“The Dick Cavett Show” ~ March 9, 1971
Directed
by David Barnhizer
Written
by David Axelrod, David Lloyd, Jim Mulholland, Tom Whedon
Dick
Cavett (Host)
is
an American television personality, comedian, and talk
show
host
notable for his conversational style and in-depth discussions. He
appeared regularly on television in for five consecutive decades,
from the 1960s through the 2000s.
Cavett
has been nominated for at least 10 Emmy
Awards
and
has won three.
He married actress Carrie Nye in 1964. She died in 2006.
Lucille Ball 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, which was not a success and was canceled after just 13 episodes.
Carol
Burnett got
her first big break on “The Paul Winchell Show” in 1955. A years
later she was a regular on “The Garry Moore Show.” In 1959 she
made her Broadway debut in Once
Upon a Mattress,
which she also appeared in on television three times. From 1960 to
1965 she did a number of TV specials, and often appeared with Julie
Andrews. Her second Broadway musical was Fade
Out – Fade In which
ran for more than 270 performances. From 1967 to 1978 she hosted her
own highly successful variety show, “The Carol Burnett Show.”
Lucille Ball made several appearances on “The Carol Burnett Show.”
Burnett guest starred in four episodes of “The Lucy Show” and
three episodes of “Here’s Lucy,” subsequently playing a
character named Carol Krausmeyer. After Lucille Ball’s passing,
Burnett was hailed as the natural heir to Lucy’s title of ‘The
Queen of TV Comedy.’
Lucie
Arnaz is
the daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. She was born in 1951
just before the premiere of “I Love Lucy.” Despite rumors to the
contrary, Lucie Arnaz never appeared on “I Love Lucy.” Lucie
played Cynthia (as well as other characters) on “The Lucy Show”
and joined her mother and brother on “Here’s Lucy” (1968-74). She
has been twice married, to actor Phil Vandervort (1971) and
actor-writer Laurence Luckinbill (1980–present). She has three
children with Luckinbill: Simon, Joseph, and Katharine. She now lives
in Palm Springs, California, near the home once owned by her parents.
Dr.
Ferdie Pacheco was
the medical doctor for
Muhammad
Ali.
Bobby
Rosengarden
(Bandleader) was
a jazz
drummer
and
bandleader
on “The Steve Allen Show,” “The
Ernie Kovacs Show,”
“Sing
Along With Mitch,”
“The
Tonight Show” Band,
and “The Dick Cavett Show.” In
later years, Rosengarden was most often heard as the drummer with a
variety of all-star, swing-oriented
groups.
He died of Alzheimer’s
disease
in
Sarasota, Florida, at the age of 82.
“The
Dick Cavett Show” was
the title of several talk
shows
hosted
by Dick
Cavett
on
various television
networks.
From December 29, 1969 to January 1, 1975 it was aired on ABC late
night. Lucille Ball would appear again on March 7, 1974 to promote
her appearance in the film Mame.
Here
is a timeline of acting collaborations between Lucille Ball and Carol
Burnett:
- September 27, 1960 – “The Garry Moore Show” (S3;E1) Lucille Ball, Guest
- March 22, 1966 – “Carol + 2” Lucille Ball, Guest Star
- October 31, 1966 – “Lucy Gets a Roommate” (TLS S5;E7) Carol Burnett as Carol Bradford
- November 7, 1966 – “Lucy and Carol in Palm Springs” (TLS S5;E8) Carol Burnett as Carol Bradford
- October 2, 1967 – “The Carol Burnett Show” (S1;E4) Lucille Ball, Guest Star
- December 4, 1967 – “Lucy and Carol Burnett: Part 1” (TLS S6;E14) Carol Burnett as Carol Bradford
- December 11, 1967 – “Lucy and Carol Burnett: Part 2” (TLS S6;E15) Carol Burnett as Carol Bradford
- November 4, 1968 – “The Carol Burnett Show” (S2;E6) Lucille Ball, Guest
- January 27, 1969 – “Lucy and Carol Burnett” (HL S1;E17) Carol Burnett as Herself
- November 24, 1969 – “The Carol Burnett Show” (S3;E9) Lucille Ball, Guest
- March 2, 1970 – “Lucy Competes With Carol Burnett” (HL S2;E24) Carol Burnett as Carol Krausmeyer
- October 19, 1970 – “The Carol Burnett Show” (S4;E6) Lucille Ball, Guest
- February 8, 1971 – “Lucy and Carol Burnett” (HL S3;E22) Carol Burnett as Carol Krausmeyer
Cavett
introduces his bandleader, Bobby Rosengarden, who also does the
pre-show warm-up for the studio audience.
Cavett:
“Robert
has an equivalency diploma from ‘Sesame Street’.”
In
his opening monologue, Cavett talks about going to see the boxing
match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden
the previous evening. It was known as the Fight of the Century.
Frazier won in 15 rounds unanimous decision.
After a commercial
break, Cavett introduces Ferdie Pacheco,
Muhammad
Ali’s personal doctor. The
band plays “You Always Hurt the One You Love,” which Cavett
acknowledges as ‘their little joke,’ although he doesn’t mention the
song’s title. He came on the show to reassure the public that Ali did not have a broken jaw, as was widely rumored, from the previous night’s ‘fight of the century’ with Joe Frazier.
Then
Cavett brings out Lucie
Arnaz,
Lucille Ball’s daughter (age 19), who has just finished her third
year of playing Kim Carter on “Here’s Lucy.” She tells Cavett
that attending a Beverly Hills Catholic School was one of the worst
times of her life.
Lucie
laments that as a child she never got introduced to Paul Newman or
Marlon Brando, like the adults. She says instead she got to meet people like Mary
Wicks (above, on a Hawaiian vacation with the Arnaz family) and Wally Cox.
Lucie tells Cavatt that as a child her mother
allowed her to convert an unused garage into a little theatre for her
to put on plays. Lucy sent studio set builders to help with the
conversion. Arnaz excitedly remembers putting on Bye
Bye Birdie: “and
I played Ann-Margret!” Ann-Margret starred in the 1963 film version of the 1960 Broadway
musical. Ann-Margret also guest-starred in a 1970 episode of “Here’s
Lucy” (above) although Lucie had no scenes with her.
Cavett recalls when Ann-Margret came on his show in 1970 to
promote her latest film (C.C.
& Company)
with Joe Namath and left angry.
After
a break, Cavett introduces Carol
Burnett,
who was in New York to tape an episode of the fourth season of “The
Carol Burnett Show” that would air on March 22 as well as to entertain at an awards ceremony for Lucille Ball. The evening before
this interview, Carol’s show aired on CBS with guest stars Mike
Douglas and Bernadette Peters. The band plays her show’s theme song.
This is the first time Cavett and Burnett have met. Burnett tells a
story of her childhood, pretending to be her own twin sister (Karen)
from Canada, to fool a boy in her building.
Carol
says that she and her friends went to the Hitching Post Theatre to
see the Flash Gordon and Jungle
Girl (1941) serials,
starring Frances Gifford as Nyoka. Gifford had been in the
1937 film Stage Door with Lucille Ball. Gifford was also seen in
Tarzan
Triumphs
(1943), which may have been Burnett’s inspiration for her famous
Tarzan yell.
Carol
says she’s a klutz, and practiced dancing in the closet. She credits
Ernie Flatt for making her look graceful on her show. Carol talks
about an anonymous benefactor who gave her a thousand dollars in 1952
so she could move to Manhattan.
In
the next segment, Cavett introduces Lucille
Ball.
The band plays the “I Love Lucy” theme. Lucy, for the first
time, tells the story of how she was fired by Flo Ziegfeld. Lucy
says at age 16 she auditioned at the Ziegfeld Theatre for a third
road show of the Broadway musical of Rio Rita. Lucy was fired after
five days. Sobbing on the street, she was approached by Henry Sharp,
Ziegfeld’s assistant, who told her to get on with her life.
Despondent, she tried to throw herself in front of a stretch limo,
which stopped before it could hit her.
Cavett:
“If that car had been going faster, I would be talking to an empty
chair.”
Lucie:
“Two empty chairs!”
After
that setback, Lucy says she changed her name to Diane Belmont,
inspired by the Belmont Racetrack in Long Island. As a child she
called herself Madeline, after “The Light of the Western Stars’ by
Zane Gray. Lucy said she didn’t run away from home, but was allowed
to live with friends of the family on Dykeman Street in Manhattan to
go to the John Murray Anderson / Robert Milton Drama School. The
school wrote to Lucy’s mother and told her that she was wasting her
money. Lucy returned to Jamestown to finish high school.
As
a starving model in New York, Lucy relates how she was able to
survive by going to Nedicks, slipping into a recently vacated stool
at the counter, using the tip to order coffee, and eating their
uneaten half donut.
When
Cavett wonders whether Lucy and Carol have the desire to play serious
roles, Lucie reminds him that her mother did The
Big Street,
a 1942 dramatic film based on a story by Damon Runyon. Lucy
compliments Carol on her work, which leads into the next break. The
orchestra’s play out is “Hey Look Me Over,” a song Lucille Ball
introduced in the 1960 musical Wildcat.
Ball
and Burnett talk about their famous red hair and Paul Newman’s famous
blue eyes.
Carol and Cavett reveal their middle names (hers is Creighton, his is
Alva) and Cavett congratulates Lucille Ball on receiving the
International Radio and Television Society Gold Medal Award, the
first woman bestowed the honor. Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, and Jim
Neighbors entertained at the ceremony held at the Waldorf Astoria on
March 11, 1971.
This
Date in Lucy History – March 9
“The
Black Eye” (ILL S2;E20) – March 9, 1953
“Lucy
Is Her Own Lawyer”
(TLS S2;E23) – March 9, 1964
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
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