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Mister Hepburn
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Lucy was going to get fired from RKO for the coffee throwing incident, but Lela Rogers stood up for her.

 

And I'm sure there were some that secretly delighted that haughty Hepburn got the Lucy Carter treatment---35 years before she was dousing stars on a regular basis.

I was always under the impression that she threw it all, the coffee AND the cup which could have bonked someone on the head--or scalded them if the coffee was hot enough.

But that should warn Hepburn and the make up man: don't tangle with a spitfire Communist! This would have been right around the time she registered as Communist on her voting card. Speaking of that, I don't know how she got away with the 'appeasing Grandpa' excuse. There were performers who had their careers ruined for much less. What these red-hunters failed to acknowledge that being a Communist sympathizer wasn't always borderline-treason. The political climate of the 50s was so highly charged that the word communist suggested that you advocated government tyranny. Even being left-leaning politically was akin to being a Muslim after 911.

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The Star Shiner author was first hired to do Lucy's make up for a Vogue magazine shoot in 1968. Has anyone ever seen the article?

There's got to be more to the slapping-Hal King story. The visual it created was Lucy hauling off and giving him a Moe Howard slap right in the puss.

There's one story that Lucy told on a David Frost show where she tried (unsuccessfully) to justify a hot tempered action. She had left the caps for her teeth in the make up room and needed them for a photo shoot. Kathatrine Hepburn was being made up for "Mary Queen of Scots". The door was locked so she went to a little open window to the room to plead for her caps and for some reason they wouldn't pay any attention to her.

She then attempted in several sentences to justify her following action to Frost: "I was just SO FRUSTRATED that I took a cup of coffee and hurled it through the window...and it hit Miss Hepburn", who cancel her shoot for the day and went home.

This was at RKO in 1936 before they were in "Stage Door" together. It's a wonder they didn't fire Lucy. WHO would have thought this hot-tempered coffee-hurling stock player would eventually OWN the studio!!

Didn't they add that Lela Rogers had interceded on Lucy's behalf. She even spoke to Hepburn afterwards and Kate told her, jokingly, you have to have a bit more SPERIENCE to get away with behavior like that. Lucy got made up only until Hepburn showed up, so Lucy was practically thrown outta the chair when she got there, so she kept asking the make up jerk for her caps, which SHE needed for her photo shoot but he continually ignored her, so she threw the tray of coffee cups at HIM but missed him and hit poor Hepburn. It was more Leo behavior than DIVA behavior.

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And I'm sure there were some that secretly delighted that haughty Hepburn got the Lucy Carter treatment---35 years before she was dousing stars on a regular basis.

I was always under the impression that she threw it all, the coffee AND the cup which could have bonked someone on the head--or scalded them if the coffee was hot enough.

But that should warn Hepburn and the make up man: don't tangle with a spitfire Communist! This would have been right around the time she registered as Communist on her voting card. Speaking of that, I don't know how she got away with the 'appeasing Grandpa' excuse. There were performers who had their careers ruined for much less. What these red-hunters failed to acknowledge that being a Communist sympathizer wasn't always borderline-treason. The political climate of the 50s was so highly charged that the word communist suggested that you advocated government tyranny. Even being left-leaning politically was akin to being a Muslim after 911.

I think that even back then, when she was the best comedienne and beloved tv star in the fifties, and playing a dingaling too stupid or naïve to even know anything about communism that people cut her some slack.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Found a new book today, while technically NOT a book about Lucy, it IS about The Fifties, a period she defined with her show. The Fifties by David Halberstam features a section about Television, Chapter fifteen to be exact. Lucy has five pages with a synopsis of her career at that time and what led up to her starring in the top rated series. It's a huge book about that period, center filled with loads of pictures of politicians and newsmakers of the era. The pic of Lucy is on set with Desi, dressed for THE GIRLS WANT TO GO TO A NIGHTCLUB. I forgot to check out the year but it features some more recent quotes from Desi jr and Lucy herself that you don't usually see in older books.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Star Shiner author was first hired to do Lucy's make up for a Vogue magazine shoot in 1968. Has anyone ever seen the article?

There's got to be more to the slapping-Hal King story. The visual it created was Lucy hauling off and giving him a Moe Howard slap right in the puss.

There's one story that Lucy told on a David Frost show where she tried (unsuccessfully) to justify a hot tempered action. She had left the caps for her teeth in the make up room and needed them for a photo shoot. Kathatrine Hepburn was being made up for "Mary Queen of Scots". The door was locked so she went to a little open window to the room to plead for her caps and for some reason they wouldn't pay any attention to her.

She then attempted in several sentences to justify her following action to Frost: "I was just SO FRUSTRATED that I took a cup of coffee and hurled it through the window...and it hit Miss Hepburn", who cancel her shoot for the day and went home.

This was at RKO in 1936 before they were in "Stage Door" together. It's a wonder they didn't fire Lucy. WHO would have thought this hot-tempered coffee-hurling stock player would eventually OWN the studio!!

 

 

OMG, this gives light to so much! thanks so much for sharing, what a good story :D

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The Star Shiner author was first hired to do Lucy's make up for a Vogue magazine shoot in 1968. Has anyone ever seen the article?

There's got to be more to the slapping-Hal King story. The visual it created was Lucy hauling off and giving him a Moe Howard slap right in the puss.

There's one story that Lucy told on a David Frost show where she tried (unsuccessfully) to justify a hot tempered action. She had left the caps for her teeth in the make up room and needed them for a photo shoot. Kathatrine Hepburn was being made up for "Mary Queen of Scots". The door was locked so she went to a little open window to the room to plead for her caps and for some reason they wouldn't pay any attention to her.

She then attempted in several sentences to justify her following action to Frost: "I was just SO FRUSTRATED that I took a cup of coffee and hurled it through the window...and it hit Miss Hepburn", who cancel her shoot for the day and went home.

This was at RKO in 1936 before they were in "Stage Door" together. It's a wonder they didn't fire Lucy. WHO would have thought this hot-tempered coffee-hurling stock player would eventually OWN the studio!!

That was a very famous STORY, I think the upshot was that Lela Rogers fought for her NOT to lose her job over this and the studio WAS angry at the extra cost of losing Hepburn for the day, it was a costume picture after all, also Kate told Lucy, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A BUT MORE SPERIENCE BEFORE YOU PULL A STUNT LIKE THAT but it was said in a joking manner, not anger at all.

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And I'm sure there were some that secretly delighted that haughty Hepburn got the Lucy Carter treatment---35 years before she was dousing stars on a regular basis.

I was always under the impression that she threw it all, the coffee AND the cup which could have bonked someone on the head--or scalded them if the coffee was hot enough.

But that should warn Hepburn and the make up man: don't tangle with a spitfire Communist! This would have been right around the time she registered as Communist on her voting card. Speaking of that, I don't know how she got away with the 'appeasing Grandpa' excuse. There were performers who had their careers ruined for much less. What these red-hunters failed to acknowledge that being a Communist sympathizer wasn't always borderline-treason. The political climate of the 50s was so highly charged that the word communist suggested that you advocated government tyranny. Even being left-leaning politically was akin to being a Muslim after 911.

It surely had to do with the fact that she was THE number one star on a number one show... I think since the public loved her show so much they didn't want her to go away.... and kinda like Paula Deen, Lucille told the truth under oath and it bit her in the ass, although Lucille did weather the storm... and time will tell with Paula Deen. It all depends on the times we live in and how much people like you... I would think..

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Speaking of slapping Hal King.. what is the story??? I have read Hal said she broke his jaw... after he told her he had the flu and the dr. told him to take some time off.. and she slugged him and growled... "Who the hell is going to make me up?"... This happened during the filming of Mame... and then in The Lucy Book.. Irma says she was there and no contact was made... so what DID happen??? Any one know??? Maybe she took a swing at him nonetheless and Hal just likes to exaggerate...

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Speaking of slapping Hal King.. what is the story??? I have read Hal said she broke his jaw... after he told her he had the flu and the dr. told him to take some time off.. and she slugged him and growled... "Who the hell is going to make me up?"... This happened during the filming of Mame... and then in The Lucy Book.. Irma says she was there and no contact was made... so what DID happen??? Any one know??? Maybe she took a swing at him nonetheless and Hal just likes to exaggerate...

Irma just told you what happened, NOTHING, just another Lucy hate story that sells books. Hal told Lucy, she was disappointed and angry but she saw him many times afterwards.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So apparently the Life book comes out on the 30th. BN.com and Amazon don't have it for sale and can't find it too many other places. Walmart has it at this link http://mobile.walmart.com/m/phoenix;jsessionid=E8163B9D0EAC18265899281DB6DDE9E1#ip/Life-Lucille-Ball-at-100/15695697

 

Good price too and free shipping. Let's just hope it makes it. My amazon order last year got cancelled.

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Took me a second (but only a SECOND) to get the tie-in to Ziegfeld Follies (made in 1944 but not released until 1946). I don't know what the delay was all about, do you?

This is like the book version of the Ziegfeld Follies of 1944. They should have retitled it Lucille Ball at 102. I hope it really is released tomorrow!

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just another Lucy hate story that sells books.

 

So true. WHY is it that writers seem to revel in stories that make Lucy seem like an unpleasant person to work with? AND why do they automatically take the side of the person telling the story? Though I think you answered, it sells books.

Take Burton for instance....Lucy knew how much progress must be made on a given day to have the show ready by Thursday night. There just wasn't always time for Burton's method of waiting for the muse to call. Though Jerry Paris had enough experience to know, it's possible he was too star-struck and intimidated by Burton to give him the necessary push..Just a theory. And as far as unprofessional stories about them go, the Liz and Dick have Lucy beat by a mile.

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This is like the book version of the Ziegfeld Follies of 1944. They should have retitled it Lucille Ball at 102. I hope it really is released tomorrow!

 

But she doesn't look a day over 100.

Lucy Ricardo would be 92 now. Catherine Curtis: 91

Lucy Carter? A mere 85, at least what her "Lucy's Birthday" episode slip-up implied.

Carmichael, Whitaker, Collins and Barker: age undetermined.

The youngest of them all: one of her "3 for 2" characters would be 83.

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