Rachel York Talks About Being Lucy

Broadway Belle, Rachel York, who portrayed Lucille Ball in the CBS television movie, Lucy, recently spoke of her experiences of playing the famous redhead.

Eugene: Your portrayal of the legendary Lucille Ball is often described as “brave” and “courageous.” What did it take personally and professionally to fill those shoes?

Rachel: You know at the time, I was in it: “I’m gonna do this!” But looking back I think “Oh my God! How did I do that?” I auditioned for the role about five times in two to three weeks. And I had about a month to prepare for the role, during Christmas time. You have to understand, as much as I love Lucille Ball and “I Love Lucy,” I didn’t know a lot about her. I had to do all of my research. I got a hold of every book and video on her comedy or her life. A couple of documentaries by Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. were incredibly useful to me. All of this was strictly research, I was relying on them. We had about a week of rehearsal before we started shooting and they were still making script changes. I had to learn so much about Lucy in that time. The script was a good script, but there were just so many interesting parts of her life that were not included. They just kind of had to stick to the TV version of her life. Part of the time I was fighting to get some really interesting information about her.


Eugene: Like what?


Rachel: Well for instance, she had rheumatoid arthritis or something, nobody knew. For about a year after she was a model, she couldn’t walk. She couldn’t walk! These are interesting facts! Basically, at one point, it was like her grandfather was living on like, strawberries, with so little money. She found a way. She had an incredible will. She found a way to be as successful as she was. She fought tooth and nail every bit of her life. I think that’s why later on, you saw her as a bitter woman. Not only because of her marriage with Desi – which made her bitter – but she fought. Perhaps with her comedy, that’s when she could be a child without all of her responsibilities. That was her outlet. So I was absorbing her. I literally was brushing myteeth, eating, drinking Lucille Ball!


Eugene: That’s work!


Rachel: I remember having dreams of her where I’d see every angle of her face and I’d play like she was talking to me in her dream, because I was absorbing so much information in such a short amount of time. We shot like 16-hour days in New Zealand. And on top of it, a lot of the crew was from Australia who do not know Lucille Ball as an American icon. “We have to have the Lucille Ball pony-tail… What are you talking about? I can’t do this scene with her hair long!” You know, people memorize these scenes! People know exactly what she looked like. I was working really hard to honor this woman and her fans. We had to get it right. But so many decisions were made before I got on board. I was fighting so hard, which is fitting, because I know that’s what Lucille Ball would have done. Funny because I don't think of myself as a “fighter.” I guess a bit of Lucy’s characteristics got in me off-screen as well as on! Because I know she had to fight to get all of these things. I sort of became a perfectionist on the set. I enjoyed the crew, producers, and directors. But there were some details that seemed insignificant to them but I know was important. It was probably the most difficult thing. I wanted it to be a tribute to Lucy… but it was a really good made-for-TV movie. That is just the “nature of the beast.”


Eugene: Quite an undertaking.


Rachel: I was proud of the work I did. That’s why it was “brave” and “courageous”! [laughs]

Read the complete intereview here:
http://baltimore.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=15488

Visit Rachel's official website:
http://www.rachelyork.net/

Broadcasting Pioneer Dead at 98

The man responsible for bringing I Love Lucy to CBS has died. Frank Stanton, a broadcasting pioneer and CBS president for 26 years (1946-1972) died in his sleep at his Boston home yesterday. Stanton was 98.

FoxNews.com reports:

"He thought it would hurt radio," said Stanton, who took a chance on the new medium by signing a comic with untested appeal named Jackie Gleason, then nailing down a new sitcom, "I Love Lucy," which might otherwise have gone to NBC.

Paramount/CBS Committed To Bringing More Lucy In 2007

Today TVShowsOnDVD.com reported that there is a rumor that I Love Lucy - The Hour Shows (a.k.a The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour) is "dead certain" to be released on DVD from Paramount/CBS in 2007. The site was also able to get a description of the series from the studio even though a confirmed released date for the DVD Set hasn't been formally announced.

This isn't really news to us since other sources have confirmed the DVD being released since September and we were given the tentative release date in early October. Until we are told otherwise, expect the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour DVD Set in stores on February 13, 2007.

Desi Mentioned on David Letterman's Top Ten List

On Friday (October 20), Desi Arnaz was mentioned on The Late Show's Top Ten List.

From the home office in Wahoo, Nebraska:

Top Ten Signs Your Television Show Is Going To Be Cancelled

10. It's entitled, "Everybody Loves Osama"

9. Instead of laughing, studio audience shouts, "Let's burn down the studio"

8. The frequent lulls while the lead character attempts to remember his lines

7. It stars the remains of Desi Arnaz

6. "Variety" calls it "A thrill ride similar to eating tainted spinach"

5. To keep costs down, show is taped by elevator security cameras

4. It nabbed the coveted 3 AM time slot

3. One of 15 NBC shows based on backstage at "Saturday Night Live"

2. The opening credits include the word "Hasselhoff"

1. Their big idea is something called "Ventriloquist Week"

The Late Show is hosted by David Letterman on CBS.

Rachel York to Guest Star on CBS' "Numb3rs"

Playbill News reports that Rachel York will guest star on the CBS drama Numb3rs. Rachel portrayed Lucille Ball in the CBS movie Lucy and was recently on Broadway in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

You can see Rachel York on Numb3rs Friday, October 20 at 10:00pm Eastern. The episode is called "Traffic."

Happy 55th Anniversary I Love Lucy!

On October 15, 1951 I Love Lucy, starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance and William Frawley premiered on CBS. Happy 55th anniversary!

Join the anniversary discussion at Long Live Lucy!

Tentative LDCH Release Date, Lucy's Great Grave, Etc.

I have a bunch of random Lucy news and mentions so I thought I would put it all here for you in one post.

Tentative LDCH Release Date

According to Still in Love With Lucy by Thomas Watson, CBS/Paramount Home Video is aiming for February 13 as the release date for The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.

Lucy's Great Grave
Lucille Ball's life story is documented in the book Great Graves of Upstate New York by Chuck D'Imperio, a disc jockey at WDOS-WSRK Radio. There's an article about Mr. D'Imperio here.

William Frawley and Vivian Vance are also mentioned in a new book by Brian Thomsen.

Lucille Ball in the 1930s
This blog has an interesting timeline of Lucy's Life in the 1930s.

Carol Burnett talks about Lucy in her stage show.

“After I won the Mister Hercules contest, a Hollywood agent convinced me to go to California to meet with Desilu Productions owners Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz,” Lupus said. “At first I was cast in small parts, but later I got the Willy Armitage role and acted for seven years.”

Remembering Carol C. Watkins: "Her friend Desi Arnaz once told her, 'Carol, you are the real Lucy.'"

ILL's 55th Anniversary, Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour DVDs in early 2007!

As 'I Love Lucy' celebrates its 55th anniversary, the show is more popular than ever
BY GREG HERNANDEZ, Staff Writer

No matter how many times people see the zany redhead stomp grapes in Italy, set her nose on fire in Hollywood, get fired from a chocolate factory, or get good and drunk on Vitameatavegamin, there seems to be an endless appetite for the madcap adventures of Lucy MacGillicuddy Ricardo.

The first episode of "I Love Lucy" was filmed 55 years ago this month, but the series has, somehow, never gotten tiresome to generations of fans.

"At some point, it will fade away but I think `Lucy' has a shelf life kind of like Elvis," observed pop culture expert Robert Thompson. "Every time a new generation watches, it extends the shelf life."

Since the very first episode of "I Love Lucy" was filmed before a live audience on Sept. 8, 1951, the instant love affair was established with viewers. The show has thrived from first-run network television to more than four decades of syndicated reruns to popular VHS tape compilations and now to wildly successful DVD boxed sets released at a steady clip over the past two years.

"It was the first show that really proved that older television shows would do very well on DVD," said Doug Thomas, managing editor Amazon.com's online DVD store. "The show holds up well on the technical side because it was filmed so it looks good on DVD. Each season is a top-10 seller when it comes out."

CBS DVD has teamed with Paramount Home Video to release each of the show's six seasons in boxed sets that include unedited episodes of the show and are loaded with extras, including trivia, commentary and the show's original opening title sequence that was different from the one familiar from decades of syndication.

Each season has sold in the "hundreds of thousands," according to Ken Ross, executive vice president and general manager of CBS Consumer Products.

"The notion of enjoying a complete season in packaging that has the width of a book spine is something that is very attractive," Ross said. "By the nature of the beast, subsequent seasons usually sell less so what we do as a marketing tactic to avoid attrition is to emphasize specific episodes and iconic moments."

Season six, for example, included the classic episode in which Lucy dances the tango with Ricky with dozens of eggs hidden in her blouse - a scene that resulted in the longest laugh in the series' history.

The DVD sets include all 179 half-hour episodes in their entirety and have been gems for die-hard fans who can't get enough of Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel.

"It's wonderful that people can see them unedited, the way they were originally," said Gregg Oppenheimer, producer of the "I Love Lucy" boxed sets. "I think everyone is buying them for their kids and grandkids to watch."

Oppenheimer, the son of the show's late producer, Jess Oppenheimer, said it's almost as if the show was filmed with DVD technology in mind as it has already been remastered in high-definition although not yet for release.

"The production value was way ahead of its time and they established the technique for sitcoms better than anyone else," he said. "It looks like they shot it yesterday. Everything was done beautifully. The music was live, and there was no laugh track - it was all authentic laughter."

And the content has had even more to do with its longevity.

"If you get away from it being in black and white and the dated haircuts, it's so modern," said Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television. "It really was kind of the birth of the modern sitcom, the template of how so many sitcoms thereafter went."

"Ultimately, it is such stripped-down skeletal comedy because it is almost Zen-like in its structure: simple stories and great performances and those things can transcend generations," he added. "`Seinfeld' will become incomprehensible 50 years from now but with `Lucy,' you don't have to really know anything about that era to enjoy watching her getting drunk while filming a TV commercial."

The show starred the real-life husband and wife team of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, who launched the show so they could spend more time together. Ball was a movie actress based in Hollywood while Arnaz was a touring bandleader. After they wed, they bought a ranch in Chatsworth.

On the show, set in New York, Arnaz was again a bandleader while Ball played a housewife bent on breaking into show business. Their neighbors, Fred and Ethel Mertz, were played by William Frawley and Vivian Vance.

So with the six seasons now released, it would seem that this is the end of the DVD run. Not a chance. Ross said there are plans to release all six seasons in a single gift set, much like such shows as "Friends" and "Sex in the City" have done.

But first, a boxed set of the not-as-widely-seen 13 one-hour episodes of "Lucy" will be released in early 2007. The show ran in a weekly half-hour format from 1951 to 1957, then switched to monthly one-hour shows for the next three seasons.

The one-hour shows were originally titled "The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show" on CBS, then syndicated as "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" and "We Love Lucy." Each show featured the original cast, with guest stars such as Milton Berle, Danny Thomas and Tallulah Bankhead.

"People have been asking about the `Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour' a lot" said Gord Lacy, editor of the Web site TVShowsOnDVD.com, where fans vote for which shows they want most to see released on DVD. "The `I Love Lucy' seasons have been released at a steady pace and people are happy with the sets and want more."

The episodes will be released as seasons 7, 8 and 9, but in a single DVD package. They will have some rare gems, including color home movies secretly taken by an audience member during the show's first season. It is the only color film of the Ricardos in their apartment, according to Oppenheimer, who is producing the set.

Also included will be three episodes linked together by 12 minutes of never-before-seen footage that was originally put together as an "I Love Lucy" feature film. But it was shelved and seemingly lost forever until it was discovered recently in an incorrectly labeled film cannister.

"`I Love Lucy' had a leg up in the nostalgic market because there are very few '50s shows that were in regular rerun circulation throughout the childhoods of subsequent generations," said Thompson. "My personal experience with the show was exclusively in reruns, and I've seen every episode of it."

He doesn't think any show will ever seep into the culture as deeply as "I Love Lucy" has been able to with audiences now so fragmented.

"It's very rare that we are going to see a show that the entire nation watches at the same time," he said. "`I Love Lucy' was No. 1 for several years and No. 1 back then meant that virtually everyone was watching. Most of the country knew this show and watched it at least occasionally and then, of course, you couldn't avoid the reruns."

Original source:
http://www.dailynews.com/business/ci_4340465