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RIP Lyle Waggoner
1935-2020
Lyle Wesley Waggoner was born in Kansas City, Kansas. A former model, he was best known for his work on “The Carol Burnett Show” from 1967 to 1974, and for playing the role of Steve Trevor on “Wonder Woman” from 1975 to 1979.
Waggoner worked with Lucille Ball for all four of Ball’s appearances on “The Carol Burnett Show.” The first was on October 2, 1967, Carol’s fourth show of the series. Lucy and Carol stand in front of the curtain for some banter. At Lucy’s insistence, Carol introduces her to Lyle Waggoner. Much to Carol’s dismay, the two share a prolonged kiss and leave together.
Waggoner was also the show’s announcer. He appeared with the cast at the end of each episode as Carol tugged on her ear and said goodnight.
A year later, on November 4, 1968, Lucy returned to Carol’s show. Eddie Albert and Nancy Wilson were also guest stars. Lyle played the handsome stranger at the door in “As The Stomach Turns”, the show’s soap opera satire.
Carol (as Marion) and Lucy (as Laura Peterson) are widows and funeral groupies. They get a visit from Julia (Nancy Wilson), the town’s first negro. [Note: This the exact word used. This episode was aired at the height of the civil rights movement and also satirizes the TV show “Julia” starring Diahann Carroll, the first black woman to play a lead in a sitcom.]
On November 24, 1969 Lucille Ball was again on “The Carol Burnett Show”. George Carlin was also a guest. A highlight was a spoof of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, a controversial 1969 film about two couples who end up in bed together. Bob was played by Lyle Waggoner, Carol was Carol Burnett, Ted Harvey Korman, and Alice was played by Lucille Ball. Finally, Lucy gets Lyle into bed!
Ted: “I’m afraid the neighbors will talk.”
Alice:“No, they won’t.”
Carol:“Why not?”
Alice:“We’re the neighbors.”
In the final sketch, Lucy and Carol play the Rock Sisters, a vaudeville duo who finally get work again as senior citizens. Lyle Waggoner played the theatre manager who fired the act from his vaudeville theatre.
The fourth and final time Lucy and Lyle performed together on “The Carol Burnett Show” was on October 19, 1970. Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett portray stage mothers pushing their precocious offspring in an audition, and star in a spoof of Some Like It Hot. Mel Torme is the musical guest.
Their final appearance on the same show was on “Dinah’s Place” hosted by Dinah Shore on June 24, 1974, although Lyle and Lucy were in different segments. Ball talks about her role in Mame and demonstrates ballet-barre exercises. Waggoner shows how to construct an art deco table.
Although Lucille Ball was not involved, Lucie Arnaz and Lyle Waggoner performed together on “The Magical World of Disney” celebrating the opening of Space Mountain on March 23, 1975. He was just about to start shooting “Wonder Woman” and she was a few months into playing Kim Carter on “Here’s Lucy.”
In 1979, he left acting and founded Star Waggons, a company that leases customized location trailers for use by the entertainment industry. Since 1961, he was married to Sharon Kennedy, with whom he had two children. He died on March 17, 2020 at age 84
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Madelyn Pugh
March 15, 1921 – April 20, 2011
Pugh was co-writer of the following Lucille Ball television shows:
- 180 episodes of “I Love Lucy” (1951-57)
- 5 episodes of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” (1957-58)
- 58 episodes of “The Lucy Show” (which she helped create; 1961-64)
- 29 episodes of “Here’s Lucy” (1968-74)
- 5 episodes of “Life With Lucy” (which she helped create; 1986)
- “The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse: K.O. Kitty” (1958)
- “Lucy Calls the President” (1977)
Madelyn Pugh was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1921. Although the character of Fred Mertz (one Pugh helped create) is generally thought to be from Steubenville, Ohio, in one episode of “I Love Lucy” Ethel says her mother-in-law “comes all the way from Indiana once a year just to look under her rug for dirt!
Pugh became interested in writing while serving as co-editor of the Shortridge High School newspaper in Indianapolis, Indiana with classmate Kurt Vonnegut.
In “Lucy Becomes A Reporter” (TLS S1;E17) Pugh used Shortridge as Vivian Bagley’s alma mater. Pugh even loaned the show her high school yearbook as a prop.
Pugh graduated from the Indiana University School of Journalism in 1942. Her first professional writing job was writing short radio spots for WIRE, an Indianapolis radio station.
When her family moved to California, she got work as a radio writer, first for NBC and then for CBS, where she met Bob Carroll J. Early in her career, she was frequently the only female writer on staff.
At CBS Radio, Pugh forged a partnership with Carroll which lasted more than 50 years. Together they wrote some 400 television programs and roughly 500 radio shows. When Pugh first proposed a writing partnership, Carroll said, “I don’t want to get tied down. I’ll give it a year.”
While the team was writing for “The Steve Allen Show,” they became interested in writing for Lucille Ball’s new radio show, “My Favorite Husband.” They got hired and under the supervision of head writer Jess Oppenheimer, the pair wrote Ball’s radio program for its 2½ years on the air.
Pugh and Carroll helped create a vaudeville act for Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz, which became the basis for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy.” The pilot was not publicly aired until 1990, but helped helped convince sponsor Philip-Morris to get behind the new show.
"Madelyn always said she’s more expendable than Lucy, but not for me she wasn’t. So we’d wrap Madelyn in rugs and strap her into swivel chairs and hang her out of windows, and she came through nicely. So I said, ‘If it works for Madelyn, it will work for Lucy.’” ~ Bob Carroll Jr.
Together with Oppenheimer and/or Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf, who joined the show at the beginning of the fifth year, the team tackled 39 episodes per season for the run of the series. Although they never won, Pugh and Carroll were nominated for three Emmy Awards for their work on the series.
“Lucy was willing to do anything if it was funny. She’d black out her teeth, wear funny wigs. She never said, ‘What do you mean setting fire to my nose?’ And she didn’t care how dangerous it was. It was very freeing to write anything in the world and know she had the nerve to do it.” ~ Madelyn Pugh, 2001
When Lucy Ricardo is considering names for her unborn baby, the names Robert and Madelyn were mentioned to honor writers Carroll and Pugh.
Although she never craved the limelight, Pugh can be glimpsed in the Paris Cafe where Lucy dines on snails but ends up under arrest. Her table mate is a goateed Bob Carroll, who got far more screen time on the series.
On Christmas Eve, 1955, Pugh married TV producer Quinn Martin, which ended in divorce. In 1964 she married Richard Davis. Each time, Pugh adapted her screen credit to reflect her marriage making her Madelyn Martin or Madelyn Pugh Davis or Madelyn Davis in various shows.
Pugh and Carroll’s first TV credit was an episode of “Hollywood Theatre Time” (featuring Elvia Allman) that aired a month before the October 15, 1951 premiere of “I Love Lucy.”
Pugh and Carroll even helped create “Kocham Klane” (an “I Love Lucy” remake in Poland). They worked on the films Forever, Darling and Yours, Mine and Ours, starring Ball. They created and wrote the Desi Arnaz Productions series “The Mothers-in-Law” (filmed at Desilu).
In September 2005, Madelyn Pugh Davis, who lived in California, released her memoirs, titled Laughing with Lucy, written with Bob Carroll, Jr.
In 1992, Carroll and Davis received the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for achievement in television writing from the Writers Guild of America. And in 2001, the UCLA Film School honored them for lifetime achievement in television writing.
“Madelyn was such a class act. She was a very private person, very soft-spoken, genteel, feminine — all those lovely words you associate with great ladies. And yet she had the ability to write this wacky, insane comedy for my mother.” ~ Lucie Arnaz
Pugh died on April 20, 2011 at age 90. In addition to a son, Davis was survived by four stepchildren; nine grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
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Gene Kelly… An American in Pasadena
March 13, 1978
Directed by Marty Passetta ~ Written by Buz Kohan ~ Choreography by Gene Kelly
The title puns on Kelly’s 1951 film An American in Paris and where the special was taped (and where Kelly made his home) Pasadena, California.
The city of Pasadena is known for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade. In addition, Pasadena is also home to many cultural institutions, including the Pasadena Playhouse, Pasadena Symphony, and the Ambassador Auditorium.
Featuring Lucille Ball, Frank Sinatra, Gloria De Haven, Kathryn Grayson, Betty Garrett, Cyd Charisse, Cindy Williams, Liza Minnelli, and Janet Leigh. Natalie Wood was scheduled to appear on the show, but had to back out at the last minute. Also in the cast is Bridget Kelly, his daughter, and specialty dancer Alex Romero.
Gene Kelly was an Oscar-winning performer, choreographer, and director who did four films with Lucille Ball between 1943 and 1967.
- DuBarry Was A Lady (1943)
- Thousands Cheer (1943) also with Gloria DeHaven & Kathryn Grayson
- Ziegfeld Follies (1945) also with Cyd Charisse & Kathryn Grayson
- A Guide For the Married Man (1967) directed by Gene Kelly
A Hollywood legend for his effortless dancing, Kelly died in 1996 at age 83.
The special integrated film clips from some of Kelly’s most popular films, including Brigadoon (which inspired “Lucy Goes To Scotland”) and Singin’ in the Rain (which was performed in “The Hollywood Unemployment Follies”).
In an interview about directing the special, Marty Pasetta described Kelly as a “workhorse.”
The 60-minute special was taped at Pasadena College In February 1978 and aired March 13th on CBS. It was a black-tie fundraiser for a Los Angeles Charity.
Coincidentally, the special aired on a Monday night, just like nearly all of Lucille Ball’s new programs.
The special opens with exterior footage of the theatre with dancer’s dressed as in An American in Paris, as well as Jerry, the cartoon mouse Kelly danced with in Anchors Aweigh (1944) as some of the formally attired audience looks on.
Since the show aired a week before St. Patrick’s Day, Kelly enters down the theatre aisle leading a bagpiper band and wearing an emerald green top hat.
Lucy is discovered in the audience, shouting for Arthur Godfrey (who was not in attendance).
On March 27, 1978, Lucille Ball and Arthur Godfrey both participated in “CBS On The Air” representing Monday nights in the week-long celebration of their first five decades.
On the special, Kelly and Ball recreate the Cole Porter song “Friendship” from their film Du Barry Was A Lady.
In the film, however, the song was a trio with Red Skelton.
Lucy strips off her skirt showing of her legs for the number.
“Friendship! Friendhsip! Just the perfect blendship!”
Lucille Ball also sang the song (with Vivian Vance) on her television show “I Love Lucy” in the episode “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3). While the song is now closely associated with the 1934 musical Anything Goes, it was actually written for Ethel Merman and Burt Lahr to sing on Broadway in DuBarry Was a Lady (1939).
Lucy played Merman’s role in the 1943 movie version of DuBarry with Red Skelton and Gene Kelly. When Lucy and Ethel perform it here, she repeats some of the same choreography she did in the film. Merman, unhappy that Lucy took her role in DuBarry and was now singing ‘her’ song on national television, insisted that “Friendship” be inserted into a 1954 TV version of Anything Goes starring Burt Lahr that she did just six months later. The song has remained in Anything Goes ever since. The song has been performed as both a duo and a trio.
LUCY, THE KELLY GIRL
The first time Gene Kelly shared the small screen with Lucy (as well as Desi and Cyd Charisse) was for the 30th Anniversary of MGM on “Toast of the Town” hosted by Ed Sullivan. It was aired on Valentine’s Day 1954.
Lucy and Kelly next turned up on the same TV show with “Jackie Gleason’s 51st Birthday Celebration” in February 1967.
Gene Kelly was a presenter at the 1968 Emmy Awards where Lucille Ball won for Best Actress in a Comedy Show. It was aired on NBC.
Lucy and her husband Gary were spotted in the audience in “Ol’ Blue Eyes is Back”, a 1973 Frank Sinatra special with special guest Gene Kelly. Lucille Ball did not perform or speak. The show was nominated for two Emmy Awards and was issued on DVD.
In 1976, Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly were both part of a four and a half hour extravaganza celebrating 50 years of the peacock network.
That same year, Lucy and Kelly were both on the dais for “The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Danny Thomas” another NBC outing for Lucy.
Also in March 1978, the same year as “An American in Pasadena”, Lucy, Sinatra, and Kelly participated in NBC’s “A Tribute to Mr. Television Milton Berle”.
Just after the turn of the year 1980, Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly are a few of the many guests of Frank Sinatra celebrating his 64th birthday and 40th year in show business. Taped at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas it aired on…NBC!
In 1980, after several years of moonlighting at the peacock network, Lucille Ball finally signed a contract with NBC. To announce her change in networks, NBC produced the 90-minute special “Lucy Moves To NBC” which featured many of the NBC stars and special guests, including Gene Kelly.
At a Hollywood restaurant, Lucy and Gale Gordon encounter Gene Kelly.
Gloria DeHaven was also in the special in a show-within-the-show sitcom segment titled “The Music Mart” performing opposite Gene Kelly’s friend and co-star Donald O’Connor. Lucy has a cameo as Sister Hitchcock, a character named for director Alfred Hitchcock, who often did cameos in his own films.
In 1985, Lucille Ball joined Cyd Charisse, Janet Leigh, and Frank Sinatra for “The Friars Club Presents a Salute to Gene Kelly” on NBC. Also in attendance was Natalie Wood, who backed out of “An American in Pasadena” as well as fellow Hollywood hoofer, Fred Astaire.
PASADENA POTPOURRI
In the 1960 film The Facts of Life, Kitty (Lucille Ball) and Larry (Bob Hope) are two friends from suburban Pasadena embarking on a flirtation.
The exterior shots of the Beardsley home in the 1968 Lucille Ball / Henry Fonda film Yours, Mine & Ours is located in Pasadena, California. Coincidentally, the 2005 remake was filmed at different home in Pasadena.
In “Lucy and the Soap Opera” (TLS S4;E19) the gardener (a heavily disguised Lucy Carmichael) says he has a family of 97 with cousins in Pasadena, Glendale, Rodondo Beach, Cucamonga, and ‘Horrywood’ (“a little suburb between Anaheim and Azusa”). Later, disguised a the little old lady, Lucy repeats the same list of cities.
In “Lucy and the Ex-Con” (HL S1;E15) Lucy and Wally Cox go undercover as typical little old ladies named Abigail Throckmorton and Lydia Perkins. Cox adds “of the Pasadena Perkins’.” This played on the tremendously popular 1964 song “Little Old Lady From Pasadena” by Jan and Dean.
In a 1970 episode of “Here’s Lucy,” guest star Liberace tries on his light-up jacket and says “This’ll really turn them on in Pasadena!” He could be referring to his senior citizen female fans – the “little old ladies from Pasadena” – as the song says.
The Emmy Awards were often hosted at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. In 1981, Lucille Ball was both presenter and honoree. She received a standing ovation, which moved her to tears.
The action of the short-lived “Life With Lucy” takes place in South Pasadena, California. Lucy (Barker) and John Ritter performed in a play at the Pasadena Playhouse, a real-life theatre that hosted many name actors, including Charles Lane, a character actor seen on “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show.” Others included Florence Bates, George Reeves (raised in Pasadena), Eve Arden, Ruth Buzzi, Max Showalter, Jamie Farr, Moroni Olsen, Robert Preston, and Eve McVeagh.
An American in Pasadena, Arthur Godfrey, Bob Hope, Danny Thomas, DuBarrry Was a Lady, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Friendship, Gale Gordon, Gene Kelly, Gloria DeHaven, Here’s Lucy, I love lucy, Jackie Gleason, Jan & Dean, Liberace, Life With Lucy, Little Old Lady From Pasadena, Lucille Ball, Lucy and Ethel Buy The Same Dress, Lucy Moves To NBC, MGM, NBC, Pasadena Playhouse, Red Skelton, The Facts of Life, The Lucy Show, tv, Wally Cox, Yours Mine & Ours -
ETHEL for PRESIDENT!
Randy Rainbow’s “Any Dem Will Do”
In satirist Randy Rainbow’s video “Any Dem Will Do” none other than Ethel Mertz is on a laundry list of potential nominees for the Democratic nominee for President in 2020. Rainbow’s song parody uses two songs from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – “Any Dream Will Do” and “Joseph’s Coat.”
Watch for Ethel at the 4:48 mark, but don’t blink!
This is not the first time Ethel Mertz has campaigned for office. She rain for President (of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League, that is) in “The Club Election” (ILL S2;E19). It was a hotly contested race with best friend and tenant Lucy Ricardo.
Viv Bagley, on the other hand, was reluctant to even be a campaign worker when Mr. Mooney ran for comptroller. Lucy talked her into it in “Lucy Goes Into Politics” (TLS S2;E25).
Don’t forget to vote!
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RIP James Lipton
1926-2020
James Louis Lipton was an American writer, producer, host, actor and dean emeritus of the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in New York City. He was the executive producer, writer and host of the cable television series “Inside the Actors Studio” which debuted in 1994. He retired from the show in 2018.
His production company James Lipton Productions produced the 1978 television special “Happy Birthday, Bob” celebrating the 75th Birthday of Bob Hope at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Among the many stars that paid tribute to Hope, was Lucille Ball, who reminisced about their four films together.
LUCY: “They were all fun, frantic, and foolish.”
Lipton also was Executive Producer (and one of the writers) of “Bob Hope’s High-Flying Birthday Extravaganza” on May 25, 1987.
On the deck of an aircraft carrier, Bob Hope salutes the US Air Force’s 40th anniversary. Lucy and Bob sing “I Remember It Well” by Lerner and Loewe. Other guests included Kirk Cameron, Phyllis Diller, Don Johnson, Emmanuel Lewis, and Glen Campbell.
In 1988, Bob Hope was again the center of a celebration produced by Lipton: “Happy Birthday Bob! 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years With NBC”. Naturally, Lucille Ball was one of those 50 stars. Lipton also wrote lyrics for the program with Cy Coleman as composer, including Lucille Ball’s “Comedy Ain’t No Joke.” Lipton and Coleman were nominated for an Emmy for this work. This is officially Lucille Ball’s final “performance” (but not appearance) before her death.
For his own show, “Inside The Actors Studio”, he was nominated for 20 Emmy Awards, winning once in 2014. He died on March 2, 2020 at age 93.
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Henry Durrell Ball
September 16, 1887 – February 28, 1915
Lucille Ball’s father, Henry Durrell Ball, known as “Had” to friends and family, died on February 28, 1915, at 1am, according to his death certificate. Oddly, his death certificate lists the date as February 27, possibly due to the death occurring at 1am.
The official cause of death was typhoid fever. He left his wife Desiree (”Dede”), and a daughter, age four, Lucille (”Lucy”). His wife was pregnant with his second child at the time of his death. His son, Frederick (”Fred”) was born in July 1915. His family is distantly related to George Washington, first President of the United States. Henry Ball was just 28 years old when he died, having been born on September 16, 1887 in Sheridan, New York. Coincidentally, this was the same year that William Frawley (Fred Mertz) was born.
Rumors persist that Henry and Desiree also had another daughter, Ethel Madeline Mitchell (nee Ball). No tangible proof establishes the year of birth or validity of the claim. The rumor was probably motivated by the name “Ethel”.
At the time of his passing, he was living at 126 Biddle Street, in Wyandotte, Michigan. Professionally, Ball was a lineman for the Bell Telephone Company. He took job offers that moved his family across the country, including Montana and New Jersey.
“I do remember everything that happened,” Lucille said. “Hanging out the window, begging to play with the kids next door who had measles, the doctor coming, my mother weeping. I remember a bird that flew in the window, a picture that fell off the wall.” ~ Lucille Ball
The death of her father at such an early age had a great impact on the future queen of comedy. Throughout her television career, and the four situation comedies built around her, the “Lucy” characters had mothers, but their references to their fathers remained vague and off-screen. There are one or two anecdotal mentions of fathers, but nothing of any substance, let alone emotional resonance.
The one notable exception is in “Lucy and Johnny Carson” (HL S2;E11). When appearing on “The Tonight Show” and playing Stump the Band, Lucy Carter chooses a song titled “Snoops the Lawyer” that she says her father sang to her when she was a child.
Another was in “Mother of the Bride” (LWL S1;E8) in 1986, where Lucy Barker and her sister Audrey (Audrey Meadows) mention their father in a private conversation in the kitchen.
The location of Henry’s passing, Wyandotte, Michigan, haunts early seasons of “I Love Lucy” through a framed portrait of Major John Biddle painted by Thomas Sully (1783-1872). In 1818, Biddle (1792-1859) acquired 1,800 acres of land south of Detroit and built an estate which was later developed into the city of Wyandotte, Michigan. Lucille Ball was about a year old when her family moved to Wyandotte so that her father could take a job with Michigan Bell. Coincidentally, they lived at 126 Biddle Street. When Henry died the family moved back to Jamestown, New York, where Lucille had been born in 1911.
The portrait of Biddle turns up again during season 5 in “Lucy Goes to a Rodeo” behind the desk of Ricky’s new agent, Johnny Clark.
OH, HENRY!
Only minor characters in Lucille Ball series’ shared her father’s Christian name:
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On Lucy’s radio show “My Favorite Husband” an elevator operator played by Louis Nicoletti was named Henry.
- The nearsighted waiter played by Frank Nelson in “Lucy Changes Her Mind” (”Pork chops, huh?”) was named Henry.
- The tourist from Kansas at the top of the Empire State Building in “Lucy is Envious” was called Henry (Dick Elliott) by his wife, Martha.
- The psychiatrist friend of Ricky’s in “The Inferiority Complex” (“Treatment, Ricky! Treatment!”) played by Gerald Mohr was named Dr. Henry Molin.
- Ralph Dumke played Henry Opdyke in the film Forever Darling.
- William Windom played Jerry Carmichael’s handsome History teacher Henry Taylor in “Lucy Digs Up a Date”. Ironically, Lucy would later claim Taylor was her maiden name!
- A teller at the Westland Bank was named Henry (Irwin Charone) in “Lucy Gets Mooney Fired.”
- A showroom waiter played by Milton Frome in “Lucy and Donny Osmond” was named Henry.
- A college student in “Lucy and Andy Griffith” played by Hank Stohl is named Henry.
Like her own mother, Dede (who is said to have attended every filming of her daughter’s television shows) Lucy Carmichael, Lucy Carter, and Lucy Barker are all widows with children. Lucy Carmichael went the extra mile to be both mother and father to her children in “Lucy Becomes a Father” (TLS S3;E9) in 1964.
“Several days later Desirée and Lucille accompanied Had’s body on the long train ride to upstate New York. On the chill, iron-gray morning of March 5, Had was buried at Lake View Cemetery in Jamestown. Lucille looked on blankly, oblivious to the glances in her direction. At the last moment, as Had’s casket was lowered into the grave, the loss suddenly hit home. The little girl was led away screaming to her grandparents’ house on Buffalo Street in Jamestown. Mother and child had no other refuge.” ~ BALL OF FIRE by Stefan Kanfer
When Lucille Ball passed away on April 26, 1989, she was first buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood. Three years later, her children had her exhumed and moved to the family plot at Lake View Cemetery in Jamestown, where Lucy now rests with parents, as well as her brother and grandparents.
A new headstone was also created. “You’ve Come Home” -
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RIP Peggy Clark
Margaret ‘Peggy’ Clark Schwartz (extreme right) was a singer and member of the famed Clark Sisters, later known as The Sentimentalists. She started performing with her sisters at age four. Hailing from Grand Forks, North Dakota, Peggy was only twenty-three years of age when she signed with the Tommy Dorsey Band to replace the popular Pied Pipers, after the Pipers had quit Dorsey’s band to go out on their own.
“In those days, you had to be young and stupid. You also had to be pretty needy … it was almost comical when you look at it; it was part of the growing-up process!" ~ Peggy Clark
Outside of the group, Peggy was a successful studio singer for over four decades. She was also a member of The Randy Van Horne Singers, who sang the themes from The Jetsons and The Flintstones, and made regular appearances on Nat King Cole’s TV program and and served as background singer for all seasons of The Carol Burnett Show.
In 1972, she appeared on “Here’s Lucy” in “A Home is Not An Office” (HL S5;E4) as June, a member of Lucy’s Canary Club. They sang “Camptown Races” and “Hello Lucy” to the tune of “Hello Dolly”.
Her husband was Wilbur Schwartz who was lead clarinet for the Glenn Miller Band and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra and an extremely successful session musician. Together they had three children and their daughter Nan Schwartz is a Grammy winning composer-arranger.
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RIP Robert Conrad
1935-2020
Robert Conrad (born Conrad Robert Falk) was an actor probably best known for his role as the sophisticated Secret Service agent James T. West in “The Wild, Wild West” (1964-68) and later as World War II ace Pappy Boyington in the television series “Baa Baa Black Sheep” (syndicated as “Black Sheep Squadron”) from 1976 to 1978.
On December 5, 1977, he was the very first act introduced by Ringmaster Lucille Ball on “Circus of the Stars II”. Conrad walked a tightrope then performed the ‘death-defying slide for life’, which involved him sliding down a wire upside down with his feet in a loop!
In 1986, Conrad and Lucille Ball were on hand for an “All-Star Party for Clint Eastwood”. As a former honoree, Ball was named ‘hostess’ of the star-studded evening.
During the early to mid-60s, Lucille Ball, Clint Eastwood (in “Rawhide”) and Conrad all had big hit television shows on CBS.
Conrad was 84 years old.
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RIP Kirk Douglas
1916-2020
Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch) was an actor, producer, director and author. After an impoverished childhood with immigrant parents and six sisters, he made his film debut in 1946. He went on to become one of Hollywood’s most enduring and popular actors, earning three Oscar nominations and receiving an honorary Oscar in 1996.
In 1966, he did a cameo as himself on “The Lucy Show” in “Lucy Goes To A Hollywood Premiere” (TLS S4;E20). Douglas was introduced as “The star of two great films: ‘The Heroes of Telemark’ and ‘Cast a Giant Shadow.’” The Heroes of Telemark was released in the UK in November 1965, but would not premiere in the US for a month after this episode first aired. One month later (March 30, 1966) Cast a Giant Shadow made its debut.
In the second episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1968, guest star Jack Benny is using his home as a hotel. Reading off the list of celebrities who have stayed there, Lucy comes to “Mr. and Mrs. Kirk Douglas.” From 1954, Douglas was married to Anne Buydens, his second wife.
Dais Duty
In 1978, The American Film Institue (AFI) honored Henry Fonda with tributes from Lucille Ball and Kirk Douglas, among many others. That same year, they were both on hand again to tribute Milton Berle in a televised celebration. And a third time in early 1979 on a Friar’s Club Tribute to Johnny Carson.
In 1986, at the 38th Annual Emmy Awards, Lucille Ball was a presenter and Clint Eastwood was a nominee for playing the title role in the TV movie Amos. On January 2, 1988, to celebrate the opening of the Bob Hope Cultural Center at Palm Springs, Ball, Douglas, and dozens of friends offered comedy and musical performances to honor the building’s namesake. Lucille Ball and Kirk Douglas were both long-time residents of Palm Springs.
Kirk Douglas died on February 5, 2020, at the age of 103.
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