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"My good woman, will you kindly leave the premises before I grab your pink hair and pull it out by its black roots?" - Tallulah Bankhead as herself in "The Celebrity Next Door"

I Love Lucy: The Final Seasons: 7, 8, & 9 DVD Review

By Jonathan Boudreaux

Following the sixth season of I Love Lucy, the series underwent a radical change. After 180 half-hour episodes, producer/co-star Desi Arnaz felt that it was time for a change. He believed that in order to maintain viewer interest, the series would have to be completely rethought. Gone was the traditional half-hour format. In its place would be a series of occasional one hour specials. These specials - thirteen were produced over three seasons - picked up right where the final season of I Love Lucy left off, with Lucy and Ricky Ricardo (Lucille Ball and Arnaz), their son Little Ricky (drum prodigy Keith Thibodeaux), and friends Ethel and Fred Mertz (Vivian Vance and William Frawley) living in Connecticut. Not that the gang spent much time in Connecticut...

The specials start off with "Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana," an episode that flashes back seventeen years to 1940 to tell the story of how Lucy and Ricky met. Lucy McGillicuddy and her best pal Susie MacNamara (Ann Sothern, playing her role from the CBS sitcom Private Secretary) take a cruise to Cuba in an attempt to meet men. Unfortunately for the duo, so is everyone else on the ship with the exception of the Mertzes who are on their second honeymoon (really, it's their first, but who's counting?) and crooner Rudy Vallee who is just looking for some peace and quiet. When the ship docks in Havana, the cruise director pays a couple of local lotharios, Ricky Ricardo and Carlos Garcia (Cesar Romero) to show Susie and Lucy a good time. Things don't get off to a promising start, but soon both couples are falling in love. Now they just have to figure out a way to get Ricky and Carlos to America. Luckily, Lucy has a plan which leads to a botched audition for Vallee's band, a public brawl, and a day in jail with a pitcher of Cuban firewater to quench her thirst.

"Lucy Takes a Cruise..." sets the basic template for the specials. While each episode of I Love Lucy was budgeted at under $25,000, the specials would cost a lavish $350,000 apiece. The bigger budgets allowed for location shooting, sending the gang to Las Vegas ("Lucy Hunts Uranium"), a racetrack ("Lucy Wins a Racehorse"), Sun Valley ("Lucy Goes to Sun Valley"), and Mexico ("Lucy Goes to Mexico"). The sets are more sophisticated. Elaborate special effects were also employed - or at least elaborate by 1950s TV standards, anyway. "Lucy Goes to Alaska" features some literally hair-raising stunt flying in an airplane. "Lucy Hunts Uranium" includes a car chase that rivals anything filmed for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Essentially, Desilu produced a mini movie every four weeks.

Another hallmark of the specials is the appearance of numerous famous guest stars, often playing themselves and displaying large doses of self-deprecating humor. Rudy Vallee is so vain and self-absorbed that he can barely stop to listen to anyone else ("Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana"). Lucy lore suggests that Tallulah Bankhead - substituting for an ailing Bette Davis - was one of the most difficult stars to work on the specials. However, the prickly (and, apparently, pickled) star is hilarious as a heightened version of herself in "The Celebrity Next Door." Fred MacMurray is so hen-pecked that he joins Lucy's crazy scheme to search for uranium for some quick cash rather than let his wife, actress June Haver, know that he lost more than his allowance in the casino ("Lucy Hunts Uranium"). Fernando Lamas is amusing as yet another Latin lover who cannot withstand the gale force winds of Hurricane Lucy ("Lucy Goes to Sun Valley"). The sight of Lamas skiing uncontrollably down a snowy mountain with Lucy attached to his back is incredibly funny. Other guest stars include Betty Grable, Harry James, Maurice Chevalier, Red Skelton, Paul Douglas, Ida Lupino, Howard Duff, Milton Berle, Bob Cummings, Ernie Kovacs, Edie Adams, and Danny Thomas, Marjorie Lord, Rusty Hamer, and Angela Cartwright as the Williams family from Make Room for Daddy.

Not all of the familiar faces in the specials were big celebrities. You might also recognize Charles Lane (The Lucy Show), Gale Gordon (Dennis the Menace), Sid Melton (Green Acres), Iron Eyes Cody, and Richard Deacon (The Dick Van Dyke Show).

The one main flaw of the specials is that we are so accustomed to seeing the Ricardos and the Mertzes in the standard sitcom format that the hour long specials sometimes seem to drag. Still, the specials are a marked improvement over the sometimes flaccid episodes in I Love Lucy's sixth season.

These specials have undergone a number of name changes over the years. They originally ran under the title The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show from 1957 to 1960. In the summers of 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, and 1967, CBS reran the specials using the title The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. The episodes presented in this DVD set employ the opening sequences from The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. Finally, the specials were syndicated in the 1990s as We Love Lucy. Whew! Call it what you like. We'll just call it "funny."

The packaging of The Final Seasons: 7, 8, & 9 is similar to those for the previous seasons. The thirteen episodes that make up the three seasons are divided onto four discs. The discs are housed in two slim, clear keepcases, each of which holds two discs. The blue-toned front covers feature production stills from one of the disc's episodes, along with a bright red "I Love Lucy" heart. The back covers include episode titles, plot synopses, original airdates, and a list of extras found on the DVDs. Because the cases are clear, the double-sided coversheets show through to the inside of the case. When the DVDs are removed, they reveal quotes from one of the disc's episodes. The two keepcases slide into a cardboard sleeve which continues the blue-hued look. The packaging is classy and elegant.

The DVD menus are totally different from previous I Love Lucy releases. The menus feature new animation featuring the Lucy and Desi stick-figure characters. They are simple and fun.

Video and Audio

As with the previous releases of I Love Lucy, the audio and video of these restored specials are crisp, clean, and beautiful. Factoring in other pristine DVD releases like Perry Mason and Hawaii Five-O, CBS should be commended for taking such good care of film elements from its various TV series throughout the years.

The specials are closed captioned.

Extras

Whenever the cast or crew of I Love Lucy made a mistake, the cameras kept rolling...and the footage usually made it into the final episode. The "Flubs" menus include brief write-ups that explain these inconsistencies and errors, plus they allow viewers to see isolated clips of the mistakes. Some of the mistakes are subtle, while others, like the fact that the window in Tallulah Bankhead's back door doesn't have any glass - are practically impossible to miss.

The "Guest Cast" menu on each disc offers short biographical sketches of the show's numerous guest stars and bit players.

When the series was rerun as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, the original episodes were trimmed slightly. The original openings and closings were removed since they usually included Lucy and Desi shilling for past sponsors like Ford and Westinghouse. Brief edits were occasionally made within the episodes, too. The "Original Broadcasts" menus on each disc contain examples of this excised footage, much of which has not been seen since the original broadcasts. The footage has not been re-edited into the episodes because it now exists only as inferior 16mm clips. Included are original openings, original closings, and even snippets of scenes.

Each disc contains a selection of "Special Footage," some of which has not been seen since the original broadcasts. "Fancy Editing" (1:53) on disc one presents an example of how smoothly the original 75 minute "Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana" was edited to fit into a smaller timeslot. The "Lucy-Desi Promo" (1:02) originally ran on CBS in the summer of 1965. "I Love Lucy" (1:05) is an animated opening sequence and closing credits created for I Love Lucy's primetime reruns. Disc two features an "Animated Transition" (:14) which led to commercials in the "Lucy Goes to Mexico" episode. In the summer of 1958, reruns of I Love Lucy returned to CBS' schedule with the top ten shows as voted on by 155 newspaper columnists. "Top 10 Lucy Shows" (1:04) gives an example of the new opening and closing produced for this special run. Incidentally, the example is for the critics' number three choice, "The Ricardos Are Interviewed" from season five. On disc three, "I Love Lucy" (2:11) is another example of the animated openings and closings created for CBS' primetime reruns of I Love Lucy. The thirteen season six episodes in which the Ricardos and the Mertzes relocate to Connecticut were rerun by CBS in the summer of 1960. Once again, a new opening and closing were created. "Lucy in Connecticut" (1:06) on disc four is an example of the new credits.

Viewers can journey behind the scenes to "Meet Special People" on each disc. Written blurbs give us background information on some of the series' cast and crew members. Disc one includes film editor Dann Cahn and Lucille Ball's personal hair dresser, Irma Kusely. Kusely designed Ball's "artichoke cut" which was introduced in "Lucy Hunts Uranium," and which the star wore for the rest of her life. The show's writing teams - Madelyn Davis & Bob Carroll, Jr. and Bob Weiskopf & Bob Schiller - are the focus of disc two. You probably know that Weiskopf and Schiller went on to write for All in the Family and Maude, but did you know that Davis and Carroll executive produced the TV series Alice and Private Benjamin? Vivian Vance, William Frawley, and Keith Thibodeaux are the focus of disc three. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz are featured on disc four.

"Production Notes" are included on each disc. These give written bits of trivia and behind-the-scenes information on the series and individual episodes.

"Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana" originally ran in a 75 minute timeslot. After the episode's initial run, fifteen scenes were shortened or cut so that it could fit into a standard timeslot. Thanks to a recently discovered 35mm print, this footage has been re-inserted into the episode. "Restored Footage" on disc one shows exactly what was added.

In 1958, Arnaz found a new sponsor for the series - the small appliance division of Westinghouse - and signed a two year deal. The "Desilu/Westinghouse Sponsor Presentation" (38:22) was produced to show Westinghouse dealers. In it, Ball and Arnaz give a tour of Desilu studios and discuss their plans for the new incarnation of the series. This promotional film is in amazing shape and it is terrific to see it included here.

In October 1951, three days before I Love Lucy premiered, Desilu filmed "The Audition," the series' sixth episode. One audience member snuck in a 16mm camera and secretly filmed the proceedings whenever no one was looking. This rare color footage was recently discovered and edited into the actual scenes from the episode. "On Set Color Footage" (3:49) on disc four jumps back and forth from the black and white footage to the color footage. Even wonder what the Ricardos' apartment looks like in color? Or the Tropicana? Well here's your chance to find out. This footage is fascinating and might even bring a tear to the eyes of Lucy fans who think they've seen everything.

The navigable "Photo Gallery" on disc four includes just over forty publicity shots and behind-the-scenes photos. A few are even in color. Who knew that the polka dot dress worn by Ball in "Lucy Goes to Mexico" is actually brown?

Finally, the navigable "Clippings" gallery on disc four features a TV Guide ad for each of the thirteen episodes included in this set.

Summary

I Love Lucy: The Final Seasons: 7, 8, & 9 is filled with laughs. Yet it's also a little bittersweet. Why? Because with its release, all of I Love Lucy is on DVD, leaving fans with no more upcoming releases to look forward to. Oh well - I guess it's good enough to simply go back to season one and start watching all over again.

3/4/07