"I Love Lucy" Workplace Nightmare

And that Lizzie Patterson turning tricks at the Hollywood Roosevelt like a common French whore.

[quote]Keith Thibodeaux, bitter child actor, forced to work at tears, greedy parents stealing his money and being in Opie's shadow

Not sure what you mean by this, as The AG Show didn't begin until after ILL ended, but I believe Thibodeaux did appear on the former one time.

Not to mention the writing team chained to their typewriters in the dungeon, forced to come up with infinite re-workings of I Love Lucy's mere handful of plot lines.

Ann Sothern's real name is Nan Northern.

Lucy fired the show's costume designer, Elois Jenssen, after Lucy begged her to do the show, and Jenssen had served her very well during the first few seasons of "I Love Lucy." Lucy wouldn't even face Jenssen after she fired her, but had Desi tell her.

[quote]getting infested with STIs

Oh, dear.

STI is now correct, STD is wrong

[quote]that Lizzie Patterson turning tricks at the Hollywood Roosevelt like a common French whore.

Yes, but when Liz Patterson took those dentures out, her gum jobs were the closest thing to heaven.

Playing a showgirl on I Love Lucy had one requirement - a good chow down on Desi's big Cuban dick. If you could take it to the pubes, you got the part.

Lucy, always with an eye on the cash register, fired Jenssen when she dared to ask for more money. She had still been making considerably less money than she would have at the movie studios.

Here are her "hostess pants" for Lucy. Genius!

Lucy paid Jenssen's replacement the very amount Jenssen asked for...

I wanted a toaster!

R6, "infection" is the "I." "Disease" is considered so judgmental. After all, viruses and bacteria minorities deserve to be respected, along with the pompous and controlling white blood cells that genocidally are always trying to wipe them out.

I always pitied the hennas being bled to color that hair. Of course they let the cockas alone, because it was a male's world at the time.

Lucy and Desi were notoriously cheap. Desi, at least, had the decency to use his charm when he negotiated with his employees. Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr., who wrote the scripts and created the comedic situations that made Desi and Lucy rich and famous in "I Love Lucy" (ILL) have said in interviews, they were charmed by Desi many times when they intended to ask for a raise or quit. They knew they were being underpaid. Pugh and Carroll didn't even get any residual payments for the ILL episodes they wrote for many years.

Lucy, on the other hand, was just a stone-cold bitch. She was also not good at verbalizing her feelings and Lucy was known to be physically push, shove, and slap her employees from time-to-time when they displeased her. And that bitch was easy to displease, especially as she got older. Desi acted as a buffer between Lucy and her co-workers. But when Desi was gone - the bitch went full-on Joan Crawford. Maury Thompson said he was prompted to resign from "The Lucy Show" primarily because Lucy shoved an elderly woman on the set one day, who was working as extra and who couldn't hit her mark in time to please Lucy.

I think it's time for another "bad celebrity replicas" thread and I know this post has nothing to do with the thread's content, but this wax figure of Lucille Ball cracks me up.

Not quite in the same league as the infamous statue of her, but I like that, for all her control issues, her own image has escaped her dead clutches.

INFESTED is the problem there, you idiots. Jesus Fucking Christ.

STI or STD are both correct. Who gives a fuck about the judgement.

R15 looks like Siobhan Fallon trying to do Lucy on SNL.

Add someone jerking off onto the toilet seats in the stalls and you've pretty much got where I work. Every workplace is a shithole filled with damaged people who hate you. That's why the call it work and not a week in the country.

Not the 2015 bump troll, I promise. But the OP slays me, especially as I've been passing COVID time rewatching the series

DL can never have too many Lucy or Golden Girls threads

The Lucy troll has been busy lately

Lucy was the most insecure Cunt of all. She never smiles in any of their home movies. Looks like a miserable old frau.

The Mame loons are still pissed that Lucy was given the role instead of their beloved Angela (who was in a career lull in semi retirement at the time).

Lucy was a beloved comedic icon. Suck it haters. And she's still the most famous Mame of them all.

This post will never, ever get old:

[quote]This thread and others make me think that Datalounge is basically a secret underground civilization of people who have never seen the actual world above. The only clues they have to it are some ancient videotapes of the complete series of "I Love Lucy" and "The Golden Girls," and they watch these over and over again, obsessing about them, going over every last detail, and wondering just how life in the sunlit world above can possibly correspond to the details of what they're seeing on the holy videotapes.

[quote] Playing a showgirl on I Love Lucy had one requirement - a good chow down on Desi's big Cuban dick. If you could take it to the pubes, you got the part.

It wasn't just for showgirls.

Could care less about Lansbury. She was best in “Manchuria Candidate”. The Lucy troll has done a great service in letting people talk about Lucy without the relevance of the silly old queens who think her warmed over Schlick was comic genius.

[quote]Keith Thibodeaux, bitter child actor, forced to work at tears, greedy parents stealing his money and being in Opie's shadow

Classic

[quote]“Manchuria Candidate”

Oh, dear!

r14 Maury Thompson was talking about veteran actress Ruth McDevitt, whom Lucy mistreated on the set of the Lucy Show. Among her tons of film and TV credits, she played the bird-shop owner in The Birds.

Karl Freund is on record saying that some of the incidents on the Lucy set were more frightening than anything in Dracula. Lugosi was a day at beach compared to Lucy. Oddly enough, Freund used similar lighting for each of them.

But did Bill Frawley ever take a dump in Lucy's dressing room r30?

The only scat stories Freund has come from the set of Metropolis. Weimar Germany was quite a place.

Apparently when Lucy learned about Viv's mental illness, she would say "Crazy" as much as possible because she knew it pissed Viv off

Love me or hate me, you guys sure post a lot of threads about me. My evil marionette will make sure I never die!

Keith Richards (Keith Thibidoux's stage name) had a recurring role as Johnny Paul on "The Andy Griffith Show."

Bill Frawley had the shakes in a lot of episodes

Lucy was a Leo and I’ve never known a female Leo that wasn’t an off-the-rails psychopath who would fuck over their grandmother for fame. They don’t age well though, attractive cunt plays okay at 24 but at 54 you’re just a miserable old cunt, see Mame.

R37 Gracie Allen?

r37 = flight attendant posting from the line at the drycleaners

Correct, R5. Jenssen even had an Academy Award nomination under her belt by the time she was approached by Ball. And instead of increasing her salary as they had in previous seasons, they fired her. She was responsible for creating the Lucy look.

Oh, excuse me. Jenssen WON the Academy Award for color, in 1951, which she shared with various other designers.

R38 R39 = haggard Leos with blown out holes

Lucille Ball would’ve been arrested and convicted for her horrible behavior, by today’s standards. I was a fan, but the more I learned about her outrageous behavior, the less and less I liked her. More appalling are the apologists who justify her abusive behavior.

r43 I think that her friendship with Vivian was exaggerated. I think Lucille had very few genuine friendships in her life.

r37 Grow up.

r37 DL legend Vivian Vance was also a Leo

I wonder how much the new biopic will focus on the production of the show

R47 Assuming the title is still “Being the Ricardos,” the film probably will include behind the scenes details. I'm guessing that Lucy isn't going to come off as well as she did in previous biopics because Lucie is involved and in recent years has talked about how controlling her mother was. I always thought Lucy was grumpy in her later years on talk shows. Unless you could make her laugh, she could be quite grim.

I didn't know Lucie was involved, r48

R49 I don’t know how much control she has over aspects of the production, but she clearly has known the details of what’s going on and has been vocal about approving of the casting.

And let us not forget the poor hairdresser who was forced to dye the rug to match the drapery.

William Frawley was a homosexualist.

This is an unusually witty DL thread. Carry on.

BTW, they should have made a movie about what a cunt Lucy was, while being America's comedy sweetheart. A behind-the-scenes look. That's a movie I'd go see.

Didn't Lucy try to get Vivian fired at first?

Viv had the best delivery.

R54 that’s our Viv!

Didn’t Lucy’s maid slap her once because she threw her drink in the maid’s face because it wasn’t cold enough, or something like that?

R53 That movie may be being made as we speak, namely, “Being the Ricardos.”

There are so many active Lucy threads going that I just re-DLed myself in the same thread!

It happens r58!

I love the story of how Viv's dressing room was on one side of the stage while Lucy's was more conveniently located. Starting to do a scene, Viv had to run across backstage to get to the door to enter with Lucy. It was one of the Lucy-Is-Pregnant episodes. Viv got to her spot with Lucy, who said "You're Late!". Viv said, "I'd tell you to go fuck yourself but Desi's already done that for you." Brilliant.

Does anyone know what episode r60s story takes place in?

Poor Vivian Vance. Her job depended on William Frawley remaining sober. If he was fired, she’d go to. The Mertzes would sell the building and in would come Gale Gordon and Bea Benadaret.

I hated Bea Benadaret in anything she's been on. She's hammy and had that annoying laugh.

I hate Gale Gordon, r63. I never found him even remotely funny.

R63 Yes, Bea Benederet was primarily a character actress on radio (e.g, Gertrude Gearshift on the Jack Benny Show) and second banana on early TV (Blanche Morton on The Burns and Allen Show; voice of Betty Rubble on the early seasons of the Flintstones). What I find interesting about her is that she played Kate Bradley on Petticoat Junction without relying on any of the affections she used previously. I hadn't realized what a good actress she was until she played Kate.

R64 I don't think Gale Gordon was supposed to be funny when he played the foil to Eve Arden in Our Miss Brooks and Lucy in her various shows. He got most of his laughs by being the butt of physical comedy jokes, which mostly took the ability to put up with it as an actor. He must have been very dependable to have worked with Lucy for so long.

What I wouldn't give for a time machine.

[quote]What I wouldn't give for a time machine.

"Children under fifteen will not be admitted." Geez, she was hardcore! What did she have against children? It wasn't like Desi was going to rip off his clothes and screw the guest star on the living room sofa.

Children do not behave. It’s best if they stay home.

[quote]Children do not behave. It’s best if they stay home.

I saw my first Broadway show when I was 13 and my younger brother was 9. Neither one of us interrupted the show or bothered other audience members.

Work at tears?

Bill was racist?

Do any of you have any links backing up these claims? Where did Maury say Lucy shoved somebody?

R68 Keep in mind that Desi was filming I Love Lucy on movie quality film stock with three cameras running. It must have been incredibly expensive to do that for a “mere” TV show. I doubt Desi wanted anything interrupted and then reshot because of the sounds of young children.

In contrast, I remember being in the audience of a NYC recording of a Garry Moore Show as a young kid, but at most that show was kinescoped for a single replay on the West coast.

He made the claim on the Joan Rivers talk show after Lucy died. Joan had Carole Cooke, Maury Thompson, and other longtime Lucy friends and coworkers.

Robert Osborne, who was also on the show, became somewhat incensed about what he felt was an unflattering portrayal of Lucy by Thompson and some of the other guests.

The story is well known in Hollywood lore. The character actress was Ruth McDevitt. The blocking was complicated for this particular episode of "Here's Lucy". The actors had to stand further away from each other than normal to deliver their lines, because Gale Gordon was to fall through a trap door in the final scene.

Here's a link to an IMDB version of the story on the "Here's Lucy" episode page. In fairness to Lucy, she was a bully to almost everyone on her TV sitcom sets after Desi was no longer actively involved - major actors and extras alike. Jack Benny her longtime neighbor told stories about her horrendous behavior when he guested on the show late in his career - Lucy repeatedly insisting that a prop table be placed where Benny couldn't see it (because he'd lost sight in one eye), even after Benny told her he couldn't see the table in that position, because Lucy thought it was "funnier" that way.

Lucy behaved so badly toward Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor during their filming of their episode of "Here's Lucy", the pair left set for many hours over after a lunch break, holding up rehearsal and sending the message to Lucy they weren't happy with her scolding and screaming on the set.

[quote]Lucy behaved so badly toward Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor during their filming of their episode of "Here's Lucy"

Lucy’s side of the story was that they didn’t want to rehearse, they looked down their noses at doing tv and they expected movie star treatment. And both were known to be heavy drinkers, so obviously Lucy was nervous.

[quote]so obviously Lucy was nervous

Well obviously, no wonder she was a cunt for so many years

[quote]and they expected movie star treatment

How dare they appear on Lucy's shitty sitcom set with an attitude!

Thanks for the info r75

IMDB = Wikipedia. Anyone can edit.

I thought all the tea at OP was well-known ...

Don't forget Our Lady Joan's turn on a Lucy show. The Ball bitch went poking through Joan's purse and found a flask. Lucy shouted, "Get Gloria Swanson!"

Joan got her back, though, as only Joan could. She turned down a show-wrap invitation from Lucy and her loser second husband because she herself was hosting a wrap party to which the Mortons were not invited.

Another thread from 2015 bumped by another right wing troll trying to hide the threads on Weisselberg.

I "bumped" the thread because I found it funny and amusing, but keep on trying, r83.

R76: Liz and Dick weren't being asked to perform Shakespeare or Strindberg, they were doing a lazily plotted "guest star" spot on a sitcom. They had no problem with the director, it was only with Lucy.

[quote] they were doing a lazily plotted "guest star" spot on a sitcom.

They were two alcoholics appearing in a comedy filmed in front of a studio audience.

r86 = the ghost of Lucille Morton

Keith Thibodeaux, played Opie's best friend Johnny-Paul.

[quote]My evil marionette will make sure I never die!

More like a stop-animation figure. She got no strings to hold her down and isn't a puppet.

I recently rewatched much of the series. Lucy and Viv were around the same weight until the start of Season 4 (Viv's weight gain is noticeable).

Here they are on the Dinah Shore talk show. You can see they did have a long, deep friendship.

r91 I know these situations are complex, but whenever I see Viv on talk shows, I can't imagine her staying in an abusive marriage. She doesn't seem like the type of woman who would have put up with that

I'm giggling helplessly at this sentence in OP's absolutely hilarious thread, "Disease-y Arnaz buying $5.00 hookers and getting infested with STIs." I can't even tell you why. Now I'm worried the homeless people I step over on my way to the grocery store a little bit later will look at me like I'm weird or something.

Offer them a stone pillow, r93

With the exception of Keith Thibodeaux, is anyone from the ILL production circle still alive?

Well, at least they didn't wear dungarees on the subway!

Well I never in all my life r96!

That was interesting. Thanks r75

Gale Gordon is not funny, not amusing and has all the charm of a sack of manure. I think he spent so much time with Lucy because enjoyed being humiliated backstage for so little money. The worst supporting player in the history of TV.

Bea was very good in Burns and Allen and PJ. In both series there was very little of the ham she was capable of. She's also good in her bit in OTT.

Working with Lucy in her ‘60s shows was a joy!

Lol r100!

If I had a time machine, one of the places I'd go is the Desilu studio, to watch them write, rehearse and film an episode.