November
19, 1974
Directed
by Jack Donohue ~ Written by Arthur Julian and Arnie Rosen
Synopsis
Norma
and Malcolm are nearing their 25th anniversary – if an argument doesn’t find them in divorce court
first. While separated, they explore dating and self-improvement to
see if they can be happy with themselves – let alone each other.
Cast
Lucille
Ball (Norma
Michaels) was
born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen
career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’
due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning,
she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which
eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television
situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband,
Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful,
allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming
it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known
as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s
marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy
returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted
six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s
Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr.,
as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show”
during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more
attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.
Art
Carney (Dr.
Malcolm Michaels) is probably best remembered as Ed Norton on Jackie
Gleason’s “The Honeymooners,” a character that won him five Emmy
Awards. He also won an Oscar for the film Harry
and Tonto.
He had played Lucille Ball’s husband in the 1967 film A
Guide for the Married Man.
He will also star in Lucille Ball’s 1976 TV special, What
Now, Catherine Curtis?
Carney died in 2003 at age 85.
Malcolm
is a dentist.
Nanette
Fabray
(Fay) was a beloved stage and screen performer who here marks her
first time acting with Lucille Ball. She won two Emmy Awards for her
work with Sid Caesar in 1956 (beating Audrey Meadows, Art Carney’s
co-star) and in 1957 (beating Lucille Ball herself). Fabray had
severe hearing loss and was an advocate for disability rights. She
died in 2018 at age 97.
Fay
is a four-time divorcee. She is dating Doug.
Peter
Marshall
(Dr. Greg Carter) was
an actor before he became known as the host of “The Hollywood
Squares” for which he won four daytime Emmy Awards. He
was responsible for introducing Dick Martin to Dan Rowan. Marshall
twice appeared on “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” in 1972. He
appeared as Lucille Ball’s brother-in-law Hughie in “Lucy’s
Sister Pays a Visit” (TLS S1;E15) in 1963, also directed by Jack
Donohue.
Carter
was Lucille Ball’s surname on “Here’s Lucy.” Greg is a
dentist in Malcolm’s practice.
Don
Porter
(Ed ‘Mad Dog’ Murphy) played Ken Richards, who purchased the
Unique Employment Agency from Harry Carter in “Meanwhile, Back at
the Office” (HL S6;E16), the last filmed episode of “Here’s Lucy”
just months before this special was filmed. He previously
played Mr. Devery on “The Ann Sothern Show” (1958-61), a Desilu
production. He had also appeared on Sothern’s previous show,
“Private Secretary” (1953-57). The same year this special was
filmed Porter appeared with Ball in Mame,
playing snooty Mr. Upson, father of her nephew Patrick’s intended,
Gloria (Doria-Cook Nelson, who also appears in this special).
Murphy
is a divorce lawyer.
Arnold
Schwarzenegger
(Rico) is one of Hollywood’s most successful action heroes starring
in such blockbuster hits as True
Lies
(1994), Predator
(1987),
and The
Terminator
(1984). He served as Governor of California from 2003 to 2011. This
special is his first television appearance and only his third screen
role.
Rico
is a masseur that Fay calls “Magic Fingers.” He says he is from
Rome, Italy, and was a truck driver before becoming a masseur.
Doria
Cook
(Linda) played Gloria Upson in Lucille Ball’s Mame,
released earlier in 1974. She is married to actor Craig T. Nelson
(“Coach”) and they have three children.
Linda
is Malcolm and Norma’s newly-married daughter. Her husband’s first
name is Spencer. We never learn her new last name.
Rhodes
Reason
(Doug) made
a total of five appearances on “Here’s Lucy” including “Lucy
and the Raffle” (HL S5;E19) with Florence Lake (Mrs. Foster) and
Sid Gould (Waiter).
Doug
is Fay’s boyfriend.
Patricia
Blair
(Miss Warren) is probably best remembered as Rebecca Boone, wife of
“Daniel Boone” on the TV series which aired from 1964 to 1970.
In 1963 she did a single episode of “My Three Sons” with “I
Love Lucy” regular William Frawley. Blair died in 2013 in North
Wildwood, New Jersey.
Miss
Warren is Malcolm and Greg’s receptionist. Her name is not spoken in
the episode.
Florence
Lake
(Mrs. Foster) did
four films with Lucille Ball between 1936 and 1938. She made two
appearances on “Here’s Lucy,” both times as a classic Little Old
Lady. One
of the two episodes was “Lucy and the Raffle” (HL S5;E19), which
co-starred Rhodes Reason (Doug) and Sid Gould (Waiter).
Mrs.
Foster is one of Malcolm’s patients.
Connie
Garrison
(Choo Choo) makes her screen debut with this special.
Choo Choo
is a patient of Dr. Carter’s. Her unique name is never explained.
Louisa
Moritz
(Terry)
left Cuba and moved to New York City during the upheaval of the
1950s. Louisa was inspired to change her last name from Castro to
Moritz after seeing the St. Moritz Hotel. She may be the
inspiration for the character of Lily St. Regis in the musical Annie.
Although often cast as the dumb blonde, she later worked as
an attorney in Southern California.
Elaine
Pepparde (Cindy)
makes the second of her four screen appearances with this special.
Terry
and Cindy are roommates in Greg’s building.
Sid
Gould
(Waiter) made
more than 45 appearances on “The Lucy Show” and nearly as many on
“Here’s Lucy,” most of them waiters. Gould (born Sydney
Greenfader) was Lucille Ball’s cousin by marriage to Gary Morton.
Linda
Todd Michaels (Mitzi)
Curiously,
this actor has no IMDB credits and also has the same name as one of
the characters. She is, however, listed in the final credits.
Roy Rowan (Voice Over Announcer, uncredited) was Lucille Ball’s announcer for all of her sitcoms. He also made occasional on-camera appearances.
During his introductions, Rowan doesn’t use the special’s title, but calls the show “The Lucille Ball Special.”
This
is Lucille Ball’s first television special after the cancellation of
“Here’s Lucy” earlier in 1974. It was produced by Lucille Ball
Productions (LBP) and aired on CBS. The show is available on DVD and
can be streamed on Amazon Prime.
Despite
being called a ‘short movie’ Lucille Ball filmed the interiors
with a studio audience. It was shot at Paramount
(formerly Desilu, formerly RKO) with exterior location footage of a
Los Angeles public park and in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Jack
Donohue was
also the director of the very first and
the final episodes of “Here’s Lucy” as well as 33 episodes in
between. He also directed the very first and
the final episodes
of “The Lucy Show” with 105 episodes in between.
This
is the first and only time that writers Arnie Rosen and Arthur Julian
write for Lucille Ball. They partnered on “The Carol Burnett Show”
in 1971 and 1972.
The
special was the 4th highest rated program for the week and won its
time slot with a rating of 27.9 and 42% share of the viewing
audience.
This
is the first time Lucille Ball technically does not play a variation
on her sitcom “Lucy” character. In the special’s first half, her
wig has a few streaks of gray in it and she appears to be padded to
lend credence to Malcolm’s lines about her sitting around on her “fat
duff.” Lucille Ball’s hairstylist Irma Kusely is back to
style her wigs. “Here’s Lucy” prop master Kenneth Westcott,
costumer Renita Reachi, production manager William Maginetti, and
script supervisor Dorothy Aldworth are also part of the production.
THE HONEYMOONERS CONNECTION
Credits
list music editing by Ed Norton Music Service. Coincidentally, this was also Art
Carney’s character name on “The Honeymooners.” They worked on two
episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”
Art
Carney is the first man to play Lucille Ball’s husband on television
since Desi Arnaz in 1960. Although Art Carney never appeared on a
Lucille Ball sitcom, a sewer worker bearing a striking resemblance to
his “Honeymooners” character Ed Norton did briefly surface
(pardon the pun) in 1964’s “Lucy, the Coin Collector” (TLS
S3;E13).
Carney’s co-star Jackie Gleason made a wordless cameo
appearance as bus driver Ralph Kramden on the second episode of
“Here’s Lucy” in 1968.
Norton’s
wife, Trixie, was played by Jane Kean in the hour-long color
“Honeymooners” of the 1960s and she guest-starred on a 1966
episode of “The
Lucy Show.”
Trixie’s best friend, Ralph’s wife Alice, was played by Audrey
Meadows, who guest-starred on “Life With Lucy” as Lucy’s sister
in 1986.
A
drunken Malcolm (Art Carney) sings a few bars of “Oh,
Promise Me”
The song was sung by Vivian Vance in “Lucy’s Sister Pays a Visit”
(TLS S1;E15), which also starred Peter Marshall and was directed by
Jack Donohue. It is an
1887 art song by Reginald de Koven and Clement Scott and was
interpolated into the 1912 Broadway operetta Robin
Hood.
It is been frequently heard as part of television weddings, including
four times on “Petticoat Junction” and twice on “All in the
Family.”
Norma:
“If
I live to be a hundred, I’ll never forget Mendelssohn’s ‘Wedding
March’ played by a mariachi band.”
Lucy
is angry with Malcolm for hosting their daughter’s wedding in the
Guacamole Room of the Montezuma Motor Lodge, a seedy motel owned by
one of his dental patients. “The
only motel in town where the guests are afraid to drink the water.”
Fay later says “That’s
the first time I ever saw a Presbyterian minister wearing a
sombrero.”
Norma:
“Among
my friends I’m known as the Jackie Onassis of Canoga Park.”
Canoga
Park
is a suburban neighborhood northwest of Central Los Angeles. Lucille
Ball first mentioned Jackie
Onassis
on television in March 1963, when she was still Mrs. John F. Kennedy
during “Lucy Visits the White House” (TLS S1;E25). She married
Greek millionaire Aristotle Onassis in 1968, who died just four
months after this special first aired.
Lucille
Ball has Norma apply cold cream to her face before wiping off her
lipstick and eye-make-up, rather than be seen on camera without any
make-up.
Fay:
(to Norma, about Malcolm leaving her) “It’s
not like you’re losing Robert Redford.”
In
1974, actor Robert Redford had just won an Oscar for The
Sting and
was seen on screen in The
Great Gatsby.
His blonde hair and blue eyes made him the go-to name to drop for
Hollywood heartthrobs and sex symbols. Redford’s Sting
costar
Paul Newman was also a popular name to drop.
Fay:
“Don’t
tell me you’ve never thought about another man.”
Norma:
“Well,
maybe Paul Newman.”
Peter
Marshall gets entrance applause from the studio audience. Marshall eloped with Lucy Carmichael’s sister in a 1963 episode of “The Lucy Show.”
While
Malcolm’s dental school diploma on his office wall does bear his
name, it is obviously taped over another name.
In
the dental chair, Choo Choo reads Vanity Magazine. This same magazine
prop was used by Lucille Ball in “Mary Jane’s Boyfriend” (HL
S6;E20), one of the last “Here’s Lucy” episodes to be filmed.
Just
like on “Here’s Lucy,” producer (and Lucy’s husband) Gary
Morton’s distinctive guffaw can be heard clearly on the soundtrack.
Rico:
“Where
we do it? Here? Or in the bedroom?”
Exercising
in order to lose weight is nothing new for Lucille Ball, all of her
Lucy characters did it. Lucy Ricardo in “The Diet” (ILL S1;E3)
in 1951; Lucy Carmichael in “Lucy and The Countess Lose Weight”
(TLS S3;E21) in 1965; Lucy Carter in “Goodbye Mrs. Hips” (HL
S5;E23) in 1973. Lucy Barker on “Life With Lucy” was a health
nut who was nearly always in a jogging suit.
Fay:
(spotting
Malcolm at a fancy restaurant) “What
are you doing here? Was there a fire at Jack in the Box?”
Norma,
Fay, Ed, and Doug go to Las Vegas for the weekend. The Caesars Palace
sign was also the first image of “Lucy and Wayne Newton” (HL
S2;E22) in 1970. Lucille Ball first used location footage of Las
Vegas in “Lucy Hunts Uranium” (LDCH 1958). Lucy Carmichael also
visited the town in “Lucy Goes to Vegas” (TLS S3;E17) in 1965,
however, no establishing or location footage was shot, and the
episode was filmed entirely on the Desilu soundstage.
Norma:
(hearing the hotel room has a waterbed) “I’m
on the wrong pill. I should have taken Dramamine.”
The
hotel waterbed springs multiple leaks when Norma walks on it in her
heels, giving Lucille Ball a chance to do some very “Lucy-like”
physical comedy. Ball also had fun with beds as Lucy Ricardo in “First Stop” (ILL S4;E13) when a nearby railroad caused beds to travel across the room. Lucy Carmichael faced problems with beds in “Lucy and Her Electric Mattress (TLS S1;E12) where a vibrating mattress and a bunk bed both were problematic.
As
the Waiter, Sid Gould wears the exact same gold jacket he and other actors wore so
many times previously on “Here’s Lucy.”
This Date in Lucy History – November 19th
“The Audition” (ILL S1;E6) – November 19, 1951
“Deep-Sea Fishing” (ILL S6;E7) – November 19, 1956
“Lucy the Music Lover” (TLS S1;E8) – November 19, 1962
“The Carters Meet Frankie Avalon” (HL S6;E11 – November 19, 1973
This ‘special’ is really not a mini-movie, has been often claimed. It is an hour-long sitcom. Lucille Ball doesn’t stray that far from her Lucy character. Had the show been filmed without an audience or laugh-track, things might have been different. Except for two location sequences, this feels like “Here’s Lucy” with different actors. It is most notable for the appearance of Arnold Schwarzenegger as an Italian (!) masseur. Of the other actors, the delightfully bright Nanette Fabray fares best.
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
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