Luvsbway

It's East Stroudsberg. It's a town in the Poconos region, which back in Mame's time was a big honeymoon area, so that would make sense to run off to. It's also only about 2 hours from NYC. I stayed there once on a ski trip.

And don't forget in the Paris episode we get to see Bob Carroll Jr. as he stalks Lucy across Europe. And a quick glimpse of Madelyn too.

I caught this show on the DIY Network this week. Salvage Dawgs It's a restoration/salvage show and they did a episode in Jamestown. There were a lot more mentions of Lucy then I thought in this episode. Kind of fun. Season 11, Episode 1 Jamestown Moose Lodge Eager to save some late Victorian architecture, the Dawgs accept an invitation to salvage a hundred-year-old Moose Lodge in Jamestown, New York. The 10-hour drive proves worth it as they collect unique stair spindles and beautiful stained glass.

We got a surprise with this December's episode. Paris at Last is the new colorized episode on Dec 20th.

I want to go look him up in Back To The Future 3. I'm recalling his part now that I've heard him repeat his well known line.

According to Tom on Stu's Show this week they could not get insurance for Gale for LWL. They were able to for Lucy.

They were going to do conventions 4,5 and 6 but 6 had way too much stuff in. So they are looking at doing 6 in a year. If the fans want them to. Yes, the fans want you to.

Another stellar job on Stu’s Show last night recapping the 1999 and 2000 Loving Lucy Conventions. I caught most of the show via the Roku channel and audio streaming on my phone. Just missed an hour in the middle when I had dance class. Tom Watson and Donavan Scott were the in-studio guests so they also talked about the colorized DVD, the Fathomevents showing, and Life With Lucy. The new color episode for Dec. and its airdate are not finalized yet, should be in a week or 2. I love listening to Life With Lucy stories from those that were there and worked on the show. They covered so much, which included the following. How and why Aaron and ABC got the show on the fall schedule so fast and some of the problems they had from that rapid development schedule. How cruel the critics were to Lucy. Donovan talked about how he was cast. Later in the evening they shared memories of the week John Ritter was on. What an incredibly nice guy he was and how Lucy was in heaven that week working with him. And a bunch more I’ve probably forgot or missed. I came into the convention reacp when they started with the banquet shows. They showed 2000 first where they did the continuing story of the movie Ricky made in Hollywood. Donavan played Fred and Janet Waldo, Eve Witney and Shirley Mitchell were also in the show. Second was 1999 and we were aboard the USS Constitution with Tab Hunter. I was at this one and I knew it was Tab before he turned around. Tab wasn’t too hard a guest to get and seemed to really enjoy himself. Next they talked about how the trivia contest expanded into a real game show setup and showed the rounds leading up to the finals from 2000. Some current and former lounge members were in that winning group. Panel discussion highlights from 1999 and 2000 were fantastic. Two themes that they edited together were how each panel member met Lucy as well as their memories of Desi. I had a lot of the panels from 1999 on home video but the ones from 2000 were just as good. There were also great in studio stories told by Stu, Tom and Donavan on lots of topics. Tom told 2 fantastic stories about Lucy and Desi that I had only heard small bits of before, so it was nice to get the full detailed stories on 2 events from 2 different post-divorce decades. They closed out the 4 hours with the final question at the Sunday panel discussion in 1999. I was there, I was recording with my little video camera all those answers and I still got teary hearing them again. It was Lucy’s close friends and family saying what Lucy meant to them/the effect she had on them. Lucie gave one of the most lovely and introspective assessments of her relationship with her mother I ever heard her tell. You can download the show when it gets posted for $2 and watch unlimited. Best $2 you’ll spend this week. I did this with the recap show from last year and I’m going to grab it just to listen to these wonderful stories again.

LUCY: Margo, did I ever tell you about the time Cary Grant asked me to marry him?

Lucy Legal Beagle I think this family might need to look more into a conspiracy theory on that bear gone missing. We do have a future Sunshine Girl here that will become a teddy bear kidnapper and ransom seeker. I think Becky may have gotten together with Mrs. Loomis to spit that $500. This is the second episode where Kevin’s friend Max shows up. I think that kid is trouble. Watch out for him. Does anyone else think the courtroom is set up oddly? There is a HUGE area from the podiums to the judge’s bench. Maybe they had it that way to give them room for the bear tossing scene to come. The witness box though is stupidly placed. Instead of putting it right next to the judge, it’s crammed off to the side and right up against a wall. It also looks dark over there too. Another tender moment at the end with Lucy and Kevin. Those hugs she gives the kids in all the episodes are so genuine and so real. It kind of gets cut off with the freeze frame at the end but you can hear Lucy say “God love ya”. That’s a Lucille adlib I’m sure. Love Among The 2x4s. I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again. I love when Lucy dates. It softens her. So much to love in this episode. We get some backstory on the Lucy character with finding out more about her high school boyfriend and why they stopped seeing each other. Him moving away allows the relationship to remain open as opposed to they just broke up. The very real theme of dating after a spouse dies runs through the whole episode so the scene at the end is set up nicely. Something missing heavily from TLS and HL is mentioning the dead spouse. He never even gets a name on HL and the kids in both series never seem to miss him. When Lucy and Ben are at the house, he keeps trying to kiss Lucy and she backs away twice. So when they are falling down the hole, why does she initiate the kiss? I love that Lucy gets to dance a bit, twice in this episode. Watch her layback she does into Ben’s arms when they are at the house. She still had her great flexibility. In looking at the physical comedy I get the falling through the hole but why the stupid tape gag? It’s stilted, doesn’t go anywhere and isn’t funny at all. Just seemed like, ‘hey, Lucy needs more physical comedy in this episode”. A few random observations. We learn that Lucy’s maiden name is Everett. The Star Trek reference at the beginning is fun. Lucy just standing there smiling at Leonard, “yep, I did a good job in green lighting that show.” Gale has the great line, “all that beauty and funny too.” He just described Lucy perfectly. The Margo and Lucy scene at the end is my second favorite in the whole series. It’s got a laugh or 2 in but addresses some topics in a very adult way. You can’t help but think that she’s reflecting back on maybe both her marriages, but with Desi’s death coming soon he’s got to be foremost in her mind. The sadness and break in her voice recalling the years this Lucy character and Sam were married, that’s what gets you. And despite her and Desi’s difficulty, “the romance was always there.”

Lucy Is A Sax Symbol When Lucy pulls the saxophone out of the trunk the audience clap is nice. They knew it was her trademark instrument. With the saxophone appearing in this episode, Lucy has now played one on each of her 4 series. Lucy and Becky have a very lovely scene at the end and I don’t think it’s too sappy. Jenny was a good young actress and I think if another less talented kid was to do this scene it would be too sweet. A meta reference I liked was Becky saying she rather play electric guitar. Jenny actually does play guitar now. Whoever wrote this episode has never played a saxophone. When Lucy has Becky push her lips together, that’s how you would play a brass instrument. For example to play a trumpet you need to purse your lips to create a buzz noise. To play the saxophone you roll your lower lip over your teeth and the mouthpiece sits on them. You also don’t puff your cheeks out to play. When Lucy says her ring is stuck in the valve, I can see that working as a stuck point, but where it would be stuck is not a valve. It’s the cutout for the key. If she slid her hand in the bell and the large part of the ring wrapped itself over the lip of the brass then it could feasible get stuck. I played the sax for 9 years in school and when Lucy starts pushing on the keys and you hear the pads touch the brass, that brought back so many memories of my years playing. I also noticed the transition music had a heavier sax element to it than other episodes. Three pop culture notes. That pink cassette player of Becky’s was really popular in the 80s. I can’t remember if I had one or a friend did but I remember using it. It also had a strap on so you could carry it with you. Lucy holding up the poodle skirt saying that will never come back in style. The 80s was very big on 50s nostalgia so thought that was odd. Also, those swing skirts are super popular in the vintage community now, although I don’t see any with poodles on. Cats, haunted houses, bikes, even found one with backgammon pieces. I forget who was watching the Three Stooges marathon but I wonder if they noticed a tall blonde lady that looked kind of like grandma.

Part 2 is going to air Tomorrow, October 29 . If you can't watch live, (like me) you can download it for a small fee (absolutely a worthy cause) and watch it when you have time. I think last year's was 4 hours long. It also included a huge clip reel. Tomorrow - TUESDAY, October 29 - join me for another Lucille Ball celebration with a look back at our conventions from twenty years ago - the stars, the writers, the directors, the fans - and our memories of working on "Life With Lucy" (her last sitcom, now available on DVD). In-studio will be Lucy historian TOM WATSON and actor DONOVAN SCOTT. Remember - it's all LIVE tomorrow, TUESDAY 10/29 starting at 4 pm PT/7 pm ET right here on Facebook, on the web site - www.stusshow.com - and on the Stu's Show official Roku TV channel.

I saw that press release. SERIOUSLY! How hard is that to get correct? I'm waiting on Tom's official announcement as that I know I can trust.

I actually noticed that too. Not sure if it was that specific episode or just a random one. Also for a hardware store that small they seemed to sell a lot of kitchen gadgets. You'd think they would specialize more.

Literally, and that isn't all their doing up there. And I love that line in Lucy's gravelly voice.

The guy was caught. It was cleaned up and Carolyn said she's going to drop by and do any touch-ups needed.

Talking with another Lucy fan today they mentioned this drug use claim to me. First I heard of it.

The rude comment about Gale made me remember something I was going to ask. Does anyone think there is a bit of soft focus used on shots of Lucy? This was something that I had been trying to figure out starting back with Here’s Lucy. I know the closeups of Lucy really started to trail off starting with Here’s Lucy and I’ve been trying to pay attention to how tight they get with her on LWL. Gale seems to have some tighter framed shots in comparison to Lucy and his seem clear. I’m undecided on Lucy’s tightest shots if there are any “softness” to them.

I love the bonkers part. I caught the documentary done on him after his book came out. Seeing him tell these stories actually was less creditable then reading them in his book.

Well considering that they got the amount WAY off it already is a crap review. And if you are going to say you watched this with her then maybe provide a bit more details. Were you the liquor store delivery boy and she said, 'hey kid, come watch this piece of trash they forced me to make!" Did they watch it when it aired, or from her private collection years later. Yeah, so much crap here. I got to thinking. I might know who this is. Given the name and some social media run ins and a mention in someone's book, it's all starting to gel.

The department store Nedermyers gets mentioned a few times as well as on shopping bags. Did the LWL writing staff contain an ex Mama's Family writer? The same store is mentioned on that series.

I've been contemplating getting a Lucy themed vanity plate. I ran a few of the better combinations and most of the good ones are taken in my state but have found one that wasn't and would look pretty good. I tried a few years ago and got rejected on 2 as already taken. Unfortunately it's gone up to $85 to get one. I think it use to be $20. So I'm still thinking about it.

I got to thinking this morning about jobs in the McGibbon family. When Lucy and Curtis move in it’s mentioned that they can help with the finances since Margo’s job doesn’t pay a lot and Ted is in law school. I have lots of questions. Was Ted working before he went to law school and saved up the money for school from his previous job? Was it ever established that he is working while going to law school? How was the family with 2 kids getting along before the grandparents showed up with their hardware money? Was Margo the only one making money in the house before then? What did she do for a job, I don’t think that was ever mentioned?

Donovan posted this story on his Facebook the other day about how he got the part on LWL. HOLLYWOOD TALES OF DONOVAN SCOTT In July of 1986 while visiting family in Maui I got a call from my agent that Lucille Ball wanted to talk with me about doing her next series. I thought it was a joke. But when I returned to the mainland, I was invited by the “Queen of Comedy” to come to her house. Aaron Spelling (who was producing the show), had shown Lucy a pilot I had done for Mr. Spelling, (Scared Silly) ,in hopes she would like one of the two leads, she did not pick the romantic guy, Spelling was pushing, she wanted the other guy, the fat funny one, who was me. ME!! Lucy wanted me! I met at her house, we talked and laughed for about an hour, taking about movies I had done and people we had worked with, and then we played backgammon, we laughed for another hour or so. The whole time I was in my head wondering if I had blow the interview because we were no longer talking shop. Instead we were telling jokes, and I was watching to see if Lucy was cheating at backgammon because she was beating my so quickly. She was cheating, but who’s going to call the queen out? I would just say, “How about 2 out of 3…. 4 out of five, and so on, until Gary Morton, her husband said, they had a dinner engagement, and I was shown to the door and on my way out Lucy stopped me at the door and said “Oh by the way kid, you got the job”!! I remember floating out the door and the rest of the day is and was a complete blur. This was a dream come true, like most of America I grew up with the antics of this woman, learned comedy from this woman, and was inspired to become a comedic actor BECAUSE of this woman, and now I would be working with one of the 3 people who influenced my whole life. The other two were Jerry Lewis and Lou Costello. We rehearsed and shot on the set at 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, now called the Lot. (I think it was called Warner Hollywood Studios at the time), off of Formosa and across from the Famous Formosa café. It was 6 blocks from my apartment, but I would still drive to the set , because I had my first parking space in a studio lot. THIS WAS TRULY HOLLYWOOD. It was a great experience, a highlight in my fantastic career. We were scheduled to shoot 22 episodes, we shot 13 but were cancelled after eight episodes aired, the other 5 episodes have never been seen, UNTIL NOW!! On October 8th all thirteen episode will be on sale. I can’t wait for this to happen, I have never seen any of these episode in good quality DVD and can’t wait to relive the wonderful moments we had in making the series. How lucky I have been.

I also read or maybe it was just heard through the grapevine that he would call her late and night and she didn't want to get off the phone but in the morning was tired.