Posted on 08/04/2011 2:57:15 AM PDT by iowamark
You won't need a buzz off your Vitameatavegamin elixir to appreciate this: The Hallmark Channel is celebrating what would have been Lucille Ball's 100th birthday with a 48-hour marathon of classic "I Love Lucy" episodes.
Hallmark, the exclusive cable home of the show, will air 96 total episodes beginning on Saturday, Lucille Ball's actual birthday. The episodes begin Saturday morning at 6 a.m. and end Monday morning at 6 a.m., with 48 unique episodes airing each day. No reruns!
It's hard to understate the significance of Lucille Ball as a TV star and iconic American celebrity. Not only was Lucy the first woman to head a production company, she was on the cover of TV Guide more than any other star in history. "I Love Lucy," which was the most watched program in the nation for four out of six of its seasons, is considered one of the greatest TV shows of all time. It won five Emmys during its run. (FYI for all the hardcore "Lucy" fans out there: According to Hallmark Channel, Viacom owns the rights to "I Love Lucy.")
Hallmark is also releasing a rare, never published interview TV writer Ray Richmond conducted with Lucille Ball in 1984 titled "My Lunch with Lucy." Click below to read that interview.
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MY LUNCH WITH LUCY By Ray Richmond
It was November of 1984. I was the chief TV critic for the Daily News of Los Angeles when my editor asked if I wanted to interview Lucille Ball in connection with her being honored by CBS with an “all-star party” airing on the network in December.
“You’re asking me if I’d like to interview Lucy?” came my incredulous response. “Wait. Let me think about it. Yes!!!”
I mean, who wouldn’t leap at the chance to chat with the all-time queen of comedy? You don’t let that kind of opportunity pass. And I didn’t.
But at the same time, I couldn’t have known what awaited me after arriving that day promptly at 11:30 in the morning at Ball’s sleek but unpretentious home in Beverly Hills.
I rang the doorbell, expecting an assistant to answer. Instead, it was the redhead herself, resplendent in a green sundress and white sandals, her hair still very much the hue of goldfish. She was holding a ruby red beverage in a tall, frothy glass and immediately asked if I’d like one as well.
“I’d love one,” I said, already rather awestruck.
“Good. Come on in, honey.”
Not only had a woman who’d shared a living room with me since I was a toddler just called me “honey”; she took me by the hand to lead me inside. And instead of being met by the typical entourage of publicists and helpers, it was instantly clear that we were alone aside from a housekeeper puttering around the kitchen.
Someone needed to pinch me, as I figured I must to be dreaming. Me and Lucy. In her home. Just the two of us. Sipping cocktails. About to travel together down memory lane.
We settled into a very light and airy living room dominated by a big, floppy couch and linen pillows. I sat on the sofa, Lucy in an overstuffed chair. But before getting settled, she called out to her housekeeper.
“Rosa! The lasagna in the fridge. Can you heat it up with some of the bread?”
“Si!” came the response from the kitchen.
“You hungry?” Lucy asked me after having already decided I was.
It didn’t matter that I’d had a late breakfast and it wasn’t even noon yet. I was going with this program to the hilt.
“Absolutely. Lasagna sounds great.”
“Good,” Lucy replied with a firm nod of the head. “Okay, now what can I tell you? Ask me anything you want.”
I mean, what didn’t I want to ask this woman? What I wanted to say was, “Tell me everything. About Desi. About Vivian. About being a television pioneer. About what those years were like. About how it feels to forever be America’s wacky sweetheart.”
Turning on my microcassette tape recorder, I began asking. And Lucy started telling. And telling. And telling. And telling. All of it with great color and clarity and candor.
When I asked her about Vivian Vance and the great sisterly friendship she is purported to have had with her I Love Lucy costar, Lucy began to tear up in remembering the pal who had died a mere five years before of breast and bone cancer.
“Oh God it was so hard,” Lucy shared between quivering sobs. “I couldn’t save her. I felt so helpless. She was the love of my life.”
The description of Vance’s decline spanned some 15 minutes of our time together. I wasn’t pressing with questions. It instead emerged in a single cathartic burst from Lucy’s lips. This was a woman often thought to be rigid and abrasive in private. But here she was reliving one of her most agonizing moments with a visible raw grief, openness and sincerity in front of a complete stranger.
Our interview would traverse a gamut of emotions, reaching ebullient highs in discussing her early life, her years on TV, and her early years as a movie starlet.
When the subject of Desi Arnaz was raised, Lucy grew immediately wistful and nostalgic.
"What can I tell you, I loved him," she said, a tear beginning to form in her left eye. "He and I just had different hopes for what love and marriage ought to be. But, he's a great father to our kids…a good man." With that, Lucy began dabbing at her eyes. "I'll never stop loving Desi. And I know how much he'll always love me. He and I are good now. Growing older and maturing is the best thing that ever happened to us. And you know it's no secret that we had our problems, but I can look at Desi now and remember the fantastic times we had together back then, too."
"That's all you're getting out of me!" her voice rising. "Can we change the subject please?"
Oh yes we could. And I did, immediately.
As the minutes turned into two hours and the end of our interview neared, what I had expected to be a low-energy half-hour of monitored banter turned into a revelatory, unforgettable conversation with a legend that you get once per lifetime, if you’re ridiculously lucky. Lucy was by turns witty, charming, reflective and somber. By the end, she was worn out by all of the emotion she’d expended, seemingly surprising even herself.
“That was fun, kid,” she said, as I flipped off my recorder and handed the housekeeper my cleaned lasagna plate.
“This is one of the greatest moments of my life,” I said to her. “I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve given me today.”
“Ah, well you must not have much of a life if chatting with an old bag is as good as it gets,” she laughed heartily.
Just then, Lucy’s second husband, Gary Morton, walked in, giving his wife a warm kiss and hug that warmed my heart to see. As I was making my way past the loving couple to leave, Lucy made a parting demand.
“Don’t tell anyone I color my hair,” she said. “Let ‘em think it’s still natural. OK?”
I kept Lucy’s secret all of these years. But given that she’s turning 100, I figure she’s probably all right with my finally spilling the beans.
http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/blog/stay_tuned/2011/08/worldwide-attention-hits-jamestown.html
“”How many Lucys can fit in Jamestown?”
Plenty of people will be saying, “I Love Lucy” this weekend in Jamestown as they dress up like Lucille Ball. Jamestown is hoping to set a new Guinness World Record, on Lucille Ball’s birthday, for the most people dressed as television character Lucy Ricardo in one place, at one time.
It’s all part of the annual Lucille Ball Festival of Comedy, also known as Lucy Fest. The celebration has become a tradition in Jamestown, which is Ball’s hometown. But this year, organizers are taking it a step further since it marks her 100th birthday...””
TCM(Turner Classic Movies) will be showing Lucy’s films all day on August 6:
http://www.tcm.com/summer/#/day6
She was one tough lady!
RIP Lucy.
Wow. I’m too old to have ever seen Lucille Ball on TV because I never had a television set,but I remember her
well in movies before there was any TV. I loved her when
I was a kid, and I guess I learned a lot from watching her in those old movies. She was great. She was a great actress. She was so wholsome. May she rest in peace.
You cannot beat Lucy, Jack Benny and Jackie Gleason
They don't make shows like that today.
Wow, you have a lot to look forward to watching YouTube. Just type in her name and you can catch up.
Hey thank you I’ll watch for it on FR on Youtube. Also maybe there is one of those old movies of hers on DVD on Amazon. Got any suggestions of a good Lucille Ball movie?
Great looking couple. She was an amazing talent. Maybe one day Desi will get the attention he deserves as a entrepreneur, producer and studio owner (DesiLu).
I come from a family of MALE comedy writers in NYC and now Hollywood. Back in the ‘70s, you couldn’t get one male comedy writer to admit she was funny. Because they believe (and still believe) that women can’t be funny.
But lately, one family member in particular, is finally admitting that not only was she funny but she was a comic genuis. Which she surely was. I think this writer is now seeing what Sandra Berhard, Margaret Cho and Rosie O’Donnell have wrought.
The Long Trailer (approximate title) and Fancy Pants.
If you can get the I Love Lucy dvds, go for it. There are many famous episodes but one of my favorites comes from the season where she and Ricky go to Hollywood.
One episode features the great actor Bill Holden. For whatever reason, Lucy dons a disguise, including a long, fake nose. During the scene, she lights up a cigarette, accidentally setting that nose on fire. While Holden watches her in awe and fear, she quickly doses her nose in a cup of coffee and goes right on with the scene.
What a woman!
This was Desi's monumental bonehead move that cost them billions. After the series folded, Desi sold all the rights to CBS which was broadcasting the show.
Desi never figured on eternal reruns and that the show would remain in the public's heart for generations. I'm sure he spent many sleepless nights beating himself up for giving away billions of dollars with the stroke of a pen.
At the time they did receive a lot of money for the rights----about $4 million-----which enabled them to buy a studio and go into TV production.
But that was a drop in the bucket compared to the billions in reruns they could have earned.
Because it was shot on film, that's why we've been able to get really high-quality restorations of old episodes in recent years.
The complete series available at Amazon....
VITA-MEATA-VEGIMIN!
I guess you remember Ms.Ball in a Three Stooges short?
Chick Chandler---played the newspaper man in Ethel's hometown--was in an early movie with Lucy (she played his girlfriend in a non-speaking role) in "Blood Money" 1933.
Allen Jenkins---played the policeman who tells Lucy she might grow up to be a sofa---was in Lucy's "Five Came Back" 1939. Lucy complained co-star Chester Morris kept hitting on her.
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Frank Nelson (quiz show's Freddie Fillmore) married Veola Vonn (emcee when Ricky performs handcuffed to Lucy).
Locksmith Will Wright appeared in over 100 films and did much TV work, including a recurring role on "The Andy Griffith Show" (1960).
And he was hilarious in the show!
I just checked his Wiki entry and was again amazed at his multi-faceted career. Thanks to his innovations, I Love Lucy has stayed in the public eye while so many badly filmed situation comedies - that I loved as a kid - have faded into oblivion.
I am proud that I (and my son!) also have August 6 birthdays. I grew up on Lucy Shows and my son even became a real fan. August 6 has always been more than just another ‘Hiroshima Day’ to us.
DesiLu Productions included shows like Star Trek. Fascinating! At least, for sci-fi buffs like me.
Why not be impressed? Star Trek is one of the most beloved television shows of all time. Talk about standing the test of time!
By the way, Danny Thomas was also a great television producer. Helped to create the classic Dick Van Dyke Show. Lots of talent in those days.
Compared to TV shows from today, or even the 80s and 90s you still think I love Lucy had mindless over the top scripts? I'll have to disagree with you there. The I love Lucy Show was brilliant comedy. We were just watching one the other day and my wife commented, “they sure don't write TV shows like that anymore”. And they don't. Today's TV is mindless and over the top.
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