How did that running gag about Gary Morton guiding Lucy's career choices get started?

I think Lucy was very old school and liked the idea of the man being in charge in a marriage.

She benefited enormously by the successful experience of Desi Sr. in creating a hit show and a major studio.

So, when Gary came along she tried to cast him in the same mould as Desi without the womanizing proclivities.

Obviously, Gary wasn't up to the job.

In a Barbara Walter Special with Lucy and Gary from 1977 (on You Tube) Lucy made the comment that she hated the fact that Gary liked to take daily naps in the afternoon. This struck me as odd. Why was this such a problem for her? You'd think she had enough problems with Desi taking other women to bed and here she is complaining that her second husband liked going to bed with himself.

Maybe what really bothered her was that "napping" signaled laziness and a lack of ambition in Gary who also liked golfing every day, too. As much as she was destroyed by Desi's womanizing she loved his hustling ambition and mogul drive. She was turned on by it. In Gary, she found stability but was probably bored by him.

Good point, R2. Lucille Ball could not be pleased. She blamed Desi for the end of their marriage, but she wasn't blameless. She was a cold, stern, unfeeling cunt. How did Desi fuck an iceberg? No wonder he fucked around. Those women gave him attention and treated him well. That cunt tried to emasculate him. Who could stand being around that cunt 24 hours a day?

As for Gary Morton, he couldn't even take a nap or golf! She was so selfish. It was all about her. She arranged jobs for him to keep him out of the way. Of course, it had to look like he has employment, to show the world she had a productive husband. It was her ego that demanded this. Yet, she was bored. Again, she couldn't be pleased.

Gary never had control of her career, ever. She used him as an excuse to turn down projects she didn't want to do. Hell, if he had control, she wouldn't have done that movie "Mame" or her final series "Life with Lucy". She deluded herself at the end. Some star performers have to realize their days in the sun are over.

You call that hot!

"Life with Lucy" was atrocious. Am I correct in saying that she went into a major depression when it was cancelled?

Are there any more Lucille Ball incidents? Did she really slap a stewardess? Are there more horror stories about her bitchy behavior? Keep it coming!

I heard and read that she abused her hairdressers.

Jenny Lewis deserved a better sitcom than [italic]Life With Lucy[/italic]. Even though the writing was subpar, even compared to the absolute worst of [italic]Here's Lucy[/italic] (honestly, even [italic]Small Wonder[/italic] had funnier jokes), she was not miscast as her granddaughter. That's probably the best thing I can say about it.

It was Desi who told Lucy not to do Mame and she obviously didn't listen.

Gary was very impressive as Milton Berle in "Lenny" and it's highly doubtful she had any pull with Fosse to get him the role.

He's ugly as sin, and you just know she had horrible halitosis.

Imagine if Gary had received an Oscar nomination for Lenny. Lucy would've filed for divorce the next day.

Who [bold]ARE[/bold] these people you speak of OP?

Just characters in a nightmare Jerry Herman had about 45 years ago.

I was going to tell you all the details....... but Gary talked me out of it.

[quote]You'd think she had enough problems with Desi taking other women to bed

And the occasional man!

Does anyone know if Gary was buried with his wig on?

Who can golf every day? That takes forever.

Gary was the epitome of old men in the Seventies who wore horrible polyester pants and looked like they had just finished smelling up the bathroom something awful.

LOL !

Hopefully, he wasn't like Harry Karl, who walked around the house in his underwear with this balls hanging out.

I wish i could remember the first time someone made the joke about Lucy turning down an iconic Seventies or early Eighties role clearly not suited for her and then adding, "But a wise Gary Morton talked her out of it." It was either for Beth Jarrett in "Ordinary people" or Mrs. Rosen in "The Poseidon Adventure": I think whichever it was, the second ne was next suggested, and it became one of my favorite long running gags on DL thereafter.

Memorable parts that Lucy supposedly turned down after a wise Gary Morton talked her out of it:

*Sally Bowles in "Cabaret"

*Diana Christiansen in "Network"

*Nurse Ratched in "One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest"

*Chris MacNeil in "The Exorcist"

*Carrie White in "Carrie"

*Esther Hoffman in "A Star in Born"

*Bree the Prostitute, in "Klute"

*Iris the child prostitute in "Taxi Driver"

*Princess Leia

I remember reading somewhere that Lucy and Gary went to a private screening of Deep Throat when it came out in the early 1970s. I'm trying to imagine what happened that night when they got home.

I thought the gag had a serious origin in the story that Sinatra wanted Lucy cast as Mrs. Johnny Iselin in "The Manchurian Candidate" (the role eventually played by Angela Lansbury) which would have been in the period between "I Love Lucy", and "The Lucy Show", but "Gary Morton talked her out of it". The whole thing may have been apocryphal.

How do you know how she was with Desi in private? Just because she was hardcore at work doesn't mean she was like that at home.

I have to side with Lucy, regardless of her personality, for her distaste in lazy men. I dated a guy once who was bone idle. He had a lot of family money, so he had zero motivation but said he "worked" in his dads business. Working involved getting the office landline directed to his mobile phone and then palming whoever rang onto to his brother or dad. There were entire days where he did nothing at all. Or just played golf. It was really unappealing.

More importantly, OP, how can it be stopped in its tracks?

[quote]I remember reading somewhere that Lucy and Gary went to a private screening of Deep Throat when it came out in the early 1970s. I'm trying to imagine what happened that night when they got home.

She threw up on his dick and then made the "spider face."

[quote] I thought the gag had a serious origin in the story that Sinatra wanted Lucy cast as Mrs. Johnny Iselin in "The Manchurian Candidate" (the role eventually played by Angela Lansbury) which would have been in the period between "I Love Lucy", and "The Lucy Show",

That would have been great. I would have Lucy to have seen the rifle pointed her in the shot close to the end where she's photographed from the rifle's crosshairs, and then have made "the spider."

Yes, Sinatra really did want Lucille Ball to play Mrs. Iselin.

That would have been so insane.

R2/R3, Lucy was Gary's meal ticket so he should have done everything she wanted.

[quote] [R2]/[R3], Lucy was Gary's meal ticket so he should have done everything she wanted.

Dat's how eet vorks, boys!

Gareeeee!

I'm watching the colorized I Love Lucy Christmas Special on CBS right now. Lucy's the best. I'm surprised Gary allowed them to colorize this.

Someone also said Lucy turned down Murder She Wrote, which also ended up with you know who

[quote]Gary was the epitome of old men in the Seventies who wore horrible polyester pants and looked like they had just finished smelling up the bathroom something awful.

That's a great description. Today's modern equivalent would be John Boehner.

It was Jean Stapleton who turned down Murder She Wrote, not Lucy. Ange was the next on the list after Jean.

Can anyone verify if this is true? Of all the Gary Morton stories I've read on DL, I've never heard this one. And it's on his Wikipedia!

"In recent years, Morton's effectiveness in his duties has come under some scrutiny and criticism. Most notable of these denouncements are those of Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman, whose dealings with Morton during the production of the original Star Trek television series were documented in their 1996 book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story. Others, including Grant Tinker, have come forward with their own recollections of Morton's tenure at Desilu.

Most critics cite Morton's construction of a "European Street" — a ¾-scale replica of a European-styled business district street — as being a wasteful use of studio funds at a time when frugality was a necessity. According to Desilu and Paramount financial records, and as reported by Solow and Justman, not one television or theatrical production was filmed on this set before it was demolished in 1977."

If it's true about the European street being built, couldn't they just have used this in the infamous 'Lucy in London' special?!?

“ Lucille Ball could not be pleased.”....... Tell me about it...

She would have made a great Emperor Palpatine, but Gary talked her out of it.

Gary was a producer on All the Right Moves, Lucy wanted the Tom Cruise role, but he talked her out of it.

Is it really true that De Palma considered her for the Angie Dickinson role in Dressed to Kill? Or is that another DL tall tale?

Gag?