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TO SEE THIS INTERVIEW IN ITS ENTIRETY, PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjQXA1AlI8U
In this interview, broadcast in November 1973, three months before MAME was released, Lucille Ball acknowledges she is not a singer or dancer and explains why she thinks that should not be an issue in MAME. Please note that this was well before any portion of the film had been seen by the critics or the public. Even Lucy, herself, had not yet seen any finished takes from the film. Besides Lucille Ball, MAME also featured Bea Arthur, Robert Preston, Bruce Davison and Kirby Furlong and Jane Connell.
I think Lucy was much more comfortable doing the kind of “singing” she did as Lucy Ricardo on I LOVE LUCY. 
By: dkri2
Rating: 
Viewed: 32794 times
Tags: Lucille Ball love Lucy MGS Mame Angela Lansbury Rosalind Russell Lisa Kirk Onna White Bea Arthur 1973 BJV
Length: 04:5
Comments
His name was Desi, not Dezi. I’ve seen the film AUNTIE MAME and didn’t like it near as much as as this film, which I’ve seen numerous times. I’ve heard all the nasty criticisms: Lucy’s voice and dancing, the film’s direction, Bea Arthur “looked like a football player in drag” etc. It’s often been said that critics are just bitter showbiz wannabes, so I don’t really care what they think. What matters to me is whether I enjoy something. If you prefer AUNTIE MAME, fine. To each his own.
Angela Landsbury should’ve yelled “RAPE”
I love Lucy, but her voice is so low–so deep
smoking…she sounded way cuter in the 50’s on “i love lucy”
oh God, MAME was terrible
That “I Love Lucy” voice wasn’t her voice. She pushed her more baritone voice to it’s upper register for the “Lucy” voice. That’s actually what damaged her vocal chords, decades of using it (improperly) for that characterization.
I had heard that, but i didn’t know if it was true.
i LOVE this version and i thought Lucy was FABULOUS! perhaps cause i saw this first. had i seen Angela Lansberry version, who knows. like iwas very disappointed with the Johnny Depp version of Sweeny Todd but LOVED the Broadway version with Angela…um, wait, i forgot my point. OH, yea, that whole thing about “expectations” can cause u not to enjoy something.
little trivia - can’t remember which episode it was but the credits once read Dezi not Desi after an episode of I Love Lucy, pretty funny!
You’re correct that the artificially high-pitched Lucy Ricardo voice damaged her vocal chords. Also years of voice projection to a studio audience (compounded by the high pitch); it’s common for stage performers to have vocal chord damage & her shows were done in that style. Also, acting, directing, producing and running a company simultaneously meant she probably talked non-stop, which is also damaging. Add to all that, improper voice projection when she sang in WILDCAT … and the smoking.
☻//▌/ \This is bob, Copy and paste him, and soon he will take over Youtube
omg she is hideous, Lucile ball is BUTT UGLY
And just as I suspected, you go around Youtube posting these sophomoric flame messages. Obviously, you’re seriously starving for attention. It’s too bad you lead such a sad life with nothing more useful to offer. You might consider getting counseling before it’s too late.
Check out the Youtube clip of with this title: “What’s My Line” (w/ guest Lucille Ball, Deborah Kerr) 3/3 Starting at 4:38 in that clip, you can hear Lucille Ball’s natural speaking voice back in the “I Love Lucy” days when she WASN’T playing Lucy Ricardo. It’s much deeper than on her show. And by continuing to do that “Lucy” voice, she would drive her voice even deeper.
omg like you??
omg like you??
Check out the Youtube clip of with this title: “What’s My Line” (w/ guest Lucille Ball, Deborah Kerr) 3/3 Starting at 4:38 in that clip, you can hear Lucille Ball’s natural speaking voice back in the “I Love Lucy” days when she WASN’T playing Lucy Ricardo. It’s much deeper than on her show. And by continuing to do that “Lucy” voice, she would drive her voice even deeper.
Check out the Youtube clip of with this title: “What’s My Line” (w/ guest Lucille Ball, Deborah Kerr) 3/3 Starting at 4:38 in that clip, you can hear Lucille Ball’s natural speaking voice back in the “I Love Lucy” days when she WASN’T playing Lucy Ricardo. It’s much deeper than on her show. And by continuing to do that “Lucy” voice, she would drive her voice even deeper.
omg like you vieetverite SHUT THAT DAMN MOUTH YOU DUMB BITCH
omg like you vieetverite SHUT THAT DAMN MOUTH YOU DUMB BITCH
Well there’s a glimpse of the future voice of our Fran Drescher,lol.
Well there’s a glimpse of the future voice of our Fran Drescher,lol.
Why are so angry? You obviously don’t spend much time reading or you would have a better choice of vocabulary. You’re quite pitiful….I’m sure your parents are quite proud of you…
Why are so angry? You obviously don’t spend much time reading or you would have a better choice of vocabulary. You’re quite pitiful….I’m sure your parents are quite proud of you…
Why is her voice so raspy and deep? is it from age or smoking?
Why is her voice so raspy and deep? is it from age or smoking?
It’s partly from smoking, but mainly from bad vocal projection technique (including singing) and from playing Lucy Ricardo.
It’s partly from smoking, but mainly from bad vocal projection technique (including singing) and from playing Lucy Ricardo.
3 things
1: You have NO life because you go around posting these mad messages.
2: You are just plain STUPID because your vocabulary is atrocious and fucking plain BAD
3: Get off youtube. Lucy was always beautiful in PERSONALITY! You’ll notice that as you get older you’ll get unactractive too unless you get work done. Lucy’s skin was to fair to get a face lift. Look up her pictures from her 20’s. Go ahead you worthless piece of life.
3 things1: You have NO life because you go around posting these mad messages.2: You are just plain STUPID because your vocabulary is atrocious and fucking plain BAD3: Get off youtube. Lucy was always beautiful in PERSONALITY! You’ll notice that as you get older you’ll get unactractive too unless you get work done. Lucy’s skin was to fair to get a face lift. Look up her pictures from her 20’s. Go ahead you worthless piece of life.
shut the hell up. number 1 omg your a fukking fruit man. I HOPE your not in NC because i might just start looking for you
shut the hell up. number 1 omg your a fukking fruit man. I HOPE your not in NC because i might just start looking for you
umm, im not a fruit bcuz im a GIRL.
I live in Florida dumbass.
and dnt call me MAN. nd u dnt intimidarte me. U think ur so cool. But If u WERE cool, you would stop threatening people and posting these evil messages!
umm, im not a fruit bcuz im a GIRL.I live in Florida dumbass.and dnt call me MAN. nd u dnt intimidarte me. U think ur so cool. But If u WERE cool, you would stop threatening people and posting these evil messages!
Lucy!! I love Lucy is one of my favorite shows!!
Hah…an absolute “Ball” making it…-Henry
RIP Lucille
I really enjoyed this clip…especially since it was on tv before any critics saw a preview…truly one of the greatest flops ever produced …I love Mame for its sheer over the top badness. Lucy was also the executive producer so she had no one to blame but herself…all the critics agreed that it played to none of Lucy’s strengths and should have been made 8 yrs before it was - with Angela Lansbury. Truly an ego driven project. A real shame that Lucy ended her movie career w/such a dud
When Lucy says, she can’t sing, I admire her honesty.
very honest person i am very happy 2 c this clip
lon live lucy. we loved her in australia, her shows were ALWAYS on!
Unfortunately, it was spectacular flop.
Mame is a fantastic film everytime I see it, it makes me laugh funny, funny funny.
Yes, I’ve heard that this film was not received well - but I’ve seen it many times and it follows the “show” script very closely - and I thought Lucille Ball was great!
I agree! I saw this movie in its original Radio City release. The audience was cheering for the movie - and Lucy - at the end. Ball is brilliant throughout the picture but I think she tops herself as she sits between the Upsons watching Gloria in home movies. Watch her reactions. A wonderful actor, Lucy.
I like the movie. One of my faves. With her and Bea Arthur
ya in du barry was a lady she lip sync one song
I love Lucy and loved this movie when it came out, but I wish like HELL they’d let Landsbury do the movie. Not so much as I wish they’d given “Gypsy” to Merman, but there you are.
Lansbury might have been a better Mame, but she too didn’t have a very good singing voice. It was just average too. Better than Lucy, but not the best choice. The best person I ever saw do Mame was SHANI WALLIS of Oliver! fame. She was fantastic and unlike Angela Lansbury or Lucy , Shani Wallis is a REAL singer. Why I think Lucy is a good Mame is she is a beauty in it, even at the age she was. She looked great.
Unfortuately for Lucy, Mame was a huge flop
Love her
“Mame” it’s better than “Hello, Dolly!” for me. Isn’t boring!
Lucy’s story about the voice dubbing is a bit fishy- It sounds like the producers hired someone to dub her voice, and Lucy put the kibosh on it, Otherwise, why would Lisa Kirk even have been mentioned? Lucy a great comedian, but not right for the role of a rich sophisticated freespirit Too bad we can’t go back in time and persuade Lucy and Hello Dolly Streisand in to switch roles
The real story is Lucy WANTED her voice dubbed in MAME, as had been done in most of her early musicals, but Warners balked, saying 1970s audiences were too sophisticated for that. Perhaps Lucy suggested Lisa Kirk dub her voice, but it didn’t happen.
oh my goodness. I have never read a comment on youtube that I have agreed with so much. SO TRUE.
Does she have a bad cold or a sore throat? Or did something happen to her voice ?Her voice sounds so low in comparison to her I love Lucy shows.
Not true. Her voice sounded like the “I love Lucy” Character in all her movies in the 30’s-40’s and 50’s. It began to lower in the 60’s. Somthing happened to her voice. I have no idea what. She sounds like she has a bad cold or sore throat
Not true. Watch her movies in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s and in all those years she had the Lucy Ricardo voice. It lowered after 1960…but who knows why. We probably will never know. Unless maybe her kids have the answer?Anyway High voice or low…LUCY IS LUCY and very loved !
That wasn’t her normal tone, it was more baritone. She pushed it even higher for the “Lucy” character. Not to mention having to project her voice each week to a studio audience (as the mics then weren’t as sophisticated as they are now). By the 60’s she was having trouble pushing her voice to that higher octave. Probably after years and years of damage from using that artificial tone. I’ve also read that she developed polyps and had to have an operation (though I don’t know how true that is).
and of course, the smoking didn’t help.Either way, she manage to not only have a career, but stay on top of her profession for over five decades. Very few people who can say that.
Her voice got even lower in 1961 because of WILDCAT. Her co-star, Keith Andes, said she ruined her voice in that play because she didn’t use proper singing technique. Search “What’s my Line? Lucille Ball” (the clip where she’s wearing a big black fur collar). This show is from 1961 during the run of WILDCAT. It’s obvious from this she is doing damage to her voice because it’s seriously hoarse.
After WILDCAT, she returned to weekly TV where she played to the back seats of her studio audience by yelling lines. This, plus the screaming exercises early on, the fake high pitch for Lucy Ricardo, the poor singing technique in WILDCAT, and having to talk constantly as star, director & studio head, all wreaked havoc on her voice. Certainly smoking had a big role, too, and most likely was responsible for the polyps she later developed (which cause raspiness), but it wasn’t JUST the smoking.
In her movies in the 30s, 40s and 50s, she was PERFORMING, not as Lucille Ball but as a character. Besides, in the 30s she was still young and her voice THEN was high. Around the time she met Desi in 1940 she started doing those screaming exercises in the car to deepen her voice. By the 50s it WAS deeper. Search “What’s My Line” (w/ guest Lucille Ball, Deborah Kerr) 3/3″ and, starting at 4:35 you can hear the real deeper-voice Lucille Ball in 1954, that does NOT sound like Lucy Ricardo.
Also, her co-star in WILDCAT, Keith Andes, said she destroyed her voice in that show by not using proper singing techniques. Search “What’s My Line? Lucille Ball” (the one where she’s wearing a big black fur collar). This is from 1961 right in the middle of the run of WILDCAT. Her voice is seriously hoarse here, obviously from vocal strain.
She was a very heavy smoker. that changed her voice.
Merv Griffin was such a suck up! The version of “Mame” starring Lucille Ball is considered one of the worst movies of all time.
@cynthiacher True, but no one would know that BEFORE the film was released. Often times studios think they have a big hit on their hands. Such was the case here. They did a lot of promos and TV specials leading up to the film suggesting it was going to be big, yet people stayed away. Since both good and bad films become hits it is more likely people were just tired of the big musical format that dominated movies in the 50’s in early 60’s and stayed away from ALL musicals around this time.
Miss Ball was disappointed and upset with WB because she felt that the studio spent too much time pushing “The Exorcist” . But truthfully WB was only following the unexplainable frenzy that surrounded the ground breaking horror flick. Unfortunately MAME got lost in the shuffle.
PLEASE DONT READ THIS. YOU WILL GET KISSED ON THE NEAREST POSSIBLE FRIDAY BY THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE. TOMORROW WILL BE THE BEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE. HOWEVER IF YOU DONT POST THIS COMMENT something bad will happen. NOW UV STARTED READIN DIS DUNT STOP THIS IS SO SCARY. SEND THIS TO 5 VIDEOS IN 143 MINUTES WHEN UR DONE PRESS F6 AND UR CRUSHES NAME WILL APPEAR ON THE SCREEN IN BIG LETTERS. THIS IS SO SCARY CAUSE IT ACTUALLY WORKS THIS ACTUALLY WORKS
PLEASE DONT READ THIS. YOU WILL GET KISSED ON THE NEAREST POSSIBLE FRIDAY BY THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE. TOMORROW WILL BE THE BEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE. HOWEVER IF YOU DONT POST THIS COMMENT something bad will happen. NOW UV STARTED READIN DIS DUNT STOP THIS IS SO SCARY. SEND THIS TO 5 VIDEOS IN 143 MINUTES WHEN UR DONE PRESS F6 AND UR CRUSHES NAME WILL APPEAR ON THE SCREEN IN BIG LETTERS. THIS IS SO SCARY CAUSE IT ACTUALLY WORKS THIS ACTUALLY WORKS
Poor Lucy never knew when to quit. Even then she was way too old for Mame !
I think Mame could still be saved- edit out the tedious, over-done musical numbers epeciaaly the interminable dance parts,, dub, or autotune lucy’s voice- edit edit edit- and you might get a watchable movie out of it
Bull shit bull shit More bull shit!!!
I thought Lucy’s Mame was a cute movie. It’s not as bad as the critics said it was.
@Classicsatdusk : “Better than Lucy, but not the best choice”. How in the world could you write that? That’s why she won a Tony award for her musical roles in “Mame” , “Gypsy”, “Dear World” and “Sweeney Todd”. I saw her multiple times in each role. Her singing caused the audience to go into a frenzy. Did you ever hear her sing live? Never saw Shani Wallis is “Mame” but did see her on stage in “A Time For Singing”, “Oliver” and “Follies”. As stage performers there was no comparison for me.
@Cramnella Ethel Merman did not get GYPSY because she could not act. She was allowed to recreate her Tony winning role in Call Me Madam and it was a major flop because of her over the top, phony acting. On stage you can get away with being a “personality” but the screen magnfies the acting lmitations. Any big Broadway musical star of the heydey of Broadway always had limited acting skills, otherwise MGM would have scooped them up.
The film version of MAME was a goner before it was released because of the outrage of casting Lucy and not Lansbury. Broadway is worse when it comes to box office casting, and in this case MAME was actually written for Merman and then offered to Mary Martin. Both were too old and would have been grossly miscast. Lucy wasn’t that bad and the film is very faithful to the stage version, contrary to some people’s distorted memories.
I guess all that smoking ruined her singing voice. I remember watching Reruns of Here’s Lucy when I was a child, I can remember her broken leg.
@pudgeuncle Lansbury might have been better suited in the acting department, but her singing voice wasn’t that much better than Lucy’s. It’s easy to think someone who was great on stage would translate the same on film, but that is rarely the case. Just look at the film version of THE PRODUCERS where the actors where no longer fresh in there roles once the film was made. MAME needed someone who had never performed it before.
@ScrapNfight I would be the last person to defend the singing on Broadway since so many actors have sung on stage that the studios would normally dub. Katharine Hepburn, Shelley WInters, Bette Davis, Vivien Leigh, Lauren Bacall, and a long list of others are not exactly singers.
@pudgeuncle Just because Lansbury was great on stage doesn’t mean it would have translated the same on the screen. It would have been around the same time as BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS and we all saw how dull that was.
Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t so much the drinking and smoking that destroyed Lucy’s voice as it was the SCREAMING. Watch THE LUCY SHOW. It’s screaming dialogue. They scream at each other in that show. That’s watch destroyed her voice.
@ScrapNfight , to be fair, though, they did those shows in front of a studio audience, and she felt she needed to talk (scream?) that way to reach the folks in the back rows. A lot of shows shot in front of a studio audience are performed this way, e.g., Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Mothers-in-Law. I wouldn’t so much call it screaming as talking extremely loudly. Whatever, it’s really bad for the vocal chords.
@ScrapNfight , In Lucy’s case, you might notice that at the beginning of a season, just after her months-long hiatus from the show, her voice would be rested and sound somewhat natural. But by the middle of the season it would sound hoarse. So those months of “screaming” through rehearsals and tapings clearly took a toll. But over time, rested or not, there was cummulative deterioration. Her voice didn’t change much after “Here’s Lucy” when she was no longer on the set every day hollering.
@Beejjjjjj True with the live studio audience, but Lucy was doing bad things to her voice way back in I LOVE LUCY. Not just screaming, but the crying sounds and other strange loud sounds she would make to be funny. With THE LUCY SHOW there was screaming dialogue more so than in any of those other shows you mentioned. Lucy needed a “heavy” like Ricky Ricardo or Mr. Mooney to even out her overbearingness. You look at those shows today, she’s mean to everyone.
@ScrapNfight , on I LOVE LUCY she was speaking in an unnaturally high pitch all the time to make herself sound younger. Speaking in an unnatural pitch also causes vocal chord damage. As for shows like LAVERNE & SHIRLEY and MOTHERS-IN-LAW, yes, they were screaming their dialogue just as much in those shows. Penny Marshall’s voice did get somewhat deeper. Lucy was in vitually every scene of her shows doing this, and also rehearsed non-stop, never giving her voice a rest.
@pudgeuncle It was first offered to the Rosalind Russel who originalted the role on stage and repeated it in the film. She turned it down stating that someone else should have a chance at it. But in reality, she turned it down due to health issues that were start for her at that point in time.
Regarding the remarks about Lucy ruining her voice, it was not her “straining” it to sound young, nor was it “yelling.” It was the combination of smoking Phillip Morris cigarettes and drinking. She did strain her voice during WILDCAT on Broadway in 1960. But as for her runining her voice in I LOVE LUCY, any experienced actor knows how to “project”. Second, there were sensitive microphones to pick up the voices of the four principles, and the others didn’t ruin their voices.
@ScrapNfight What “screaming”? Projecting for an audience is not “screaming.”
@RayPointer Have you watched any of those shows? It’s a combination of “projecting” and screaming. I love lucy, but she was hard on her vocal cords. Really hard.
@RayPointer , actually, no, there were NOT sensitive microphones back in those days. That was part of the problem: she had to project her voice without the microphones, while at the same time speaking in an unnaturally high pitch. And it is FACT (per voice experts) that speaking continuously in an unnatural pitch damages the vocal chords. As for the projection, there is proper projection and improper projection. Re: the smoking, she advertised Philip Morris, but smoked Chesterfields.
@Beejjjjjj She smoked the sponsor’s product in the commercials. Regardless she smoked. As for the “projection” of the voice, one would wonder with all of the “coaches” she had that she was not advised about things that would harm her voice. Sound recording was not that primative in the 1950s, and Glen Glenn was one of the leaders in the industry. The mikes picked up the actors very well. And Lucy did not “scream” all the time. I’ve seen all of the shows. Please no more silly debates.
@RayPointer , she put Chesterfield in Philip Morris cigarette boxes. She didn’t smoke Philip Morris. And I’ve heard directly from production staff of the show that they did NOT have mikes that allowed their voices to reach the back of the studio audience, so they had to project their voices. Among the advice she got early on was that her voice was too high and she should go out on the freeway and scream at the top of her lungs to deepen it, which she did.
Then to play Lucy, she was always trying to get her voice higher again, so she spoke in a high pitch. Keith Andes said in Wildcat, she did NOT have proper training on projecting her voice and she did particular damage to it from her singing in that show. According to him, nobody trained her or told her what she was doing was wrong. As for silly debates, it’s only silly if you’re making assertions you can’t back up.
Niech żyje Lucille Ball !!!
what a crock! that film was terrible! Lucy could not sing and she could no dance. she was about 30 years too old for that part
@TracyAndersonFoxhunt , LOL! So says someone who “loves” Miley Cyrus. No doubt Mame had its flaws, but a fan of Miley Cyrus is in no position to criticize. That takes away all your credibility.
” I can’t sing, I can’t dance. Come pay money to see me do both”.
I loved Lucille Ball and think she was one of the most gifted comediennes of American film and tv. Having said that, however, her 1974 version of “Mame”was a trainwreck from start to finish. Luckily we have hundreds of hours of her wonderful tv shows and OTHER movies in which we can enjoy her real talents.
Lucy was amazing in “Mame”. Sure, her voice wasn’t up to par, but her performance was exceptional.
This movie was a travesty. I love Lucy, but not as Mame. Angela Lansbury should have gotten the movie.I think this is Lucy’s revenge against her for getting the role of the mother in Manchurian Candidate.
At least she knew that her singing and dancing wasn’t up to par. I still adore her
Oh my god, look how young Merv Griffin looks here. And she’s right, she can’t sing, at least not well enough to be in a role where a lot of singing is required.
Her voice used to be SO high pitched! Omigosh what happened?!
lucy is great but she was really bad as mame. I wish they would remake this movie
Smoking took a heavy toll on her voice over the years, ‘cartridge’. In fact, Betty White once recalled that she phoned Lucy’s house, and a deep voice answered: “Hello?”/”Oh, Gary {her husband}, this is Betty. Is Lucy home?”/”This IS Lucy!”.
well, if you can’t sing and you can’t dance…her words…then why she did do a musical?
It’s really sad that her performance in Mame was the straw that broke the back of her career… She never recovered from it…she was hard to work with, she ran Madeline Khan (potential Agnes) out of the first cold read, came to her first dance rehearsal in a leg brace, and to make herself appear younger she required so much gauze on the camera that the background blurred on every closeup of her..The movie was an EPIC fail..
I love the OLD Lucy.
@ajgroelant She was amazing in Mame. It was best with her, not the other 1. the oher 1 was great but you cnt beat Luciller Ball
I loved her in Mame, because she was like a ‘real’ aunt. She wasn’t perfect and that’s what I loved about her version of Mane. I loved Angela Lansbury’s ‘Mame’ too, but they are very different performers and Lucy was a genuine comedienne…whech is what the film needed.
Lucy clearly had a few tickets on herself… Bea Arthur said the movie was a big embarrasment for her… and Jerry Herman really doesn’t like it at all. He was dissapointed. Lucy has no idea…. you DO need a good singing voice to pull off Jerry Herman’s songs!!!! What is she talking about!!??!?
Angela Lansbury didn’t get the part that could’ve win her an Oscar and lead to better film roles. Lucille Ball did get the part, the film turned out to be a huge disappointment and instead of advance Ball’s film career it ended it, since it became the last film in her career. The film version became a lose-lose situation to everybody involved, including public. Lansbury should’ve gotten the part and Ball was better off Mame.
She seemed like someone who I’d loved to sit and talk with. Straight up honesty and real talk!!!
@picturefan2009 True but Angela Lansbury still had (and still has) great roles after turning this role down, but I would have prefered Angela Lansbury by far!
@DanDaSimmer Angela Lansbury never turned it down. She wanted to reprise her star-making role very much, but the studio thought that she wasn’t big enough of movie star to carry a film (although she played leading roles in film before), but it got brutal reviews and bombed anyway.
@picturefan2009 From what I’ve heard she turned it down to be with her sick son?!
@DanDaSimmer No, that’s incorrect. Lansbury wanted it very badly and was terribly disappointed when she didn’t get a chance to reprice her role after the studio chose Ball.
Lisa Kirk, a great Broadway musical performer, dubbed most of Rosalind Russell’s singing in Gypsy.
I’m confused. Why is everyone saying Lucille’s voice was dubbed. She just said that it wasn’t and she was upset that her awful voice was attributed to the Lisa lady. Now I love her voice and her performance, but obviously she thought it totally ridiculous that people thought her voice was dubbed. So what’s the dealio folks?
Even her little laugh in the beginning makes me smile =)
Actually, Lucy bought the film rights for the movie and put up 5 million of her own money for the picture.
This interview did not help in the publicity for MAME. She could have talked about a dozen other things surrounding the film rather than, “I can’t sing, I can’t dance, come pay money to see me do both”.
Another mistake with LUCY on this picture is that nobody was allowed to be funnier or prettier than her. Principals, supporting cast, bit players, even extras were cast so as not to overshadow Lucy.
Does she take a swig of whiskey right in the middle of the interview ? Ahh…It was such a diffferent time…..
@ScrapNfight Lol, I would watch her butcher a song, and dance terribly any day!
@Beejjjjjj Yes, there were body mics in use in the theater at the beginning of the 60’s. They weren’t even close to what EVERYBODY wears now ( sometimes less is better but the sound boards are very good too) but they used them.
I know Lucille was not the BEST singer, but she was actually rather good on Mame, I enjoyed watching her and Beatrice Arthur too ^_^ What a duo!!
I loved lucy in mame! Also these youtubers “punchyplayers” have a few videos with spot on lucy imitation from this era