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Plot[]
Ricky's been driving for hours, refusing to stop somewhere to eat because of his intense determination to get good mileage. Finally, it gets so late that even Ricky is starving. After being gypped out of a dinner consisting of Aunt Sally's legendary pecan pralines, Ricky says he'll stop at the next available restaurant. The gang has the unfortunate luck of having the next place be George Skinner's cafe, where the only thing to eat are old cheese sandwiches. Everybody leaves, and Lucy takes over driving for tired Ricky. When she sees a sign that says "good accommodations, wonderful food, 5 miles," she follows the sign. It ends up being a trick sign George Skinner put up that leads cars in a circle right back to his place.
Too tired to drive all the way to Cincinnati for a hotel, the foursome decides to rent George Skinner's lone cabin. What a dump it ends up being. There's a double bed with a mattress so lumpy that you sink in the middle, a set of bunk beds that doesn't even come with a ladder for the top bunk, and a tiny bathroom. What's worse is that the cabin is right near railroad tracks, and every time a train goes by, the whole cabin shakes and moves the double bed across the floor.
The Ricardos and Mertzes refuse to pay for these horrid conditions. So, they decide to sneak out in the middle of the night. What they don't know is that George Skinner hooked up a burglar alarm to the car door, and when they open the door, the alarm sounds. Skinner announces that everybody tries to sneak away, so he started setting up alarms to prevent guests from leaving. The gang thinks they can still leave by hopping in the car and driving off fast, but Ricky discovers that the car's steering wheel is missing. Skinner offers them their steering wheel for the price of the cabin.
Trivia[]
- Four "specialty of the house" cheese sandwiches cost $4.80 at One Oak: Cabins and Cafe, George Skinner's place. The cheese sandwiches are $1 a piece, and the extra 80 cents is the entertainment tax for the lovely banjo music.
- NYC to Cincinatti is an 11 hour drive, so in order for this to be the "First Stop" Ricky must have driven all night since they left New York at 6 PM.
- A special set was constructed for the scene in the cabin. The room was built on a set of springs, and this is what was shaken to simulate the trains going by.
- This is a unique episode in that the Ricardos and later the Mertzes are seen IN THE SAME BED, ON THE SAME MATTRESS.
- When Vivian Vance goes to change into her pajamas, she forgot to take the tube of toothpaste she needed to squirt toothpaste all over her face (from the "shaking" of the train). She simply walks back and says, "Forgot my toothpaste." It is a very "real" and realistic way to cover her mistake. Ethel very likely could have forgotten her toothpaste.
- The cabin cost $16, $8 per couple. George Skinner gets his money by charging $16 for the steering wheel he stole off of the Ricardos' Pontiac.
- One Oak was supposed to serve many scrumptious meals. George Skinner only had stale cheese sandwiches available, but he always kept the outdated menus out on the tables. This may have been a scheme so, after customers saw all the good food on the menu, they'd be so hungry that they'd settle for anything, even a cheese sandwich. This is what happened to the Ricardos and Mertzes. They tried ordering three delicious meals before finding out that all that was available was the "specialty of the house." Here are the non-existent meals they tried to order:
- Steak sandwich, rare, with French fries and coleslaw.
- Roast beef, rare, with a baked potato.
- Fried chicken with biscuits.
- The Golden Drumstick went out of business for selling a turkey dinner with all the trimmings, dressing, cranberry sauce, green salad, and homemade peach shortcake for only $1.
- It is unclear where exactly George Skinner's One Oak is located, but it's somewhere in Ohio. George Skinner says his place is the only restaurant/hotel all the way until Cincinnati. Also, in a road map promo that was released with the Lucy and Desi cartoon characters, the first stop in "First Stop" is shown somewhere in Ohio. Also, at the beginning of the episode, a shot of the car on the road showed a sign with the number 48 on it, indicating a route number. There is a real Ohio route 48. It is a generally north/south route in western Ohio and is in the vicinity of Cincinnati.
- The first sign the gang saw for Aunt Sally's was 200 miles from her place.
- When the director went on a mini road trip to film real car scenes to add to the editing, they goofed for the Aunt Sally's shot. When "Lucy" gets out of the car, the actress portraying Lucy was wearing a dress. The real Lucy was wearing pants.
- Ethel offers to trade beds with Lucy and Ricky, because she and Fred have an old lumpy mattress like the one in the cabin back home in New York. Most likely this is because Fred is too cheap to buy a new mattress.
- The picnic basket with the stale sandwich and grape probably was the same basket Mrs. Trumbull gave the group before they left. Mrs. McGillicuddy had also packed a lunch basket, but, since she ended up not going on the road trip, she probably didn't leave the basket in the car.
Quotes[]
- Ricky: Are you sure this is Ohio?
Fred: Well, it better be. We just left Pennsylvania, and we're headed for Indiana.
- Lucy: (reading sign) "50 miles to Aunt Sally's pecan pralines."
Ethel: Well, we're closin' in on her!
- Fred: I'm surprised she has time to make pralines, she's so busy making signs.
Lucy: You know, I've been thinking about those pralines for so many miles, I've just got to have some!
- Fred: Is there anything left in that lunch basket, Ethel?
Ethel: A stale sandwich and a grape.
Fred: Let me have the grape!
- Ethel: Hey, we've still got that stale sandwich!
Fred: Don't bother looking in the cupboard, Mother Hubbard. It's bare.
Ethel: Fred, when did you eat that sandwich?
Fred: When you were takin' that nap.
Ethel: Oh, honestly! It's gettin' so it's not safe to shut your eyes around here!
- Lucy: Anyway, we just gotta drop in on Aunt Sally. I feel like she's an old friend!
- Ricky: What did the sign say [on the door]?
Lucy: "Out of business."
Fred: I knew Aunt Sally was spendin' too much money on those signs!
- George Skinner: What would you like [to order]?
Lucy: The name of the nearest good restaurant.
- (George Skinner apathetically tosses cheese sandwiches at the Ricardos and Mertzes)
Lucy: (sarcastically) I hope you didn't go to too much trouble.
George Skinner: Nope! Just buy 'em from the salesman when he comes around.
Lucy: (after seeing the plastic cheese) That salesman hasn't been around here lately, has he?
- Ricky: (sees bill) $4.80?!
George Skinner: The sandwiches are a dollar a piece, and the 80 cents is the entertainment tax.
Ricky: Entertainment tax?!
(George Skinner starts playing "I'm Afraid to Come Home in the Dark" on a horribly out-of-tune banjo)
Ricky: I'll pay! I'll pay!
- Ricky: Look, Fred, there's one good thin' about this place- it's HERE!
- Ricky: You've only got one [cabin] left?
George Skinner: I've only got one. That's all I ever had.
- Fred: $8, $16 [for a cabin]- who cares?!
Ethel: Oh, he IS tired!
- Fred: Ethel, I can't sleep up here [on the top bunk].
Ethel: Why not?
Fred: You know very well that high altitudes make my nose bleed.
Ethel: Oh! Why didn't you say so before?
Fred: Well, I wanted you to warm the bunk up for me.
Ethel: What a sneaky character I married!
Fred: Come on!
Ethel: Alright, alright, get in there. I just don't like you being so tricky!
(Fred laughs evilly)
- Fred: (when burglar alarm sounds when sneaking out of cabin) I feel like I'm breakin' outta prison!
- Ethel: What made you think we'd try to sneak away?
George Skinner: Well, everybody does!