Lucille Ball: The First Lady of Comedy

[ClassyCo]

Life with Lucy was a critical and commercial failure, sadly. Lucy could have had the writers of M*A*S*H, but chose instead the writers with whom she worked on her previous shows. If she had chosen the M*A*S*H writers how different do you think the show would have been and how?

Aaron Spelling had enough clout in the TV industry in 1986 to be able to get Lucille Ball the M*A*S*H writers, having had a series of high-profile TV shows over the past decade for ABC. His primetime soap opera DYNASTY was still a Top 10 show for the network that season.

But Lucy, as much as I love her, was an actress hopelessly dependent on her material. She knew the "Lucy" routine had served her well for nearly a quarter of a century on TV in years past. It is to our misfortune (and Lucy's, too, frankly) that Spelling bowed to Ball's request to have the same writers that had worked with her since the late 1940s on radio. Spelling took the blame for the failure of LIFE WITH LUCY in multiple interviews, claiming he hadn't any idea how to make a sitcom. He once said, "If you fail at comedy with Lucille Ball, you shouldn't do comedy," or something similar.

Lucy, as it goes, wasn't even looking for a TV comeback in 1986. I LOVE LUCY, THE LUCY SHOW, and, to a lesser extent, HERE'S LUCY, were all still in constant syndication, and one imagines Lucy was raking in a healthy income from the residuals. She was so well-off that she never had to work again, I'm sure, unless she wanted to. It was her second husband, the humorless comedian Gary Morton, who talked her into LIFE WITH LUCY, without knowing its failure would ultimately crush her and cause her to basically hide from the limelight she had loved for the past forty-plus years. It saddens me to know Lucy felt abandoned by the audience she had so adored and did so much for.

To answer your question, though, I haven't any strong inclination on how different LIFE WITH LUCY would've been had Lucy gone with the different writers. I imagine the comedy would've been more verbal rather than physical, when taking into consideration the writing staff's previous work on M*A*S*H, but they might've thrown in some physical stuff because they knew that was Lucy's forte. It is interesting to ponder, though.

 

[Crimson]

LIFE WITH LUCY had no chance of longevity. Even if the show hadn't been a flop, it's unlikely it would have run past 2 seasons. By mid 1988, Lucy's health issues began to surface. She had a minor heart attack, but from which she never fully recovered. At best, another set of writers might have spared her the ignominy of being fired.

 

[ClassyCo]

At best, another set of writers might have spared her the ignominy of being fired.

If for no other reason that this, I wish Lucy had agreed to a new writing crew. This could have maybe -- just maybe -- made her last sitcom something special and different for her to sail out of the limelight on.

 

[Treeviewer]

If for no other reason that this, I wish Lucy had agreed to a new writing crew. This could have maybe -- just maybe -- made her last sitcom something special and different for her to sail out of the limelight on.

The short answer is "very different" - if she'd allowed it. One imagines the M*A*S*H writers injecting some pathos into the proceedings and moving away from the slapstick which she was sadly too old for.

 

[ClassyCo]

Happy National "I Love Lucy" Day!

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Happy National "I Love Lucy" Day!

View attachment 54597

I didn't know there was one!
There is no female comedienne who could ever equal Lucille Ball IMHO
I will give respect to Gilda Radner, who portrayed her well in sketch comedy

 

[ClassyCo]

My wife and I have been taking turns staying up with our newborn baby girl the past few nights (she's still in that cluster feeding stage, and the doctors want us to feed her as much as she wants to be), so I've decided to pass my shifts with watching stuff I've never watched before.

Most recently, I've watch two Lucille Ball specials available for free on Tubi.

The first I watched was LUCY CALLS THE PRESIDENT (1977), the comedy special where Lucy Whittaker gets a phone call in to President Jimmy Carter. The comedy ensues as Lucy and her husband (Ed McMahon) prepare to have dinner with President Carter and his wife Rosalyn. Also in the cast are Lucy's frequent co-stars and on-screen pals, Vivian Vance, Gale Gordon, Mary Jane Croft, and Mary Wickes.

LUCY CALLS THE PRESIDENT was enjoyable and even genuinely funny in spots, even if it plays as a late-series episode of HERE'S LUCY. Some of the camera work, however, reminded me of those late-70s sitcoms, like THREE'S COMPANY -- which, as we all know, Lucy later endorsed as offering "her kind of comedy".

I can honestly see why "The Lucy Book" calls LUCY CALLS THE PRESIDENT "the last hurrah" for Lucy & Co. This is the last time she'd work with Vance, Croft, and Wickes, although she'd work with Gordon and director Marc Daniels again on the ill-fated LIFE WITH LUCY.

The special spins the same HERE'S LUCY-style comedy synonymous with Ball during the era, and I imagine it was well-received by long-time fans enjoying their favorite redhead back on TV.

You should watch it.

I also watched WHAT NOW, CATHERINE CURTIS? (1976). This TV special places Lucille Ball in a different light than we typically see her in. This time around, she plays Catherine Curtis, a recent divorcee adjusting to life following the end of a twenty-three-year marriage to her husband Bennett.

The story is divided into three vignettes:

"First Night" is a one-woman monologue where Catherine tells us about her marriage, the butterflies, her children, grandchildren, the good times, and the bad times. She is scared about what the future holds and is unsure how to move forward in her life after more than two decades nurturing others while neglecting and loosing herself in the meantime.

"First Affair" sees Catherine a few months into her new life and eyeing her handyman Mr. Slaney (Art Carney). Catherine has decided it is time to move on with her romantic life and tries to woo Mr. Slaney. After a rocky back and forth, the two end in an embrace and we are led to believe a romance blossoms thereafter.

"First Love" has Catherine dating a younger man named Peter (Joseph Bologna), and there's no mentioning of her assumed affair with Mr. Slaney. Peter is said to be fourteen years younger than Catherine (although, in real-life, he was twenty-three years younger than Ball), which Catherine allows to hover over their relationship. The segment ends with Catherine and Peter calming their doubts and flying together to San Francisco.

The CATHERINE CURTIS special isn't great, but I thought it was good, if primarily for seeing Lucy in the dramatic realm. Her performance is decent, I'd say, even if the special could've used some fine tuning story-wise. I kept thinking how the special seemed liked a pilot for a potential "Days and Nights of Catherine Curtis" weekly series, which, in my mind, might've served Ball better than her later ventures into comedy.

You should see this special at least once if you're a Lucy fan.

 

[ClassyCo]