I Love Lucy: Rare Picture of Cast

Here's an extremely rare color picture of the I Love Lucy cast after a scene.

 

 

I'll like to clarify once again that the dislike that William Frawley and Vivian Vance had for each other was exaggerated. Please remember that it was the period where the whole world loved this television program. Everyone bought merchandise that would remind them of I Love Lucy. It's like the Titanic craze, remember? Everyone bought t-shits, key chains, notepads, erasers-- anything that would remind them of the (awesome) movie.

Of course people would exaggerate things.

It's known to many that Vivian Vance indeed said "champagne for all!" in a club upon hearing the passing of Bill Frawley. However, the publicity people conveniently left out the second part, "it's a pity that (...) the world lost a deeply humorous... and talented man."

Vivian just didn't want to be romantically linked with an unattractive older man on television. Bill was at the age where he had lost his charm and former suaveness, so he got offended. So, Viv would be sarcastic to him, Bill would play childish tricks on her. And Desi and Lucille and the I Love Lucy family would roll their eyes. That's all.

Vivian Vance and William Frawley

People always think that Vivian Vance and William Frawley hated each other outside of I Love Lucy.They did dislike each other's guts, but "hate" is simply too strong a word. You don't just hate a person fully after going through the building of a phenomenal show like I Love Lucy.

Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball ignored the two when they squabbled. The crew and the writers simply rolled their eyes whenever they see Bill and Viv wrangle and tangle. All of them knew that the quarrel meant nothing, that it was like children's hatred- childish, harmless and a waste of time. Hell, even Bill's pranks on Viv was childish. For instance, he would scare her while she was rehearsing.

In fact, Bill was a gruff character: he was Fred Mertz. His bark was worse than his bite; beneath the rough and grumpy character lay a compassionate heart. He even took care of his spinster sisters until his death.

Beneath that complicated relationship Bill and Viv shared lay a grudging respect.

We often hear this famous quote that Viv made after she heard the news of Bill's death: "Champagne for everyone!" But what many of us don't know is Vivian also said this:

"There's a great big amusing light gone out of this world."

Yes, Vivian Vance said that about William Frawley.

Eugh! Lucille Ball, Vivian Vance and William Frawley

I love this photo! Vivian Vance and William Frawley did Lucille Ball's trademark "Eugh" to amuse the studio audience after a take!

Can you guess which I Love Lucy episode this picture belongs to?

I Love Lucy: Breaking the Lease

In this episode, you see a rare moment where both Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball laughing at Vivian Vance's and William Frawley's get ups.

They commented on how they almost ruined the scene after the filming. Desi couldn't control himself and Lucille had to bite the inside of the cheeks. The cast of I Love Lucy had always tried to spring surprises to keep reactions real. It was the first time Desi and Lucy saw Bill and Viv in these costumes!

Vivian Vance

According to Vivian Vance in an interview, she actually felt that 3 out of the 4 cast members of I Love Lucy were miscast. Vivian Vance had always played the other woman in Broadway shows, William Frawley was a vaudevillian, Desi Arnaz was an orchestra leader.

However, that was what made the situational comedy so fantastic. The three of them were the few people who could handle Miss Ball. Bill had never tried to please anyone and in fact he had been known to be extremely ornery at times; Desi had a special knack of treating his wife, and he would give her tasks that others would never dare to, and Lucy had trusted his judgment wholeheartedly. And Viv, I love her! Viv had always been a forthright person who spoke her mind, and with a sardonic sense of humor at that. She had been known to be just as blunt to Lucy as Lucy did with her.

Viv's husband had always abused her emotionally and physically. Once, he taunted her with gossips about Lucy and Viv being lesbians, and she had been so emotionally affected that she almost experienced a breakdown. However, strong as she was, and with the mental support, when Vivian Vance accepted her Emmy award, she said in her thanks "I would like to thank Miss Lucille Ball, the greatest straight woman in the world!" and that clarified things. Imagine addressing this sensitive issue back in the 1950s, on television!Viv could actually represent the modern woman!

I suppose these tough people really made Lucy respect them. She respected people who had spunk and not cower in fear when they had to work with her.

"I'm going to learn to love that bitch!" -Vivian Vance.

Of course, Vivian and Lucille had clashes, but they adored each other like sisters. I mean, think about it: people who don't have clashes with others are great hypocrites. The more you love another individual, the more occasions there will be where you just have to fight with him or her.

Movie Review: Ziegfeld Follies (1946)

I finally had the pleasure to watch the extravagant Hollywood musical by Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), Ziegfeld Follies. The movie was amazing because it starred many of MGM's greatest stars ever, including Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, William Powell, Red Skelton, Esther Williams, and many others, who I am not familiar with.

Vincente Minnelli, the father of the famous Liza Minnelli we all know today (if otherwise, watch Sex and the City 2, she sang Single Ladies), and the then husband of Judy Garland, was one of the movie directors.

Who says Hollywood cannot produce musicals like Broadway? I found Ziegfeld Follies enjoyable! MGM really proved this sweeping statement wrong.

William Frawley was one of the supporting actors in one of the acts! It's amazing how Lucille Ball and William Frawley appeared in the same movie, yet never spoke until I Love Lucy!

Fred Astaire sang Here's to the Girls, and Lucille was the princess/dancer.

She then cracked a whip over the chorus girls.

Esther William was a mermaid, dancing underwater. Of course, she was wearing waterproof make up.

Another highlight of this musical was Fred Astaire dancing with Lucille Bremer. They were magnificent together. Dancing on the moving treadmills and rotating floors was so breathtakingly exciting!

In fact, Lucille Bremer was Fred's dance partner in 3 of his best routines.

Judy Garland was... Judy Garland-ish.

What can I say? She was a great dramatic actress and a great singer. And being gorgeous helped much!

I couldn't wait to see Fred and Gene Kelly together. Indeed, their number was great. Seeing the two men together was an awesome feeling-- they could dance, tap dance and sing equally well!

I long for happy peppy musicals or movies where all the Hollywood people come together to strut their stuff. But today's stars have too huge an ego to star together with others of the same status and popularity. Even if they have movies of this sort, somehow, they suck. I don't know what people think of New Year's Eve (starring Katherine Heigl, Zac Efron, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ashton Kutcher, Josh Duhamel, Jessica Biel, etc, etc), it most certainly didn't suck, but it wasn't hands-down wonderful too. One might think that he wouldn't be disappointed with all the wonderful celebrities around, but one was wrong. 

Hollywood stars back then were irrefutably talented. They could dance, sing and act. Even if they could do none of these, they at least looked drop dead gorgeous. Nowadays, too many Hollywood celebrities can do none of the above. Some of them aren't even good looking, without the stage make up and all. Of course, there are exceptions! I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that more talents would emerge.

For fans of splashy musicals from the 1940s, Ziegfield Follies is a must watch!

Stopping at Childhood

One of my postulations as to why Lucille Ball was so successful at situational comedies is that she retained a childlike way of looking at the world, at situations and at people.

Why?

I guess that all along, she had missed her carefree early childhood, when her doting father was still alive and her mother had no worries but to make the family happy. As a child, Lucy had to mature quicker than her age. She had to deal with the premature death of her father, the birth of a new baby which was a difficult adjustment for an only child, a new stepfather who treated her as if she wasn't there, being sent to an older couple who were so strict on her that she felt mentally tortured, the unlawful accusation of her grandfather which made her distrust the law forever, and many more sad events... With a life full of traumatic events, it was no wonder that a part of her stopped forever at the age of  4, where things were warm and rosy.  

As she had mentioned, in order to be convincing and to evoke knee-slapping laughter, the actor has to believe in the situation and the actions that are called for. What makes it better than to analyze the situation from a child's point of view? A child's logic is sweetly simple and naive, and it's no wonder people are always drawn to children. It's that compelling naivety that Lucille had managed to convey to the audience that makes even the most hardhearted person alive laugh endearingly.

Through her childhood and adolescence, Lucy had utilized her powers of observation. Most comedians can only work from a certain angle; Lucy could be anything and everything. She could be the doting screwball housewife, the nervous gal about to get it, the glamorous showgirl, the sexy Marilyn, the amnesic child, the clown, hell, she could even peel a potato convincingly!

Of course, having a husband Desi Arnaz with a knack for identifying what was funny and what was not, a supporting actress Vivian Vance with great chemistry, and a comedian William Frawley who was funny even just standing and doing nothing made the sitcom even more successful.