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It's the little things they do together...


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I wholeheartedly agree that Agent and Star are two of the best episodes, and strangely are 2 shows that tend to get overlooked in all "best of" compilations. The Harpo Marx one is brilliant, yet Star should really be paired with it more often. It's a frequently forgotten 2 parter.

 

I agree. I also love Lucy Wants New Furniture - that scene where Lucy is running back and forth to get the different items of food and then get the shock of her life when Ricky is hiding in the kitchen deserves an honourable mention!

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One of my all time faves is the scene where they have to get her Pass a port but she's too sleepy so Ricky slaps her and when she reallizes what he's doing, she takes a punch at him, now you can't get more real and natural than that scene! :marionstrong:

 

Good one! That little swing just flows so well and is so...well, like you said, natural. That, coupled with the look on her face. :marionstrong:

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Good one! That little swing just flows so well and is so...well, like you said, natural. That, coupled with the look on her face. :marionstrong:

 

Ditto! :marionstrong: I also love the happy smile on Lucy's face when Ricky and Ethel are bouncing her around to keep her awake.

 

Another "little thing" I always notice and enjoy is the little smile Lucy gives Fred in "Ricky Loses His Voice" when he says, "You're darn tootin'! That was the best theater in Jamestown, NY!" I feel like that little moment is LB rather than Lucy Ricardo.

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I agree. I also love Lucy Wants New Furniture - that scene where Lucy is running back and forth to get the different items of food and then get the shock of her life when Ricky is hiding in the kitchen deserves an honourable mention!

YES!! I like this episode too... "Butter on bread??? I'll never get used to your strange Cuban customs."

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Oh.. I like the one where Charlie Appleby calls.. and she had been "talking" to him before with her finger on the phone and it starts to ring in mid sentence.. and her look of "OH SHIT".. just puts me away.. and then she stats to chew on the cord as Desi is talking to "Charlie".. and she pulls on the cord.. and gives up.. and then Desi starts staring her down and gives her a look.. (like what the f did u do now ??).. and her look of "Aw.. I am gonna get it".. then he says.. "That was Charlie".. "Charlie WHO?"... "What did you say to Caroline?"... "Caroline WHO?.. OH.. Charlie Who's wife??".... THAT whole bit right there... just kills me.. AND when she tells Desi what she said to Caroline.. and he says.. "Oh is that all?".. and she relaxes.. and takes a step forward and says.. "Yeah..".. then he counters with "What did you do THAT for??!!!"... CLASSIC moment that I never get tired of!

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Another moment I like is when they were trying to get someone to play a producer to meet Dory Sharry.. "Well.. (TAKE) Whoo Whoooo Whooo ARE YOU?"... So long Ricky nice being married to you".. That instant TAKE when she realizes who she has been in cahoots with all along.. is sooooooo damn spot on perfect!

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Those two sensational OOPS, CAUGHT BY THE FAMOUS STAR moments. Once with Van Johnson on his lounge chair by the pool, where she is pretending to talk to him while he's sleeping and then she goes back to look at him and he's awake and staring at her. Nobody does that better than Lucille Ball. The other one being with Bill Holden, when the plants are removed and she comes face to face with him in the restaurant booth, she adds a bonus of being HIT when he winks at her. These gems are LB personified.

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Bonus Bucks:

 

bonusbuck.gif

 

 

This "Bonus Bucks" look is one of her greatest reactions of all time. (Could it be THE greatest??) The timing! the timing! the timing! Every thought is painting on that expressive face.

 

once again, this is a great thread idea....don't know why we've never thought it up before.

and love the name given it. Sondheim-ites (which sounds a little nasty!)recognize it as the song from "Company"

Leave it to Broques!

 

"Needs an Agent" has been my #1 favorite at one time or another. "Down, Reilly" and "HEEEE'S RELEASED!!" just two of the many highlights. Parley Baer and Helen Kleeb (?) were great choices. Particularly Helen's facial expression when she's trying to block the re-entrance of Agent MacGillicuddy.

 

But Claude mentioned "Staten Island Ferry/Passport Office" and it has also been my #1. It's one of those episodes that has two big comic scenes in the same episode-- a lot packed into 24 minutes..

The swing at Ricky is great, but the dexterity with which she locks her elbows around the pole on the ferry and swings around---as if it's all perfectly natural--has always amazed me. I think that big oversized coat was a great costume choice.

I love episodes where all four of them get to shine---a bonus is having a guest player like Charles Lane rise to the occasion and get a laugh that's all his/her own: "Madame I've been looking at passport pictures for 20 years and there's never been one that's made me....hee, hee hee hee"...Followed by Ethel's reaction: "Ok, Ok Ok (which she has to say three times and louder each time to get him to stop laughing) let's get on with it."

Another great thing about this one is the rarity of scenes with just Lucy and Fred.

 

Getting back to the thread: When Fred asks Lucy how she is, her line "I'm not feeling any worse so compared to the way i was feeling, I'm feeling better." It's not meant to be funny and it's where a joke-response would normally go. But it's little additions like this that make the show so REAL, and Lucy's character so believable.

Another little: the realistic way Fred acts a bit dazed when the Ferry ticket taker wakes him up. Although Bill Frawley is universally enjoyed, it's usually for his socko punchline delivery. We tend to forget that he's actually a great actor.

(I've just talked myself into making this my #1 favorite again)

 

I don't recall any of the great physical bits listed above repeated in ANY episode, before or after. Any other performer would file these away in their bag of tricks and recreate them when the opportunity arose. Nothing wrong with that, but Lucy had SO MANY one time only classics.

 

I also noticed THE look, that withering one she gives Ethel in "Dancing"was given to Mary jane in "Pat Collins" a little over 10 years later. Seems I've seen that look in a few other episodes but never like these two---where she turns her head to give it.

 

And speaking of "collins": another great little bit is Lucy's shift in posture when she says "How about next Friday?" and that little hop-skip she does when she faces mary Jane after she's pulled it off. (anyone know what I mean?). I can't think of another episode that has such a great scene (in the fur salon) and such a huge laid-egg one like the hypnosis act--in the same episode.

 

I have caught the circling the finger and pointing gesture at Reilly: "You become a penniless bum". As late as Catherine Curtis she used it during a line--something about "...going out that door." Seems to me I've seen it another time or two.

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The Fashion Show is the other I Love Lucy episode where Lucy is at her best, in my opinion. That is probably the I Love Lucy episode I've watched the most times. The telephone scene is one of my favorite things of all time ("Thank you veddy much!"). There's also Lucy's trip on the stairs, which has been previously mentioned. And my other favorite Lucy gesture - the hand motion that accompanies "New York City...upper." Lucy's Emmy win for 1955 has to be the most deserving award win ever!

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More little bits that I love:

-Lucy trying on the Audrey Hepburn jacket in "Lucy Dates Dean Martin" and her delivery of "It fits me." It's so realistic and charming. I'd give her an Emmy for these few seconds alone.

-Lucy tossing her kangaroo tail around her neck as if it was a cape in "Lucy is a Kangaroo for a Day."

-Lucy's delivery of "Oh, I may faint" after trying on the ring in "Lucy Meets the Burtons."

-Not one of my favorite episodes by any means, but Lucy's great in it - "Lucy at the Drive-in Movie" - Lucy has a brief bit where she turns and tries to act nonchalant in her hippie guise and it's perfect.

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More little bits that I love:

-Lucy trying on the Audrey Hepburn jacket in "Lucy Dates Dean Martin" and her delivery of "It fits me." It's so realistic and charming. I'd give her an Emmy for these few seconds alone.

-Lucy tossing her kangaroo tail around her neck as if it was a cape in "Lucy is a Kangaroo for a Day."

-Lucy's delivery of "Oh, I may faint" after trying on the ring in "Lucy Meets the Burtons."

-Not one of my favorite episodes by any means, but Lucy's great in it - "Lucy at the Drive-in Movie" - Lucy has a brief bit where she turns and tries to act nonchalant in her hippie guise and it's perfect.

True, she made every NORMAL moment seem special by her sheer enthuseasm and her ablity to make us believe she ahd never met such a big star or tried on something so elegant to wear.

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More little bits that I love:

-Lucy trying on the Audrey Hepburn jacket in "Lucy Dates Dean Martin" and her delivery of "It fits me." It's so realistic and charming. I'd give her an Emmy for these few seconds alone.

-Lucy tossing her kangaroo tail around her neck as if it was a cape in "Lucy is a Kangaroo for a Day."

-Lucy's delivery of "Oh, I may faint" after trying on the ring in "Lucy Meets the Burtons."

-Not one of my favorite episodes by any means, but Lucy's great in it - "Lucy at the Drive-in Movie" - Lucy has a brief bit where she turns and tries to act nonchalant in her hippie guise and it's perfect.

 

I agree 100% with everything said here and your last post about "Fashion Show"; her reading of "upper" was indeed Emmy worthy all on its own. The Emmys used to be for calendar years instead of seasons. Her win was for the year 1955 which began midway though the 4th season with "Learns to Drive" and ends with "Passport/Locked in Trunk", though I wonder if Emmy voters really paid attention to the time span of the nominations. since the awards were given out in March of 1956.

Her performance is "Staten Island Ferry" is another one that is Emmy worthy even if she had done nothing else wonderful, but this was the first episode of 1956 so technically she lost that Emmy to Nannette Fabray for her supporting role in Sid Caesar's show. These were presented in 1957 and Nan had already left the series at the end of the 55-56 season.

Looking back, it's hard to imagine they would give Best Actress in a Comedy to anyone else (sometimes the category varied).

 

Harry, the "Drive In Movie" look your talking about. Is it the same one I used for the end of my "Here's Lucy/Mary Tyler Moore" opening credits? Sometimes she slipped bits of greatness into rather mundane episodes and I tended to miss them---as is the case here. I was looking for Lucy as hippie shots and just happened upon this one, which I did not remember.

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Harry, the "Drive In Movie" look your talking about. Is it the same one I used for the end of my "Here's Lucy/Mary Tyler Moore" opening credits? Sometimes she slipped bits of greatness into rather mundane episodes and I tended to miss them---as is the case here. I was looking for Lucy as hippie shots and just happened upon this one, which I did not remember.

 

YES! I forgot you used that clip. It's the perfect ending.

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Today, Comedy Gold was showing the one called Baby Pictures. Loved the way Lucy showed how bitchy mother bears can be when their baby cubs are attacked. That scene with Lucy and Carolyn, played by gallopin Doris Singleton was so priceless and real, you felt you were evesdropping on two girlfriends cat fighting.

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Drawing a blank on the episode, but it's where Ricky tries to make Lucy waffles. When surveying the wrecked kitchen afterwards she remarks, with genuine bewilderment: "You think they'd get one good waffle out of all this!"

I think it was....the one where he insisted on taking care of the baby since he was on vacation and insisted she get some rest.

("Ricky Minds the Baby", Season Three)

;)

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I think it was....the one where he insisted on taking care of the baby since he was on vacation and insisted she get some rest.

("Ricky Minds the Baby", Season Three)

;)

 

I thought that too, but it wasn't. In that episode it was Lucy hopping out of bed thinking Ricky would forget something, only to find out he had everything under control.

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I thought that too, but it wasn't. In that episode it was Lucy hopping out of bed thinking Ricky would forget something, only to find out he had everything under control.

 

"Pregnant Women Are Unpredictable." :) While not wildly funny, this episode is full of "those little things" that make it heartwarming and so enjoyable to watch.

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