November 11, 1962
Directed
by Greg Garrison
Written
by Herbert Baker, Ernest Chambers, Sylvia Fine
Danny
Kaye
(Host) was
born David Kaminsky in 1911 and left school at the age of 13 to work
in the Borscht Belt of Jewish resorts in the Catskill Mountains. It
was there he learned the basics of show biz. In 1939, he made his
Broadway debut in Straw
Hat Revue,
but it was the stage production of the musical Lady
in the Dark in
1940 that brought him acclaim and notice from agents. Also in 1940,
he married Sylvia Fine, who went on to manage his career. She helped
create the routines and gags, and wrote most of the songs that he
performed. Danny could sing and dance like many others, but his
specialty was reciting tongue-twisting songs and monologues. In
1964 he appeared on “The Lucy Show” as himself and Lucy appeared
on his special in return. He died in 1987.
Lucille
Ball (Guest)
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.
In
1960, Kaye signed a $1.5 million contract for three annual specials
that would set the pattern for his later series. Although these
specials were not critically successful, audience ratings were
sufficient for CBS to offer the entertainer his own weekly series.
Because
it was the first television teaming of the two famous redheads, the
special was hailed as “A
Television First” and was also Lucille Ball’s first appearance in
color. Lucille Ball had only just started shooting the first season
of “The Lucy Show,” which was shot and aired in black
and white during season one.
The Detroit News dedicated its cover story to this special on the same day it premiered.
So did the Indianapolis TV Times – with a somewhat odd caricature of the stars.
Two
years later, Lucy appeared on another Danny Kaye special, and
referenced this 1962 appearance.
This
program was nominated for three 1963 Emmy Awards as well as a
Director’s Guild Award. At the 1963 Emmy’s Lucille Ball was also
nominated for her work on “The Lucy Show,” although she lost to
Shirley Booth in “Hazel.”
The day after this special aired, “The Lucy Show” first broadcast “Lucy Is A Kangaroo for a Day” (TLS S1;E7).
During
the special, Kaye sang, danced, and told a story imitating Maurice
Chevalier’s English accent. Chevalier had co-starred in “Lucy
Goes To Mexico” (1958), and was imitated by everyone on
“I Love Lucy” in “The
French Revue” (ILL S3;E7).
Lucille
Ball sang, danced (the Twist), and did imitations of Judy Garland,
Carol Channing, and Marlene Dietrich.
Three
years later, Lucy Carmichael would go undercover as Carol Channing in
“Lucy and the Undercover Agent” (TLS S4;E10), dressing as
Channing did in Hello, Dolly!
In 1971, Lucy Carter imitated Marlene Dietrich in “The Hollywood Unemployment Follies” (HL
S3;E22) singing “Falling
in Love Again (Never Wanted To)”
from the 1930 German film The
Blue Angel.
In that same episode there is a mannequin of Judy Garland as Dorothy
in The
Wizard of Oz,
although no one imitates her.
Danny
Kaye and Lucille Ball play a couple visiting restaurants of different
ethnicities: Japanese, French, and Tahitian.
Danny Kaye (as himself) introduces each of the three sketches.
At
a traditional Japanese Restaurant, they are introduced to the art of
bowing, but don’t know exactly when to stop. Reminded to take off
their shoes, Kaye finds he has a hole in his sock. Lucy has trouble
sitting at the low table in her tight pencil skirt. Kaye lowers her
to the floor and slides her under the table but she keeps sliding
right under their table to that of the next diners.
Both have no idea
that they have to break apart the wooden chopsticks to use them,
until the waitress demonstrates. The bowl of dried noodles still ends up all over the floor.
A bowl of lychees frustrates the couple,
until Kaye has the brilliant idea to shoot them into Lucy’s mouth
using his chopstick as a pool cue. The entire sketch is done without
dialogue.
Lucille Ball also had fun with chopsticks at a Chinese
Restaurant in 1968’s “Lucy’s Birthday” (HL S1;E8).
In 1959, the Ricardos and the Mertzes traveled to Japan and went to a restaurant, except the girls were the geisha servers, not the diners!
In
the second sketch, this time with dialogue, Lucy (Miss Naomi
Dinsmore) and Kaye (Charlie), co-workers, are on a first date at an
elegant French Restaurant.
Kaye:
“Where
the menu is in French, and the waiters are in French, and the prices
are insane. The food is not only in French, but in Brandy, Cognac,
and pure alcohol. You can get drunk just by breathing the napkin.”
The
background music plays “La
Vie en Rose”
as
Lucy and Kaye enter. This same tune was playing at the Mocambo when
Lucy Ricardo entered in “Hollywood Anniversary” (ILL S4;E23).
Kaye
and Ball use common New York accents to heighten the idea that this
working class couple are out of their element. Kaye butchers the
pronunciation of ‘filet mignon’ and ‘petit fours.’ Everything at
this restaurant is doused in alcohol, including their salad.
Naomi:
“Say,
this salad dressing has a very delicate flavor.”
Charlie:
“Yeah.
Yeah, it has a… a regular aroma.”
Naomi:
“Yes, it’s pungent.”
Charlie:
“That’s
what it is! I was trying to think of the word. That’s it! It has a
definite punge.”
Naomi
reminisces about the Christmas party where Charlie lit his nose on
fire, which naturally brings to mind when Lucy Ricardo accidentally
lit her putty nose on fire while lighting a cigarette in “Hollywood
at Last! (ILL S4;E16).
Lastly,
the Andersons, a married couple, go to a tropical restaurant named
The Tahitian Typhoon.
Kaye:
“These
are usually, the most exotic, the most authentic, the most
uncomfortable, and… the most popular.”
They
are greeted by a
maître d’
wearing a tuxedo, war paint, and a bone in
his nose. They are given a machete and rifle to find their way to
their table. On the way through the tropical foliage, Mrs. Anderson
steps in quicksand.
Mr.
Anderson:
“Well
don’t struggle, you’ll only sink faster. I learned that in the
Amazon.”
Mrs.
Anderson:
“The
Amazon?”
Mr.
Anderson:
“Yeah,
it’s a restaurant in Cleveland.”
The
restaurant’s “rain effect” drenches Mrs. Anderson, soaking her
wide-brimmed hat.
When Lucy Ricardo intentionally fell into the hotel
swimming pool in “The Hedda Hopper Story” (ILL S4;E20), her
starched hat also comically wilted.
Refusing
to pay the check since they didn’t eat anything, the angry tribal
maître d’
claps his hands, mutters an incantation, and shrinks the
Andersons to pygmy size!
This
Date in Lucy History – November 11
“Lucy
and the Bank Scandal”
(TLS S2;E7) – November 11, 1963
“Lucy
and Eva Gabor”
(HL S1;E7) – November 11, 1968
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
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