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Garyandfilm's Replies
MMISL is an incomparably better film than "Cover Girl." You can't even put the two in the same sentence. It's Minnelli's third film and his first masterpiece.
Yes, it should've been nominated for Best Picture, but so should have "Laura" and "Lifeboat." At least "Double Indemnity" was in the run, but America was at war and overly sentimental about priests and Der Bingle.
All the male stars who appeared on ILL had different contracts with various studios. If the producers wanted female stars, they could've gotten some, especially since the highly rated ILL gave great exposure and promotion of the stars' latest films. For whatever reason, they went with male celebrities.
Excellent question. My thought is that it boiled down to good old-fashioned sex. Lucy wanted to "sit and drool" over Richard Widmark, whom she found "dreamy." And all the other male stars - with the obvious exception of Harpo Marx - were handsome.
Sheila MacRae was a minor celebrity. Monroe was too busy and waaay too insecure to have handled a pressure-filled week on ILL. Hepburn would've looked down her nose at TV then and, anyway, she and Ball didn't get on, dating back to 1937's "Stage Door."
One star who might've taken the bite is Ginger Rogers. She and Lucy were friends...both sharing a common enemy: Hepburn.
Agree, PJ. Little Ricky was nearly 5. Of course he should've been allowed to stay up and help with the tree, but the writers wanted him out so they could focus on the four adults.
We always put our tree up two weeks before Christmas. As an adult, mine goes up pretty much after Thanksgiving.
Years ago, though, it was tradition to put up the tree Xmas Eve.
Yes. She gave Meryl Streep sleepless nights.
Yes, I included "Lucy and Superman" and I don't think her idea is much of a "stretch" to five year-old kids, especially compared to some of Lucy's other ideas. Anyway, she did it out of love, which is a sweet aspect to the story.
HOWEVER, Lucy would NOT have fooled Carolyn Appleby!!
I did include "Lucy's Italian Movie", as her dress IS a costume. She's wearing it for effect and would never have worn this outfit otherwise.
I didn't include "Bonus Bucks", as the final moment is the result of calamity, not because she wore a costume. Otherwise I love this ep!
Finished my month-long "Lucy in Costume" marathon last night. Phew! I watched two every night before bed, and tried to pick every ep that featured Lucy effectively in costume. By "effectively", I meant eps where the costume was sort of used as a gag or piece of business. In other words, I ignored "The Dancing Star", as Lucy's costume is merely a pretty dress. I included "The Great Train Robbery", as Lucy's bit coming out of the men's room in a man's robe and hat while "shaving" her face is hilarious, brief though it was.
It was interesting to note that the bulk of these costume eps were comprised from the first three seasons. Also, eps like "Lucy Goes to a Rodeo" and "Little Ricky's School Pageant" are not bad eps, just not super faves. Kind of fun watching them again.
Tonight, I'm running what I consider the very best ep to watch on October 31st: "Lucy is Envious."
Happy Halloween!!
The Bewitched house was actually tinkered with the least. But, yes, the Partridge/Kravitz facade was unrecognizable in the last decade or so.
When I first saw the Ranch in 1990, much had already changed. The church across from the BW facade was long gone, as were the New York streets, Western Street and the New Orleans set.
When I returned in 1999, it was great fun seeing the "American Beauty" house (fully functional structure). Loved that movie, btw.
Very true.
Another major hole: it's totally unbelievable that Louise would've agreed to pick up Pitt given the trouble they were in! She recognized him as bad news when she first came out of the store and saw Pitt interacting with Thelma. Next scene, Thelma starts panting like a dog and Louise relents??! Not believable.
AHP is a great show!! I've recently gotten back into watching my DVDs of this great series.
Yes, Hitchcock's cracks about his sponsors were always very droll.
The reality is that Ricky would've NEVER worked in TV again. He would've been blacklisted by every major sponsor. But this is I Love Lucy, of course. Ricky must've been pissed off at Lucy for a long time afterward.
On a different note: how lame of the writers to have Ricky adjust the clocks AND Fred and Ethel's! What did he do? Break into their apartment in the middle of the night and change EVERY clock, as well as wristwatches? All he had to do was tell everyone the show was airing later. Pretty lazy writing.
I have this one coming up to watch, as I'm currently in my month-long "Lucy in Costume" marathon for Halloween.
If he were real, I'd think so, but the episode works from me as written.
What's startling is that the four never get any FOOD by the conclusion!
I sometimes think the joke is that Fred's mother is still LIVING! But coming over at 90-plus years to "inspect" for dirt and dust?? I agree the line should've read your way, otherwise the improbability of Fred's mother in the present-tense is distracting.
From "Equal Rights": in the throwaway dialogue while the four are preparing to leave for the restaurant, Fred mentions (twice) that a plumber is coming by "this afternoon." Huh? It's nighttime. Should've been "tomorrow afternoon."
I'm baffled as much as you are, PJ. Everything about the ep works, but for some reason I cannot pinpoint, it's not a fave. But since I rarely watch it, I really enjoyed it last week, as it played so fresh for me.
Two of my mom's young friends wore contacts in the 1950s. They also had backup glasses. No reason why the writers couldn't come up with that premise.
Maybe when Carolyn had her nose fixed, her vision was impaired!!
Sad side note: a few minutes before 9:AM on April 26th, 1989, I turned on my TV as I was getting ready for work. It was L.A.'s KTTV, channel 11. A male newscaster was briefly running through morning news and announced that Ball had died at 5:45 AM at Cedars Sinai. I sat in total shock as they then broadcast two episodes - "The Dancing Star" and "Oil Wells." It was so hard to process - it had been a week since her surgery and Lucy had improved to the point where she was up and walking.
We don't know HOW this came to pass, but I've always envisioned Lucy coming up with this dumb idea and Carolyn, so overtly aware of how Lucy would be eating crow, relished it. I envision Charlie checking back with Ricky and saying, "Okay, you can do the show, Rick, but Lucy better look sincere!!"
I think it's cool that the writers left so much to viewers' imaginations.
Oops!! Turns out Carolyn was in TEN episodes, not nine, as I originally posted.
They are:
The Club Election
Lucy is Matchmaker
The Camping Trip
Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress
Baby Pictures
Lucy Tells the Truth
Lucy's Club Dance
The Dancing Star
Harpo Marx
Lucy and Superman
I forgot about Carolyn's appearance in Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress.
Yes, the ending wasn't particularly well written, although Ricky was right - Lucy should've never gone over there.
Yes, that last night in their apartment bedroom, when Ricky has the "homeowners heebee jeebees", Lucy - at first - reassures him that their old furniture will be fine. Later, when the new young couple wants to buy their furniture, Lucy announces "this tacky stuff" won't work in the new house, and Ricky says he knows when he's "been licked" and agrees to new furniture. THEN Lucy buys all the "old stuff" (three years "old") back. THEN after the move, Lucy decides to buy all new furniture!
Lucy's being "in competition" with stars is why we no longer relate to her and why 95% of the Lucy/Desi Comedy Hours don't work.
Lucy was at fault. She deliberately stirred the pot and went over to Carolyn's to cause trouble, ignoring how this could jeopardize Ricky's TV appearance.
"Funny lookin'": Lots of people apply a twang to a word when they're being passive-aggressive. This doesn't mean they're from Arkansas.