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| by Billy Ingram
The juxtaposition of the 'real' Lucy with the Lucy character is slightly confusing and, though Vivian Vance is referred to as "Vivian" here, her personality is basically Ethel's with more attitude.
This program is significant because it's one of the last appearances of the four I Love Lucy cast members together, Lucy and Desi filed for divorce just a few months after this special was filmed. They only appeared together in one more Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Show; they never again acted together on any another TV show.
One of those musical numbers ('I'm Only Happy When I'm Singin' the Blues') featured some wild art direction and garnered excellent revues for the sterling performances by Carole Cook and Dick Kallman as singing/dancing coffeehouse beatniks.
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PR4 & PR5 Pages for ads - CHEAP!
Lucille
Ball & Ann Sothern
|
From
our tireless film archivists comes this incredible find - one of the
last shows Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz did together, a Christmas special
that has never been re-broadcast.
That's a real shame, it was a star-studded spectacular that any Lucy
fan would find appealing.
On
Christmas Day, 1959, The Desilu Playhouse (1958-1960) presented
a 
The
wrap-around plot had Hollywood gossip queen Hedda Hopper interviewing
Lucy and Desi about the Desilu Players and the show they recently staged.
This led to flashbacks of Lucy (who was directing the stage show) creating
chaos backstage between the musical numbers.
This
Desilu Christmas special was produced and (essentially) directed by
Lucille Ball herself.
This is the only Desilu production I can think of that features the
I Love Lucy cast members playing "themselves."
If
you ever get the opportunity to watch this hour-long special, look for
the scene where William Frawley (as
himself?) tries to pick up one of the young girls in the show.
How's this for a come-on: "Miss Lovell, do you feel about older
men the way I feel about younger women?"
The
Desilu Players was a pet project of Lucille Ball's, who hand-picked
each of the versatile performers as her protégés (they
actually were appearing in a stage revue that she produced in LA around
the time of this broadcast). The musical and comedy numbers from the
live show were filmed almost exactly as originally staged, but only
the musical numbers ended up in the Christmas special's final edit.
Carole
Cook went on to become a life-long friend of Lucy's, appearing on Broadway
and several times on The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy. Dick
Kallman starred in the fondly remembered TV series Hank in 1965.
He also embarked on a promising Broadway career before being tragically
murdered in his New York apartment in 1980.
Also
in the Desilu Playhouse cast: Majel Barrett (Nurse Chappell
on Star Trek another Desilu show) and Robert Osborne (the Classic
Movie Channel host and erstwhile writer for the Hollywood Reporter).
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