November
5, 1985
Directed
by George Schaefer ~ Written by Rose Leiman Goldemberg
Synopsis
When
recent college graduate Carrie Lang (Daphne Zuniga) begins working
for a New York City homeless shelter, she is told to ‘hit the streets’
to learn how to better do her job. There she meets Florabelle
(Lucille Ball), an eccentric loner who sleeps on the streets and
keeps her worldly possessions in a shopping cart. When Carrie is
robbed, Florabelle helps her survive among the homeless – until she
finds out that Carrie is part of the system, not a victim.
Cast
Lucille
Ball (Florabelle)
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.
Daphne
Zuniga (Carrie
Lang) made her screen acting debut in 1982. Prior to “Stone
Pillow” she did two episodes of “Family Ties.” She also had
recurring roles on “American Dreams” (2004), “Beautiful People”
(2005), and “One Tree Hill” (2008). Prior to “Stone Pillow”
Zuniga was well reviewed in The
Sure Thing,
released in March 1985.
Carrie
is the new hire at the Delano Shelter.
William
Converse-Roberts (Max) made his small screen debut in 1979. He
had recurring roles on “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd”
(1987), “Reasonable Doubts” (1991), and “Any Day Now”
(1998).
Max
is a CPA helping the homeless, who call him “Census Taker.”
Susan
Batson (Ruby) is an actor,
writer, director, producer, and teacher. She made her screen debut in
1969. She was in the cast of the stage and Emmy-nominated television
adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun in
2008.
Stephen
Lang (Tim)
played
Happy, one of Dustin
Hoffman’s
sons, in the 1984 Broadway revival of Death
of a Salesman,
followed by the acclaimed TV adaptation of the play the same year as
“Stone Pillow.” He
plays Miles Quarich in Avatar
(2009)
and may repeat the role in sequels through 2025.
Tim
is the manager of the Delano Shelter.
Anna
Maria Horsford (Collins)
is probably best remembered as Thelma on the sitcom “Amen”
(1986-91). She was nominated for two daytime Emmy Awards for her
work on “The Bold and the Beautiful” (2016 & 2017).
Collins
is the security guard at the Delano Shelter.
Stefan
Schnabel (Mr.
Berman) began acting in films in 1949. He
is most familiar to television audiences for his 17-year stint as Dr.
Stephen Jackson on the long-running soap opera
“The Guiding
Light.” After
more than 20 years on Broadway, he appeared in his final play along
side Marlo Thomas and Olympia Dukakis in Social
Security.
He died in 1999 at age 87.
Mr.
Berman is a pharmacist.
Imogene
Bliss
(Violet) started on TV in 1971 on the soap “The Doctors.” Eleven
years after “Stone Pillow,” she appeared in her final TV movie “The Christmas Tree” (1996).
Michael
Champagne (Supermarket Manager) makes his screen debut with
“Stone Pillow.” He has only one more screen credit, as a day
player on “As The World Turns” in 1989.
Gloria
Cromwell (Grace, Bus Terminal Matron) played Nurse Cromwell on
“The Doctors” from 1970 to 1975, which was her screen debut. She
died in 2008 at age 81.
Patrick
Kilpatrick (Young Thug) made his second TV appearance with “Stone
Pillow” but has since accrued more than 150 screen credits, with 15
films in the pipeline through 2018.
John
Ramsey (Older Thug) was seen as a judge on a dozen episodes of
“Law & Order” from 1991 to 2001.
Matthew
Locriccio (Tony) started screen acting in 1977 and was also in
two episodes of “Law & Order” in 1990 and 1997.
Victor
Raider-Wexler (Joe) made his screen debut in the feature film
Benji (1974). “Stone Pillow” is his second TV film and
only third screen credit. His later film and television work was as a
voice artist.
Lucy
calls Joe “Giuseppe.” Joe and Tony drive a produce truck.
Pat
McNamara (Officer Daggett) was a background player on ABC’s
Gothic soap opera “Dark Shadows” in 1966. He played Sheriff
Perkins in Silence of the Lambs (1991).
Josephine
Nichols (Bag Lady in Ladies Room) starting acting on TV in 1954.
She played housemother Mrs. Plumm on PBS’s “Uncommon Women and
Others” opposite Meryl Streep in 1979. From 1980 to 1981 she
played Kate Marshall on the NBC soap “Texas.” “Stone Pillow”
is her final screen appearance. She died eleven years later at age
82.
Patricia
O’Connell (Hargrove Shelter Guard) did her first TV movie in
1973. Her final screen credit was in 2001. She died in 2016.
Gary
Singer (Hargrove Shelter Guard) is making his only screen
appearance.
Rebecca
Schull (Mrs.
Nelson) began acting on television in 1980 and is probably best known
for playing Fay on “Wings” (1990-97).
Mrs.
Nelson is in charge of the Hargrove Shelter in Brooklyn.
Peter
Phillips
(Bus Driver) is making the second of his four TV appearances.
Mary
Lou Rosato (Bus
Terminal Cop) is an acclaimed stage actor who worked with John
Houseman off-Broadway and did more than a dozen Broadway plays and
musicals between 1973 and 1997.
Edward
Seamon
(Al) is known for The
Devil’s Advocate
(1997),
Consenting
Adults
(1992), and
School
Ties (1992).
Al
operates Twigs, a corner bodega.
Raymond
Serra
(Stan) did his first film The
Gambler
in 1974. He played Chief Sterns in the Teenage
Ninja Turtles
movies (1990 & 1991).
Stan
runs the bookstore across the street from Twigs.
Alex
Paez (Young
Thug, uncredited) received
an Emmy Award for his performances in “Unicorn Tales”
(1979), a series of mini musicals for NBC.
In
1985, in addition to “Stone Pillow,” he also appeared on “Miami
Vice” and “The Cosby Show.”
William
Preston
(Homeless Man in Street, uncredited) started an acting at age 47. He
had extensive stage experience, performing in over 60 Shakespeare
productions. He appeared on Broadway in three plays between 1986 and
1998. He was a regular on “The Conan O’Brien Show” as Carl ‘Oldy’ Olson. He died at age 76.
Stewart
B. Stewart (Dapper
Man on Bench, uncredited)
Brandon
Danziger
(Sonny, uncredited) is making his screen debut.
Sonny
is Florabelle’s son, seen in a memory flashback.
A
young homeless woman named Mary Kellen, and many other homeless men
and women in the shelters and on the streets, are played by
uncredited background performers.
Director
George
Schaefer
won seven Emmy Awards and a 1954 Tony Award. He died in 1997 at age
76. This is his only time working with Lucille Ball.
Screenwriter
Rose
Leiman Goldemberg had
written the Emmy-nominated “The Burning Bed” the year before “Stone PIllow,”
another star-led teleplay about a headline topic, spouse abuse.
The
score for “Stone Pillow” was composed by Georges
Delerue,
who scored more than 350 films and TV shows. He was nominated for
five Oscars, winning in 1979 for A
Little Romance.
He died in 1992.
Despite
being set in February, the film was actually filmed on location in
New York City during a unusually hot spring. Filming was supposed to
begin in March, but was postponed until late April due to
screenwriter
Rose
Leiman Goldemberg’s daughter being tragically killed in a car
accident.
Lucille
Ball had to wear several layers of heavy clothes and a voluminous
wig. After shooting one day, Ball passed out from dehydration. She
also broke a tendon in her right hand manipulating the unwieldy
shopping cart. As
a result, she was hospitalized for a week. Her doctors also informed
her that she was allergic to cigarettes, which she had been smoking
for more than 50 years.
Port
Authority Bag Lady: “I hope ya got a cigarette.”
Florabelle:
“No Siree, Bob. Smokin’ gets yer lungs.”
This
is the first time Desilu or Lucille Ball Productions (LBP) did not
produce a Lucille Ball television project. This is also the first
time the entire cast and crew have no prior experience working with
Lucille Ball.
Because
the film was shot in New York City and directed by Tony-winner George Schaefer, it employs many award-winning
stage actors who worked regularly in the theatre: William
Converse-Roberts, Mary Lou Rosato (Drama Desk Award), William
Preston, Stefan Schnable, Stephen Lang (Tony nominee), Josephine
Nichols, Susan Batson (Tony and Drama Desk nominee), Imogene Bliss,
John Ramsey, Victor Raider-Wexler, Pat McNamara, Patricia O’Connell
(Drama Desk nominee), Peter Phillips, Edward Seamon, and Raymond
Serra. These actors also frequently appeared in soap operas and
television shows produced in New York, including “Dark Shadows,”
“The Doctors” and “The Cosby Show.”
To
promote the film,
Lucy
appeared on “The Tonight Show” with Joan Rivers. She shared that
she had lost 23 lbs and that she was refused service at a restaurant
while shooting, due to her appearance and the place not recognizing
her.
The
film received mixed reviews, but ranked as one of the top 10 highest
rated telecasts that week, and it led Ball to make one last attempt
to return to her comedy roots with “Life
with Lucy” the
next year. John J. O’Connor, in his review in The
New York Times,
wrote:
“’Stone
Pillow’ is a carefully contrived concoction, earnest but not above
being cute and nearly outrageous in its determination to jerk a few
tears. Accepted on that level, the exercise works reasonably well….
Miss Ball is in total control from the opening scene…”
Lucille
Ball was 74 years old at the time of filming. She started making
movies in 1933 with Roman
Scandals.
Although it is a made for television movie, this is Lucille Ball’s
final film. Her final theatrical release was Mame
in 1974.
“Stone
Pillow” was aired 34 years to the day that the first filmed (but
fourth aired) episode of “I Love Lucy” was broadcast.
After
a brief flirtation with NBC in 1980, Lucille Ball is back on CBS. It
wouldn’t last long. When CBS declined to pick-up “Life With Lucy,”
the short-lived sitcom was aired on ABC, meaning Lucille Ball worked
on all three major networks during her long and storied career.
In
a 2004 interview Oscar-winning “Stone Pillow” cinematographer
Walter Lassally said that Lucy refused to call her make-up woman
Kathryn Bihr (pronounced ‘beer’) by her last name for fear of being
overheard shouting “BEER!” on the set. Instead, she decided to
call her ‘Baker’. Lassally wondered why Lucy just didn’t call her
Katie.
Ball
said that homelessness is what affected her most. She mused that the
title really should be “Without An Address.” In French-speaking
Canada, the film’s title is “Sous
les étoiles de New York” (“Under the Stars of New York”). In
Spain it was called “La cama de asfalto” (“The Asphalt Bed,”
which was also the title in Germany), oddly similar to “The Burning
Bed,” the screenwriter’s previous project.
Tim
(to Carrie): “You
think there’s something so different about the homeless? A few bad
breaks, a few checks that don’t come, we could all be sleeping on
stone pillows.”
About
why she wanted to do “Stone Pillow”:
“I
hadn’t worked in a long time because the scripts I was getting were
so disgusting and all anybody really wanted me to do was Lucy all
over again. So when CBS told me director George Schaefer wanted to
work with me, that and fascinating subject matter was what got me to
do it. I don’t care how I look on screen, so that was it.“
About
her research to play a bag lady:
“I
did not talk to any of them…but I don’t believe what everybody
says…that they are on the streets because they want to be there.
Well, that may be true for some of the older, more disturbed ladies
who just don’t have any more hope left, but I don’t believe that’s
true of all of them.”
Ball
did confess to reading Shopping
Bag Ladies,
a
book
by
Anne Marie Rousseau, published in 1982. Rousseau also acted as the
film’s technical adviser.
About
her grandmother, Florabelle:
“She
was a pioneer lady, and I just wanted this bag lady I played to be
independent and have her own little survival kit, her own way of
doing things without begging. Of course, one reason Florabelle
wouldn’t take money handouts was because nobody would let her in
anyplace to spend it.“
Lucy’s
grandmother Florabelle
Emmaline Hunt,
was mentioned in two episodes of “Here’s Lucy” – “Lucy Takes
Over” (HL S2;E23) in 1970, and “Lucy, The Sheriff” (HL S6;E18)
in 1974.
About
her legacy:
“I never expected to be around this long, and the length of time
I’ve been around never occurred to me until one day recently I found
out that I was outliving my supply of henna. I managed to get some
from Egypt…so I guess I’m in good shape.”
Florabelle:
“Well,
I’m still here.”
In
2009, “Stone Pillow” was mentioned by Marge (voiced by Julie
Kavner) on the Fox animated series “The Simpsons.” In the episode,
Marge, Homer, and the kids go into debt and must sleep at a homeless
shelter.
When
Florabelle’s cart is stolen by another bag lady, a grocery bag from
Publix
is clearly visible. There has never been a Publix store in or around
New York, so the bag was probably unwittingly sourced from a props
shop or other supplier.
On
her sitcoms, Lucy’s version of ‘little old ladies’ or ‘bag ladies’
was always presented as a romanticized and somewhat cartoonish
version of aging and poverty. For “Stone Pillow,” Lucille Ball
had a hand in Florabelle’s make-up and costume design.
Outside
the bodega, Joe gives Florabelle a raw egg, which Lucille Ball cracks
open and eats in one take. Ball consciously allows Florabelle to
enjoy the egg, rather than doing one of her trademark faces of
revulsion, as Lucy Ricardo did when first tasting Vitameatavegamin.
Florabelle
says she lived on a farm with her husband and son (‘Sonny’) and grew
vegetables. She remembers her home had curtains and wicker furniture.
She tells Carrie that she got ill, and when she was released from the
hospital her husband and son were gone. She says that she worked in a
War Plant, which implies that this may have happened sometime during
World War II. She went on Welfare and was evicted from her rooming
house, landing on the streets.
Florabelle
and Carrie take shelter in the bowels of Grand
Central Terminal. “Lucy Wants a Career,” a 1959 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy
Hour,” used establishing footage (above) of the Grand Hall of Grand Central,
although the episode was shot in Hollywood.
Mr.
Berman:
(about his drug store) “The
landlord raised the rent and I lost my lease.”
Florabelle:
“Where
will you go?”
Mr.
Berman:
“Where
everybody goes to die – Florida.”
Florabelle:
“It’s
nice and warm there, anyways.”
Mr.
Berman:
“Feh!
I hate it. Nobody’s under a hundred. I call it ‘the last resort.’”
When
Florabelle is mistakenly herded onto a bus to the Brooklyn shelter,
an overweight woman accidentally sits on her. A similar thing
happened in “The Tour” (ILL S4;E30) in 1955, when Lucy Ricardo
was switching seats on a bus tour of the movie stars’ homes.
In
the TV room of the Hargrove shelter, the women are watching Joan
Collins as Alexis in “Dynasty.”
The
nighttime soap was broadcast on ABC from 1981 to 1989. In “Lucy
Makes a Hit With John Ritter” (LWL S1;E2), Joan Collins is
mentioned as a possible replacement for an actress (Sally Kemp) doing
a play with Ritter. Coincidentally, Kemp was also a “Dynasty”
cast member. She played
Marcia, Blake Carrington’s secretary for several years. The
Carrington’s housekeeper, Jeanette, was played by Virginia Hawkins,
who had a small role in a 1969 episode of “Here’s Lucy.”
Over
the final credits, Carrie drives Florabelle to a run-down little
cottage with a garden. Flora digs her hands into the soil with smile
on her face.
This
Date in Lucy History
– November 5
“Lucy
Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her” (ILL S1;E4) –
November 5, 1951
“Lucy
Becomes an Astronaut" (TLS S1;E6) –
November 5, 1962
“Lucy
and Joan Rivers Do Jury Duty" (HL
S6;E9) – November 5, 1973
Put in context of the movie of the week about topical subjects, this movie is a lot better than its reputation. Lucille Ball’s vast experience and dedication to downplaying her “Lucy” character is what makes this movie work. Experienced director Schaefer surrounds Ball with experienced stage thespians, with one exception – Daphne Zuniga. Zuniga was Hollywood’s flavor-of-the-week in 1985, but when Ball is momentarily absent from the screen and it focuses on Zuniga, the film feels amateurish. Overall, the film feels a bit oppressive and often aimless, especially in the latter third. But Lucille Ball is wonderful, heartwarming, and a revelation for those who only know her as “Lucy.”
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
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