“I Love Lucy” Season 6, Episode 163.  Plot:  The Ricardos and Mertzes get involved in Little Ricky's school pageant, “The Enchanted Forest.”  The sets and costumes for the pageant were designed by Pepito, and choreography was by Joanne.  The children in the episode (other than Little Ricky) were all from The Pepito and Joanne Academy of Dance in Santa Ana, California.  The little girl who played Suzy Brown was Candy Rogers Schoenberger, one of Pepito and Joanne’s star students.   The names of the other children who performed on this TV episode are a mystery.

At the  end of the episode was a special on-screen credit for Pepito and Joanne’s academy which read “Settings and Choreography for ‘The Enchanted Forest’ by Pepito and Joanne Dancing Academies.”  (See below).

Of particular note in this video is the sumptuous Enchanted Forest backdrop, hand-painted by Pepito.  This backdrop was last seen in Joanne’s attic around 1989.  Its final fate is unknown.  Also, the costumes were created by Pepito in his workshop behind his Santa Ana house, and were auctioned off after Joanne’s death in 2004. 

Over the years, Pepito and Joanne used this “Enchanted Forest” backdrop and the costumes many times for their “Hansel and Gretel” productions in Orange County, California.  For Joanne’s recitals on the outdoor stage at the dance school, just the blacklighted dream sequence from Hansel and Gretel was used, involving Baby Butterflies, and the memorable Giant Butterfly.

The costumes for the Frog and the Owl are now in the Lucy-Desi museum in Jamestown, New York.  www.desi-lucy.com.

Watch the entire Lost Pilot of “I Love Lucy” on YouTube, and see Pepito playing himself in the audition film that helped CBS sell the “I Love Lucy” concept to the show’s sponsor, Philip Morris Cigarettes.

Pepito also appeared in Episode 52 of “I Love Lucy.”  Watch the video.

Settings and choreography for “The Enchanted Forest” by Pepito and Joanne Dancing Academies.

Signed cast photo from the “Enchanted Forest” segment of “Little Ricky’s School Pageant.”  This photo once hung on the wall of Joanne’s dance studio, and is familiar to all who entered those doors.  I would love to know the names of the children from the Pepito and Joanne Academy of Dance who participated in this 1956 episode of “I Love Lucy.”  Please use the link below to contact me.  Click on photo to enlarge or download. 

If anyone reading this page was once a child in a Pepito and Joanne show, please contact me using the link at the bottom of this page.

Bonnie, I would love to talk to you about your memories of Pepito and Joanne.  Please email me using the link below.