Brock Posted October 20, 2010 Report Share Posted October 20, 2010 From CBS Watch! Magazine: Lucie on Lucy Marc Berman Lucie Arnaz talks about spending her teen years working with mom Lucille Ball on a Top 10 comedy series America’s favorite redhead, Lucille Ball, joined CBS on the historic I Love Lucy opposite then-husband Desi Arnaz in 1951 and bid adieu 23 years later in her third long-running comedy, Here’s Lucy. Ball’s daughter and Here’s Lucy co-star, Lucie Arnaz, gave us the scoop on life with Lucy, both on-screen and off. Watch!: Legend has it you made your first on-screen appearance on the final episode of I Love Lucy (â€The Ricardos Dedicate a Statueâ€), but we can’t seem to find little Lucie in it. Lucie Arnaz: That’s because I wasn’t! My brother, Desi, was, but I didn’t get my start until The Lucy Show-I played the friend of Lucy’s daughter on an occasional basis. Watch!: Growing up with two famous parents, was it a given you would go into show business? Lucie: The performing bug was always in me. As a child I loved entertaining guests at the house with my little shows, which led to my interest in performing in live theater. Watch!: How did your role on Here’s Lucy come about? Lucie: My mother always liked ending her comedies after six seasons to have enough episodes for syndication. So when The Lucy Show reached six years, the show was rechristened Here’s Lucy, with Lucy as the mother of two teenagers. At the time I was enjoying my life at Immaculate Heart High School and wanted to go to Northwestern to study theater. So I didn’t jump when my mother presented the opportunity to me. When I did agree to do so, I did with one stipulation: If I was not good, I wanted to be written out. Watch!: What was it like for a teenager to land an ongoing role on a Top 10 series? Lucie: The writers started Desi and me off slow, with little to do in the early episodes, but eventually we became more integral to the storylines. Here’s Lucy was like a well-oiled machine: Excluding show day on Thursday, we worked from about 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Even on Thursday, we generally worked no later than 9:30 p.m. Since there was a tutor on the set initially, we did not have a lot of free time. Watch!: At the time, Here’s Lucy attracted some of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Who comes to mind? Lucie: Two of my favorites were Carol Burnett and Jack Benny, and I remember I had to learn how to ride a horse in an episode with Wayne Newton. Vivian Vance always did an episode every season, which was an education for me because she suggested I use my hiatus to hone my craft in live theater. The bigger the star, the more professional he or she was. Watch!: Since Here’s Lucy was still popular at the time, why did it end in 1974? Lucie: We had more than enough episodes for syndication, and I was planning to leave for the national tour of Seesaw, so my mother called it quits. There was no special final episode-just the end of a great experience for me. Watch!: You have had many acting opportunities over the years [including sitcom The Lucie Arnaz Show and drama Sons & Daughters, both on CBS], plus ongoing stints executive producing specials about your parents. What’s next? Lucie: I’m going on tour in 2011 with Babalu-The American Songbook Goes Latin, a show I created that celebrates the music of my father. If a TV project arises, I would definitely consider it, but my first passion is always the theater. Watch!: We must, of course, ask a question about I Love Lucy. What is it about this show that keeps it so alive? Lucie: It’s like comfort food. No matter how much trouble Lucy gets into, or how many fights the Ricardos have with the Mertzes, in the end you know there is plenty of love to go around. These people are not just TV characters. … They are like extended members of our family. And, most importantly, the show is just plain funny. In today’s world, we can all use a good laugh. http://cbswatchmagazine.com/blog/2010/10/13/lucie-on-lucy/ Interesting twist on the demise of both TLS and HL! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikidiki Posted October 20, 2010 Report Share Posted October 20, 2010 Love her answer to the last question cause it's so true! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted October 21, 2010 Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 Great interview. I would have wanted more on her and her brother accepting being on Here's Lucy, that's a fascinating story. Lucy not liking the pregnant girls and drug scene at their respective schools. Apparantly, they got much better in school with a tutor on the set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikidiki Posted October 21, 2010 Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 What do you think the demise was? You don't agree with Lucie? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted October 21, 2010 Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 What do you think the demise was? You don't agree with Lucie? What are you talking about? I'm not talking about the demise of the show, just their start on it, their casting on the show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted October 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 What are you talking about? I'm not talking about the demise of the show, just their start on it, their casting on the show. I was talking about the demise. TLS -- The sale of Desilu HL -- Covert CBS Cancellation/"Retirement" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikidiki Posted October 21, 2010 Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 What are you talking about? I'm not talking about the demise of the show, just their start on it, their casting on the show. Yeah, sorry, I was talking about the demise of the show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted October 21, 2010 Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 Yeah, sorry, I was talking about the demise of the show. I'm sorry too, i hadn't noticed that one line he wrote at the bottom of the text. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeySanJoaquin Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 I was talking about the demise. TLS -- The sale of Desilu HL -- Covert CBS Cancellation/"Retirement" Hey, we all have different "takes" of the same event, depends on who we are, what we know at the time, etc., etc. If Lucie doesn't want to go on record saying HL was actually cancelled, so be it. The general public doesn't really need to know, does it? Besides...in retrospect, CBS actually treated her quite well in going along with the "I'm quitting" story given that, in the same era, they got rid of other popular long-running series & stars without so much as a wham, bam, thank you ma'am!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C L A U D E Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 Hey, we all have different "takes" of the same event, depends on who we are, what we know at the time, etc., etc. If Lucie doesn't want to go on record saying HL was actually cancelled, so be it. The general public doesn't really need to know, does it? Besides...in retrospect, CBS actually treated her quite well in going along with the "I'm quitting" story given that, in the same era, they got rid of other popular long-running series & stars without so much as a wham, bam, thank you ma'am!! While i agree the Here's Lucie ratings were lower in that sixth year, it was always a fact that Lucy ended her series after six years and she now had six years of shows so she ended the series, CBS did not. HOWEVER, CBS did not ask her for a new series and were in the process as they had been for years of getting rid of their older stars and with the Silverman regime aiming for clearing out the old cobwebs at the Tiffany network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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