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Shemp

By Shemp,
in The Danfield Tribune

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Lucyilove Newbie

Lucyilove

Posted
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So nice to see a pic of that wunnerful Alice Pierce, the single best thing about Bewitched for so many years.

The whole cast was wonderful but my personal favorites were Marion Lorne and the underrated Alice Ghostley but of course Elizabeth Montgomery held it all together. I was never crazy about Dick York though, he kind of scared me as a little kid with that neurotic temper.
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Lucyilove Newbie

Lucyilove

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Yeah, but the personal attacks on Lucy were way out of line I felt. It's fine if you don't like a certain movie of hers, but you don't need to degrade her to make a point. Especially if you're a "fan."

I don't think that person is particularly a admirer of Lucy's at all and is just trying to get a rise out of her fans, I don't think this was his first time taking a controversial stand and pushing it hard and rudely. His writing to me suggests one of the more obnoxious trolls from IMDb but then there are so many hostile people like that in the world it could be someone else.
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Lucyilove Newbie

Lucyilove

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Thanks. Tivo guide was showing nothing. Probably one of those shorts run between movies.

Yes ONE LIVE GHOST is one of Lucy's comedy shorts appearances and it has run as a ONE REEL WONDER on TCM between features many times in the past. A lot of sites don't list the short subjects but the TCM website usually has a thread for them and in their schedule.

 

Has SO AND SEW ever run on TCM? I think that was a RKO short so they should have it in their library. I believe that was Lucy's only starring short comedy, ONE LIVE GHOST is a small supporting part like her appearance in the 3 Stooges THE THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS.

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Taylor Newbie

Taylor

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I don't think that person is particularly a admirer of Lucy's at all and is just trying to get a rise out of her fans, I don't think this was his first time taking a controversial stand and pushing it hard and rudely. His writing to me suggests one of the more obnoxious trolls from IMDb but then there are so many hostile people like that in the world it could be someone else.

 

Yep. He seems to like the attention and takes little things out of people's comments to nitpick on, just like a whiny 15-year-old. If you want people to take you seriously, you can debate things like mature people and not get so pissy when someone disagrees with what you say.

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Shemp Newbie

Shemp

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I think that was a RKO short so they should have it in their library.

 

No. The only RKO shorts that exist in Warner's library today are the handful of "RKO Sportscope" and other miscellaneous shorts produced circa 1956 - 1959.

 

RKO sold its short subject library to a television distributor in 1955, both rights and library materials. The films passed thru several hands by way of corporate acquisitions over the decades, and whatever copyrights are still in force (and many are disputedly in public domain) passed into the hands of a family-owned company that has little or no interest in the films they own. Reportedly, any original film materials were disposed of years ago, owing to bad business decisions and general ignorance.

 

What does exist are 8mm and 16mm prints that were struck for TV and home viewing back in the 1950s and early 1960s. A duped 16mm print is the source of ONE LIVE GHOST as seen on TCM today. The prints haphazardly exist in the hands of miscellaneous film collectors and archives. No serious attempt to recompile/reconstruct a complete, quality library of pre-1956 RKO short subjects has succeeded... so far.

 

It's all a damned shame. The RKO shorts include scores of comedy gems from the early 1930s to early 1950s, notably Leon Errol's, and Edgar Kennedy's "Average Man" series.

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C L A U D E Newbie

C L A U D E

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The whole cast was wonderful but my personal favorites were Marion Lorne and the underrated Alice Ghostley but of course Elizabeth Montgomery held it all together. I was never crazy about Dick York though, he kind of scared me as a little kid with that neurotic temper.

They were all great but i LOVED Alice and was so thrilled when she won the Emmy, too bad she was already gone by then.
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rickee Newbie

rickee

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I loved One Live Ghost today! Lucy was absolutely hilarious. This was among her best early work and a completely different type of character than she usually played during this period. This is also probably the Lucy-est she looked during this era.

 

Just watched it too and I agree 100% with you! She plays a nitwit maid to Leon Errol's family and is hysterical. It was a total coincidence that she was working for the Morton family and the wife's name is Ethel! Ha! I have been waiting a very, very long time to catch this and thanks so much, Shemp for the heads up.

 

Enjoy some of her scenes below. Easy to see her famous comedic expressions in their early stages! Click on the photo, it will enlarge a little to see better.

 

 

OneLiveGhost_Scenes.jpg

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Luvsbway Newbie

Luvsbway

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I put this short on last night while Charlie was in the room and did not preface it before we watched it. Half-way through I got ‘what the hell are we watching?” Apparently he had not figured out the maid was Lucy. It took me a few lines to figure out it was her too. Lucy’s look in this movie was atypical of her 1930’s look. Lots of bangs which she really didn’t start doing until the 40’s. Something else was off in her facial features, maybe it was that lack of false eyelashes.

 

What does remain the same is the voice. I can almost identify the decade of her acting by what her voice sounds like. In the beginning living room scene there were quite a bit of mannerisms that I have noticed over the years present. The apron bit was a cute little trick to give her a prop for comedy.

 

I like a short like this because it’s like watching a student in school. All these small early roles and the little theatre experience with Lela was like college. Seeing the potential someone has and picking out those little bits of true talent that just need some guidance and direction.

I picked up on the Morton thing, but missed the Ethel.

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C L A U D E Newbie

C L A U D E

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I put this short on last night while Charlie was in the room and did not preface it before we watched it. Half-way through I got ‘what the hell are we watching?” Apparently he had not figured out the maid was Lucy. It took me a few lines to figure out it was her too. Lucy’s look in this movie was atypical of her 1930’s look. Lots of bangs which she really didn’t start doing until the 40’s. Something else was off in her facial features, maybe it was that lack of false eyelashes.

 

What does remain the same is the voice. I can almost identify the decade of her acting by what her voice sounds like. In the beginning living room scene there were quite a bit of mannerisms that I have noticed over the years present. The apron bit was a cute little trick to give her a prop for comedy.

 

I like a short like this because it’s like watching a student in school. All these small early roles and the little theatre experience with Lela was like college. Seeing the potential someone has and picking out those little bits of true talent that just need some guidance and direction.

I picked up on the Morton thing, but missed the Ethel.

Thanks for the thorough description for those of us not fortunate enough to have seen it when it played.
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