KSAV Talking Television
In April 2008, I was interviewed by Dave White,
then host of KSAV's Talking Television. To hear
the two one-hour interviews, go to www.KSAV.org;
click on the Archives link on the left side of the page;
click on “Talking Television With Dave White”; finally,
click on Lucille Ball, Parts 1 and Part 2. My interviews
begin about a half hour into each show. I was honored
to be on the program and, yes, I had a "Ball."
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WHAT'S NEW IN THE LUCYVERSE?
She's New York State's best-known export: Lucille Ball, generally acknowledged as the greatest female slapstick comedienne of our time. If you can't get enough news about the wacky redhead, her co-stars, and her life, here's where you'll find it. Dig in and enjoy!
02.14.10 KISS, KISS
Today is of my favorite made-up holidays ... Valentine's Day, of course. It's a day when couples feel obligated to give cards (thanks, Hallmark!), feed their loved one chocolate(s) of some kind or give them flowers, and in general act more romantic than they do the rest of the year. In an effort to save you-all some calories, I'm offering a virtual Hollywood air-kiss, courtesy of my favorite fictional couple: Lucy and Ricky Ricardo (a.k.a. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz). This billboard lit up Times Square in New York circa 1997 as part of Apple Computer's "Think Different" campaign. This is part of the ad copy for one of the print ads: "Here’s to the crazy ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." Lucy and Desi did think different. They thought the public was ready for a switch from baggy-pants vaudeville comedy on TV to situation-related comedy. They filmed their show live in front of an audience, thus creating the rerun. Desi and Oscar-winning cinematographer Karl Freund came up with a unique three-camera shooting technique, to get all the good angles while shooting, and rigged a special editing console (dubbed "the three-headed monster") to go with it, both of which revolutionized the sitcom and is still used today. While Lucy and Desi themselves thought very differently about certain things, they came together on loving each other, working together, and creating a masterpiece that is still analyzed, and most important, enjoyed, today, almost 60 years later: I love Lucy. My niece Jennifer shot this picture for me because she knew I'd get a kick out of it. And I did. So this year, on VD, as I like to call it, give your loved ones a kiss, and show them some tenderness, but don't feel bad if you forgot the chocolates. It's better for their waistlines, anyway (unless we're talking 70%-plus cacao).
02.01.10 SPOTLIGHT: TOP COMEDIENNES
TV Squad recently picked the best comedic actresses (on TV, of course) of the past decade. The article started off with this: “Since Lucille Ball, television has been a bastion of funny ladies, and the '00s were no exception. Like Lucy, many of the women on this list played second fiddle to no one. And those that weren't the stars of their own shows managed to steal the scene anyway the moment they got in front of the camera.” So far, so good. Any list of TV’s comedic actresses has to start (and maybe end) with Lucy. Julia Louis-Dreyfus was #1 on the list, and rightfully so. In The New Adventures of Old Christine, she gives, as TV Squad points out, “one of the great comedic performances on TV in recent memory,” and “she's great at both sarcasm and slapstick.”
The rest of the list basically left me cold, for a variety of reasons. Christine Chenowith made it for Pushing Daisies, and though I love her, I would call her more of a comedic actress than a comedienne. Ditto Mary Louise Parker of Weeds. Kristin Wiig, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler, all Saturday Night Live vets, made the list. I know they’re supposed to be cunningly funny, but they just don’t do it for me. Megan Mullally (Will & Grace) and Jane Kaczmareck (Malcolm in the Middle) are more in line with Lucy’s legacy, though Mullally was way more verbal in her humor. The very underappreciated Kaczmareck scored in both line delivery and slapstick on her show. Still, the only other current actress (besides Louis-Dreyfus) who could make a run for Lucy’s crown, in my humble opinion, was left off the list: Debra Messing, also of Will & Grace. But that’s why these lists are so great — they provoke thought and conversation.
01.26.10 
From the estate of Vivian Vance — which was left by her late husband, John Dodds, to Dodds' good friend Serge Matt — comes this photo of Viv (left) emoting onstage in one of her biggest Broadway hits, the musical Let's Face It, which also stared Eve Arden, Danny Kaye and Edith Meiser. Arden knew Lucy from the movies, where they often played similar roles, and Meiser was a stage actress who eventually guest-starred on I Love Lucy (one degree of separation from Viv might have helped her land the role). This photo is part of an archive, courtesy Matt, that was recently posted at sfgate.com featuring more than 100 rare photos and news clippings of Vance. There is also news of Vance's legendarily unpublished memoirs, an excerpt of which you also can find at sfgate.com, under the blog "The Collective Mind." According to the blog, Matt is trying to find a publisher for Vance's memoirs, the manuscript of which has been in his possession since Dodds' death in 1989. Here's hoping he finds one — I've been waiting to read them ever since I saw an excerpt in the National Enquirer in the 1980s.
01.04.10
The happiest of new year to all of you...and may 2010 be filled with laughter, joy, good health and peace. I try to share unusual and little-seen publicity photos of Lucille Ball when I get them, and I figured this one (right) was appropriate for a New Year's wish: Lucy as the New Year's baby, so to speak, in a ruffled, baby-doll dress and matching bonnet, clutching a teddy bear and a huge lollipop, the latter, of course, for a sweet year. This is what I call a "treading water" year for Lucy fans; next year marks the 100th anniversary of her birth, and also the 60th anniversary of the debut of her groundbreaking sitcom, I Love Lucy. So look for some special celebrating and treats all over this site as we get ready to honor 160 years of laughter!
12.09.09
SPOTLIGHT: It didn't get much more glamorous than the star-studded premiere of 1954's A Star Is Born, Judy Garland's comeback vehicle. I lucked out and caught a half-hour kinescope of the festivities at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles on Turner Classic Movies. Anyone who was anyone in Hollywood and show-biz at the time was there, including Dean Martin, Joan Crawford, Virginia Mayo, Peggy Lee, Ray Bolger (Judy's Wizard of Oz co-star), Hedda Hopper, Louella Parsons, Shelley Winters, Elizabeth Taylor (with then-hubby Mike Todd), Jack Carson, Van Heflin, Jack Palance, Dorothy Lamour, William Bendix, and on and on and on — oh, yes...and, of course, TV's top couple at the time, Lucy and Desi (left). I shot these pics directly from the TV screen with my iPhone, one of the reasons I adore having it. You probably haven't seen these before...so enjoy!
11.16.09 
SPOTLIGHT: "Serious" is not something we usually think of when we think of our wacky redhead, but it took a lot of effort to come up with the weekly clowning that resulted in Lucy's classic television series, and we know that Ball took her work very seriously, especially later in life. In one of her last TV appearances, on a special honoring her friend Bob Hope's birthday, she sang and danced in a production number that proclaimed, "Comedy is a serious business." True to that credo, Lucy rehearsed like a maniac, and this photo (right) is a rare picture of her between takes, taking a breather while smoking (an ironic turn of phrase if there ever was one). There's little doubt, though, that right after this photo was taken, it was "back to work," and Ball was clowning for the cameras, doing what she did best: making us laugh.
(For older Lucy "What's News" items from 2009 and 2008, see the Lucy Archives page.)GIVE THE GIFT OF LUCY
That handsome chap you see at the left is...well, okay, it's me, hobnobbing with Lucy, Desi and Viv at the 1954 Emmys. Okay, not really, but...it's what I would have done had I been there. And when you can't be there, the spirit of Lucy is alive and well in the four books I've written about her and her cohorts in laughter (well, if I can't be shamelesly promoting myself on my own site, where can I ??) Pick up one or more of my books — especially the brand-new fourth edition of Lucy A to Z: The Lucille Ball Encyclopedia, just out — as well as The ABC Movie of the Week Companion, The TV Tidbits Classic Television Book of Lists, Lucy in Print, The Comic DNA of Lucille Ball, and The Lucille Ball Quiz Book by clicking here to order them online (at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Cathy's Closet) or at your favorite brick-and-mortar bookstore via special order.
You can catch Lucy's monthly TV schedule at TVNow.
