Post by Rob W. Case on Mar 4, 2005 22:27:51 GMT -6
I Love Lucy has become America’s single most popular sitcom in the world. In Its six year run and 181 episodes (179 including the lost pilot and 1956 Christmas special), America and countless generations have experienced the quality of this classic comedy. The show “I Love Lucy” ended in its run in 1957 under that title. In the fall of 1957, an hour long version was created entitled “The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour” and “The Lucille Ball- Desi Arnaz Show”.
The Farmhouse Episodes of “I Love Lucy”:
In the final season under the title “I Love Lucy” the Ricardos moved to a large country farmhouse. The set was the largest of the past three (Small apartment, the apartment with the window in the background, and the Hollywood hotel set.) When the Ricardos and the Mertzes moved to Connecticut in the closing season of the I Love Lucy story, they encountered new storylines and neighbors. Then came the new format, the main attraction was the elaborate guest stars.
The Animation Sequence:
When I Love Lucy started in 1951, each episode started with an animation sequence that would promote Phillip Morris cigarettes. In 1957, the Ford automobile sponsored the new program. The animation sequence was a cartoon of hands playing the drums, while an announcer read “Ford, and the Ford dealers of your community presents the new Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Hour.” Each week Desi Arnaz would come out from behind the curtain and present the episode. Unlike its predecessor, the new format would be extended to one hour and each episode would feature legendary Hollywood stars from that era.
The contract for the 1957-1958 season called for five episodes. In the first episode of the new series, Lucy and Desi scraped up a lot of famous names. The title of the episode was “Lucy Takes a Cruise To Havana” The first episode contained such names as Caesar Romero, Ann Southern, who at that time was famous for her role in the TV sitcom “Private Secretary”. Legendary singer Rudy Vale also made a guest appearance in the episode. The episode was supposed to tell the story of how Lucy and Ricky first met and fell in love. The episode originally started out where Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper is in the living room of the Ricardo farmhouse, asking the Ricardos how they met and fell in love. With this compilation of guest stars, Desi Arnaz wanted this episode to be 75 minutes in length. CBS did not go for the idea since it has never been done before, and the concern of how to fill in the last 15 minutes before the next slot starts. Desi had to deal with having the show work at one hour in length, or 50 minutes for program content, and 10 minutes of commercials. Later, when the program was syndicated, the entire Hedda Hopper interview was scrapped, and was replaced with Ricky narrating the show with the words, “Tonight, we go back 20 years to when Lucy and Ricky first met… They were taking one of those cruises to Havana….” The filming of this episode started in June of 1957 at the Motion Picture Center.
Vivian Vance and William Frawley:
With this hour long format, Vivian Vance and William Frawley were both sick and tired of the old style, as well as working with each other. William and Vivian would thumb through the scripts to see how often they would have to work together. They hated each other in real life. Vivian Vance would detest anything that involved her character Ethel Mertz sharing a bed with Fred Mertz. In the new series, Vivian Vance had some terms that she wanted to be etched in stone. Vivian was sick and tired of wearing the same old dumpy clothes that she wore in the old “I Love Lucy” programs. She wanted to be able to wear nicer clothes, and she got her wish. In the old “I Love Lucy” contract, Vivian Vance was required to be 20 lbs heavier than Lucy so that she would appear to look older than Lucy. Lucille Ball was in fact older than Vivian Vance, if you can believe it.
The first episode went successfully. The second episode, behind the scenes wise, did not go successfully.
The second episode under the new format entitled “The Celebrity Next Door” was a turbulent ordeal for Lucy and Desi. The original script called for legendary actress Bette Davis to move to Connecticut in which she would move next door to the Ricardo’s to escape the glitz and glamour. On June 23, 1957, Bette Davis fell and broke her vertebra. Davis then got a divorce two weeks later. Lucy and Desi were pulling for her until Davis’s horse threw her off, and she broke her arm. Lucy and Desi had to search for a replacement, and thought of legendary actress Tallulah Bankhead. According to the producers of the show, Tallulah was half drunk every day. Sparks flew as Tallulah seemed lazy. Lucy and Desi, when working were perfectionists. Desi later recalled “She would arrive on the set at 9:30 in the morning. But she wouldn’t really wake up until eleven. Between eleven and twelve, she was fine. But at 1 P.M., right after lunch, we’d lose her again. Regarding the moustache incident (in which they wanted her to wear a moustache in one scene, and she refused), I finally had to drop the good manners and lay it on the line to her. I told her we were paying her good money and we expected her to do her best. The night we did the actual filming [September 27, 1957], I was terrified. I kissed her quickly, wished her luck, and walked away hoping against hope. What happened? She came through and was nothing short of magnificent.” Tallulah was confronted in an interview and told the interviewer “Of course, I did have pneumonia at the time. And someone nearly blinded me one day at rehearsals with hairspray. But Lucy? She’s divine to work with! And Desi? He’s brilliant! He has a temper, however. But that’s because he’s fat. It worries him.” After the episode was filmed, it turned out great. “The Celebrity Next Door” is personally one of my very favorite episodes of that series.
After the episode was done, Lucy and Desi were thinking big business. Desilu productions expanded when they bought out RKO Radio Pictures replete with a 29 acre backlot, and an incredibly valuable library of filmed stock footage.
For the third episode, under the Ford Contract, Lucy and Desi went on location to Las Vegas. The guest stars in that episode were Fred MacMurray the star of the popular films “The Absent Minded Professor” and “Son of Flubber” by the Walt Disney studios. The storyline consisted of Lucy hunting for uranium in Las Vegas. Fred gambles away a bunch of money, and his wife is mad at him. They all find some hint of uranium, and nobody trusts anybody. With many misunderstandings, everyone thinks that the other is trying to beat the other to the claims office to claim the cash. It is a high-speed chase, with a Ford truck used as a commercial for the sponsor, to give the viewer the impression that Ford trucks are made durable and strong. During the production of the episode, Desi was angry and paranoid. Multiple takes were shot, and a perfect shot was there, but the cameras weren’t rolling. It figures, doesn’t it? Desi was angry since every bit of time was money, and when you go over that time, it cost Desi out of his own personal pocket. The cast laughed and Desi was mad. This would mark the first time the cast of the program would work without a studio audience. The show was filmed, and then showed to an audience in a screening room. In the screening room, the film would roll and the studio would create an audio track in which it would record the reactions (ala the laughs, applause, and so on). During editing, the reactions would be mixed into the program itself, creating a smooth transition between the two.
The Farmhouse Episodes of “I Love Lucy”:
In the final season under the title “I Love Lucy” the Ricardos moved to a large country farmhouse. The set was the largest of the past three (Small apartment, the apartment with the window in the background, and the Hollywood hotel set.) When the Ricardos and the Mertzes moved to Connecticut in the closing season of the I Love Lucy story, they encountered new storylines and neighbors. Then came the new format, the main attraction was the elaborate guest stars.
The Animation Sequence:
When I Love Lucy started in 1951, each episode started with an animation sequence that would promote Phillip Morris cigarettes. In 1957, the Ford automobile sponsored the new program. The animation sequence was a cartoon of hands playing the drums, while an announcer read “Ford, and the Ford dealers of your community presents the new Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Hour.” Each week Desi Arnaz would come out from behind the curtain and present the episode. Unlike its predecessor, the new format would be extended to one hour and each episode would feature legendary Hollywood stars from that era.
The contract for the 1957-1958 season called for five episodes. In the first episode of the new series, Lucy and Desi scraped up a lot of famous names. The title of the episode was “Lucy Takes a Cruise To Havana” The first episode contained such names as Caesar Romero, Ann Southern, who at that time was famous for her role in the TV sitcom “Private Secretary”. Legendary singer Rudy Vale also made a guest appearance in the episode. The episode was supposed to tell the story of how Lucy and Ricky first met and fell in love. The episode originally started out where Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper is in the living room of the Ricardo farmhouse, asking the Ricardos how they met and fell in love. With this compilation of guest stars, Desi Arnaz wanted this episode to be 75 minutes in length. CBS did not go for the idea since it has never been done before, and the concern of how to fill in the last 15 minutes before the next slot starts. Desi had to deal with having the show work at one hour in length, or 50 minutes for program content, and 10 minutes of commercials. Later, when the program was syndicated, the entire Hedda Hopper interview was scrapped, and was replaced with Ricky narrating the show with the words, “Tonight, we go back 20 years to when Lucy and Ricky first met… They were taking one of those cruises to Havana….” The filming of this episode started in June of 1957 at the Motion Picture Center.
Vivian Vance and William Frawley:
With this hour long format, Vivian Vance and William Frawley were both sick and tired of the old style, as well as working with each other. William and Vivian would thumb through the scripts to see how often they would have to work together. They hated each other in real life. Vivian Vance would detest anything that involved her character Ethel Mertz sharing a bed with Fred Mertz. In the new series, Vivian Vance had some terms that she wanted to be etched in stone. Vivian was sick and tired of wearing the same old dumpy clothes that she wore in the old “I Love Lucy” programs. She wanted to be able to wear nicer clothes, and she got her wish. In the old “I Love Lucy” contract, Vivian Vance was required to be 20 lbs heavier than Lucy so that she would appear to look older than Lucy. Lucille Ball was in fact older than Vivian Vance, if you can believe it.
The first episode went successfully. The second episode, behind the scenes wise, did not go successfully.
The second episode under the new format entitled “The Celebrity Next Door” was a turbulent ordeal for Lucy and Desi. The original script called for legendary actress Bette Davis to move to Connecticut in which she would move next door to the Ricardo’s to escape the glitz and glamour. On June 23, 1957, Bette Davis fell and broke her vertebra. Davis then got a divorce two weeks later. Lucy and Desi were pulling for her until Davis’s horse threw her off, and she broke her arm. Lucy and Desi had to search for a replacement, and thought of legendary actress Tallulah Bankhead. According to the producers of the show, Tallulah was half drunk every day. Sparks flew as Tallulah seemed lazy. Lucy and Desi, when working were perfectionists. Desi later recalled “She would arrive on the set at 9:30 in the morning. But she wouldn’t really wake up until eleven. Between eleven and twelve, she was fine. But at 1 P.M., right after lunch, we’d lose her again. Regarding the moustache incident (in which they wanted her to wear a moustache in one scene, and she refused), I finally had to drop the good manners and lay it on the line to her. I told her we were paying her good money and we expected her to do her best. The night we did the actual filming [September 27, 1957], I was terrified. I kissed her quickly, wished her luck, and walked away hoping against hope. What happened? She came through and was nothing short of magnificent.” Tallulah was confronted in an interview and told the interviewer “Of course, I did have pneumonia at the time. And someone nearly blinded me one day at rehearsals with hairspray. But Lucy? She’s divine to work with! And Desi? He’s brilliant! He has a temper, however. But that’s because he’s fat. It worries him.” After the episode was filmed, it turned out great. “The Celebrity Next Door” is personally one of my very favorite episodes of that series.
After the episode was done, Lucy and Desi were thinking big business. Desilu productions expanded when they bought out RKO Radio Pictures replete with a 29 acre backlot, and an incredibly valuable library of filmed stock footage.
For the third episode, under the Ford Contract, Lucy and Desi went on location to Las Vegas. The guest stars in that episode were Fred MacMurray the star of the popular films “The Absent Minded Professor” and “Son of Flubber” by the Walt Disney studios. The storyline consisted of Lucy hunting for uranium in Las Vegas. Fred gambles away a bunch of money, and his wife is mad at him. They all find some hint of uranium, and nobody trusts anybody. With many misunderstandings, everyone thinks that the other is trying to beat the other to the claims office to claim the cash. It is a high-speed chase, with a Ford truck used as a commercial for the sponsor, to give the viewer the impression that Ford trucks are made durable and strong. During the production of the episode, Desi was angry and paranoid. Multiple takes were shot, and a perfect shot was there, but the cameras weren’t rolling. It figures, doesn’t it? Desi was angry since every bit of time was money, and when you go over that time, it cost Desi out of his own personal pocket. The cast laughed and Desi was mad. This would mark the first time the cast of the program would work without a studio audience. The show was filmed, and then showed to an audience in a screening room. In the screening room, the film would roll and the studio would create an audio track in which it would record the reactions (ala the laughs, applause, and so on). During editing, the reactions would be mixed into the program itself, creating a smooth transition between the two.