March
30, 1976
Directed
by Charles Walters ~ Written by Sheldon
Keller and Lynn Roth
“Part
Two: First Affair” based on a story by Milly Schoenbaum
Synopsis
Catherine
Curtis (Lucille Ball) has divorced her husband and moved out on her
own. In Part One, Catherine unpacks and muses about her new life.
In Part Two, she flirts with a widowed handyman (Art Carney). In
Part Three, Catherine falls in love with a younger man (Joseph Bologna), but is afraid
their age difference will be their undoing.
Cast
Lucille
Ball (Catherine
Curtis) 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.
Catherine
Curtis is a recent divorcee.
Art
Carney (Mr.
Slaney in “First Affair”) 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 was also married to Lucille Ball in the 1974 special “Happy
Anniversary and Goodbye.” Carney died in 2003 at age 85.
Mr.
Slaney is a carpenter installing bookshelves for Mrs. Curtis. We
never learn his first name.
Joseph
Bologna
(Peter in “First Love”) makes his only appearance opposite
Lucille Ball after writing her last special “Three For Two” in
1975. Bologna was a performer and writer, mostly with his wife,
Renee Taylor. They were nominated for an Oscar for writing 1970’s
Lovers
and Other Strangers
and won an Emmy for “Acts of Love and Other Comedies.” He died
in 2017 at age 82.
Peter
was married for six years, but divorced ten years before the action
begins. We never learn his last name.
Director Charles
Walters was
an uncredited director on Ziegfeld
Follies (1945)
which starred Lucille Ball, although not in the segment he staged. He
also directed two episodes of “Here’s Lucy” and also directed
“Three For Two” in 1975.
This
was Lucille Ball’s fourth prime time special after the end of
“Here’s Lucy” in 1974. They include “Happy
Anniversary and Goodbye” (1974),
“Lucy
Gets Lucky” (1975),
and “Three for Two” (1975), four months
earlier. This
special is available on DVD from MPI video or can be streamed online.
It was originally aired on CBS in the USA.
This
special was the #16 show for the week and won its time slot with a
22.6 rating and 36% share of the audience. Variety said,
“Lucille
Ball delivers an outstanding performance.”
Writer
Sheldon
Keller
makes his debut writing for Lucille Ball. He wrote two Art Carney
specials in 1959 and won an Emmy Award for a 1966 Carol Channing
special. Milly
Schoenbaum
was a press representative who worked on more than thirty Broadway
shows between 1970 and 1985.
Like
the previous Lucille Ball Specials, the show reunites many “Here’s
Lucy” production
staff, including hairstylist Irma Kusely, prop master Kenneth
Westcott, costumer Renita Reachi, and script supervisor Dorothy
Aldworth.
All
three acts take place in Catherine Cutis’s New York City apartment.
The special was filmed in Hollywood at 20th Century Fox studios and includes stock footage of a New York City
street (at the start) and a jet flying through the clouds (at the
end).
The
surname Curtis is found in Lucille Ball’s family tree ten generations
back (1500’s). It was more recently the first name of Gale Gordon’s
character on “Life With Lucy” (1986). In the special Lucille
Ball’s character is given both a first and a last name, while Art
Carney only gets a last name, and Joe Bologna is only referred to by
his first name.
Like
the previous Lucille Ball Special, “Three For Two” (1975), this
hour is divided into three distinct stories. The first is titled
“First Night” and presents Lucille Ball as Catherine Curtis in a
monologue. The second, with Art Carney, is titled “First Affair,”
and the last, featuring Joseph Bologna, “First Love.”
Part
I ~ “First Night” {19 minutes}
A voice over by Ball introduces Catherine Curtis, who was married for 23 years and has two daughters, Melinda and Elizabeth. Melinda is in college, while Elizabeth is married with a child named Stacy, making Catherine a grandmother (or, as she calls herself “Nana”). She is facing life alone for the first time.
The
special opens with sepia toned photos of Lucille Ball drawn from her
actual scrapbooks including baby and wedding photos of Ball’s
real-life daughter Lucie Arnaz and ending with a divorce decree
between Catherine Curtis and Bennett Curtis, a character we never
meet.
Catherine’s
new phone number is GRamercy 5-5525. On dial telephones, letters were
often used to indicate neighborhoods. In this case, GR represents
47, so Catherine’s number is 475-5525 in the Gramercy Park area of
Manhattan.
Before the divorce, Catherine
and her family lived in Connecticut, with her husband commuting to
New York, which she calls “Fun City.”
Catherine:
(talking
to herself, imitating her ex-husband) “Catherine,
we’ll move to Connecticut. You’ll love the country. (as
herself)
Well, I hated the country, Ben. I hated the crabgrass. I hated the
mulch. I hated the compost heap. And I hated you, Bennett Curtis.
Damn you!”
Lucy
Ricardo and her family also moved to Connecticut (above photo) while her husband
worked in New York City and, although it took some time to adjust to,
she eventually was happy with her new home in the country. Later in
the special Catherine says,
Catherine:
“We
lived in Westport, Connecticut. It was not zoned for screaming.”
While
unpacking, Catherine turns on the radio and immediately hears “One
less man to pick up after. I should be happy, but all I do is cry”
before she angrily switches stations. This is the song “One
Less Bell To Answer”
by Burt Bacharach and Hal David written in 1967 for Keely Smith, who
sings it here. Not coincidentally, Keely’s original version was arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, who is credited with music for this special.
Oops!
When
Catherine’s daughter Elizabeth calls her on the phone and turns the
conversation to her father, Catherine says “Elizabeth,
I did not call to discuss that”
when Elizabeth clearly called her,
not the other way around.
Part
II ~“First Affair” {13 minutes}
Part
Two opens with Ball’s voice-over and pans the now fully
decorated and brightly lit apartment. It takes place three months
after she moved in during Part I.
Mr.
Slaney tells Catherine he finds it a crying shame “How
people who share a wall can’t even share a hello.”
He admits it is not original; he heard Merv Griffin say it. “The
Merv Griffin Show” was a talk and variety program hosted by Griffin from 1962 to 1986. He interviewed Lucille Ball in 1973
and 1980.
Mr. Slaney: Give me the old ways every time. People today, with their speed and their instants and their jiffies and their speedies, it’s getting crazy. With their shake-a-bakes and your bake-a-shakes and your minute mix and your quickie mix and your ready mix and your here-a-mix-there-a-mix everywhere a mix-mix.”
Catherine: “What are you talking about Mr. Slaney?”
Mr. Slaney: “I don’t know. Just poke around there and you’ll find out I said something.”
Mr.
Slaney is a widower who lived in an apartment building Rego Park with
his wife Grace. They knew all their neighbors:
- Tom and Emma Dole
(1A) - Willhelm and Colleen Luft (1B)
- Max and Florence Booberman
(1C) - Sy and Annie Booberman (1D)
- Frank and Sally Booberman
(1E)
The three Booberman Brothers ran the Booberman Foam Rubber
business.
Catherine:
“That’s a lot of Boobermans.”
Catherine:
“My
husband and I never raised our voices to each other in over 23
years.”
Mr.
Slaney:
“Honest
to God? How could you live like that? Being married all those years
there’s bound to be some aggravation that stores up in side of you. I
mean, if you don’t let it out, you could get herpes.”
Catherine:
“Or
a divorce.”
Part
III ~ “First Love” {19 minutes}
Ball’s voice over introduces the segment, which picks up almost a
year after Part I. Catherine has now found a job and fallen in love
with a younger man.
Peter
is 14 years younger than Catherine. In reality, Joseph Bologna is 25
years younger than Lucille Ball. Catherine
facetiously calls Peter a “40 year-old virgin” when he says that
there were no women before her. Based on this comment, Catherine
Curtis is age 54. At the time of filming, Lucille Ball was 65 and
Joseph Bologna 42.
As
the segment begins, Peter and Catherine are coming home to her
apartment after seeing a play.
Peter:
“It
was the worst single play I have ever seen in my life but I loved it
because an English actor can read graffiti off a wall and make it
sound like Shakespeare.”
Catherine:
“I
agree.”
Peter:
(affecting
a broad English accent) “For
a rollicking good time, call Kinky Kitty; Stratford two, double
seven, naught naught.”
Peter
proposes they remain in their formal wear for a month, sipping
champagne on the subway, singing “Begin the Beguine” at the
automat, and tap dancing their way into the hearts of millions. He
then sings a few bars of “Puttin’
on the Ritz,”
a song written by Irving Berlin in 1927.
“Begin
the Beguine” (which
Peter doesn’t sing) was written by Cole Porter in 1935. The automat
was a dining establishment comprised primarily of vending machines. The first automat in
the United States was opened by Horn and Hardart in 1902. Their last
New York City location closed in 1991.
Peter
then suggests flying to his favorite city, London, and staying at the
Connaught on Grosvernor Square, lunching at the White Elephant, going
to the theatre every night, and having late supper at the Tramp. He
then launches into a few bars of “A
Foggy Day (in London Town),”
which was written by George and Ira Gershwin in 1937.
The Connaught in Mayfair,
central London, is a five-star hotel first opened in
1815. The name was taken from the title of Queen Victoria’s
son, Prince Arthur, the first Duke of Connaught.
The
White Elephant on the River was
first opened in the 1960s on Curzon Street and quickly became the hot
dining spot for celebrities. It has since closed. Tramp is
a private, members only nightclub located
on Jermyn Street in
central London. Founded in 1969, Tramp is considered to be one
of the most exclusive clubs in the world and is a regular
haunt for celebrities.
Lucy
Ricardo, Lucy Carmichael, and Lucy Carter all enjoyed trips to
London, although only in the prime time special “Lucy in London”
(1966) did Lucille Ball actually film there.
Peter,
tired of Catherine’s obsession with their age difference,
sarcastically suggests they instead go to Sun City, where he’ll buy
her a Gucci corset and a sequined cane. Sun
City,
first opened in 1960, is a location in Arizona popular as a
retirement community. It was first mentioned in “Lucy and Joan
Rivers Do Jury Duty” (HL S6;E9) in 1973.
Catherine:
(about Sun City) “You
won’t like it there. They don’t get ‘Sesame Street’.”
“Sesame
Street,”
a popular children’s television program on PBS, first hit the
airwaves in November 1969. The show was mentioned in 1970’s
“Lucy and Donny Osmond” (HL S5;E11). In 2007 “Sesame
Street”
mentioned “I Love
Lucy,”
although they were referring to Lucy the
Lazy Lizard. During the reference, the background music was similar
to the “I Love
Lucy”
theme. In the book Sesame
Street Unpaved
it is pointed out that Snuffy shares his astrological sign, Leo, with
Lucille Ball.
Catherine
would rather play backgammon
than talk about going away with Peter. Lucille Ball was a games
enthusiast, and backgammon was her favorite game for much of her
later years.
Catherine:
“You
can have any young chick in the world. Why me?”
Peter:
“In
the ten years since my divorce, you’re the first woman I’ve gone out
with who knows who John Garfield is.”
Catherine:
“Oh,
for God’s sake!”
Peter:
“Hey, I’m serious. Do you know what it’s like to go out with a
girl who thinks that Joe DiMaggio is a veal dish?”
When
Catherine breaks down in tears, Peter imitates Clark Gable as Rhett
Butler in Gone
With the Wind.
Catherine:
“Stop
wallowing in the past: Garfield, DiMaggio, Gable, Catherine Curtis.
You’re a nostalgia freak, that’s what you are. I just don’t want to
be added to your collection of antiques.”
John
Garfield
(1913-52, above left) was an actor nominated for two Oscars for his films Four
Daughters (1938)
and Body
and Soul (1947).
Joe
DiMaggio
(1914-99, above right) was a baseball center
fielder who
played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He
also was briefly married to Marilyn Monroe. DiMaggio was mentioned on
“I Love Lucy” in “Lucy is Enceinte” (ILL S2;E10) in 1952.
Clark
Gable
(1901-60, above center) was an Oscar-winning actor for his role in Gone
With the Wind (1939).
Lucille Ball was on the short list to play opposite Gable in the
film and did a screen test for the role. The film was mentioned in
1954’s “Lucy Writes a Novel” (ILL S3;E24) and in 1971’s “The
Hollywood Unemployment Follies” (HL S3;E22). On “Here’s Lucy”
the film was satirized in a sketch on “Lucy and Flip Go Legit”
(HL S4;E1).
Peter
impulsively offers to fly Catherine to San Francisco’s Fisherman’s
Wharf for seafood. He sings a few bars of “San
Francisco,”
a
song from the 1936 film San
Francisco written
by Bronislaw
Kaper and Walter
Jurmann,
with lyrics by Gus
Kahn.
Catherine:
(to
Peter) “San
Francisco, London, marriage! Just once I’d like you to suggest
something that doesn’t require a passport or a Wasserman Test.”
The
Wasserman
Test (named
for its innovator) was a blood test that screened for syphilis. In
the first half of the 1900s, many people in the United States who
wanted a marriage license had to take a blood test first, depending
on which state they lived in. However, strides in medical care and a
convincing body of evidence have now eliminated this marriage license
requirement in all but a handful of states.
Regarding
passports,
Lucy Ricardo had trouble with hers throughout her trip to Europe.
Catherine does not, of course, need a passport to go to San
Francisco.
In
the end, Catherine and Peter fly away on a jet plane to San
Francisco. In “Lucy Gets Lucky” (1975) Lucy also boarded a plane with
her male lead (Dean Martin) and flew off into the sunset.
This
Date in Lucy History
– March 30th
“Lucy
Changes Her Mind"
(ILL S2;E21) – March 30, 1953
“Lucy
and the Scout Trip”
(TLS S2;E26) – March 30, 1964
Superstitious Lucille Ball took to heart the old axiom that good things come in threes. This special, even more than “Three for Two”, is a well-written balance of drama and comedy. Lucille Ball shows off her acting chops in a nearly 20 minute-long monologue. This is one of the best of serio-comic Lucy.
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
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