During her last nine seasons with a regular series on CBS, Lucille Ball had so many guest stars appear on her show. But unfortunately, too few left a memorable impression, particularly the musical guests. Don't get me wrong, some of them were great performers, even if they might have not been given the best material to work with. But too many of them seemed already out of date by the time they appeared with Lucy. And even when Lucy hand-picked a rising star, it was someone whose appeal seemed to have limitations.
Ed Sullivan, in spite of his stodgy persona, got the greatest, most revolutionary acts on his show -- performers whose work transcends times (the Beatles and Elvis Presley ring a bell?) But Lucy? I mean, really, instead of bringing on -- multiple times -- a 23 year-old with a prepubescent voice singing to a cow, why oh why couldn't she have gotten this guy on her show -- also new rising star at the time: