#end of november / majority of december was balls to the WALLS busy so i did not get to play this day of release | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

papermoonloveslucy · 3 years

Text

CHARITY REVUE

March 11, 1949

“Charity Revue” (aka “Red Cross Benefit Revue”) is episode #34 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on March 11, 1949 on the CBS radio network.

Synopsis ~ Mr. Atterbury asks George to work up a song and dance routine for the local Red Cross Charity Review. At the same time Liz’s women’s club recruits her to perform.

Note: This program was used as a basis for the “I Love Lucy” episode “The Benefit” (ILL S1;E13) filmed on November 30, 1951 and first aired on January 7, 1952.

“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George’s boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benaderet was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Cooper. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.

MAIN CAST

Lucille Ball (Liz Cooper) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father’s garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.

Gale Gordon (Rudolph Atterbury, George’s Boss) had worked with Lucille Ball on “The Wonder Show” on radio in 1938. One of the front-runners to play Fred Mertz on “I Love Lucy,” he eventually played Alvin Littlefield, owner of the Tropicana, during two episodes in 1952. After playing a Judge in an episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” in 1958, he would re-team with Lucy for all of her subsequent series’: as Theodore J. Mooney in ”The Lucy Show”; as Harrison Otis Carter in “Here’s Lucy”; and as Curtis McGibbon on “Life with Lucy.” Gordon died in 1995 at the age of 89.

This is Gordon’s first appearance as Rudolph Atterbury, a role previous played by Hans Conried.

Bea Benadaret does not appear in this episode.

Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz (above right), a member of the surprise investigating committee for the Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), as one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and also played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). She died in 1996 at the age of 96.

Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release.

GUEST CAST

Gloria Blondell (Miss Marilyn Williams) was born to theatrical parents in New York City in 1910. She is the younger sister of Joan Blondell, also an actress. On radio, she did 26 episodes of seven different series. Blondell saw most of her work in the 1940s as the voice of Disney’s ‘Daisy Duck’ for Disney, doing six short films as Donald’s girlfriend. Blondell’s only screen collaboration with Lucille Ball was in “The Anniversary Present” (ILL S2;E3) in 1952, playing the Ricardo’s upstairs neighbor Grace Foster.

Giving the character the first name of Marilyn is no doubt meant to remind listeners of up-and-coming sex symbol Marilyn Monroe.

Gerald Mohr (Gerald Mohr) played psychiatrist Henry Molin, who masquerades as Ricky’s old friend Chuck Stewart in “The Inferiority Complex” (ILL S2;E18 ~ February 2, 1953), his only appearance on "I Love Lucy”. In return, Lucy and Desi appeared on his show “Sunday Showcase” that same year. He also made an appearance on “The Lucy Show” in “Lucy and Phil Harris” (TLS S6;E20 ~ February 5, 1968).

Mohr uses his own name for this appearance.

EPISODE

ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers this morning, George is still upstairs getting dressed. Liz is in the kitchen, talking to Katie the Maid.”

Liz tells Katie that she’s excited for the upcoming Red Cross benefit. She is planning to do an act with George representing her club. The only detail is that she hasn’t told him about it yet!

The Red Cross is a humanitarian organization founded in 1863 to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering. American Red Cross posters were a favorite of the Desilu set decorators on “I Love Lucy”. They can be glimpsed in the subway during “Lucy and the Loving Cup” (ILL S6;E12), on the walls of the rented hall in “Ricky Has Labor Pains” (S2;E14), in the butcher shop in “The Freezer” (S1;E29), and on the Westport train station in “Lucy Misses the Mertzes” (S6;E17).

Liz goes into the dining room and sweet-talks George, covering him with kisses. He is immediately suspicious. Liz tells him that a woman in her club is doing an act with her husband for the Red Cross revue. George laughs and says the man will make a fool of himself - until Liz tells him that the man is him!

GEORGE: “You know if there’s one thing I hate more than that club of yours is amateur theatrics!”

Liz reminds him that he had the lead in his college musical and he was a big hit. She sings a few notes of “Boola Boola” to remind him.

"Boola Boola" is a football song of Yale University. The song was composed in 1900 and is generally attributed to Allan M. Hirsh, Yale Class of 1901. The song immediately caught on, soon being played by John Philip Sousa. It sold more sheet music in the first half of 1901 than any other song in the country, and became indelibly associated with Yale athletics. Is George a Yale man?

George is still reluctant, but Liz tries to convince him.

LIZ: “Jolson made a comeback. How about you?”

Al Jolson (1886-1950) was a Lithuanian-born singer, actor, and comedian. Unabashedly billed as the World’s Greatest Entertainer, Jolson was the most successful musical comedy star on Broadway in the 1910s and 1920s. He was also a major radio star and the most popular solo recording artist of the 1920s, his biggest hits being “Sonny Boy”, “April Showers,” and “Swanee.” He inaugurated sound motion pictures with The Jazz Singer (1927) and made a series of musical films. He enjoyed a spectacular career comeback in the years before his death, largely due to the film biographies The Jolson Story (1946) and Jolson Sings Again (1949). Jolson’s use of blackface, dating from his early years in minstrel shows, made him a controversial figure.

George refuses to give in.

At the bank, Mr. Atterbury calls George into his office. He tells George he should work up a song and dance routine with his wife to represent the bank in the Red Cross Revue. George says he can’t do it, but Mr. Atterbury threatens to demote him if he refuses. George admits defeat and reluctantly agrees.

Back at home, Liz hangs up the phone after telling her club the she won’t be doing the act after all. George comes home cheerfully singing “There’s No Business Like Show Business”.

“There’s No Business Like Show Business” is a song from Irving Berlin’s 1949 Broadway hit Annie Get Your Gun. It was introduced by Ethel Merman as Annie Oakley. In “Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined” (ILL S3;E11), Lucy Ricardo and the Mertzes burst into an rendition of the song as an impromptu audition for a Broadway producer. The song would also be quoted (not sung) by Lucy Ricardo in “Baby Pictures” (ILL S3;E5) and “Lucy Teaches Ethel Merman To Sing” (TLS S2;E18). Merman and the cast of “The Lucy Show” perform it in “Ethel Merman and the Boy Scout Show” (TLS S2;E19 ~ February 10, 1964).

GEORGE: “Hiya, Liz!” LIZ: “Hiya, Bing.” GEORGE: “How do the old pipes sound?” LIZ: “Like they could use a little Drano.”

Liz is referring to singer, actor and comedian Bing Crosby, one of the biggest media stars of the 1940s. On “I Love Lucy” a Hollywood-bound Ricky called Crosby a bum - but dressed like him all the same. In “Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana” (1957) Susie MacNamara tries to convince Lucy to become a Bing Crosby fan instead Rudy Vallee. Crosby’s name was mentioned on “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.” The Drackett Company first launched the Drano product in 1923. Its purpose was to clear clogged pipes (not the human sort). Drano was originally produced in crystallized form.

Liz is surprised that George has suddenly changed his ‘tune’ and now wants to do the Revue with Liz as the star. He even has a song picked out for them. He sits at the piano and begins to play and sing “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart”.

"Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" is a 1934 song with words and music by James F. Hanley. It was introduced in the Broadway revue Thumbs Up! The most notable recordings were made by Judy Garland, who recorded it numerous times, including in the 1938 film Listen, Darling in 1939. It later became a standard number in her concerts and TV shows.

Liz only has to sing one word “Zing!” After a few choruses, she stops the rehearsal, unhappy with her small part.

On television, the song was “Auf Wiedersehen, My Dear” with Lucy only allowed to sing the word “Auf”!

George agrees to find another opening song. They start to work on their comedy patter. While rehearsing the jokes, Liz realizes that George is telling all the jokes while she is the straight man not saying anything funny.

LIZ: “I’m Liz Cooper, not Harpo Marx!”

Harpo Marx (born Adolph Marx) was the second of five performing brothers. Harpo was so named because of his musical talent on the Harp, but he also never spoke in his comedy. In 1922, he and his brothers left vaudeville to perform on Broadway, and soon landed in Hollywood making movies together throughout the 1930s and 40s. Lucille Ball starred with the Marx Brothers in Room Service (1938) and Harpo famously guest-starred on “I Love Lucy” in 1955.

GEORGE: “What would Amos be without Andy? What would Lum be without Abner?”

Amos 'n' Andy is a radio and television sitcom set in Harlem. The original radio show, which ran from 1928 to 1960, was created, written and voiced by two white actors, Freeman Gosden (Amos) and Charles Correll (Andy). When the show moved to television, black actors took over the roles of Amos (Alvin Childress) and Andy (Spencer Williams). Lum and Abner was a radio comedy created by and starring Chester Lauck (as Abner Peabody) and Norris Goff (as Lum Edwards) that aired from 1931 to 1954. Modeled on life in a small town in Arkansas, the show proved immensely popular.

Liz says that since they are representing her club, she needs to have the larger role. George confesses that Mr. Atterbury wants him to represent the bank. Liz says the act is off. George says he find one of the girls at the bank to be his partner. Liz assumes the ‘girls’ at the bank are old fuddy duddies! Next day, Miss Marilyn Williams (Gloria Blondell) arrives to rehearse. Her fuddy isn’t duddy at all! Liz tells Miss Williams that George left on a trip to South America. Just then, George bounds in and says he only went to put the car in the garage.

LIZ: “I always get confused. Our car is a Reo.”

Liz is punning on the homophones Rio (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Reo (the make of automobile). Reo (sometimes seen REO) was founded by Ransom E. Olds in August 1904. Reo manufactured automobiles from 1905 to 1936, including the famous Reo Speed-Wagon, an ancestor of the pickup truck, which gave its name to the 1970s rock and roll group REO Speedwagon. Although World War II truck orders enabled it to make something of a comeback, the company remained unstable in the postwar era. In 1975, they filed for bankruptcy.

Miss Williams and George go into the den and close the door to rehearse while Liz and Katie listen on the landing just outside, peeking through the transom. They hear carefree laughter from the room. George and Miss Williams are rehearsing a love scene when Liz bursts in offering them a snack. Miss Williams says that Liz is acting jealous. Liz calls her an ‘older woman’.

MISS WILLIAMS: “You don’t have to get nasty with me, Liz Cooper. I’m not going to steal your son away.” LIZ: “My son! Listen here, you poor man’s Marjorie Main!” MISS WILLIAMS: “You start anything and I’ll black your eyes to match your hair!” LIZ: “My hair is red.” MISS WILLIAMS: “I’m talking about the roots!”

Marjorie Main (1890-1975) was then a 49 year-old character actress who earned a 1948 Oscar nomination for The Egg and I. In 1954 she was a supporting player in Lucy and Desi’s The Long, Long Trailer (1953).

Next day, Liz has invited over a handsome man (Gerald Mohr) to rehearse a ‘passionate love scene with her’. It turns out that George and Gerald were fraternity brothers! George decides to sit by and watch Liz and Gerald rehearse.

The scene is similar to Mohr’s appearance as a psychiatrist on “I Love Lucy,” where he flatters Lucy and inadvertently makes Ricky jealous as part of his ‘treatment’.

George tries to distract Gerald by asking about former fraternity brothers. George and Gerald think the love scene will get a million laughs, which makes Liz dissolve into tears.

The night of the Red Cross show, Liz tells Katie she’s going to be George’s partner no matter what! George is on right after Evelyn and Her Magic Kazoo. Liz tells Miss Williams that George wants to see her in his dressing room - then locks her in!

On an early episode of “I Love Lucy,” a jealous Lucy also locked her husband’s performance partner away - in a storage closet - so that she could take her place. Much later, an envious Lucy locked Tallulah Bankhead in a backstage bathroom so she could steal the spotlight during the Westport PTA show.

Liz tells George Miss Williams couldn’t make it and she will talk her place. They go onstage. The music connecting the jokes is "When You Wore a Tulip and I Wore a Big Red Rose".

"When You Wore a Tulip and I Wore a Big Red Rose" was written in 1914 by Jack Mahoney and Percy Wenrich. At the time of broadcast (1949) it had been heard in sixteen films, including the 1942 film For Me And My Gal starring Judy Garland and 1949′s Chicken Every Sunday starring William Frawley (Fred Mertz). On “My Favorite Husband” it will also be heard in “Liz Writes A Song” (January 27, 1950).

This time, however, Liz has stolen all of George’s punch lines!

GEORGE: “A tramp came up to me and said he hadn’t had a bite in days.” LIZ: “What’d you do? Bite him?”

GEORGE: “Did you hear about the big fire at the shoe factory?” LIZ: “I’ll bet some heal started it!” GEORGE (hushed to Liz): “You’re supposed to say ‘Who stated it’.” LIZ (loudly): “Two hundred souls were lost!”

George tries to outsmart Liz with a joke she’s never heard.

GEORGE: “I know a girl so dumb she thinks a football coach has four wheels!” LIZ: “How many wheels does it have?”

These are the same jokes that will be used in the television version “The Benefit” (ILL S1;E13) although the interlocutory music was changed to “We’ll Build A Bungalow”. The Arnazes loved the material so much that they started doing the "Songs and Witty Sayings" routine at various industry functions and charity events including the televised "Dinner with the President" event on November 25, 1953. The material was even part of the unreleased “I Love Lucy” movie.

End of Episode

0 notes

betterthan777 · 6 years

Text

>Fight.

The music was thrumming. The Animal Fights had happened, unsurprisingly lost by the fuckers who didn’t even deserve a chance to win their freedom. Your tigers had been hungry. At least they weren’t any more.

It felt strange to be here, behind the gate, in the lower chambers of the Arena and looking out into the pit. It kind of smelled down here, like burnt meat and sweat and death. It tickled your nose but you didn’t pay any mind to it. You were busy opening and balling your hands, bouncing on the balls of your feet, doing everything you could to psyche yourself up. You were nervous.

Why were you nervous?

“Ladies and Gentlemen! Tonight we have a very special show! Joining us from her twisted metal throne, all the way from the Bunker of Lady’s Manor, give it up for the One, the Only, Our Beloved Gambling Queen:

Spin!”

The gate in front of you seized for a moment before sucking up into the ceiling of its mechanism. Your blood runs cold and for a moment you consider backing up, but the roar of the crowd and the pulse of the music draws you out of the wings and into the center of the arena. When they saw you, they cheered louder; a cacophony of noise that would be deafening if you weren’t a couple of storeys beneath the bleachers. You walk out triumphantly already, hamming it up with your arms raised and a stupid grin gashed from ear to ear. You roll your wrists, encouraging more noise and they give it to you. You can see on the board already that people are buying weapons and items, there’s lights on the Queue but you can’t tell what they mean from here.

The announcer continues her duties, commentating the other Combatants who were ready to fight. The November Champion had lost his freedom due to a fucking stupid action of killing the guard who was releasing him. You’d be fighting him tonight, which you were stoked about. There was another fighter, one that had been out for a number of weeks because of a bad injury. They wanted to win so that they could qualify for freedom for December. You almost felt bad for them, but you weren’t going to let yourself feel any guilt. Wolves did not concern themselves with the safety of Sheep.

Much to your dismay, the announcer stops at two combatants. You frown.

Before the gates go up you wave and signal to the announcer to drop the mic. She pauses the release of the combatants and a single mic reels down into the center of the arena. You take the several steps towards it and take it in your hand.

“Now, this hardly seems fair,” You pause, earning a round of jeering and cheering. The Boo’s outweighed the hurrahs and it made your face flush with excitement. You pull the mic in towards your mouth again. “two against one? Those odds aren’t really even, now are they?” More boo’s, more cheers of people who knew what you were playing at. You pump up the crowd, mouthlessly asking ‘what?’ and putting your hand behind your ear. Under the blacklight of the arena, your Siren Markings glowed brighter than the UV paint on your face.

“I think we should level the playingfield a bit, don’t you baby?” You ask to the Announcer, a young woman named Joyce. She looks confused for a moment before leaning into her own microphone.

“What were you thinking, your Majesty?”

“Oh, I don’t know…….. Maybe two? Three more combatants? What do you say honey?”

The crowd went wild. It rung in your ears and it made you dizzy with the noise. You laugh into the microphone, chuckling at the energy pouring down at you. You let go of the microphone and it reels itself back up and disappears into the darkness beyond what you can see. The audience is throwing things into the arena now, nothing of any particular use but they’re bypassing the drop. Maybe you’d get lucky and someone would sacrifice one of their personal guns for you. Who knows!

You make your way to the side of the Arena, putting your back against the only wall without a gate on it. The announcer goads the audience, asking rhetorical questions to psyche them up. ‘Should we do it? Should we throw in more combatants? I really don’t think we should keep our Queen waiting. What do you say?’. It’s like music to your ears. The spaces under your fingernails itch and you want to dig them deep into someone’s eyeball, pop it, squish it, maybe even break through the bone behind it and fingerfuck their brain a little. Sounded like fun.

The uproar reaches its peak and you see 5 of the gates on the other end of the Arena open. It isn’t a moment before the Gladi8tors, 2 men, 2 women, and someone who didn’t cooperate when your guards asked what they were (not that it mattered, really), came pouring out in a tangled cloud of limbs and violence. You stay where you are, across the Arena from them, and under the drop point for the first item. A buzzer sounds, a green beam is shone into the arena surrounding you in spotlight. The first item drops and you can already taste Lady Luck’s lips on yours. It fills you with ecstasy.

From heaven drops an assault rifle, an expensive purchase. You grab it off the ground, check its clip, and ready it. 3 shots. You switch it to single-shot and raise it, taking aim. The first bullet pops off and buries itself in the November Champion’s shin. You think you hear the bone snap as he stumbles and goes down but you don’t have time to waste on observation. Pop. Pop. You take out two more legs, shifting your metal hand to grab the muzzle of the rifle. The leather of your glove singes from the heat but you follow-through and use the ass of the rifle to clock one of the girls in the jaw like a Major League Batter. She goes recoilling and hits the dirt, kicking up particulates that shimmer like glitter in the blacklight. One of the men manages to get in close enough to grab you, panicked hands on your shoulder gripping for angry life. You grip back, grabbing his arm with your left and twisting. The servos in your robotics whir and whine as you slowly torque his shoulder out of place. It cracks with a sickening pop and he screams so loudly that it almost deafens you. With your right hand, you punch him in the fucking face and let him drop.

All five combatants were in different places, writhing on the ground and groaning. You admire your handiwork and take a moment to pander to the crowd, stepping towards those who had been shot and raising your arms. You turned in a slow spin as you walked, looking up towards the rim of the Arena and soaking in your inevitable victory. The cheers turn sour. No. They turn into concern. Your brow twists and you look down, just in time for the November Champion to slug you in the head. Pain radiates up the back of your skull and you hit the ground, hard. There’s not even time to recover before he’s on you and he’s pinning, digging his knees into your ribs and stomach and just wailing on your head. You manage to get your arms up between the first and third punch, but he continues to pound and tries to knock your arms away.

After absorbing a dozen or so blows, you’re getting tired. He’s strong and he’s crushing your lungs. You claw at him with your right hand and all of your markings glow a bright and sickly purple-white. You snap a command at him:

“Kill someone else.”

He almost resists, another fist finding your jaw, but then he gets up. The wind rushes back into you and you roll, trying to get to your hands and knees and back to your feet before someone else comes for you. The Champion grabbed the face of the woman who was rushing in, slamming the back of her head into the dirt hard enough that her head deformed under the thick meat of his palm. He did this a few more times, even when it just became him pounding wet chunks into the dirt. Yeesh.

Another buzzer sounded, the spotlight appearing closer to the nobody than anyone else. They were on the ground, fervently trying to stop their leg from bleeding and crying to themselves, but when they saw the light they started scrambling towards it. The item dropped. You started rushing over, even though there was no way in hell you were getting there before they did. You almost make it but they make it first, grabbing up the gift and rolling onto their back. In their hands is a stungun, and they have it aimed square at you.

They squeeze the trigger and you manage to duck. You fold forwards and roll onto your shoulder towards them. You hear a shout of agony from behind you and the thud of a body convulsing on the ground from the voltage. You spare just a moment to look: the girl you’d batted in the face got the tazer pins directly to the forehead. You almost feel bad. In a continuation of your momentum you move over to the asshole with the stungun and climb on top of them. They struggle and tear at you with broken nails, pounding your legs as you straddle their stomach and trying to claw at your face. You’re good at avoiding their hands and knocking them away; you only get superficial scratches to the bits of skin that were exposed in the first place.

“Just… stay...still!” You mutter as you ride their bucking and attempts to knock you off. Your fingers wrap around their temples and you begin to press your thumbs into their eyes. The left one pops quicker, the metal spike of your thumb helping it along. It spurts at you with blood and fluids and the person in your hands starts screaming and gripping at your wrists. You hush them and keep the pressure on. The right one pops and you feel it squish and catch under your nail, splitting like an overripe and peeled grape. They’re flailing now, screaming like a maniac as you continue to squeeze and press, digging your nails into the sides and back of their head as you go. You’re just about through the bone behind their eyes when you’re grabbed and ripped off of them, your thumbs coming free with a wet pop.

You’re thrown back by the Champion, newly covered with blood that looked as dark as ink under the blacklight. He doesn’t spare a moment to put the fucker with no eyes out of their misery, he just comes at you with a glinting weapon in his hand: a machete. Your eyes widen. Oh shit.

He brings it down fast, almost knocking you in the head but you manage to roll out of the way just in time. It catches some of your hair and leaves it lying on the dirt and ground. You feel your pumper racing in your chest. Getting back up to your feet took long enough for him to draw back the machete and swing again. This time you catch it with your left hand, locking your metal digits around it to try and pull it from his roid-rage muscular hands. He pulls it, and you, with so much ease that you wonder if you even weigh anything.

He grabs you by the throat and, thankfully, you don’t panic. Even as he begins to lift up up above his head, you just curls your fingers around his hand and try to keep your neck from snapping until you get into a position where you can kick the living shit out of his face. You kick a good five times before you feel his front teeth cave and his nose snap, and he lets you go. You see stars as you hit the dirt, but you don’t let it stop you. As you move you wobble, but you manage to grab the machete’s blade and once again attempt to yank it free. This time he’s stunned-- it works.

You rip it out, grab the handle with your right hand, and bring it up in an arc. It glides like a hot knife through butter, cutting a gash several inches deep in his throat. He gurgles on his own blood and stumbles before falling back, arching and writhing as he presses at his gratuitously bleeding wound. You don’t have time to make sure he’s dead, you walk back over to the fucker with no eyes. They’ve scrambled backwards, leaving a dark trail behind them, and they’re pressed against the wall. You feel like a monster for a moment before you remember reading this piece of garbage’s profile. They’d murdered a woman and her child for their money, broken into your Casino, and killed the blackjack dealer when they lost it all. You bring your foot down on their chest and knock the air out of them so they can’t whimper or plead.

You bring the Machete up and use the full force of your left arm to bring it back down. It severs the twig of this ingrate’s arm just below the shoulder and embeds itself in the ground. They try to scream again and you kick it out of them, kneeling on their legs and grabbing their head once more. Their remaining hand pushes at your face but it’s not strong enough to hurt at all and it’s slick with blood so it can’t find a hold in the first place.

You jab your thumbs back into the shredded and pulpy sockets of their gunk-filled eyes and you go at it. The bone cracks and you feel your thumbs slip into the cavity behind it. Curling your thumbs and changing where you were gripping, you hook behind their sockets and yank upwards. Their sockets snap and they gurgle out shrill cries. You must’ve fucked up because they fall slack and you’re hit with a little bit of disappointment. You didn’t get to torment them as much as you wanted to. Brains were fickle.

Releasing your prey, you stand and examine the arena. The girl who had been electrocuted in the face was either dead or unconscious. The other man, the one who’d been shot, was just lying there subdued. If he weren’t also horrible, you’d consider letting him go. As it was you two were the only two left alive, so you sauntered over to him. He tried to scramble back when you approached but you reached forward and grabbed his hair, pulling him up into a sitting position. You rubbed the bottom of your nose with the back of your blood-covered hand, stopping the itch but smearing your face with viscera.

“Look. Get a good hit, right here,” You tap your cheek with your knuckles in a fake punch. “I’ll let you have it. A consolation prize. Just fucking slug me, alright?” He looks confused and hurt and angry, wincing at your metal digits twisting in his locks. He pulls back his arm to punch you and before it can connect you being his face down on your knee, letting him splay back. He sputtered and clutched the broken mass of bones helplessly, crying and sobbing like a little bitch. You straighten up, raise your arms to the cheering madness of the crowd, and walk over. With a roar you bring your boot down, crushing his windpipe and snapping his neck from the force.

The Round Buzzer sounds. Medical staff rush in from the gates to begin to gather the bodies. One of them tries to come to you but you wave them off. The Eridium was still healing you, you barely felt a thing.

“THAT’S IT! IT’S OVER! OUR QUEEN WINS! LET’S HAVE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR HER FEROCITY IN BATTLE, SHALL WE!?” Joyce screams over the mic system.

You don’t stay to gloat, or bow, or absorb the admiration. You just quietly make your way out the Gate you came in through, and when you’re out of sight you collapse. One of your medical staff rush up to you and get your arm around their neck and lead you off to the small med bay within the guts of the Arena.

--You don’t have any fight left in you to protest.

#}Happenings #}Dra88le #graphic violence//#violence//#death//#abuse//#eye trauma//#eye squick//#blood//#animal abuse//#[[Seriously if you're squeamish don't read. I toned it down a lot from its original draft but its still bad lmao]]

6 notes · View notes

papermoonloveslucy · 3 years

Text

LUCY BUSY WITH PLAY, TV, FAMILY

January 1, 1961

On the first day of 1961 the Associated Press (AP) published a story about Lucille Ball, and her transition from TV star in California, to Broadway star in New York City. In the below article - reprinted verbatim - footnotes have been added for historical perspective. This story appeared in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on New Year’s Day 1961, but may have been published elsewhere on other dates.

NEW YORK (AP) Television fans who believed the 3,000 miles and legal action now separating Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz meant a wind-up to the adventures of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo can in take heart.

Plans are in the works to film a semi-biographical "Lucy Goes to Broadway'' right after New Year's Day. (1)

The setting will be New York and all the "I Love Lucy" regulars are to be present and accounted for.

Meanwhile, Lucille Ball spent a sabbatical rehearsing for her first Broadway show, “Wildcat." (2)

Concurrently, Lucy was involved in exploitation plans for the movie, "The Facts of Life," which she recently made with Bob Hope (3); regular sessions with a voice coach; in making occasional guest appearances on television (4); in getting her family settled in a new East Side Manhattan apartment; and in getting the children settled in school.

HAPPILY OVERWORKED

"I'm over-working and I'm over-booked. I don't have time even to see friends," she said, looking slim, happy and healthy. "But I love to work and I love to try new things. It's good for me."

The comedienne, her two children and her mother have moved into a handsome apartment in a building so new that most of the lower floors still are uninhabitable and mechanics still are installing elevators. (5)

The apartment, done in light cool colors and the walls hung with colorful oil paintings every one done by friends of Lucy, is still in the process of being furnished.

A big terrace overlooks the city, and Lucy says the two children, Lucie, 9. and Desi, 7, like this best.

"Desi has been watching the fireman, and he's decided he'll be one," she said, gesturing toward the building where men were being hauled on ropes up and down the side of the building.

“And Lucie's going to be a nurse she's got a pair of binoculars and she knows every time one of the children in the hospital cries," she said pointing east to a children's hospital. (6)

Recently, Lucille collaborated with a professional writer on a magazine piece in which she explained the circumstances surrounding her divorce from Desi after almost 20 years of marriage.

She wrote the piece, she says, because she wanted to explain the situation once and for all. Now she will not go into the marital matter again, although references to Desi are casually and affectionately scattered through her conversation, and pictures of him are prominent in her bedroom, the living room, and of course in the children's rooms.

~FOOTNOTES~

(1) “Lucy Goes To Broadway” was a scripted TV special about Lucille Ball performing on Broadway. Although the script was written, it was never produced.

(2) The Philadelphia tryout of “Wildcat” opened on October 29, 1960. The scheduled Broadway opening had to be postponed when trucks hauling the sets and costumes to New York were stranded on the New Jersey Turnpike for several days by a major blizzard. After two previews, the show opened on December 16 at the Alvin Theatre. The cast included Paula Stewart and Swen Swenson, with Valerie Harper among the chorus members. Hampered by lukewarm reviews and Ball's lingering illness, it ran for only 171 performances, closing on June 3, 1961.

(3) “The Facts of Life” was a comedy from United Artists that opened on November 14, 1960, starring Lucille Ball and Bob Hope. It won an Academy Award for costume design and Lucille Ball was nominated for a Golden Globe.

(4) During Fall 1960 until the end of the year, Ball appeared on television on “The Garry Moore Show” (September 27), “Eleanor Roosevelt’s Diamond Jubilee Plus One” (October 7), and “The Jack Paar Tonight Show” (December 29). Coincidentally, on the same day this AP story was published (January 1, 1961) Lucille Ball appeared as a mystery guest on “What’s My Line?” Ball used a low, hushed voice to answer questions posed by blindfolded panelists. Faye Emerson correctly guesses Lucy’s identity by saying “Are you a red-headed wildcat?” Lucy says she’s lost twelve pounds doing the musical. She says how much she owes to “I Love Lucy.” Emerson reminds everyone that Lucy and Bob Hope have a new film coming out, The Facts of Life. Emerson suggests it could be up for an award.

(5) Lucille Ball’s Manhattan address was 150 East 69th Street, in the Imperial House, just a short distance from the fictional location of “I Love Lucy” 623 East 68th Street. The Imperial House is a white brick building designed by Emery Roth & Sons and built in 1960. It is situated on 69th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues with a large circular driveway leading to the covered entrance. The 30-story building has 378 apartments. Originally a rental building, it was converted to a cooperative in 1971. The building's lobby was designed by William Raiser of Raymond Loewy William Snaith.

(6) Needless to say, Desi Jr. and Lucie (above in 1961) both followed in their parents footsteps and went into show business. He did not pursue firefighting and she did not become a nurse.

#Lucille Ball #Wildcat #1961 #January 1 #Newspaper #AP #Lucie Arnaz #Desi Arnaz Jr.#Vivian Vance #The Facts of Life #Bob Hope #I Love Lucy #Lucy Goes To Broadway #TV #Imperial House

0 notes