LUCY on DINAH!

1972-1978

Dinah
Shore  was
born Fannye Rose Shore in 1916. She was a singer, actress, and
television personality, and the top-charting female vocalist of the
1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the Big
Band era, but achieved even greater success a decade later, in
television, mainly as hostess of a series of variety programs. Her
first recordings were with Desi Arnaz’s mentor, bandleader Xavier
Cugat, and she later changed her named to Dinah after her success
with the song of the same name. She was famous for blowing a kiss to
her audiences (“Mwah!”) at the end of each show. Her passions
were golf, cooking, and painting. Shore died in 1994.

“Dinah’s
Place” aired
from 1970 until 1974 on NBC
and
was canceled to make way for a network edition of the then-syndicated
game show “Name
That Tune.”
It won a 1973 and 1974 Emmy Award. Lucille Ball made three
appearances on this iteration.  It was succeeded by…

“Dinah!”
(1974 to 1979) was
focused on celebrity interviews promoting recent motion pictures,
books and other television programs. It was a popular forum for
musical acts receiving national exposure performing short song sets
followed by a sit-down interview with Shore. A highly successful
vocalist and recording artist herself, Shore would usually sing at
least one song on each program; she sometimes dueted with musical
guests. Each episode was ninety minutes in length.
During the summer of 1976, the show was re-branded as “Dinah and
Friends.” “Dinah! was canceled by CBS in 1981.

Dinah
Shore guest starred as herself on a 1971 episode of “Here’s Lucy”
(S4;E7). 

Ball and Diana Ross
appeared on “Like Hep!” a 1969 Dinah Shore special.

Lucy
interviewed Dinah Shore on her CBS radio show “Let’s Talk to Lucy”
on January 11, 12 & 13, 1965.

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Dinah’s
Place

September 11, 1972

• Lucy
  makes Irish coffee and tells how she broke her leg.

The
day before Lucy had appeared on “A Salute to Television’s 25th
Anniversary”

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Dinah’s
Place 

March 26, 1974

• This
  appearance was part of Lucy’s promotional tour for her new movie
  Mame.

Two
days earlier she had appeared on “The Tonight Show.”

---

Dinah’s
Place 

June 24, 1974

• Lucille
  Ball talks about her role in Mame and
  demonstrates ballet-barre exercises.
• Lyle
  Waggoner shows how to construct an art deco table.

The cape Lucy wore was made of swatches of all Lucille Ball’s costumes in the film Mame. Lucille Ball took several years of ballet lessons as a child. 

Lucy at the barre instantly recalls Lucy Ricardo’s rehearsal with Madam LeMond (Mary Wickes) in “The Ballet” (ILL S1;E19). 

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Dinah! 

November 4 or 6, 1974

• Lucy
  shares the stage with the Kingston Trio and George C. Scott.

Lucy
promotes her upcoming special “Happy
Anniversary and Goodbye” airing November 10, 1974.

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Dinah!

April 29, 1975

• Dinah’s
  guest is Lucy’s Mame co-star Bea Arthur, who played Mame’s bosom buddy
  Vera Charles in the film. Lucille Ball is only seen in archival footage of Mame. 
• Vic Damone is the musical guest.

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Dinah! 

May 15, 1975

• Dinah
  hosts Lucy along with Vivian Vance, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Bert Parks, and
  musical guest Sha Na Na.

Four
days later Lucille Ball was seen on “The 26th Annual Emmy Awards”
telecast.

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Dinah! 

September 23, 1975

• Dinah’s guests include Lucy, John Byner, and George Segal.

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Dinah! 

December 1, 1975

• Lucille
  Ball is joined by her daughter Lucie Aranz, her co-star Vivian Vance,
  her mother Dede Ball, and her friend Zsa Zsa Gabor.

In
this appearance, Lucy is wearing a dark wig with silver highlights.  

Lucy’s special with Jackie Gleason “Three For Two” aired two days later.

Lucy
and Vivian had not seen each other in more than a year.

Vivian
says she’s been selling coffee, mostly. Vance was the spokesperson
for Maxwell House at the time.  

Vance
produces a “mock contract” that Ball gave her (for laughs) years
earlier. It is this “contract” that has given rise to the rumors
that Vance was contractually obliged to stay overweight and dowdy
while working for Lucy.  

Vivian
also tells the story of how the King of Siam toured Lucy’s house
while the two of them were dying their hair.  

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Dinah! 

June 4, 1976

• Lucy
  is joined by Valerie Harper, Carol Burnett, and Gale Gordon.  

Dinah
convinces Lucy and Valerie Harper to sing “Hey, Look Me Over”
from Wildcat.
Harper was in the chorus of the 1960 musical with Lucy.

Carol Burnett recalls meeting Lucy for the first time on her second night performing Once Upon a Mattress off Broadway.  

Dinah
puts up a still photo from Carol’s first time on “The Lucy Show”
(TLS S5;E7) in 1966.  

Dinah
puts up a second still photo although neither Carol nor Lucy can
identify it. It is from a January 1969 appearance on “Here’s
Lucy,” the only time Burnett played herself on one of Lucy’s shows.

Gary
Morton’s loud guffaw can be heard in the studio audience.

Carol
recalls Lucy giving her a baby shower, where her husband Gary
“roasted” the various baby gifts.

Lucy
talks about her co-stars and Dinah puts up a photo of Gale Gordon
from “Lucy and The Great Airport Chase” (HL S1;E18) in 1969.
Dinah runs film clips of Gale getting wet during “Here’s Lucy”
(although she calls it “The Lucy Show.”) 

To Lucy’s surprise, Gale Gordon enters to
talk about it. 

Lucy talks about doing scenes in the freezing
Colorado River during “Lucy Runs the Rapids” (HL S2;E4) in 1969.
Lucille Ball talks about her trepidation about doing television
without her radio stars Gale and Bea Benadaret, who got other jobs.

Lucy
says the most dangerous thing she’s done was to slide down a fire
pole full speed in “Lucy and Viv Are Volunteer Fireman” (TLS
S1;E16) in 1963. 

She also was scared of working with the live
porpoises in “Lucy at Marineland” (TLS S4;E1) in 1965. Lucy says
the porpoises head-butted her in the kidneys underneath the water.  

Dinah
asks Gale if he’s ever thought of getting even with Lucy. With a
gleam in his eye, Gordon pulls out a seltzer spritzer, and the other
women clear out as Lucy begs him not to do it!  Of course, Gordon has
the spout facing himself and gets soaked. Unfortunately, the camera
is on the cowering women, not Gordon at the time.  

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Dinah! 

July 23, 1976

• Dinah
  interviews Lucy and her husband Gary Morton as well as actor Jimmy
  Stewart. 
• Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme are the musical guests. 

The musical husband and wife had played themselves in a 1973 episode of “Here’s Lucy” (HL S6;E3).

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Dinah! 

April 15, 1977

• Dinah
  Shore salutes Bob Hope along with his movie co-stars Rosemary Clooney, Jane
  Russell, Lucille Ball, Rhonda Fleming, and Dorothy Lamour. 

Hope is there to promote his new book “The Road to Hollywood.”

Lucy
gets a standing ovation from the studio audience on her entrance.

Lucy
tells a story about their first movie together, Sorrowful
Jones (1949).
Hope wanted to insert more humor into the script, while Lucy wanted to play the
scene seriously. In the end, Lucy got her way.  

On
the film Fancy
Pants (1950),
Lucy says “I
nearly killed him”
doing the stunts. She praises the film’s director George Marshall.  

On The Facts
of Life (1960), it was Lucy who ended up in the hospital after taking a fall getting into a
boat.  

About
Critic’s
Choice (1963),
it is clear that this was a film Lucy didn’t want to do. Lucy and
Hope were obliged to do a 11-theatre promo tour to “sell” the
film. Hope calls it their only flop.  

After
all the other ladies have joined the panel, Lucy adds that her
experience with Bob was that he was not over-anxious to rehearse.
Ball was a stickler for rehearsals.

Regarding
Hope’s dancing, Lucy said “He
knows three steps and he’s used them for 30 years.”

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Dinah! 

November 16, 1977

• Dinah
  Tributes “First Ladies” of the Entertainment Arts: Lucille Ball
  (First Lady of Television), Ella Fitzgerald (First Lady of Jazz),
  Elizabeth Taylor (First Lady of Motion Pictures), and Beverly Sills
  (First Lady of Classical Music). Taylor is interviewed via remote
  on the telephone.  

Dinah
also accords Lucy the titles of First Lady of Show Business and
First Lady of Comedy.

Lucy’s
last sitcom special “Lucy Calls the President” aired five days
later. Dinah calls it “The Lucille Ball Special.”  A clip
starring Steve Allen (who plays himself) is broadcast. John William
Young (center) is also in the scene. 

Starting
alphabetically, Lucille
Ball
is Dinah’s first guest.  She gets a standing ovation.

Audience
members ask questions of Lucy:

Q: “What
do you think of women who dye their hair?”
A: Lucy deflects to Dinah, but then says a woman has a right to dye her
hair.

Q:
“Did
you ever do anything with Sinatra?”
A:
Lucy gets a worried look on her face and wonders what she means.
Dinah says “Junior or Senior?” Lucy says they only have worked together on charity
functions.

Q:
“Do
you drive your own car or do you have a chauffeur?”  
A:
Lucy says she has her own car AND she has a chauffeur.

Q:
“Is
either one of you jealous of each other?”
A:
Dinah goes to a commercial!   

After
a break, Dinah asks Lucy if she could do any part of her career over,
would she.  Lucy emphatically says no. Lucy says she met the US
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. They talked about canning vegetables
and raising children. She never got to know Bess Truman, who was a
quiet, private woman. Lucy recalls meeting Mamie Eisenhower at the
White House with the cast of “I Love Lucy.” She recalls that President Eisenhower didn’t let her get a word out in a receiving line. When meeting
President Johnson, she asked him if all receiving lines were like
that, and demonstrated the “keep it moving” handshake IKE gave her. According to Lucy, LBJ was
flung to the floor by her demo. Lucy met his wife Lady Bird later at their Texas home.  

Ella
Fitzgerald sings
“I’m Beginning To See The Light” by by
Duke
Ellington,
Don
George,
Johnny
Hodges,
and
Harry
James.

Beverly
Sills
tells Lucy that she once got a review of her appearance in a comic
opera that compared to her to “Lucille Ball with high notes.”
Sills sings “Italian Street Song” by Victor Herbert and Rida
Johnson Young.

Elizabeth
Taylor
does a pre-recorded interview via remote. In 1974, Taylor played
herself on an episode of “Here’s Lucy.”  Lucy has never met Sills
or Fitzgerald before this interview.

In
the commercial break Ella Fitzgerald told Dinah that she hates singing
duets because she’s afraid of messing up. Dinah says that Lucie Arnaz
(who is not on the stage, but may be at the taping)
said “If
Ella messes up, it’s an album.”
Lucy praises her daughter’s sense of humor. Lucy talks about holding
her tongue during Wildcat.
She says she shut up “one too many times.” Dinah asks Lucy what
she wants her son and daughter to remember. She says she wants them
to hold onto the ‘little adventures’ they had together.

After
a break, Dinah congratulates Sills on getting a star on the Walk of Fame. Lucy says she’s never seen her star but that her mother found it and told her she should have it moved!  

Dinah
asks Lucy how she handles her anger. Lucy says she slams doors,
breaks dishes, and kicks a few things.

Dinah!

June 5, 1978

• Lucy is joined on Dinah’s couch by her husband Gary, her daughter Lucie, friend and colleague Robert Osborne, and Carl Reiner. 

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LUCY’S FRIENDS AND FAMILY ON DINAH!

• Lucie Arnaz made seven appearances between 1975 and 1978.  
• Desi Arnaz Jr. made three appearances between 1975 and 1978.
• Vivian Vance made three appearances between 1975 and 1976.
• Gary Morton made three appearances between 1977 and 1978. 

In 1960, Desi Arnaz Jr. and Richard Keith (Little Ricky) appeared on “The Dinah Shore Chevy Show.”