Honoring Lucille Ball and Jerry Herman through the talents of Suzanne LaRusch and Jason Graae

Ability is of little account without opportunity.
Lucille Ball

Happy Tuesday!
I hope this finds you well. Today, I'm writing about two ARTISTS that honor two very special icons. If you follow my blogs, you already know that I am a huge fan of Lucille Ball and Jerry Herman. I also am a huge fan of Suzanne LaRusch who appears as Lucille Ball. Also, there is Jason Graae who has a critically acclaimed show celebrating the music of Jerry Herman. There are also many six degrees of separation happening with all of these entertainers!
As you know, Lucille Ball starred in the movie version of MAME,which of course had a score by Jerry Herman.

Jason Graae's show is directed by Lee Tannen who was very good friends with Lucille Ball. As I've written in previous blogs, Lee's memories of Lucy were told in a very successful and highly entertaining book entitled, I LOVED LUCY. That book has been transferred to stage, also by Lee Tannen, and starring my dear friend Diane J. Findlay as Lucille Ball.

As far as Suzanne is concerned, two of her producers are Larry Luckinbill and Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill.
For Larry and Lucie to get involved, Suzanne would have to be sensational.

The same can be said of Jason Graae's tribute to Jerry Herman.
Jerry is a huge fan of Jason's, as am I.
Jason just embodies Jerry Herman's music.
Those of us in the New York region are lucky because they both are coming to the east coast. Suzanne will be doing AN EVENING WITH LUCILLE BALL at Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven, New Jersey next month. I will be making a trek out to see Suzanne. If you would like to join me, please let me know. And also in October, Jason will be doing a series of shows at The Laurie Beechman.

I will be attending Jason's show on October 25th if you would like to join us.
Also, I have some Jerry Herman news of my own that I will tell you about a little later in this blog.

I have never seen Suzanne perform LIVE although I have seen clips on YouTube and I have been following her career for years thanks to my dear friend Glen Charlow who has one of the largest Lucille Ball collections of memorabilia around.

"You're tremendous! It's a little eerie. We'll talk soon, Mom."
- Lucie Arnaz

"Suzanne's likeness to Lucille is uncanny. She has caught all her mannerisms, her voice, and even her appearance.
It's sort of spooky!"
- Madelyn Pugh Davis
(Original I LOVE LUCY Co-creator and Writer)

AN EVENING WITH LUCILLE BALL - Schedule at Surflight Theatre
DATE DAY Mainstage 2pm 8pm
Oct-3 Mon
Oct-4 Tue An Evening With Lucille Ball
Oct-5 Wed An Evening With Lucille Ball
Oct-6 Thu An Evening With Lucille Ball
Oct-7 Fri An Evening With Lucille Ball
Oct-8 Sat An Evening With Lucille Ball
Oct-9 Sun An Evening With Lucille Ball
Oct-10 Mon (NO SHOW)

Oct-11 Tue An Evening With Lucille Ball

Oct-12 Wed An Evening With Lucille Ball

Oct-13 Thu An Evening With Lucille Ball
Oct-14 Fri An Evening With Lucille Ball
Oct-15 Sat An Evening With Lucille Ball
Oct-16 Sun An Evening With Lucille Ball


A celebration of the first lady of television, An Evening with Lucille Ball: Thank You for Asking,is a touching, funny and uplifting one-woman play written by Suzanne LaRusch & Lucie Arnaz. Crafted in the spirit of the amusing lectures Lucy enjoyed giving throughout her career, the evening recreates the comic genius and the magic behind the Queen of Comedy.Arnaz also directs the piece with her award winning knowledge of the theatre and of her mother!

"I have seen Lucille Ball saluted in many ways over the years, but no one has ever captured the essence of the lady the way Suzanne has."
- Tom Watson
(Lucille's Business Affairs Manager & friend)

"We couldn't stop staring at Suzanne when we first met her. Where did they find her? I almost had a heart attack! Well maybe we can have a reunion after all."
- Original I Love Lucy Cast Members
Doris Singleton (Carolyn Applebee)
Shirley Mitchell (Marion Strong)
Mary Jane Croft (Betty Ramsey)

Traversing the bridge between Lucy Ricardo and Lucille Ball, the production welcomes audiences into the never-before-published backstage stories that catapulted Ball to unprecedented fame, as well as into the tumultuous marriage that would eventually endure public scrutiny.

Lucy guides us through the lifetime of personal memories inspiring her timeless sketches on I Love Lucy, her 30-year television career and never-before heard personal recollections about her tempestuous and complicated marriage to Cuban bandleader turned impresario, Desi Arnaz. It's the Lucy the whole world loved from "Ricardo" to "Mame" but, more importantly, it's an evening with the REAL Lucy, as you've never seen her before.
AN EVENING WITH LUCILLE BALL; "Thank You For Asking!", evolved from two other shows Suzanne wrote and performed as the famous Redhead, LUCY THROUGH THE YEARS and THANK YOU FOR ASKING.
This incarnation is based on a series of lectures, Q & A and television interviews done by the late, great Lucille Ball.
Suzanne had difficulty finding a director who knew "Lucy" AND knew theater, (a combination not so easy to find believe it or not).
Friends with the Arnaz family for many years; Suzanne asked Lucie Arnaz,MIGHT she consider being "my dream director"?
After seeing an early version of the show; Lucie not only offered to direct but co-author a new script and produce the show with her husband, Laurence Luckinbill. Much of the material in this show was gathered firsthand from stories told to Suzanne by Lucille Ball's personal staff, friends, family and from information contained in "A BOOK", by Desi Arnaz (Wiliam Morrow) and "LOVE, LUCY", by Lucille Ball (Putnam).


Suzanne LaRusch: I view comedy and impressionism as two different things.
I started my impressionist career at Universal Studios Hollywood but I’ve been an actress, if you will, since I was about eighteen months old when I did my first television commercial.
I was a child actor and just kind of worked by way through getting the leads in community productions.
I always had an emphasis in comedy, I always had a knack and love for that.
I did a great deal of musical comedy in theatre during my journey before working for Universal in 1989.
In 1990, they had opened a tribute to Lucille Ball which was a museum there.
At that point I was doing different characters like Mae West and Marilyn Monroe and had been fascinated by that time, by that artistry.

I proposed the idea for the character for the museum and the rest was history.
I gravitated to her even as a child because she was just so much fun to watch on television. We almost shared the same birthday, she’s August 6 and I’m August 7. So when I was growing up, they would do an “I Love Lucy” marathon on her birthday. I always thought they did that for my birthday [laughs]. I was quite small, I think. So I always looked forward to those marathons in August, they became regular events. I always loved her and found her comedic timing just incredible. I would begin to study her as an actress, not realizing or having an ambition at that time to emulate her.
Well it became quite a process. When I started out I did my homework as any actor would, watching many of her tapes, interviews, and episodes of the “I Love Lucy” show that I began to know backwards and forwards. I studied her make-up and mannerisms. My mother was born and raised in Buffalo, New York and Lucille was born and raised about sixteen miles south of there in Jamestown, and I realized that my mother had very similar mannerisms to Lucille. It may be regional, and I caught that early on. So when I would exaggerate my mother’s mannerisms and voice inflections, people thought it was dead-on Lucy. So I found learning points like that along the way.
I have always considered myself an actress more than an impersonator, but I fell into that category working at Universal. But from the beginning I wanted to more than that because I found this woman’s life fascinating and I wanted to tell her story onstage. In 1997 I did my first rendition of what would later become the stage show, and did a presentation of her life story onstage. It was an ambitious presentation. I began to refine that and to find the right formula for that kind of storytelling. I always loved watching her interviews, like on the Merv Griffin Show, and she also did lectures and seminars which she loved.
I got my hands on some of those tapes and was fascinated by watching the older Lucille talking about her career and her responses to the audience. And then I realized- that’s the formula, to tell her life story through one of these question-and-answer seminars.
That was eventually called “Thank You for Asking”.
A few years later I reached out to Lucie Arnaz because we had been friends for years because of my previous work. I respected her opinion as an actress, and entertainer, and most importantly as Lucille’s daughter. One I wanted her blessing, but two I also wanted her notes so I could be sure I was telling the story correctly. She had been pursuing directing work at the time and the first thing she asked me was, “Who is directing your show?” And I said “Well, me?” Long story short, she came on board as a director and we re-worked the script together as collaborators.The process of both writing and curating the piece with Lucille’s daughter, Lucie Arnaz was an interesting dynamic. I had to get used to her style very quickly, which I did. She and her husband who is a Broadway star as well and who produces our show had a different approach to acting than I did initially. So ultimately it was like going to school again, which was very fun. I worked and expanded my craft in that way with her. For the writing we literally sat on couches with pads in hand and went back and forth, putting in different bits and information.

It really has been years of accumulating information from the different mediums. But the deciding factors were really picking the subjects that I and ultimately Lucie, Jr. knew were topics people typically asked about it. Let’s talk about the chocolate factory, the grape-stomping, and of course Desi Arnaz. In between you throw in things people are not familiar with, such as she was the person to introduce the song“Hey Look Me Over” to the public. Lucie Arnaz sprinkled in some family secrets that had never been published before that gave insights into the soul of her mother. It is well-rounded now, I believe.
Source: HollywoodChicago.com

Lucie Arnaz sent me the following: How nice that you want to write about Suzanne. In our book, nobody can do what she does. No one even comes close to understanding how Mom thought and how that translated into her comedic physicalities. People tell me after they have seen Suzanne in her one woman show, (An Evening With Lucille Ball: "Thank you for asking") they feel as if they have been with "the REAL Lucy". And the best thing is that, because of all the years she spent as a "Lucy Stroller" at Universal, she can think on her feet and come up with some terrific "Lucy-isms" when the need arises. You can only ad lib as a character when you know them so well that you can begin to THINK as they would. Desi and I have said that sometimes it's so close that it's eerie.
Best of luck.
Lucie Arnaz

Have Suzanne, as Lucy, host or perform your next event!
Please call for availability and prices.
818-842-7713


I for one CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THIS SHOW! And now, for a man after my own heart, Jason Graae!

The New York Times recently said, "Nowadays, probably no other performer could infuse a song with the manic mischief that Jason Graae, a frisky clown with a real tenor, pumped into it..."

Jason Graae has starred on Broadway in "A Grand Night For Singing", "Falsettos", "Stardust", "Snoopy!", "Do Black Patent Leather Shows Really Reflect Up?".
Off- Broadway shows include "Forever Plaid", "Olympus on My Mind", "All in the Timing", "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (Drama Desk Nomination- Best Actor in a Musical)" and many more.

Jason made his Metropolitan Opera House debut as featured vocalist in Twyla Tharp's "Everlast" with American Ballet Theatre.
Jason has performed his one-man show all over the country, including Rainbow and Stars, Birdland, and the Metropolitan Room in NYC, Caramoor Music Festival, Wolf Trap, Feinstein's in L.A., the Fairmont Hotels in New Orleans and Dallas, and The Plush Room in San Francisco, to name a few. He has received the New York Nightlife Award, 4 Bistros and was listed in TimeOut NY's Top 10 Cabaret shows of 2006.
Jason Graae has guest starred on "Friends," "Frasier," "Providence" and "Sabrina the Teenage Witch," among many others; appeared in several films; and recorded on more than 25 albums, primarily musical theater sound tracks.
He was even the voice of Lucky the Leprechaun for Lucky Charms cereal, five years running. Graae will showcase his full range of extraordinary performing abilities at the The Laurie Beechman Theatre in West Bank Cafe, 407 West 42nd Street, on October 18-25, 2011. Performances will be October 18, 19 and 24th at 7 PM and October 25 at 9:30 PM. There is a $20 cover and two drink minimum. Reservations (212) 695-6909.

Graae grew up around the theater; his mother was a nightclub entertainer and his father worked the stage door at Ben Marden's Riviera, a 1930s New Jersey club overlooking the newly constructed George Washington Bridge and the Hudson River. Graae remembers watching his mother perform in a community production of Wonderful Town when he was just three years old, and from that point on he was hooked.
Despite the fact that his parents tried to steer him toward a career in music instead of musical theater, Graae was soon appearing alongside his mother on stage, playing one of the newsboys to her Gypsy.
He eventually studied the oboe as a music major all the while singing and performing on stage and today he happily combines his love of music, musical theater, and comedy by playing chamber music occasionally, singing with orchestras, appearing on Broadway, and delighting audiences with his unique solo performances.

In Los Angeles, he won his second L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award - the 2008 Joel Hirschorn Award for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theatre.
He won an Ovation Award for "Forbidden Broadway Y2KLA!", an Artistic Director's Achievement Award for "Fully Committed" and a Santa Barbara Indie Award for "High Button Shoes".
Jason originated the role of "Houdini" in the L.A. production of "Ragtime" at the Shubert Theatre.
At the Hollywood Bowl, he was Benny Southstreet in "Guys and Dolls" and Marcellus in "The Music Man".
He has appeared in many shows with Reprise!, The Colony, The El Portal,The Falcon and The Rubicon. THe was seen as Panch in "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" at La Mirada and as Janitor/Priest in "See What I Wanna See" at the Blank.

Graae attended the University of Tulsa and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and then headed for New York City, where he immediately landed a role in an Equity Library production of Godspell.
"...Mr. Graae emerges as an irresistible cut-up whose splendid voice is matched by mischievous charisma...." -- Stephen Holden, New York Times

"Graae hurrah! Simply put, Jason Graae is one of the best entertainers I have ever seen in my life...a prodigiously talented impish dynamo who can be wildly, wickedly funny one moment and then leave you emotionally stunned the next with the beauty of compelling ballads sung in the purest tenor/baritone imaginable..." -- David Cuthbert, New Orleans Times-Picayune

"I hated it. But the audience laughed and laughed." -- Washington Post

"Graae is a Cabaret dynamo -- commit the name to memory!" -- Hap Erstein, Palm Beach Post

Read more!

I am hosting a tribute to Jerry Herman on Saturday November 12th for The Sheet Music Society. Donald Pippin, Lee Roy Reams, Amber Edwards, and Miles Phillips are scheduled to appear.

Thank you for joining me on these nostalgic journeys! I've added a new aspect to my blog.. Every five days, I answer a question on video that YOU send to me. You can ask me ANYTHING and I will answer your question on video within my blog. Send your questions to
Richard@RichardSkipper.com

Next question will be answered Thursday.

"Richard, for supporting the ARTS and calling attention to the STARS of yesterday. You are a STAR in your own right!! With admiration and friendship"
Arlene Dahl

Thank you to all who have encouraged me! Thanks to all who have tried to stifle my art. I have learned from ALL of you!
Here's to an INCREDIBLE day for ALL!


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Richard Skipper, Richard@RichardSkipper.com

Celebrating EXCELLENCE...That is ageless!

"When you pray, rather let your heart be without words than your words without heart."
-John Bunyan (1628-1688)

Happy End of August!
How did that happen!?!?! Well, this summer, for the most part, has come and gone. I didn't get to a beach once this summer. I'm about to make up for that. I'm leaving in the AM for Oklahoma City!
And then off to Malibu till 9/11.

If I have wi-fi on my plane, My blog will be written from Continental Airlines tomorrow morning! Christine Talbott Sutin, you may want to tune in!

And I can't believe that we are hurling towards autumn.

I hope you all are more advanced on some level today than you were on August 1st!

My highlights for August were dinners with friends, seeing Lee Tannen's I LOVED LUCY with my friend Diane Findlay(pictured).

We also experienced an earthquake and Irene this month. If nothing else, August was anything but boring! May September be just as exciting with no natural disasters.

I'm looking forward to 10 days in Malibu! Seeing FOLLIES when I return.

Today, I am writing about excellence in entertainment that is ageless.The first entertainer, I saw only once in concert.
Did you know Carole Cook was the 2nd actress to play Dolly after Carol Channing? Yes! In the Australian company!
The second, I saw her in the original 42nd Street on stage and a couple of other times in events honoring Carol Channing.

She promised me years ago that the next time she was in New York, we would get together for a cheeseburger. I'm still waiting, Carole. The third entertainer, I have NEVER seen live but I'm a big fan of through her cds.

I read in the NY TIMES earlier this week that Tom Jones was recovering in a hospital in Monaco on Sunday and said that "severe dehydration" had forced him to cancel a concert. Well, EVERYONE deserves a rest. I fainted on stage once on an opening night in front of a sold out house because of dehydration. It happens at every age. The bottom line is Mr. Jones is still working and is still at the top of his game.
I saw him several years ago when I was appearing in Atlantic City. We were invited by the head of the entertainment department and I was blown away by his show. A TRUE entertainer in EVERY since of the word. Here is wishing him a speedy recovery and back on the boards as soon as HE is ready!
Sir Thomas John Woodward,

(born 7 June 1940), known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer, particularly noted for his powerful voice.

Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel– and sold over 100 million records.
When we saw Tom, Whoopi Goldberg was at our table and he devoted this song to her.
Tom Jones was born at 57 Kingsland Terrace, Treforest, Pontypridd in South Wales.
His parents were Thomas Woodward (died 5 October 1981), a coal miner, and Freda Jones (died 7 February 2003).

His family was mainly of English descent, with both of his paternal grandparents being born in England and his maternal grandmother born in Wales to English parents. Most of his ancestral roots appear to lie in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset.

Jones began singing at an early age: he would regularly sing at family gatherings, weddings, and in his school choir. Jones is dyslexic and he did not like school or sports; however, he was able to gain confidence through his singing talent.

At age 12, Jones was diagnosed with by tuberculosis. Many years later he said, "I spent two years in bed recovering. It was the worst time of my life." During convalescence, he could do little else but listen to music and draw.

Jones' bluesy singing style developed out of the sound of American soul music. His early influences included blues and R & B greats like Little Richard, Solomon Burke, Jackie Wilson, and Brook Benton. Jerry Lee Lewis’s music also influenced him from a rock and roll perspective.
Woodward contrived the stage name "Tom Jones" to link himself to the image of the title character in Tony Richardson's then-recent hit film and to emphasize his Welsh nationality. Jones became the frontman for Tommy Scott and the Senators, a Welsh beat group, in 1963. They soon gained a local following and reputation in South Wales.
In 1964, Jones recorded several solo tracks with producer Joe Meek, who took them to various labels, but had little success. Later that year, Decca producer Peter Sullivan saw Tommy Scott and The Senators performing in a club and directed them to manager Phil Solomon, but their partnership was short-lived.
Love you Tom Jones! Now on to Carole Cooke!



Look Who Has Her Own Wine!!!Carole Cook has her own wine! Wines being sold to benefit an AIDS organization in San Francisco. $18 a bottle. I'll drink to that. But after one sip, you sound like you are from Abolene, Texas!

Carole Cook has appeared in many theatrical productions, in films and on television.

Born as Mildred Frances Cook, she was a protege of Lucille Ball. Ball gave her the stage name of "Carole", after her friend Carole Lombard because, Ball reportedly told Cook, "you have the same healthy disrespect for everything in general".
Cook appeared regularly on two of her shows, The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy. Ball was matron of honor at Cook's wedding in 1964 to actor Tom Troupe.

Cooke starred in the animated Disney film Home on the Range, as the voice of Pearl Gesner, the farmer of Patch of Heaven. She appeared in such feature films as The Incredible Mr. Limpet, Sixteen Candles, Grandview, U.S.A., American Gigolo and Summer Lovers. Her first film role was in Palm Springs Weekend.
She made guest appearances on such TV shows as The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy, Knight Rider, Magnum, P.I., Murder, She Wrote, Dynasty, Charlie's Angels, on a fourth season 1985 episode of The A-Team called "Members Only", and, more recently, on Grey's Anatomy. In 1974, Cook played Marta, the money-grubbing former wife of Walter Findlay (Bill Macy) on the series Maude. In 1976, she appeared as a bullying nurse in an episode of Emergency! in which Johnny Gage is injured by a hit-and-run driver. In 2006, she appeared as an elderly patient on the ABC drama Grey's Anatomy (episode 14 "Tell Me Sweet Little Lies", season two).
This is a teaser for Saturday's blog! HELLO, CAROLE!



TIERNEY SUTTON HAS A NEW ALBUM!! AMERICAN ROAD DEBUTS SEPT. 6!!

-About The Tierney Sutton Band
The Tierney Sutton Band is currently celebrating its 3rd consecutive Grammy Nomination for "Best Vocal Jazz Album".
During a collaboration that has spanned 17 years, they have also been awarded a JazzWeek Award for Vocalist Of The Year, consecutive nominations for Jazz Journalist Association awards, recorded several #1 Cds on jazz radio, and garnered critical praise throughout the world. Comprised of acclaimed vocalist Tierney Sutton and instrumental virtuosos Christian Jacob, Trey Henry, Kevin Axt and Ray Brinker, the band is an incorporated partnership and a model of both musical and business unity. Members of The Tierney Sutton Band have played and recorded with a diverse array of music legends including Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Placido Domingo, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor and countless others, yet the Tierney Sutton Band has demanded and received their commitment for almost 2 decades. They have headlined in recent years at Carnegie Hall, The Hollywood Bowl, The Kennedy Center and Jazz at Lincoln Center and have recorded 8 CDs to increasing recognition and acclaim. The Band's Album "On The Other Side" has been called by BusinessWeek "A Masterpiece ...eloquent, honest and magnificently sung and played." and the band's most recent CD, "Desire", has been described by The Chicago Sun Times as "a conceptual masterpiece."

Critics agree that the reason this band endures is in the music:

"Here and throughout the performance, Ms. Sutton conveyed a sense of jazz singing as an extension of spiritual meditation in which adherence to an ideal of balance and consistency and, yes, humility took precedence over any technical or emotional grandstanding.
Ms. Sutton is a pure jazz spirit who respects a song. Even when going out on an improvisatory limb, she never lets its essence slip away. The singer and her trio with whom she has worked for years - Christian Jacob on piano, Kevin Axt on bass and Ray Brinker on drums - have refined the kind of rapport that could only be achieved over time. Her deep, lingering renditions of chestnuts like "Blue Skies" and "Without a Song" are especially impressive for the sense of quiet joy she breathes into them."
-THE NEW YORK TIMES

Thank you ALL who contributed to this blog!

Tom Jones, Carole Cooke, and Tierney Sutton, thank you both for the gifts you have given me over the years!


To read more, Go to WIKIPEDIA, A Main Source of this blog!

Thank you for joining me on these nostalgic journeys! Remember, every five days, I'm going to answer a question on video that YOU send to me. You can ask me ANYTHING and I will answer your question on video within my blog. Send your questions to Richard@RichardSkipper.com Next question will be answered on September 5th from Malibu!



Here's to an INCREDIBLE September for ALL!


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TILL TOMORROW...HERE'S TO AN ARTS FILLED WEEK!
Richard Skipper, Richard@RichardSkipper.com

I LOVED LUCY and Rose Marie/2011 Television Critics Association Award

"It sounds crazy, but I'm able to deal with just about anyone in the world, having known Lucille Ball."
-Lee Tannen

Happy Tuesday!
I hope this finds you well. How did you spend your Monday night? I spent mine with Lucille Ball...and Lee Tannen. I don't think there is a person in the world who does not know Lucille Ball. Perhaps you do not know Lee Tannen. Lee was related to Lucille Ball by her marriage to Gary Morton.

(Lucy collector Glen Charlow and Diane J. Findlay as Lucille Ball)

Lee first met Lucille Ball when he was 9 years old at a family party in the Bronx. In the spring of 1960, Lee was 9 and Lucy was 49. She had recently divorced Desi Arnaz and wanted a complete break from Beverly Hills and Hollywood.

Lucy had taken her mother, Didi, and Lucie and Desi. Jr and moved to The Imperial House in New York.
Lee was in such awe when he met Lucille Ball, that he couldn't even speak. He was meeting Lucy Ricardo whom he idolized. Even at 9, he could recite almost every line of I LOVE LUCY. Years later, in 1984, when Lucille Ball was 72 and Lee was 32, fresh from a divorce and having just "come out", Lee met "LUCILLE BALL", the woman behind Lucy. At this point in her life, she was for the most part, idle in her career. Her life consisted of openings and an occasional appearance or television special. AND parlor games with a very few select friends. As a matter of fact, that meeting that night started an on again off again backgammon game that would continue for the next five years. According to Lee, Gary, for the most part was mostly AWOL(on the golf course), the children were away, and Lucy spent very little time with very few friends. Lee became Lucy's best friend, her confidante, and frequent escort in the remaining years of Lucy's life.

(Lucille Ball Died on April 26, 1989)

In 2001, 2 years after Lucy's death, Lee put pen to paper and wrote of his friendship with Lucille Ball. Lee's memoir concentrates on Lucy's frustration at being denied one of the great joys of her life: her work because of bad health and poor decisions. Gary's apparent bad career advice leads Ball into two late-in-life disasters: a TV movie (1985's Stone Pillow), which ruined her health, and the poorly conceived TV series Life with Lucy (1986), which, when canceled, convinced her that she no longer had a career or fans who wanted to see her.

(Lucille Ball in STONE PILLOW)

Tannen believes that this led Lucy to lose enthusiasm for life. This affectionate and intimate but by no means rose-colored portrait presents Ball as a demanding taskmaster at a loss during her twilight years.

Lucille Ball will always be remembered as Lucy Ricardo, the wacky redhead who was forever getting herself into hilarious situations.

The queen of comedy was a very different person in her private life.

This book is not a biography but a memoir of those years.

Tannen spent many hours playing backgammon with Lucy, going on ski trips, accompanying her to awards ceremonies, and traveling anywhere else Lucy wanted to go.

(Jeffry Denman as Lee Tannen and Diane J. Findlay as Lucille Ball) Writing with sensitivity and passion, Tannen shows us the real Lucy, who could be lovable but also very controlling, reclusive, and demanding.

The only fault here is Tannen's flexibility with chronology; it would have been easier to follow had he kept the time line more focused.

Otherwise, this is a great book about one of the great Hollywood legends. Lucy fans will not be disappointed. Recommended for larger libraries. Rosalind Dayen, Broward Cty. South Regional Lib., Pembroke Pines, FL
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --

Now adapted for the stage, this funny, bitter-sweet, tender portrait examines the real woman versus the television persona that propelled her to super-stardom. Directed by Todd Weeks, I Loved Lucy adds vibrant color to the legendary actress we all thought we knew so well. It premiered at The Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, California on October 5th of last year.

I sort of expected this show to be some tabloidish tale, an exploitive expose' about The Queen Of Television Comedy. I was completely wrong and am ashamed to admit that. "I Loved Lucy" was incredible! Lee Tannen made the audience fall in love with Lucy as much as he was.

Of course NO ONE could be exactly like Lucille Ball on stage.
The very gifted actress Diane Findlay has made the wise move to evoke Lucy's essence rather than a dead-on impersonation. You will walk away feeling that you've spent an evening with the "real" Lucy!

( GARY MORTON, LUCILLE BALL AND JERRY BERGER)
"I Loved Lucy" is a rich portrait of the real Lucille Ball, revealing how she differed from her zany screen persona and yet in many ways also matched it precisely. Lucy was warm and funny, yet autocratic and mercurial, an intimate confidante and a generous companion.
Jeffry Denman does a superb job as Lee Tannen!

Last night,The Transport Group presented a one-night-only performance of the Laguna Playhouse production at the Duke on 42nd Street.

Tannen dishes a lot of dirt here, but it's nothing that Lucy would necessarily be mad at him for revealing. His words give Lucy fans a complete idea of what Lucy's last years were like. In the book, there arestories about how Lucy desperately wanted to make the movie "Driving Miss Daisy" (Lee says she would have been all wrong for it, and he's right); her disastrous last two projects (the TV movie "The Stone Pillow", and the failed ABC sitcom "Life With Lucy"); her obsession with backgammon and game shows (she loved Vanna White of "Wheel Of Fortune"), plus a lot of other stories let us in on a Lucy we never really knew.

Tannen's adventures with the world's most famous redhead ranged from gala tributes in New York to intimate "just family" ski weekends in Snowmass, Colorado; from a night at the White House to long afternoons spent playing backgammon and reminiscing about Desi in her Beverly Hills and Palm Springs homes. (Photo was taken at State Department Dinner for 1986 Kennedy Center Honorees. Gary sat to Lucy's right, Lee to her left.)

Lee told me today that they are searching for venues to keep this show going. I hope they succeed! It is a great night of theatre!

THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW was been selected as a 2011 Television Critics Association Award winner. The series was the top vote getter in the category of "Heritage Award." The TCA presents this prestigious award to one long-standing program that has culturally or socially impacted society. Carol Reiner, Larry Mathews and he first Lady of Las Vegas, Rose Marie, were on hand to accept the honor. "Sheldon Leonard told me that if you want the best, to get Rose Marie," recalled Carl Reiner. Ms. Marie said, "When they first approached me about being part of The Dick Van Dyke Show, I said "What's a Dick Van Dyke?"

One of entertainment's longest and most fascinating careers began at the age of 3 and was billed as Baby Rose Marie. She starred in several of the earliest talking films, beginning with a 1929 short, Baby Rose Marie the Child Wonder, which was screened in theaters before feature films such as “The Jazz Singer.” In 1946, when Las Vegas opened its first big-time casino hotel, The Flamingo, Rose Marie was hired by Benjamin “Bugsy” Segal as one of the headliners, along with Jimmy Durante and Xavier Cugat. She had a brief Broadway career in Top Banana with Phil Silvers and in 1960, she accepted her first regular role on “My Sister Eileen.” The next year, “The Dick Van Dyke Show” premiered and Rose Marie became a household name. After five seasons, she moved to “The Doris Day Show.” She is the only original member of the hit game show “Hollywood Squares” to have worked on all of its reincarnations and its hosts. She toured extensively with Rosemary Clooney, Helen O'Connell & Margaret Whiting in 4 Girls 4 and has released her best selling memoirs “Hold The Roses.” In 2009, a selection of items from Rose Marie's career was inducted into the Smithsonian Institutes first permanent Entertainment Exhibit -

The Television Critics Association has been recognizing outstanding television programming, honoring both actor and producers for more than 26 years. The TCA’s annual awards show is a non-televised and invitation-only event that only features the winners of each category and not the finalists.

The TCA Awards were Saturday, August 6 in the ballroom at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California).

The TCA is a non-profit organization. The Television Critics Association represents more than 220 journalists writing about television for print and on line outlets in the United States and Canada. Membership in the Television Critics Association is open to full-time TV writers at newspapers, magazines, trade publications, news wire services, news syndicates, and text-based Internet news organizations. The Television Critics Association exists to serve its membership of full-time TV critics, most of whom do not live near the entertainment capitals of Los Angeles and New York. The twice-yearly TCA press tour, then, represents an unparalleled opportunity to gain access to the people who make television. The reporting our members do at press tour creates story material year-round as well as valuable face-to-face contacts with network executives, producers and actors. As such, we limit membership in the TCA to those journalists who can be served by this primary.

CREDITS: (SOURCE: HARLAN BOLL, Artwork by Glen Hanson)

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-Richard Skipper

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