Lucille Ball
- 2005
- AddThe Untold Secrets of Television's Greatest Hitsto QueueAddThe Untold Secrets of Television's Greatest Hitsto top of Queue
The Untold Secrets of Television's Greatest Hits offers stories about the productions of eight famous programs. Among the shows discussed are Cheers, L.A. Law, Hill Street Blues, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, he Addams Family, The Munsters, and I Love Lucy. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
In addition to highlighting some of Lucille Ball's funniest TV moments, Lucy's Lost Episodes includes various commercial endorsements and appearances, as well as providing information on her contribution to charities. The actress herself was very much involved with making a difference in the lives of those afflicted with cerebral palsy and debilitating heart conditions. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- 1999
The original Army Navy "screen magazine" was a news and information film that was shown before the main feature in military movie theaters during World War II. These presentations consisted of human-interest stories from the home front, news about combat events, updates on defense-related industry, and rallies or programs that starred celebrities of the time - including Bob Hope, Harpo Marx, & Joe E. Brown. The films were devised to boost the troops' morale, and some contain derogatory racial stereotypes. Among the most popular segments in these "magazines" were cartoons about Private Snafu - a lazy, stubborn soldier who did everything wrong and ended up "learning his lesson" in ways that amused the audience. (The Snafu cartoons were created by Theodore Geisel, more widely known as Dr. Seuss.)
~ Alice Duncan, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Though many fans will always fondly recall Judy Garland's wonderful portrayal of young Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Garland herself was apparently most proud of the role she played in A Star Is Born. In this film, which opened in 1954, Garland portrayed an actress who sees her career blossom as her husband's declines. This video features clips from the film's glamorous premiere held on September 29, 1954, at Hollywood's Pantages Theatre. Viewers will see a vast array of other stars arriving at this event that foreshadowed Garland's Academy Award nomination for this role. An added segment features Garland and Ken Murray, who was well-known for his "Hollywood Home Movies." ~ Elizabeth Smith, All Movie Guide
This concert and interview documentary features the racy wit of Canada and the U.S.'s most popular female comedians, including Jenny Jones, Whoopi Goldberg, Phyllis Diller, Ellen DeGeneres, and Paula Poundstone. In addition to screening their stand-up gigs and providing interviews with these funny ladies, the documentary provides some historical perspective about the origins of present-day feminine humor using clips of performances by Eve Arden, Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phyllis Diller, Whoopi Goldberg, (more)
- 1991
Here's a slew of songs taken from the popular I Love Lucy series. Included here are: "Babalu Rap" (Produced by "Weird" Al Yankovic), and Lucy's theme song, the "Friendship" duet, "Cuban Pete," "Straw Hat Song," "Cheek to Cheek," "Babalu," "California Here I Come," "We're Having a Baby." ~ All Movie Guide
- 1990
Lucille Ball is honored in this program which features many of her television and film appearances. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1989
Entertainment history. Uses film clips and contemporary interviews to show what Hollywood did during World War II in raising money for the war and entertaining the troops. Shows entertainer Bob Hope and his performing troupe today. Other entertainers include Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, The Andrews Sisters, Jack Benny, Lena Horne, Dinah Shore, Lucille Ball, Jimmy Durante, Red Skelton and Eddie Cantor. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1987
This program includes a parade of jingles and authentic advertisements for cigarettes - all from the carefree days when smoking still seemed to be fun and glamorous (before sobering medical information made abstaining from smoking both a prudent lifestyle choice and an inflammatory social cause). Also included are nostalgic clips from TV shows and movies that made the stars look very cool, romantic, tough, and elegant while smoking. Testimonials by John Wayne, Steve McQueen, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, James Garner, and Fred Flintstone are included (some of whom were cancer victims). ~ Alice Duncan, All Movie Guide
The ads for The Stone Pillow tended to suggest that this TV movie was Lucille Ball's dramatic debut--completely ignoring the fact that Ball had started out as a "straight" actress in the 1930s who only occasionally played comedy until I Love Lucy came along. Whatever the case, the Ball we see in Stone Pillow is a cranky bag lady, fiercely independent and violently resistant to do-gooders who try to alter her homeless status. Daphne Zuniga plays an idealistic social worker who tries to get Ball off the streets. It is only after watching several of her fellow indigents die where they sleep that Ball agrees to give up her "stone pillow." Though meant to be intensely dramatic, The Stone Pillow looks more like an elongated I Love Lucy sketch in which Ball dresses up like a tramp in order to meet Red Skelton (or somebody). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
This entertaining vintage video offers up some very funny classic commercials from TV and movie personalities. Watch for "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" and "You Bet Your Life." ~ All Movie Guide
Lucille Ball stars in this film version of the hit Jerry Herman Broadway musical, which featured an electrifying performance by Angela Lansbury. As Patrick Dennis' plucky and resilient Auntie Mame, Ball's low-pitched, growling moan of a voice (a spine-chilling reminder of the sound of Linda Blair's demon-possession in The Exorcist) and her gaudy and lumbering fashion-horse gait turns Mame into an elderly cross-dresser. In this guise, Mame rehashes the plot from Dennis's novel and the previous non-musical Rosalind Russell film. During the Depression era 1930s, she enrolls her nephew into a liberal private school, tries a turn in show business (with the help of her friend Vera [Beatrice Arthur]), and marries a well-to-do Southern planter (Robert Preston). After her husband's death, Mame concerns herself with her now grown-up nephew, his girlfriend, and the girlfriend's intolerant parents. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, Robert Preston, (more)
- 1973
Director Francesco Rosi returns to his recurring theme of the connections between legal and illegal exercises of power in this sensationalized account of the infamous gangster Charles "Lucky" Luciano (Gian Maria Volonte). The film examines the life of Luciano after serving nine years of his 50-year sentence in the 1930s and 1940s, after which he was pardoned and deported to Italy. Once back in Italy, Luciano travels to Naples, where he finds himself under a continuous ten-year investigation by narcotics investigator Charles Siragusa (who plays himself). Rosi uses Luciano as a clinical study, questioning his legendary status and exploring the truth behind the legend. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gian Maria Volontè, Rod Steiger, (more)
This story is taken from the real-life marriage of two people in the early 1960s. Helen North (Lucille Ball) is a widow with eight children who falls in love with Naval officer Frank Beardsley (Henry Fonda), a widower with ten children of his own. The two marry as comedy ensues from the sheer numbers and diverse age groups of the offspring. Narration is used in the first half of the film to help set the stage for the impending nuptials. Van Johnson is the mutual friend who brings the couple together. Tom Bosley plays the harried doctor who makes a house call and finds almost two dozen patients under one roof. The newlyweds are soon off to the hospital when Helen becomes pregnant with the couple's first child in this amusing family comedy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, (more)
Ira Levin wrote the stage comedy Critic's Choice as a good-natured retort to a comment made by critic Walter Kerr. In his essay How Not to Write a Play, Kerr noted that the worst possible scenario would involve a drama critic forced to review a play written by his wife (we should mention that Kerr's own wife was noted playwright Jean Kerr). Levin utilized this very scenario, and the result was a Broadway hit. Less successful artistically was the 1962 film version, though with Bob Hope and Lucille Ball as stars, the film couldn't help but clean up at the box office. Hope portrays theatrical critic Parker Ballantine, while Lucille Ball plays his wife Angela. Feeling "useless," Angela writes a play as a lark, then is amazed when it is optioned by a major producer. Parker does his best to get out of the responsibility of reviewing the play (which very well may be as bad as he thinks it is), but cannot escape the responsibility. Much of the verbal wit of the Levin original is sacrificed in favor of one-line quips; there is also an overabundance of gratuitous slapstick during a little-league game and the climactic "opening night" sequence. Still, Hope and Ball work together well as always. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, (more)
- 1960
Originally aired as an NBC special on Sunday, January 10, 1960, this program went head-to-head with the hit Ed Sullivan Show and had the star power to garner decent ratings. This video features gossip columnist Hedda Hopper interviewing some of the top entertainers of the day. Highlights include Hopper's interview with Lucille Ball at her Desilu Workshop shortly before her divorce from Desi Arnaz. Other stars and showbiz powerhouses seen in this show include Anne Bauchens, Stephen Boyd, Francis X. Bushman, John Cassavetes, Gary Cooper, Ricardo Cortez, Bob Cummings, William Daniels, Marion Davies, Walt Disney, Janet Gaynor, Bob Hope, Hope Lange, Anthony Perkins, Debbie Reynolds, Teddy Rooney, Venetia Stevenson, James Stewart, Liza Minnelli, and Gloria Swanson. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Unlike the typical Bob Hope and Lucille Ball vehicles, The Facts of Life is essentially a domestic drama with comic undertones. Hope is married to Ruth Hussey, while Ball is the wife of Don DeFore. All four are old friends, who for many years have taken each other for granted. A series of unforeseen circumstances requires Hope and Ball to spend a great deal of time together without their spouses, and as a result they fall in love. Though the affair is never consummated, Hope and Ball are prepared to run off together, but in the end they decide that adultery at their age just isn't worth the trouble. Long unavailable for viewing due to legal tangles, The Facts of Life has gained legendary status as one of the few Bob Hope films of the 1960s to concentrate on character development rather than silly one-liners. Recent viewings have revealed that, though a far more mature work than one might expect from Hope or Ball, Facts of Life still relies to a great extent on the sort of TV sitcom material that the fans of the two stars had come to expect by 1960. Still, the film was considered offbeat enough to warrant an Oscar nomination for best screenplay (by longtime Hope associates Norman Panama and Melvin Frank). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, (more)
When Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz beat the odds against TV stars succeeding on the big screen in The Long, Long Trailer (1954), MGM contracted America's favorite couple for a second theatrical feature. Forever Darling casts Desi as Lorenzo Xavier Vega, a brilliant scientist and Lucy as Susan, his neglected wife. Wishing out loud that her husband would pay attention to her, Susan is surprised to find her Guardian Angel standing in her living room. Even more surprising is the fact that said angel is an exact double for Susan's favorite movie star, James Mason. Following the angel's advice, Susan tags along when Lorenzo takes a trip in the woods to test out a revolutionary new insecticide. Hoping that the trip will constitute a second honeymoon, poor Susan is in for a major disappointment; as for Lorenzo, he must suffer his wife's well-intentioned "assistance," which of course is no help at all. After a number of I Love Lucy}-style comic situations, the couple is on the verge of divorce, but the angelic Mason straightens things out. Forever Darling tanked at the box office, but at least Desi Arnaz cultivated a hit song by recording the title tune. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, (more)
Several changes occurred in the I Love Lucy format during the series' sixth and final season on the air. For one thing, little Richard Keith, a talented six-year-old drummer, was cast in the role of Little Ricky, the son of Cuban bandleader Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) and his wacky wife Lucy (Lucille Ball) (the character had previously been played by uncredited infants). For another, Ricky had quit his job at New York's Tropicana Club and opened his own nitery, the Club Babalu. With more money coming into the Ricardo household, Lucy and Ricky decide to leave New York City and move into an attractively appointed ranch house in suburban Connecticut. Not surprisingly, the Ricardos' longtime friends Fred and Ethel Mertz (William Frawley and Vivian Vance) likewise make the big move to the 'burbs. The change of locale also permits the introduction of two new characters, the Ricardos' next-door neighbors Ralph and Betty Ramsey (Frank Nelson, Mary Jane Croft). Despite the scenery shifting, I Love Lucy still delivers laughs in its classic, time-tested manner with Lucy hatching zany schemes and getting her family and friends knotted up in a variety of ridiculous situations. One episode, "Lucy Raises Chickens," features the longest sustained audience laughter in the series' history -- proof positive that the bloom was definitely not off the rose for this venerable property. Other highlights of I Love Lucy's final season (at least in its half-hour format) include guest appearance by Bob Hope, Orson Welles, and George Reeves (in his familiar guise as "Superman"); a Christmas episode comprised of clips from earlier seasons, which for many years was removed from the series' syndication package and did not resurface publicly until 1989; and the last I Love Lucy installment, "The Ricardos Dedicate a Statue," in which Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz' real-life son Desi Arnaz Jr. makes his TV acting debut. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, (more)
I Love Lucy boasted a new sponsor (General Foods, taking over from Philip Morris Cigarettes), a new director, and new addition to its writing staff for its fifth season on the air. Otherwise, it's the same old zany redhead Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) making life hilariously chaotic for her Cuban bandleader husband, Ricky (Desi Arnaz), and the Ricardos' best friends, Ethel and Fred Mertz (Vivian Vance, William Frawley). In a continuation of a story arc from Season Four, the Ricardos and the Mertzes are still visiting Hollywood at the outset of Season Five, allowing Lucy a memorable meeting with superstar John Wayne. Later in the season, the four principals head to Europe, joining Ricky's band on a tour of the continent. This premise leads to one of the series' most famous episodes, "Lucy's Italian Movie", wherein our heroine auditions for an Italian neo-realist film by showing off her skill at crushing grapes with her feet. The European jaunt is also highlighted by a mini-musical set in Scotland, and an unforgettable encounter with veteran screen heartthrob Charles Boyer. Although I Love Lucy was still CBS' most popular sitcom, its overall ratings slipped to second place during its fifth season, just behind the game show The $64,000 Question. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, (more)
- 1954
Even though I Love Lucy was still America's top-rated series as it entered its fourth season, the producers -- including Desi Arnaz, who also starred as Cuban bandleader Ricky Ricardo -- decided it was time to freshen up the format a bit with a change of scenery. Thus, Ricky, his zany wife Lucy (Lucille Ball) and their friends Ethel and Fred Mertz (Vivian Vance, William Frawley) leave their familiar Manhattan environs and head Westward to Hollywood, where Ricky is slated to star in a musical movie version of Don Juan. With this in mind, it is only logical that I Love Lucy would for the first time in its existence traffic heavily in celebrity guest stars during its fourth season. Among the Hollywood notables making hilarious guest appearances are William Holden (who struggles manfully to keep a straight face as Lucy sets her false nose afire), Van Johnson, Richard Widmark, Cornel Wilde, and Hedda Hopper. The uncontested high point of this "big star" syndrome is Lucy's unforgettable encounter with the great Harpo Marx, recreating the classic "mirror scene" from the Marx Brothers' 1933 movie Duck Soup. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, (more)
