Luvsbway

The hitting Desi with a fry pan story comes from Lucy’s book, so she admits to it, but the story seems so far fetched I bet this is exaggerating what really happened. Another story of her being violent is when they had a fight early in the marriage and she smashed all the windows out of his car. You make a good point about physical abuse and that it would have showed. There is that one weird hitting incident during a dinner at home in the late 50s but Herb K. tells that one and I don’t believe half the crap that he says. The Paula incident in the car I look at differently. Alcohol obviously plays a role in these things. But I feel at that time, physical abuse was looked at more seriously then kissing and groping a woman. The car incident really bothered me when I read it and it still does but I still can’t connect his behavior then to also being able to hit a woman. Again I turn to back to what he wrote in his book that he did confront a man about physical abuse of a woman. I don’t think he was going to rape her, but how he was on her was scary and how hard Paula had to fight him off. And that Lucy took one look at Paula after and knew. So obviously this was not something new. Lucy knew what Desi was capable of when drunk with another woman. He was sloppy drunk then, not in a rage. Lucie has said that she was going to write her book but I haven’t heard more about it after her PS move.

Apparently there is a caption over an ILL episode saying it's The Lucy Show. Guess there has to be one thing wrong in their articles.

On TV, Lucille Ball had it all! She was the fun-loving, hysterical actress who fans couldn’t bear to hate, but behind the scenes, the Hollywood icon had her own issues to deal with. At age 75, the I Love Lucy star signed on to play Lucille Barker once more, but this time she was going to be a widow and grandmother and the show was going to be called, Life With Lucy. “The I Love Lucy legacy allowed Life With Lucy to happen, but it was a terrible burden,” Thomas Watson, her former publicist, exclusively recalled to Closer Weekly in the magazine’s latest issue, on newsstands now. “The show was written by the same people that worked on the original I Love Lucy. They were still writing for that Lucy, instead of a Golden Girls kind of character or a grandma.” Even though Lucille tried to be optimistic, she couldn’t hide from the negative reviews her show had received after it finally made its debut on TV. “They were so bloody,” Ann Dusenberry, who played Lucy’s daughter on Life With Lucy, told Closer. “So bad and disrespectful. I was hurt for her. They showed no regard that she was an icon.” Apparently, the show was so bad that it was pulled off the air after its eighth episode aired. Even though the series was supposed to run for 22 episodes, ABC decided to pull the plug early. “It was so sad and disappointing,” Thomas said, and Lucy’s friend Michael Stern couldn’t help but notice how upset his pal was. “After an hour, I walked out with her,” Michael once said. “She started bawling.” But that didn’t stop Lucy’s career. She was still being offered many roles well into the last three years of her life, but during that time, the only thing Lucy cared about was her family. “Life is no fun without someone to share it with,” the mom of two has said. And with her husband, Gary Morton, by her side, Lucy felt completely at ease with the world. “Every time Gary walked in, it was like he was coming in from a honeymoon with her,” Michael has said. “That house had a lot of love.”

Ah, loving this. I don't know if I want to see the part we he bangs have the Rocketts.

Oh, interesting to read Ann's comments. Larry had some really good stuff to say about LWL.

I think its 1970 and I knew the event once but can't remember it now.

I've read articles and interviews over the years from Jr. but nothing this revealing and nothing this revealing about this parents and the divorce. We knew Desi had a temper but what he describes is really bad. Obviously a lot of that was do to alcohol. Two things that are troublesome to me is first, that the kids basically had no outlet to express their feelings. I know Lucy talks in her book about sensing the kids were upset and has said they heard and saw too much but I took that as, well that commonly happens in divorce. But to be scared to seek help in your sibling because your afraid that if you express sadness it's questioned. I wonder how much this went on after the divorce and the remarriage. Was the Parent Trap the only outlet they thought they had? Did they talk to any other family members? Second is that I sort of always thought of Lucy as the more violent one when her temper got going. She admitted to the car window smashing as a reaction to a fight in the early part of their marriage and in that 1950 radio interview she is questioned about her temper and admitted to throwing things. But Jr. says that she wasn't violent it was his dad that was. And that things got physical. To me that could be 2 things. Either physical in that a lot of things were thrown, broke, etc... In the divorce proceedings the busted pipe incident was mentioned to demonstrate the temper and that was a full out violent physical reaction from Desi. Or that he actually got physical in the hitting, slapping, shoving, etc.. domestic violence sense. I never thought there was any of that going on. But who knows what someone is capable of with alcohol. There are reports of Desi drunk getting physical with other men but never women. Wasn't there a story in his book back in 39 where his dance partner in the show had a physically abusive husband and Desi stepped in? But knowing what is wrong and being under the heavy influence of alcohol is another thing. It's an odd sort of thing to say "physical" an then not explain it, because the mind goes there. Maybe Jr. kept it vague on purpose.

" Yep, Barry that joke isn't getting any funnier the second time I hear it."

I posted a bunch more over in the Lucy Desi photo thread.

Found the pages.

Saw this factoid in an ABC press release and thought it pretty interesting. .Cokie is perhaps the only reporter to have filed for Morning Edition, All Things Considered, World News Tonight and Nightline all in a single day.

I think I have head of this book before but know nothing about it. My hunch would be drug abuse but the phrasing of the book makes it seem like something else. Which I have never heard anything about and am not inclined to believe without the man himself saying so. My debunking nature has me intrigued. Emotional because of drugs, maybe??

Nope, you'll be good, just keep a snorkel in the shower.

Ever have a moment in life that makes you think of Lucy, the shows, people on the shows, movies etc…? I had 2 things this week. I was emailing a sub-contractor at work. His email is jmooney@... Made me laugh, especially when I was editing his resume and it said Mr. Mooney this and Mr. Mooney that. There is a guy at work who’s name is Robert Taylor but they call him Bob. When I email him it pops up as robert.taylor@. Every time his email appears I have to say his name just like Lucy does when she reads it off the shriveled up orange in Hollywood. Another one from a week or so ago, my word processing assistant needed some explanation on something I gave her and she came over and said, “splain this to me”. My co-workers don’t know about my Lucy obsession yet. The only indication is my Lucy calendar, but I have it hung at a weird place so I’m the only one who can really see it. I think Brock and I discovered that we both must say Riverside the shocked way Lucy does on the train. I listen to XM/Sirius On Broadway Channel all day at work. They are very heavy on the Mame with Angela. Always makes me smile and think of that scenes in the movie.

Watched the film The Bigamist, a 1953 film starring and directed by Ida Lupino. The 2 stars go on a bus tour of famous Hollywood homes. As they drive down Roxbury the driver points out Jimmy Stewart's house then Jack Benny's house and it shows both their actual homes. Given the year, Lucy had not moved in between yet. The scene reminded me so much of The Tour episode.

Thanks to Brock’s recommendation I checked out the Martha Hunt documentary. In it the 2 part radio program Hollywood Fights Back from 1947 is mentioned. So that reminded me of something Lucy said in her HUAC testimony in 1953. Below is a link to the radio show and what she said on it. Followed by her HUAC testimony. I’m almost positive that this radio show she is talking about is the Fights Back program but she is confusing what she talked about with something else. Lucille Ball recites Article 1 from the Bill of Rights: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. It’s so important, she repeats it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6HpeyPjYxI HUAC testimony How-ever, I do recall I was at a studio, and I was working on a picture, and I got a call in the afternoon. I don't know who called me. I assume now — I did then — it was the Screen Actors Guild, but I can be wrong. I don't know who called me now. It was something that was through a union or the studio wouldn't have felt compelled to send me off a set and hold up production until I got back. It had nothing to do with me. I got the call to go to a radio station. As I remember, it was M-G-M — it may not have been. I remember an executive excused me and sent me to this broadcast.I got down there and said, "What am I supposed to do?" She said, "Dorothy Petersen" — whoever she is — "she is ill. We have to go on the air." I haven't seen her in years; I don't know her. She said, "Will you read this?" It was a long petition, or whatever you call them, as I recall. As I recall — I am not sure of this — it was about the Okies upstate California, Fresno or some place, about admitting the Okies. I read it. They thanked me, and they sent me back to work. I don't know how long after that that it was that I was called downtown in an FBI office and asked why I did it. Apparently, it was wrong. It was my first knowledge it was wrong. I had no answer at all, because I hadn't done it of my own volition. 1 had been sent there. It didn't seem wrong to go some place the studio had sent you. I tried to explain why I had done it. I had no reason except I had been called. Mr. Wheeler. How long ago did you go to the FBI? Miss Ball. I have no idea. I have no idea when I did this broadcast. I have no idea how long after that they called me. But that is the first time I ever Mr. Wheeler. It was 3 or 4 years ago? Miss Ball. It is more than that. Mr. Wheeler. Did they discuss with you at that time Miss Ball. Must have been 6, 8, 9 years ago; maybe 10. There were two broadcasts. I don't know who sent me on the first one, and I don't know what the second one was about. It was something that everybody was doing. You just get asked to do these things. I again was called in at the last minute. I had nothing to do with whatever it was. I didn't know what I was doing, but you assumed at the time, when you are called by a union or one of your — I don't know who called me. I know both times 1 was called to replace someone.

Had to look this up as I never heard of her. Might check that out. Tubi has some pretty good stuff.

Good timing. I just recently rewatched this. Not one of my favorite specials but there are a few redeeming qualities in this that makes me rank it higher than Three For Two. The meta opening is great and loving some Ruta playing backgammon. Bit of foreshadowing with the line about Lucy playing backgammon for the rest of her life. Yep, pretty much. Once we get to NBC I have so many questions. The whole premise is that Lucy comes to NBC to develop new shows and the overall vibe is how can this scattered brained woman do that? So obviously we are getting “Lucy” the incompetent secretary play of the character. But yet everything around her is Lucille the actual woman, who did we all forget ran a whole damn studio and did it successfully? Did Lucy actually get a whole office and some big NBC welcoming in real life? How long did this partnership last? What all was she invested in with these 2 pilots? It seems like this project is hardly ever talked about yet it warranted a whole special. In the office I get a kick out of those 3 TV’s stacked on top of each other, all in those wooden cabinets. I remember our TV as a kid looking very similar. Ah, the trend to make media devices look like furniture. I have no idea about the kid and Silverman thing but can shed a bit on Gary Coleman. As a child of the 80s I was a big fan of Different Strokes. The early episodes I probably caught in rerun, which I watched often. I do recall more towards the end of the run so much that I remember being mad I was sick one night and had to go to bed early and would miss that week’s show. In a People magazine article in 1980 Lucy had this to say. “And I love Gary Coleman. He puts me away. He puts everybody away.” Gary’s delivery, at least when he was in that cute precocious stage was like that. The show did get into some serious topics, a trend in the 80s, with storylines concerning race, and pedophilia. The show was huge when it came out and spun off Mrs. Garrett into Facts of Life. Back to the show. I can’t believe all Gene Kelly does in this special is show up to introduce Donald O’Connor. What a waste. The table read I love though. As soon as she puts on her glasses and begins to read, that’s Lucille, not some daffy Lucy character anymore. It’s short but oh how I would have loved to see more of that in this special, but that probably would have confused those who only thought she was “Lucy”. I fast forward through the actual pilot, except for Lucy’s old lady character. If you watch the outtakes from this special there is one after she greeted all her special guests, Lucy looks out at the audience and says “damn, what a day.” The hugs she gives each person are so genuine. I recently learned that this was shot on her and Gary’s wedding anniversary. Wonder if they all went to Chasens after to celebrate.

Double post

In honor of Nov 19th coming up I wanted to start this thread.

I had heard he was sans toupee in that film but didn't hear about the bathing cap. Interesting. So how did showering at the country club go? I mean you can't wear a toupee all the time. Seemed like he was never going to show the top of his head.

Gary with his own hair. Gotta be the only one I've seen of this. Autograph is dated 1950. So what's the deal with when the toupee came in and why?

Even before Valerie died I was thinking of that Hot In Cleveland reunion. All we have left is Betty and Cloris.

Gary out ranked Lucy in control on LWL and was making more than she was. So much blame spread around on that katatrophy.