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


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One of the things i've noticed over the years is Lucy was even better than i gave her credit for, the way she did everything so naturally, you never see her acting, she just IS Lucy Ricardo. Of course she did the character for so long that she knew Lucy better than anybody but she made everything look so real, you believed everything she did.

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One of the things i've noticed over the years is Lucy was even better than i gave her credit for, the way she did everything so naturally, you never see her acting, she just IS Lucy Ricardo. Of course she did the character for so long that she knew Lucy better than anybody but she made everything look so real, you believed everything she did.

Not only that Claude, but as i watch her in the Hollywood episodes lately, every action, every move she makes and you can tell when she's thinking, when she's angry and when she is thrilled, watch her face, no wonder she created the greatest tv character of all time.
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I watched The Star Upstairs last night and one thing that struck me as funny -- the TV audience gets to see the sight gag of Lucy wearing Bobby's small uniform well before the audience does from the layout of the penthouse suite. We have a second or two to enjoy it, and then as Lucy moves further towards the bathroom, the studio audience sees it and are in hysterics. Two big laughs for the price of one.

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I watched The Star Upstairs last night and one thing that struck me as funny -- the TV audience gets to see the sight gag of Lucy wearing Bobby's small uniform well before the audience does from the layout of the penthouse suite. We have a second or two to enjoy it, and then as Lucy moves further towards the bathroom, the studio audience sees it and are in hysterics. Two big laughs for the price of one.

Yeah, noticed that too, but i thought it was because part of the audience was seeing it first and then more and more to the whole audience eventually. Two other thins about that particular show . . .did we ever find out what Ethel said as the audience is laughing so hard that it's the only instance of us not hearing dialogue on a show. The other being the backdrop again which looks even worse as she works on that balcony and you see that middle area with the unmoving traffic. You would think the L A police would have hauled away that white car that has been sitting there at that intersection for over half a century now, man, that ticket gonna be steep!
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The musical number in Cuban Pals. She walks out looking gorgeous as ever then her change of emotions as the dancer comes out that scares her. Very slapstick, I love it when she sat at the table smoking the cigarette and pouring the wine.

 

Even earlier in the episode when Lucy and Ethel are acting as cleaning woman. All about the props and physical comedy. Haha!

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Yeah, noticed that too, but i thought it was because part of the audience was seeing it first and then more and more to the whole audience eventually. Two other thins about that particular show . . .did we ever find out what Ethel said as the audience is laughing so hard that it's the only instance of us not hearing dialogue on a show. The other being the backdrop again which looks even worse as she works on that balcony and you see that middle area with the unmoving traffic. You would think the L A police would have hauled away that white car that has been sitting there at that intersection for over half a century now, man, that ticket gonna be steep!

Good God, the tv schedule says they're playing THIS one STAR UPSTAIRS again today, TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING??? It bothers me every time the gravy spills on that table in the room.
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I watched The Star Upstairs last night and one thing that struck me as funny -- the TV audience gets to see the sight gag of Lucy wearing Bobby's small uniform well before the audience does from the layout of the penthouse suite. We have a second or two to enjoy it, and then as Lucy moves further towards the bathroom, the studio audience sees it and are in hysterics. Two big laughs for the price of one.

Good catch and I love those kind of "moments", too. :D Never happen again though the way shows are filmed now as compared to then but isn't it amazing how "fresh" most of the episodes are and for lack of a better word, "realistic" since they left in all the little boo-boos, flubs and mistakes, warts and all, and we still enjoy them over and over again, knowing what's going to happen, all these years later??

 

I sincerely doubt half as many people feel that way about shows like Friends and Seinfeld that took what must have seemed like DAYS to film -- which to my old-fashioned way of thinking means they had no respect for the studio audience, rather all about making it look "perfect."

 

What a difference 50 or so years makes! ;)

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One of the things i've noticed over the years is Lucy was even better than i gave her credit for, the way she did everything so naturally, you never see her acting, she just IS Lucy Ricardo. Of course she did the character for so long that she knew Lucy better than anybody but she made everything look so real, you believed everything she did.

I have to agree here... I have taken her for granted for soooo long and really.. like Carole Burnett said.. 'You give that material to anybody else.. It ain't gonna be as funny"... and LUCY really does turn mediocre material into GOLD!... I think she was really underappreciated as an actress (since her peers recieved accolades before she did...and she did stuff that wasn't really noticed as much back then) .... it is really hard to do comedy.. and she does is SOOOOOO freakin well! I mean if she was mediocre would we STILL be watching her today!!!!!??????????

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I have to agree here... I have taken her for granted for soooo long and really.. like Carole Burnett said.. 'You give that material to anybody else.. It ain't gonna be as funny"... and LUCY really does turn mediocre material into GOLD!... I think she was really underappreciated as an actress (since her peers recieved accolades before she did...and she did stuff that wasn't really noticed as much back then) .... it is really hard to do comedy.. and she does is SOOOOOO freakin well! I mean if she was mediocre would we STILL be watching her today!!!!!??????????

I thnk we're back to that small tv thing, grainy black and white picture with antennas and snow on the screen. Now that we finally see them HUGE and remastered, not scratchy prints, we see every detail, we could always hear her before but not always seeing her do her magical comedy in such a flawless manor. Another thing i will NEVER repeat enough, look at her delivering everything flawlessly, naturally, and no wonder critics always said it felt like we were eavesdropping on them, they were so NATURAL and REAL. Look at her in the one, Hollywood Anniversary, where they eat at the hotel, from the cart, the way she tells him what to do, you feel like you're seeing them at home.
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Not sure if anyone brought this up earlier, but one of my favourite sight gags of the entire series is Lucy driving off the in the cadillac trailing the pontiac, only to drive back on after the break in the pontiac trailing the cadillac. What an inspired bit of MFH adaptation. Obviously they couldn't show the crash like they did on the radio, but what a great way to adapt it. It truly makes it funnier just picturing HOW it happened rather than actually seeing it.

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The Van Johnson one is a masterpiece. The range of emotions, the true Lucy Ricardo character, the brilliant dialogue, the story and execution and the fact that she finally does a number well, after an initial goof of course, and did she ever look lovelier?

All of which why it is one of my all-time "top 10" episodes -- I mean, if I had to choose/put in a list just ten! :lucyeww:
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All of which why it is one of my all-time "top 10" episodes -- I mean, if I had to choose/put in a list just ten! :lucyeww:

It's on now as i type this, it is hilarious and a real gem that shows off the great comedienne's many talents. The scene where she pantomimes talking to a sleeping Van for Carolyn`s benefit still makes me laugh after a half century of watching it over and over. The scene of him waking up as she talks and the face she makes when she sees him looking back at her is just priceless. And she`d done that before in the Holden ep in the restaurant in the booth but it`s much more detailed here and she takes a comedic idea and makes a masterpirece of it all. She was a comedic genius, as were her writers. And when they got together, M A G I C happenned.
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I think you could pick almost any episode from any of her series and find a "moment" that's either not scripted or at least, seems as though it isn't -- and we all know how few of those there really were, given her penchant for endless rehearsal and sticking to the script.

 

Still....just noticed this after seeing it several times recently that would be an example: In HL's "Mary Jane's Boyfriend" ep, after Lucy pushes Cliff Norton off the ladder (landing him in the rose bushes!), she hops back in bed and just as we fade out, she musses her hair (wig) in frustration, upset, whatever at what just played out. It was just a moment but seemed so spontaneous -- and considering how careful at that point she was about her hair/wig -- I'm curious whether it truly was scripted, spontaneous or actually very well rehearsed.

 

Anyone "in the know" know? :lucyhehe::lucyshy:

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Not sure if this may already have been posted, but I loved in Lucy Tells the Truth how, out of sight from the others, Lucy smacks Ethel several times for forcing her to admit something, & Ethel just acts nonchalant & pretends to whistle! :marionstrong:

 

And in the epsiode where Lucy & Ethel are making a list of which club members will perform what on Charlie Appleby's TV show, Lucy accidentally leaves Ethel off the list. Ethels then looks like a little girl who got her feelings hurt -- such a priceless expression, & the only time I remember seeing her use it.

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Not sure if this may already have been posted, but I loved in Lucy Tells the Truth how, out of sight from the others, Lucy smacks Ethel several times for forcing her to admit something, & Ethel just acts nonchalant & pretends to whistle! :marionstrong:

 

And in the epsiode where Lucy & Ethel are making a list of which club members will perform what on Charlie Appleby's TV show, Lucy accidentally leaves Ethel off the list. Ethels then looks like a little girl who got her feelings hurt -- such a priceless expression, & the only time I remember seeing her use it.

Yeah, another example of a show being better in the first half than the last half in Lucy Tells The Truth. As for Ethel being left out and feeling so LOST, well, Lucy never forgot her before or after, hence she never HAD to use that SPRESSION on her face again, LOL!
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It's funny at this point (3rd season?) to note that it was Ethel who in the very first early episodes was the "clever" one to come with their hare-brained schemes and ideas! What a difference a few episodes made! ;)

I was thinking this the other day! Like Be A Pal and The Girls Want to Go to A Nightclub.

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It's funny at this point (3rd season?) to note that it was Ethel who in the very first early episodes was the "clever" one to come with their hare-brained schemes and ideas! What a difference a few episodes made! ;)

All i'm noticing in the 4th and 5th seasons is that Ethel says no to everything Lucy suggests, never noticed that before.
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