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HARVEY PARRY
April 23, 1900
Harvey Parry was born in San Francisco, California, in 1900. He became a stuntman and actor whose career spanned the silent era and the disaster movie genre of the 1970s.
Parry worked as a circus aerialist in his youth and was working as a property man at the studios prior to discovering that his talents as both a boxer and high diver made him ideally suited for stunt work. He made his stunt debut in 1914 as a driver in The Rose Bush of Memories. He made his acting debut in William W. Wellman’s Beggars of Life in 1928.
He was a stunt man on Lucille Ball’s second film, The Bowery (1933).
He worked with Ball again as stuntman and actor on There Goes My Girl (1937), although Ball’s scenes were deleted before the film was released.
In 1950, he began doing television as both stunt man and actor, appearing on “Dangerous Assignment” (stunts), and “The Buster Keaton Show” (acting).
In February 1957, he appeared in an episode of Desilu’s “The Sheriff of Cochise.” In October 1958, he appeared in an episode of “Yancy Derringer,” filmed at Desilu Studios.
On January 24, 1966, he was seen as one of the Keystone Kops in “Lucy Meets Mickey Rooney” (TLS S4;E18). Lucy and Mickey re-enact a Charlie Chaplin silent movie and the Keystone Kops chase them across the stage.
He returned to the series For “Lucy Meets Sheldon Leonard” (TLS S5;E22) on March 6, 1967.
He played a character known as Harry (above right), who is actually a stunt man, but Lucy believe he is one of Sheldon Leonard’s criminal gang come to rob the bank!
In November 1967, Parry was seen on an episode of Desilu’s “Mannix” as Ed Regan. “The Lucy Show” did a crossover with “Mannix” in October 1971, although Parry was not involved.
He continued acting and doing stunts until he was 85 years old. His last screen appearance as in the film A Fine Mess starring Ted Danson. The film was released a few months after Parry’s death on September 18, 1985 at age 85.
He had been married twice: to Lavinia Virgil and Dorothy Abril.
“A good stuntman–his mind has to be at least fourteen feet ahead of his body. That’s the way to stay alive, you know.” ~ Harvey Parry
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LIZ APPEARS ON TELEVISION
April 23, 1950
“Liz Appears on Television” (aka “Friendship Week”) is episode #85 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on April 23, 1950.
Synopsis ~ Liz and Iris make an appearance on a television show celebrating Friendship Week. Their friendship is tested, though, when they discover they’ve bought the same dress for the occasion.
Note ~ The episode served as the basis for the “I Love Lucy” episode “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3) filmed on September 17, 1953 and first aired on October 19, 1953, written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr.
“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George’s boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benadaret was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Cooper. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.
MAIN CAST
Lucille Ball (Liz Cooper) 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 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.
Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father’s garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.
Gale Gordon (Rudolph Atterbury) had worked with Lucille Ball on “The Wonder Show” on radio in 1938. One of the front-runners to play Fred Mertz on “I Love Lucy,” he eventually played Alvin Littlefield, owner of the Tropicana, during two episodes in 1952. After playing a Judge in an episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” in 1958, he would re-team with Lucy for all of her subsequent series’: as Theodore J. Mooney in ”The Lucy Show”; as Harrison Otis Carter in “Here’s Lucy”; and as Curtis McGibbon on “Life with Lucy.” Gordon died in 1995 at the age of 89.
Bea Benadaret (Iris Atterbury) was considered the front-runner to be cast as Ethel Mertz but when “I Love Lucy” was ready to start production she was already playing a similar role on TV’s “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” so Vivian Vance was cast instead. On “I Love Lucy” she was cast as Lucy Ricardo’s spinster neighbor, Miss Lewis, in “Lucy Plays Cupid” (ILL S1;E15) in early 1952. Later, she was a success in her own show, “Petticoat Junction” as Shady Rest Hotel proprietress Kate Bradley. She starred in the series until her death in 1968.
Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) is not heard in this episode.
Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release.
GUEST CAST
Frank Nelson (Mr. Davis, Cigar Store Owner / TV Host) was born on May 6, 1911 (three months before Lucille Ball) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He started working as a radio announcer at the age of 15. He later appeared on such popular radio shows as “The Great Gildersleeve,” “Burns and Allen,” and “Fibber McGee & Molly”. This is one of his 11 performances on “My Favorite Husband.” On “I Love Lucy” he holds the distinction of being the only actor to play two recurring roles: Freddie Fillmore and Ralph Ramsey, as well as six one-off characters, including the frazzled train conductor in “The Great Train Robbery” (ILL S5;E5), a character he repeated on “The Lucy Show.” Aside from Lucille Ball, Nelson is perhaps most associated with Jack Benny and was a fifteen-year regular on his radio and television programs.
EPISODE
ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Cooper’s tonight, Liz is getting dressed for a very special event: she’s going to be on a television show celebrating friendship week.”
Liz is excited that she’s appearing on television with Iris. She is presenting a plaque to Iris in honor of friendship week.
GEORGE: “One appearance by you two might even bring back radio!”
George says if she were a television star he’d sit in a bar and brag that it was his wife that won that last fall. Liz says there are other things on TV than wrestling.
GEORGE: “I can see it now: ‘Kukla, Fran and Lizzie!”
“Kukla, Fran and Ollie” was an early television show using puppets. It was broadcast from Chicago between 1947 to 1957. Comedienne Fran Allison starred, interacting with puppets, Kukla and Ollie whose puppeteer was the show’s creator, Burr Tillstrom. It was previously mentioned on “My Favorite Husband” in “Too Many Television Sets” on October 14, 1949.
George wants to know how much Liz paid for her new orange and black dress with diagonal stripes. Liz brags that it is an original and one-of-a-kind. George is appalled to learn she paid $98.50!
She practices her presentation speech.
LIZ: “’Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends of Sheridan Falls, lend me your eyes.’”
GEORGE: “You mean ears.”
LIZ: “I mean eyes. This is television.”
“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” is the first line of a speech by Mark Antony in the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare. Occurring in Act III, scene II, it is one of the most famous lines in all of Shakespeare’s works.
LIZ: “’We are gathered here today to pay tribute to one of our town’s noblest creatures…’”
GEORGE: “Who’s getting this plaque? Citation?”
Citation (1945-70) was a champion racehorse who is the eighth winner of the American Triple Crown. He won 16 consecutive stakes races and was the first horse in history to win one million dollars.
At the Atterbury’s on the night of the appearance, Iris is pacing with nerves. Iris starts grandly rehearsing her acceptance speech. Her husband reminds her she is getting a friendship plaque, not an Academy Award.
RUDOLPH: “Hold it, Olivia. Save your speech for the television program.”
Rudolph is comparing Iris to actress Olivia de Havilland, who had just won the Academy Award on March 23, 1950. She won for playing Catherine Sloper in The Heiress.
Iris wonders whether she will come off well on television.
RUDOLPH: “I don’t know how much of you they can pick up on the ten inch screen, but the sixteen should do pretty good.”
While ten inch screens were usual, the new sixteen inch television was becoming more popular in 1950. The next step up was the twenty inch screen, which was still a few years away. Gale Gordon seems particularly pleased with this joke, nearly breaking character while delivering it.
Iris wants Rudolph’s approval of her new dress, which she brags is a one-of-a-kind original. Rudolph says that with orange and black diagonal stripes, she can always save it for Halloween.
IRIS: “I can’t wait to show it to Liz. She’ll die when she sees it.”
RUDOLPH: “Well, it’s getting late. Let’s go over and kill her.”When the Atterburys arrive at the Coopers both women immediately shriek in horror. They are wearing the same dress! The women insist they cannot appear on television wearing the same dress. Liz tells Iris that “one of us” will have to change their dress. Both women try to take the high road and offer to change. It’s a stalemate. George and Rudolph pretend to argue about wearing the same suit. The girls are not amused. Things get nasty.
LIZ: “I’ll go a friend, and you’ll go as a ship!”
The end of the act, the orchestra strikes up a few bars of the Cole Porter song “Friendship” to lead into the Jell-O commercial. This is the song that Lucy and Ethel sing on television on the “I Love Lucy” episode inspired by this radio show. Porter originally wrote it for Ethel Merman to sing on stage in Du Barry Was A Lady, Ball sang it in the 1945 film version, although it was later added to the musical Anything Goes.
ANNOUNCER: “As we return to the Coopers, we find the battle of the identical dresses still at an impasse. Iris and Liz are Liz’s house, not speaking to each other, and George and Mr. Atterbury are down at the store, getting some cigars.”
The men commiserate that the dress doesn’t look good on either of the women. The husbands each defend their wives and soon the men are arguing. George calls Liz too fat. And Rudolph calls Liz a barber pole. Now they aren’t talking to one another either.
Back at the Coopers, the girls break down in tears about their spat. They agree that the only fair thing to do is that neither will wear the dress – each will wear something different.
IRIS: “Liz – you’re a regular Queen Solomon.”
The biblical King Solomon was known for his wisdom. He became ruler in approximately 967 BC and his kingdom extended from the Euphrates River in the north to Egypt in the south.
George comes home furious. Liz tells him they made up, but George insists that she should still wear the dress she intended to. Liz reluctantly agrees, and they leave for the TV station.
At the station, Rudolph reminds Iris that it was him who insisted that she wear her original dress, even though the girls had already made up. They enter the studio and Liz and Iris see each other and shriek realizing neither one has changed their dress. The show’s host (Frank Nelson again) insists that they go ahead, even though both women refuse to do the show.
LIZ: “Try Hopalong Cassidy. He looks good next to a horse!”
“Hopalong Cassidy” made the leap from books and movies to the small screen on June 24, 1949, kicking off the legacy of the Western on television. These were not new, but simply cut-down versions of the feature films that were in cinemas from 1935 to 1948. Iris also mentioned the TV program in “Too Many Television Sets”.
But the show goes on the air despite the feud. “Love Your Neighbor” is live!
Frank Nelson (as Freddy Fillmore) also hosted a television show called “Be a Good Neighbor” on the “I Love Lucy” episode “Ricky’s Hawaiian Vacation” (ILL S3;E22) first airing on March 22, 1954.
Liz goes through with the presentation, although somewhat lackluster in execution, mis-pronouncing ‘friend’ as ‘fiend’, and deriding Iris during her acceptance speech. Liz calls Iris Tubby, and Iris calls Liz a barber pole!
HOST: “Radio was never like this!”
Iris says it is a shame they don’t have color television, or people could see that Liz’s dress is the same color as her hair. George and Rudolph fight in the audience. Liz and Iris fight on the stage. The host gives up and closes the show!
End of Episode
In the live Jell-O commercial, Lucille Ball and Bob LeMond are pirates. Lucy is Captain Blah, and Bob is Mr. Christian, satirizing characters from Mutiny on the Bounty.
Lucille Ball ad libs here, saying out loud “What happened to my character?” when she forgets to do her pirate voice.
Captain Blah is not happy that there’s no Jell-O pudding among his treasure. He makes Mr. Christian walk the plank. While he walks, he talks about Jell-O pudding. On the last word – “perfection” – there’s a splash.
1950, Bea Benaderet, Bob LeMond, CBS, Citation, Frank Nelson, Friendship, Gale Gordon, Hopalong Cassidy, I love lucy, Jell-O, Julius Caesar, King Solomon, Kukla Fran and Ollie, Lucille Ball, Lucy and Ethel Buy The Same Dress, My Favorite Husband, Olivia De Havilland, Philco, Pirates, Radio, Richard Denning, tv -
HAL MARCH
April 22, 1920
Hal March was born Harold Mendelson in San Francisco, California. In 1944, March first came to note as part of a comedy team with Bob Sweeney.
The duo had their own radio show in the early 1950s as Sweeney & March. arch also worked with Lucille Ball as a regular character on her radio show “My Favorite Husband”, playing a bachelor named Cory Cartwright. He was replaced by John Heistand after just a few episodes.
He made his screen debut in 1949 in an uncredited role as a mobster in Champion, starring Kirk Douglas.
He made his television debut as Harry Morton on “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” in October 1950. He lost the role to Fred Clark, who producers thought was better paired with Bea Benadaret. The role was eventually taken over by Larry Keating, who did the most episodes as Harry. Bea was Lucille Ball’s co-star on radio’s “My Favorite Husband” and taking the role of Blanche precluded her from playing Ethel Mertz on “I Love Lucy.”
After Keating took over Harry Morton, he stayed with the show in other roles, which allowed him to re-team with Lucille Ball on the “I Love Lucy” in “Lucy Fakes Illness” (ILL S1;E16) using his own name to play an actor posing as the doctor who diagnoses Lucy with ‘golbloots.’
His second appearance on the series was as Eddie Grant in “Lucy is Matchmaker” (ILL S2;E27). Grant is an old friend of Fred’s, a bachelor lingerie salesman Lucy feels needs to have a wife – namely her single friend Sylvia Collins.
In October 1954, he did an episode of Desilu’s series “Willy” starring June Havoc in the title role.
He is probably best remembered as the host of “The $64,000 Question” from 1955 to 1958. As a result of the quiz show scandals, the show was canceled, and with the exception of a few film roles, March was largely out of work for nearly a decade.
In September 1962, March was a guest on Desilu’s “Here’s Hollywood” a show where celebrities were interviewed, mainly in their own homes.
In December 1966 he was seen on “The Lucy Show.” He played Bob Bailey, one of Mr. Mooney’s college friends who is scheduled to entertain at the Bank Benefit with his new partner, Max (the Monkey).
In 1967 he was seen with Lucille Ball in the film A Guide for the Married Man. March and Ball were close friends. This is their final appearance together.
March’s career took a turn for the better in July 1969 when he began hosting the game show “It’s Your Bet.” After completing approximately 13 weeks of taping he complained of exhaustion and tests revealed that he had lung cancer, the result of years of chain smoking. March died in January 1970 in Los Angeles at age 49.
March was married in 1956 to Candy Toxton. Toxton had two children, Steve March-Tormé and Melissa Tormé, from her previous marriage to Mel Tormé, another actor who appeared with Lucille Ball. Although he did not legally adopt them, March was stepfather to Steve and Melissa, and went on to have three more children with Candy: Peter, Jeffrey, and Victoria.
Lucille Ball and March stayed friends throughout his life. Lucy later employed Steve March in two episodes of “Here’s Lucy” as one of Craig’s friends. He also wrote the song “Country Magic” for Ann-Margret’s appearance on the series.
Hal March’s grandson Hunter March hosts the Netflix game show “Sugar Rush” and E! TV’s “Nightly Pop”. Like grandfather, like grandson!
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EDDIE ALBERT
April 22, 1906
Eddie Albert was born Edward Albert Heimberger in Rock Island, Illinois, the oldest of the five children.
When he was one year old, his family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. He studied at Central High School in Minneapolis and joined the drama club. His schoolmate Harriet Lake (later known as Ann Sothern) graduated in the same class. Finishing high school in 1926, he entered the University of Minnesota, where he majored in business.
After the stock market crash of 1929, he left the business career behind for a series of odd jobs, some in show business. He moved to New York City in 1933, where he co-hosted a radio show which ran for three years. At the show’s end, he was offered a film contract by Warner Bros.
He made his screen debut in Brother Rat (1938) starring Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman.
Although he participated in some experimental television in 1936, his formal TV debut was in “Joy To The World,” a November 1948 episode of “The Ford Theatre Hour.”
In 1950, he co-starred with Lucille Ball in The Fuller Brush Girl. This was their first, but not last collaboration.
In December 1958 he appeared in “The Night The Phone Rang” for the “Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse”. Desi Arnaz introduced the episode, which also starred “Lucy” cast members Paul Dubov and Ross Elliott. Albert co-starred with his wife, the singularly named Margo. It was written by Aaron Spelling, with whom Albert shares a birthday!
In October 1963, Albert was guest-star on Desilu’s “The Greatest Show on Earth”, a series that two months later also featured its co-producer Lucille Ball.
In October 1965, he created the role that he would be best remembered for, lawyer turned farmer Oliver Wendell Douglas on “Green Acres”. The series was based on a radio show titled “Grandby’s Green Acres” that starred Lucille Ball’s “My Favorite Husband” co-stars Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet. Alongside Eva Gabor, Albert played the role in 170 episode until 1971. He also played the character on twelve episodes of “Petticoat Junction” and one episode of “The Beverly Hillbillies.”
During that time, he took time out to appear on “The Carol Burnett Show”, appearing with Lucille Ball in a sketch on November 4, 1968.
Albert was finally re-united with his “Fuller Brush” co-star on her own turf in an October 1973 episode of “Here’s Lucy” titled “Lucy Gives Eddie Albert the Old Song and Dance” (HL S6;E6). Albert played himself.
Albert was a guest,
with Lucille, on “Dean Martin’s Celebrity Roast: Jimmy Stewart" in 1978; as well as NBC’s “The First Academy of
TV Arts and Sciences Television Hall of Fame” ceremony in 1984.His final screen role was an episode of “California” in 1997, pilot for a spinoff of “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.” Only one episode was ever produced. Albert and his real-life son played father and son on the intended series, but it failed to materialize.
He was nominated for two Oscars as Supporting Actor, in 1954 for Roman Holiday and 1972 for The Heartbreak Kid.
Margo Albert was a Mexican-American actress born as María Marguerita Guadalupe Teresa Estela Bolado Castilla y O’Donnell – so she simply went by the singular moniker Margo. Coincidentally, he was related by marriage to band leader Xavier Cugat, a mentor of Desi Arnaz’s and often mentioned as a rival of Ricky Ricardo. On “Here’s Lucy,” Margo’s black and white photo is behind the sofa of Albert’s living room. Next to it is a photo of Albert’s son, Edward Laurence Heimberger (aka Eddie Albert Jr.), at age 23. They also had a daughter named Maria.
Eddie Albert died on May 26, 2005 at age 99.
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CHARLOTTE LAWRENCE
April 22, 1921
Charlotte Lawrence was born Charlotte Sorkin in Los Angeles, California. She attended Fairfax High School in Los Angeles where she was active in Theater. She moved to New York in the early 1940’s to pursue a career in radio. She had a lucrative career as a radio actress, but left New York to return home to take care of her mother.
She made her screen (and TV) debut in a May 1952 episode of “Gang Busters” titled “The Quirley Gang.”
On “I Love Lucy” she played one of Ethel Mertz’s bridge-playing pals in “No Children Allowed” (ILL S2;E22). She’s the one who has the sandwich snatched out of her hands when Lucy and Ethel break up the party.
She also played neighbor Marge in “The Homecoming” (ILL S5;E6). The character of Marge was often someone Lucy talked to on the telephone, but was rarely seen. In Lucy’s “My Favorite Husband” radio series she was known as Marge Van Tassel.
On “The Lucy Show” she played Elizabeth Westcott, Patty’s mom, in “Lucy is a Chaperone” (TLS S1;E27) on April 8, 1963. This was her penultimate screen credit.
Her final screen credit was an April 1964 episode of “Burke’s Law” alongside fellow “Lucy” alumni Peggy Gould, Gail Bonney, Peggy Rea, and Leoda RIchards.
In the mid 1960’s, Charlotte left acting and entered the corporate world. She worked at Capital Records for over 10 years before landing a key position at Lorimar Television Productions. In 1992 Charlotte left Lorimar to become Director of Music Licensing for Saban Entertainment. She passed away quietly in her home on October 20, 1993.
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AARON SPELLING
April 22, 1923
Aaron Spelling was born in Dallas, Texas. After attending high school, he served in the United States Army Air Corps as a pilot during World War II. Spelling later graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1949, where he was a cheerleader.
Spelling made his first appearance as an actor in a film as Harry Williams in Vicki in 1953. That same year, he made his TV debut in the series “I Led Three Lives” and in six episodes of “Dragnet” from 1953 to 1955.
He first worked for Desilu as an actor in the September 1954 premiere of their series “Willy” starring June Havoc. He played a dog catcher alongside some “Lucy” favorites Charles Lane, Lloyd Corrigan, Mary Treen, and Will Wright.
His first and only time acting opposite Lucille Ball was on the “I Love Lucy” episode “Tennessee Bound” (ILL S4;E15) filmed on November 18, 1954 and first aired on January 24, 1955. He played a small town gas station attendant somewhere in Tennessee.
He started moving away from acting, branching out into writing and producing.
In December 1958 he wrote in “The Night The Phone Rang” for the “Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse”. Desi Arnaz introduced the episode, which also starred “Lucy” cast members Paul Dubov and Ross Elliott. Eddie Albert co-starred with his wife, the singularly named Margo. Spelling and Albert share a birthday!
In May 1961, Spelling was a guest on Desilu’s “Here’s Hollywood” a show where celebrities were interviewed, mainly in their own homes.
He began producing shortly afterwards, eventually creating Aaron Spelling Productions, which went on to create some of TV’s most popular shows:
- Family (1976–80)
- Charlie’s Angels (1976–81)
- The Love Boat (1977–86)
- Hart to Hart (1979–84)
- Dynasty (1981–89)
- Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990–2000)
- Melrose Place (1992–99)
- 7th Heaven (1996–2007)
- Charmed (1998–2006)
In May 1961, Spelling was a guest on Desilu’s “Here’s Hollywood” a show where celebrities were interviewed, mainly in their own homes.
Spelling had been talking with Ball and her second husband Gary Morton since 1979 about possibly doing another series. Ball was hesitant, but agreed as long as she was given complete creative control. Spelling later regretted agreeing to her demands. The result was the short-lived sitcom “Life With Lucy” co-produced with Lucille Ball Productions.
Spelling married actress Carolyn Jones (”The Addams Family”) in 1953. They divorced in 1964. Spelling married Candy Gene (née Marer) in 1968. The couple had daughter Tori in 1973 and son Randy in 1978.
On June 23, 2006, Spelling died from complications of a stroke he suffered five days prior. He also suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 83 years old.
His many awards include two Primetime Emmy Awards for Producing, a BAFTA Award for Excellence, an numerous other recognitions.
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GO CHASE YOURSELF
April 22, 1938
- Directed by Edward F. Cline
- Produced by Robert Sisk for RKO Radio Pictures
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Written by Paul Yawitz and Bert Granet, with contributions by Winifred Leah Lawrence, Edward Mecher, and William W. Watson, based on an original story by Walter O’Keefe
Synopsis ~ A mild-mannered bank clerk finds himself stuck a speeding trailer towed by gangsters after a bank robbery goes awry. Unfortunately for him, the police and even his own domineering wife, believe that he is the robber and so head off in hot pursuit precipitated a fast-paced merry chase.
PRINCIPAL CAST
Lucille Ball (Carol Meeley) makes her 38th film appearance since arriving in Hollywood in 1933. This is her first leading role.
Joe Penner (Wilbur Meeley) a major slapstick comic of the 1930s, this is his only appearance with Lucille Ball, who eclipsed him in fame as time went by.
Jack Carson (Warren Miles) also appeared with Lucille Ball in Stage Door (1937), and Having Wonderful Time (1938).
June Travis (Judith Daniels) makes her only appearance with Lucille Ball.
Richard Lane (Nails) also appeared with Lucille Ball in There Goes My Girl (1937), The Joy of Living (1938), and A Girl, A Guy, and a Gob (1944).
Fritz Feld (Count Pierre de Louis-Louis) also appeared with Lucile Ball in
The Affairs of Annabel as Vladimir, and as a Paris Tour Guide in “Paris at Last” (ILL S5;E18).
Tom Kennedy (Ice-Box) also appeared with Lucille Ball in Old Man Rhythm (1935), and There Goes My Girl (1938).
Granville Bates (Halliday) also appeared with Lucille Ball in Chatterbox (1936), The Affairs of Annabel (1938), Next Time I Marry (1938), and Twelve Crowded Hours (1939).
Bradley Page (Frank) appeared with Lucille Ball in Blood Money (1933), Don’t Tell The Wife (1937), There Goes My Girl (1937), The Affairs of Annabel (1938), Annabel Takes A Tour (1938), and Twelve Crowded Hours (1939).
George Irving (Daniels) also appeared with Lucille Ball in The Affairs of Annabel (1938), and Don’t Tell The Wife (1938).
Arthur Stone (Warden) makes his only appearance with Lucille Ball. This is his final screen role.
Frank M. Thomas (Police Chief) also appeared with Lucille Ball in Joy of Living (1938), and Don’t Tell The Wife (1937).
“I guess ham just brings out the poetry in me. In some people poetry brings out the ham.” ~ Tony Anthony
UNCREDITED CAST
- Bobs Watson (Junior) appeared with Lucille Ball in “Lucy Becomes a Reporter” (TLS S1;E17) in 1963.
- George Shelley (Detective)
- Ted Oliver (Detective Clark)
- Rita Oehmen (Diner)
- Clayton Moore (Reporter) was better known as The Lone Ranger.
- Philip Morris (Cop) no relation to the tobacco company that sponsored “I Love Lucy”, his real name was Francis Charles Morris.
- Napoleon Whiting (Porter)
- Alan Bruce (Reporter)
- Joseph E. Bernard (Daniels’ Butler)
- Stanley Blystone (Policeman in Backwards Car)
- Otto Fries (Rube Wardell – Ventriloquist)
- Diana Gibson (Dining Car Woman)
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Chuck Hamilton (Policeman in Chief’s Office)
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John Ince (John Weatherby – Trailer Occupant)
- Monte Vandergrift (Policeman in Chase Car)
- Ray Turner (Porter)
- Chester Clute (Excited Man)
- William Corson (Reporter)
- Lynton Brent (Photographer)
- Margaret Armstrong (Mrs. Daniels)
- Donald Kerr (Gas Station Attendant)
- Edward Hearn (Raffle Seller)
- Edith Craig (Mother)
- Billy Dooley (Linesman)
- Jack N. Green (Officer)
“CHASE YOUR” TRIVIA!
Penner pushed RKO to cast Lucille Ball after he heard her on “The Phil Baker Show”, a popular radio program on which she had just become a regular featured performer.
Part of this film’s plot involves Lucille Ball inside of a runaway mobile trailer. Several months after filming this picture, Ball also spent much of her screen time inside of a mobile trailer in the film Next Time I Marry (1938). Later, in one of her better-known film roles, she starred in yet another mobile trailer-themed film in The Long, Long Trailer (1953).
Supporting Cast members Fritz Feld and Bobs Watson were the only two members of the cast to later appear on Lucille Ball’s sitcoms.
Lucille Ball plays the wife of a bank teller. Working in a bank is something Lucille Ball would get lots of experience at as Lucy Carmichael on “The Lucy Show.”
Trains also played a major part in episodes of “I Love Lucy,” “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour,” and “The Lucy Show”.
Lucy also lands in jail on “I Love Lucy”, “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour,” “The Lucy Show,” and “Here’s Lucy.”
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TIME BUDGETING
April 22, 1949
“Time Budgeting” (aka “George and His Trained Seals”) is episode #40 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on April 22, 1949 on the CBS radio network.
Synopsis ~ George is so fed up with Liz’s being late for everything that he puts her on a strict schedule.
Note ~ This script was the basis for “Lucy’s Schedule” (ILL S1;E33) filmed on April 18, 1952, and first aired on May 26, 1952. Directed by Marc Daniels. Written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, and Bob Carroll, Jr.
“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George’s boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benaderet was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Cooper. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.
MAIN CAST
Lucille Ball (Liz Cooper) 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 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.
Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father’s garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.
Bea Benadaret (Iris Atterbury) was considered the front-runner to be cast as Ethel Mertz but when “I Love Lucy” was ready to start production she was already playing a similar role on TV’s “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” so Vivian Vance was cast instead. On “I Love Lucy” she was cast as Lucy Ricardo’s spinster neighbor, Miss Lewis, in “Lucy Plays Cupid” (ILL S1;E15) in early 1952. Later, she was a success in her own show, “Petticoat Junction” as Shady Rest Hotel proprietress Kate Bradley. She starred in the series until her death in 1968.
Benadaret had not yet become a series regular, but plays the role she would assume as Iris Atterbury.
Gale Gordon does not appear in this episode. He had not yet been signed as a regular cast member in the role of Rudolph Atterbury, which is here played by Hans Conried. Coincidentally, however, he is the actor who will play Ricky’s boss, Alvin Littlefield, in “Lucy’s Schedule”
on “I Love Lucy” and would eventually speak most of the dialogue here taken by Hans Conried as Mr. Atterbury.
Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz (above right), a member of the surprise investigating committee for the Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), as one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and also played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). She died in 1996 at the age of 96.
Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release.
GUEST CAST
Hans Conried (Rudolph Atterbury, George’s Boss) first co-starred with Lucille Ball in The Big Street (1942). He then appeared on “I Love Lucy” as used furniture man Dan Jenkins in “Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8) and later that same season as Percy Livermore in “Lucy Hires an English Tutor” (ILL S2;E13) – both in 1952. The following year he began an association with Disney by voicing Captain Hook in Peter Pan. On “The Lucy Show” he played Professor Gitterman in “Lucy’s Barbershop Quartet” (TLS S1;E19) and in “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” (TLS S2;E1). He was probably best known as Uncle Tonoose on “Make Room for Daddy” starring Danny Thomas, which was filmed on the Desilu lot. He joined Thomas on a season 6 episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1973. He died in 1982 at age 64.
At this point in the series, the role of Rudolph Atterbury had not yet been assumed by Gale Gordon.
EPISODE
Announcer: “As we look in on the Coopers tonight, we find a familiar domestic drama taking place. They’re invited to the Atterbury’s for dinner. George is standing in the downstairs hall, fully dressed, with his top coat on. Liz is upstairs going through an ancient ritual known to wives as getting ready to go out, and known to husbands as ‘what do they do up there that takes so long?’. Right now George is looking at his watch for the eleventh time.”
George gets tired of waiting and goes upstairs to discover that she’s still in her slip. He reminds her that the Atterburys like them to be on time. Liz still hasn’t even chosen an outfit. George gets frustrated waiting for Liz. Just as she’s getting close to ready, she smears her nail polish and has to start all over again.
LIZ: “I’ll be ready in a minute, dear!”
When she finally gets ready, she discovers him sitting on the bed in his shorts. He has turned the tables on Liz.
GEORGE: “I’ll be ready in a minute, dear!”
Liz and George pull up to the Atterbury home. They are starving, but luckily George sees them in the living room and thinks they haven’t eaten yet. George and Liz makes apologies for their lateness.
They discover that the Atterburys’ have already eaten. Iris (Bea Benadaret) says they prepared pork chops knowing it was Liz’s favorite. Rudolph describes the meal in mouth-watering detail. While Liz would love their maid to prepare her a plate, George insists they have already eaten while waiting for the car to be fixed.
While Liz and George try to make casual conversation, Liz wolfs down all their after-dinner mints and starts on their fruit bowl. They foursome decide to go to the movies. Liz isn’t particular about which picture, as long as they sell popcorn. Mr. Atterbury suggests a film at the Strand: Chicken Every Sunday!
LIZ: “Oh, noooo!”
Chicken Every Sunday premiered on January 18, 1949. It starred Dan Dailey and Celeste Holm, and featured Roy Roberts (Mr. Cheever) and in an uncredited role, Frank J. Scannell (Buffo the Clown).
When they get home, George and Liz clean out the ice box, waking up Katie the Maid by their feasting. Katie has put a bowl of her hair wave treatment in the fridge, but Liz has devoured it thinking it was custard.
LIZ: “Look at us, Katie. Which stomach has the Toni?”
Liz is punning on the popular ad campaign of Toni Home Permanents: “Which Twin has the Toni?” The campaign was so overwhelmingly successful, that the phrase could often be found in pop culture, like “My Favorite Husband!” Liz also joked about the slogan three episodes earlier in “April Fools Day” (episode #37) as well as in “Young Matrons League Tryouts” (episode #11).
George is still mad at Liz for making them late and embarrassing him about dinner. He insists that she start budgeting her time, just like she budgets her money. Well, like normal people budget money.
GEORGE: “I’ll make up a chart for you. Fifteen minutes for this, half an hour for that, ten minutes for something else.”
LIZ: “I’ll need more than ten minutes for something else.”
The next day, the schedule is posted on the kitchen door, but Katie is not eager to be told when to do what. That night, dinner is on the table promptly at six o’clock. She serves George dinner and breakfast simultaneously to save time the next morning.
A week later, Liz is thrilled that the time schedule has worked. Liz wants to spend all the free time she has saved smooching with her favorite husband.
Next day, Mr. Atterbury tells George that the fourth Vice President of the bank is leaving to become a school teacher. He has George in mind for the open position, but is reluctant considering is tardiness at dinner. George says he’s fixed the problem, and has Liz and Katie hopping around like trained seals. He invites Mr. Atterbury over for dinner to prove it. Mr. Atterbury is eager to show his wife that a home can be run on a schedule, so he accepts.
Meanwhile, at the Cooper home, Liz gets a visit from Iris, who is appalled to discover that Liz is indeed using a schedule. Iris calls Liz a ‘Benedict Arnold’ for being a traitor to women everywhere.
Benedict Arnold (1741-1801) was a general during the American Revolutionary War, who fought for the American Continental Army, and later famously defected to the British Army. The name Benedict Arnold quickly became a byword for treason or betrayal. This comparison is also included in the television version of the script, but spoken by Mrs. Littlefield. In 1965′s “Lucy the Disc Jockey” (TLS S3;E26), Lucy is angry that Mr. Mooney has also entered (and won) a radio contest after he said it was silly. She calls him a “banking Benedict Arnold.”
Iris says that George is going around the bank saying he has her running around like a trained seals. This doesn’t sit well with Liz, who tears up the time charts and tells Iris that she is going to make it a dinner to remember.
LIZ: “Trained seals of the world unite.”
At dinner that evening, Liz rushes Mr. Atterbury through small talk, and right to the dinner table, claiming she must keep to schedule. Soup is served, and quickly un-served as Katie clears the plates before anyone can get a spoonful in their mouths.
Mr. Atterbury finds a shirt button in his water glass. Liz explains that she’s washing the dishes and clothes together. Katie serves a frozen roast and George finally has had enough. Mr. Atterbury says that George has the new job. George admits he’s been to strict, and Liz is glad to be a trained seal married to a fourth Vice President!
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TOO MANY HUSBANDS
April 21, 1947
The Gulf Screen Guild Theater present Wesley Ruggles’ Too Many Husbands, which was a 1940 Columbia Pictures release.
- Produced and Directed by: Bill Lawrence
- Music by: Wibur Hatch
Synopsis ~ Vicky Lowndes (Lucille Ball) loses her first husband, Bill Cardew (Bob Hope), in a boating accident in which he is presumed drowned. The lonely widow is comforted by Bill’s best friend and publishing business partner Henry Lowndes (Frank Sinatra). Six months later, she marries him. Six months after that, Bill shows up, after having been stranded on a uninhabited island and then rescued. Vicky has a tough choice to make.
The Screen Guild Theater (aka The Screen Guild Players), was one of the most popular drama anthology series during the Golden Age of Radio. At this point it is being sponsored by Gulf Oil. From its first broadcast in 1939, up to its farewell in 1952, it showcased radio adaptations of popular Hollywood films. Many Hollywood names became part of the show, including Bette Davis, Bing Crosby, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and many more. The actors’ fees were all donated to the Motion Picture Relief Fund, an organization that provides aid to retired actors. Screen Guild Theater was heard on different radio networks, beginning with CBS from 1939 to 1948, NBC from 1948 to 1950, ABC from 1950 to 1951, and back to CBS until its last episode on June 29, 1952. Throughout its run, a total of 527 episodes were produced.
The radio show brought movies to radio for thirty minutes each Monday evening on CBS. The show aired for 242 programs beginning with “Yankee Doodle Dandy” starring James Cagney and ending with “My Reputation.” In between were all time classics such as “Casablanca” with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, “Sergeant York” with Gary Cooper and “Holiday Inn” with Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, and Dinah Shore.
The Screen Guild Players previously broadcast an adaptation of “Too Many Husbands” on March 8, 1942 starring Hedy Lamar, Bob Hope, and Bing Crosby. On September 4, 1944 yet another version was aired by the Players, starring Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra, and Bill Goodwin.
Too Many Husbands (1940) was produced and directed by Wesley Ruggles, with a screenplay by Claude Binyon. The film stars Jean Arthur, Fred MacMurray and Melvyn Douglas, and is based on the 1919 play Home and Beauty by W. Somerset Maugham, which was retitled Too Many Husbands when it came to New York. The story is a variation on the 1864 poem Enoch Arden by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
In the UK, the film was released as My Two Husbands. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Sound Recording. Too Many Husbands was remade as a musical, Three for the Show (1955), with Jack Lemmon and Betty Grable.
Two of the film’s background players, Bert Stevens and James Conaty, were later seen in as extras on “I Love Lucy.” Sam McDaniel (brother of Oscar-winner Hattie McDaniel of Gone With the Wind), plays a porter, just as he will do on “I Love Lucy,” becoming the first black actor to have lines on the series. Star Fred MacMurray will appear with Lucille Ball in “Lucy Hunts Uranium” in 1958.
RADIO CAST
Lucille Ball (Vickie) plays the role originated in the film by Jean Arthur. In April 1947, Ball was awaiting the release of two films: Lured and Her Husband’s Affairs.
Bob Hope (Bill) plays the role originated in the film by Fred MacMurray. Hope had just released the film My Favorite Brunette. Hope and Ball would do four films together, staring in 1949 with Sorrowful Jones.
Frank Sinatra (Henry) plays the role originated in the film by Melvyn Douglas. Sinatra had just released the film It Happened in Brooklyn on April 7, 1947. Primarily a singer, this is the only time he acts opposite Lucille Ball.
Truman Bradley (Announcer) was selected by Henry Ford to be the announcer for the “Ford Sunday Evening Hour”. With his distinctive, authoritative voice, he soon became a radio actor as well as a narrator in numerous movies. Bradley was the radio announcer for shows by Red Skelton, Burns and Allen, and Frank Sinatra.
Peter, the Butler is played by an uncredited performer.
‘TOO MANY’ TRIVIA!
The title is easily confused with the title of Lucille Ball’s radio series “My Favorite Husband,” and her films Too Many Girls, and Her Husband’s Affairs.
Lucille Ball also appeared with Screen Guild Players in “Tight Shoes” (April 12, 1942), “Nothing But the Truth” (May 3, 1943), and “A Night To Remember” (May 1, 1944).
From late 1942 to July 1947 Lady Esther Cosmetics sponsored the show which had been previously sponsored by Gulf Oil. It was first known as the “Lady Esther Presents the Screen Guild Players” and then became “The Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater.”
As is his penchant, Hope ad libs during the script. While hugging Vickie upon his return from the ‘dead’, he says “Let’s just stay like this till ‘Take it or Leave It’ comes on the air!”
“Take It or Leave It” was a radio quiz show, which ran from April 1940 to July 1947 on CBS. It switched to NBC in 1947, and in September 1950, the name of the program was changed to “The $64 Question.” Hope often flubs his dialogue, but covers with comedy.
Bill (or maybe it is Bob ad libbing) mentions Dorothy Dix. Author Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer (1861-1951) was widely known by the pen name Dorothy Dix. As the forerunner of today’s popular advice columnists, Dix was America’s highest paid and most widely read female journalist at the time of her death. Her advice on marriage was syndicated in newspapers around the world with an estimated audience of 60 million readers.
Bill (or maybe it is Bob ad libbing) wonders why Vickie married Henry: “Did you lose a question on “Truth or Consequences?” “Truth or Consequences” was a game show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards (1940–1957), although it also was later seen on television.
Bill (or maybe it is Bob ad libbing) says that the mattress on the bed that he and Henry have to share feels like it has been stuffed with Grape-Nuts. Grape-Nuts is a breakfast cereal developed in 1897 by C. W. Post. Post originally developed the product as a batter that came from the oven as a rigid sheet, which was then broken into pieces and run through a coffee grinder to produce the "nut”-sized kernels.
The first commercial break advertises Lady Esther’s four-purpose face cream. In these live commercials, the spokeswoman in known as Lady Esther, although she was not the actual Esther Cohen that the cosmetics line was named for.
Bob Hope ad-libs about his “Pepsodent contract”. Hope hosted “The Pepsodent Show” from September 1938 to June 1948. The program also featured Jerry Colonna along with Blanche Stewart and Elvia Allman as well as a continuously rotating supporting cast and musicians which included Desi Arnaz and his orchestra.
Henry tells Bill he should leave and join the Foreign Legion. Bill replies that he’ll meet him halfway by going to the library and reading Beau Geste. Beau Geste is an adventure novel by P. C. Wren, which details the adventures of three English brothers who enlist separately in the French Foreign Legion following the theft of a valuable jewel from the country house of a relative. Published in 1924, the novel has been adapted for the screen several times: 1926, 1939, and 1966.
Henry asks Bill (Bob) if he can spell “pithecanthropus" and defines it a the missing link between man and ape. Bob (Bill) replies “C.R.O.S.B.Y”! Bing Crosby was a singer that partnered with Hope on dozens of films, particularly their “road” films. In April 1947, Crosby had just appeared in a cameo role in Hope’s newest film, My Favorite Brunette. By the end of 1947, The Road to Rio will be released. Coincidentally, in the 1942 Screen Guild production, Crosby played Henry, the role taken here by Sinatra.
Just before Vickie breaks it to Henry that she’d rather be married to Bill, Henry (or maybe it is Crosby) sings “Time After Time” (1946), a romantic ballad by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, written for Sinatra to introduce in the 1947 film It Happened in Brooklyn, which had premiered two weeks earlier. In return, in the very next scene, Bob Hope warbles a few notes of “Thanks for the Memory”, his signature song.
At the end, Lucille Ball thanks the Motion Picture Relief Fund and it’s country house. In 1940, Jean Hersholt, then-president of the Motion Picture Relief Fund, found 48 acres of walnut and orange groves in the southwest end of the San Fernando Valley to build the Motion Picture Country House. The dedication was on September 27, 1942. The Motion Picture Hospital was dedicated on the grounds of the Country House in 1948.
The final commercial, once again delivered by ‘Lady Esther’ is for Lady Esther Bridal Pink Face Powder.
‘TOO MANY’ CLOSING CREDITS
The announcer (Truman Bradley) promotes next week’s program, Stork Bites Man, starring Jackie Cooper, Anita Louise, and Gus Schilling.
Stork Bites Man was a United Artists film that would not be released until June 1947. It also starred Cooper and Schilling.
Columbia Pictures is credited as the producer of The Guilt of Janet Ames, starring Rosalind Russell and Melvyn Douglas. Coincidentally, Douglas starred in the film version of Too Many Husbands.
The music was arranged and conducted by Wilbur Hatch, who also did the same for “My Favorite Husband” and “I Love Lucy.”
Lucille Ball appeared courtesy of Metro Goldwyn Mayer, producers of The Sea of Grass starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, and Robert Walker.
Bob Hope appears through the courtesy of Pepsodent, and can currently be seen in the Paramount picture, My Favorite Brunette.
Frank Sinatra appears through the courtesy of Old Gold cigarettes, and can currently be seen in the MGM musical It Happened in Brooklyn, also starring Katharyn Grayson, Peter Walker, and Jimmy Durante.
The announcer reminds listeners that part of the country goes on Daylight Saving Time, and that the show will be heard one hour earlier.
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LOOK: 2 BABIES IN 1 NIGHT!
April 21, 1953
On April 23, 1953, the Arnaz Family (Lucy, Lucie, Desi, and Desi Jr.) appeared on the cover of Look Magazine. The inside story is “Lucille Ball gives birth to two babies in the same night, one in the hospital and one on TV".
Desi Jr.’s yellow ruffled outfit is the same one he was photographed in for the first national edition of TV Guide on April 3, 1953, just three weeks earlier.
The day before this issue hit the newsstands, America saw the premiere of “No Children Allowed” (ILL S2;E22) on April 20, 1953.
Meanwhile, the cast and crew had just wrapped “The Ricardos Change Apartments” on April 16, 1953, and were in rehearsals for
“Lucy is a Matchmaker” (ILL S2;E27).
The cover also promotes two inside articles: “How Hellish is the H-bomb?” by William M. Laurence, and “What the GOP Must Do To Win in 1954″ by Senator Taft. Robert Taft (son of President Taft) cosponsored the Taft–Hartley Act of 1947, which created the concept of right-to-work states and regulated other labor practices. It was satirized on “I Love Lucy” in “Visitor From Italy” (ILL S6;E5, above) as the “Taft-Hartley Visitors-from-Italy-Who-Work-in-Pizzerias-Get-Every-Third-Day-Off” Amendment.
Look was a biweekly magazine published from 1937 to 1971, with an emphasis on photographs rather than articles. A large-sized magazine of (11″ x 14″), it was a direct competitor to Life, which began publication months earlier and ended in 1972, a few months after Look shut down.
From 1952 to 1971 Lucille Ball appeared on the cover of Look nine times!
Look Magazine was prominently featured on “I Love Lucy” in
of “Men Are Messy” (ILL S1;E8, above) in December 1951. Look is also glimpsed in “Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio” (ILL S1;E32) with Lucille Ball on the cover, “Ricky Loses His Temper” (ILL S3;E19), with French actress Jeanmarie on the cover, and “Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8) with model Jean Zahorsky on the cover. It was even used for one of the flashback intros of a re-run during Lucille Ball’s pregnancy leave. Vivian Vance puts her hand over Lucille Ball’s photo!
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