October 30, 1976
Produced
and Directed by Jack Haley Jr.
Written
by: Charles Lee with Gig Henry, Jeffrey Barron, Katherine Green, and
Jack Haley Jr.
Bob
Hope (Himself,
Host) was
born Lesley Townes Hope in England in 1903. During his extensive
career in virtually all forms of media he received five honorary
Academy Awards. In 1945 Desi Arnaz was the orchestra leader on Bob
Hope’s radio show. Ball and Hope did four films together. He
appeared as himself on the season
6 opener
of “I Love Lucy.” He did a brief cameo in a 1964 episode of “The
Lucy Show.” When Lucille Ball moved to NBC in 1980, Hope appeared on her welcome
special.
He died in 2003 at age 100.
Lucille
Ball (Herself)
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 April 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.
Neil
Simon (Himself)
is a playwright and screenwriter responsible for more than 30 plays,
most of which were seen on Broadway and adapted into films. At the
time, one of his most enduring plays The Odd Couple was being
done on television. In
1983 became the only living playwright to have a New York theatre named in his honor. In 1960, when it was still called the Alvin Theatre, Lucille Ball appeared there in the musical Wildcat.
Don
Rickles
(Himself) worked
as a stand-up comic in nightclubs for nearly 20 years before making
his film debut in 1958. Rickles was known as an insult comic and
became a staple of Hollywood roasts. In “Lucy the Fight Manager”
(TLS S5;E20) he made his first and last acting appearance with
Lucille Ball, but would be seen with her on variety shows and
specials through 1988. Rickles was the voice of Mr. Potato Head in
the animated Toy
Story
franchise.
He died in April 2017 at age 90.
Norman
Lear
(Himself) is a television writer and producer responsible for such
hits as “All in the Family,” “Maude,” “One Day at a Time,”
“The Jeffersons,” and many others. He received three Emmy Awards
for his work on “All in the Family.”
Caroll
Spinney
(Big Bird) started playing Big Bird on “Sesame Street” in 1969.
In
2000, Big Bird was named a Living
Legend
by the United
States
Library
of Congress.
Created by Jim Henson, Big Bird is one of two Muppets to have a star
on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Spinney has been honored with four
Daytime
Emmy Awards for
his portrayals on the series and two Grammy
Awards for
his related recordings. Two recordings of Spinney’s voice have earned
Gold
Record status.
As
with many Bob Hope specials, the show is sponsored by Texaco.
Bob
Hope’s opening monologue talks mainly about the Presidential
Election, which would take place in two weeks. Incumbent president
Gerald Ford ran against Jimmy Carter. He also touches on the World
Series, the Swine Flu epidemic, Zsa Zsa Gabor’s multiple marriages,
and the CB radio craze.
Bob’s
first guest is Big
Bird
from “Sesame Street” (Caroll Spinney). Big Bird does an ad-lib
impersonation of Jack Benny that makes Hope laugh. This kicks off a
montage of clips about animals.
- A
pet shop staffed by Bob Newhart - Jackie
Gleason playing golf with Mildred, a chimp in How
To Commit Marriage
(1969) - Roy
Rogers and Trigger “the wonder horse” - Julie
London with puppies who prove not to be housebroken - Dan
Rowan with a horse and Dick Martin with a camel - Hope
with his dog in a vet’s waiting room and Betty Grable there with a
race horse - Hope
and Greer Garson in divorce court fighting over their dog, Mr.
Smith - Lassie
as the subject of “This is Your Life” in a spoof from “The Bob Hope
Show”
Next
Hope introduces a montage of clips featuring international stars.
- Maurice
Chevalier (France) - Eva
Gabor (Hungary) - Zsa
Zsa Gabor (Hungary) with Angie Dickinson - Ingrid
Bergman (Sweden) - Anita
Ekberg (Sweden) with William Holden and Robert Strauss - Olivia
Newton John (Australia) - Rex
Harrison (England) and Lilli Palmer (Poland) with Janis Paige - David
Niven (England) with Marilyn Maxwell
After
a Texaco commercial, Bob introduces Lucy Ricardo aka Lucy Carmichael
aka “the bionic woman of comedy” – Lucille
Ball.
Lucy reminisces with Bob, which leads to a
black and white clip of a sketch from “The
Bob Hope Show” (September 24, 1962). In it, Lucy plays a District
Attorney and Bob a gangster named Bugsy Hope.
Back
on stage, Bob asks Lucy the secret to her show’s endearing success.
She says that it has to do with the realatable domestic situations
created by the writers. Bob add that the physical comedy gives her
comedy world-wide appeal. Lucy says that as of last count her shows
were seen in 79 countries. Lucy says she’s heard herself dubbed in
Japanese, and that in South America it is HER who as the accent.
Asked about being a legend, Lucy says it is “kind of like an
obituary” but she’s very grateful.
After
another Texaco break, Bob talks about slapstick and introduces a
montage of clips.
- Ernie
Kovacs trying to sell his house during an earthquake - Bob
as Bobby Riggs playing against Billie Jean King (Ann-Margret) - Hope
and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as astronauts walking in space - Jack
Benny using hidden cameras in his home to avoid paying Hope a
guest-star fee
The
second hour of the special kicks off with Hope introducing playwright
Neil Simon. They talk about writing, the difference between drama and
comedy, and ethnic humor, which is the cue for the next montage of
clips about vaudeville.
- Hope
and Crosby do a routine - Hope,
Crosby, Steve Allen, and Jack Paar are child actors competing for the
same job - Danny
Thomas as a candy seller interrupting Hope’s act by stealing all his
punchlines - Donald
O’Connor as Wingo the Magnificent, a knife thrower, with Hope as
Courageous Targo, his human target
Hope
introduces Don
Rickles,
who promotes his new show “CPO Sharkey” which he compares to Phil
Silvers in “Sergeant Bilko.” Hope says he’s been the victim of
insult comedy, which begins a montage of clips where Bob is insulted
by:
- Milton
Berle - Tony
Randall - Redd
Foxx - Glenn
Campbell - Gina
Lollobridgida - Jerry
Colonna - Dorothy
Lamour - Tony
Bennett - Fred
MacMurray - Joan
Crawford - George
Sanders - Frank
Sinatra - Troy
Donahue - Hedda
Hopper - John
Wayne - Dyan
Cannon - Debbie
Reynolds (with Jack Benny) - Juliet
Prowse
Bob
Hope introduces Norman
Lear,
who mentions he has no shows on NBC. They talk about “Mary Hartman
Mary Hartman,” the ‘Family Hour,’ his flops like “Hot L
Baltimore,” and Archie Bunker. The next batch of clips is about
satire.
- Johnny
Carson as a playboy movie star Rock Carson appearing on a talk show - Hope,
Burt Reynolds and Dyan Canon spoof the TV series “Paper Moon” - A
sketch called “Bananaz” (“Bonanza”) starring Bing Crosby,
Bob Hope, and Juliet Prowse - A
“Batman” spoof starring Martha Rae as Bat Girl and Bob
Hope as the villain Lobsterman - Medical
dramas are poked fun at by Hope, Barbara Eden, and Lee Marvin
After
a commercial, the montages are about dancing. Some of Hope’s
choreographed clips:
- Dancing
with Raquel Welch - Doing
Eddie Foy’s famous sand dance - Soft
shoe with Pearl Bailey - A
trio with Jeanne Crain and Betty Hutton - A
challenge dance with George Burns - Rare
footage of Dean Martin dancing alongside Hope - Polly
Bergen, Jimmy Durante and Hope dance as babies while on their knees (above photo) - A
partner dance with Ginger Rogers - Hoofing
with Hope and Jimmy Cagney - Modern
dance with Ann-Margret - Hat
and cane steps with Sammy Davis Jr.
Hope
wraps up the special with a look at some of the comedians of the
past.
- Budd
Abbott and Lou Costello (above photo) - Fred
Allen - Gracie
Allen - Cliff
Arquette aka Charlie Weaver - Mischa
Auer - Robert
Benchley - Jack
Benny - Willy
Best - Fanny
Brice, the original ‘Funny Girl’ - Joe
E. Brown - Billy
Burke - Eddie
Cantor - Jack
Carson - Charles
Correll, Amos of “Amos ‘n’ Andy” - Wally
Cox - Joan
Davis - Marie
Dressler - Leon
Errol - W.C.
Fields - Billy
Gilbert, the greatest sneeze in show business - Ted
Healy and the Three Stooges - Hugh
Herbert - Judy
Holliday - Edward
Everett Horton - Buster
Keaton - Edgar
‘Slow Burn’ Kennedy - Ernie
Kovacs - Burt
Lahr - Stan
Laurel and Oliver Hardy - Harold
Lloyd - Carol
Lombard - Harpo
and Chico Marx - Donald
Meek - Victor
Moore - Jack
Norton, the perennial drunk - Franklin
Pangborn - Joe
Penner - Will
Rodgers - Irene
Ryan, Granny of “The Beverly Hillbillies” - Charlie
Ruggles - S.Z.
‘Cuddles’ Sakall - Max
Sennett, king of the Keystone Cops - Arthur
Treacher - Burt
Wheeler and Robert Wolsey - Ed
Wynn
This
Day in Lucy History – October 29th
“The
Diet” (ILL S1;E3) – October 29, 1951
“Visitor
from Italy”
(ILL S6;E5) – October 29, 1956
“Lucy
Buys a Sheep”
(TLS S1;E5) – October 29, 1961
“Lucy
and Andy Griffith”
(HL S6;E8) – October 29, 1973
Papermoon Loves Lucy 
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