I Love Lucy on Blu-Ray? (Speculation)

The wear and tear of starring in multiple sitcoms AND running Desilu Studios probably took quite a toll on Lucy's health, especially given the personal problems she was having with her family during the 1960's...by the end of her life, it's a wonder that she was functional at all...

 

1985 and 1986 were not the friendliest of years for Lucy, either. After filming the TV movie Stone Pillow she was hospitalized for dehydration and malnutrition. I have read several places that while the film takes place in the winter, it was filmed during a heat wave in New York City and she lost something like 23 pounds, something that she never fully recovered from. Then in 1986 she had the failure of her series, followed within in a couple of weeks by the death of Desi Arnaz. Right after Desi's funeral she flew to Washington to be honored with the Kennedy Center Award which, apparently, Desi was originally supposed to present to her. If you ever see the clip of her at the ceremony, literally just a day or two after his funeral, watching scenes of them together on ILL, you have to wonder what was going through her mind at that moment. Yet the look on her face pretty much says what it was.

Lucille Ball became so identified with the Lucy character that it was hard for audiences to accept her for anything but that character. After awhile I think she forgot how to play other characters and would not really allow herself to go beyond those boundaries. Her 1970s specials she tried different things, with various results from good to blah. Had she been provided (or better yet, demanded) better material and had better reaction to her work at that time, then perhaps the last 15 or so years of her life she would have allowed herself to take more chances and be more than just the "Lucy" character. On the flip side of that, you can see the depth of her work by watching many of her films. Are a lot of them great works of art? No, not really, but they don't need to be, either.

 

Had Lucy dropped the "Lucy" shtick and contemporarized her self I think she would have fit perfectly in The Golden Girls Playing an older and cranky woman who has seen it all...would have given her that final last curtain she had been looking for during those years. Alas..

 

I'd have to wonder how she would have gotten along with Beatrice Arthur, whom she'd co-starred with previously in the movie version of the Jerry Herman Broadway musical "Mame"...my understanding is that she didn't take kindly to being upstaged by Ms. Arthur during that production...

 

I think for it to have worked--hypothetically, of course---Lucy would have been the lead, taking Bea's role in The Golden Girls. That character--much like Lucy herself, was bold, outspoken and a natural leader. But obviously Bea did a great job with the role herself and needed no help from anyone. Just an amusing "what if" I often think about....

 

As for Lucy, I dont think Blu-Ray is going to improve anything.
If youve ever wondered why "Lucy" doesnt look as good as it should, the answer is this:

When the "Lucy" pilot was first screened for the Network and Phillip Morris, there was concern over the actors looking aged. Karl Freund, a legend in the camera world, was asked to come in and work on the problem. He put a special type of cheesecloth filter on the lens that "distorted" the image in order to conceal the actors facial characteristics and therefore their ages. This pleased the sponsors and the show was bought.

So......Blue ray is only going to show the distortion more cleanly. I cant see it helping anything.

 

Hmm, I don't see that at all.

"Lucy" was always more reactionary, somewhat vindictive and scheming, and not particularly sympathetic towards anyone she had to deal with. But she also had a kind of desperate innocence and determination that was the source of the humour for the character. Bea Arthur's character, in contrast, always came across as someone who was more in charge of her situation; condescending when required, with a distinct sense of superiority.

 

Stop me if I told this one already... but there's a great story about Mame, where the original DP had shot the film conventionally, with reasonable lighting and lenses and so on. At dailies the next day, the 63-year-old star turned to the cinematographer and said, "what have you done to me? I look so old!" And the DP shrugged and said, "Miss Ball, the camera does not lie." According to legend, she slapped him in the face and fired him on the spot.

The next DP who came in lit her only with very soft lights and put a ton of diffusion on the lenses. I can recall every review of the film calling attention to how soft it looked, wondering how many layers of stockings had been put on the lens.

On Life with Lucy, veteran DP Leonard Stone (head of the ASC for several years) told me he opted to go with a Mitchell B fog filter for Lucy's close-up camera, and I volunteered that we turned all enhancement off for this show. The show was carefully lit, but she pretty much looked like she actually did (in an idealized way).

One interesting factoid: Lucy told us she'd never had a facelift, but prior to each show's filming, they'd use surgical tape to pull her face back pretty tight, and the tape was hidden under her wig. Every half-hour, she'd disappear backstage while the makeup people made some more adjustments, making sure the tape was still tight. Stone agreed with me that her face looked OK, but pointed out that, due partly to smoking, the two things that makeup and photography couldn't help were her neck and her hands. Her hands were pretty scary.

But Lucy was a real pro, and really knew lighting and quite a bit of the technical end. I wish they had paid as much attention to the stories and characters on Life with Lucy. And I still say that if they could have found a way to make Audrey Meadows a permanent part of the show, where Lucy bickered with her sister (kind of in a Vivian Vance role), it would've been a much better show.

 

That pretty much sums up Lucy's (the person, not the character) natural personality: someone in charge and condescending when required! In real life, she was a tough (yet lovable) lady to be around. That's why I said she'd have to drop the "Lucy" (meaning the Lucy Ricardo/Carmichael/Carter) character and have to be true to herself and modernize her act a bit. She couldn't continue to be the screwball redhead that we all knew from all the previous series. Her character was in need of some tweaking for modern audiences to accept her on a new show. I always thought The Golden Girls was a great vehicle for her to enjoy a last hurrah at the end of her career.

 

Having worked at Paramount Studios the story I know is the following:
I Love Lucy was filmed at Ren Mar Studios (still there in hollywood)
Desi and Lucy came from film and it was Desi's idea to shoot in Film. He was also a pioneer in the 3 camera setup (still used today for most sitcoms)
And it was Desi's idea to retain Ownership of the library (because no one had heard of reruns up to that point)
So Desi was the businessman. Desilu bought the RKO Studios (the western side of what is now the paramount lot) when it went bankrupt. They did shows like Untouchables, etc.
When they divorced, Desi sold his shares to Lucy.
Lucy was not a businesswoman. She employed Robert Justman and Herb Solow to run the studios. They greenlighted Mission Impossible, Lassie, Star Trek, Mannix and much more.
But she wanted to get out and sold to Paramount making millions. Paramount proceeded to make billions on all of the desli shows
I got to meet Robert and Herb at a book signing at Paramount and had a nice conversation with him
Here is the book he wrote about his time at Desilu
http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Star-Trek-Real-Story/dp/0671896288/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376597734&sr=8-1&keywords=Herb Solow



More info here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desilu_Productions

 

In regards to them using film thereby giving us all the reruns...all that seemed to be a domino effect based on one important factor: Desi and Lucy did not want to leave California to shoot a TV show in New York City which is what their sponsor, Philip Morris originally wanted. Lucy and Desi had a beautiful ranch in Chatsworth and were expecting their first born--they weren't leaving the West Coast. That meant they had to shoot the show in LA. But all that was available during that time was kinescope and that provided very low quality which the sponsor did not approve of since most of their audience was on the East Coast. Film was the only option to accommodate the sponsor's request for a high quality print and most importantly: Lucy and Desi's request to stay in California.

 

Just a bit too dated for me, and I do not mean that to thread crap, But I just can not get into the humor or drama her shows or Dick van dyke.

It seems like a long gone era to me, although Leave it to beaver is quite watchable to me, at least the last few seasons.

 

JoJopuppy: The first two seasons of "I Love Lucy were filmed at "General Service Studios" , owned by two bothers, Jimmy and George Nassar. They were in financial trouble and their studio was just about to go bankrupt. Desi got CBS to guarantee the mortgage payments and back monies owed, and so the bank did not forclose. Then, General Service renovated two stages at their own expense, so that I Love Lucy could be filmed in front of an audience, at Lucys insistance. Without Desilu, GS studios would have been out of business. I believe that around 1955 or so, they sold the whole studio.

Desilu bought the RKO Studio complex around 1958. To finance the deal, they sold the I Love Lucy shows back to CBS. At the time, it was a great deal for Desilu, 4 million bucks, but in retrospect, "Lucy" reruns in syndication since has made (probably) hundreds of millions for the content owners.

 

If that wasn't big enough, selling just Mission Impossible and Star Trek alone to Paramount became billions in revenue......even more than I love Lucy reruns

 

There were countless '50s and '60s shows with that famous Desilu logo at the end, yet weren't actual Desilu productions. Generally these shows were filmed at Desilu. I'm guessing they paid to use the Desilu facilities.(?)

Harry

 

The Dec. 9 - 22 edition of TV Guide came today in the mail, and on page 73 with the article about the color Christmas special airing on Dec. 20 Ken Ross confirmd a March 2014 release of season 1 on Blu-ray.

 

Well, it looks like I will be re-buying some more stuff on Blu-ray. Season 1's my favorite season, I can't wait for this.

 

I figured it would show up sooner or later. The show's film elements have been kept in great condition due to the show's value in syndication. I'm still confused as to why we haven't seen Seinfeld on BD yet, though I hear whispers these type of complete sets tend to depress syndicated ratings once they are released.

 

I hope the original openings will be playable within the episodes. I love that option on Season 6's DVDs.

 

Having recently picked up the Twilight Zone and Dick Van Dyke blu-rays, ILL would be a natural for the format. I like the heart shaped box, but it's just too big on my shelf.

 

New to this thread. I spotted this sitting atop my neighbor's wall as I was walking past his home. I've had this license sitting in a desk drawer for years. Just dug it out to post.

-Steve D.

 

I thought one of the big promises of Blu Ray was that you could fit entire series on on disc. I would love all of the old series from the 50s, 60s and 70s on BD.

 

Wow.
I like how it says her hair is red when, not only was it commonly known that's not true, but she wore her actual color in the picture!

 

I just read this....I don't know why I didn't see it before. Thank you so much for sharing your observations with us! I still love watching the old Lucy shows. She was a real treasure....I wish she could have left us feeling more on top instead of her last show being a failure. I'm not sure using Aaron Spelling was smart. Seems like that was putting two people together that probably both were going for the wrong thing and it showed. And you are so right on with a point you mentioned. Instead of pretending she was much younger, I think they should have used her real age and incorporated that into the plots. I mean, look at what Betty White has been doing! They managed to make her look hip on SNL! With the love for Lucy our country had, in the right hands it really could have worked. Didnt know Desi was still alive during the show. That probably didnt help.

 

I think Aaron Spelling was one of the people who had talked to Lucy for several years about a return to television, and given his incredibly-successful track record -- and the fact that he wanted to get into the sitcom biz -- it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Well, I think she was 75 when she did the show and trying to pass for about 60 or 62, somewhere in there. Coming up with a viable concept as to how Lucy's character lived day to day, her family, what she did every day, and all that stuff is not as simple as it seemed. They couldn't make her a recent-divorcee or widow working at a bank again -- the already did that to death. And Lucy was not keen on anything remotely risque or sexual, which Betty White turned into a career (with terrific results).

I think the audience wanted to love Lucy, but the show was horrible right out of the gate. Just jaw-droppingly awful. We assumed it would get funnier and better over time, but I think the writers and producers just got more and more desperate once the ratings started coming in. I think all the actors and staffers got paid for 22 episodes, but it was still a terrible blow to get cancelled so soon. I was told that even though Lucy expected it after a couple of months, she was still extremely broken up when she got the official word from the network, just because of the embarrassment and the thought of going out as a failure.