Fred Mertz

**Fred Mertz** is a character on *I Love Lucy*, *The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour*, and other media. He was played by William Frawley.

## About Fred

Fred was born in Steubenville, Ohio, to an Irish family, and he lived on a farm somewhere in the Midwest as a child and learned how to care for farm animals. His mother is never shown or named, but she lives in Indiana and doesn't think much of Fred's wife, Ethel. Fred has at least one sibling; his brother went on a camping trip with Fred and Ricky one summer.

Fred went into show business as a vaudeville performer long before he ever got married. He played the violin at a rally for Teddy Roosevelt. He was half of the act Mertz and Kurtz, performing with partner Ted/Barney Kurtz. Fred and Ted/Barney were billed as "the laugh twins." Their motto was "laugh 'til it hurts with Mertz and Kurtz!" Fred once mentions tap dancing as part of his Mertz and Kurtz act, and they always closed their act with the song "I Want a Girl Just Like the One Who Married Dear Old Dad." Mertz and Kurtz also introduced the song "Oh, By Jingo" when they were once performing in Indianapolis.

In 1918, Fred joined the Army as a doughboy in WWI and went to France for three weeks. He traveled both to and from France by boat, and this was dreadful for Fred's severe case of seasickness. Fred was only stationed in France for three weeks, but he made it to the rank of corporal while in the Army. He played a police benefit in 1919 (and was rewarded with a pair of old Civil War handcuffs), did a Mertz and Kurtz Atlantic City bathing skit around 1924, and performed vaudeville for the last time in Peoria in 1925. Throughout his entire vaudeville career, Fred managed his act himself.

Sometime during his vaudeville career, Fred met Ethel Potter, his future wife. Mr. Potter didn't like Fred, so they eloped against Mr. Potter's wishes when Ethel was nineteen. Ethel and Fred married on May 3rd. Fred and Ethel set out on a rather successful vaudeville career together after their marriage. They performed all over the country. The name Mertz & Mertz is on their vaudeville trunk, which they bought from a man who had a seal act. One of their career highlights was starring in the Flapper Follies of 1927 at the Palace Theater in Jamestown, New York, an act which they reprised in 1952 at the Tropicana. They also did an Apache dance together in their act. The Mertzes traveled a lot for vaudeville, and once were stranded in Indianapolis. To survive, the couple worked at a diner, Fred as the waiter and Ethel as the cook.

In 1937, the couple retired from show business and purchased a small brownstone apartment in Manhattan, located at 623 East 68th Street. (In 1953, Ethel says that they've been living in the apartment for 16 years.) The deed for the building was written in Ethel's name; they moved in to apartment 3C, which is right across the hall from the Ricardos' second apartment of 3D. Fred and Ethel quickly grew accustomed to earning their living as landlords. When Lucy and Ricky Ricardo moved in to their building in 1948, Ethel and Fred quickly developed a very close friendship with them. Fred and Ricky became best friends. Fred and Ethel went with the Ricardos on their 1955 trip to Hollywood. When Ricky had to tour Europe with his band a month after returning from Hollywood in 1955, he hurriedly asked Fred to be his business manager during the trip, knowing how Fred had managed his vaudeville act all by himself. Fred was responsible for learning German for the trip. He made sure to learn how to ask for nine different types of beer first. Fred continued to be Ricky's band manager long after the trip to Europe, which meant that he was able to see even more exotic places for free that he otherwise never would have paid to see, such as Las Vegas, Mexico and Tokyo, Japan.

When Lucy Ricardo became pregnant in 1952, she immediately declared that the Mertzes would be the baby's godparents. Fred's godson, Little Ricky, was born January 1953. Little Ricky calls his godfather "Uncle Fred," and he also named his puppy "Fred."

In 1957, when the Ricardos moved to Westport, Connecticut, Fred was almost as devastated by the loss of his best friends as Ethel was. When the chance came for the Mertzes to apply for the job of hired hand in the Ricardos' chicken/egg business, they did so in a heartbeat and moved to Westport, too. They live in the Ricardos' guest house, with free room and board for taking care of the chickens, as well as a portion of the profits from the egg sales (60 cents a dozen).

Fred is a proud member of his lodge. He once was flagbearer for the lodge, and his dream is to someday be Sergeant of Arms.

When Fred finds out the money Lucy won at the Monte Carlo casino didn't belong to Ethel like he thought, he laments that he now has been "wiped out twice in one lifetime," the first time being the Stock Market Crash of '29.

## Birthdate and Age

Fred's birthday is never revealed, but he is getting ready to celebrate his birthday in episode #75, which originally aired 30 November 1953. He was probably at least 18 in 1918, since he was in the Army at that time. Actor William Frawley was born in 1887. Fred has an old boxing robe and shorts, and a 1909 Golden Gloves Boxing Champion sweater, but the sweater might have originally belonged to someone else.

## Inconsistencies

* The year of his marriage based on Ethel's age of nineteen would place it between 1925 and 1935. The Mertzes celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary in 1951, which would mean they eloped in 1933. They celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary in 1952, which would give a wedding year of 1927.