment and that is the last you see of Mrs. McGillicuddy until the episode "Bon Voyage." In the following episode "Homecoming" Mrs. Trumbull asks Lucy where her mother is and Lucy responds by saying that she is on her way home to Jamestown. In "Bon Voyage" Mrs. McGillicuddy joins Mrs. Trumbull to see the gang off as their European adventure begins. Kathryn Card makes her final "I Love Lucy" appearance in the episode "Lucy Gets Homesick in Italy" which aired in April 1956. Three years later she reprised the role in one of the final episodes of "The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show." In "The Lucy Book" by Geoffrey Mark Fidelman, Little Ricky actor Keith Thibodeaux is quoted as saying what a kind lady Kathryn Card was and how he is sorry he didn't get to know her better. Another thing I think would have been cool is if Card played Lucy's mother on "The Lucy Show." During the first season episode "Together for Christmas" it is revealed that the Lucy Carmichael character is also from Jamestown, New York as was Lucy Ricardo and that her mother is still alive. It would have been a great idea if Kathryn Card was brought into play the redhead's mother once again.

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