November 28, 1974
“The Bicentennial Minutes”
Premiering July 4, 1974, the CBS series consisted of 732
one-minute programs, each recounting an authenticated piece of
American history – everything from the momentous to the obscure.
Each dealt with something that happened exactly 200 years earlier on
the same date as the broadcast. The series was originally slated to
end on July 4, 1976, but was extended to the end of the year. In
1976, the series received an Emmy Award in the category of Special
Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement.
The narrator of each minute was a well-known personality
from various professions; celebrities such as Richard Widmark,
Edward Asner, Norman Cousins, Jean Stapleton, Glenn Ford, Walter
Cronkite, Cleveland Amory, Richard Chamberlain, and Father Ellwood
Kieser.
Actor Charleton Heston narrated the first one, which
described George Washington’s concern about the closing of Boston
Harbor by the British as a result of the Boston Tea Party. The
Bicentennial Minute on July 3, 1976, was narrated by Vice President
Nelson Rockefeller. The episode on Independence Day 1976, was
narrated by First Lady Betty Ford. The final Bicentennial Minute on
December 31, 1976 was narrated by President Gerald Ford.
The series was so popular it was parodied and referenced
on many other television programs like “The Carol Burnett Show,”
“Rhoda,” “Hee Haw,” “All in the Family,” and many others.
When it ended, it was replaced by CBS Newsbreak, a one-minute
recounting of the day’s headlines.
Lucille Ball was invited to narrate the episode that
would air on Thanksgiving evening, November 28, 1974, at the
conclusion of a two-hour episode of “The Waltons.” The subject
matter dealt not with the impending Revolution, but with corn
husking, and how the activity provided colonists in New England with
a welcome break from the monotony of farm life. Born in upstate New
York, Lucy closely identified with New England, something she talked
about on several talk shows.
“Bicentennial Minutes” were produced for CBS by William Kayden. Lewis Freedman served as Executive Producer, and Meryle Evans and Researcher and Assistant Producer. The program was sponsored by Shell Oil Company then later by Raid (insecticide) from July 1976 onward.
Ten days earlier, on November 19, 1974, CBS presented the first of Ball’s
post-”Here’s Lucy” specials, “Happy Anniversary and Goodbye”
starring Nanette Fabray, Peter Marshall, and Art Carney.
Because the “Minutes” may never be seen again (except possibly in some home video format) here are some stills from the segment and the text of Lucy’s narration. The segment was video-taped on October 15, 1974.
The Script of Lucy’s Minute:
Two hundred years ago today…New England farmers were
enjoying lively corn shucking parties in the crisp night air.
Corn was piled into great heaps, and bonfires burned in
the fields. Young people ran and flirted in the shadows.
A Yankee farmer remembered how it was: “…the
neighboring swains are invited and after the corn is finished, they
give three cheers…but cannot carry in the husks without a rum
bottle. They feign great exertion, but do nothing until the run
enlivens them, then all is done in a thrice…”
And when the work was done?
“The chairs in wild disorder flew quite around the
room.
Some threatened with firebrands, some brandished a
broom,
While others resolved to increase the uproar,
Lay
tussling the girls in wild heaps on the floor.”
I’m Lucille Ball and that’s the way it was.
The closing line (used in every episode) was an
offhand reference to the close of the CBS Evening News with Walter
Cronkite, who always ended each news telecast by saying, “And
that’s the way it is."
More Revolutionary Revelations!
During her career Lucy did her own riff on the Revolutionary War
period. The last episode of “I Love Lucy” (1956) was set during
Westport’s Yankee Doodle Dandy Day and finds the characters dressed
in revolutionary era costumes – with Lucy standing in for the
statue of a Minuteman she accidentally destroyed by backing into it
with the station wagon.
When “Lucy and Viv Open a Restaurant” (TLS S2;E20) in 1964,
one of the concepts they try out is a colonial-themed restaurant with
Lucy and Viv dressed as George and Martha Washington to lure in
patrons!
That same year, on “The Jack Benny Program”
(S15;E2) Lucille Ball took the role of Mrs. Rachel Revere, opposite
Benny’s Paul to tell the true story of what happened that fateful
night of April 18, 1775. Betsy Ross and George Washington were also characters in the sketch.
On a 1973 episode of “Here’s Lucy” an antique chair (a rare
Twimby) is rumored to have belonged to George Washington at his Mount
Vernon home. Naturally, Lucy Carter can’t live without it –
especially when she learns it may be valuable. Unfortunately for Lucy, the unscrupulous antiques dealer feels the same way!
Lucille Ball often said that there was some Ball blood in George
Washington since his mother’s maiden name was Mary Ball. Genealogists say that the Father of Our Country is the 8th cousin
7 times removed to the Queen of Comedy!
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
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