Continuity mistake: While Lucy's taking a tally of who everyone's voting for, the writing on the posterboard changes in Lucy's closeups. (00:14:45)
Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer - S1-E11
Continuity mistake: When Ethel walks in while Lucy's vacuuming, Ethel has the folded newspaper under her arm and there's only small print on the paper, but after Lucy offers Ethel a cup of coffee now the headline can be seen on the still folded paper under Ethel's arm. Then, when Lucy unfolds the paper we see both the front and back page filled with pictures and the headline, but that area of small print which was seen in the earlier shots does not exist on either side. (00:00:40)
Continuity mistake: When Lucy crawls into the New Neighbors' apartment she's startled by the stuffed bear head, and in the closeup of the bear head it's in front of a bare wall, but in the rest of the shots it's in front of furniture. Additionally, other things change as well between shots: the books under the bear, the hat, etc. (00:10:15)
Continuity mistake: While Ricky's telling the bedtime story in Spanish to Little Ricky (worth watching just for this scene), in the closeups of the baby in the crib, the pillow bumper has an embroidered heart with stick figures, which flips in reverse. Actually, the last closeup of Little Ricky lying down is the normal shot, but all the closeups of the baby sitting up are the flipped shots. (This pillow bumper has stick figures of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and can be seen in previous episodes). (00:06:40)
Ricky's Old Girlfriend - S3-E11
Continuity mistake: When Fred tells Ricky there's an article in the newspaper about Carlota Romero, there's a closeup of the newspaper's back page with Carlota's photo, but later when Lucy takes the newspaper (the same NY Gazette issue) from Ethel, before she turns it over we can see that the back page photo and layout are different. (00:08:30 - 00:10:20)
Bonus Bucks - S3-E20
Continuity mistake: After Ricky takes out the extra expenses from the prize money, when starched-up Lucy walks into the office Fred's holding the last dollar bill, and in the closeup of Ethel's and Fred's shocked reactions to Lucy's appearance we see Lucy's hand holding the dollar, but in the next wideshot Lucy's open hand is empty so Fred gives her the dollar. (00:24:35)
Answer: There is no reason. It's a just a silly plot device, typical of the era. Women characters were often portrayed as making uninformed assumptions or decisions.
raywest ★