Were You in the Studio Audience?

[wilderfan 10]

I was wondering how many forum members were lucky enough to see any of Lucy's four tv series being filmed live?

As for myself, I was able to attend the filming of "Love Among the Two X Fours" (the 6th* episode of "Life With Lucy").

It was great fun to see her and Gale Gordon perform live in the summer of 1986.  But I also remember thinking that Gary Morton's warm-up was inappropriate (at times), given the nature of the audience in the bleachers.

 

*6th episode filmed, that is.

 

 

 

[Mot Morenzi 1,811]

5 hours ago, wilderfan said:

I was wondering how many forum members were lucky enough to see any of Lucy's four tv series being filmed live?

As for myself, I was able to attend the filming of "Love Among the Two X Fours" (the 6th* episode of "Life With Lucy").

It was great fun to see her and Gale Gordon perform live in the summer of 1986.  But I also remember thinking that Gary Morton's warm-up was inappropriate (at times), given the nature of the audience in the bleachers.

 

*6th episode filmed, that is.

I know Neil got to attend a few filmings, and I believe Joey was in the audience for the first LWL. Hopefully they'll see this and share some of their memories.

That's so neat you got to see 2x4s! Question for you: the opening title sequence appeared to feature a shot from this episode that wound up cut - Lucy walking down the stairs in her pink dress while Larry Anderson fanned himself. This may be a long shot, but do you perhaps recall the context of that scene?

In what way was Gary's warmup inappropriate, if I may ask?

[wilderfan 10]

Mmm ...   Lucy walking down the stairs.

I agree with you that it would have been filmed that same evening.  But I have to admit, I can't remember the specifics.  It was likely just a precursor to her meeting with the Peter Graves character for their date.

What I DO remember is that 1 of the 3 cameras ran out of film in the middle of the scene where Lucy is admiring herself in the mirror, saying:  "Yeah, I've still got it!"   Either the DOP or the Director had to inform Lucy that she had to do the scene again.  She asked:  How could 1 camera run out of film, but NOT the other 2?  I couldn't hear the response, but I thought it was a very good question.  Her main concern was the audience.  I recall her saying:  "Their response is not going to be as good the 2nd time through."

In any case, they backed up and took another run at the scene and she altered her delivery just a little to try to breathe new life into the line.  As I recall, the audience cooperated by generating a laugh almost as big as the first time through.

As for Gary's warm-up, I had the feeling that he had used the material many times before because some of the jokes seemed quite dated.  But more than that, I was surprised by the adult content of the material.  I know that Lucy always prided herself on her tv shows being something that the whole family could watch.  So that's why Gary's warm-up was so jarring to me.  Had we been in a night club setting, I wouldn't have thought anything of the adult jokes.  But IMHO they were inappropriate for the studio audience that was there that evening.  Of course, others may have liked Gary's jokes.  We all have different tastes.

 

[Neil 1,553]

I saw  "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" (Lucy buys out Curtis's share of the store).  Too bad it was unaired.  On the Life with Lucy scale, it was great.  There were some ABC people in the audience and Gary kept making cracks insinuating the failure of the series to get an audience was ABC's fault.  Something about not promoting it enough.  Which is absurd.  Maybe it was because I was paying attention but I recall it getting a lot of pre-premiere publicity.  I'll never forget the phone call I got from a friend when it was announced in May (I think).   He read it in USA Today. I hadn't.   "You'll never guess what's going to happen" and I didn't!

[Mot Morenzi 1,811]

On 3/1/2022 at 6:56 AM, Neil said:

I saw  "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" (Lucy buys out Curtis's share of the store).  Too bad it was unaired.  On the Life with Lucy scale, it was great.  There were some ABC people in the audience and Gary kept making cracks insinuating the failure of the series to get an audience was ABC's fault.  Something about not promoting it enough.  Which is absurd.  Maybe it was because I was paying attention but I recall it getting a lot of pre-premiere publicity.  I'll never forget the phone call I got from a friend when it was announced in May (I think).   He read it in USA Today. I hadn't.   "You'll never guess what's going to happen" and I didn't!

You also got to attend at least one “Here’s Lucy” filming, right?