Lucyilove Posted September 30, 2011 Report Share Posted September 30, 2011 Mary Wickes was of course, one of Lucy's best friends. Lucy loved this down-to-earth comedienne and Lucie Arnaz has said she was practically a member of the family, she was over at the house so much. Mary was on 19 of Lucy's programs: Lucy Calls the President (1977) .... Millie Baker "Here's Lucy" .... (9 episodes) - Lucy, the Sheriff (1974) .... Clara Simpson - Lucy Plays Cops and Robbers (1973).... Violet Barker - Lucy and Eva Gabor Are Hospital Roomies (1972).... Nurse - Lucy's Big Break (1972) .... Nurse Sylvia Ogilvy - Lucy and Her All-Nun Band (1971) .... Sister Paula Carter - Lucy the Diamond Cutter (1970) .... Mrs. Whitmark's Maid - Lucy and Harry's Tonsils (1969) .... Nurse - Lucy Gets Her Man (1969) .... Isabel - Lucy Goes on Strike (1969) .... Isabel "The Lucy Show" ... (8 episodes) - Lucy's Mystery Guess (1967) .... Aunt Agatha - Lucy and Robert Goulet (1967) .... Miss Hurlow - Lucy the Babysitter (1967) .... Mrs. Winslow - Lucy and the Sleeping Beauty (1965) .... Aunt Gussie - Lucy Puts Out a Fire at the Bank (1963) .... Fran - Lucy and Viv Play Softball (1963) .... Fran - Lucy Plays Cleopatra (1963) .... Fran - Lucy and the Runaway Butterfly (1963) .... Mrs. Wickenhauser "I Love Lucy" .... (1 episode) - The Ballet (1952) TV episode .... Madame Le Mond What are your favorite Mary Wickes appearances with Lucy? It's interesting that on HERE'S LUCY Mary played a nurse (like her most famous role in the 1941 classic movie THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER) and a nun (like her very-late career triumph in SISTER ACT, a few years after Lucy's death). It's disappointing that there wasn't a role for Mary on LIFE WITH LUCY but then Mary Jane Croft wasn't asked to appear on that either (and I wrote Madelyn Pugh about that in 1986 - Ms. Pugh responded but still no job for Mary Jane, alas!) Mary Wickes was in scores of films from the early 1940's into the 1990's and actually got some of the best roles of her career at the end (POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE, SISTER ACT, LITTLE WOMEN). Her second most-famous role was probably in Bette Davis' NOW, VOYAGER as Davis' mother's private nurse who well knows how to handle the old battleaxe. Mary was worked constantly on television for decades and even was on the small tube before Lucy, making her debut in 1948. She starred in a 1949 STUDIO ONE adaptation of MARY POPPINS (the first filming of the story?) that one hopes exists somewhere. She was on eleven episodes of Walt Disney's mini-series for Annette Funicello in 1958, appeared as Liz O'Neill in ten episodes of MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY (1956-58) and was Miss Cathcart on ten episodes of DENNIS THE MENACE (1959-1962). She had a featured role as aunt Zelda in the children's series SIGMUND AND THE SEA MONSTERS (1973,12 episodes, reruns aired in to 1975) and costarred on the CBS sitcom DOC (1975-76) as Nurse Beatrice. Her biggest hit on tv was probably another later career entry, THE FATHER DOWLING MYSTERIES with Tom Bosley. Mary was on everything - from M*A*S*H to ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS to SANFORD AND SON to BONZANZA to THE BEVERLY HILLBILIES (the latter probably my alltime favorite Mary Wickes tv gig, as hick "socialite" Abgail Ashley). She also recreated her near-legendary role of Nurse Preen in THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER in two television adaptations: one in 1949 on THE FORD THEATRE HOUR and one last time in 1972 for THE HALLMARK HALL OF FAME. Here's to you, Ms. Mary Wickes - no wonder Lucy thought you were awesome, you were!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted September 30, 2011 Report Share Posted September 30, 2011 Mary Wickes was of course, one of Lucy's best friends. Lucy loved this down-to-earth comedienne and Lucie Arnaz has said she was practically a member of the family, she was over at the house so much. Mary was on 19 of Lucy's programs: Lucy Calls the President (1977) .... Millie Baker "Here's Lucy" .... (9 episodes) - Lucy, the Sheriff (1974) .... Clara Simpson - Lucy Plays Cops and Robbers (1973).... Violet Barker - Lucy and Eva Gabor Are Hospital Roomies (1972).... Nurse - Lucy's Big Break (1972) .... Nurse Sylvia Ogilvy - Lucy and Her All-Nun Band (1971) .... Sister Paula Carter - Lucy the Diamond Cutter (1970) .... Mrs. Whitmark's Maid - Lucy and Harry's Tonsils (1969) .... Nurse - Lucy Gets Her Man (1969) .... Isabel - Lucy Goes on Strike (1969) .... Isabel "The Lucy Show" ... (8 episodes) - Lucy's Mystery Guess (1967) .... Aunt Agatha - Lucy and Robert Goulet (1967) .... Miss Hurlow - Lucy the Babysitter (1967) .... Mrs. Winslow - Lucy and the Sleeping Beauty (1965) .... Aunt Gussie - Lucy Puts Out a Fire at the Bank (1963) .... Fran - Lucy and Viv Play Softball (1963) .... Fran - Lucy Plays Cleopatra (1963) .... Fran - Lucy and the Runaway Butterfly (1963) .... Mrs. Wickenhauser "I Love Lucy" .... (1 episode) - The Ballet (1952) TV episode .... Madame Le Mond What are your favorite Mary Wickes appearances with Lucy? It's interesting that on HERE'S LUCY Mary played a nurse (like her most famous role in the 1941 classic movie THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER) and a nun (like her very-late career triumph in SISTER ACT, a few years after Lucy's death). It's disappointing that there wasn't a role for Mary on LIFE WITH LUCY but then Mary Jane Croft wasn't asked to appear on that either (and I wrote Madelyn Pugh about that in 1986 - Ms. Pugh responded but still no job for Mary Jane, alas!) Mary Wickes was in scores of films from the early 1940's into the 1990's and actually got some of the best roles of her career at the end (POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE, SISTER ACT, LITTLE WOMEN). Her second most-famous role was probably in Bette Davis' NOW, VOYAGER as Davis' mother's private nurse who well knows how to handle the old battleaxe. Mary was worked constantly on television for decades and even was on the small tube before Lucy, making her debut in 1948. She starred in a 1949 STUDIO ONE adaptation of MARY POPPINS (the first filming of the story?) that one hopes exists somewhere. She was on eleven episodes of Walt Disney's mini-series for Annette Funicello in 1958, appeared as Liz O'Neill in ten episodes of MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY (1956-58) and was Miss Cathcart on ten episodes of DENNIS THE MENACE (1959-1962). She had a featured role as aunt Zelda in the children's series SIGMUND AND THE SEA MONSTERS (1973,12 episodes, reruns aired in to 1975) and costarred on the CBS sitcom DOC (1975-76) as Nurse Beatrice. Her biggest hit on tv was probably another later career entry, THE FATHER DOWLING MYSTERIES with Tom Bosley. Mary was on everything - from M*A*S*H to ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS to SANFORD AND SON to BONZANZA to THE BEVERLY HILLBILIES (the latter probably my alltime favorite Mary Wickes tv gig, as hick "socialite" Abgail Ashley). She also recreated her near-legendary role of Nurse Preen in THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER in two television adaptations: one in 1949 on THE FORD THEATRE HOUR and one last time in 1972 for THE HALLMARK HALL OF FAME. Here's to you, Ms. Mary Wickes - no wonder Lucy thought you were awesome, you were!!! Ah yes, on The Beverly Hillbillies, i was shocked to see her on there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvsbway Posted October 5, 2011 Report Share Posted October 5, 2011 I've been enjoying her on Dennis the Menace that Antenna TV is running. I use to watch this show when I was younger around the time I first started watching The Lucy Show. I made the Gale Gordon connection with those 2 shows, but not with Mary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvo301 Posted October 18, 2011 Report Share Posted October 18, 2011 I've been enjoying her on Dennis the Menace that Antenna TV is running. I use to watch this show when I was younger around the time I first started watching The Lucy Show. I made the Gale Gordon connection with those 2 shows, but not with Mary. I love Mary's appearance on M*A*S*H. She was a very talented character actress! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted October 18, 2011 Report Share Posted October 18, 2011 I've been enjoying her on Dennis the Menace that Antenna TV is running. I use to watch this show when I was younger around the time I first started watching The Lucy Show. I made the Gale Gordon connection with those 2 shows, but not with Mary. Mary was just brilliant, so R E A L in every role she tackled. I think Lucy's constant kind remarks about character actors were due to brilliant people like Mary and Kathleen Freeman and some of the others she worked with on her own shows and even at RKO. That's the main reason she kept asking them back for more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyImHome Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 I wonder if Mary Wickes or Mary Jane Croft might have eventually appeared on Life With Lucy, if it lasted beyond 13 episodes. Also where was Doris Singleton?, Carole Cooke?, Vanda Barra? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 Ah yes, on The Beverly Hillbillies, i was shocked to see her on there. I didn't make the connection that her "All Nun Band" character "sister Paula Carter" was Paula Stewart's married name. It would have been nice if TLS had made even the tiniest nod to continuity and had her "Aunt" characters from season 4 and 6 be the same person. It seemed like they may have been grooming her Izabel character for regular status, with two episodes on Here's Lucy. Isn't Izabel her real name? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 It would have been nice if TLS had made even the tiniest nod to continuity and had her "Aunt" characters from season 4 and 6 be the same person. Remember though that Mary only played Lucy Carmichael's aunt once. Aunt Gussie was the only relative Mary Jane liked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 Ok, want t see a great Alfred Hitchcock tv episode wth the great Thelma Ritter, and the great Mary Wickes thrown in as her best friend? Go to Boy Culture, if you have trouble finding it, try Greg in Hollywood and one of the links listed is BOY CULTURE, scroll down till you see a pic of Thelma Ritter and you see the whole show in two clips posted. Mary's great in this and it's a pretty big part. Comes right after clips of Something's got to give with Monroe in her last uncompleted movie with Wally Cox, who was Marlon Brando's gay lover. SGTG was later remade as Move Over Darling with Doris Day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 Mary with Baby June and Jan Stirling: with Don Ameche and Jan Murray: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 Mary with Baby June and Jan Stirling: with Don Ameche and Jan Murray: The last one is Glen Ford but i know her also, just can't place her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 The last one is Glen Ford but i know her also, just can't place her. I think it's Ruth Roman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 I think it's Ruth Roman. Oh yeah, thanks, used to L O V E her so much! Didja watch Mary on Hitchcock's show? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeySanJoaquin Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 Is the top one with Jamie Farr from a stage production of Oklahoma? Looks kinda like Dawn Wells (Mary Ann of Gilligan's Island fame) in the same shot. Seems I recall somewhere that she's played Aunt Eller! (not that there's wasn't anything she couldn't play! ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 Is the top one with Jamie Farr from a stage production of Oklahoma? Looks kinda like Dawn Wells (Mary Ann of Gilligan's Island fame) in the same shot. Seems I recall somewhere that she's played Aunt Eller! (not that there's wasn't anything she couldn't play! ) I thought that was HER, who's the guy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryCarter Posted April 16, 2013 Report Share Posted April 16, 2013 A Mary Wickes biography will be released in June! Moviegoers know her as the housekeeper in White Christmas, the nurse in Now, Voyager, and the crotchety choir director in Sister Act. This book, filled with never-published behind-the-scenes stories from Broadway and Hollywood, chronicles the life of a complicated woman who brought an assortment of unforgettable nurses, nuns, and housekeepers to life on screen and stage.Wickes (1910-1995) was part of some of the most significant moments in film, television, theatre, and radio history. On that frightening night in 1938 when Orson Welles recorded his earth-shattering "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast, Wickes was waiting on another soundstage for him for a rehearsal of Danton's Death, oblivious to the havoc taking place outside. When silent film star Gloria Swanson decided to host a live talk show on this new thing called television, Wickes was one of her first guests. When Lucille Ball made one of her first TV appearances, Wickes appeared with her--and became Lucy's closest friend for more than thirty years. Wickes was the original Mary Poppins, long before an umbrella carried Julie Andrews across the rooftops of London. And when Disney began creating 101 Dalmatians, Wickes was asked to pose for animators trying to capture the evil of Cruella De Vil. The pinched-face actress who cracked wise by day became a confidante to some of the day's biggest stars by night, including Bette Davis and Doris Day. Bolstered by interviews with almost three hundred people, and by private correspondence from Ball, Davis, Day, and others, Mary Wickes: I Know I've Seen That Face Beforeincludes scores of never-before-shared anecdotes about Hollywood and Broadway. In the process, it introduces readers to a complex woman who sustained a remarkable career for sixty years. http://www.amazon.co...rds=mary wickes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted April 16, 2013 Report Share Posted April 16, 2013 A Mary Wickes biography will be released in June! http://www.amazon.co...rds=mary wickes Can't wait! Thanks for the heads-up. This may be the fastest I have ever ordered a book. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvsbway Posted April 16, 2013 Report Share Posted April 16, 2013 That's gotta have some great Lucy stories in based on how good of friends they were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeySanJoaquin Posted April 17, 2013 Report Share Posted April 17, 2013 This is great news! I'm really looking forward to it and thanks for the heads up!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivfantoo* Posted April 17, 2013 Report Share Posted April 17, 2013 Great news! Thanks for letting us know. I will definitely be reading this one . I wish for her that a more flattering photo had been chosen for the cover... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted April 17, 2013 Report Share Posted April 17, 2013 I wish for her that a more flattering photo had been chosen for the cover... I'm shocked they didn't use one of her dressed either as a nurse or a nun. Definitely the must-have book of the year! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted April 17, 2013 Report Share Posted April 17, 2013 Can't wait! Thanks for the heads-up. This may be the fastest I have ever ordered a book. lol I'm ordering this right away and setting my reminder app to blast on the day it is released. I googled Mary once and discovered that all her papers and memorabilia were donated to a University (Washington? Wisconsin?) with the provision that they NOT be opened until 25 years after her death! A--I wonder if he wangled access to those, and more intriguing: B---WHY did she include this provision?? What was so sensitive that she obviously wanted to make sure those mentioned or affected would be gone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucyilove Posted June 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2013 Moderators THANK YOU THANK YOU for a wonderful birthday banner for the beloved, unforgettable MARY WICKES in honor of the 103rd anniversary of her birth!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted June 13, 2013 Report Share Posted June 13, 2013 Moderators THANK YOU THANK YOU for a wonderful birthday banner for the beloved, unforgettable MARY WICKES in honor of the 103rd anniversary of her birth!! Your wish was my command -- I'd never pass up an opportunity to honour La Wickes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted June 13, 2013 Report Share Posted June 13, 2013 Moderators THANK YOU THANK YOU for a wonderful birthday banner for the beloved, unforgettable MARY WICKES in honor of the 103rd anniversary of her birth!! She was OLDER than Lucy??? Albeit by just one year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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