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Viv's Career after The Lucy Show


Neil

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It would seem that Viv did not want to work very much after she left The Lucy Show. Either that or the offers just weren't coming in. I'm a little surprised that she didn't return to her musical comedy roots and tour in musicals. She would have been a natural to do "Hello Dolly" in some venue. Her name value alone would have been a huge draw. Though Frawley wasn't up to it at the time, he would have been perfect as Horace Vandergelder.

 

With a few lyric changes, such as

"Wow wow wow, fellas.

I'm getting tired of being called a cow, fellas."

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It would seem that Viv did not want to work very much after she left The Lucy Show. Either that or the offers just weren't coming in. I'm a little surprised that she didn't return to her musical comedy roots and tour in musicals. She would have been a natural to do "Hello Dolly" in some venue. Her name value alone would have been a huge draw. Though Frawley wasn't up to it at the time, he would have been perfect as Horace Vandergelder.

 

With a few lyric changes, such as

"Wow wow wow, fellas.

I'm getting tired of being called a cow, fellas."

Supposedly, Vivian lost confidence in her musical abilities after her nervous breakdown. However, she appeared in the Broadway musical Cradle Will Rock right after her breakdown. She never appeared in another stage musical. Maybe this was a bad experience for her. When Vivian got sick for the final time she was booked to star in a production of The Matchmaker, so she would have played a non-singing Dolly Levi.

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She also did the play "My Daughter, Your Son" with Robert Alda which I think made it to Broadway but closed after a short run. Wasn't she scheduled to do something with Woody Allen at some point? Or am I thinking of Eve Arden?

Viv did do "My Daughter, Your Son" on Broadway in 1969. It had a brief run, but she did it in stock for a while. It was a play, not a musical. Viv did lots of stock productions in the post-Lucy years, but none were musicals. Among her credits were Butterflies Are Free, Harvey, Arsenic and Old Lace, Barefoot in the Park, and Everybody Loves Opal.

 

Vivian was hired to star in the Broadway premiere of Woody Allen's Don't Drink the Water. She played the role out of town, but left before it reached Broadway. She was replaced by Kay Medford. She supposedly left because did not get along with costar Lou Jacobi, although some say she wasn't convincing enough as a Jewish mother. Eve Arden was hired for Woody Allen's Purple Rose of Cairo, but her husband Brooks West became fatally ill and she withdrew right before filming. Zoe Caldwell replaced her.

 

When Lucy announced that she would end The Lucy Show after season two, Vivian planned to star on Broadway in the play Beekman Place. That changed when The Lucy Show returned for season three. Arlene Francis took Viv's role in the show, which also featured Laurence Luckinbill. Like most of Arlene Francis' plays, it had a short run.

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Viv did do "My Daughter, Your Son" on Broadway in 1969. It had a brief run, but she did it in stock for a while. It was a play, not a musical. Viv did lots of stock productions in the post-Lucy years, but none were musicals. Among her credits were Butterflies Are Free, Harvey, Arsenic and Old Lace, Barefoot in the Park, and Everybody Loves Opal.

 

Vivian was hired to star in the Broadway premiere of Woody Allen's Don't Drink the Water. She played the role out of town, but left before it reached Broadway. She was replaced by Kay Medford. She supposedly left because did not get along with costar Lou Jacobi, although some say she wasn't convincing enough as a Jewish mother. Eve Arden was hired for Woody Allen's Purple Rose of Cairo, but her husband Brooks West became fatally ill and she withdrew right before filming. Zoe Caldwell replaced her.

 

When Lucy announced that she would end The Lucy Show after season two, Vivian planned to star on Broadway in the play Beekman Place. That changed when The Lucy Show returned for season three. Arlene Francis took Viv's role in the show, which also featured Laurence Luckinbill. Like most of Arlene Francis' plays, it had a short run.

Well, duh, Kay Medford instead of Viv playing a Jewish mom.  Kay was perfect as the Jewish mom in Funny Girl, every intonation, every line, every word just perfect.

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I think Vivian realized she wasn't right for the role and that contributed to her departure.

 

I just remembered that Vivian did do one musical after her stardom as Ethel Mertz. During her hiatus after the second season of I Love Lucy, Vivian returned to the La Jolla Playhouse to star opposite Mel Ferrer in Pal Joey. I've never seen any documentation that she did indeed do it, but she was announced for the role. This seems like it would have been a better role for Vivian in 1963 rather than 1953, but that's just because I can't picture "Ethel Mertz" as Vera Simpson, but I can see "Vivian Bagley" doing it.

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I was just researching Don't Drink the Water and found an interview with Vivian where she says that David Merrick offered her the lead in one of the Hello, Dolly! companies after she left The Lucy Show. She said she turned the offer down because she wasn't ready to return to the stage at that time. The following year, she accepted Merrick's offer for Don't Drink the Water. I assume Merrick had wanted Vivian to replace Mary Martin in the first touring company of Dolly when Martin went abroad with the show. I think that was the only production running at that point outside the one on Broadway.

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I was just researching Don't Drink the Water and found an interview with Vivian where she says that David Merrick offered her the lead in one of the Hello, Dolly! companies after she left The Lucy Show. She said she turned the offer down because she wasn't ready to return to the stage at that time. The following year, she accepted Merrick's offer for Don't Drink the Water. I assume Merrick had wanted Vivian to replace Mary Martin in the first touring company of Dolly when Martin went abroad with the show. I think that was the only production running at that point outside the one on Broadway.

Thank you for this great information!
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Though "Ballroom" came along a little too late for Viv, I think she would have been great. "Ballroom" is based on the Tv-movie "Queen of the Stardust ballroom" that starred Maureen Stapleton and Charles During. It may be the first and last Broadway musical based on a TV movie. The broadway version, starring Dorothy Loudon and Vincent Guardina, was not a hit and ran a little over 2 months.

Music was by Bea Arthur's One Woman Show accompanist Billy Goldenberg and Bea did the "11:00 number" "50 Percent" in her show. The show's charavter's name was Bea ASHER.

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If it was done earlier, Ballroom would have been a terrific vehicle for Vivian. Great thinking.

For a long time a revival of Ballroom was planned with Tyne Daly as Bea. There was a reading done with Lucie in the supporting role of Angie. Alan and Marilyn Bergman wrote some additional songs with new music by Marvin Hamlisch. A big complaint with the original production was that there wasn't enough songs for the characters. I haven't heard anything else about the planned revival since that reading. Maybe plans were completely abandoned after Hamlisch's death.

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If it was done earlier, Ballroom would have been a terrific vehicle for Vivian. Great thinking.

For a long time a revival of Ballroom was planned with Tyne Daly as Bea. There was a reading done with Lucie in the supporting role of Angie. Alan and Marilyn Bergman wrote some additional songs with new music by Marvin Hamlisch. A big complaint with the original production was that there wasn't enough songs for the characters. I haven't heard anything else about the planned revival since that reading. Maybe plans were completely abandoned after Hamlisch's death.

Queen of the Stardust Ballroom, besides being my mom's favorite tv movie, sounds perfect for Viv.  Can't believe the Broadway run with the great Dorothy Loudon only played a couple of months.

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Obviously she wouldn't have been considered since the show was created by Paul Henning for his friend Bea Benaderet and Viv was already back on tv in TLS but I've often though Vivian would have been great as Kate Bradley on PETTICOAT JUNCTION.  Intriguing to ponder Lucy perhaps getting Bea to costar as her tv second banana at last on TLS which would have lessened the ties with ILL and Viv getting Bea's roles as Pearl on THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES and then Kate on PJ but of course in both cases producers Ball and Henning went with their old cohorts (Bea of course working for Henning on BURNS AND ALLEN). 

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Obviously she wouldn't have been considered since the show was created by Paul Henning for his friend Bea Benaderet and Viv was already back on tv in TLS but I've often though Vivian would have been great as Kate Bradley on PETTICOAT JUNCTION.  Intriguing to ponder Lucy perhaps getting Bea to costar as her tv second banana at last on TLS which would have lessened the ties with ILL and Viv getting Bea's roles as Pearl on THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES and then Kate on PJ but of course in both cases producers Ball and Henning went with their old cohorts (Bea of course working for Henning on BURNS AND ALLEN). 

Whoa what?  I can POSSIBLY see Viv as Kate but certainly not as Pearl Bodine.  NOBODY could touch Bea in THAT role, IMO of course.

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Whoa what?  I can POSSIBLY see Viv as Kate but certainly not as Pearl Bodine.  NOBODY could touch Bea in THAT role, IMO of course.

I didn't mean to suggest Viv would have been better in EITHER role, just that it would have been fun to see her in something so different.  Love Bea, always have.  Certainly agree her Pearl is one of the alltime great supporting performances on any tv series.  I could see Viv in the part though, she had eccentric bits in some of the ILL episodes but no I don't think she would have been as good as Bea in it any more than I believe Bea would have been a better Ethel, nobody could have done any better in those parts than Bea's Pearl or Vivian's Ethel. 

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I didn't mean to suggest Viv would have been better in EITHER role, just that it would have been fun to see her in something so different.  Love Bea, always have.  Certainly agree her Pearl is one of the alltime great supporting performances on any tv series.  I could see Viv in the part though, she had eccentric bits in some of the ILL episodes but no I don't think she would have been as good as Bea in it any more than I believe Bea would have been a better Ethel, nobody could have done any better in those parts than Bea's Pearl or Vivian's Ethel. 

Oh yeah, Viv played a similar HICK in that show where she was hanging on a clothes line and said the immortal lines, DIDN'T MIND THE WASHIN MACHINE BUT I NEARLY PASSED OUT GOIN THROUGH THE WRINGER, LOL!  Sorry, it's ME, just can't see her in that role.

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Whoa what?  I can POSSIBLY see Viv as Kate but certainly not as Pearl Bodine.  NOBODY could touch Bea in THAT role, IMO of course.

Agreed. Pearl was the best thing Bea ever did (from what I've seen). The character was instrumental in making Hillbillies the hit that it was...which makes her reward: the laugh-lackluster "Petticoat" all the more disappointing. The Kate Bradley role did not tap into Bea's comic talents and could have been played by anyone.
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Agreed. Pearl was the best thing Bea ever did (from what I've seen). The character was instrumental in making Hillbillies the hit that it was...which makes her reward: the laugh-lackluster "Petticoat" all the more disappointing. The Kate Bradley role did not tap into Bea's comic talents and could have been played by anyone.

In her GUEST turn on ILL as the old lady looking for a date with Mr Ritter, she proved her acting chops.  As she had being the original choice for the role of Ethel Mertz but not being able to leave her commitment to Burns and Allen was it?  I can see Bea BEING Ethel but cannot see Viv being Pearl.

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Agreed. Pearl was the best thing Bea ever did (from what I've seen). The character was instrumental in making Hillbillies the hit that it was...which makes her reward: the laugh-lackluster "Petticoat" all the more disappointing. The Kate Bradley role did not tap into Bea's comic talents and could have been played by anyone.

I've always wished Bea was kept on The Beverly Hillbillies, instead of moving on to Petticoat Junction. I love Pearl!

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I've always wished Bea was kept on The Beverly Hillbillies, instead of moving on to Petticoat Junction. I love Pearl!

Yes, but obviously when Paul Henning or whoever saw how great she was, they wanted to give her her own showcase.  Problem was they didn't make the character of Pearl move on to Petticoat but this unfunny character instead.  I think she was basically the sane one among some oddballs.  Even the dog was funnier than Kate Bradley.

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I like Bea on Petticoat Junction because she plays a caring mother as she was in real life but I agree her character was given all the straight lines and had to keep the dialogue moving.  She is outrageously funnier than that as we have seen.  However, Bea stayed on with the role so she must have liked it but I wish Lucy and her could have been together again on the Lucy Show.  (Lucy is too funnier for the sometimes funny mostly slow Petticoat Junction).

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I am glad Viv wasn't Kate on Petticoat Junction.  Viv had a strong, fun personality and it would be boring to see her tackle Kate Bradley.  I doubt Viv would have stayed in CA to 1965 but would have left sooner finding no fulfillment in that role.

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