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BOB WEISKOPF
March 13, 1914
Bob Weiskopf was born in Chicago, Illinois. He became an Emmy-winning writer and producer for television.
At the start of World War II, he moved in with writer Jess Oppenheimer, who 13 years later would hire him to write for “I Love Lucy". Weiskopf was hired to write radio comedy for the legendary comedian Fred Allen. He served in the US military.
He began writing for television in 1950, when he wrote an episode for “The Colgate Comedy Hour” featuring Fred Allen. His creative partnership and friendship with Bob Schiller began in 1953 writing a single radio script for “Our Miss Brooks” before delving into the new media of television together. They wrote for such popular shows as “Make Room for Daddy” (filmed at Desilu), “The Bob Cummings Show,” “I Love Lucy,” “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour,” Desilu’s “The Ann Sothern Show” (which they co-created), and “Pete and Gladys”.
Weiskopf joined the “I Love Lucy” writing staff for season five, starting with “Lucy Visits Graumans” (ILL S5;E1) in Fall 1955. This was his first time writing for Lucille Ball.
He continued writing for the show until it’s final episode (53 in all) and continued writing all 13 episodes of “The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour” through the end of 1959.
In between he wrote the pilot script for “The Ann Sothern Show”, an outgrowth of “Private Secretary” created by Desilu when Sothern came to a creative impasse with the previous producers. Lucille Ball played Lucy Ricardo on the series at the start of season two.
He acted as script consultant in 1959 when Lucy and Desi appeared on “Sunday Showcase: The Lucy-Desi Milton Berle Special” assuring that the Ricardo characters were consistently written for Berle’s special. He served in the same capacity for “The Desilu Revue” a holiday variety show for the “Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse” in December 1959.
In the 1960s and 1970s they continued their partnership with such series as “The Lucy Show,” “The Red Skelton Show,” “The Good Guys” (where they were also co-producers), “The Phyllis Diller Show,” “The Carol Burnett Show,” “The Flip Wilson Show,” “Maude” (which they also co-produced), “All in the Family,” and its spinoff series, ”Archie Bunker’s Place.”
In 1960 he was one of the writers creating “Guestward Ho” for Desilu. The series was supposed to star Vivian Vance, but the network decided she was too associated with Ethel Mertz and the show was recast for the series. In 1961, Weiskopf was one of the writers of “Pete and Gladys”, a spin-off of Desilu’s “December Bride” that was not produced by Desilu.
In 1962, he returned to working for Desilu and Lucille Ball (as well as briefly for Desi Arnaz) on “The Lucy Show”.
Weiskopf was uncredited co-creator and wrote 48 episodes from season one through the end of 1964.
Although he wrote ten episodes of “The Carol Burnett Show” during season three, he was not a writer for Lucille Ball’s appearance in November 1969.
Weiskopf was, however, one of the writers of the second season opener of “Flip” that featured Lucille Ball. This would be Weiskopf’s last time writing for Ball.
During their long collaboration, Schiller and Weiskopf were honored with two Emmy Awards, a pair of Peabody Awards, a Golden Globe, and the Writers’ Guild of America’s Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Achievement.
His final writing credit was a 1986 episode of “He’s The Mayor.” He died in 2001 at age 86.
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TV GUIDE
March 12, 1988
On March 11, 1988 Lucille Ball and Desi Aranz were featured (among others) on the cover of TV Guide (volume 36, number 11, issue #1824).
This would be the last time Lucille Ball appeared on the cover of TV Guide during her lifetime. She was on the cover of the very first national edition in 1953 and was seen on 39 covers.
The inside article promoted on the cover is “IS TV GETTING BETTER OR WORSE?” by critic William A. Henry III.
The photograph used on the cover is likely a promo shot from Forever Darling (1956).
The cover also features the cast of “M*A*S*H” (1972-83): Alan Alda, Loretta Swit, William Christopher, Jamie Farr, Harry Morgan, Mike Farrell, and David Ogden Steirs. Only Farr acted opposite Lucille Ball, in “Lucy, the Rain Goddess” (HL S4;E15) in 1966. Harry Morgan was employed by Desilu as a regular on “December Bride” (1954-59) and a single episode of “The Untouchables” in 1962.
The cast of “ALF” (1986-90): Max Wright, Alf (Paul Fusco), Anne Schedeen, and Benji Gregory. That same week, Alf (Paul Fusco) and Lucille Ball both were guests on the Bob Hope birthday special.
The cast of “Cheers” (1982-93): Ted Danson and Kirstie Alley. In 1984, Danson attended the “All Star Party for Lucille Ball”. In August 1980, before she was a television star, interior decorator Kirstie Alley appeared on “Password” with Lucille Ball.
In the listings contained in this issue, Lucille Ball appeared on “Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years at NBC” on May 16, 1988. The special also featured ALF (Paul Fusco).
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SEVEN STEPS TO STARDOM
March 11, 1939
To Lucille Ball it’s not superstition. Seven is her lucky number just as it’s the fortunate digit that crap-shooters pray for.
Try not to be too technical and you’ll soon see that Lucille (count the letters) reached stardom in “A" pictures in seven steps. (Meanwhile the portrait above proves that the RKO actress is exactly seven times as pretty in natural color as she is in black-and-white.) Lucille points out, for instance, that she attended John Murray Anderson’s dramatic school in New York City for 49 (7×7) weeks.
Twenty-eight weeks (4 x 7) with a touring stock company followed.
Destiny seems to have been throwing 7s for Lucille throughout her career.
Just Coincidence
But she regards it as coincidence and reminds superstitious Hollywood that after all SHE did all the work while Dame Fortune was fooling around in a dice game.
Mother DIDN’T know best for Mother planned a musical career for Lucille and even enrolled her at the Chautauqua Music Institute at Jamestown, N.Y.
Seven Steps
Then one fine evening Lucille hopped a rattler and entered the Anderson dramatic school.
One, two, three, four, five, six — SEVEN steps (follow them in the picture series beginning below) found her straightening her own dressing room on the RKO lot.
Gosh!
1939, Beauty for the Asking, Chautaqua Music Institute, Chesterfield Girl, Ernest Bachrach, Flo Ziegfeld, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Hattie Carnegie, Hollywood, John Murray Anderson, Lela Rogers, Lucille Ball, Movies, Rio Rita, RKO, Sacramento Bee, Samuel Goldwyn, Seven Steps, Superstition, Twelve Crowded Hours -
CHARITY REVUE
March 11, 1949
“Charity Revue” (aka “Red Cross Benefit Revue”) is episode #34 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on March 11, 1949 on the CBS radio network.
Synopsis ~ Mr. Atterbury asks George to work up a song and dance routine for the local Red Cross Charity Review. At the same time Liz’s women’s club recruits her to perform.
Note: This program was used as a basis for the “I Love Lucy” episode “The Benefit”
(ILL S1;E13) filmed on November 30, 1951 and first aired on January 7, 1952.
“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.
Gale Gordon (Rudolph Atterbury, George’s Boss) 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.
This is Gordon’s first appearance as Rudolph Atterbury, a role previous played by Hans Conried.
Bea Benadaret does not appear in this episode.
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
Gloria Blondell (Miss Marilyn Williams) was born to theatrical parents in New York City in 1910. She is the younger sister of Joan Blondell, also an actress. On radio, she did 26 episodes of seven different series.
Blondell saw most of her work in the 1940s as the voice of Disney’s ‘Daisy Duck’ for Disney, doing six short films as Donald’s girlfriend.
Blondell’s only screen collaboration with Lucille Ball was in “The Anniversary Present” (ILL S2;E3) in 1952, playing the Ricardo’s upstairs neighbor Grace Foster.
Giving the character the first name of Marilyn is no doubt meant to remind listeners of up-and-coming sex symbol Marilyn Monroe.
Gerald Mohr (Gerald Mohr) played psychiatrist Henry Molin, who masquerades as Ricky’s old friend Chuck Stewart in “The Inferiority Complex” (ILL S2;E18 ~ February 2, 1953), his only appearance on “I Love Lucy”. In return, Lucy and Desi appeared on his show “Sunday Showcase” that same year. He also made an appearance on “The Lucy Show” in “Lucy and Phil Harris” (TLS S6;E20 ~ February 5, 1968).
Mohr uses his own name for this appearance.
EPISODE
ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers this morning, George is still upstairs getting dressed. Liz is in the kitchen, talking to Katie the Maid.”
Liz tells Katie that she’s excited for the upcoming Red Cross benefit. She is planning to do an act with George representing her club. The only detail is that she hasn’t told him about it yet!
The Red Cross is a humanitarian organization founded in 1863 to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering. American Red Cross posters were a favorite of the Desilu set decorators on “I Love Lucy”. They can be glimpsed in the subway during “Lucy and the Loving Cup” (ILL S6;E12), on the walls of the rented hall in “Ricky Has Labor Pains” (S2;E14), in the butcher shop in “The Freezer” (S1;E29), and on the Westport train station in “Lucy Misses the Mertzes” (S6;E17).
Liz goes into the dining room and sweet-talks George, covering him with kisses. He is immediately suspicious. Liz tells him that a woman in her club is doing an act with her husband for the Red Cross revue. George laughs and says the man will make a fool of himself – until Liz tells him that the man is him!
GEORGE: “You know if there’s one thing I hate more than that club of yours is amateur theatrics!”
Liz reminds him that he had the lead in his college musical and he was a big hit. She sings a few notes of “Boola Boola” to remind him.
"Boola Boola” is a football song of Yale University. The song was composed in 1900 and is generally attributed to Allan M. Hirsh, Yale Class of 1901. The song immediately caught on, soon being played by John Philip Sousa. It sold more sheet music in the first half of 1901 than any other song in the country, and became indelibly associated with Yale athletics. Is George a Yale man?
George is still reluctant, but Liz tries to convince him.
LIZ: “Jolson made a comeback. How about you?”
Al Jolson (1886-1950) was a Lithuanian-born singer, actor, and comedian. Unabashedly billed as the World’s Greatest Entertainer, Jolson was the most successful musical comedy star on Broadway in the 1910s and 1920s. He was also a major radio star and the most popular solo recording artist of the 1920s, his biggest hits being “Sonny Boy”, “April Showers,” and “Swanee.” He inaugurated sound motion pictures with The Jazz Singer (1927) and made a series of musical films. He enjoyed a spectacular career comeback in the years before his death, largely due to the film biographies The Jolson Story (1946) and Jolson Sings Again (1949). Jolson’s use of blackface, dating from his early years in minstrel shows, made him a controversial figure.
George refuses to give in.
At the bank, Mr. Atterbury calls George into his office. He tells George he should work up a song and dance routine with his wife to represent the bank in the Red Cross Revue. George says he can’t do it, but Mr. Atterbury threatens to demote him if he refuses. George admits defeat and reluctantly agrees.
Back at home, Liz hangs up the phone after telling her club the she won’t be doing the act after all. George comes home cheerfully singing “There’s No Business Like Show Business”.
“There’s No Business Like Show Business” is a song from Irving Berlin’s 1949 Broadway hit Annie Get Your Gun. It was introduced by Ethel Merman as Annie Oakley. In “Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined” (ILL S3;E11), Lucy Ricardo and the Mertzes burst into an rendition of the song as an impromptu audition for a Broadway producer. The song would also be quoted (not sung) by Lucy Ricardo in “Baby Pictures” (ILL S3;E5) and “Lucy Teaches Ethel Merman To Sing” (TLS S2;E18). Merman and the cast of “The Lucy Show” perform it in “Ethel Merman and the Boy Scout Show” (TLS S2;E19 ~ February 10, 1964).
GEORGE: “Hiya, Liz!”
LIZ: “Hiya, Bing.”
GEORGE: “How do the old pipes sound?”
LIZ: “Like they could use a little Drano.”
Liz is referring to singer, actor and comedian Bing Crosby, one of the biggest media stars of the 1940s. On “I Love Lucy” a Hollywood-bound Ricky called Crosby a bum – but dressed like him all the same. In “Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana” (1957) Susie MacNamara tries to convince Lucy to become a Bing Crosby fan instead Rudy Vallee. Crosby’s name was mentioned on “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.” The Drackett Company first launched the Drano product in 1923. Its purpose was to clear clogged pipes (not the human sort). Drano was originally produced in crystallized form.
Liz is surprised that George has suddenly changed his ‘tune’ and now wants to do the Revue with Liz as the star. He even has a song picked out for them. He sits at the piano and begins to play and sing “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart”.
“Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart” is a 1934 song with words and music by James F. Hanley. It was introduced in the Broadway revue Thumbs Up! The most notable recordings were made by Judy Garland, who recorded it numerous times, including in the 1938 film Listen, Darling in 1939. It later became a standard number in her concerts and TV shows.
Liz only has to sing one word “Zing!” After a few choruses, she stops the rehearsal, unhappy with her small part.
On television, the song was “Auf Wiedersehen, My Dear”
with Lucy only allowed to sing the word “Auf”!
George agrees to find another opening song. They start to work on their comedy patter. While rehearsing the jokes, Liz realizes that George is telling all the jokes while she is the straight man not saying anything funny.
LIZ: “I’m Liz Cooper, not Harpo Marx!”
Harpo Marx (born Adolph Marx) was the second of five performing brothers. Harpo was so named because of his musical talent on the Harp, but he also never spoke in his comedy. In 1922, he and his brothers left vaudeville to perform on Broadway, and soon landed in Hollywood making movies together throughout the 1930s and 40s. Lucille Ball starred with the Marx Brothers in Room Service (1938) and Harpo famously guest-starred on “I Love Lucy” in 1955.
GEORGE: “What would Amos be without Andy? What would Lum be without Abner?”
Amos ‘n’ Andy is a radio and television sitcom set in Harlem. The original radio show, which ran from 1928 to 1960, was created, written and voiced by two white actors, Freeman Gosden (Amos) and Charles Correll (Andy). When the show moved to television, black actors took over the roles of Amos (Alvin Childress) and Andy (Spencer Williams).
Lum and Abner was a radio comedy created by and starring Chester Lauck (as Abner Peabody) and Norris Goff (as Lum Edwards) that aired from 1931 to 1954. Modeled on life in a small town in Arkansas, the show proved immensely popular.
Liz says that since they are representing her club, she needs to have the larger role. George confesses that Mr. Atterbury wants him to represent the bank. Liz says the act is off. George says he find one of the girls at the bank to be his partner. Liz assumes the ‘girls’ at the bank are old fuddy duddies!
Next day, Miss Marilyn Williams (Gloria Blondell) arrives to rehearse. Her fuddy isn’t duddy at all! Liz tells Miss Williams that George left on a trip to South America. Just then, George bounds in and says he only went to put the car in the garage.
LIZ: “I always get confused. Our car is a Reo.”
Liz is punning on the homophones Rio (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Reo (the make of automobile). Reo (sometimes seen REO) was founded by Ransom E. Olds in August 1904.
Reo manufactured automobiles from 1905 to 1936, including the famous Reo Speed-Wagon, an ancestor of the pickup truck, which gave its name to the 1970s rock and roll group REO Speedwagon.
Although World War II truck orders enabled it to make something of a comeback, the company remained unstable in the postwar era. In 1975, they filed for bankruptcy.
Miss Williams and George go into the den and close the door to rehearse while Liz and Katie listen on the landing just outside, peeking through the transom. They hear carefree laughter from the room. George and Miss Williams are rehearsing a love scene when Liz bursts in offering them a snack. Miss Williams says that Liz is acting jealous. Liz calls her an ‘older woman’.
MISS WILLIAMS: “You don’t have to get nasty with me, Liz Cooper. I’m not going to steal your son away.”
LIZ: “My son! Listen here, you poor man’s Marjorie Main!”
MISS WILLIAMS: “You start anything and I’ll black your eyes to match your hair!”
LIZ: “My hair is red.”
MISS WILLIAMS: “I’m talking about the roots!”
Marjorie Main (1890-1975) was then a 49 year-old character actress who earned a 1948 Oscar nomination for The Egg and I. In 1954 she was a supporting player in Lucy and Desi’s The Long, Long Trailer (1953).
Next day, Liz has invited over a handsome man (Gerald Mohr) to rehearse a ‘passionate love scene with her’. It turns out that George and Gerald were fraternity brothers! George decides to sit by and watch Liz and Gerald rehearse.
The scene is similar to Mohr’s appearance as a psychiatrist on “I Love Lucy,” where he flatters Lucy and inadvertently makes Ricky jealous as part of his ‘treatment’.
George tries to distract Gerald by asking about former fraternity brothers. George and Gerald think the love scene will get a million laughs, which makes Liz dissolve into tears.
The night of the Red Cross show, Liz tells Katie she’s going to be George’s partner no matter what! George is on right after Evelyn and Her Magic Kazoo. Liz tells Miss Williams that George wants to see her in his dressing room – then locks her in!
On an early episode of “I Love Lucy,” a jealous Lucy also locked her husband’s performance partner away – in a storage closet – so that she could take her place. Much later, an envious Lucy locked Tallulah Bankhead in a backstage bathroom so she could steal the spotlight during the Westport PTA show.
Liz tells George Miss Williams couldn’t make it and she will talk her place. They go onstage. The music connecting the jokes is "When You Wore a Tulip and I Wore a Big Red Rose".
“When You Wore a Tulip and I Wore a Big Red Rose” was written in 1914 by Jack Mahoney and Percy Wenrich. At the time of broadcast (1949) it had been heard in sixteen films, including the 1942 film For Me And My Gal starring Judy Garland and 1949′s Chicken Every Sunday starring William Frawley (Fred Mertz). On “My Favorite Husband” it will also be heard in “Liz Writes A Song” (January 27, 1950).
This time, however, Liz has stolen all of George’s punch lines!
GEORGE: “A tramp came up to me and said he hadn’t had a bite in days.”
LIZ: “What’d you do? Bite him?”GEORGE: “Did you hear about the big fire at the shoe factory?”
LIZ: “I’ll bet some heal started it!”
GEORGE (hushed to Liz): “You’re supposed to say ‘Who stated it’.”
LIZ (loudly): “Two hundred souls were lost!”George tries to outsmart Liz with a joke she’s never heard.
GEORGE: “I know a girl so dumb she thinks a football coach has four wheels!”
LIZ: “How many wheels does it have?”
These are the same jokes that will be used in the television version “The Benefit” (ILL S1;E13) although the interlocutory music was changed to “We’ll Build A Bungalow”. The Arnazes loved the material so much that they started doing the “Songs and Witty Sayings” routine at various industry functions and charity events including the televised “Dinner with the President” event on November 25, 1953. The material was even part of the unreleased “I Love Lucy” movie.
End of EpisodeAl Jolson, Amos and Andy, Bing Crosby, Bob LeMond, Boola Boola, CBS, Drano, Gale Gordon, Gerald Mohr, Gloria Blondell, Harpo Marx, I love lucy, Lucille Ball, Lum and Abner, Marjorie Main, My Favorite Husband, Radio, Red Cross, Reo, Richard Denning, Ruth Perrott, The Benefit, THere’s NO business Like Show Business, Zing Went the Strings of My Heart -
LAWRENCE WELK
March 11, 1903
Lawrence Welk was born in the German-speaking community of Strasburg, North Dakota. He was sixth of the eight children of Ludwig and Christiana Welk, Roman Catholic Germans who emigrated from Odessa, Russian Empire (now Ukraine). He was a musician, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted the television program “The Lawrence Welk Show” from 1951 to 1982. His style came to be known as “champagne music”.
To make this concept visual, the production crew installed a bubble machine that spouted streams of large bubbles across the bandstand, imitating the fizzy bubbles in a glass of champagne.
He was known for two verbal taglines: his downbeat countdown “A-one, a-two” before he started conducting a song; and his placid exclamation “wunnerful wunnerful” both said in his trademark German-American accent (he did not learn to speak English until he was twenty-one). Coincidentally, Lucille Ball also had a unique way of say “Wonderful”.
In 1939 Welk made his screen debut in a Paramount short film (10 minutes) of his Champagne Music. He also did shorts for Universal in 1946 and 1949.
“The Lawrence Welk Show” began in 1951 on KTLA TV but moved to ABC network in 1955, where it ran until 1982.
Welk was not an actor, and only appeared as himself in one scripted show: “Here’s Lucy” in 1970. When Vivian visits, she expects Lucy to fulfill her promise to arrange a date with Lawrence Welk. Lucy doesn’t know Welk, so she borrows a wax dummy of the bandleader and convinces nearsighted Vivian to give up her glasses.
When the kids secretly convince the real Lawrence Welk to come to dinner, confusion is on the menu!
In the episode, Mary Jane tells Lucy that there is a wax figure of Lawrence Welk at the Movieland Wax Museum where her friend is the manager. The real-life museum was located in Buena Park, California. In addition to a wax Welk, a wax Lucille Ball was installed in 1963.
In February 1969, Lucille Ball had appeared on “The Jack Benny Birthday Special” which also featured Welk. Welk and Ball appeared in a sketch set in the old West.
Welk was a big fan of golf and in 1964 founded a company known as Welk Resort Group which still operates properties in North America including golf resorts.
“Older people loved Lawrence Welk. They associated his music with their youth. Now he’s gone. It’s not fair.” ~ Lucille Ball, LOOK Magazine, September 7, 1971
Welk married Fern Renner in 1931 and they were together until his death. They had three children. He died in 1992 at the age of 89.
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WELK WORDS ~ MENTIONS OF LAWRENCE ON “LUCYCOMS”
Welk’s face was seen on a record album that Lucy Carmichael won at a bank picnic in “Lucy and Clint Walker” (TLS S4;E24) in 1966.
In “Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (TLS S4;E20) in 1966, an old lady on a motorcycle asks Lucy where Elvis Presley lives. Lucy asks if she wouldn’t rather know where Lawrence Welk lived! Presley and Welk represented opposite ends spectrum of musical styles and tastes in the mid 1960s.
In “Lucy and the Starmaker” (TLS S6;E4) in 1967, Mr. Mooney cuts off Tommy Cheever’s (Frankie Avalon) ‘audition’ after just a few notes. Lucy remarks that “Dizzie Gillespie would have had a better chance with Lawrence Welk!” Gillespie was famous for free-form jazz riffs on the trumpet, while Welk was best known for the polka, waltzes, and more structured genres of music.
In the second episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1968, when Kim and Craig are on vacation at Jack Benny’s home in Palm Beach, Kim compares her brother’s ping pong game with Lawrence Welk.
In “Lucy’s Birthday” (HL S1;E18) in 1969, Welk was contrasted with Ringo Starr, the drummer for the Beatles, when the kids are trying to find their mother a date for her birthday.
In “Lucy The Shopping Expert” (HL S1;E20) also in 1969, Lawrence Welk was the punchline of a joke when Lucy insists on shaking the canned goods and listening to the noise they make.
In “Lucy and the Drum Contest” (HL S3;E4) in 1970, Craig says that Buddy Rich is his favorite musician. Uncle Harry says his is Guy Lombardo, who Lucy tells the kids is the Lawrence Welk of Harry’s generation. Lombardo and Welk were both popular bandleaders and cultural icons. The above photo of the two men (and Gila Rosenhause) was taken in 1971.
Welk is just one of the many celebrity names dropped by Milton Berle in “Milton Berle is the Life of the Party” (HL S6;E19) in 1974.
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WOMEN’S RIGHTS ~ PART 2
March 12, 1950
“Women’s Rights – Part 2” (aka “Equal Rights Role Reversal”) is episode #79 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on March 12, 1950.
Synopsis ~ Liz and Iris have bet George and Rudolph that they can hold down a job, and the boys have bet the girls that they can take care of the housework and cooking.
Although this episode is thematically linked to the previous one, “Equal Rights – Part 1”, they are self-contained stories.
Note: This program was used as a basis for the “I Love Lucy” episode “Job Switching” (ILL S2;E1) filmed on May 30, 1952 and first aired on September 15, 1952. The episode was colorized on December 7, 2014. Interestingly, the episode’s most famous sequence – perhaps of the whole series – in the Candy Factory – is not pat of the radio story.
“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) does not appear in this episode. It is the maid’s day off!
Hilda is the name of the Atterbury’s maid – like Katie, it is her day off, too!
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 (Sheridan Falls Employment Agency Clerk) 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”. Aside from Lucille Ball, Nelson is perhaps most associated with Jack Benny and was a fifteen-year regular on his radio and television programs. His trademark was playing clerks and other working stiffs, suddenly turning to Benny with a drawn out “Yeeeeeeeeees?” Nelson appeared in 11 episodes of “I Love Lucy”, including three as quiz master Freddy Fillmore, and two as Ralph Ramsey, plus appearance on “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” – making him the only actor to play two different recurring roles on “I Love Lucy.” Nelson returned to the role of the frazzled Train Conductor for an episode of “The Lucy Show” in 1963. This marks his final appearance on a Lucille Ball sitcom.
On television the role of the man at the employment agency is played by Alvin Hurwitz.
Elvia Allman (Blanche) was born on September 19, 1904 in Enochville, North Carolina. She started her performing career on radio in the 1920s, as both a storyteller and singer. Allman’s first episode of “I Love Lucy” is also one of the most memorable in TV history: “Job Switching” (ILL S2;E1) in September 1952. She played the strident foreman of Kramer’s Candy Kitchen. Allman returned to the show as one of Minnie Finch’s neighbors in “Fan Magazine Interview” (ILL S3;E17) in 1954. Changing gears once again she played prim magazine reporter Nancy Graham in “The Homecoming” (ILL S5;E6) in 1955. She made two appearances on “The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour“ – first as Ida Thompson, Westfield’s PTA director in “The Celebrity Next Door” (LDCH S1;E2) and as Milton Berle’s secretary when “Milton Berle Hides Out at the Ricardos” (LDCH S3;E1) in 1959. On “The Lucy Show” she was seen in “Lucy Bags a Bargain” (TLS S4;E17) and in “Lucy The Babysitter” (TLS S5;E16). Allman died on March 6, 1992, aged 87.
Coincidentally, Bea Benadaret also played a character named Blanche – Blanche Morton on “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show”. Since this radio episode does not contain the now famous Candy factor sequences, Allman plays one of the cleaners sent to clean up George’s kitchen disaster.
EPISODE
ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers tonight we see a story unfolding, a story that started last week when the Coopers and the Atterburys had a discussion on the proposed constitutional amendment granting women equal rights.”
It is agreed that Liz and Iris will go out and earn a living and the boys will stay home and take care of the cooking and cleaning. The boys fail to realize that it their maids’ day off.
The morning of the ‘great experiment’, Liz has her head buried in the newspaper, ignoring George, just as he usually does to her over breakfast. A car horn honks. It is Iris ready to pick up Liz for work. She kisses George goodbye and gets in the car with Iris. The girls are hungry – both husbands served inedible breakfasts – so they head for the local coffee shop.
Over breakfast they peruse the want ads.
LIZ: “How do you like that. You can’t get a job unless you can do something.”
Iris reads an ad stating “We Need Women” – but the applicants have to be under 25. Liz says she could apply, but Iris couldn’t. The position is for living statues at the Follies Theatre. Liz suggests they open their own Follies Theatre with chorus boys instead of girls and the first row reserved for bald-headed women! Iris flatly says ‘no’!
The ad for ‘living statues at the Follies Theatre” is undoubtedly a polite reference to Burlesque, a form of theatrical entertainment that generally featured female strippers and women wearing skimpy outfits for the titillation of men.
Iris spots an ad for an employment agency with a spotless record for placements. Despite Liz’s fear that their record is in danger of being broken by their applications, they decide to visit.
At the Cooper home, George answers to phone to Mary Margaret McAtterbury, who is looking to talk with ‘Phoebe Cooper’.
Rudolph is punning on the name Mary Margaret McBride. Under the pseudonym ‘Martha Deane,’ on radio McBride portrayed a fictional grandmother telling stories, offering advice, interviewing guests, and skillfully pitching products. During her career, she was heard on all three networks: CBS, NBC, and ABC, retiring in 1954. In “The Million Dollar Idea” (ILL S3;E13 ~ January 11, 1954), Ethel takes the name Mary Margaret McMertz when selling Aunt Martha’s Old Fashioned Salad Dressing on television.
George has finished washing the breakfast dishes, but Rudolph had no need to wash dishes. He tripped and fell – breaking all Iris’s plates. He assures George it wasn’t her good China – just something called Haviland.
Haviland & Co. is a manufacturer of Limoges porcelain in France, begun in the 1840s. Many of the older pieces are still in existence and are desirable as an antique or collectable.
The men discuss laundry. George thinks he over-starched Liz’s petticoats.
GEORGE: “When I tried to fold them, they broke in half. So I only put half as much starch in silk stockings. You don’t even have to hang them up, you just stand them in the corner!”
It must have been fun for the writers to see their outrageous idea of starched stockings turned into a visual joke for television. Ricky and Fred were just as bad at laundry as George and Rudolph.
Liz and Iris arrive at the Sheridan Falls Employment Center. The man who cheerfully greets them (Frank Nelson), turns dour when he realizes they are not potential employers but applicants.
LIZ: “What kind of jobs do you have open?”
NELSON: “What do you do?”
LIZ: “What kind of jobs do you have open?”
NELSON: “What do you do?”
LIZ: “What kind of jobs do you have open?”
NELSON: “You go first this time.”
LIZ: “Alright. What do you do?
NELSON: “Now cut that out!”Liz and Iris decide it’s best not to give their real names. Liz says she is Liz Bridget McGonnagal O’Brian. Iris says she is Iris McGonnagal. Liz says that she is currently working for Mr. George Cooper, where she is still employed, but there’s no chance for advancement.
The man tells him to peruse the jobs board and let him know if there’s anything they can do. They read out the list:
- Short Order Cook
- Western Union Boy (Liz can’t ride a bicycle)
- Japanese Gardner (Liz doesn’t want to get her hands dirty)
- Electrician
- Carpenter
- Steam Fitter (Liz didn’t even know steam came in sizes)
- Shoe Salesman
- Furniture Repairman for Moving Company
- Plumber’s Helper
- Deep Sea Diver
The first part ends with Liz reading the list. Announcer Bob LeMond does a Jell-O commercial providing a recipe for honey Jell-O topped with whipped cream.
ANNOUNCER: “As we return to the Coopers we find our two intrepid would-be wage earners still reading off the list of available jobs on the agency blackboard.”
- Exterminator
- Tombstone Cutter
- Lighthouse Keeper (Liz jokes about ‘light housekeeping’)
- Streetcar Conductor
- Master of Ceremonies for Laundromat
- Cabinet Maker’s Apprentice
- Drooler for Front of Doughnut Window
The Clerk returns to find them still there. He suggests a job at the carnival. All they have to do is stand absolutely still.
LIZ: “What is it? A television commercial for Forest Lawn?”
Forest Lawn Memorial Park is one of the six Forest Lawn cemeteries in Southern California. It is located in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles and known for the number of celebrities buried there. When Lucille
Ball died on April 26, 1989, she was cremated and her ashes were put at Forest Lawn. In 2002, however, her children, decided to move her remains to the family plot at Lakeview Cemetery in Jamestown. Harry Ackerman, director of “My Favorite Husband” is buried there. Frank Nelson’s ashes are at the Glendale location.
The clerk reveals that the job is at a carnival working for the knife thrower! Iris flatly says “no”. Liz wearily continues reading the list.
- Tailor
- Steeplejack
- Coal Miner
- Fish Breeder
- Toupee Maker
- Dye Caster
- Cast Dyer
- Snake Charmer
‘Prudence’ Cooper calls ‘Mary Margaret’ McAtterbury on the telephone to ask if he knows anything about rice.
RUDOLPH: “I remember it was thrown at me on one of the darkest days in my life.”
This exact line is spoken by Fred Mertz (William Frawley) in “Job Switching.” The symbolic tradition of throwing a handful of rice in the air (and on the newly married couple) goes back to the ancient Romans who used wheat or oat seeds, associated to the birth of a new life. The tradition was largely discontinued by venues who had difficultly cleaning up the tiny grains afterwards. Many people believe, incorrectly, it is because it was found to cause harm to birdlife, which is largely untrue.
George is unsure how much to use, but thinks one pound per person should be about right.
As he is talking on the telephone, the kitchen door begins to open by itself. The cooked rice has spilled over and onto the floor!
GEORGE: “Our kitchen looks like Sun Valley!”
Sun Valley, Idaho is a resort city where tourists can enjoy a variety of winter sports, including skiing on Bald Mountain and Dollar Mountain. The world’s first chair lift was erected in Sun Valley in 1936. Sun Valley was featured in the 1941 movie Sun Valley Serenade. Part of Abbott and Costello’s 1943 film Hit the Ice was shot in Sun Valley. In 1950 Esther Williams starred as the Duchess of Idaho in MGM’s Technicolor Musical. It was also the location of “The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour” episode “Lucy Goes To Sun Valley” in April 1958.
Rudolph agrees to rush over and help clean up. He’ll bring some raisins so they can at least make a decent rice pudding.
Meanwhile, at the Sheridan Falls Employment Agency…
- Xylophonist
- Zither Maker
- Pinfeather Plucker in Chicken Factory
Liz and Iris have come to the end of the list. The phone rings and it is George. He asks the clerk if he can hire a couple of cleaners. With only Liz and Iris available, they are sent on the assignment, without knowing where it was or who hired them. The clerk says he will team them up with Blanche (Elvia Allman), his most experienced cleaner. Blanche has the car and she will drive.
Liz is shocked to find Blanche has driven to 321 Bundy Drive – her own home! Liz doesn’t want to go inside, but Blanche doesn’t want to lose the work. Liz doesn’t tell Blanche that they are in her home. Blanche calls it a dump! They discover the rice, which has flowed all the way into the dining room. They hear a sudden clattering sound from the other room.
BLANCHE: “What was that?”
LIZ: “Those stockings in the kitchen fell over! They were standing up!”George and Rudolph come in and Liz and Iris hide under the table, pretending to be cleaning, so the boys don’t see them. Rudolph tells Blanche that after they finish, go over to his house. He left the iron on and there’s fire damage.
BLANCHE: “Burned the ironing board, huh?”
RUDOLPH: “Well, I couldn’t find the ironing board. I used the top of the piano.”Rudolph recognizes Iris’s shoes peaking out from under the table. Liz and Iris pretend to be Chinese cleaning ladies.
[Here Ball and Benadaret adopt stereotypical Chinese voices, comedy that would be considered racist in today’s world.]
The two couples begin to argue until the girls realize that they don’t like earning a living. The boys confess they don’t much like keeping house. The couples kiss. Blanche realizes she’s left to clean up the rice!
End of Episode
In the live Jell-O commercial Liz plays Leaping Lucy, a lady wrestler, being interviewed by Bob LeMond.
Leaping Lucy is the same voice Lucille Ball uses as Ricky’s hillbilly date in “The Girls Want To Go To A Nightclub” (ILL S1;E1) on October 15, 1951.
BOB: “What about General Foods?”
LEAPING LUCY: “What about him? I’ll wrassle him any time!”Leaping Lucy says she can read, but has trouble getting through her script for the commercial. She reads raspberry and cherry as “cherryberry”. All Lucy can say is “let’s wrassle!”
BOB: “Look for the big red letters on the… what?”
LUCY: “I give up!”
BOB: “Box! Box!”
LUCY: “No, let’s wrassle!”
Bob LeMond reminds listeners to watch for the April issue of Radio Mirror magazine with Lucille Ball on the cover. Inside is a “My Favorite Husband” contest.
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THE SURPRISE PARTY
March 10, 1951
“The Surprise Party” is episode #122 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on March 10, 1951.
Synopsis ~ Iris lets slip that one of Liz’s friends is throwing a party Saturday night, and Liz and George aren’t invited. But which friend is it?
“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.
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
Elvia Allman (Sally Roman) was born on September 19, 1904 in Enochville, North Carolina. She started her performing career on radio in the 1920s, as both a storyteller and singer. Allman’s first episode of “I Love Lucy” is also one of the most memorable in TV history: “Job Switching” (ILL S2;E1) in September 1952. She played the strident foreman of Kramer’s Candy Kitchen. Allman returned to the show as one of Minnie Finch’s neighbors in “Fan Magazine Interview” (ILL S3;E17) in 1954. Changing gears once again she played prim magazine reporter Nancy Graham in “The Homecoming” (ILL S5;E6) in 1955. She made two appearances on “The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour“ – first as Ida Thompson, Westfield’s PTA director in “The Celebrity Next Door” (LDCH S1;E2) and as Milton Berle’s secretary when “Milton Berle Hides Out at the Ricardos” (LDCH S3;E1) in 1959. On “The Lucy Show” she was seen in “Lucy Bags a Bargain” (TLS S4;E17) and in “Lucy The Babysitter” (TLS S5;E16). Allman died on March 6, 1992, aged 87.
Shirley Mitchell (Fran Lewis) was born in Toledo, Ohio, on November 4, 1919. She started her acting career on radio in Chicago but soon moved to Los Angeles. Mitchell was a regular on radio in series such as “Fibber McGee and Molly” and “The Great Gildersleeve”. She became friends with Lucille Ball in the late 1940s when she was featured in four episodes of “My Favorite Husband.” Mitchell reunited with Lucille Ball on “I Love Lucy” playing Marion Strong, a member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), “Lucy Tells the Truth” (ILL S3;E6) and “Lucy’s Club Dance” (ILL S3;E25). Shirley Mitchell died of heart failure on November 11, 2013, seven days after her 94th birthday.
Fran’s husband is named Tom, although we do not meet him.
EPISODE
ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers tonight, George and Liz have just finished dinner.”
Liz remarks on this being the first time they’ve stayed home in three weeks.LIZ: “The way we’ve been going you’d think the government was going to ration fun.”
Rationing in the US was introduced in stages during World War II.
The Office of Price Administration (OPA) warned Americans of potential gasoline, steel, aluminum, and electricity shortages. Most rationing restrictions ended in August 1945 except for sugar rationing, which lasted until 1947 in some parts of the country.
The telephone rings and George tells Liz they should just let it ring, lest someone tempt them out of their homes.
LIZ: “Maybe it’s ‘Sing It Again’ and we’re losing a jackpot.”
“Sing It Again” first aired on CBS radio in September 1948. In several markets it was aired right after “My Favorite Husband,” which was true of this particular date (March 10, 1951). It worked like this: a song would be performed, then sung again (hence the show’s title) with new lyrics, describing a famous celebrity. If the contestant (or a listener, phoned at random) solved the puzzle, they would have the opportunity to try to identify the ‘Phantom Voice’ from clues from the preceding weeks. The jackpot was huge for its time: $25,000 in cash and prizes. In 1950, it became one of the few programs ever to be simulcast on both radio and television.
George tells her to grit her teeth, but Liz can’t bear it and picks up the phone. It is only Iris. She is calling to ask Liz what she will wear to the party on Saturday night. Before Liz can ask “what party” Iris realizes Liz may not have been invited. Iris quickly hangs up before explaining.
Liz wonders who it is giving the party and why they weren’t invited. She doesn’t want to go, but wants to know who doesn’t like them enough not to invite them to a party. She dissolves into tears. George doesn’t care, but Liz can’t sleep until she knows who it is.
Liz calls Sally Roman (Elvia Allman), who, Liz says, is invited everywhere. She will undoubtedly spill the beans. Sally says she is going to the party on Saturday night, but doesn’t say where or who is throwing it.
SALLY: “Well, she’s your best friend!”
Liz wonders if they are talking about the same party to get her to say a name – but she doesn’t bite. Liz calls Iris back but Iris hangs up! Liz won’t quit – she continues dialing as the scene fades out.After 17 phone calls, Liz still hasn’t found out who is throwing the party. She tells George to put on his coat; they are going to confront Iris – despite it being ten o’clock at night! Liz says she can’t sleep until she finds out where it is they’re not going.
End of Part One
A public service announcement talks about community spirit in Western Germany, where US GIs built a playground for a children’s home in a town heavily bombed during the war. “We are Americans. As we go, so goes America.”
Part Two
ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers once again, we find them on their way over to the Atterburys. The Atterburys, not knowing that they are going to have the pleasure of late evening visitors, have already gone to bed.”
Rudolph and Iris are snoring loudly in bed when the phone rings. Rudolph picks it up but no one is there. He realizes it is the front doorbell. Rudolph reluctantly goes to answer the door – without his bedroom slippers – stubbing his toe.
Liz and George are at the door. Liz wants to ask Iris something, so Rudolph begrudgingly invites them in. Iris comes down to see who it is. Liz bluntly asks her who is having the party on Saturday night. Iris says she can’t tell her.
LIZ: “Who? Who? Who?”
RUDOLPH: “George, will you take your owl and go home?”
A variation on this owl joke was used on the very first episode of “I Love Lucy,” “The Girls Want To Go To a Nightclub” (ILL S1;E1):
ETHEL MERTZ (to Lucy, who is dialing the phone): “Who are you calling? Who, who, who?”
LUCY RICARDO: “Quiet, you sound like an owl.”And repeated in a new context on season one of “The Lucy Show,” “Lucy Buys a Sheep” (TLS S1;E5):
VIV BAGLEY: “Who got dinner last night? Who did the laundry last week? Who did the marketing yesterday? Who? Who?”
LUCY CARMICHAEL: “Apparently some crabby blonde owl.”Liz gets Iris to tell her that the ‘friend’ lives three blocks away from the Coopers. Liz is satisfied that she can figure it out from that clue. Rudolph falls asleep immediately – standing up!
Next morning, Liz’s breakfast is getting cold. She can’t stop thinking about the mystery party-thrower. She has come to the conclusion that it must be Fran Lewis. Now she has to call Fran and wangle an invitation. She doesn’t want to go – just to get invited – so she can decline!
On the telephone, Fran (Shirley Mitchell) says she was just about to call Liz – about her missing cat. Liz invites her over to her house on Saturday night, knowing she’d have no choice but to invite her to the party Liz thinks she’s giving. But no – Fran accept her invitation. Liz hangs up.
GEORGE: “Well? Did you find out who is giving the party?”
LIZ: “Yes. We are! My little plan backfired!”At the bank, Mr. Atterbury tells George that he only got three hours sleep last night due to heart-burn, which she attributes to Liz. Rudolph confides in George that the girls in the club are giving the party on Saturday night – in Liz’s honor. The party is being given at Marge Van Tassel’s on Saturday night. George calls Liz and tells her the truth about the party and that it is in her honor.
Later, Liz is talking to Fran on the phone. She tells Fran that her mother fell down and broke her leg so they have to break their plans for Saturday night. That takes care of that! Now all she has to do is wait for Marge’s invitation!
GEORGE: “Sometimes you amaze me.”
LIZ: “Sometimes I amaze myself!”End of Episode
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FASHION FILLER
March 9, 1936-1945
~MARCH 9, 1939~
~MARCH 9, 1939~
~MARCH 9, 1941~
~MARCH 9, 1941~
~MARCH 9, 1945~
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ORSON WELLES RADIO ALMANAC
March 9, 1944
“Orson Welles Almanac” (1944) is a CBS Radio series directed and hosted by Orson Welles. Broadcast live in California and Arizona via CBS West Coast studios, the 30-minute program was heard Wednesdays at 9:30pm beginning January 26, 1944. Its last broadcast was July 19, 1944. Orson Welles Almanac presented readings from classic works, drama, music, sketch comedy, magic, mindreading, and personal commentary by Welles.
Many of the shows originated from US Army camps where Welles entertained the troops. Welles had an ongoing battle with the program’s sponsor, Mobil Oil, which shortened the life of the series. Twenty six broadcasts were produced; all but four shows have survived.
This is the seventh episode of the series, aired on March 9, 1944. Previous guests were Groucho Marx, Lionel Barrymore, Ann Sothern, Robert Benchley, Hedda Hopper, and Victor Moore. Lucille Ball would return to the series to guest star on May 3, 1944. Unfortunately, this is one of the four lost episodes.
CAST
Lucille Ball (Guest Star) was then filming Ziegfeld Follies for release in 1945. Her films Best Foot Forward and Thousands Cheer (both released in 1943) were then in local cinemas. Ball was in her fourth year of a rocky marriage to Desi Arnaz, who she would divorce in September 1944, although the papers were never officially filed. The week prior to this broadcast, Ball guest starred on Bing Crosby’s radio show “Music Hall”.
Orson Welles arrived in Hollywood in 1939 when Ball was a contract player at RKO Studios. To squelch rumors that he was a homosexual, the studio sent Lucy to escort him to a premiere to be photographed. He later recalled,
“We went to see the opening of some movie or other—I simply picked her up at her house and we went to the movie and got photographed and came home and I said ‘Good night,’ and that was the end of that. That was the end of that romance, but it was the beginning of a long friendship.”
A veteran of the theatre, in 1941 the actor / director completed his magnum opus film Citizen Kane. In the 1950s he was under contract to Desilu to film a pilot for an anthology series called “The Fountain of Youth,” which wasn’t aired until 1958 and did not result in a series. Despite that, it won a Peabody Award, the only pilot to ever do so.
On February 5, 1956 Lucy and Desi appeared with Welles on Ed Sullivan’s “Toast of the Town.” They were there to promote their film Forever Darling. Welles was there to promote his revival of his King Lear at New York’s City Center, which he initially performed in a wheelchair due to injuries to both ankles. By the time he performed it on “Toast of the Town” (aka “The Ed Sullivan Show”) Welles was using a crutch.
When the Oscar-winning actor and director was down on his luck he was invited to stay in the Arnaz guest cottage. Notorious for his drinking and rude behavior, Lucy had to find a way to politely get rid of her guest so she decided to have an episode of “I Love Lucy” written for him so she could pay him a salary. With that in mind, Desilu paid him the exorbitant sum of $15,000! Ball’s memories of Welles were mixed. “I had a real love-hate relationship with Orson,” she said towards the end of her life. “His mind was awesome…but he was also a pain in the ass.”
At the time of this broadcast (March 8, 1944) Welles’ film Jane Eyre was playing in cinemas.
Ella Mae Morse (Musical Guest) was signed by Jimmy Dorsey at the age of 14 (she lied about her age and said she was 19) and was subsequently fired after discovering the truth about her age.
Her recording of “Cow Cow Boogie” was the first million-selling single for Capitol Records in 1942. Her biggest hit was “The Blacksmith Blues” released in February 1952. The song she sings here, “Shoo-Shoo Baby” (written by Phil Moore), would be heard in the about-to-be-released film South of Dixie in which she played Barbara Ann Morgan.
Agnes Moorehead (Prudence Pratt / Miss Grimace / Swoon Club Girl) was a member of Welles’ Mercury Theatre on stage and radio as well as starring in Welles’ films Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons. She is best remembered as Endora, Samantha’s mother-in-law on TV’s “Bewitched”.
Hans Conried (Colonel Peabristle / Hotel Operator / Frenchman / Dr. Snake Oil / Flat Top) first co-starred with Lucille Ball in The Big Street (1942). After being a recurring guest on her radio show “My Favorite Husband” (1948-51), he 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.
The All-Star Jazz Group: Mutt Carey (trumpet), Kid Ory (trombone), Jimmy Noone (clarinet), Buster Wilson (piano), Bud Scott (guitar), Ed Garland (bass), and Zutty Singleton (drums).
John McIntire (Announcer)
EPISODE
Orson Welles introduces the episode, opening with a Household Hint by Prudence Pratt and a Wonders of Science fact by Colonel Peabristle. After the opening music and Mobil Oil sponsorship message, Welles summons his secretary Miss Grimace to tell him who is on the show tonight. She reports that it is Miss Lucille Ball, although she hasn’t arrived yet. Welles says she is filing her tax forms.
WELLES: “Can you imagine. The Government wants Lucille Ball to fill in HER form!”
Miss Grimace admits the three members of The Orson Welles Swoon Club. Welles interrogates them as to their whereabouts during his public appearances. He wants new members, promising them nylons.
Oops! Welles mis-reads the script, saying “nylon baby socks” instead of “nylon bobby sox”. He corrects himself with a laugh and says “For me, it’s booby socks!”
Bobby soxer is a term for the wildly enthusiastic, teenage female fans of 1940s music, particularly Frank Sinatra.
Orson wants to know if they have gotten the new photographs he sent them. One of the Swoon Club compliments him on how he looks in his sarong – mistaking him for Dororthy Lamour in a Bob Hope / Bing Crosby picture.
Dorothy Lamour was nicknamed ‘The Sarong Girl’. In 1936 she donned her soon-to-be-famous sarong for her debut at Paramount, The Jungle Princess (1936), and continued to play similar parts through the war years and beyond. The most famous of these was in the popular Bob Hope / Bing Crosby “Road” pictures – a combination of adventure, music, and slapstick.
The Swoon Club feel sorry for Orson that he hasn’t won an Oscar, so they knit him a tie – which started out as a pair of socks.He dismisses the club.
When the 16th Academy Awards were distributed at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Thursday, March 2, 1944, neither of Welles’ 1943 motion pictures were among the nominees: Jane Eyre and Journey Into Fear, which he also co-directed and co-wrote. Welles shared a 1942 Oscar with Herman Mankiewicz for writing Citizen Kane, a bone of contention between them, since Mankiewicz later claimed he wrote the entire script. The backstory is explored in the modern film Mank (2020).
Miss Grimace reports that the Hotel Carlton is suing him. After he did a magic show there, the two rabbits ran rampant and did damage! Orson calls the hotel operator (Hans Conried) and learns that the hotel is now called the Carlton Rabbit Farm and the manager’s eyes have turned pink!
Welles asks Miss Grimace to send Lucille Ball roses. Miss Grimace says they are too expensive and he should send her something simpler, like phoenicia vulgaris. Welles says no because it sounds too dirty.
Here Welles ad libs, causing Agnes Moorehead to break character and laugh. He mentions Lewis Titterton, the NBC censor and says “If you had a name like Louis Titterton anything would sound dirty. Let’s get back to the script.” They try, but it takes a moment for their laughter to subside.
A Frenchman from a reducing salon (Hans Conried) approaches him for an estimate on a new body. He measures Welles’ body with a tape measure. He was once the girdle coordinator at Bullocks basement for 15 years.
FRENCHMAN: “If a size 44 tries to get into a 38, I help push!”
Announcer John McIntire does a live commercial for Mobilgas with some driving tips.
PART 2
Before a musical introduction, Dr. Snake Oil (Hans Conried) gives a tip about dislodging a fishbone caught in the throat.
The All-Star Jazz Group plays "Bésame Mucho“ ("Kiss me a lot”), a song written in 1940 by Consuelo Velázquez. It is now considered one of the most popular songs of the 20th century and of all times. It is also the most recorded and covered song in Spanish of all time.
Welles welcomes Lucille Ball to the show to studio audience applause. Welles says he’s written a sketch full of romantic love scenes. Orson improvs a commercial for a sponsor Krunchies, a noisy breakfast cereal that gets soggy in milk. He introduces…
“THE CASE OF THE BLUE BLOOD STAIN”
Orson plays Mickey, a detective on his night off, reading the evening paper. Lucy plays his adoring wife, Dora.
DORA: “Mickey, where were you last night?”
MICKEY: “Don’t be silly, you know how I feel about you. You’re the eighth wonder of the world.”
DORA: “Yeah, well, just don’t let me catch you with the other seven, bub!”Lounging in bed, Dora feels a cold hand which doesn’t belong to Mickey. She screams! There’s a dead man in their bed.
MICKEY: “You know how difficult it is to find a room these days.”
Detective Mickey notes that the dead man has 18 knife wounds in him and no holes in his shirt.DORA: “Must have been an inside job.”
They push the body off the bed and decide to turn out the lights and go to sleep. In the darkness, they hear a squeaky door.
WELLES (aside): “Fine thing, a squeaky door in an oil program!”
The audience loudly applauds this ad-lib by Welles, and even Lucy chuckles.
Dora insists there’s someone in the closet. A body falls out of the closet and onto the floor with a loud thud. Someone throws a rock through their bedroom window with a note on it.
Except the sound effect of broken glass does not happen. Welles laughs a bit but forges ahead.
MICKEY (reading the note): “Keep your mouth shut and throw a thousand dollars out of the window or you’ll never get another sounds effect…no, excuse me… or they’ll be four bodies in your room.”
Another rock comes through the window – with a sound effect this time!MICKEY (reading the note): "PS: I’ll settle for $950.”
A knock at the front door.MICKEY: “That must be the murderer. Come in! I’ll take that line again: That must be the murderer. Come in!”
The man, Flat Top (Hans Conried), pulls a gun on them and threatens to shoot.
DORA: “Where’s your patriotism? You can’t shoot him. Don’t you know the government is trying to save waste fats?”
During World War II, the US government urged Americans to save excess fat rendered from cooking and donate it to the army to produce explosives. Fats are used to make glycerin, and glycerin is used to make things blow up.
As gunfire rings out, Welles does a Krunchies commercial, extolling their virtues with strawberries and cream.
WELLES: “You can have strawberries and cream. What do you need Krunchies for?”
Mickey is bleeding. During the commercial, Mickey has hit Flat Top on the head and called the police!
John McIntire does a commercial for Mobil Oil. He urges motorists to keep their car oil clean to avoid repairs.
PART THREE
Welles introduces Ella Mae Morse, who sings “Shoo-Shoo Baby” backed by the All-Star Jazz Group.
The song was also heard in the 1944 film Follow The Boys aka Three Cheers for the Boys sung by the Andrews Sisters.
Welles then takes a serious tone, dedicating the show to the premise that ‘every man belongs to all men.’ He reads from “Meditation 17″ by John Donne (1572-1631).
Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris. Now this bell, tolling softly for another, says to me, Thou must die.
All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God’s hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another. And therefore the bell that rings to a sermon calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come, so this bell calls us all;
Who bends not his ear to any bell which upon any occasion rings? But who can remove it from that bell which is passing a piece of himself out of this world?No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Welles bids the audience goodnight.
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ALAN HALE JR.
March 8, 1921
Alan Hale Jr. was born Alan Hale MacKahan in Los Angeles to character actor Rufus Edward MacKahan, who used the stage name Alan Hale, and silent film actress Gretchen Hartman. His television career spanned four decades, but he was best known for his co-starring role as Captain Jonas Grumby (The Skipper) on the 1960s series “Gilligan’s Island.”
He made his screen debut at age 13 in Wild Boys of the Road (1933), but his film career did not begin in earnest until 1941, doing half-a-dozen films that year alone.
He made his television debut in 1950 in “Pitfall” an episode of “Robert Montgomery Presents.”
In 1952, Alan Hale Jr. played a department store mannequin of a hunter in Ellis in Freedomland, a full-length color industrial film for Westinghouse. Lucille Ball provided the voice of the washing machine.
That same year he played the title character on CBS’s “Biff Baker U.S.A.” (1952-54), his first principal role on television. His second title role was the Western “Casey Jones” (1957-58).
In December 1959, Hale made an appearance on Desilu’s “The Untouchables” in “The Tri-State Gang”.
In 1961 he did an episode of Desilu’s “The Real McCoys” playing a trailer park owner. His wife was played by Amzie Strickland.
He was back at Desilu Studios to film an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” “The Farmer Takes A Wife” which aired on New Year’s Day 1962. He addresses Barney Fife as “Little Buddy" the same nickname he used for Gilligan two years later. The catchphrase was taken from one of his real-life father’s school friends.
In December 1963 he finally worked with Lucille Ball on “The Lucy Show” episode “Lucy Puts Out a Fire at the Bank” (TLS S2;E9). Hale played Captain Burke, who trains the members of the Danfield women’s fire brigade.
Around this same time, Hale filmed the pilot of what would become “Gilligan’s Island.”
The character of Ginger, the movie star castaway was described during casting as a combination of Lucille Ball and Marilyn Monroe.
John Gabriel, the original Professor from the unaired series pilot, was seen as “Mary Jane’s Boyfriend” (HL S6;E20).
After some casting changes, the sitcom went to series and premiered in September 1964. The original series ran until 1967, with several reunions and reboots from 1974 to 1982. Like many performers seen on “Lucy” sitcoms, Hale was also featured on “Batman” in 1967. He played a lunch counter attendant coincidentally named Gilligan! The villain was Egg Head.
Alan Hale Jr. played Moose Manley in “Lucy and Wally Cox” (HL S2;E21) in 1970. Moose was a friend of Harry’s anxious to fix up his nervous son (Cox) with Lucy.
On “Where is My Wandering Mother Tonight?” (HL S6;E23) on March 11, 1974, the costuming of Dirty Jack (Jack Donohue) resembles that of the Skipper (Alan Hale Jr., inset) on “Gilligan’s Island” (1965-67).
Hale made his final screen appearance on a January 1988 episode of “The Law and Harry McGraw”.
Hale was married to Bettina Doerr from 1943 to 1963. They had four children. When they divorced, he married Naomi Hale, who was with him until his death in 1990.
Alan Hale Jr. died on January 2, 1990 after a battle with thymus cancer. He was 68 years old.
“I’m just delighted to say people all over the world, whether I have my cap or not, ‘Hello, Skipper, Hello Skipper,’ it’s like standing in-front of the fireplace, it’s a lot of warmth.” ~ Alan Hale Jr., 1985
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