Lucille Ball Collection from Warner (2 Viewers)

[DaveK]

OK.....why did critics pan Mame again???

I just it yesterday and I thought it was great. Everyone knows Lucy can't really sing or dance, but she did a great job here. Also, I read somewhere that Lucy had a lot of problems with the cast, Robert Preston, Bea Arthur, etc. Why?
What was the situation with Madeline Kahn?

 

[Thomas T]

There were many criticisms of Mame, DaveK.

If you're doing a musical, why cast someone who can't sing or dance? At the very least, dub the non singer (as was done with Natalie Wood in West Side Story, Deborah Kerr in The King And I). Perhaps at 45, Ball would have been sensational but at age 63, Ball was simply too old for the part.

Allegedly, Ball thought Madeline Kahn was too pretty for Gooch and wanted her dismissed or thought Kahn was too good and might steal the picture. Notice I said allegedly as Ball or Kahn never addressed the incident and neither as anyone else.

I, too, heard that Robert Preston couldn't stand her but haven't heard about any problems with Beatrice Arthur.

 

[JohnMor]

The story I heard about Madeline Kahn was more of a difference in working methods. At the very first read through when Madeline read her part Lucy said, "You have to use a trick voice in this part. Let's hear what you're going to use." Madeline replied that when she found the voice for the character, she would share it. Lucy did not accept that answer. And they had a disagreement right off the bat. Lucy was from the old radio days where you had a 100 different voices ready to call on at a moment's notice and worked from the outside in. Madeline was more character driven and worked from the inside out. Didn't mesh at all. Lucy then requested Jane Connell, whom she had seen do the role on stage in LA. (Specifically, she told Gene Saks, "Get me the Gooch I saw at the Dorothy Chandler!")

I doubt it had anything to do with Madeline's looks, as she was going to be made somewhat "dumpy" looking in the role, as she was for What's Up, Doc?

Madeline would have been a great Agnes Gooch, but I absolutely LOVE Jane Connell in that part. Of course, I love her whenever I see her, especially her many appearances on "Bewitched."

 

[Joe Lugoff]

I've read many books about Lucy, and apparently, she didn't get along with most of the people she worked with. And she had absolutely no tact.

I don't think "Mame" is nearly as bad as most people say it is. I remember when it opened in March of 1974, a lot of critics blasted it for being old-fashioned. Then, just a few weeks later, "That's Entertainment" opened, to nearly unanimous raves, and these same critics, reviewing the compilation of scenes from MGM musicals, asked, "Why can't they make movies like this any more?"

I thought, they just did, and you guys said it was old-fashioned!

As for Lucy's singing, it's hardly worse than Gene Kelly's hoarse croaking in his movies, including that one that so many people (but not me) think is the greatest movie musical of all. And there was nothing wrong with Lucy's dancing, especially considering she had just broken her leg.

The worst element of "Mame" is the direction. I think Lucy said later that the director made her tone down her performance, which was a mistake. For someone who thinks life is a banquet, Lucy's Mame certainly seems dull and depressed at times.

 

[JohnMor]

Joe, I'm glad to see someone mention her dancing and the broken leg. I think she did a tremendous job. And you're spot on about the direction too. Gene Saks really didn't bring much to it.

In my mind, not a great film, but a very entertaining one, and certainly not the bomb people sometimes make it out to be.

 

[DaveK]

That reminds me of a story I read (correct me if I'm wrong) when she did that one number for the movie Easy To Wed. The dance director rehearsed her so much she showed up to the set with blacked-out teeth and her am in a sling and said "the director is killing me". Was that a gag, or was she just being a bitch?

Other than the I Love Lucy episode where she did the jitterbug, DuBarry Was A Lady and That Girl from Paris (I'll never watch that one again..poor Lucy, I felt her pain), she never did a lot of dancing on film or tv.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

There were many more episodes of "I Love Lucy" where she danced. For instance, the one where she danced with Van Johnson (or "vanced with Dan", as she started to say in a rare goof.)

She danced in many TV specials, too, and as a guest on variety shows, such as Carol Burnett's.

 

[JohnMor]

And one of my favorite ILL moments: from "The Diet" when she and Desi danced to 'Cuban Pete/Sally Sweet.' A great job.

And she even Charlestoned with Ginger Rogers in a late epsiode of "Here's Lucy." And, of course, also danced as a gigantic pickle.

 

[DaveK]

Has she ever done a tap number?
I like to see that.

Speaking of which, there was a story I read that in 1944 one of her tooth fillings picked up a morse code message about a sub. Can someone clarify this for me?
lol

 

[Joe Lugoff]

The problem with the tooth filling story is:

In January of 1943, a hit Broadway show starring Ethel Merman (an old friend of Lucy's) was about a woman who picked up radio signals in her tooth filling and became a war hero.

Now, it's possible it did happen to Lucy prior to that, someone heard about it (maybe Merman herself), and decided it would be funny in a musical comedy. OR it never happened to Lucy, and her publicity agent saw the show and decided to say it happened to Lucy.

I doubt it happened. Considering the millions of frequencies we're all bombarded with every second of our lives (especially nowadays, with all the cell phones), wouldn't everyone with a filling be picking up something or other all the time?

 

[Charles Ellis]

Well, there was an episode of Gilligan's Island in which Gilligan's fillings turned him into a walking radio! I've heard the Lucy filling story, too, and can't recall if any of the legit bios of her have it written down.

 

[DaveK]

I have some more Lucy questions if you don't mind.

What movies early in her career did she get hit in the face with a pie?
What was the movie early in her career where she was picked up by a harness 30+ feet in the air and it snapped and she fell?

 

[Mark B]

Lucy tells the WW2 "fillings" story to Dick Cavett in a 1974 episode of his series in which she was promoting MAME.

 

[Jace_A]

Because it was a second rate "Hello Dolly!" Ball was just part of the problem. The film is not as terrible as the critics made it out to be, but it's still no "Gypsy". The film also seemed an anachronism at a time when films like The Godfather Part II and The Conversation were being released.