Lucille Ball in Wildcat

[@raykilroy1950]

There was a time in my life when I was depressed and watching I Love Lucy was the only thing that gave me pleasure. I will be forever grateful to her for that.

[@vincentdaly78]

I can imagine that. Mary Tyler Moore played the same role for me at one point.

[@raykilroy1950]

@@vincentdaly78 Fortunately, MTM came along at a time in my life when I was feeling quite well, but I always enjoyed her show. What has happened to writers and actors who could just make you laugh without getting dark or political or sexual?

[@scotnick59]

I can really relate to that, Ray!

[@lorim8070]

My first Broadway play absolutely fabulous. The gorgeous, even without much makeup, Lucille Ball was wonderful spending 45 minutes after the show signing autographs and talking with her fans. The cute blond, here with her, was a snob and ignored us. Ahh to be 16 was great in1961.

[@clairekeesey1285]

If you take away nothing else from Lucille Ball, at least take this lesson: never give up. You have no way of knowing when lightning will strike. Raised in a lower income family, no formal education, she was told that she had no ability and to forget about show biz. She never attained mega movie stardom and was doing radio when the possibility of a TV show came into her life. And finally she had the format in which to shine and show us that she was/is a genius.

[@liesljones5987]

Lucy STARRED in NUMEROUS films -comedies, dramas, musicals. Yes, "Lucy" was the high point of her career - but this woman worked her way up from bit player to star...and was in demand!

[@bronxboy47]

@@liesljones5987 She was stunning in "Lured": kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3rPk4pogaiom5I

[@markwhitman9029]

@@liesljones5987 It took Lucy awhile to find her niche but when she did on TV she became immortal! THE GREATEST COMEDY STAR OF THE 20th Century with CarolBurnett right on her coattails!

[@ToughXArmy69]

The great Lucille Ball aways wanted to appear on Broadway. Desilu financed this show which openend to fair reviews but smash box office. Lucy's health began to falter and they closed the show but it was a personal triumph for Lucy. This song "Hey Look Me Over" belonged to Desilu and would appear in episodes of the Lucy Show. Ms Ball was some brilliant star. After Desi left Desilu, Ms. Ball over rode her Board of Directors who cautioned against the small studio doing such ambitious shows as Mission Impossible and Star Trek. Lucy added another hit in Mannix produced "Yours Mine and Ours" a movie smash and sold Desilu to Paramount. Ironic Lucy always wanted Desilu to be a comedy factory but her tenure produced the three hits I cited above! A Great Star, and a Great Businesswoman.

[@irenemak1302]

Hopefully, younger generations will see it as well.

[@hairyscotman]

when I see Lucy performing I always hope that she enjoyed it as much as all of us that were fortunate to watch her did... I LOVE Lucy...

[@davec.486]

What a performer she was! worked her way to the top!

[@russelltelesca6119]

A legend. Lucy was the best. She could do anything. I still miss her but we have most of all her work on DVD to enjoy.

[@ItsIdaho]

Just watched "Lucy and Desi", the ending had me in tears. What a great duo they were. Love watching "I Love Lucy" occassionally.

[@scotnick59]

Lucy actually sings great here!

[@buckleysdead]

Recently, this song floated up through my memory from my childhood. I had no idea it was associated with Lucille Ball.

[@amyknarr2270]

Me either! I was just thinking about it and was flummoxed to find it was she!

[@ricj7517]

Lucille Ball was such a talented lady..I absolutely adored her.

[@Vmartyr]

I just discovered 2 unused tickets to this show and am researching for an article. Thanks for posting this.

[@neilwilburn4901]

I did a lot of "Wildcat" research for a book and am willing to share info if you give me your email address.

[@Vmartyr]

Thanks Neil! Please click on my name and you'll see links to my site or FB page - leaving an email address on a YT comment will just "feed" the bots. You can also search my name and Urban Archeologist and you'll find me. I found your comment on "lucy fan" and it was very useful.

[@neilwilburn4901]

will do. I'm not very messaging savvy

[@AndrewRudin]

I must have seen WILDCAT half a dozen times, as it stayed on and on in Philadelhia (at the now demolished Erlanger theatre on South Broad St.) as they tried and tried to "fix" it. I enjoyed seeing how they changed it, add stuff, took out stuff, etc. Back in the 60;s it was so much fun to see shows before they went to NY and before anyone told you what to think about them. And the fact that Michael Kidd choreographed and directed it kept my interest.

[@ajitter89]

Sure Lucy wasn't the greatest vocalist, but she had such personality when she would sing. As Stephen Sondheim said, "I'd rather have an Actor who could Sing, than a Singer who could Act."

[@youngimages2000]

She had awesome vocals in her younger years.

[@frackston]

@@youngimages2000 Her singing in earlier years was dubbed over most of the time.

[@njpair]

I've been looking for any video of "Wildcat" for a LONG time. Thank you for posting!

[@michaeljj43]

i think she sounds terrific.

[@bigbandsrock1]

The real world of entertainment!!! Miss regular doses of such great music & performances!!!

[@MS-sd6rn]

Happy Birthday! We love you in 2020 and years to come.

[@rongendron8705]

In 1961, my mother & her sister, went to see "Wildcat" on Broadway, but mainly to see Lucille Ball! Unfortunately, in that performance, she was replaced by her stand-in & they were disappointed not to see her! Since Ball had just gone through a difficult divorce from Desi Arnaz, I suspect that she missed many performances & the show was just using her name for publcity purposes!

[@HunterShows]

Wow refund time

[@SymphonyBrahms]

Actually Lucy became ill with a viral infection and missed several weeks of the show while she was recovering.

[@ddbjg]

I love her so much

[@carolineamber707]

Wonderful.

[@matthewsenese6158]

She's adorable and always a Star!

[@vitothepizzaguy7475]

She finally made it into the show...

[@karlakor]

The Ed Sullivan Show presented many Broadway numbers that featured the original casts performing show excerpts as they were done on the stage. These usually differed greatly from the way they were done in movie adaptations of the musicals, and we should be grateful to have them.

[@LimeVid2]

Well put. Why Broadway shows were not filmed, if only for posterity, is a frustrating mystery.

[@kevinbailey8827]

I had never heard of this musical until a few days ago. I was born in 1965. This song, however, is a blast from the past. I never heard it performed this way, but my east Texas town borrowed (or licensed) the tune for an anthem sometime in the late 60s or early 70s: Hey, look me over. Jasper's my name. I'm all in clover Rising up to fame. That's all I remember.

[@meenyminymoe]

Thanks so much for posting this!

[@csu3524]

What a gem! Thanks!

[@Pimp-Master]

That radio show pinned down the exact flavor of her TV character--even how loud her voice was. She sort of drowned everybody else out. On TV, she didn't change a thing--so that character drives the whole thing and was also a success. But yeah--the radio did it.

[@January.]

I miss Lucille Ball. Amazing woman in so many ways....

[@kgjozef]

Thank you so much!

[@deepachand9689]

Paula stewart was such a beautiful singer ,and yet though lucy herself knew she couldn't sing as well she chose her to costar with her in wildcat ,and it was paula who helped her prepare for this singing role ,by advising her to cut down on her smoking and do some breathing exercises

[@LJ-ht4zs]

Heard LUCY sing "Hey Look me Over"she looked and sounded great.

[@tarstakars]

Wow I actually remember watching on TV the first time when I was a kid...

[@yorkandpomona]

thank you! I had this on record but it got lost.

[@lond2835]

I LOVE LUCY

[@allenmurray7893]

It's great to see this song performed live. I wasn't aware that Michael Kidd was the director. Was that a Stutz Bearcat they were driving?

[@chickennugget1027]

thanks!

[@lednew2010]

Amazing job you did cleaning both the soundtrack and video and synching the OC album over the final bit where, in the original telecast, Lucy got completely off key.

[@bluenorm]

Talent

[@jimrick6632]

THE GREAT LUCY ON BROADWAY...GIVE THE OLD GIRL CREDIT FOR GIVING IT A TRY....CLOSED SIX MONTHS LATER DUE TO LUCY LOSING HER VOICE....WISH SHE HAD NEVER ATTEMPTED THE MOVIE VERSION OF "MAME",,,,IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANGELA LANSBURY AND EVERYONE KNOWS THAT...BUT LOVED YOU LUCY ANYWAY FOR YOUR GUTS....

[@stuartlee6622]

I saw it at the Alvin Theater.

[@neilwilburn4901]

PLEASE PLEASE tell me all about it. If I could go back in time and pick one Broadway show to see (and there are so many worthy contenders) Lucille Ball in Wildcat would be it.

[@riveranormanf.8770]

Amazing

[@moccalou]

I think the uptick in smoking and stress from the divorce with Desi, plus rigorously working on Wildcat, on a schedule she wasn't used to to the point she was throwing up on set, destroyed her voice and appearance somewhat. She still sounds like she could play Lucy Ricardo here, but her face is kind of showing age more than in just1959. By the time she stepped into the Lucy Carmichael role in 1962, her voice would never be the same. 😢 But doing this was a dream come true for her, so I'm happy for her. 😊

[@barbarahourigan8462]

❤️❤️

[@TheMusicalJourneys]

Well she starred in many movies and was the Queen of the B movies so you can't say she was not getting anywhere just because she wasn't a "mega" movie star, she was already a star to some degree.

[@LJ-ht4zs]

Always a star to me - on tv, old movies, and would have paid anything to see her in Wildcat (too young - did not have any money) I ❤️Lucy

[@LJ-ht4zs]

I have seen many movie roles I really loverd - lucille ball before ILL.

[@1928gerry]

I'm watching the I Love Lucy shows on TV here in Canada and love them as they're such good clean fun. They're leaving for Hollywood at the moment. What bothers me is how much smoking she did in the shows knowing that later it contributed to her death.

[@emmitstewart1921]

When the shows were being broadcast, I couldn't watch them. I would laugh so hard that I actually hyperventilated. I would have to leave the room to catch my breath. I was about ten years old at the time.

[@dg1006]

I’m from that era...half the population smoked then. It was socially acceptable and the warnings didn’t come out till the mid-60s, 1964, and even then lots of people still smoked years afterwards. Many people didn’t think of the effects.

[@LJ-ht4zs]

@@dg1006 My father smoked 4 packs of cigarettes a day (began smoking at age 12) He died at age 60

[@labratamber]

The LSU FIGHT SONG, hey fighting tiger..

[@tomshea8382]

"Fresh out a'clover/Mortgaged up to here" is such a strange lyric, but somehow it works.

[@ohdaddy2029]

I think fresh out of clover means out of money, so I'm guessing it's something about being poor?

[@tomshea8382]

@@ohdaddy2029 I always assumed the 'clover' line meant she was grassy green and innocent, butyours is a very good reading. IDK if it's true or not, but I like it.

[@ohdaddy2029]

@@tomshea8382 yeah it was actually my dad who thinks that, he's good with slang

[@SymphonyBrahms]

@@ohdaddy2029 In the clover means you're rich. Out of the clover means your not.

[@RKHageman]

Fresh out of clover = ran out of the ‘green stuff’ = flat stony broke!

[@mbclev]

This song is actually one of the favorites of former Pittsburgh TV personality Ricki Wertz (even though I'm in the Cleveland, OH area), as evidenced by this web site: www.pitt.edu/~kloman/ricki.html

[@upthedownescalator630]

Every one who wants to know her opinion on doing this, read Love, Lucy. That's how I know about this

[@Balina757]

She's actually quite good. Precise diction & nice stage presence. Looks like she may have been emphysematous, though.

[@aquablue1252]

She was. They had to cut songs out because she couldn’t keep up. Also had an oxygen tank at the ready

[@robertr798]

Her voice is so strong and confident here. A far cry from her vocals in "Mame", where she couldn't get through one lyric without overdubbing, punch-ins, and pitch correction. :(

[@Michelle-pn9xt]

Wow! Stop being negative.

[@aquablue1252]

Not even here. She had already ruined her voice from years of smoking and yelling on ILL. When she was younger she could sing quite well

[@robertr798]

@@Michelle-pn9xt Weird that you’re choosing to ignore the compliment I gave her.

[@Michelle-pn9xt]

@@robertr798 If you say something negative after giving someone a compliment, it is no longer a compliment. If tell someone that they are nice, but I also think they are dumb it will no longer be seen as a compliment.

[@SymphonyBrahms]

@@Michelle-pn9xt He wasn't being negative. In Wildcat Lucy's voice was still fresh. Years later, in Mame, the years of smoking had ruined her voice. She croaked like a frog in Mame. Truth is truth.

[@obaidulhoquebhuiyan7095]

This is from The Ed Sullivan Show not Wildcat

[@teokimching4115]

Paula Stewart

[@michaeltekulsky5665]

Seems to me she nails it

[@ChicagoLove95]

😁😘😍☺❤

[@emmitstewart1921]

It's easy to see why they had to close the show. Lucy worked so hard that she collapsed from exhaustion.

[@aquablue1252]

From smoking . They had to keep an oxygen tank at hand every day. And she had an infection she ignored. Poor thing

[@sunchildgaia]

She could sing too! LOL. I wonder how she suppressed her talents in I love Lucy!

[@imeanithonest5704]

Imagine doing that 8 times a week. Takes incredible stamina.

[@DDumbrille]

"Triumphant" performance? The show flopped. People came 'for it's entire six month run' because they wanted to see Lucy Ricardo, not Lucille Ball. She ended up hamming it up in order to keep ticket sales going...

[@SymphonyBrahms]

The show just wasn't very good. The only reason people went to the show was just to see Lucy. She finally collapsed from exhaustion and a viral infection, and they had to close the show. It would have cost a lot of money to reopen it, even though Desilu Studios owned and produced the Broadway show, and by that time Lucy was involved in planning and producing "The Lucy Show " on tv.

[@teojordan4591]

14

[@ohdaddy2029]

Lucy ruined her voice from this show. She had to yell super loud and it ruined her vocal cords. That's what her voice was like that in the earlier seasons of the Lucy show. In the later seasons and after that you could tell it was from smoking

[@SymphonyBrahms]

Lucy yelled on all of her tv shows. Between that and the smoking it ruined her voice.

[@joshdukie998]

not that she is the greatest singer but if her voice was in this shape for the film mame it might not of been so bad.

[@angelgstag]

That would have been TEN years later and NINE seasons (in 1971) of playing Lucy in which she would use a higher tone to speak loudly to a live audience. Of course, she had continued smoking but I know singers who to this day have smoke and sound great. I believe the combination did her voice in. She didn’t have “great” voice but she could carry a tune and even knew how to harmonize. My respect to Lucille Ball, who started by traveling at 15 years old to New York in search of Vaudeville, was turned away from an dramatic academy but NEVER gave up. She was a Hollywood actress, a radio star, the Queen of Television comedy and although it wasn’t in her bucket list, became the first woman to run a successful MAJOR studio. She wanted to do Broadway and she did at the the age of FIFTY years old. She made decisions that gave birth to MULTI BILLION dollar franchises that are huge today and is still being watched all over the world today. I believe she is more loved today than when she was alive. I LOVE LUCILLE BALL!!! ♥️♥️♥️

[@frackston]

@@angelgstag Lucy rarely sang in movies where her voice was not dubbed over by another singer. The only time she sounded close to acceptable was in the movie Long Long Trailer when she sang Breezin Along With The Breeze.

[@clairekeesey1285]

you may have missed my point

[@markwhitman9029]

This lady with her is soooo trying to sound like Merman and that's bad!!! Despite Lucy's trying this is amateurish. Ball was THE BEST comedienne of the Century but to me just could not transition any of that talent to the stage!

[@moorlock2003]

Ball bought her way into this show just like she bought her way into the movie "Mame". She was neither a singer nor a dancer but money talks and no one was going to say no to the dough. The more I know about her the less I like her. She was 20 years too old for this and 40 years too old for "Mame". All she could do was play her Lucy character. She had no range as an actress at all. She was really terrible in "Mame". One of the biggest miscastings of all time. She was thoroughly unconvincing as the free-spirited, free-thinking Mame.

[@LimeVid2]

The rumor that Lucy bought the rights to Mame for herself persists and has taken on a life of its own. For the record, she did not. I can't be objective about the movie anymore but it's one that people love to hate. No, by this point she was no singer but she was as much of a dancer as Angela was. As far as Wildcat goes, when 1960 Lucille Ball expressed an interest in doing Broadway, any producer would have cast her in anything. Wisely or not, she chose Wildcat. Without her, it wouldn't have been mounted. She was a huge and only draw. Age on stage is different than age in a movie. Stills from the production reveal a woman who could still pass for young-ish. Simultaneously 47 year old Mary Martin was playing a postulate nun and no one was carping about her age. Latter day Lucy anecdotes portray her in an unflattering light. Don't believe everything you read. A woman in power was held to a different standard.

[@moorlock2003]

Ball poured $5 million of her own money into the production of "Mame". It is well documented.

[@moorlock2003]

The long-running gag on "I Love Lucy" was that she couldn't sing. And what does she do? She tries to pass herself off as a singer, not once, but twice, first on Broadway, then in a movie. But then who's going to say no when the production is bankrolled by its star?

[@richarddixon7855]

The comment about her being 40 years too old for Mame is ridiculous. The part of Mame wasn't written for a 23 year old, which Lucy would have been 40 years prior. Good Lord.

[@SymphonyBrahms]

​@@LimeVid2 I'm big fan of Lucy. But seriously, the movie of Mame is terrible. The Broadway show is great, but it just didn't translate well to film. And it requires singing as well as dancing. Angela did both beautifully. Lucy was fine with the dancing. But her years of smoking and yelling her lines on her show had ruined her voice. Her singing was terrible. I watched the movie one time. And that was enough for me. It wasn't just Lucy. The movie itself is terrible.

[@chickolettadanser]

Regardless of what LimeVid2 says, the production was a total disaster. Miss Ball was not satisfied with the few laughs she was getting, so she hijacked the production by inserting a lot of Lucy Ricardo shtick that had nothing to do with the story. If you want to see Lucy at her worst, watch a few episodes of her last series, the corny and deadly “Life with Lucy” available on KZbin.

[@neilwilburn6848]

"total disasters" do not run at capacity crowds for the entire run. Speak not of what you know not of.

[@SymphonyBrahms]

"Life with Lucy" was a sad ending to a great career. The show wasn't very good, and Lucy tried, but the ratings were terrible. I believe that they only filmed ten episodes before the network cancelled it.