HUMILIATED & UNHAPPY

July 16, 1960

TV Guide ~ July 16-22, 1960 (Vol.8, No.29 & Issue #381)

Cover photo by Sherm Weisberg, Fashions by Sacks Fifth Avenue

This was Lucille Ball’s tenth (of 39) TV Guide covers. 

“A VISIT WITH LUCILLE BALL” by Dan Jenkins

On January 19, 1953, Desi Arnaz rushed exultantly into the Hollywood Brown Derby, grinning that wide, idiotic grin common to new fathers for the past several eons. Striding down a side isle, he threw his arms excitedly in the air and shouted, “Now we got everythin’!”

By “everythin’,” Arnaz was encompassing quite a bit of territory – an eight-pound son born that morning, the birth of the Ricardo son on ‘I Love Lucy’ that same night and a gold-plated peak of popularity for a television series which, in all probability, will never again be approached.

On May 4, 1960, just seven years later, Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, quite possibly the most widely known couple in show-business history, were divorced. She had sued for divorce once before (she didn’t complete the proceedings), but that was back in 1944 when Desi was a corporal in the Army, Lucy was a star at MGM and World War II was getting all the headlines. By 1960, the Lucy-Desi combine had made so many headlines that no one even bothered to look at the press-clipping scrapbooks any more, or the countless awards that had rolled in on them from all over the country.

On an overcast spring afternoon, just 10 days after the divorce, Lucille Ball was sitting in her small but tastefully decorated dressing room on the Desilu lot. That morning, during a short drive over to the neighboring Paramount lot to confer with the producers of her upcoming picture with Bob Hope, she had stuck her head out the window of her chauffeur-driven car and shouted to a friend, “Hi! Remember me? I used to work at Desilu.”

The remark was not only typical of Lucy Ball but an unwitting reflection of her character and a classic off-the-cuff example of the laugh-clown-laugh tradition. Like most true clowns, Lucy is not a jovial, outgoing person. Her devastating sense of humor, often with a cutting edge, is reserved for her friends. In her dealings with the press she is precise, truthful – and sparing with words. A newsman asked her recently if she had plans to marry again. Lucy stared at him for a few seconds and said simply, “No.” (1) The newsman felt that Lucy had missed her calling and should be rushed into the negotiations with Khrushchev forthwith.

Relaxing (which is to say, at least sitting down for a few minutes) with an old friend in her dressing room that spring afternoon, Lucy alternated between abrupt sentences and spilled-over paragraphs. On the subject of her immediate plans, she talked almost as though by rote.

“I start rehearsals this week for a picture with Bob Hope. It’s called ‘The Facts of Life.’ [She did not wince at the title.] I liked it the minute I read the script and said I’d do it if Bob would. It’s written and produced by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank. We have a 10-week shooting schedule.

"Then I go to New York with the two children, my mother and two maids. We have a seven-room apartment on 69th Street at Lexington. I’ll start rehearsals right away for a Broadway show, ‘Wildcat.’ It’s a comedy with music, not a musical comedy, but the music is important. I play a girl wildcatter in the Southwestern oil fields around the turn of the century. It was written by N. Richard Nash, who wrote ‘The Rainmaker.’ He is co-producer with Michael Kidd, the director. We’re still looking for a leading man. I want an unknown. He has to be big, husky, around 40. He has to be able to throw me around, and I’m a pretty big girl. He has to be able to sing, at least a little. (2) I have to sing, too. It’s pretty bad. When I practice, I hold my hands over my ears. We open out of town – I don’t know where – and come to New York in December. [Ed. Note: ‘Wildcat’ is now scheduled to make its debut in Philadelphia in November.] (3)

"I’m terrified. I’ve never been on the stage before, except in ‘Dream Girl’ years ago. But we always filmed ‘I Love Lucy’ before a live audience. I knew a long time ago that I was eventually going to go to Broadway and that’s one reason why we shot Lucy that way. But I’m still terrified. The contract for the play runs 18 months. Maybe it will last that long. Maybe longer. And maybe it will last three days.” (4)

The phone rang. A man’s voice, the resonant kind which a telephone seems to make louder, wanted to know if Lucy would like to go out that night.

Lucy’s expression indicated that the whole idea was a bore but the man prattled on. He apparently had a commitment to attend a young night-club singer’s act.

“I’ve seen him twice already,” Lucy said into the phone, “and his press agent is now saying I’ve been there eight times. If I go again the kid will be saying I’m in love with him. He’s 2-feet-6 and nine years old. I don’t want any part of it.” The voice on the phone turned to a tone of urgent pleading. Lucy held the phone away from her at arms length and looked to the ceiling for advice and guidance. She finally hung up.

“I go out because people ask me to,” she said. “I have no love for night clubs, unless there’s an act I especially want to see. And I don’t especially want to see this kid’s again.”

She lit another cigarette. “Nervous habit,” she said. “I don’t inhale, never did. Just nerves.”

"I get tired too easily. The reaction is beginning to set in. I’ve had pneumonia twice in a year. That’s not good.”

There was a long silence. Even for old friends, Lucy is not an easy person to talk to.

“I filed for the divorce the day after I finished my last piece of film under the Westinghouse contract,” she said suddenly. “I should have done it long ago.”

Would there ever be any more Lucy-Desi specials like those Westinghouse had sponsored? (5)

She stared. “No,” she said abruptly. She paused. “Even if everything were alright, we’d never work together again. We had six years of a pretty successful series and two years of specials. Why try to top it? That would be foolish. We always knew that when the time came to quit, we’d quit. We were lucky. We quit while we were still ahead.”

Was she happy?

Another stare. “Am I happy? No. Not yet. I will be. I’ve been humiliated. That’s not easy for a woman.”

She started to talk about the recent years with Desi. She talked in a quiet, factual monotone, a voice that had been all through bitterness and was now beyond it. She talked with an implicit faith that what she was saying was off the record. It was.

Some day, it was suggested to her, somebody was going to write the story. She stared. “Who would want to?” (6)

She looked over at the framed picture of Desi that stood on a small table. “Look at him,” she said. “That’s the way he looked 10 years ago. He doesn’t look like that now. He’ll never look like that again.”

The door was opened and a spring breeze began drawing some of the heavy cigarette smoke out of the room. Lucy smiled a little and turned to her desk.

“Try to write,” she said finally, “more than I said but not as much as I said.” 

FOOTNOTES

(1) Lucille Ball did indeed marry again – to Gary Morton (born Morton Goldaper) on November 21, 1961.  They remained married until her death. 

(2)

Gordon MacRae, Jock Mahoney, and Gene Barry were considered before Lucille selected Keith Andes to play the role of Joe Dynamite. He was indeed 40 years old at the time of casting. He committed suicide in 2005. 

(3) ‘Wildcat’s’ Philadelphia tryout opened on October 29, 1960. The Broadway opening had to be postponed when trucks hauling the sets and costumes to New York were stranded on the New Jersey Turnpike by a major blizzard. After two previews, the show opened on December 16th at Broadway’s Alvin (now Neil Simon) Theatre.

(4) ‘Wildcat’ ran for 171 regular performances. The show was on hiatus from February 5, 1961 through February 9, 1961 during Lucille Ball’s illness. The production was to take a 9-week hiatus after June 3rd, 1961 and re-open August 7, 1961, to complete Ball’s contract, but the show closed and did not return due to Ball’s physical exhaustion. 

(5) Jenkins is referring to the 13 “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hours” which were part of the “Westinghouse-Desilu Playhouse” which continued the adventures of the Ricardos and the Mertzes, including guest stars, musical numbers, and travel-themed episodes. 

(6) Lucy and Desi’s tempestuous marriage has been the subject of several books, two television movies, an award-winning documentary, and at least one stage musical! 

TV Guide columnist Dan Jenkins had his name used by “I Love Lucy” in “Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8) in 1952 for the used furniture salesman played by Hans Conried. 

His name was also mentioned in “Lucy and Ethel Buy The Same Dress” (S3;E3) as a possible emcee for their television show.  His qualifications? He plays tissue paper and comb! 

In 1953, when Lucille Ball was accused of being a Communist, the real Dan Jenkins stood up at a press conference and said “Well, I think we all owe Lucy a vote of thanks, and I think a lot of us owe her an apology.” Lucy and Desi walked over to where Jenkins was standing and gave him a huge hug. Jenkins later said, “From that time on, we were very good friends.”  His last interview with Lucy was in 1986 during “Life with Lucy.” 

OTHER ARTICLES

• “Shari Lewis and her Puppets” – Lewis was a ventriloquist who’s main character was the sock puppet Lambchop.  In 1960, after years of guest-starring on television, Lewis got her own show, which lasted three years on NBC. 
• “Ty Hardin’s Whirlwind Career” – Ty Hardin and his western show “Bronco” (1958-63) was ABC TV’s answer to Clint Walker’s “Cheyenne”.  
• “From the Mouth’s of Babes Comes Happy’s Gimmick” – “Happy” (1960-61) was the nickname of a baby, who’s thoughts could be heard by the viewers in this one-season sitcom.  It was filmed at Desilu Studios. 
• “The Untouchables – Fact and Fiction: Part 2″ – “The Untouchables” (1959-63) was a series that began on “The Westinghouse-Desilu Playhouse” and turned into a hit weekly show by Desilu. 

PHOTO FEATURES

• “Linkletter’s Packing Tips” – Art Linkletter was one of television’s most popular hosts and presenters. Lucille Ball appeared on his show “House Party” in 1965 as well as a 1966 episode of “The Lucy Show” and a 1970 episode of “Here’s Lucy,”

  both times playing himself. 

• “Connie Stevens’ Calorie Counter” – Connie Stevens was a singer and actress then playing Cricket Blake on “Hawaiian Eye” (1959-63). 

REVIEW

• “Mystery Show” – was a mystery anthology series broadcast on NBC from May 1960 to September 1960 as a summer replacement for “The Dinah Shore Chevy Show” with Walter Slezak as host, except for the last three episodes, which had Vincent Price as host.

At the time Evelyn Bigsby was the Associate Managing Editor for Women’s Features at TV Guide’s Hollywood Bureau. Her name was given to the new mother (played by Mary Jane Croft) who sits next to Lucy on the plane in “Return Home From Europe” (ILL S5;E26) in 1956. 

Depending on the time zone, “I Love Lucy” was re-run every morning at 10 or 11am. Here it competed with “The Price Is Right” which was broadcast in color!  NBC (RCA) was the leader in color television and staked its claim far soon than CBS. “The Lucy Show” didn’t air in color until the fall of 1965. 

In another market, “I Love Lucy” ran weekdays at 10am. This edition (same cover and feature articles, different listings) included “Lucy” episode descriptions, while others did not.

Notice that an hour earlier the same channel re-ran Desilu’s series “December Bride”.

On Monday, July 18, 1960, the re-run was “Second Honeymoon” (ILL S5;E14).  From this we can logically assume that this week, in this particular TV market, channel 2 and 8 presented:

• TUESDAY, JULY 19, 1960 – “Lucy Meets the Queen (ILL S5;E15)
• WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 1960 – “The Fox Hunt” (ILL S5;E16)

• THURSDAY, JULY 21, 1960 –  “Lucy Goes To Scotland” (ILL S5;E17)
• FRIDAY, JULY 22, 1960 – “Paris at Last” (ILL S5;E18)

On Tuesday, July 19, 1960, at 8:30pm, CBS aired the unsold pilot for “Head of the Family”. The pilot had Carl Reiner as TV writer Rob Petrie, Barbara Britton as Rob’s wife Laura, Sylvia Miles as Sally Rogers, and Morty Gunty as Buddy Sorrell. In 1961, CBS would score a hit with a new name and a new cast of Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Rose Marie, and Morey Amsterdam, filmed at Desilu Studios. 

For American TV viewers, this was the week between the Democratic National Convention (July 11-15) and the Republican National Convention (July 25-28).  Both parties affirmed their November presidential candidates: John F. Kennedy (D) and Richard M. Nixon ®. Kennedy would prove the victor on Election Day. 

Eight years earlier, in July 1952,

an estimated 70 million voters watched the broadcasts, which ended with the nominations of Adlai Stevenson II and Dwight D. Eisenhower.  Although the conventions were also televised in 1948, few Americans owned a TV set to watch them. There was a popular myth that Stevenson lost the election because of backlash from interrupting airings of “I Love Lucy” with hour-long campaign ads. Another story has Stevenson receiving a telegram from a Lucy fan that read: “I love Lucy, but I hate you.”  The situation was paralleled on “I Love Lucy” in “The Club Election” (ILL S2;E19).  By 1956, the conventions were less a novelty on television, and drew smaller ratings and less attention. In the summer of 1956, Lucy and Desi were preparing their sixth and final season of “I Love Lucy” and storylines had to revolve around big name guest stars (Orson Welles and Bob Hope) and the move to Connecticut. 

Lucille Ball’s last appearance as Lucy Ricardo was on April 1, 1960, just four and a half months before this issue of TV Guide hit the stands. She wouldn’t return to series television until September 1962, by which time Lucille will be back on the cover of TV Guide once again.  She remained a yearly fixture on the Guide cover until 1974 and then made only one more original appearance to mark her return with “Life With Lucy.” 

After this article comes out, the next time TV viewers see Lucille Ball on their home screens is to promote her film with Bob Hope, The Facts of Life, on “The Garry Moore Show” on September 27, 1960. The film opened in November 1960. 

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