happy birthday LUCILLE BALL!

so, "I Love Lucy": funny or not? As a kid I saw them all about 10x, but now, I just don't know. Obv my fave character was Fred Mertz.

would watch this again tho:

http://www.clown-ministry.com/images/fancy-pants-bob-hope-lucille-ball.jpg

The show holds up!

It's all about insecurities, so yeah, always holds up. Love what Google did and that baby episode clip chokes me up.

yeah, it's classic. i actually think desi is the most consistently funny performer -- his stunned reactions are priceless. william frawley's great, too. the show's like a cup of ovaltine before bed -- totally comforting.

'the long, long trailer' is very funny too.

vitameatavegamin

i love the one with george reeves as superman because he's not guesting as george reeves, he's guesting as *superman*.

Frawley's son directed Monkees episodes.

James Frawley? the director of The Muppet Movie?

yes, him! I thought for sure he'd have to be Bill F's grandson, but he's 74 already.

915 Lucys gather in Jamestown NY:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/07/us-lucy-idUSTRE77464N20110807

I love that episode where she is running around the kitchen dealing with the cosmic egg-timer and the cosmic toaster. Oh wait, wrong thread.

I was passing thru Grand Central Station one day circa 1985, and saw a film shoot being done. Wrapped in a shabby coat and other layers of homeless-woman garb was Lucy, for the TV-movie "Stone Pillow" -- last role except for her final failed sitcom. She pushed a shopping cart through this waiting room where a hundred or so people were watching, and when the take was over everyone applauded and she bowed. Since her eyes were kinda bugged out, it didn't look like an earnest drama.

http://www.prendergastlibrary.org/extra!extra!/Lucy/new%20season%20(stone%20pillow).jpg

crossposted from the Taylor Negron thread... his piece on a Lucy comedy class he attended in '77. Wow.

http://www.freshyarn.com/9/essays/negron_pink1.htm

That was very evocative.

Of all sorts of things... very cannily written.

Indeed. Very concise and condensed expression of several levels and generations of showbiz at once.

Didn't see any links upthread to her hands-on involvement in Star Trek

Lucy really brings it as a worldlywise burlesque dancer in this film; just look

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B61SczMPvHs

May 14 70 Those who had told us that Lucille Ball was 'very wearing' were not exaggerating. She is a monster of staggering charmlessness and monumental lack of humour. pic.twitter.com/zPyngpWdox

— Richard Burton (@BurtonDiaries) May 14, 2019

savage

I've heard she could be trying, esp by the Here's Lucy days.

not sure why the Burton's ppl agreed to do an episode. I believe the plot was that Liz's wedding ring fell into Lucy's sink.

Everyone looks a few years short of death in that photo. Man, life was hard in the boozin'-and-smoking set.

well Lucy's voice was huskier than Bea Arthur's by then

not sure why the Burton's ppl agreed to do an episode. I believe the plot was that Liz's wedding ring fell into Lucy's sink.

I bet it had something to do with that ring itself, which Burton had recently bought for $1 million in 1969 money (not actually a wedding ring, just a nice gift). In the wake of the surrounding publicity, much of it self-generated, perhaps the Burtons wanted to humanize themselves by doing something more relatable for the common folk. Lowering themselves to appear on the boob tube would be an effective option.

Alternatively, maybe they wanted to show off the ring to a more massive audience.

Only read about this now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvrjCdtB0zM

I think Kidman's almost always great, but this looks very dicey.

"dicey" is too kind

Never read that Taylor Negron story above, that was a good read.

looks terrible. i wonder if there's ever been a drama about a classic comedian that was actually watchable.

apparently aaron sorkin was classy enough to say in an interview that he doesn't think i love lucy is funny, which made me wonder why exactly he's making a movie about it.

That is bizarre...There's a Carl Reiner/Dick Van Dyke movie called The Comic that I saw ages ago that I think is pretty good? Not about one specific comedian, though, but a composite of Lloyd, Langdon, and other silent stars.

The Comic is amazing

Just came to say on this thread that another I Love Lucyto Star Trek: TOS connection besides Lucy herself was director Marc Daniels.

Best stuff in "I Love Lucy" still brings the guffaws and giggles (and Sorkin is hot garbage)

just a fabulous idiot

-- my father who passed away a few years ago fought in World War II. And he, like most people from his generation, from the Greatest Generation -- he doesn't tell a lot of war stories. You, kind of, have to pull it out of him. But he would talk about his unit going into a village in Europe and he could hear villagers say, "Thank God the Americans are here."

Now, people don't say that right now. And it's because of Donald Trump. We can go back to being the "Thank God the Americans are here" people

My grandfather was a radio/tv journalist and interviewed lots of the stars in the '30s to '60s. He had great stories. Once he interviewed Lucy and she misinterpreted one of his questions as insinuating something about Desi sleeping around (I guess this was in the '50s). She bawled him out and cut the interview short, though later realized the question was innocent and called him that night (drunk) and apologized.

This thread reminded me of Martin Short's 'later Lucy voice':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baFqb8RYBZQ

That is a great story...Did Lucille Ball have a drinking problem later on? All I know of her are her TV shows and Dance, Girl, Dance.

Lucy Arnaz seems to have endorsed this new production?

Lucille Ball looked soused in every '70s talk show appearance I've seen her in, but it looks like a de rigeur thing in the '70s.

Right. See also Match Game, to name just one show.

Lucie Arnaz:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW4gBOt2ASs