GALE on LUCY: REAL PRO

July 28, 1966

By GALE GORDON (For Cynthia Lowry) 

EDITOR’S NOTE – Gale Gordon is a familiar television face – usually apoplectic – that goes back to the old “Our Miss Brooks” and “Dennis the Menace” days. (1) Here he writes, with vast affection, of the joys of playing straight man for Lucille Ball. 

HOLLYWOOD (AP) – I am sometimes stopped on the street or in a store by television fans and the routine usually goes like this: 

Fan: Haven’t I seen you some place? 

Me (modestly): Oh, it’s possible. 

Fan (thinking hard): In the movies? 

Me (losing confidence): Er, not recently. 

Fan (in triumph): Aha! As soon as you spoke, I knew. You’re the banker in “The Beverly Hillbillies."  (2)

Thoroughly crushed at this point I try to salvage my pride, pointing out the error while still maintaining a cordial rapport with the viewer. I do play a banker, but it isn’t the Bev. Then I produce the magic word – a short, simple word: Lucy. 

You have heard the old old question, What’s in a name? Let me tell you some of the things this one does. It’s effect is immediate. I am suddenly treated like an exalted human being, all because I have seen, spoken to and worked with the one and only Lucille Ball. 

My own regard for her is basked on different and more personal bases. She is an attractive, vivacious and amusing woman, but she is above all a pro, a professional. I mean someone who is not afraid to work at his job. Lucy works harder than anyone I have ever met. A pro puts some kind of characterization in motion. Even during early rehearsals, Lucy gets into character just sitting around a table reading. 

Real pros never stop learning. They are always alert to new ideas, and Lucy welcomes suggestions from cast and crew alike. I love to play scenes with these great artists. These are moments that make years of struggle, disappointment and frustration worthwhile. 

When you share a scene with a fine performer, you don’t have to act at all. You become for a moment the character you are portraying. 

There are many attributes covered by the term "talent.” There is charm, humor, grace, a thousand other things, but there is a simple requirement very few possess: the ability to listen. 

Good actors listen to what is being said. Lucy is attentive to every syllable and inflection she hears from a fellow artist. No matter how many times a scene is rehearsed, she reacts the last time as if she was hearing it for the first time. 

I am often asked why I am so mean to Lucy, The answer, of course, is that the writers create the situation to begin with. But it also gives me great satisfaction to rant and rave and see Lucy’s eyes get bigger and bigger – and I get louder and louder. I know she is enjoying it as much as I am.

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FOOTNOTES FROM THE FUTURE

(1) Gale Gordon played school principal Osgood Conklin on TV’s “Our Miss Brooks” from 1952 to 1956. Gordon had created the role on radio, and also played Conklin in an Our Miss Brooks film in 1957.  The series ran concurrently with “I Love Lucy,” allowing Gordon time to only play one character on Ball’s hit series, Mr. Littlefield, although he played it in two early episodes.  He wouldn’t be seen with Lucille Ball again until after Brooks, when he played a judge on “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” in one episode. 

In 1962, series Gordon succeeded Joseph Kearns on the “Dennis the Menace” TV series following the sudden death of Kearns. Kearns had played next door neighbor George Wilson and Gordon was introduced in the role of John Wilson, George’s brother.  Timing again interfered with his collaborating with Ball. “The Lucy Show” started casting for its banker (who held Mrs. Carmichael’s purse-strings) just after Gordon had agreed to play John Wilson.  

When “Dennis” ended in 1963, and character actor Charles Lane (playing Banker Barnsdahl for Lucy) had trouble memorizing lines, Ball snatched him up to play her new banker, Theodore J. Mooney – and the rest is TV history. Gordon’s comedy partner for the rest of his life would be Lucy. 

(2) The banker on “The Beverly Hillbillies” (1962-1971) was named Milburn Drysdale and he was played by Raymond Bailey. He appeared in all 247 episodes of the CBS sitcom. Although he never acted on television with Lucille Ball or Gale Gordon, Bailey appeared on the Desilu shows “The Untouchables” (1960), “The Ann Sothern Show”,  (1958 & 1960) “The Real McCoys” (1957), and “Whirlybirds” (1957). On “The Beverly Hillbillies” he acted opposite such “I Love Lucy” actors as Nancy Kulp (as his sidekick, Miss Hathaway), Bea Benaderet, Frank Wilcox, Elvia Allman, Ray Kellogg, Charles Lane,  Joi Lansing, Shirley Mitchell, Doris Packer, Eleanor Audley, Maurice Marsac, Herb Vigran, Tristram Coffin, Hedda Hopper, Natalie Schaffer, Hans Conried, Ellen Corby, Lurene Tuttle, Hayden Rorke, Frank J. Scannell, Gail Bonney, Fritz Feld, Jil Jarmyn, and Desi’s stand-in, Bennet Green.

CYNTHIA LOWRY – was a TV reporter for the Associated Press.  During her vacations, her column would be taken over by guest writers. Other articles about Lucille Ball include: 

• June 13, 1965 – “Life Without Vivian”
• January 4, 1970 – “First Bird Leaves The Nest” 
• July 4, 1972 – “Lucille Ball Writes” (guest columnist Lucille Ball)

Note ~ The many headlines at the top of this blog is because the same article (in this case by Gale Gordon, normally by Cynthia Lowry) was given a different headline in every newspaper her column appeared in.  Newspapers who printed her column were free to create their own headlines, and edit for length.  Also, of all the various places this article was printed, there was not one photograph of Gordon!  This may be because Lowry’s contract did not allow space for editorial photographs.