Product Details

• Actors: Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley, Bob Hope
• Directors: James V. Kern, William Asher
• Writers: Bob Carroll Jr., Bob Schiller, Bob Weiskopf, Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Davis
• Producers: Desi Arnaz
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC
• Language: English, Spanish
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: April 7, 1998
• Run Time: 50 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304872607
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,207 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Many episodes of this beloved series focused on either the relationship between Lucy (Lucille Ball) and Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) or between best pals Lucy and her neighbor, Ethel Mertz (the talented Vivian Vance). And sometimes it was Ricky and Fred Mertz (William Frawley) versus their wives or, once in awhile, the Ricardos versus the Mertzes. No worries, the shows always end with a happy hug.

The most fervent I Love Lucy fans may cite, as a favorite, the first episode on this tape, "Job Switching," in which Lucy and Ethel challenge Ricky and Fred to a domestic role reversal. As the men toil as homemakers, Lucy and Ethel find work at a candy factory. When the shop supervisor explains the process of making and packaging the candy, it seems simple enough, but the conveyor belt isn't working in the gals' favor. Hilarious hijinks ensue. Also on this tape is "Lucy Meets Bob Hope." By the time this episode (number 154) appeared, Lucy Ricardo's reputation as a star-seeker and inadvertent troublemaker had preceded her. So when Ricky hopes that Bob will appear at the opening of his new club, Lucy sets out to smooth things over with the celebrity. Knowing Lucy, misunderstandings abound, but this time they work in her favor. This second episode is also notable because it reunites Ball and Hope, who starred together in such movies as Sorrowful Jones and Fancy Pants. --N.F. Mendoza

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CLASSIC WITHIN A CLASSIC!, January 18, 2000

By 

"scotsladdie" - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Love Lucy - Job Switching/Lucy Meets Bob Hope [VHS] (VHS Tape)

JOB SWITCHING is probably THE most remembered episode in this incredibly beloved series. Lucy and Ethel switch places with Ricky and Fred: The boys will stay home and do the housework and cook the meals while the girls go to work at a job and bring home the bacon. The results have been seen by untold millions and they are HILARIOUS. Lucy and Ethel get a job through and employment agency at Kramer's Kandy Kitchen-wrapping, dipping and boxing chocolates. Lucy sees a fly while she's ineptly dipping with a pro. When the fly finally lights, Lucy swats it good (it just happened to be on the woman's face!) Needless to say the lady (IMMEDIATELY) socks Lucy but good and they go at it! The boys are in the process of making arroz con pollo. The chickens blast out of the pressure cooker and soon the four pounds of rice is literally gushing out of the huge pot onto the kitchen floor while Fred and Ricky use dust pans and the like to scoop the sticky mess while Ricky slips and falls into it. Ethel gets kicked out of the boxing department "I kept pinchin' them to see what kind they were" so the girls work together in their last chance at Kramer's: wrapping the chocolates in wrappers as they come down the assembly line. The rest is television history. LUCY MEETS BOB HOPE is a good episode in which Lucy gets herself disguised as a kid selling hot dogs at Yankee Stadium in order to meet Bob Hope. They (with Ricky) do a dance routine at the Tropicana and it's a pleasant if not rollicking half-hour.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lucy extravaganza, with two only two episodes!, August 19, 2002

By 

duke14 "duke14" (NE Philly, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Love Lucy - Job Switching/Lucy Meets Bob Hope [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Bob Hope is killer funny throughout the one Lucy about Lucy wanting Bob to appear in Ricky's show trying to convince him that she's not a jynx. And in one of their most popular Lucys, Ethel and Lucy try to bring home the bacon while Ricky and Fred take over the housework. The switch creates a disaster! Two very funny and classic episdoes that you're sure to enjoy!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The funniest "I Love Lucy" episode is on THIS tape, July 4, 2001

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: I Love Lucy - Job Switching/Lucy Meets Bob Hope [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"Job Switching" (Episode #36, September 15, 1952), is the classic episode of "I Love Lucy" that I always show to my television classes so they know what a classic sit com looks like. Ricky is tired of the way Lucy spends money without regard for where it comes from, so the boys and girls switch places: Lucy and Ethel will get jobs and Ricky and Fred will do the household chores. One of the greatest moments in television history comes when Lucy and Ethel have to work a conveyor belt in a candy factory. Elvia Allman is the supervisor ("Let 'er roll!") and Amanda Milligan, an actual candy dipper at the Farmer's Market in Hollywood is, uh, the candy dipper. Meanwhile, Ricky is ironing stockings and making rice while Fred bakes a cake. Note: The bit Lucy and Ethel do at the job placement service with Alvin Hurwitz is lifted from the two sisters in "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town."

"Lucy and Bob Hope" (#154, October 1, 1956), was the sixth season premier episode. Ricky has finally managed to buy a controlling interest in the Tropicana club, which he proudly re-names Club Babalu. Bob Hope has agreed to perform at the opening, but Ricky keeps this little tidbit from Lucy, afraid she will mess things up. Lucy, worried that Hope will not agree because of her fabled troubles with celebrities, tracks him down at Yankee Stadium to persuade him to do the show. Although a meeting between two of all-time great comedians, this ends up being a fairly average "I Love Lucy" episode. Certainly, it is not an absolute classic like "Job Switching."