Shower of Stars with Vivian Vance & William Frawley

Shower of Stars: Season 1, Episode 9
"High Pitch" (12 May 1955) with Vivian Vance William Frawley & Tony Martin

[@ss04to06]

Wow, what a great find. I'm surprised Vivian Vance accepted to play Bill Frawley's wife in this given their animosity on "I Love Lucy". From what I've read and heard, Vivian had a hard enough time working with Frawley on ILL and she refused to do a Mertz spin-off because of the idea of working with Frawley.

[@buddyhoot]

I was thinking that EXACT same thing! She would pull over on the way to the studio and vomit.. Poor lady.. Paired with someone who literally makes you ill, Lucy could be a "domineering Bitch" (in VV's own words) but she got along great with Desi!

[@bradsmack1]

This being taped (at CBS, yet!) in the middle of the ILL series run, it's possible she was talked into it by Desi (and whomever at the network) that it would be good PR for the studio and show. Oh, and don't forget some good ole dough re mi!

[@musicom67]

@@bradsmack1 Exactamundo, as Desi might say...

[@TWS-pd5dc]

Well, 2 things here. One, both Vance and Frawley were professionals. All of us have worked with people we may have had animosity towards but as professionals we get past it. Two, the hatred they allegedly felt towards each other may well have been exaggerated. That's been suggested by some on the show. Likely they certainly didn't care for each other, but hatred and loathing might be a stretch. She did turn down the spin-off but it's a fact that by then Vance resented the Ethal Mertz character and may wall have simply wanted to move on to other things. When Lucy prevailed on her in 1962 to do the Lucy Show, she was firm in her condition that she not be like the frumpy Ethel which Desi easily agree to.

[@christopherlucas4620]

I realize this is old, BUT I hate a lot of my coworkers, but still keep going and going. 😂😂😂

[@TheGoldenAgeOfVideo]

Oh my, we had great animation in those opening credits.

[@enricosanchez894]

Why didn't you agree to do the Mertzes series with Bill? It might've been a huge hit.

[@poochillipickles8525]

I love u

[@bostonblackie9503]

Vivian was a great talent and gained fame in ILL but she and her talent was overshadowed because of it.

[@deborahleroy5323]

I feel for Vivan Vance not only having a difficult personal life along with appearances with a individual who she dislike puts the meaning behind having a bad week. Vance deserves each Emmy she won for her wonderful performances.

[@billyriedel6449]

Vivan Vance looks great with Lucy's style of hairdo

[@JJJBRICE]

CLIMAX was , the dramatic anthology , dramatic series airing every three of four weeks . SHOWER OF STARS was the variety show airing every fourth week . Both for Chrysler Corporation

[@alanm5090]

Surprise Fred and Ethel did this together cuz I know in real life they had a hard time getting along,lol

[@MisterUptempo]

Just a little trivia related to this program @2:19 Appearing as the bartender in the scene is Jack Albertson, probably best known to most these days in the role of Grandpa Joe, in 1971's, "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". @11:52 Appearing as an opera singer is Thurl Ravenscroft, best known as the voice of Tony the Tiger and singer of the holiday classic, "You're a Mean One, Mister Grinch".

[@BETTERWORLDSGT]

If you're still here after 4 Years, He was also Ed Brown on Chico and The Man!

[@illnsp08]

Thks fr posting, i love it! So happy to see Viv & Fred acting tgt!

[@MrVidaeverdade]

This show was broadcast live and in color. Too bad they didn't do color kinescopes so we'd be able to see it as originally broadcast. But this is the next best thing.

[@JJJBRICE]

I wonder if there is a film on the drama mentioned for the following week with Miss Jeff Donnell " as the girl in the story" .I cant imagine her lifting that heavy sandstone by herself !

[@willdrucker4291]

Wow...I didn’t know they used aluminum bats back in 1955...lol

[@melvinsims5379]

They may have hated each other but the world will always Love Frawley and Vance. They'll always be linked together till the end of time. Thanks God for the Mertzes.

[@RayPointerChannel]

CBS had their own color television system that was not compatible with black and white reception. They would have to simulcast for black and white, or rebroadcast the black and white Kinescope. The occasional color broadcasts and Paley's resistance was due to having to pay a license to RCA for compatible color/black and white telecasts. The annual showings of THE WIZARD OF OZ was one of those occasions.

[@tomservo56954]

I understood CBS didn't do all that much color broadcasting in the 50's

[@misterwhitman4368]

Viv !

[@tomservo56954]

As fate would have it, 1955 was the year the Dodgers finally won the World Series--the only time they did so in Brooklyn.

[@daniellack3559]

Tremendous find....don't remember this as a youngster in the '50s, but love seeing this kind of stuff....

[@alanm5090]

Desi wanted to give them their own show, butthey didn't want to do a show together cuz they didn't get along in real life LOL

[@randysills4418]

It was Vivian who didn't want to do it...

[@robertpolityka8464]

William Frawley and Vivian Vance are professionals. They're good at keeping their mutual contempt away from the public eye.

[@scotnick59]

They played so beautifully together on TV. Perhaps that mutual "edge" of contempt they felt for each other actually helped their performances; who knows?

[@robertpolityka8464]

@@scotnick59 of course it did. Sometimes the best acting. Is when they don't act at all.

[@bostonblackie9503]

I believe the opera singer is Yma Sumac since you don't hear her name.

[@bostonblackie9503]

Who is the female first introduced? You can't hear her name!

[@jimrick6632]

WHO IS THE OPERA STAR FLIRTING WITH TONY MARTIN?????

[@JayBeacham]

And really like Marguerite Piazza's singing too.

[@miamiracer]

Who is the actress who sings "I Hate Men"?

[@pyotyrprepka1875]

The cost of producing in color was more than three times the cost of black and white. Most homes in the 1950s had a black and white television since color ones cost over $2500 which is better than 20 times higher in today's dollars. It was new technology back then and only vert wealthy families could have one.

[@fromthesidelines]

Compared to NBC- no, Paul. CBS concentrated on telecasting occasional color specials [including this one], several "one-shots" of established series {"WHAT'S MY LINE?", 'THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM", "THE GEORGE BURNS AND GRACIE ALLEN SHOW"}" and one or two weekly series in color [including "THE RED SKELTON SHOW" in the 1957-'58 season]. By 1959, CBS declared a "moratorium" on color telecasting (due to Bill Paley's rivalry with RCA/NBC's David Sarnoff), rarely showing ANY color programs until 1965.

[@tomservo56954]

A musical with a baseball setting...this aired exactly one week after DAMN YANKEES opened on Broadway.

[@JayBeacham]

Love the song "I feel a song coming on" as sung by Tony Martin.

[@BETTERWORLDSGT]

Hey, it's Fred and Ethyl!!!

[@sassiestkitten1]

they are in the hole video. what are you looking at??

[@poochillipickles8525]

Yay Vivian Vance and William Frawley

[@illnsp08]

*Viv and Will Frawley

[@BETTERWORLDSGT]

Go Hooligans!!!

[@donufro]

Vance and Frawley together could have been a preview of the proposed Mertzes spin-off. So glad it never happened.

[@BETTERWORLDSGT]

Don't do it Fred!!

[@i-a-g-r-e-e-----f-----jo--b]

"Shower" Of Stars? Whoever thought of that title should not have been in show biz.

[@MrVidaeverdade]

verbusen I think it's a great title! And very fitting for an anthology series showcasing a different set of big-name stars in each broadcast.

[@musicom67]

Sounds better than Shower of Meteors - the only shower we enjoy in the cosmos.