January 10, 1960
Directed by William Corrigan
Written by Sumner Locke Elliott
Original Music by Axel Stordahl
Hedda
Hopper
(1885-1966) was born Elda Furry in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. She
was one of Hollywood’s most powerful and influential columnists. She
appeared on “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”
Among her hundreds of films as an actress, she did two with Lucille
Ball: Bunker
Bean
(1936) and That’s
Right – You’re Wrong
(1939). Hopper was best known for her flamboyant hats. She was also a
well known conservative, Republican, and staunch supporter of
blacklisting suspected communists. In
films and television, Hedda Hopper has been portrayed by such actors
as Fiona Shaw (RKO
281),
Jane Alexander (Malice
in Wonderland),
Katherine Helmond (Liz:
The Elizabeth Taylor Story),
Helen Mirren (Trumbo),
Tilda Swinton (Hail,
Caesar!),
and Judy Davis (“Feud”), to name a few.
Special Appearances By (in alphabetical order)
Jerry
Antes (uncredited) was
an actor with the Desilu Workshop who also appeared with Lucille Ball
and Hedda Hopper on the Christmas Day 1959 “Desilu Revue”
presented as part of the “Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse.”
Lucille
Ball (1911-89)
was finishing her run as Lucy Ricardo with the final episode of “The
Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” airing in April 1960. She announced that she
was divorcing Desi that very month.
John Barrymore (uncredited, archival footage)
Anne
Bauchens
(1882-1967) was Cecil B. DeMille’s film editor for forty years. She
won an Oscar in 1941. Bauchens edited Reap
the Wild Wind
(1943) and played herself in Sunset
Boulevard
(1950), just as Hopper did.
Stephen
Boyd
(1931-77) was an Irish-born actor best known for Ben
Hur
(1959), which won him a Golden Globe Award in 1960. In 1966 he played
the leading role in The
Oscar,
which featured Hedda Hopper as herself.
Francis
X. Bushman (1883-1966)
was a silent film actor who received an honorary Golden Globe in 1960
as well as getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Coincidentally, Bushman played the same role as Stephen Boyd in the
1925 silent version of Ben
Hur.
Even more coincidental, Bushman was mentioned as Mrs. McGillicuddy’s
favorite movie stars in the same “I Love Lucy” episode that starred Hedda Hopper!
John
Cassavetes
(1929-89) was an actor and director who was then starring in the
series “Johnny Staccato.” Later in his career, he was nominated
for three Academy Awards.
Gary
Cooper
(1901-61) co-starred with Hedda Hopper in the 1927 films Wings and
Children of Divorce, as well as the 1930 film The
Stolen Jools.
In 1942 he was featured in the third newsreel version of this TV
special. In “Lucy Meets Harpo Marx” (1955) Lucy Ricardo dressed
up in a Gary Cooper mask to fool her nearsighted friend Caroline
Appleby. His name was also mentioned in two other episodes of “I
Love Lucy.”
Ricardo
Cortez
(1900-77) was an actor / director who (like Bushman) got his star
on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. His final appearance was an
episode of “Bonanza” which aired a week before this special.
Robert
Cummings (1910-90)
appeared on television with Hopper in “The Colgate Comedy Hour”
(1955) and “Disneyland ‘59”, a celebration of the park’s fifth
anniversary. Cummings guest-starred in “The Ricardos Go To Japan”
(1959, above) and on two episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”
William
H. Daniels
(1901-70) was cameraman for 24 out of 26 of Greta Garbo’s films.
Georgine
Darcy
(uncredited)
was
an actor with the Desilu Workshop who also appeared with Lucille Ball
and Hedda Hopper on the Christmas Day 1959 “Desilu Revue”
presented as part of the “Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse.”
Marion
Davies (1897-1961)
acted with Hopper in 1925’s Zander
the Great.
This
TV special marked the first filmed appearance by Davies
since she had retired from the screen in 1937. It was also her last.
Walt
Disney (1901-66)
is the founder of Disney Motion Pictures and the Disney theme parks.
He appeared on television with Hopper (and Bob Cummings) on “The
Colgate Comedy Hour” (1955) and “Disneyland ’59”, a celebration
of the park’s fifth anniversary. In 1956 he was on “The Ed
Sullivan Show” with Lucille Ball.
Janet
Gaynor (1906-84)
won an Oscar in 1929. Between 1925 and 1930 she was in four films
with Hedda Hopper. She was part of the group of 1960 recipients of a
star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Bob
Hope
(1903-2003) and Hedda Hopper first worked together in the film Thanks
for the Memory
(1938), the title tune of which became Hope’s theme song for the rest
of his career. In addition, they were together in “Hedda Hopper’s
Hollywood #4” (1942), “The Colgate Comedy Hour” (1955), three
episodes of “The Bob Hope Show” and the film The
Oscar
in 1966. Hope and Lucille Ball did four films together as well as
episodes of both Lucy and Bob’s television shows.
Hope
Lange
(1933-2003) appeared in a 1957 episode of “Playhouse 90” hosted
by Hedda Hopper. She was nominated for an Oscar in 1958 for Peyton
Place.
Mario
Lanza (uncredited
/ voice only)
Harold
Lloyd
(1893-1971) was considered one of the great silent film clowns of
film history. He directed Lucille Ball in A
Girl, A Guy, and a Gob
in 1943.
Harold
Lloyd Jr.
(uncredited) was the only son of Harold Lloyd. He died after a
massive stroke at age 34.
Suzanne
Lloyd
(uncredited) is the granddaughter of Harold Lloyd. She became a film
producer nominated for a primetime Emmy.
Jody
McRea
(1934-2009) was the son of actor Joel McRea. He was most famous for
his work in beach party movies.
Liza
Minnelli
(born 1946) was the daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli, who
directed Lucille Ball in The
Long, Long Trailer.
In the 1970s, she dated Lucille Ball’s son, Desi Jr. She won an
Oscar in 1973 for Cabaret.
She was just 14 years old when this special was filmed.
Don
Murray
(born 1929) appeared with Hope Lang (his then wife) on Hedda Hopper’s
“Playhouse 90” in 1957, the same year he earned an Oscar
nomination in 1957 for
Bus Stop,
also starring Lange.
Ramon
Navarro
(1899-1968) was a Mexican-born actor who appeared with Francis X.
Bushman and Stephen Boyd in the 1925 silent version of Ben-Hur.
He also acted with Hedda Hopper in The Barbarian (1933). Along with
Bushman, Navarro was mentioned as one of Mrs. McGillicuddy’s favorite
movie stars in the “I Love Lucy” episode “The Hedda Hopper
Story” (ILL S4;E20).
Anthony
Perkins
(1932-92) is probably best remembered as Norman Bates in
Hitchcock’s Psycho
(1960).
Tyrone
Power
(uncredited / voice only)
Debbie
Reynolds (1932-2016)
is best remembered for the musicals Singing
in the Rain
(1952) and The
Unsinkable Molly Brown
(1964). Reynolds and Hedda Hopper both played themselves in the 1960
film Pepe.
Lucille Ball and Reynolds appeared on talk and awards shows
together. Her photograph was prominently seen on the cover of a movie
magazine read by Lucy Ricardo on “I Love Lucy,” although her name
was not spoken. Ironically, Hedda Hopper’s chief rival Louella Parsons is mentioned on the same cover!
Teddy
Rooney (1950-2016)
was the son of Mickey Rooney and Martha Vickers. In 1960 he did a
number of television shows and films. He is the youngest participant
in this special at age 10.
Venetia
Stevenson
(born 1938) is a British-born starlet whose career ended just one year
after this special.
James
Stewart
(1908-97) was one of Hollywood’s most treasured actors. He was an
Oscar winner who was nominated again in 1960. Stewart and his wife
Gloria were friends and neighbors of Lucille Ball’s. He appeared on
shows tributing Ball such as “All-Star Party for Lucille Ball”
(1984) and “CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years” (1976).
Celebrity voice artist Rich Little imitated Stewart on an episode of
“Here’s Lucy.”
Gloria
Stewart (uncredited)
was married to James Stewart in 1949.They had twin daughters,
Judy
and
Kelly.
Gloria also had two boys from her first marriage, Ronald
and Michael
McLean. Stewart starred in Roman Scandals (1933) which featured a young Lucille Ball. She later became famous again for appearing in James Cameron’s Titanic (1997).
Gloria
Swanson (1899-1993)
was a silent film star whose career managed to transition to talkies,
something typified in the 1951 film Sunset Boulevard, which earned
her a third Oscar nomination. Hedda Hopper played herself in the
film.
King
Vidor
(1894-1982) was a film director who directed Hedda Hopper in the 1924
silent film Happiness.
Perc
Westmore
(1904-70) did make-up for The
Life of Emile Zola
(1937) and The
Virgin Queen
(1955). He made up Hedda Hopper on the 1932 film The
Man Who Played God
and did Lucille Ball’s make-up for The
Big Street (1942).
Bud
Westmore
(1918-73) did make up for
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
(1948) and Man
of a Thousand Faces
(1957). He did make-up for “The Jack Benny Show” when Lucille
Ball appeared in 1964.
Wally
Westmore
(1906-73) did make-up for Barbara Stanwyck in The
Great Man’s Lady
(1943). He also did make-up for Lucille Ball’s films Sorrowful
Jones
(1949) and Fancy
Pants
(1950), as well as a 1968 episode of “The Lucy Show.” He also
did make-up for four films starring Hedda Hopper.
Frank
Westmore
(1923-85) claims he put hair on Yul Brynner. It was for the 1958
film The
Buccaneer.
In
1938, actress Hedda Hopper was given a chance to write a gossip
column for the LA Times. It was called “Hedda
Hopper’s Hollywood.”
This
also the title given to a series of six 9 or 10-minute documentary
short films that accompanied feature films from December 1941 to
October 1942.
In the second entry, Desi Arnaz was seen at the
Mocambo. Although Lucy was mentioned, she didn’t get any camera time.
The title was also given to a 1964 episode of “The Beverley
Hillbillies” which featured Hopper playing herself.
In 2011, author
Jennifer Frost used the title for her book Hedda
Hopper’s Hollywood: Celebrity
Gossip and American Conservatism.
Throughout
the hour-long special, Hopper is never in the same frame with the
celebrities. Rather she introduces ‘talking heads’ segments and uses
voice-over narration to link them together.
The
special was presented as part of NBC’s “Sunday Showcase”
(1959-1960), an anthology series of specials. In 1959 the series
presented a “The Lucy-Desi Milton Berle Special” which featured
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, visiting Las
Vegas. It was only one of two times Lucille Ball played Lucy Ricardo
on NBC, rather than CBS. Their presentation of “The
Sacco-Vanzetti Story” earned a 1961 Emmy nomination for Program
of the Year.
Richard
Adler
composed
the opening theme music, titled “Sunday Drive.”
The
special opens with Hedda Hopper wearing one of her trademark big
hats, strands of pearls and a fur stole, sitting on a scenic layby
overlooking Hollywood in the valley below.
Hedda:
“This is a story of my town. There’s no town like it on the face of
the earth. Because it’s business is make-believe. And for over fifty
years the people in this town have been getting up and going to work
to to to tell the world a story. Down in that valley, some of them
are busy crowning an emperor and some others are fighting the Civil
War again. Somewhere else a band of cattle thieves are shooting it
out with the sheriff’s posse and two people who only met this morning
are being married in front of an army of cameramen and crew for this
– is Hollywood.”
Hopper
says she’s been in Hollywood for 21 years.
The scenes
switches to a studio gate where Lucille Ball drives up. This is
Desilu, formerly RKO, where Lucille Ball got her start. After
phenomenal success on television, she and husband Desi Arnaz
eventually bought the studios. The car stops in front of the Desilu
Workshop, which Lucy says was inspired by the RKO workshops she
attended as a young contract player, conducted by Ginger Rogers’
mother, Lela. Lucy calls out to a few of the students waiting for
her – Jerry [Antes] and Georgine [Darcy]. At the time, the group
was preparing for a TV variety show to be broadcast on Christmas Day
1959 as part of “The Westinghouse-Desilu Playhouse,” the same
anthology series that would present the very last “Lucy-Desi Comedy
Hour” episode just four months later, bringing the end to an era.
In return for this appearance, Hopper made a brief appearance as
herself in the show, titled “The Desilu Revue.”
Lucy (about the Desilu Workshops): “We have paid audiences, because I feel a paid audience is a more demanding audience.”
Lucille Ball is
also just weeks away from formally divorcing husband Desi Arnaz. Lucy
talks about the special in the past tense as the special will air a
week after the Workshop.
Getting
into a golf cart, Lucy says she is on her way to “The Untouchables”
set, where Nick Georgiadi is a series regular, and also a member of
the workshop. She says she also has to visit stage 3 where Ann
Sothern is rehearsing in order to convince her to use some of her
workshop students. Sothern, a great friend of Ball’s, was filming
“The Ann Sothern Show.” Finally, Lucy says she has to check on
some costumes at wardrobe.
Bob
Cummings
sits on a sound stage telling the story of how he was discouraged
from pursuing an acting career. Despite this he got an opportunity
that turned into the film Three
Smart Girls Grow Up (1939).
While filming this story for Hedda Hopper, his second TV series “The
Bob Cummings Show” had just finished a five season run on CBS. A year earlier, he guest-starred in “The Ricardo’s Go To Japan”, a 1959 installment of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”
On
another stage (actually the same set, slightly redressed), Anthony
Perkins
talks about young actors trying to carve a unique niche in Hollywood.
Four (of the six) Westmore
Brothers,
make-up artists from the Westmore dynasty, sit in front of a dressing room mirror. Perc, Wally,
Bud, and Frank all reveal one of their famous make-up credits.
The
scene shifts to the western street of a back lot. Jody
McRae sidles
up to disclose that he’s working with his father (Joel McRae) on a
series called “Wichita Town” (1959-60). Unfortunately for father and son, the series was canceled after just one season.
Inside
a western street saloon sits Gary
Cooper,
who says his first talking picture was The
Virginian
(1929). The show assumes that viewers know who he is on sight, so
Cooper does not introduce himself, nor does Hopper’s voice-over.
Cooper says some of his favorite films were The
Pride of the Yankees
(1942), Sergeant
York
(1941), Mr.
Deeds Goes to Town
(1936), and High
Noon
(1952).
Cooper:
“We used to wonder when the Western story material would peter out.
Seems like it never will.”
In 1960, that may have seemed true, but by the mid-1970s the Western genre had gone out of fashion on screens big and small.
Cooper
ends his segment with his trademark “yep” something he memorably
did in the 1949 Warner Brothers picture It’s
a Great Feeling.
Hopper’s voice over says that one of the best westerns he did was The
Plainsman (1936),
directed by Cecil B. DeMille. This leads to a visit to DeMille’s
library where we he planned “the dividing of the red sea” – a
reference to The
Ten Commandments
(1956). We are introduced to his editor
Anne Bauchens.
DeMille died just one year before this program was filmed.
Hopper
(voice):
“Spectacle
was Hollywood’s cup of tea. From the San Francisco earthquake to
William Wyler’s chariot race.”
Hopper
is referring to the films San
Francisco (1936)
and Ben-Hur
(1959). At a table at The Brown Derby (actually a reasonable
facsimile), Stephen
Boyd, Ramon Navarro,
and Francis
X. Bushman discuss
the spectacle of shooting chariot races in both the 1925 and 1959
films of Ben-Hur.
Bushman is strategically positioned sitting in front of a line
drawing of Hedda Hopper. Both “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show”
set scenes at The Brown Derby. After their stories, the camera pans
over to the next booth, where Hedda Hopper is sitting, listening. She
is positioned in front of a line drawing of Mickey Rooney.
Hopper:
“Thirty
five years has passed between the first Ben-Hur and the one you’re
seeing today. You know, it wouldn’t surprise me if they made another
Ben-Hur sometime.”
Hopper’s
prediction came true in 2016 – 56 years later – when a brand new
Ben-Hur
was released starring Jack Huston as the title character.
Hopper
(in
front of her home): “You
know, every morning when I go to work, I thank the good Lord I’m
still alive. Like everybody else in this town I go to work and come
home at night. There are many kinds of homes in Hollywood. This is
mine. I bought it 17 years ago, and oh, I love it. I hope to go on
living in it for the rest of my life.”
Paparazzi-style
film captures Jimmy
and
Gloria Stewart
leaving their homes and getting into the family car to go to out on a
Sunday afternoon.
Next, the camera goes inside the home of Hope
Lange
and Don
Murray,
who is putting on a puppet show for their two children, Christopher
and
Patricia.
Their marriage broke up the following year.
The
camera takes the long trip up the driveway of the Greenacres, the palatial home of Harold
Lloyd. The
silent film star strolls out onto the portico with his son Harold
Jr.
and his granddaughter Suzanne (by his daughter Gloria)
to wave for cameras. Hopper’s voice over describes some of the home’s
charity events and parties with famous silent film stars.
Lloyd’s
wife, Marion Davies, dressed to the nines, says a few words of
welcome. It
marked her final filmed appearance. Davies was fighting cancer when
she appeared on this show. It was her final film appearance.
Hopper:
“Yes,
there are still many great houses that belong to the glorious gilded
days – before income tax.”
From
real Hollywood homes, we are now on the back lot at MGM where the
homes were used in the filming of Meet
Me in St. Louis (1944)
starring Judy Garland.
Ten year-old Teddy
Rooney
(son of Mickey Rooney) is discovered on Carville Street, where the
Andy Hardy pictures were made by his father. Teddy says he is about to start
shooting his first television series “Man of the House.” The show
co-starred his real life mother, Martha Vickers, but only a pilot
episode was ever shot.
Hopper
is found sitting in a box at the Paris Opera House set from the
original 1925 film version of The
Phantom
of the Opera
starring Lon Chaney. Hopper hears voices from the past like John
Barrymore, Tyrone Power, and
Mario Lanza.
While Hopper is listening to the voices, director John
Cassavetes
appears on the stage to tell her that they will need the set to
rehearse a scene from his series “Johnny Staccato.”
Producer
King
Vidor
talks about location shooting taking over for back lots. Downsizing
of background artists is also the way of the future.
Gloria
Swanson
talks about the way films have changed for audiences and actors.
Debbie
Reynolds
(in the same dressing room occupied by Swanson) tells us how busy
she’s been and how she craves to get away.
As
an example of how young starlets conduct themselves today [1960]
Venetia
Stevenson
drives onto the studio lot in a tiny sports car, casually dressed,
grabs her script and runs into the soundstage. Right behind her is a
chauffeur driven Rolls Royce. A maid gets out holding a puppy
wearing a huge bow. Hedda Hopper steps out of the car, bedecked in
jewels and furs. “This
is the way they used to do it!” The maid holds the train on Hopper’s gown as she heads into the
soundstage.
Hedda
Hopper (without her trademark hat) says that only one person has the
right to be called a Hollywood legend: Greta Garbo. Hopper shows
still photos of Garbo in Anna
Karenina
(1935), Mata
Hari
(1931), Queen
Christina (1933),
and Camille
(1936). Hopper played Garbo’s sister in As
You Desire Me
(1932) and says that the reclusive star briefly let down her guard
with her to reveal a warm and intelligent person.
William
Daniels,
Garbo’s cameraman on 24 of her 26 pictures, says he hopes that she
will return to the screen someday, to let a new generation appreciate
her beauty and talent. Her last film before going into self-imposed
retirement was in 1941. Hopper tells of Garbo’s first (silent)
picture, The
Torrent
(1926), where her leading man was Ricardo
Cortez.
Cortez (above) recalls that Garbo was sensitive and shy, but a hard worker.
Walt
Disney
talks about Mickey Mouse, the first mouse ever to win an Oscar.
Disney shows a still of Mickey’s premiere in Steamboat
Willy
(1928) for $1,200. To balance out Mickey, Disney created a more
mischievous character, Donald Duck. From there, Disney was able to
produce Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937),
their first feature length animated film. That first Mickey Mouse
cartoon also led to Disneyland and their upcoming animated feature
101 Dalmatians (1961).
Sitting
in a void, 14 year-old Liza
Minnelli
sings “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” a song her mother Judy Garland introduced
in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz.
Janet
Gaynor talks
about winning the very first Academy Award in 1928 for Seventh
Heaven, Sunrise, and
Street
Angel.
These were her first three roles. Ever since, it has only been given
for one performance.
Standing
amid a pile of suitcases, Bob
Hope
talks about Hollywood in general, presenting almost a monologue on
the subject. He riffs on make-up artists and then starts to joke
about the investigations surrounding the quiz show scandals, which
came to a head in 1959.
Hope:
“I
think they’re going too far with this honesty thing. The other night
on ‘Wells Fargo’ the heavies held up the stagecoach and gave back all
the money from the week before.”
Hope:
“Hedda
has a fabulous fund of Hollywood knowledge. She knows whose who,
who’s where, where’s what, and how, when, and where there’s going to
be some hoo-hooing. Hedda’s a listener in the largest party line in
the world. She has to wear those big hats to keep the secrets from
leaking out.”
Hope:
“I
think Hedda’s gowns are very colorful tonight. She makes the NBC
peacock look like a beatnik seagull.”
Although
this program may have been filmed and aired in color (most “Sunday Showcase” episodes were), it only remains in monochrome kinescope copies.
Back
on the scenic overlook as the sun sets, Hopper sums up her feelings
about “her” town – Hollywood.
Lucy
Ricardo and Hedda Hopper
In
1952’s “The
Gossip”
(ILL S1;E24) Lucy calls Ricky and Fred “Hedda and Lolly” after
hearing them indulge in gossip about the Tropicana hat check girl.
Lolly refers to Hopper’s chief competition, gossip columnist Louella
Parsons. Ricky usually pronounced her name Hedda Hooper.
In 1955′s “The
Hedda Hopper Story”
(ILL S4;E20), Lucy comes up with an elaborate plan conspire to get into Hopper’s column and get some much-needed publicity for Ricky. Little do they know that Lucy’s mother has invited her over for tea.
Ricky:
“Mother,
darling. Why didn’t you tell us it was Hedda Hooper?”
Mrs.
McGillicuddy:
“You
didn’t ask me!”
To
kick off “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour,” a flashback to how Lucy and
Ricky met was framed by an interview with Hedda Hopper in “Lucy
Takes a Cruise to Havana”
(1957). Desi convinced the network to extend the show by fifteen
minutes for this episode. As a result, Hedda Hopper’s framing
interview is usually cut for syndication. Here
Ricky finally learns how to pronounce Hopper’s name. Unfortunately,
the apple doesn’t fall far from the Latin-American tree: Little
Ricky greets her by saying “How
do you do, Miss Hepper!”
This
date in Lucy History – January 10th
“California,
Here We Come!”
(ILL S4;E13) – January 10, 1955
“Lucy
and Art Linkletter”
(TLS S4;E16) – January 10, 1966
“Lucy
and the Chinese Curse”
(HL S4;E18) – January 10, 1972
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
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