Kicking Back With Lucy

From the book: "Reel to Real: 25 years of celebrity profiles from vaudeville to movies to TV."

All contents copyright by Fantle & Johnson

Her career has spanned 25 years in an industry with a talent turnover as rapid as some South American dictatorships. Her last name has bounced from Ricardo to Carmichael to Carter with regularity. But she has never really needed a last name, because to the world she is simply known as Lucy.

The acclaim she earned when her first series, "I Love Lucy," premiered in October 1951 was long overdue. Lucille Ball -- first as a platinum blonde and later as the redhead we all came to know -- arrived in Hollywood in 1934 as a "poster girl" in the Samuel Goldwyn film, "Roman Scandals," which starred Eddie Cantor.

So began a 17-year apprenticeship in movies, where she could be seen in the background of a few Astaire-Rogers musicals, on the receiving end of cream pies thrown by the Three Stooges and as the object of the collective desire of the Marx Brothers. Occasionally Lucy would land some meatier assignments such as the role of the crippled singer in Damon Runyon's "Big Street," the title role in "DuBarry Was a Lady" and good parts in a few Bob Hope pictures.

We interviewed Lucy in her home on Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills, where she lives with her husband, comedian Gary Morton.

It was slightly uncomfortable walking up to her front door while people in cars and buses sneered at our impetuosity, exclaiming in loud tones, "those two have nerve -- knocking at her door." Luckily Lucy's public relations man, Howard McClay, was expecting us and we disappeared inside without a backward glance.

Lucy was waiting for us in the living room. Looking fit and trim, she wore a brown pants suit, tinted brown glasses and a green kerchief. Her 25-year trademark, red hair, practically pulsated with an orangish tint.

We seated ourselves on the couch next to her white toy poodle that, looked to be as well coiffed as any Angeleno just released from a Jon Peters Salon rinse and set. Lucy spoke candidly about her life and career, with some insights on the present state of television that would give any self-respecting network executive pause to pull the trigger.

Only once did she get into a momentary snit and that's when we asked her why, according to facts printed in a volume of "Current Biography," she ran away from her upstate New York home at an early age ready to embark on a stage career on Broadway.

We surmised the question would be a cute lead-in to recollections about her childhood and budding show business ambitions. Instead, Lucy fixed us with a cold stare (at least that's what we figured; we couldn't see her exact expression behind the tint of her sunglasses). You'd have thought we just strangled her dog.

Lucy slowly rose from the couch ready to kick our abashed asses out her faux French chateau front door and to the curb, when we redirected … quickly.

Reel to Real: Why did the article in "Current Biography" say: "much of the information about Lucy's early life is vague and contradictory?

Lucy: You'll find out if you read some of the scurrilous unauthorized biographies that have been written about me. They take the first two pages and make you out a bum that ran away from home and had an unhappy childhood. You are 80 years old or there must have been some reason why you left. I went to dramatic school when I was 15 and there was nothing vague or contradictory about that, except in the three unauthorized book versions of my career. There is one good book by Bart Andrews. ("Lucy and Ricky and Fred and, Ethel," Popular Library, 1977.)

Reel to Real: Have, you ever had any formal musical training?

Lucy: I never studied, musically, and God knows it looks like it. I attempted to take up what is called eccentric dancing but teachers told me I was ill equipped for that. They wrote my mother a letter saying that she was wasting her money, which she was, because I couldn't do anything. I've gotten away with my dancing in many musical films only because I could rehearse for weeks. The little stuff I did on my television show was satirically done. I don't mean that each step was out and out satire, but it was easy enough for me to master. Same with my singing. I never could sing, although I've done a. lot of singing. My mother also wasted her perfectly good money on piano lessons, which I can't play.

Reel to Real: Were there any tell-tale signs of inherent comedic ability when you were young?

Lucy: I certainly didn't notice any. All I knew was that I wanted to perform and I took every chance that I got at school … church … Kiwanis and Elks clubs. Wherever I was needed -- sweeping up, selling tickets -- I would pitch in.

Reel to Real: Have you always been as physical and vivacious as you appear on the screen?

Lucy: I've always loved physical comedy. I don't do one pratfall after another, inasmuch as people have made such a thing out of that. Our show was void of a lot of things that television is doing in triplicate these days. I counted once, and in all my 25 years on television, there have not been more than five or six shows where I threw pies or did deliberate pratfalls. I've used trampolines, stilts, animals and even jumped out of planes, but these flowed naturally out of the plot predicaments. People don't really hear me when I say this. I'm glad you have your tape recorder on.

Reel to Real: What did you do to survive during those early struggling years in New York City?

Lucy: I literally starved. I was young, very backward and awkward. Vaudeville was the only thing I knew so I tried to break in. Unfortunately for me, vaudeville was already dead and gone. The lack of food and work forced me into modeling. I finally became a showgirl and my first job in Hollywood was as a showgirl. I came out here to Los Angeles only expecting to stay for six weeks. I've never left.

Reel to Real: You worked with the Marx Brothers in the film, "Room Service." Were they as crazy offstage as they were onstage?

Lucy: Yes, all except one, who was an extraordinary, sensitive, intelligent and adorable man. That was Harpo.

Reel to Real: Would you prefer the old studio contract system to the way actors make their way in show business today?

Lucy: In retrospect I'm sure everyone would. I certainly would. I never objected to any of the hype. I have always been very much in favor of the big umbrella, the poppa, the help and the build that a star would get from the public relations department. In addition, they took beautiful publicity photographs. Nowadays the kids are begging for the old departmental specialization. They have to do everything themselves, including writing, producing, directing, raising funds and selling their project.

Reel to Real: Do you watch your television shows, and what do you look at when you view them?

Lucy: I usually watch Vivian (Vivian Vance, who played Ethel on "I Love Lucy," died in 1979). God bless her! I used to enjoy working with Vivian. We would almost play act and pull a little extra out of each scene. I would rather look at a compilation like the "25 Years of Lucy" special than just watch one particular show. There are, of course, a few exceptions such as the special I made with Dean Martin.

Reel to Real: What was the production schedule like for "I Love Lucy?"

Lucy: The first couple of years it was 'round the clock, seven days a week because we were innovating so many new things. We trained hundreds and hundreds of people. We invented three-headed monsters for shooting close-ups, medium-shots and long-shots at the same time. We also shot in sequence like a play. We didn't make our audience sit and wait for hours. They came in to watch and we got them out as quickly as possible.

Reel to Real: How did you manage to get stars of the magnitude of William Holden and John Wayne to appear on your show?

Lucy: There was a time when people weren't doing television. Desi had the idea of trying to get these stars for guest appearances once television became accepted a little more. When we got Duke Wayne and Bill Holden, we didn't have trouble getting any more stars.

Reel to Real: How important were audience ratings in the early days of television?

Lucy: They certainly were not as stupidly important as they are today. But there is no way of accurately gauging the effect because there was less competition back then. "I Love Lucy" never had any problems with the ratings.

Reel to Real: How much, besides your acting, did you contribute to the show?

Lucy: I just acted. I had great writers. Vivian, Bill, Desi and myself would naturalize the dialogue a bit, especially where Desi was concerned. Soon writers would write the scripts just the way we talked naturally. Throughout all the years, we did very little ad-libbing. That was not our forte.

Reel to Real: Your shows are seen all over the world in rerun syndication. Why do you think the show remains so fresh and popular?

Lucy: I think it covers many generations of understanding. The little kids understand it, the next generation understands it, mom and pop understand it and remember it, as do grandma and grandpa. For sheer escapism, I don't think there has been a better executed show. People can watch our show and get away from all of the sex, violence, blood and guts and all of that. Even before our show was dubbed in other countries, people could identify with our domestic predicaments.

Reel to Real: Do you watch much television?

Lucy: I never watch soap operas but I do enjoy game shows. I never had a chance to watch game shows when I was doing a weekly series. The other shows I get to look at are the news, "60 Minutes," "20/20" … 15/15, 8 1/2  -- whatever they call them. I'm not saying I don't enjoy shows like "The Incredible Hulk" or "Real People." It's just that I get more out of a show like "60 Minutes."

Reel to Real: How would you evaluate the present state of television?

Lucy: Chaotic, downhill, leaving us.

Reel to Real: Do you have any favorite current performers, comedic or otherwise?

Lucy: Alan Alda in "M*A*S*H*" and some other people in that show and "Taxi" are two of the finest programs on the air. I really don't watch many other shows.

Reel to Real: Can you understand why "Laverne and Shirley" is often compared to your show? 

Lucy: Well, it is about two girls involved in different situations. Many others have done it besides us. But those slapstick premises were all copied from the " Love Lucy" writers. There are only so many jokes that people can do, only so many situations that a comic can get in or out of. I like "Laverne and Shirley," but I don't laugh at it.

Reel to Real: Who can make you laugh?

Lucy: In person I laugh at Dean Martin, my husband Gary Morton, Ann Southern and I used to laugh at Betty Grable. Very few people can give me a real belly laugh.

Reel to Real: In the early '70s you came back to the big screen in a musical version of "Mame."

Lucy: The film broke all box office records in New York City. If they hadn't stopped the public relations work, the film would have been a bigger hit. Warner Brothers Studios were going through some terrible happenings with that horrible picture, "The Exorcist." They had seven deaths on that film! All the people at that studio were out on extremes working on that movie. They were like a bunch of paramedics running around the world trying to catch up with the violence that was plaguing their crew. The whole studio was spooked with "The Exorcist." That in itself is a story that should be written. Not everyone knows this.

Reel to Real: You recently made news when you were hired by NBC President Fred Silverman to act as creative consultant for that network.

Lucy: There is a certain expertise in knowing how to do my type of half-hour comedy show. The network still feels the need of having more situation comedies. People are still packaging such shows, but the network is not doing a very good job of selecting any after they have been put together. That's why I took the job.

September 1980