Jonathon Larson, the brilliant man who wrote “Rent”, wrote another show called “Tick, Tick, BOOM”. There is a song in the show called “Sunday” and it’s about a waiter’s stress with the “New York City Sunday Brunch” customers. It’s hard to explain, but those customers are the WORST! If you’re a waiter, you know what I’m talking about. If you are not a waiter, think about what a hard time the waiter is having next time you go to brunch. Having said that, today was Sunday and I had the Sunday Brunch Crowd. My afternoon was spent running around like a chicken with my head cut off, on the verge of tears, and not even having time to pee. I hurried home to see my red headed therapist for some much needed therapy.
As most women of any decade Lucy is sensitive about her weight. The four of them, Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel, are talking after dinner about how they all have gained a little weight. Lucy swears she still weighs the same as the day she got married, much to her dismay, she does not. Ricky tells her she can be in the show if she loses enough weight in four days to fit into the costume. With the help of Ethel and Lucy’s determination, she loses the weight and to Ricky’s surprise, she actually does the show.
“The Diet” has one of my favorite Lucy musical numbers in it. Ricky Sings “Cuban Pete” while Lucy is “Sally Sweet” (Here’s the youtube for your enjoyment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KFLPJ2bgNE). This number gets to show off their dancing. Lucille started off her professional show business career by dancing. It’s fun to see that Lucille actually can dance, unlike Lucy.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
“Be A Pal”, Season 1, Episode 3, Filmed 9/21/51, Aired 10/22/51
Laughter Therapy, doesn’t mean it has to be YOUR laughter, sometimes the therapy can be the ability to make other people laugh. Well, I just had a lovely therapy season with my aunt Jodi. Jodi has one of those belly laugh guffaws that is contagious, and when she laughs, nothing makes you happier. Dinner with her is always therapeutic.
Lucy is sick of Ricky ignoring her in the mornings. In “Be A Pal”, Ethel and Lucy scheme different ways for Ricky to try to notice Lucy. The first try is to make Lucy look irresistible, first try fails and she ends up lighting his paper on fire. Second try, Lucy tries to act like Ricky’s “Pal”, however she ends up ruining his poker game with his friends. Third and final trial Lucy and Ethel turn the apt into little Havana and Lucy dresses up like Ricky’s mother (or Carmen Miranda). In the end Ricky of course tells Lucy he loves her because she was like no one else he had ever known.
When Lucy makes herself irresistible in the first trial, she puts on a floor length black sequin dress, diamonds and smokes a cigarette in a long thin black holder, she looks amazing. One of Lucille's first jobs when she moved to New York City was to be a model for a formal gown designer. All afternoon, Lucille would model on her feet while people talked about the dress and poked and prodded her. Supposedly, the women seamstresses would hit Lucille in the shins with a ruler to make her stand up straight. She would come home bleeding.
A classic picture of Lucy is her dressed as Carmen Miranda. In “Be A Pal” she lip syncs to a record of Carmen Miranda singing “Mama Yo Quiero”, which means “I Want my Mama” it’s suppose to be a lullaby, No one feels like falling asleep with this rendition of the lullaby.
Lucy is sick of Ricky ignoring her in the mornings. In “Be A Pal”, Ethel and Lucy scheme different ways for Ricky to try to notice Lucy. The first try is to make Lucy look irresistible, first try fails and she ends up lighting his paper on fire. Second try, Lucy tries to act like Ricky’s “Pal”, however she ends up ruining his poker game with his friends. Third and final trial Lucy and Ethel turn the apt into little Havana and Lucy dresses up like Ricky’s mother (or Carmen Miranda). In the end Ricky of course tells Lucy he loves her because she was like no one else he had ever known.
When Lucy makes herself irresistible in the first trial, she puts on a floor length black sequin dress, diamonds and smokes a cigarette in a long thin black holder, she looks amazing. One of Lucille's first jobs when she moved to New York City was to be a model for a formal gown designer. All afternoon, Lucille would model on her feet while people talked about the dress and poked and prodded her. Supposedly, the women seamstresses would hit Lucille in the shins with a ruler to make her stand up straight. She would come home bleeding.
A classic picture of Lucy is her dressed as Carmen Miranda. In “Be A Pal” she lip syncs to a record of Carmen Miranda singing “Mama Yo Quiero”, which means “I Want my Mama” it’s suppose to be a lullaby, No one feels like falling asleep with this rendition of the lullaby.
Friday, January 29, 2010
“The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub”, Season 1, Episode 2, Filmed 9/15/51, Aired 10/5/51
The fun thing about slaving away scrubbing your bathroom all night the night before, you get to take a bath and watch “The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub” before you go to work.
It’s Fred and Ethel’s 18th wedding anniversary. Ethel wants to go to a nightclub and Fred wants to go to the “fights”. Of course Ricky takes Fred’s side and Lucy takes Ethel. When the girls decide they are going to go to a nightclub anyways and take “tall, dark, handsome and young” dates, the boys try to get dates of their own to keep an eye on the girls. Guess who the boys get set up with? That’s right, Lucy and Ethel dressed up as cast members of the Beverly Hillbillies. In the end, the boys tell the girls they’ll take them to a nightclub, but the still end up at the fights. “Happy anniversary Ethel” “Thank You Lucy”.
Vivian Vance and William Frawley hated eachother, which made it so believable that Fred and Ethel had been married forever and were bitter towards eachother. Vivian Vance walked on the set the first day and Lucille looked her up and down and said “I thought she was suppose to be fat!” After that, Vivian and Lucille were the best of friends. Desi Arnaz only wanted William Frawley for the part of Fred. The Network warned Desi that William was a drunk with a bad reputation, Desi still insisted on hiring William. Desi took William aside and told him what a risk it was hiring him and to not let him down. William was never late and was prepared to work. The comedic quartet was making history, and they didn't even know it.
It’s Fred and Ethel’s 18th wedding anniversary. Ethel wants to go to a nightclub and Fred wants to go to the “fights”. Of course Ricky takes Fred’s side and Lucy takes Ethel. When the girls decide they are going to go to a nightclub anyways and take “tall, dark, handsome and young” dates, the boys try to get dates of their own to keep an eye on the girls. Guess who the boys get set up with? That’s right, Lucy and Ethel dressed up as cast members of the Beverly Hillbillies. In the end, the boys tell the girls they’ll take them to a nightclub, but the still end up at the fights. “Happy anniversary Ethel” “Thank You Lucy”.
Vivian Vance and William Frawley hated eachother, which made it so believable that Fred and Ethel had been married forever and were bitter towards eachother. Vivian Vance walked on the set the first day and Lucille looked her up and down and said “I thought she was suppose to be fat!” After that, Vivian and Lucille were the best of friends. Desi Arnaz only wanted William Frawley for the part of Fred. The Network warned Desi that William was a drunk with a bad reputation, Desi still insisted on hiring William. Desi took William aside and told him what a risk it was hiring him and to not let him down. William was never late and was prepared to work. The comedic quartet was making history, and they didn't even know it.
“Lucy thinks Ricky is Trying to Murder Her” Season 1, Episode 1, Filmed 9/8/51, Aired 11/5/51
I saw the movie “Single Man” tonight. It’s Tom Fords first movie staring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. Colin Firth was pretty much the whole movie, and he was AMAZING! It was a very heavy and sad movie, however, I always get a thrill when I see actors who do an amazing job at their art. Lucy gave me that same thrill in episode “Lucy thinks Ricky is Trying to Murder Her”.
This is such a good episode! Not that there are really any “bad” episodes according to me. Lucy reads a Murder Mystery and thinks, “Ricky is trying to kill me”. She does a lot of slap stick humor that is over that top, but it always works when she does it and it’s always very enjoyable to watch.
I watched this episode with my boyfriend Matt and at one point Lucy says “Dead? as in ‘as a doornail’?”, Matt then said “where did that saying come from? ‘Dead as a Doornail?’”, so I “asked Jeeves”. The saying comes from the nails in your door where the Knocker was. If you were popular, someone was constantly knocking at your door, therefore wearing down the nails in the door, making them dead. Always fun to find out where those expressions come from. http://www.obcgs.com/sayings.htm
The book Lucy was reading was called “The Mockingbird Murder Mystery”. Lucille Ball had a fear of birds. She wouldn’t go into rooms that had birds on the wallpaper or wear clothes that had birds on the fabric. This fear stemmed from when her father died. The day he died a bird flew into the house and they couldn’t get it out. From then on Lucille felt birds were bad omen. She wouldn’t go into a dressing room until someone had checked it for her. Like many comedians, Lucille had a lot of demons. It’s always been interesting to me how someone who could make me feel so good and laugh so hard could be a depressed person. I wish I couldn’ve put Lucille in the audience to watch “I Love Lucy”, the laughter therapy would have done her good.
This is such a good episode! Not that there are really any “bad” episodes according to me. Lucy reads a Murder Mystery and thinks, “Ricky is trying to kill me”. She does a lot of slap stick humor that is over that top, but it always works when she does it and it’s always very enjoyable to watch.
I watched this episode with my boyfriend Matt and at one point Lucy says “Dead? as in ‘as a doornail’?”, Matt then said “where did that saying come from? ‘Dead as a Doornail?’”, so I “asked Jeeves”. The saying comes from the nails in your door where the Knocker was. If you were popular, someone was constantly knocking at your door, therefore wearing down the nails in the door, making them dead. Always fun to find out where those expressions come from. http://www.obcgs.com/sayings.htm
The book Lucy was reading was called “The Mockingbird Murder Mystery”. Lucille Ball had a fear of birds. She wouldn’t go into rooms that had birds on the wallpaper or wear clothes that had birds on the fabric. This fear stemmed from when her father died. The day he died a bird flew into the house and they couldn’t get it out. From then on Lucille felt birds were bad omen. She wouldn’t go into a dressing room until someone had checked it for her. Like many comedians, Lucille had a lot of demons. It’s always been interesting to me how someone who could make me feel so good and laugh so hard could be a depressed person. I wish I couldn’ve put Lucille in the audience to watch “I Love Lucy”, the laughter therapy would have done her good.
Therapy session #1 “I Love Lucy” Pilot 3/2/51
I came home, opened up my mailbox and saw the little red netflix envelope that held my favorite red head.
On March, 2 1951 (happy birthday Dad! even though you weren’t born), Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz performed the pilot for the “I Love Lucy” show. This episode was aired later in the first season and named “The Audition”.
The pilot plot is pretty much Lucy wants to be in Ricky’s show, shocker, and he wont let her (isn't’ this the plot for most episodes) In this show Ricky was having an audition for his first television show. The clown, who I didn’t think was very good and was kind’ve creepy looking, hurts himself and Lucy fills in for him. She does an old vaudeville style clown act and of course the tv people offer her a contract and not Ricky. In the end she wants to stay being a housewife for Ricky, how 50’s TV.
The network didn’t introduce Fred and Ethel until the first real episode and they were missed in the pilot. Having Fred and Ethel involved makes Ricky and Lucy, who were married in real life, more believable as a real TV couple with “real” friends. Even though we missed Fred and Ethel in the pilot episode, there was nothing off about Lucy’s menacing eyes and comedic timing or Ricky’s charming over verbrato voice.
A quick small history of the show, when Desi and Lucy decided they were going to do a show together Lucy wanted to stay in LA and she wanted to do it in front of a live audience. At that time TV shows were all being taped in New York, Desi also knew that Lucy worked better in front of an audience so he worked hard to find out what had to happen for all these elements to work. Desi developed the multiple-camera setup production style using adjacent sets that became the standard for all subsequent situation comedies. Remember how they would walk from the kitchen into the living room through the swinging door? This way, they could shoot the episode in a studio in front of an audience and mail it to New York to be edited. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desi_Arnaz) Not only were they pioneering the way tv was being filmed, they were changing the face of television comedy. Shops would post signs in their window that said “closing early. We love Lucy too”.
On March, 2 1951 (happy birthday Dad! even though you weren’t born), Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz performed the pilot for the “I Love Lucy” show. This episode was aired later in the first season and named “The Audition”.
The pilot plot is pretty much Lucy wants to be in Ricky’s show, shocker, and he wont let her (isn't’ this the plot for most episodes) In this show Ricky was having an audition for his first television show. The clown, who I didn’t think was very good and was kind’ve creepy looking, hurts himself and Lucy fills in for him. She does an old vaudeville style clown act and of course the tv people offer her a contract and not Ricky. In the end she wants to stay being a housewife for Ricky, how 50’s TV.
The network didn’t introduce Fred and Ethel until the first real episode and they were missed in the pilot. Having Fred and Ethel involved makes Ricky and Lucy, who were married in real life, more believable as a real TV couple with “real” friends. Even though we missed Fred and Ethel in the pilot episode, there was nothing off about Lucy’s menacing eyes and comedic timing or Ricky’s charming over verbrato voice.
A quick small history of the show, when Desi and Lucy decided they were going to do a show together Lucy wanted to stay in LA and she wanted to do it in front of a live audience. At that time TV shows were all being taped in New York, Desi also knew that Lucy worked better in front of an audience so he worked hard to find out what had to happen for all these elements to work. Desi developed the multiple-camera setup production style using adjacent sets that became the standard for all subsequent situation comedies. Remember how they would walk from the kitchen into the living room through the swinging door? This way, they could shoot the episode in a studio in front of an audience and mail it to New York to be edited. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desi_Arnaz) Not only were they pioneering the way tv was being filmed, they were changing the face of television comedy. Shops would post signs in their window that said “closing early. We love Lucy too”.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Entering the therapy session
I know it’s a cliche, but after I saw “Julie and Julia”, I was inspired to write. I have a couple of “writing projects” in the works, however I sometimes find it hard to get the inspiration. I was told by my very wise friend, Chris Alonzo, to write everyday. That’s what I was hoping to achieve from Blogging. In “Julie and Julia”, Julie had a terrible job that made her miserable, however she found comfort in the fact that cooking would turn out the way it’s suppose to. She also found the strength and passion that she needed to get through the day with learning about Julia Childs. Now I am not a cook by any means, however if I know anything, it’s laughter and television. No matter what kind of a day I’ve had, I know that if I put on a good comedy, I will feel better in a second! No one makes me laugh more then Lucille Ball. Her comedic timing is better then anyone else. No matter how many times I watch her show and learn about her, I love her more and more. The more I learn about her, the more I love her. As my 2010 I’m going to watch a “I Love Lucy” episode everyday, in the order it was aired, and talk about any history I know about it or how it has made my grey skys as blue as Lucy’s eyes. Now, I wanted to start this project TODAY, but of course the first DVD I THOUGHT I had, I think I sent with my sister in Paris. So, I will have to wait for netflix to send it and it should happen soon. Keep reading and laughing!
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