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No such thing as small roles only small actors


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or so the saying goes. Sometimes a bit part in I Love Lucy will leave a lasting impression on you. One for me is Hazel Boyne as the cleaning lady in Men Are Messy. Her little dance with Ricky was so sweet and charming, my favorite scence from the episode. What are some other "small parts" in any of the Lucille Ball shows that have left an impression on you!

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Lou Krugman as director Mr. Williams comes to mind.

As does the wonderful woman who plays the fur salon proprietress in "Pat Collins" making a nothing part into something of brilliance (particularly like her line "Come, Georgia...")

Jody Gilbert and Iris Adrian were so much fun in "Meets the Law' they should have gotten their own series "Tinklebell 'n Me" or "The Hard Head Hogan Family"

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Lou Krugman as director Mr. Williams comes to mind.

As does the wonderful woman who plays the fur salon proprietress in "Pat Collins" making a nothing part into something of brilliance (particularly like her line "Come, Georgia...")

Jody Gilbert and Iris Adrian were so much fun in "Meets the Law' they should have gotten their own series "Tinklebell 'n Me" or "The Hard Head Hogan Family"

 

Ooooh, I smell a new series episode guide!

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or so the saying goes. Sometimes a bit part in I Love Lucy will leave a lasting impression on you. One for me is Hazel Boyne as the cleaning lady in Men Are Messy. Her little dance with Ricky was so sweet and charming, my favorite scence from the episode. What are some other "small parts" in any of the Lucille Ball shows that have left an impression on you!

 

That's my personal favorite scene of Desi's. It provided the character with warmth and humanity to counteract his "hot-headed temper" scenes. Proves that Ricky was a good man deep down.

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  • 6 months later...

I was watching Ricky's Screen Test the other day and Ray Kellogg as the assistant director never fails to make me laugh. I love how offended he his when the director takes his job of shouting "ROLL 'EM!" and the quiet way he says it after. It's a shame Kellogg was relegated to minor straight men roles in all his subsequent appearances (usually as a cop). He could be very funny.

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  • 2 weeks later...

 I LOVE the lady who plays Bambette??- in season 2 of the Lucy Show?? (i can only remember the name because Viv SCREAMS- BAAAMBETTTE- BAMMBBEETTEE lolol) She later is Kim Carter's first boss I think, who was also buying from her own daughter's store- Her small interactions with Lucy seem to come off so naturally-and come off so genuinely- 

i've come to learn that this is a hard thing to do while speaking loudly enough to be heard- from the back, and still act with the energy and control it takes to work along side of Lucy. She never comes across as mean or seriously angry  but instead, comes off as sweet and understanding to the Lucy character. I wish shed have been a neighbor or a girl friend that could be with her in a lot of domestic plots 

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Mrs. Hansen. The way she says "no!" when Lucy keeps trying to lower the price. And her oh-so convincing story about her "grandma" having a wreck when she was taking mother to the hospital. 

Mabel Paige died 4 months after this episode aired.  Incidentally she played another "Mrs. Hanson" in the movie "The Mating of Millie".

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Bryan O'Byrne as assistant director in "Lucy and John Wayne", TLS 5th season.  Has this guy been on other episodes?  He makes the most of his little part.

 

I'm going to keep harping about how great this "John Wayne"episode is  until someone agrees with me, which is to-date: no one!

(as Lucy says to Mooney "and you know I can do it too".....)

 

  Lucy carries the entire show, naturally and it's one of the few times--maybe the last-- Lucy as overbearing-obnoxious-buttinsky has a little warmth and cuteness.  She required by the script to do some pretty outlandish things and she pulls it off in one of the most spontaneous performances of her career, especially for this TLS/HL period.

Watch how deftly she takes the powder puff from Bennett and starts touching up Wayne's make-up...without missing a beat in her dialogue.  Turning his head from side to side and dabbing his eyebrows. 

She's got scads of throw-away lines such as:  in the lunch scene when Wayne leaves, she hands him the ketchup bottle "you might want this so you can put it....where it belongs..."

I'll wager that many of her lines are not exactly what the script dictates, because she seems to ramble and expand her dialogue, unlike any other episode I can think of.

And then in the final fight scene when she's sees blood coming from John's mouth, how she starts pushing people around including, for no apparent reason, shoving the knife-giving floozy(with the silly smirk on her face) into a table, breaking it ala Fancy Pants.  And considering that she has to somehow accidentally hit Wayne on the head with a bottle, it's executed much better than anyone has the right to expect out of any actress. Try to imagine her book-end Emmy winners Hope Lange and Mary Tyler Moore making this work.  (And contrarily, Lucy could phone in her performance in their roles).

 

It's performances like this one that make me agree wholeheartedly with the Academy Emmy win for this season. This (and other) episodes make this an enjoyable season for me, despite some real duffers at the end.

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Although the episode will probably never be one of my favorites, you certainly made a convincing argument.

 

For the "Annoying Lucy Trilogy" of Lucy and John Wayne, Lucy and Sammy Davis Jr., and Lucy and Petula Clark, Lucy and Petula Clark wins for me. Lucy is not stupid in the episode and she ends up on top. Petula is also delightful in the episode.

 

Another great minor character actor: Myra Marsh. She's great in both her episodes: Lucy Writes a Play and The Operetta. My favorite moment is her delivery of "I can't come out from behind the curtain because I have my costume on!! :marionstrong: !!!!!"

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Another great minor character actor: Myra Marsh. She's great in both her episodes: Lucy Writes a Play and The Operetta. My favorite moment is her delivery of "I can't come out from behind the curtain because I have my costume on!! :marionstrong: !!!!!"

 

She was wonderful! Another favourite:

 

"... or, 'Much Ado About KNITTING!" :D Isn't that a dear title? Knitting! :marionstrong:*clears throat and composes self* "

 

Not to mention her interrupted rendition of Hiawatha.

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1. Although the episode will probably never be one of my favorites, you certainly made a convincing argument.

 

2. For the "Annoying Lucy Trilogy" of Lucy and John Wayne, Lucy and Sammy Davis Jr., and Lucy and Petula Clark, Lucy and Petula Clark wins for me. Lucy is not stupid in the episode and she ends up on top. Petula is also delightful in the episode.

 

3. Another great minor character actor: Myra Marsh. She's great in both her episodes: Lucy Writes a Play and The Operetta.

Response to comment #1:  Well, if that's as good as I'm going to get, I'll take it.  I can see I'm going to have to resort to holding my breath till I turn blue, 'cause I'm NOT done!!

 

comment #2: I'll have to watch "Petula" again.  (I'm ALWAYS open-minded, ya know) but as I recall Lucy is too overbearing in this episode to suit me.  At least in "JW", she has the excuse of being in the presence of someone who makes her go "DAAAAHHHH" and simply got "carried away" on the set. 

Lucy Carter seemed like such a china closet bull in Petula's recording studio, carelessly ruining take after take without regard for anything.  I don't remember having any impression pro or con about Pet.  And the idea that Lucy's voice in the end was considered a good gimmick (with those ooo's or hoots or whatever it was she was doing) for a Petula Clark record is a little beyond my comedy show contrivance acceptance level.  But I'm going to watch it TONIGHT.

 

comment #3: Myra gives such a stand-out performance in the few shows she was in, I'm surprised she wasn't asked back for more.  I don't remember seeing Myra in 60s and 70s sitcoms.  What became of her?

 

What a wonderful analysis. I will be watching that tonight and looking for all those things. I may never love it but I can look for these things mentioned to appreciate.

 

Also note the little wave she gives John after she disrupts the first take. 

AND the regal way she says "I'm a personal friend of Mr. Wayne's. In fact, I just had lunch with him".

In this episode IMHBMOTNDO*, she carries off cute AND obnoxious at the same time, a seemingly impossible task that could be accomplished by one actress and one only, who makes it all seem effortless.

I never tire of this episode.

 

*In my humble but more often than not disputed opinion....

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