Butch the dog, owned by Fred and Ethel Mertz, is a minor character featured on episode 3, Season 1 of I Love Lucy – an episode where Lucy discovers she has put on a bit of weight and decides to begin a strict diet. This is the only time in the entirety of the show that the character of Butch the dog is ever mentioned or shown on camera. This tells audiences that Butch had a very specific function as a minor character when appearing in this episode and that the dogs acting is what author Christian Keathly describes as ‘bits of business’ (Keathly, 2011). In the “Small Parts, Small Players” dossier of Screen, Keathly explains this to be “moments of acting that we see both as functional, in their illumination of character and anchoring of mood, and as examples of ludic excess in relation to the narratives of which they are a part” (Keathly, 2011). In this instance having Butch the dog in the dinner scene with Lucy, her husband Ricky and their landlords Fred and Ethel Mertz, serves both ‘bits of business’ purposes in illumination of character and as an example of ludicrous excess. Where Lucy sits down to dinner with everyone and must eat raw vegetables in accordance with her diet, the rest of the table is enjoying perfectly cooked steak. They are enjoying the steak so much that mere comments and complements about the meat will not suffice, they must share their delicacy with the dog Butch. This incites Lucy to perform a ruse in an attempt to steal the steak away from the dog Butch. The end result is Lucille Ball grappling with a large dog over a bit of chewed meat, to the hilarity of audiences. This engagement with a dog over its dinner highlights Lucy’s mood, in that she is desperate and hungry, willing to stray from her goal to achieve momentary satisfaction. This scene also illuminates the characters in their dedication to helping Lucy achieve her dietary goals while also displaying the utter hilarity in their ignoring her distress and pandering to her discomfort by feeding the dog in front of her. The show I Love Lucy is centered around comedy and having Butch the dog work opposite Lucy anchors the ridiculousness of the overall narrative while still functioning as a piece of acting that furthers the development of the storyline.
Works Cited
Keathly, Christian. “Pass the salt… and other bits of business” Screen. vol. 52, no. 1, 2011.
Straw, Will. “Introduction” Screen. vol. 52, no. 1, 2011.
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