Neil Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 According to a friend who has a TCM guide, the Lucy/Carson interview will be on tonight. I usually caught these Lucy talk show appearances if they were listed in the trusted TV Guide, which I scoured for Lucy (and other) stuff..though I wasn't really watching TV anymore. As time went on, I enjoyed her on talk show stints less, especially Carson's. I think it was because the Tonight Show had an emphasis on laughs rather than an actual interview. Lucy's brand of wit came across as a bit caustic and crabby as she got older. And then there was that constant rearranging her clothes and picking at herself. I know it was just nerves, but it came across as a bit haughty---like she had better things to do than to be there. You would think she would have quit that after watching herself when one of those clothes-picking interviews aired on TV. And that she would have STOPPED saying "Who the hell cares?" I did not see the interview where she freshened her lipstick on camera. The worst thing I ever saw her do was on "dinah" when Dinah wanted to get the conversation turned around to "Wildcat" so she could segue into introducing Valerie Harper, and presented Lucy with a Playbill from the show, which Lucy looked at without comment, then started fanning herself with it! This show also had Carol Burnett and maybe even Gale Gordon. Dinah had to pull teeth to get Lucy to sing "Hey Look Me Over" with her and Valerie. "I can't sing it anymore"--this was only 1 or 2 years after "Mame". When I look back on it, the stretch of time between "Wildcat" on Broadway and this Dinah appearance was only 15 years. In 1976, that seemed like a long time, but it doesn't anymore. It's the equivalent of 1999 to today!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryCarter Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 I actually really like the Dinah! interview with Lucy, Valerie, Carol, and Gale. Yes, she does fan herself with the Wildcat Playbill, but she is seen actually looking through it as they go to commercial. Lucy clearly not thrilled about having to sing, but she was very enthusiastic during the number. Lucy started it off, but then Valerie eventually took over the Wildy sections and Dinah and Lucy dueted on the Janie lines. Lucy was obviously happy to be in the company of the other guests. There is another Dinah! show where they can't talk Lucy into performing. The guests were Steve and Eydie, Jimmy & Gloria Stewart, and Lucy & Gary. Steve and Eydie sing, Jimmy plays the piano and sings Ragtime Cowboy Joe, Gloria does the hula, and Gary does some shtick. Lucy's not interested in doing anything. I wonder if she liked Gary nearby to calm her nerves on talk shows because it's surprising how often he makes an appearance with her. It's very clear that Lucy and Johnny Carson liked each other tremendously, but their topics of conversation were rarely as interesting as some of a Lucy's other talk show appearances. Tonight's episode is the one where (SPOILER?) Lucy says to Johnny "I don't think you think I'm interesting." He says that he adores her and she says that she knows that, but that she doesn't think he's interested in what she has to say. Lucy really did love Johnny Carson and she praised him often. I think she felt more the need to try to be "funny" on his show compared to Dinah, Merv, and Mike Douglas' shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 I actually really like the Dinah! interview with Lucy, Valerie, Carol, and Gale. Yes, she does fan herself with the Wildcat Playbill, but she is seen actually looking through it as they go to commercial. Lucy clearly not thrilled about having to sing, but she was very enthusiastic during the number. Lucy started it off, but then Valerie eventually took over the Wildy sections and Dinah and Lucy dueted on the Janie lines. Lucy was obviously happy to be in the company of the other guests. There is another Dinah! show where they can't talk Lucy into performing. The guests were Steve and Eydie, Jimmy & Gloria Stewart, and Lucy & Gary. Steve and Eydie sing, Jimmy plays the piano and sings Ragtime Cowboy Joe, Gloria does the hula, and Gary does some shtick. Lucy's not interested in doing anything. I wonder if she liked Gary nearby to calm her nerves on talk shows because it's surprising how often he makes an appearance with her. It's very clear that Lucy and Johnny Carson liked each other tremendously, but their topics of conversation were rarely as interesting as some of a Lucy's other talk show appearances. Tonight's episode is the one where (SPOILER?) Lucy says to Johnny "I don't think you think I'm interesting." He says that he adores her and she says that she knows that, but that she doesn't think he's interested in what she has to say. Lucy really did love Johnny Carson and she praised him often. I think she felt more the need to try to be "funny" on his show compared to Dinah, Merv, and Mike Douglas' shows. Could be that my memory is a bit skewed. Where did you see it? If you see it again, see if you think what I remember occured: Lucy during her duet with Dinah on the Janie part (with Valerie doing the Wildy part) was merely mouthing the words into her mic, because I don't think she could hit those high notes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryCarter Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 I've seen the Dinah with Lucy and Valerie at the Paley Center. Lucie donated all of her parents talk show appearances that she had in her possession to the Paley Center. Yes, it does appear that Lucy might be just mouthing a section of the song. My other favorite Lucy/Dinah moment: Lucy, Lucie, Robert Osborne, and Carl Reiner were all on together and played Charades. All the answers were movie musicals. Gary served as master of ceremonies. After everybody had a turn, they let Gary act one out. His charade was Annie (which was not a movie musical yet in 1978). One of the producers held up a sign behind Gary: "DON'T GUESS IT." Everybody is guessing the wrong answer. Gary keeps slapping his "fanny" to try to get them to say the rhyme and Lucy keeps yelling, "ASS!" over and over again. I'm pretty shocked they allowed that on the air on daytime television in 1978. It's a very funny segment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted March 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Great set of interviews tonight -- poor Ben M., however, coming on afterwards to apologise for the schedule screw-up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickylu Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 I love hearing that laugh of hers. I'm surprised she didn't slice a worm in half with those nails! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvsbway Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 I’ve seen a little bit of this Carson interview on YouTube but it was missing the worm part and a bit more too. Also it was really bad quality so nice to have it now looking good. Comments. Not sure why Lucy had earthworms with her but it was entertaining watching her play with them in Johnny’s hand. Also got a nice shot of that diamond cluster ring she wore a lot. With the previous discussion on how much Lucy would fidget during these interviews she was pretty good in this one. I get such a kick out of it when someone generally makes her laugh, she looks like a little girl. I had seen this part before but I like how point blank Johnny asks her if she is into kinky sex. Yeah the public prude seemed shocked but knew that it took time. Ha. When oh when will these Dinah! episodes ever show up on DVD? Every one that Lucy appears on sounds like such a gem. That charades one sounds like such fun and I could totally see Lucy doing that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 I've seen the Dinah with Lucy and Valerie at the Paley Center. Lucie donated all of her parents talk show appearances that she had in her possession to the Paley Center. Yes, it does appear that Lucy might be just mouthing a section of the song. My other favorite Lucy/Dinah moment: Lucy, Lucie, Robert Osborne, and Carl Reiner were all on together and played Charades. All the answers were movie musicals. Gary served as master of ceremonies. After everybody had a turn, they let Gary act one out. His charade was Annie (which was not a movie musical yet in 1978). One of the producers held up a sign behind Gary: "DON'T GUESS IT." Everybody is guessing the wrong answer. Gary keeps slapping his "fanny" to try to get them to say the rhyme and Lucy keeps yelling, "ASS!" over and over again. I'm pretty shocked they allowed that on the air on daytime television in 1978. It's a very funny segment. (Beating Claude to it). Wouldn't that be the appropriate guess even if Gary was just standing there?? What is the earliest Lucy talk show the Paley Center has? I've got the audio of a Jack Paar Tonight Show, actually hosted by Hugh Downs that night. She had just started in Wildcat and was in full stage make up to tape the show before her evening's performance. It's in COLOR. What I wouldn't give to see the original, but I think all those old Tonight shows no longer exist. Other guest Kay Thompson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryCarter Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 (Beating Claude to it). Wouldn't that be the appropriate guess even if Gary was just standing there?? What is the earliest Lucy talk show the Paley Center has? I've got the audio of a Jack Paar Tonight Show, actually hosted by Hugh Downs that night. She had just started in Wildcat and was in full stage make up to tape the show before her evening's performance. It's in COLOR. What I wouldn't give to see the original, but I think all those old Tonight shows no longer exist. Other guest Kay Thompson. I've heard the audio for that Tonight show interview too. I didn't realize it was in color! I wish it still existed. The kids were on with her in that show. I know Lucy made at least one appearance on the show with Jack Paar as host. Vivian was on with her. I've never heard any this interview remaining in any form. The earliest Lucy TV talk show the Paley Center has in the collection is The Eamonn Andrews Show from England in 1966 with Noel Coward, Muhammad Ali, and Dudley Moore. The Paley Center has some TV and radio interviews with Lucy that predate this (like Lucy on Arlene Francis' radio show in 1960 and her interviewed by Garry Moore on his TV variety show), but that 1966 interview is the earliest on an actual TV talk show. Lucy got copies of pretty much every TV appearance she did after 3/4" videotape became popular in the mid-1970s and luckily saved all of them, so they are now available to watch in the Paley Center collection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvsbway Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Is this photo from any of the talk shows discussed in this thread? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryCarter Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 That's a great picture! I've never seen it before. That's from Lucy and Viv's appearance on Tonight with Jack Paar. It probably no longer exists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 That's a great picture! I've never seen it before. That's from Lucy and Viv's appearance on Tonight with Jack Paar. It probably no longer exists. Any idea the date or year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryCarter Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Any idea the date or year? I believe it's January 26, 1961. I think Lucy was on the show three times in a four week period and this was the only time she was on with Paar. Hugh Downs was guest host the first time, as we mentioned, and the second time Arlene Francis was guest host. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvsbway Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 The hair style would match up to that time frame. 3 times in 4 weeks on this show, guest over on I've Got a Secret and Ed Sullivan, wow. Between that, 8 shows a week on bway and juggling her complicated love life no wonder she was exhausted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 I love hearing that laugh of hers. I'm surprised she didn't slice a worm in half with those nails! In intro, Conan said something like "she had just months earlier retired from 25 years of weekly television." which we all know was off by a few years. I wonder if Dede was still around for this. Nice moment: she's "got an idea about working with Gale again" which was "Phones the President" Our local station did not carry "Here's Lucy" so I had no idea it was on until I saw a commercial for it run by CBS that our station didn't cut. Several people told me that 'Lucy' was coming back in the morning, though they didn't know one series from another,but I never knew the source---probably this interview, and was very puzzled (and frustrated) when I couldn't find any mention of it, because at that time we had NO Lucy in Portland at all. That fall it would change. Our ONE independent station bought ILL and put it on at 7pm and it ran for years, however with some of the WORST prints imaginable. So many streaks it looked like it was raining in the apartment. Some really jarring edits too. They'd just join the show in progress after cutting the first few minutes. One of the most ridiculous (that I've posted before) was "Scotland" which STARTED in the MIDDLE of the mayor's song!! Plus that fall our ABC affiliate bought The Lucy Show and newly syndicated Mary Tyler Moore to run from 4:30 to 5:30. It was great seeing LS without the CBS edits I was used to (and interesting to see how and where CBS made their cuts). Also first time I had seen the season by season opening credits. (Too young to actually remember them when they were first on). MTM had JUST gone off its prime time run and it was the first time I realized that syndicated prints were crummy by comparison: 16mm prints instead of 35mm. Yes, they were still shipping films to local stations. Seems I recall HL ran from May to November in 1977. Did they make it through a full run? In contrast, The Lucy Show had approximately 8 runs in its 4 years. The b/w episodes were only run twice. Seasons 2 through 6 took almost exactly 6 months. In number of morning showings, TLS wasn't far behind ILL. I Love Lucy ran for 7 1/2 years in morning. By my calculation, that's almost 11 showings of each episode. Wonder why Lucy waited for 4 more years to put HL in syndication. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 I believe it's January 26, 1961. I think Lucy was on the show three times in a four week period and this was the only time she was on with Paar. Hugh Downs was guest host the first time, as we mentioned, and the second time Arlene Francis was guest host. I know the Hugh Downs guest host one was some time during the week between Christmas and New Years 1960. The only reason I know it was in color is that Hugh made some reference to how she looked on the monitor with her red hair. So THIS may have been the first time we saw Lucy on TV in color, and not the 1962 Danny Kaye special. Jan. 26th would have been right before her 2 weeks off from Wildcat. When she returned, she first did HLMO on Ed Sullivan and that was the middle of Feb. By the way, does anyone know if the actual Sullivan original videotape exists? Or were they still being preserved on kinescope? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryCarter Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 On 3/28/2014 at 1:46 PM, Neil said: I wonder if Dede was still around for this. DeDe was still alive. She died in July and this interview was late April. Just a few months before this Tonight Show interview, DeDe appeared on The Don Ho Show with her daughter and granddaughter and on The Peter Marshall Variety Show with some of her pals from the Motion Picture Mothers Club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted March 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 The Peter Marshall Variety Show with some of her pals from the Motion Picture Mothers Club. Interesting. Was Tess White on it as well? Their friendship fascinates me. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryCarter Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Interesting. Was Tess White on it as well? Their friendship fascinates me. lol No, unfortunately. It was DeDe and the mothers of Peter Marshall and Joanne Dru, John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, David Janssen, Jim Nabors (I think), and the mother-in-law of a songwriter (maybe Hal David? I don't recall). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted March 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 That's an all-star lineup. LOL Too bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickie Posted March 31, 2014 Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 I guess it was appropriate it that they aired the Lucy on Carson interview on March 25th, the same day as the box set release of HL! I do remember this interview. I know here in NYC they aired the HL series everyday at 4pm on NBC (local channel 4). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annaleigh Posted April 2, 2014 Report Share Posted April 2, 2014 I guess it was appropriate it that they aired the Lucy on Carson interview on March 25th, the same day as the box set release of HL! I do remember this interview. I know here in NYC they aired the HL series everyday at 4pm on NBC (local channel 4).And on my birthday! My mom said it was rescheduled because Lucy wanted to say happy birthday to me! Haha! If only! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annaleigh Posted April 13, 2014 Report Share Posted April 13, 2014 Came home to Seven Days Leave on a local station. Nice surprise! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKlucyfan Posted April 14, 2014 Report Share Posted April 14, 2014 Five came back was on here last night Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leenorman Posted May 2, 2014 Report Share Posted May 2, 2014 I've heard the audio for that Tonight show interview too. I didn't realize it was in color! I wish it still existed. The kids were on with her in that show. I know Lucy made at least one appearance on the show with Jack Paar as host. Vivian was on with her. I've never heard any this interview remaining in any form. The earliest Lucy TV talk show the Paley Center has in the collection is The Eamonn Andrews Show from England in 1966 with Noel Coward, Muhammad Ali, and Dudley Moore. The Paley Center has some TV and radio interviews with Lucy that predate this (like Lucy on Arlene Francis' radio show in 1960 and her interviewed by Garry Moore on his TV variety show), but that 1966 interview is the earliest on an actual TV talk show. Lucy got copies of pretty much every TV appearance she did after 3/4" videotape became popular in the mid-1970s and luckily saved all of them, so they are now available to watch in the Paley Center collection. Paley Center ever consider putting out a DVD of just Lucille interviews on talk shows, Harry? Do you have exact dates: Mo/Da/to go with the years; I don't know if I have some of them; would love to add them to the chronology....thanks if you can supply. Loving you, JK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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