Three Frawley Films On DVD Soon!

Three classic films featuring I Love Lucy's beloved, William Frawley, will be released on DVD soon. One is being released next week! Here are the details:


Gentleman Jim (1942)
This title will be released on March 27, 2007 by Warner Home Video.
Current Amazon.com Pre-Order Price: $14.99
Starring Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith
Featuring William Frawley as Billy Delaney
Click here for more information on Gentleman Jim


Baseball Double Feature - Kill the Empire / Safe at Home (1950,1962)
This title will be released on April 3, 2007 by Sony Pictures.
Current Amazon.com Pre-Order Price: $17.89
Starring Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris as themselves
Featuring William Frawley as Bill Turner
Safe at Home is the final film Frawley made! He does not appear in Kill the Empire.
Click here for more information on Safe at Home.


The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941)
This title will be released on April 24, 2007 by Warner Home Video.
Current Amazon.com Pre-Order Price: $14.99
Starring James Cagney and Bette Davis
Featuring William Frawley as Sheriff McGee
Click here for more information on The Bride Came C.O.D.

GJ and SAH cover art courtesy of Amazon.com. TBCCOD cover art courtesy of BN.com.

Another new Lucy DVD Coming Soon!

Just when we thought things couldn't get any sweeter, what with "The Final Seasons" being released tomorrow, "Without Love" in May, "The Lucille Ball Collection" in June and the "I Love Lucy Movie" before Christmas - DizzyArnizzy (Josh) brought us more exciting DVD news!

On May 1, Genius Productions, Inc. will release
"I Love Lucy - Lucy's Really Lost Moments." This closed captioned, 71 minute long, DVD will retail for $14.95. DizzyArnizzy researched to find out what was on this new release. He writes:

Well, I just found a description from MoviesUnlimited.org:

I Love Lucy - Lucy's Really Lost Moments

Not anymore! Share some laughs with the First Lady of Television with this ultra-rare compilation of footage starring the legendary Lucille Ball. Includes an "I Love Lucy" episode guest-starring Bob Hope; a Westinghouse special featuring Lucy; an episode of the game show "I've Got a Secret," in which Lucy appears with panelist Johnny Carson; and a rarely seen TV pilot starring Lucy.

This is the third home video release of the Westinghouse Special with Viv and Bill (unless this DVD will include the "Westinghouse Desilu Revue" (doubt it) or "Ellis In Freedomland", where Lucy is the voice of a washing machine).

The pilot is probably that 1960 "Victor Borge Comedy Hour", where Lucy takes part in the airplane skit with Gale (a clip from this was included on the "Funny World of Lucy" Vol. 2 DVD)

As for the "I've Got a Secret" episode, this will probably be a NEW "Lucy" appearance to DVD. The episode that will *most likely* be included on this set aired February 15th, 1960...Lucy was promoting "Wildcat" at the time. (Special thanks to HarryCarter over at the Lucy Lounge for the info on this "I've Got a Secret" episode).

Related Links:
DizzyArnizzy's original post about Lucy's Really Lost Moments
Countdown to the Release of TLDCH on DVD!

More Buzz About "I Love Lucy: The Final Seasons"

Lucy fans everywhere are excited about purchasing "I Love Lucy: The Final Seasons 7, 8 & 9" (a.k.a. "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour") when it's released on Tuesday, March 13. It's hard not to get excited now that DVD reviews and Lucy mentions are starting to pour in!

The March 13th issue of Good Housekeeping's Quick & Simple Magazine (in stores now) features this blurb and trivia quiz about "I Love Lucy: The Final Seasons 7,8 & 9" being released on DVD:



Mike Restaino of DVDFile.com , who doesn't seem to be a devout Lucille Ball Fan, gave the season set a favorable review and seemed impressed with the set's special features:

As with other seasons of I Love Lucy on DVD, this set comes with some nice bonuses. The uncut version of Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana is hilarious (though not having much knowledge of the broadcast version, I’m not sure what is new here), and the color set footage of the all-too-familiar I Love Lucy shooting locale is a trip. (Can you guess what color the walls are painted?) We also get a few enjoyable – if slight – deleted scenes, a blooper reel, the original openings and closings to the show, some original cast commercials and a promotion spot, some animation from the show’s first airings, a few song selections (that take you to some of this set’s better musical moments), and some production notes and guest cast information.

Read Restaino's complete review here.

Long Live Lucy Member Mr. Mooney (Mike) has been helping us keep track of how many days until the set is released. Come share in the countdown fun!

Frawley's Frock Hops Home

The Lucy-Desi Center reports:

Jamestown, NY – Fifty years ago this Sunday, on December 17, 1956, “Little Ricky’s School Pageant”, episode 163 of “I Love Lucy”, aired for the first time.

The script called for the four main characters to take on roles in Little Ricky’s kindergarten play, “The Enchanted Forest”. Desi Arnaz, in the role of Ricky Ricardo, played a talking tree, while Lucille Ball, as Lucy Ricardo, swung above the stage as the wicked old witch of the forest. Little Ricky’s godparents were also part of the ensemble: Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance) played the fairy princess while Fred (William Frawley) took on the role of the friendly frog, Hippity-Hoppity.

Bill and Mary Rapaport of East Amherst, New York, recently donated the frog costume William Frawley wore in this classic episode to the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown, New York. It includes an oversized frog “head”, “hands” and “feet”. The costume had been part of the Estate of Pepito Perez and was offered at a Hollywood memorabilia auction in Beverly Hills in December, 2005. While the costume was missing the union suit that Bill Frawley wore, it fetched $17,000. The Rapaports subsequently purchased it from the auction’s high bidder and have made it available to be enjoyed by visitors to Lucy’s hometown.

This amazing costume is now on exhibit in the Desilu Playhouse, a museum devoted to the “I Love Lucy” television series. It was unveiled yesterday (Thursday, December 14) to members of the Lucy-Desi Center’s Acquisitions Society, a group that was created in the summer of 2005 to acquire and care for historically significant items related to the First Couple of Comedy. Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr. are among the Society’s founding members.

Following the unveiling, a special luncheon was held in the Tropicana Room on the second floor of the Rapaport Center. The Desilu Playhouse occupies the ground floor of the Rapaport Center at 2 W. Third Street in downtown Jamestown and was made possible primarily through private funding from the Rapaports.

Forgot About Fred

I don't get to write about William Frawley (a.k.a Fred Mertz) in this blog very often because he just isn't mentioned in the media as much as his fellow I Love Lucy castmates. No wonder the special edition release of the original Miracle on 34th Street slipped passed my radar yesterday! Frawley made an appearance as Charlie Halloran in this classic holiday film from 1947.

Miracle on 34th Street - Special Edition is a two-disc set and is currently priced at $14.99 at amazon.com.



Most diehard I Love Lucy Fans know that William Frawley's last TV appearance was as a maintenance man in a 1965 episode of The Lucy Show entitled, "Lucy and the Countess Have a Horse Guest."

A review of Miracle on 34th Street - Special Edition

See screen captures of William Frawley in "The Princess Comes Across" starring Carole Lombard.

The Irish-American Roots of William Frawley

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!

Even The Cast Of "I Love Lucy" Had Conflicts

From CBSNews.com:

It turns out there was even conflict on "I Love Lucy," where the cast seemed to be getting along so well. But it was not the case.

"Going back to the 50's, there were reports that Lucille Ball made Vivian Vance wear dresses that were two sizes too small to make her look frumpy by comparison. Vance was also very dissatisfied with her co-star, her husband played William Frawley, who was 22 years her senior. She felt very insulted by the fact that she was playing the wife of a man in her words "that was old enough to be her father."

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.'"