Facts About Ethel Trivia Quiz

Answer: False

Ethel is from Albuquerque. This is mentioned on a few occasions, if my memory serves me correctly. Once in the episode entitled "The Benefit", Ethel said after she wound up being the back end of a horse costume: "If my family in Albuquerque could see me they'd die of shame!" Another reference is in the episode entitled "Lucy Gets Chummy with the Neighbors".

It is mentioned in a third episode "Ethel's Hometown", when the gang visit Albequrque on their way to California.

Answer: True

There is never any reference to Ethel having any brothers or sisters in the show. There are a few references to a mother, though. (I thank kc_casey for bringing the references to my attention).

Answer: False

Although in real life they were only a year apart, Lucy and Ethel were more than likely about 10 years apart. Ethel was pictured as older because Fred was so much older.

Answer: False

"Ethel May Potter we never forgot her!" This was referred to in the episode entitled "Ethel's Hometown". We meet Ethel's dad, who Fred says is always full of baloney.

Answer: False

In the episode entitled "Lucy's Bicycle Trip", Ethel was supposed to be the interpreter on the trip. As I mentioned in my Fred quiz, if you can speak enough of a language to interpret, you can speak it. When the crew comes in contact with an Italian native, Lucy tells Ethel to use her Italian.

She says: "Buona sera". The native proceeds to say that he is wondering what they want and says that he doesn't speak any English. Lucy asks Ethel what he said and Ethel exclaims, "I don't even know what I said"! So, sadly, Ethel just didn't graduate from translator's school.

Answer: True

Yes, Ethel could in fact sing opera music. In the episode entitled "The Operetta", Ethel was chosen by Lucy (very reluctantly)to sing in the operetta because she could sing opera and Lucy just, well....couldn't.

Answer: True

In many episodes, Ethel was quite the noisy eater. This was brought out the most in the episode entitled "In Palm Springs". After an article in the newspaper told a story of a woman hitting her husband because of a habit he had, an argument including all four of them follows. Fred tells Ethel that she "eats with a lot of...noise!" Later in the episode Ethel tells Lucy: "You know, I'm getting sick and tired of being called a COW!"

Answer: False

As I was making up this quiz, I was going to make this question true saying that Ethel played the piano, which she did. But then I got to thinking that there are a lot of discrepancies in the story about this. In some episodes, she can play as well as me...which is not at all.

Then, in other episodes, she is an accomplished piano player that could play whatever was on the paper. Strange.

Answer: True

They both went to school in Albuquerque, NM. At first, Ethel wasn't too fond of Betty, but once she finds out that Betty is from NM too, she says: "I should have known you were from Albuquerque, you're so warm and friendly!"

Answer: True

We find a lot out about Ethel in "Ethel's Hometown". Her dad is busy bragging about her to Lucy and Ricky and tells them that "she was the pride of Albuquerque--she used to have the boys buzz around her like bees around honey. And when I think how she---oh, what's the use of going back?"
Fred: "How come with all the bees around her I was the one to get stung?" Only Fred.

Answer: False

In the episode entitled "Lucy goes to Monte Carlo", Lucy and Ethel go gambling even though Ricky tells her not to. Lucy proceeds to win 875,000 francs and hides them with Ethel. Ricky and Fred go over the books and Ricky finds the money in Ethel's suitcase. Ricky then accuses Fred of juggling the books, and they get into an arguement. Ricky tells Lucy about it, and she, trying to get Fred out of trouble, tells Ricky that Ethel has a rich aunt Yvette. So--Yvette was just a made up character to keep Fred from getting fired for swindling Ricky.

Answer: True

Contrary to Lucy, Ethel's blond hair is natural. Though there were never any references to Ethel's dying her hair in the show, in the episode "Ethel's Hometown", we see a picture of Ethel when she was young--with black hair. In episode 82 entitled "Sentimental Anniversary", we see a picture of Ethel and Fred when they were first married.

At this point she is a blonde. In the 1920's most girls dyed their hair dark...I suppose to look like the flapper girls that were popular then. In the 1930's, it was the blonde look all the girls went for. So, since an explanation is never received as to why Ethel had black hair in a picture, I think we can be safe in assuming that it may have been just a phase a young girl goes through. (Many thanks to wheezerpal for pointing out the episode which shows Ethel's dark hair.)

Answer: True

In the episode entitled "The Diner", Ricky and Fred buy a diner together. Lucy tells Ricky that they know nothing about running a diner and Ethel proceeds to tell Lucy that she and Fred worked in a diner when they were stranded in Indianapolis once.

Answer: False

Again, we go back to the episode entitled "Ethel's Hometown". The photographer for the local newspaper is one of her old boyfriends named Billy Hackett.

Answer: True

In an episode of "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour", Fred and Ricky buy a piece of land in Alaska. The girls don't go for the idea, and Fred tells Ricky that when he and Ethel were first married, he bought a piece of land in Florida. It was a little dinky part of a beach and Ethel told him to get rid of it. Fred says: "That is what's now known as Miami Beach."