#s3 e2 The Sign of Three
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Chair
This is it. It is John's wedding day. After tonight, things would change for good. Not that they ever were the same as soon as I came back after my fake death, but society says a wedding makes everything official.
I would never see him wake up and come down from the bedroom upstairs as I play my violin by the window. Never hear his voice around me in this house, never get to laugh at his whimsical typing habit. Never get to find an excuse to invade his personal space.
How would I? He no longer lives here, and he would never visit as often as he was able to when I was planning his wedding.
The thought is unbearable. I exhale and shake my head as I try to think of something else - though Mrs Hudson being here, sitting on John's chair out of all places, and rambling about her married life when no one even asked doesn't help.
"My best friend, Margaret – she was my chief bridesmaid."
I roll my eyes and put my cup and saucer on the side table.
"We were going to be best friends forever, we always said that; but I hardly saw her after that."
For God's sake, stop rubbing it in! "Aren’t there usually biscuits?" I ask instead.
"I’ve run out."
"Have the shops?" I stand up and glance at the door pointedly. Anything to be away from human contact in any way, shape, or form for a few minutes.
But she continues her sob story anyway. "She cried the whole day, saying, 'Ooh, it’s the end of an era.'"
"I’m sure the shop on the corner is open," I say with a tight smile.
"She was probably right, really."
I close my eyes and wish I could be invisible.
"I remember she left early. I mean, who leaves a wedding early?" She shakes her head. "So sad."
Probably she was in love with you like I am with John. Ever considered that? I obviously don't say it out loud.
Though I've always thought marrying the head of an incredibly famous cartel in America was a rather stupid thing to do on Mrs Hudson's part.
Not that it matters now.
"Anyway, you’ve got things to do." So much filtering I have to do for every damn human interaction. Would rather be alone.
No, that's not quite true: would rather be alone with John, but he doesn't want the same thing. Certainly not. Gotta distract my mind again.
"No, not really. I’ve got plenty of time to -"
"Biscuits," I cut her off. She finally gets up from that chair and walks to the door of the flat.
"I really am going to have a word with your mother."
"You can if you like. She understands very little." Positively nothing about my sentiments.
I close the door on her - John would've given me an earful if he were here (not again!) - and turn around. I let out a sigh and turn to look at the chair Mrs Hudson just emptied.
John's armchair. My John - at least in my mind.
Once upon a time, I'd had a feeling that there was a slight probability that he felt the same way. Clearly, I was proven wrong when I saw him with Mary that night.
Even more so when he continued to be engaged to her, after having forgiven me for faking my death - at least on the surface.
Perhaps it was a miscalculation on my part. He never felt the same and never will. He's in love with Mary.
I can do nothing but be civil with her and respect John's choice.
However, as I stare at John's chair in this flat, I feel as if a piece of John himself is still here with me.
I have to be at the wedding hall in an hour, being the best man of the wedding, so I force myself to not become one with that chair.
I turn around to make my way to my bedroom to get dressed.
Into Battle.
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Prompt Chair by @onesmallfamily
Tags: @helloliriels @topsyturvy-turtely @keirgreeneyes @lisbeth-kk @gaylilsherlock @lookingforlifeoutthere @peanitbear @a-victorian-girl @calaisreno @curlyjohnlock @missdeliadili @kettykika78 .
#johnlock#bbc sherlock#john watson#sherlock holmes#sherlock holmes/john watson#sherlock x john#sherlockian#sherlock headcanon#ficlet#new ficlet#30 days of sherlock september 2023#angst#pining sherlock holmes#canon compliant#s3 e2 The Sign of Three#pov: sherlock holmes#first person#present tense#fic writing
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Dr. Reed is here, but everyone’s already made comments on the transition to Medic so I’m going to scope out her design details instead.
And when I say “scope out”, I mean:
Reed, why does your briefcase need a telescopic sight?
Sure, there’s the image of a doctor visiting with a briefcase of equipment, but it’s meant to be, y’know, medical equipment. If you just want a telescope, you wouldn’t mount it to a travelling bag. The only option I can think of that justifies the scope is that the briefcase is a James Bond spy gadget that turns into a machine gun or rocket launcher at the press of a button. Which... Reed, didn’t you sign up as a Medic?
I highlight the three images not only to give you different angles on the briefcase, but also to show that it’s visible in both her artworks and her battle sprite. It seems reasonably important to the design, and correspondingly may be important to her story or her gameplay. Please wait warmly for her S3 info.
Anyway, some other details:
The clip on her forehead is now a 3-part design, rather than 2-part. The original event trailer showed young Reed wearing the 2-part clip, so she may have had that old one a while and associated it with her past.
Likewise, Harmonie wears the same coat Vanguard Reed does (albeit as a cape), suggesting it’s some kind of Dublinn uniform that Reed is also leaving behind.
Her spear is new as well, though both have a handle on the shaft (that I can’t find examples of among real spears).
Dr. Reed wears white flowers in several parts of her outfit, and her E2 art features both a field of white flowers and her flames blossoming in flower-shapes. In the myth told in the original trailer, (white) flowers were both the treasure collected by the young girl (and then demanded by the greedy dragon) and the natural bounty of Tara the dragons fought over. (I find there are too many possibilities to read deeply.)
There is one detail I think I missed from the myth trailer previously: the people of Tara are said to hope for the return of their Red Dragon. While both Reed and her sister are Dracos, the sister has purple-blue fire and scales, whereas Reed is orange-red. The obvious suggestion being that Dublinn’s Leader is not going to be the great saviour of the Taran people as they may hope.
I had also noticed that in the event graphic Reed was standing on a chessboard surrounded by black chessmen, pawns specifically. Just now I noticed that her Ambience Synthesia skin represents her as a black dragon on her chessboard. Black, the side that acts second, and so starts at a disadvantage, lacking momentum and control of the direction of the game.
Something to think about.
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I’ve never understood the Hannibal fandom craze around Abigail and Beverly. Like, sure, daughter-figure and best friend, on the surface. Will doesn’t really know Abigail, only the parts of her that she shows while trying to hide her own guilt, and then after that, only an idealized version of her. I’d argue Hannibal is closer to Abigail than Will, just by virtue of shared secrets and proximity! And then Beverly is a friendly colleague, but I’ve never been able to read anything more into that; Will acts around her the same way I act around colleagues that I can tolerate for work, but don’t really otherwise like. But fandom always seems to overemphasize the bonds between them and Will’s grief after their deaths, which we only actually see for one episode for Beverly and, what, three or four for Abigail? :| I’ve never understood the hype.
I agree, I think sometimes Will’s relationships with Abigail and Beverly are very overrated. An idea of a child and a colleague - this is how I would describe Abigail and Beverly respectively in terms of their relevance to Will.
Abigail
I agree with everything you’ve said: Hannibal was closer to Abigail than Will because he actually knew her and got to spend time with her. At first, Will doesn’t seem to see Abigail as any kind of daughter figure at all. It’s Hannibal who keeps cultivating this idea in his mind. Will is startled by it in E2, and he’s startled again in E4, when he’s talking about dogs as his family and Hannibal clarifies that he actually meant Abigail. This is clearly not something Will considered before.
Soon, with Hannibal’s encouragement, he eagerly accepts the idea and starts clinging to it. He’s lonely and he wants to have a family, something stable and relatively normal. At the same time, he refuses to see Abigail as an actual killer - he needs her to be innocent because he can’t tolerate the idea of being drawn exclusively to people with darkness. This alienates her, and she and Will end up not interacting for the biggest part of the season.
In S2, after losing her, Will idolizes her - he imagines closeness that he craved but which was never there. He wanted an Abigail like that - someone who might have been tainted but who remained largely innocent; someone he could protect and fish with; someone he could share his dark ideas, thoughts, and emotions with. Hannibal is the best option for the latter, but since Will saw him as a betrayer at that point, he clung to the image of Abigail even harder because she was the second best option. He hated the idea of contributing to her death, he couldn’t live with it. Seeing her alive in E13 meant that his mistakes were minimal, that things could still be fine, that the dream could become a reality. But it was too late again.
In S3, he uses her image to voice his feelings for Hannibal. Will always loved the idea of Abigail, not Abigail herself - he didn’t even know her. But losing a dream is also intolerable, especially when it happens twice and partly because of you, so Will mourns this possibility of connection that never happened.
Beverly
I often see comments that Beverly was like a sister to Will, and this always confuses me because they were friendly colleagues at best. It's a good head-canon that I enjoy in fics, but I don’t see any of it in the show.
In E5 of S1, Will tried to stand up for himself to Jack and Beverly criticized him for it because she wasn’t close enough to him to know his real situation. Friends would do what, ironically, Hannibal did - encourage Will to stand up for himself and try to get him to see how Jack treats him. Jack saw Will is not well, but considered him useful; Alana saw it, too, but trusted Hannibal to watch Will; Beverly didn't know Will enough to notice the major signs and distantly trusted him to get himself together and stop talking back to their boss. In E13, she concluded that Will should have never come to the FBI if he wasn't sure he was feeling like himself, which is completely valid but again, too cold and distant for a friend. She was upset during gathering-evidence process, but not heartbroken or anything, like Alana was, for example. She was mildly disturbed, which perfectly reflects the bond she had with Will.
In S2, she was ready to never see Will again if Jack said so; she had no patience for his possible excuses (which is too harsh for a friend since Will was actually ill). She recoiled from his touch when she was passing the documents; she came to him only because she needed his help with the case, and she agreed to investigate on his behalf for the same reason - Will blackmailed her. When she started to suspect that he might be right, she became more invested, but I never saw any friendship there, just the potential for it. She decided to visit Will to use him and she stayed for justice.
Will spends one episode being angry at Hannibal for Beverly’s death, and I think even then, it’s guilt and possessiveness speaking in him, not actual affection. The fact that Will never mentions Beverly again shows the extent of her importance to him. When he lists all things Hannibal did to him that he finds hurtful, he mentions Abigail - she is the focus of all their talks, Margot's baby, the fact that Hannibal supposedly alienated him from Alana and Jack, but that's it. No word about Beverly, not ever again. Will tried to get Hannibal killed after Beverly’s death, and in his eyes, that’s it. He considers the matter closed and not worthy of further discussions.
Beverly could be a great friend - she’d never let Will wallow in self-pity and self-denial, but they weren’t close, didn’t know each other well enough, and in the show in particular, I think Beverly was too good of a person to be friends with Will. She was firmly oriented toward justice and she’d be disgusted with Will’s constant longing for darkness.
There is a reason why Will is so stubbornly drawn to Hannibal: Hannibal is the only actual friend and family he’s ever had.
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“Marinette Lesson of the Episode” Review - S1 E2: The Bubbler
Essay-Worthy Review (TL;DR at the bottom)
So obviously the overarching lesson of the episode is that ‘you should always listen to adults even when their rules sound boring or unfair because ultimately they keep you safe’, and I could write a whole separate essay on that, but ultimately what we’re here for is Marinette’s lesson, which is partially used to explain that after a superpower is used the heroes have five minutes before they transform back and partially used to say ‘don’t put off your responsibilities. There’s not much to write about here, in all honesty, but I’ll see what I can do
First off, we see Ladybug use her Lucky Charm to stop Chloé and Adrien from slow dancing, which results in her having to leave the party to transform back and recharge. Tikki scolds Marinette for using her superpower out of ‘jealousy’. While I’m in full agreement that Marinette did let her personal feelings have a say in this one, I’d also like to point out just how uncomfortable Adrien looked; he was cringing and physically recoiling from Chloé trying to get away from her without being rude. Aligning with Marinette’s personal desires and not being directly related to the akuma are not Marinette using her powers for personal gain, which we know Tikki is adamantly against
Marinette counters this argument by saying it was an emergency, which isn’t exactly the best choice of words but certainly isn’t necessarily incorrect; she still protected Adrien from a clearly non-consentual kiss and I’m sure that was ringing alarm bells in his head to say the least. Tikki then takes the chance to inform the audience remind Marinette that she only has five minutes between using her power and transforming back. The dialogue is a little ham-fisted, but I can understand why; it needs to be clear for the young kids watching why they can’t just keep throwing power after power at the villains and why they’re suddenly worried about the time
And now to the second Marinette lesson of the episode, Alya encourages Marinette to come into the Agreste Manor so that she can sign her present to Adrien. Tikki reminds her that they need to deal with the Bubbler first, but Tikki is still eating at this point and there’s no reason why this shouldn’t take more than a second so what’s the problem? In fact, even when they’re inside and Marinette is just finishing writing up the note, Tikki then says that she’s ready to go, implying that Tikki finished her cookie at the same time Marinette finished with the note. Marinette then sent Alya outside so that she could transform inside, only to see Ivan had been bubbled,to which she exclaims “No! You were right, Tikki, I never should’ve waited this long!”
How long were you waiting? The three seconds it took for you to acknowledge Tikki and then send Alya out of the room? If Tikki herself only just finished eating, you couldn’t have transformed earlier even if you hadn’t gone to sort out a note
——— Rankings ———
Intended Lesson
Teach the viewers how the Miraculous function and what limitations they have, don’t use superpowers for selfish reasons, prioritise your responsibilities and don’t put off important things
Conveyed Lesson
Superpowers can only be used once and after that you’re on a timer before you transform back, prioritise responsibilities over personal desires
Appropriateness: ⭐️⭐️
Marinette is the type of person who generally does prioritise her responsibilities over her personal desires. Adrien can cause this to fluctuate a bit, but considering this is only the second episode, with the first and only other episode highlighting that Marinette often prioritises her responsibilities over her personal desires to a point of fault, this lesson is poorly-timed at best. In general, over the course of the show, this message can stand to be reminded gently to Marinette when it comes to Adrien in S1-S3, which is why it gets a bit of a higher ranking, but in general Marinette’s good at this and this lesson sort of counteracts the characterisation of the last episode
Execution: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The dialogue was slightly ham-fisted as I said but I’ll excuse that since it was meant for explaining plot mechanics to kids. Ladybug using her Lucky Charm to save an uncomfortable Adrien from Chloé and Tikki taking this to mean Marinette is using her powers for selfish purposes are both in-character and don’t feel forced. A safe ‘meh’ rating is the best I can give
Blame Distribution: ⭐️⭐️
Marinette was in trouble with Tikki for using her powers out of jealousy. Technically she isn’t wrong, though Marinette also had valid reasons outside of jealousy to act. They did allow Marinette to defend herself and her reasoning as well though, which I’m pleased with. But Marinette blaming herself for ‘waiting this long’ to transform was silly considering that she couldn’t have transformed any earlier regardless. Still, they brush over this quickly and mostly reduce it to a one-liner from Marinette herself, so it’s an easy one to overlook
Overall Ranking: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Meh. To be honest it didn’t really feel like there was a Marinette-centric lesson this episode. Which, don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about. There were enough overarching lessons as it was. I can’t really give this one anything other than three stars of ‘not bad, not good, just kinda happened’
#Marinette Lesson of the Episode#miraculous ladybug#adrien agreste#writing#chat noir#marinette dupain cheng#ml ladybug#ladybug#mlb#miraculous#the bubbler#episode review#review
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Ok so John hates his middle name. Why? It was his father's.
John had an abusive Father, & the fact that his middle name was his dads name, makes him despise it.
He didn't want Sherlock to even know it- Sherlock found out by stealing John's birth certificate.
When he said "John Hamish Watson" to Irene Adler & Sherlock, he was kind of passive aggressive. He didn't like the flirting going on, so he recommended a name he hated.
Idk I'm just speculating.
#dom og#dom's deductions#John's trauma#John hamish Watson#John's family#John's abuse#hamish Watson#John's father#Watson family#Sherlock bbc#bbc Sherlock#Sherlock tv#Sherlock series 1#Sherlock series 3#tsot#asib#the sign of three#a scandal in belgravia#Sherlock s2 e1#Sherlock s3 e2#johnlock#theory#John's name
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quality johnlock meme
#meme#lizzo#fandom#johnlock#sherlock#bbc sherlock#bbc#benedict cumberbatch#martin freeman#s3 e2#sign of three#221b#baker street#edit#fan edit#original meme#i am sherlocked
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Allen X’s Favorite Operator Lore
Good news, I beat 7-16. Turns out I just needed to use FEater’s S2 to punch the Heralds into Blaze and everything was smooth sailings... really gotta’ remember that Specialist are more handy than they look in the right situation.
Now it’s 7-18 that can just get fucked. This is probably the most teeth-grindingly annoying boss stage I’ve fought since a few runs of Nioh 2. Seriously, this second phase is just ludicrous. Patriot can one shot any ranged operator with his spear toss and can attacks ranged operators if he’s adjacent to their tile.
“AmIyA cAn TaNk PaTrIoT’s SpEaR tOsS aLlEn”
Fuck you. My Amiya is E2 level 60 and no she fucking can’t.
And trying to space out Operators is near impossible with not only the Altar there in middle, along with mortars bombarding everything if you clump together. You can place a healing defending to lighten the burden, but the jetpack guerillas just annihilate everything with they’re increased attack anyway.... geez man, this stage is hell.
Anyway, while I’m... cooling off from all that, I wanted to talk more about some of my favorite Arknights characters from a lore perspective. Wihle last time I discussed my favorites/highlights from a gameplay perspective, this time I’ll just be going over some characters I like from a lore perspective. Now, I’m not super deep into lore as some other folks, but I do like reading into it to have a better idea of the characters and learn some fun and interesting facts about them.
I’ll also keep this to operators that aren’t often talked about too often like in my last post too, along with Operators I specifically own. So no Ifrit and Rhine Lab lore, no Silverash, no Lappland or any of the popular operators with interesting lore that people have already talked about.
Something I find hilarious about Dur-nar is that Rhodes Island treats her snack ring like some kind of drug trade. There are secret passwords, go-betweens, middlemen, and so many hoops to jump through just for a piece a candy at Rhodes Island. Children of Ursus showed that there are some huge leaps and bounds you have to go through just to get a treat. What’s even more funny is that this strict restriction on snacks is due to Hibiscus and Dobermann hatred of sweets and unhealthy foods.
I think Greythroat’s got some of the most interesting lore, namely her personality. Despite working for Rhodes Island and being involved with the company long before she became an operator she actually has a very negative stigma toward the Infected, borderline hatred and discrimination in fact. This is due to her parents, Oripathy researchers, dying due to what I believe is hinted at to be an Infected riot and the event traumatized her. Despite this, she still works for Rhodes Island and even shows slow signs of moving past her stigma after working on a few missions with Amiya, becoming a go-to operator in her group. I think this line in her archives hit my the hardest:
Very few people know about what exactly transpired on that mission, with Amiya and GreyThroat both seldom mentioning it. What is certain, is that GreyThroat is no longer blinded by a myopic hatred. However, is her heart actually free from the shackles of hate? It is not that simple. People who seem to easily let go of a deep-rooted hatred are not trustworthy.
That last sentence is what made me pause a little just from how true it is. Anyone that can easily throw away their hatred and beliefs aren’t folks worth keeping around, as they were either faking it or easily give into pressure. But... people that change slowly, that can at least show signs of moving past their stigmas... these people are those that can make true change, if slowly. It’s things like this that make me really curious about the writing staff, the kinds of people and experiences they have when writing a world like this.
Sorry, that got a little deep, let’s go back to the fun stuff.
Utage I find interesting just for the fact that she’s an ordinary Japanese Higashinse exchange student that can just... fight like an absolute demon. Most of her archives pin her as this fashionable gal that loves shopping and keeping everyone up on the latest trends and then a throwaway sentence about her being a complete monster when on the battlefield that makes most other operators terrified of her. I just find the dichotomy hilarious.
Franka is a devious prankster troll that’s in charge of training the three-stars in swordsmanship. I find this hilarious, more over that shy little Melantha confirms that Franka is a good teacher despite her teasing nature. And need I remind you, Franka’s files state that she hazes the people she teaches. In what way we can’t say, I’d assume light teasing and a rather serious sparring session with her dagger, but... no real data or evidence of that is explained.
Of course... whether Melantha is being honest in her appraisal of Franka or is just too polite and kind to rat her out is another matter entirely, but it’s confirmed that she at least does give them apt training after the teasing is done. I’ve said it a few time before, but I really want a Black Steel event.
Anyway, I’ve said my piece, Amiya’s S3 is now at M2 and it’s time to give Patriot another shot. Wish me luck... I’ll need it.
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SCREEN DIRECTOR’S PLAYHOUSE: MISS GRANT TAKES RICHMOND
May 19, 1950
Screen Directors Playhouse was a radio anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949. The radio program broadcast adaptations of films, and original directors of the films were sometimes involved, although their participation was usually limited to introducing the radio adaptations, and a brief “curtain call” with the cast and host at the end of the program. The series later had a brief run on television.
The radio version ran for 122 episodes and aired on NBC from January 9, 1949 to September 28, 1951 under several different titles: NBC Theater, Screen Director’s Guild Assignment, Screen Director’s Assignment and, as of July 1, 1949, Screen Director’s Playhouse.
This radio adaptation of “Miss Grant Takes Richmond” stars Lucille Ball in her original film role of Ellen Grant. It was directed by Bill Cairn, produced by Howard Wiley. Composer and conductor was Robert Armbruster. The script was adapted by Richard Allen Simmons. It aired on NBC radio on May 19, 1950. On February 22, 1951, "The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie with William Holden reprising his film role.
Miss Grant Takes Richmond is a 1949 comedy film starring Lucille Ball and William Holden, directed by Lloyd Bacon and released by Columbia Pictures. It was released under the title Innocence is Bliss in the UK. Rita Hayworth was going to star in the movie, but Hayworth requested script revisions, and went on suspension to avoid making it.
Synopsis ~ An inept secretary goes to work for a bogus real estate firm thinking it's for real.
Note: The title is a pun on the historical fact that General Ulysses S. Grant ‘took back’ the city of Richmond, Virginia, from the Confederacy, who used it as their capital during the Civil War (April 1865).
CAST
Lucille Ball (Ellen Grant) previously appeared on Screen Directors Playhouse in “Her Husband’s Affairs” (May 22, 1949), a film she had also appeared in on screen. She will return for “A Foreign Affair” (March 1, 1951) in the role originated by Jean Arthur, and “Bachelor Mother” (March 8, 1951), taking the role originated by her friend Ginger Rogers. Miss Grant (1949) was Ball’s 72nd motion picture.
Lucille Ball repeats her film role of Ellen Grant.
Steve Dunne (Dick Richmond) replaced Howard Duff as the voice of the famous private eye in "The Adventures of Sam Spade," the 1946-1951 radio series.
Dunne was in the film version, but he played the minor role of Ralph Winton.
Arthur Q. Bryan (Judge Ben Grant, Ellen’s Uncle) had appeared with Lucille Ball in Look Who’s Laughing (1941). He is best remembered as the original voice of Elmer Fudd in the Warner Brothers cartoons. He played Mr. Chambers, new owner of the Tropicana in “Ricky Loses His Voice” (ILL S2;E9) in 1952.
On screen, the role was played by George Cleveland.
Frank Nelson (Mr. Woodruff) was born on May 6, 1911 (three months before Lucille Ball) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He started working as a radio announcer at the age of 15. He later appeared on such popular radio shows as “The Great Gildersleeve,” “Burns and Allen,” “Fibber McGee & Molly”. and a dozen episodes of Lucille Ball’s “My Favorite Husband.” On “I Love Lucy” he holds the distinction of being the only actor to play two recurring roles: Freddie Fillmore and Ralph Ramsey, as well as six one-off characters, including the frazzled train conductor in “The Great Train Robbery” (ILL S5;E5), a character he repeated on “The Lucy Show.” Aside from Lucille Ball, Nelson is perhaps most associated with Jack Benny and was a fifteen-year regular on his radio and television programs, often playing store clerks like this one.
On screen, the role was played by Charles Lane, one of the few character actors that appeared as frequently as Nelson with Lucille Ball.
Herb Vigran (Mr. Kilcoyne) occasionally turned up on Lucille Ball’s radio show, “My Favorite Husband” (1948-50) in various roles. He appeared on “I Love Lucy” as Jule, Ricky’s music agent, in “The Saxophone” (ILL S2;E2) and “The Anniversary Present” (ILL S2;E3). He also played Mrs. Trumbull’s nephew Joe in “Never Do Business With Friends” (ILL S2;E31) and Al Sparks in “Lucy is Envious” (ILL S3;E23). He went on to appear on select episodes of “The Lucy Show” and Here’s Lucy.”
On screen, the role was played by Frank McHugh.
Jean Bates (Peggy Donato) was a model before becoming an actress, doing radio, TV and film. She worked from 1943 to 2001.
Norman Field was one of at least six actors to play Judge Hunter on the NBC-Radio soap, “One Man's Family” (1932-50). He played Charlie's school principal on “The Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show” (1939-56), Josh Chandler on “Dear John” (1940-44), Uncle George on “Meet Corliss Archer”, Inspector Danton on “Mystery Is My Hobby” (1947-49), and Judge Babson on “The Amazing Mr. Tutt” (1948).
Jimmy Wallington (Announcer)
Lloyd Bacon (Original Film Director Guest) was also a guest when three of his films were featured on “Screen Director’s Playhouse”: “You Were Meant For Me” (March 3, 1949), “Don’t Trust Your Husband” (September 23, 1949), and “It Happens Every Spring” (April 14, 1950).
EPISODE
From a busy typing pool headed by Mr. Woodruff (Frank Nelson), real estate employer Dick Richmond picks the inept Ellen Grant (Lucille Ball). He takes her back to the office and introduces her to Mr. Kilcoyne (Herb Vigran). Dick confides in Mr. Kilcoyne that he deliberately picked Miss Grant because she looks good but is pretty dim - the perfect cover for their bookie operation! Kilcoyne dictates to Ellen about some low cost housing. She tells him that no one can ever dictate too fast for her. If she misses a word, she just puts in a ‘doofer’ - something that’ll ‘do for’ now.
Ellen calls her Uncle Ben, a judge, to tell him about her new job. While she’s on the phone Peggy Donato barges in to see Dick. In the conference room, it is clear Peggy and Dick are in a relationship. Peggy is immediately suspicious of the new secretary. She is unhappy when she is rebuffed by Dick. Before leaving, she tells Ellen to give a message to Dick: Five thousand on the Flywell property at Belmont. Dick comes out of the conference room and tells Ellen that the low-cost housing project is off.
Ellen comes into the office with her Uncle Ben. She has arranged it so that Dick can buy the low-cost housing at a discount price. Judge Ben has even brought the papers. With no way out - Dick and Mr. Kilcoyne sign and the judge leaves. She suddenly remembers the message Peggy left for him. Alarmed, they check the papers and realize they owe Peggy fifty grand!
In the conference room, Dick and Mr. Kilcoyne conspire to make Ellen quit before they go bankrupt. To put the plan in action, Dick kisses Ellen. Indignant at his liberty, she promptly quits. She no sooner returns and says that she will stay on to see through the low-cost housing project - but no further hanky panky will be tolerated! The two men adjourn to the conference room!
End of Act One
A live commercial is for RCA television sets. The pitch involves getting a set that fits the consumer’s home.
In the second part, Ellen still doesn’t realize her employers are NOT in the real estate business. Dick has a plan to go ahead and build the houses - and skim the profits off the top to pay their debt to Peggy. Knowing her mental acumen is not great, Dick pitches a promotion to Ellen - heading up the housing project.
As boss, Ellen starts making silly decisions that frustrate her contractors. Ellen is getting frustrated when the project starts to fall apart - physically and financially. The project grinds to a halt.
Dick makes the ultimate sacrifice, he humbles himself to Peggy and take her back - personally and professionally. It isn’t long before the scheme works and the company is flush again. The conference room phone rings and it is someone looking to bet on a horse. She realizes she has been conned. Dick returns and Ellen quits, humiliated at being duped. Kilcoyne takes her aside and tells Ellen that Dick cares for her and is looking to go straight - but can’t get out of his relationship with Peggy.
Ellen bursts in on Peggy and Dick - gun pointed at her. She tells Peggy that she is mother of Dick’s children - and fires a warning shot. Peggy quickly gives him up and Dick and Ellen leave together.
In the car, Dick and Ellen. She makes it clear that she’s in charge from now on. Miss Grant just took Richmond!
End of Act Two
Lucille Ball and Jimmy Wallington do an RCA Victor commercial. She says she milks the cows at Chatsworth listening to her RCA record collection.
Lucille introduces the evening’s director Lloyd Bacon. Bacon says he started in movies 1915. Ball extolls his talents in directing. They bid the audience good night.
Wallington returns to say that next week will feature “Flamingo Road” starring Joan Crawford recreating her original role.
CREDITS
Thanks to Columbia Pictures, currently represented by No Sad Songs for Me
Lucille Ball can be heard on her own radio show and soon in the film The Fuller Brush Girl
Lloyd Bacon appears courtesy of 20th Century Fox, producers of Ticket To Tomahawk
#Lucille Ball#Miss Grant Takes Richmond#Lloyd Bacon#Screen Directors' Playhouse#Radio#Steve Dunne#Herb Vigran#Frank Nelson#Arthur Q. Bryan#Jimmy Wallington#Jean Bates#Norman Field#RCA#RCA Victor
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The Sopranos’ Funniest Moments
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The Sopranos’ genius was in telling structured stories with well-established themes, while still aping life in all its dirty, disorganised, contradictory, open-ended glory. The show wasn’t a drama, or a comedy, or a tragedy, or a farce. It was all of them. It was none of them. It was life.
Creator David Chase and his crack team of writers never lost sight of the essential truth that no matter how cruel, harrowing or horrid life becomes, it’s always laced through with laughs: oftentimes the laughter and the horror rise in tandem.
Here, then, are some of The Sopranos’ funniest moments, most of them enmeshed with the macabre, the monstrous and the melancholy.
South of the Border
S1, E9 ‘Boca’
In the machismo-drenched world of the mafia, even going down on your girlfriend is seen as a sign of sexual weakness, and quite possibly – in the non-PC words of Uncle Junior himself – ‘a sign that you’re a fanouk.’
Apparently, ‘they’ think ‘if you’ll suck p***y, you’ll suck anything.’
Whoever ‘they’ are.
News of Uncle Junior’s oral talents reaches Tony from a gossip chain, the final link in which is Carmella. Tony’s reaction, and the way in which he baits Uncle Junior with the intel on the golf course (culminating in Tony singing ‘South of the Border, down Mexico way’) is equal parts childish to hilarious – but funniest of all is how this schoolboy teasing serves as the pre-cursor to a Mafia war.
As Tony later tells Carmella: ‘Cunnilingus and psychiatry brought us to this.’
Guess Whose Back?
S1, E10 ‘A Hit is a Hit’
Christopher sets Adrianna up in a recording studio to help realise her dream of becoming a music mogul. Things don’t go well. Her new band – the woeful Visiting Day – is ready to walk after a long and soul-sapping session during which they’ve produced nothing of worth. Christopher wastes no time taking up the mantle of manager to convince them that the show must go on. It’s fair to say that being motivational doesn’t come naturally to Christopher. Or, rather, it does, it’s just that his methods of motivation are rather more violent than most. First, Christopher throws the ex-addict lead singer a bag of crystal meth and orders him to take it. When that doesn’t work, he takes the only reasonable course of action left open to him and smashes a guitar over the man’s back.
There’s No Place Like Home
S2,E4 ‘Commendatori’
Paulie is incredibly excited to be visiting the motherland, and arrives full of romantic notions about Italy. All of these are systematically stamped out, mostly by Paulie himself, of whom an Italian gangster remarks at dinner, after Paulie requests tomato ketchup for his spaghetti: ‘And you thought the Germans were classless pieces of shit.’
Paulie’s beatific little smile as he drinks in the squalor of New Jersey on the ride home from the airport is pitch perfect.
It’s the Jaaaccckkeett!
S2,E8 ‘Full Leather Jacket’
From the moment Richie Aprile is released from prison he’s on a collision course with Tony. In classic Sopranos’ style, though, the torch paper isn’t lit by Richie shacking up with Tony’s sister, or paralysing their mutual friend Beansie, but by the fall-out from a spurned jacket. Not just any jacket, though: ‘the’ jacket; the one Richie took off Rocco di Meo after an adolescent scrap.
‘Cocksucker had the toughest reputation in Essex County, but he never came back after I got through with him,’ Richie tells Tony, as he gifts him the infamous garment.
‘He later died of Alzheimer’s,’ adds Junior.
The look on Tony’s face as he tries to look grateful for ‘the jacket’ is almost as funny as the look Richie later wears in Carmella’s kitchen when he notices the sainted jacket hanging from the shoulders of the maid’s husband.
I Ain’t Afraid of No Ghost
S2, E9 ‘From Where to Eternity’
When Christopher briefly dies on the operating table after an assassination attempt, he returns from the brink of death with visions and dispatches from the afterlife. Paulie takes these reports to heart, divining in them a supernatural threat. Not only does Christopher tell Paulie that the souls of his many victims still follow him everywhere he goes, he also brings back an oblique warning: ‘Three o’clock’.
This cryptic curse has Paulie slamming bolt upright in his bed each night with a scream on his lips. First he visits Tony, who tries to lead Paulie back to sanity.
‘You eat steak?’ Tony asks.
‘What the fuck you talkin’ about?’
‘If you were in India, you would go to hell for that.’
‘I’m not in India,’ says Paulie. ‘What do I give a fuck?’
‘That’s what I’m trying to tell you. None of this shit means a goddamn thing.’
Unconvinced, Paulie visits a spiritualist psychic, who ‘confirms’ that Paulie is being stalked by ghosts. ‘That’s satanic black magic!’ rails a terrified Paulie, ‘Sick shit’, before hurling a chair at the ‘ghosts’ and screaming ‘Fuckin’ qu***s!’ at them. Finally, he visits his priest to tell him he’s cutting off his donations to the church on the grounds that he should’ve been protected from hauntings. I defy you not to chuckle at the baleful glare Paulie gives the Virgin Mary on his way out of the church.
A Very Un-woke Wake
S3, E2 ‘Proshai , Livushka’
Livia Soprano – Tony’s murderously manipulative mother – proved just as divisive in death as she was in life, her demise precipitating a wake that was as awkward and corrosive for the characters experiencing it as it was rich and funny for us schmucks at home.
Tony never wanted any of Janice’s ‘California Bullshit’ at the gathering he and Carmella hosted at their home (or ‘that house, up on that hill’, as Livia would have called it). Janice being Janice, though, vetoes her brother’s ruling. She asks each of the assembled guests to share a thought, a memory of their mother, which – given that Livia was a sharp-tongued, anti-social harridan – doesn’t produce heart-warming results. No wonder the unknown man descending the stairs in the background behind them all decides to about-turn and get the hell out of there.
‘She never minced words,’ says Hesch, trying his hardest to accentuate the positive, ‘Between… brain and mouth… there was no interlocutor.’
Read more
Movies
The Sopranos: saluting the greatest TV drama ever made
By Jamie Andrew
TV
The Sopranos: Explaining the Final Scene
By Jamie Andrew
Christopher’s rambling, drug-fuelled, ad lib on the nature of existence, rebirth and doppelgangers is a treat, the sort of new-age snash David Brent might have conjured up while fully sober. The silence doesn’t last for long, though, not least because Carmella has spent the duration of the tense memorial knocking back booze like a cooze-hound on Spring Break, and is ready to unleash hell.
Merry Stressmas
S3, E10 ‘…To Save Us All from Satan’s Power’
In the absence of Big Pussy Bonpensiero – taken on a long boat-ride to oblivion – the amply proportioned Bobby Baccala is the natural choice to become the new Satriales’ Santa. Except he doesn’t want to do it. He’s too shy.
‘The fucking boss of this family told you you’re gonna be Santa Claus,’ Paulie tells Bobby menacingly. ‘You’re Santa Claus. So shut the fuck up about it!’
The surly and reluctant Bobby proves a lacklustre substitute, an observation that’s articulated perfectly by Paulie when he says, ‘Fuckin’ ho hum if you ask me.’
It’s not just Bobby’s mafia colleagues that like to drop the F-bomb at Xmas. Even a little boy, unimpressed by Bobby’s schtick, issues a heart-felt: ‘Fuck you, Santa.’
God bless us. Every one.
Two Assholes Lost in the Woods
S3, E11 ‘Pine Barrens’
The Pine Barrens was the episode that cleaved most closely to all-out comedy, pitting hot-headed anti-survivalists Christopher and Paulie against a runaway Russian they’d failed to kill. The darkly comic shit-show unfolded in the unforgiving, snow-filled foliage of the eponymous Pine Barrens, where Tony and Bobby were eventually summoned to rescue the hapless pair.
It’s hard to pick a comedy highlight from this episode, as it’s chock-full of them, but highlights include Tony losing it at the sight of Bobby Baccala’s hunting attire (if James Gandolfini’s laughter seems particularly genuine here, try googling some behind-the-scenes facts – you won’t be disappointed); Chris and Paulie noshing down on sauce sachets like they were a gourmet meal, and the following misunderstanding between Paulie, Chris and Tony thanks to poor mobile reception:
Tony: (garbled, on phone) It’s a bad connection, so I’m gonna talk fast. The guy you’re looking for is an ex-commando! He killed sixteen Chechen rebels single-handed.
Paulie: Get the fuck outta here.
Tony: Yeah, nice, huh? He was with the Interior Ministry. Guy’s some kind of Russian green beret. This guy cannot come back to tell this story. You understand?
[line breaks]
Paulie: (to Christopher) You’re not gonna believe this. He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. The guy was an interior decorator.
Chris: His house looked like shit.
You Talkin’ To Me?
S4, E6 ‘Everybody Hurts’
Artie Bucco, Tony’s boyhood best pal, is a regular, hard-working chef. Even so, he’s frequently seduced by the luxurious criminal lifestyle he sees lapping around the fringes of his wonder-bread world. When a business deal to promote ‘the new French vodka’ goes awry and Artie finds himself $50k out of pocket to a swindling huckster he decides to channel his inner Mafioso and get his money back the Soprano way. Unfortunately, his inner Mafioso is no more ferocious than that possessed by any average member of the show’s audience – as much as proximity to Tony might convince us otherwise – and he gets the crap kicked out of him. Before that, though, his little Taxi Driver moment in the mirror, complete with mid-life crisis ear-ring and mobster posturing (‘Fucking shoes you’re wearing. What are they? Designer?’) is at once endearing, pathetic and very, very funny.
The mirror is no accident. He’s looking at us, looking at him, looking at ourselves.
Telephone Tough Guy
S4, E9 ‘Whoever Did This’
While Ralph Cifaretto is probably most widely remembered as a sort-of gangster Loki – a mirth-wracked trickster with a penchant for mayhem – most of his misdeeds were so loathsome that even the wider mafia disapproved: cheating on his grieving partner, beating a young pregnant girl to death, burning a horse alive (come on, of course that was him). Still, he did make us laugh, though, didn’t he?
No more so than when he pranked Paulie’s dopey-yet-adorable old mother in her nursing home (‘It’s a retirement community!’), announcing himself as Detective Mike Hunt, Beaver Falls, from the Pennsylvania police department. Not only did Ralph claim that Paulie had been caught pleasuring a cub scout in a public bathroom, but also that a small rodent had been discovered in Paulie’s rectal passage. ‘A gerbil, ma’am’.
Ralph laughed his head off.
Tony later removed it.
A Truth Injection
S4, E10 ‘The Strong, Silent Type’
Drug interventions are worthy and solemn rituals – they certainly aren’t supposed to be funny – but there’s something delicious about a room full of self-involved sociopaths with no impulse control and an insatiable appetite for pleasure assembling to pass judgement on Christopher essentially for having no impulse control and an insatiable appetite for pleasure. Christopher is at least self-aware enough to lobby this back in the faces of his supposed rescuers, pointing out that Silvio likes to sample his sex-workers; that Paulie’s hot-head almost dragged the Newark family into war with the Russian mob, and that Tony’s epicurean compulsions will probably kill him more quickly than Christopher’s drugs.
From the moment a bewildered Christopher emerges from his bedroom to find both families – blood and work – camped out in his living room, the laughs just keep coming, all the way through to the (inevitable) explosion of violence at the scene’s climax.
Christopher instantly recognises the host of the intervention, Dominic Paladino, as ‘the guy who broke into Stew Leonards that time and stole all those pork loins.’
‘Yes,’ replies a sheepish Dominic. ‘But… that’s not why I’m here today.’
Especial mirth-based mentions must go to Silvio and Paulie (the latter’s reaction to Christopher’s narcotic-related manhood problems is priceless), and their refusal to play along with the ‘care-frontation’.
‘When I came to open up one morning, there you were with your head half in the toilet. Your hair was in the toilet water. Disgusting,’ says Silvio, reading awkwardly from what is possibly the most unnecessary aide de memoire ever written.
Leave it to Paulie to lay the smackdown on this particular brand of ‘California bullshit’: ‘I don’t write nothing down,’ he says, ‘so I’ll keep this short and sweet. You’re weak. You’re out of control. And you’re becoming an embarrassment to yourself and everybody else.’
Drugs are bad. Mmmkay?
Dead Good Food
S5, E7 ‘In Camelot’
When Junior realises he can get respite from his house arrest through attending family funerals he starts to exaggerate and exploit ever more spurious links to get him out of the house for a few hours. While all around him are wracked with grief, his is the only face with a smile on it, enjoying the change of scenery, enjoying the food, wondering why everyone has to be so maudlin.
In a darkly funny scene he happily extols the virtues of the spread while attending the wake of a teenage boy. ‘Chicken’s nice and spicy, huh?’ he beams at a fellow mourner.
A Grave Error
S5, E9 ‘Unidentified Black Males’
When Tony agrees to pick up the tab for the headstone of a New York soldier who was slain, unbeknownst to him, by his own cousin, his men manage to add insult to injury.
We see the headstone. At the graveside. During the funeral service. And it says:
Peeps.
‘Peeps?’ spits Tony. ‘It’s a fuckin’ nickname! His family name is Pepperelli!’
Silvio hunkers down into full middle-management mode. ‘They’re gonna re-do it. Fuckin’ J.C. He’s dyslexic.’
‘What’s that got to do with it?’ asks an incredulous Tony.
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You could fill a book with The Sopranos’ funniest moments – Paulie’s rant about shoelaces, Bobby B botching a publicity shooting, Silvio’s poker-table tantrum, Little Carmine’s malapropisms, to name but a handful – so by necessity we’ve had to leave a lot out. What are some of yours?
The post The Sopranos’ Funniest Moments appeared first on Den of Geek.
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Minimo Comun Multiple, San Luis
Minimo Comun Multiple, San Luis Building Project, Argentinian Interior Architecture, Room, Photography
Minimo Comun Multiple in San Luis
20 Jan, 2022
Design: ESTUDIO BNAA
Location: San Luis, Argentina
Can a space be one and many at the same time? this is the question estudio BNAA asked when designing this flexible commercial space in San Luis, Argentina. the project is called Minimo Comun Multiple (MCM) and it makes reference to a mathematics theory of the same name. in this case, a 15 sqm room of common minimum surfaces can be adapted to multiple spaces.
Minimo Comun Multiple
The project focuses on three objectives. the first goal was to show how a small area can have a variety of uses, offering greater flexibility and transformability. for example, MCM can be used as a workplace, a clothing store, a place to teach, a photography studio, an art gallery, or a micro cinema.
The second aim responds to the client’s brief to provide a space for entrepreneurs and small businesses, many of which have arisen during the COVID-19 pandemic. with this in mind, MCM is planned as a comfortable and convenient place people could rent by the day, rather than monthly, to show their work.
The third goal was to use magnets as a construction system. the client already had metal sheets of 1 x 2 meters that were reused to cover the entire interior. a 5cm thick magnetic strip was then added around the room to hang curtain partitions, shelves and other items.
As well as the three main objectives, a key aspect of estudio BNAA’s design was to stop thinking of spaces in sqm, and start thinking of space as a unit of volume in mc. ‘this is how the challenge originated, having a space of 15 sqm, we began to add all the wall surfaces, and thus we managed to obtain a space of greater use of 37.5 mc,’ explain the architects.
Estudio BNAA divided the space into stations and substations (E1, E2) (S1, S2, S3). the design also includes mobile furniture and an illuminated sign that can be customized according to who is using the space.
Minimo Comun Multiple in San Luis, Argentina – Building Information
Architecture Office: ESTUDIO BNAA
Project Name: Minimo Comun Multiple
Contact e-mail: [email protected] / [email protected]
Firm Location: Argentina
Completion Year: 2022
Gross Built Area: 15 sqm
Project location: San Luis, Argentina
Lead Architects: Arq.Ralph Tomas Bravo Nieto
Lead Architects e-mail: [email protected]
Collaborators: Arq. Bernarda Baudino , Arq Juan Ignacio Pelayo , Gonzalo Nieto , Martina Perez Pinto , Matias Miranda, Mauro Delgado, Santiago La Malfa.
Photographer: Emiliano Arias
Photographer’s e-mail: [email protected]
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01oxi4k0m3o
Minimo Comun Multiple, San Luis images / information received 200122
Location: San Luis, Argentina, South America
Architecture in Argentina
Contemporary Argentina Architectural Projects
Argentina Architecture Designs – chronological list
Argentina Architecture News
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Design: Andrés Remy Arquitectos
photo : Alejandro Peral
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Design: Estudio Ramos, architects
photograph : Daniela Mac Adden
Nordelta Tigre Yacht Club House
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Architects: GGMPU Arquitectos + Lucio Morini
photograph : Claudio Manzoni
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Casa MC2 Córdoba
Comments / photos for the Minimo Comun Multiple, San Luis page welcome
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Post 3: Origins of ‘The Office’
Producing ‘The Office’
The Office (US version) is one of eight other adaptations of the same mockumentary, originating from the UK version that aired in July 2001.
When I first started researching The Office’s origin story, I knew only of the US and UK versions. Little did I know that there were French, German, Canadian, Chilean, Israeli and Swedish versions of the show as well, all with roughly equivalent counterparts! Although the UK version is the original, it was cancelled after two seasons and 14 episodes due to low reviews. However, its legacy did not emerge until later, leaving behind another eight adaptations in its wake.
The US version is the longest running adaptation, with nine seasons and 201 episodes. Most of the other adaptations were relatively short, with the exception of the German counterpart Stromberg, which lasted for five seasons, 46 episodes and a movie. Each adaptation has a counterpart for:
the paper firm (except for the insurance company in Stromberg)
Regional Manager
Assistant to the Regional Manager
Senior Sales Representative
Senior Sales Representative‘s girlfriend
only in the US adaptation does the girlfriend also hold the Receptionist position
Receptionist
Receptionist’s fiancé
Corporate Supervisor
What remains consistent throughout is the style of mockumentary, which is discussed more in my fourth post.
Dunder Mifflin Scranton
A detailed biography of the US version’s characters can be found in my second post, as well as generic tropes present throughout the entire series.
Dunder Mifflin’s origin story can be traced back to Robert Dunder and Robert Mifflin, two businessmen from the Northeast who founded the company in 1949. Originally, Dunder Mifflin was a supplier of metal brackets for construction but turned into a regional paper and office supply distributor. The company primarily serves small-business clients. Dunder Mifflin guarantees the highest level of customer service, and it provides office and IT products and the consulting required to make informed business decisions.
Dunder Mifflin has its corporate office in New York City and branches in Akron, Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Scranton and Utica.
As Dunder Mifflin still uses traditional salesmen rather than online sales, it competes with chains such as Staples and Office Depot for business. When Ryan Howard became Regional VP of Sales in 2007 (S4), he predicted that the company would go under in 10 years unless it switched to an Internet marketplace for sales and started investing in paperless resources. Howard’s new leadership spurred a new website, Dunder Mifflin Infinity, from which to sell paper. In the episode Dunder Mifflin Infinity (S4 E2), Dwight, Scranton’s top salesman, competes with the website to see which can sell more paper (Dwight wins by a narrow margin at the last minute).
Milestones and Plot Development:
S1
Michael’s management style and the office culture is introduced.
Jim is interested in Pam, who has been engaged to Roy for around three years. They flirt awkwardly.
S2
Jim and Pam share their first kiss during the Dundies (S2 E1).
Michael and Jan begin their affair. This is significant because Jan is Michael’s direct superior, as she still holds the position of VP of Sales (Corporate).
S3
Jim accepts a position at Stamford to stay away from Pam. There he meets Andy and Karen, and eventually enters a relationship with Karen.
Pam confesses her feelings for Jim during the Beach Games (SE E22), causing Jim to break up with Karen and return to Scranton.
S4
Ryan accepts the offer of VP of Sales, filling Jan’s position.
Michael and Jan’s relationship becomes more erratic, eventually ending in Dinner Party (S4 E9).
Dwight and Angela break up because Dwight killed Sprinkles, Angela’s cat.
Ryan gets arrested for fraud and is back to his position as temp.
S5
Erin takes Pam’s position as receptionist.
Holly gets moved to another branch because David Wallace finds out about her and Michael.
Jim and Pam get engaged, but hold off on their wedding while Pam does a semester at art school in New York.
Charles Miner is introduced as a new boss. Michael does not like his strict policies and forms the Michael Scott Paper Company with Pam and Ryan, which is short-lived.
S6
Jim and Pam get married and have their first child, Cecilia.
Dwight and Angela sign a contract to have a child together so Dwight can benefit from this business-wise.
S7 - S9
TBD! Haven’t gotten here yet!
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My Sherlock Ranking
1. The Reichenbach Fall (S2, E3) (just amazing, don’t know what else to say. also A+ for the Sinner Man newspaper montage. gave me all the feels back in 2012.)
2. A Scandal in Belgravia (S2, E1) (a little cheesy at times, but excellent cinematography and perfect non-slapsticky comedy)
3. The Great Game (S1, E3) (amazing, first time Sherlock has to cope with the reality of people dying as a result of his failures, pool scene is SO good, Moriarty is SO good)
4. A Study in Pink (S1, E1) (best series opener ever, also lmao I played the cabbie in a stage adaptation at my high school 4 years ago. doesn’t change the ranking but it’s a fun fact)
5. His Last Vow (S3, E3) (over-the-top, but not nearly as much as S4 episodes. mind palace business is great and the Mary-John reveal worked well, even though I didn’t really like the choice to make her a superspy assassin)
6. The Abominable Bride (Special) (lots of people don’t like this one but the fact that the whole case, which I found interesting in itself, was Sherlock’s attempt to comprehend the Moriarty message is cool. bummer they didn’t really do good shit with Moriarty in S4. anyway, it’s also just a fun one.)
7. The Hounds of Baskerville (S2, E2) (eh, it’s cool, and the change of setting is nice, but it’s just not all that interesting. again, lots of people don’t like this one, but I thought it was really successful in showing tension between John and Sherlock and I still really like Sherlock’s angry deductions in the restaurant pub thing.)
8. The Blind Banker (S1, E2) (forgettable, but decent considering how new the show was. again, not a fan favorite, but at least the writing is clean and the characters stay in character. that bumps it up on my list for sure.)
9. The Empty Hearse (S3, E1) (fan-service-y, annoying, eh. it’s been a long time since I’ve watched it but I know I didn’t like it and I’ve seen it prob like 3 times.)
10. The Sign of Three (S3, E2) (so much screentime wasted on Sherlock standing there with his mouth agape, and the case wasn’t all that interesting either. idk why this is ranked highly a lot.)
11. The Lying Detective (S4, E2) (the cleanest S4 episode for sure, but the story was still super contrived. Mary’s message is stupidly over-complicated, as is Sherlock’s attempt to get John to forgive him. why did ALL the kids in the children’s hospital scene look perfectly fine and healthy...? small thing i noticed but idk it was bad extras casting, details matter)
12. The Six Thatchers (S4, E1) (weak. I was bored the whole time. weird James-Bond-esque fight scene between Sherlock and some baddie. weird chasing Mary to Morocco business. where’s Rosie? lol)
13. The Final Problem (S4, E3) (excellent acting, interesting villain, entertaining, but horribly sloppy writing and numerous plot inconsistencies make it unredeemable. I still can’t believe how much the writers fucked up on this one. pretty close with The Six Thatchers, I can’t decide whether or not to bump this one up simply because I wasn’t bored. Sherlock apparently forgot what glass looks like? bummer if this is the finale of a show that was once so great, but then again, if more Sherlock means more of this shit, then maybe they ought to let it die. they could have led up to this weirdness and made it work with idk, a lil editing, some better planning comme Moriarty in S1 and S2, but they botched it. grrr.)
so there you go. I plan on doing a rewatch eventually, but not right now because every episode is a movie. so these are subject to change i guess. they’re just immediate reactions after finishing S4 last night. i only really like 1-8, sadly. remember when i was addicted to this show and thought about it and johnlock 24/7 like 5 years ago and it was my entire blog? The Final Problem though. what the fuck.
#i just felt like doing this#i'm a ranker#i rank everything i like#and color code it#hiitsemilie#sherlock#bbc sherlock#sherlock ranking#sherlock episode ranking#sherlock holmes#the final problem#the six thatchers#the lying detective#the abominable bride#the reichenbach fall#a study in pink#his last vow#benedict cumberbatch#martin freeman#steven moffat#mark gatiss#bbc
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THE GOLDEN TOUCH
January 17, 1951
“The Golden Touch" is a modern re-telling of the King Midas story with Jack Benny and his friends as King Midas and his court. It was directed by Robert F. Mansfield, written by Robert Hugh O’Sullivan and with Harry Zimmerman as the composer / conductor.
“Family Theater” was a weekly half-hour dramatic anthology radio program which aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS) from February 13, 1947, to September 11, 1957. The show was produced by Family Theater Productions, a film and radio studio extension of the Family Rosary Crusade founded by Father Patrick Peyton as a way to promote family prayer. The motto of the the Holy Cross Family Ministries is, "The family that prays together, stays together."
Although the program had no commercial sponsor, Father Peyton arranged for many of Hollywood's biggest stars to appear including James Stewart, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Raymond Burr, Jane Wyatt, Charlton Heston, Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, Gene Kelly, William Shatner, and Chuck Connors.
A total of 540 episodes were produced. The program featured not only religious stories but half-hour adaptations of literary works such as A Tale of Two Cities, Moby-Dick and Don Quixote.
Synopsis ~ Lucille Ball is the hostess and Jack Benny stars as the King obsessed with his gold and counting it. The Queen and her daughter get a Genie to sort the King out. The Genie grants the King one wish and the King tells the Genie that he can always use more gold and asks that everything he touches will turn to gold. Of course this seems exciting at first until he turns the Queen and his daughter in to solid gold.
The program was repeated on May 23, 1951.
King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold. This came to be called the golden touch, or the Midas touch.
CAST
Jack Benny (King Midas) was born on Valentine’s Day 1894. He had a successful vaudeville career, and an even greater career on radio with “The Jack Benny Program” which also became a successful television show. His screen persona was known for being a penny-pincher and playing the violin. Benny was a Beverly Hills neighbor of Lucille Ball’s and the two were off-screen friends. Benny appeared on “The Lucy Show” as Harry Tuttle (a Jack Benny doppelganger) in “Lucy and the Plumber” (TLS S3;E2), later did a voice over cameo as himself in “Lucy With George Burns” (TLS S5;E1), and played himself in “Lucy Gets Jack Benny’s Account” (TLS S6;E6). He was seen in four episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” Benny and Ball appeared on many TV variety and award shows together. He died in 1974, a few weeks after taping “An All-Star Party for Lucille Ball.”
Lucille Ball (Hostess) was concurrently starring in her own radio comedy “My Favorite Husband” having starred in films from 1933. In the fall of 1951, Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz launched their iconic television series, “I Love Lucy.” After her divorce from Arnaz in 1960, Ball starred in two subsequent television series’ - “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.” After a series of TV specials, she did one more series in 1986, which was not successful. She died in 1989.
Ted de Corsia (Harvey Benson, Reporter from The Daily Telegram) was an actor in touring companies and on radio before making a memorable film debut as the killer in The Lady from Shanghai (1947). De Corsia's New York street demeanor and gravelly voice assured him steady work playing street thugs, gang leaders or organized-crime bosses. On radio he starred in the CBS series "Pursuit" (1949-50). Two years before he was heard on an episode of “My Favorite Husband” with Lucille Ball.
Barbara Eiler (Princess Imogene) started acting as a teenager and appeared regularly on the radio programs “The Life of Riley,” “A Day in the Life of Dennis Day,” “The Fabulous Dr. Tweedy” and “Glamor Manor." She did a 1948 episode of “My Favorite Husband” with Lucille Ball.
Eleanor Audley (Queen Midas) played Lucille Ball’s mother-in-law on “My Favorite Husband.” She would later play Eleanor Spalding, owner of the Westport home the Ricardos buy in “Lucy Wants To Move to the Country” (ILL S6;E15) in 1957, as well as one of the Garden Club judges in “Lucy Raises Tulips” (ILL S6;E26).
Alan Reed (Matthew the Butler / Tony the Cook) is probably best remembered as the voice of Fred Flintstone. He started his acting career in 1937. He acted opposite Lucille Ball in a 1963 episode of “The Lucy Show” (ILL S1;E25). In 1967, he made an appearance on the Desi Arnaz series “The Mothers-in-Law”. He died in 1977 at the age of 69.
Reed uses an English accent as Matthew and an Italian accent as Tony.
Verna Felton (Molly, Kitchen Help) received two Emmy nominations for her role in the Desilu series “December Bride,” playing Hilda Crocker from 1955 to 1959. She did two episodes of “I Love Lucy,” including playing Lucy’s stern maid, Mrs. Porter. Felton voiced many characters for Disney.
Felton uses an Irish accent as Molly.
Howard McNear (Ipsuda, Magician) played Mr. Crawford, Little Ricky’s music teacher on “I Love Lucy.” McNear went on to play Floyd the Barber on “The Andy Griffith Show” from 1961 to 1967, filmed on the Desilu backlot. He was also seen in Lucy and Desi’s 1953 film The Long, Long Trailer.
Frank Nelson (Genie / Mr. Gene Blue) was born on May 6, 1911 (three months before Lucille Ball) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He started working as a radio announcer at the age of 15. He later appeared on such popular radio shows as “The Great Gildersleeve,” “Burns and Allen,” and “Fibber McGee & Molly”. This is one of his 11 performances on “My Favorite Husband.” On “I Love Lucy” he holds the distinction of being the only actor to play two recurring roles: Freddie Fillmore and Ralph Ramsey, as well as six one-off characters, including the frazzled train conductor in “The Great Train Robbery” (ILL S5;E5), a character he repeated on “The Lucy Show.” Aside from Lucille Ball, Nelson is perhaps most associated with Jack Benny and was a fifteen-year regular on his radio and television programs.
Howard Culver (Jake Workman, Ice Man) was best known as hotel clerk Howie Uzzell during the entire run of TV's “Gunsmoke.” On radio he starred in the title role of the Western adventure series “Straight Arrow” which aired on Mutual from 1948 to 1951.
Tony La Frano (Announcer) was the regular announcer for “Music Depreciation” (1945) and every episode of “Family Theatre” (1947-1957).
EPISODE
Hostess Lucille Ball introduces the show, which was broadcast in front of a live audience. Lucille urges listeners to pray together as a family. She then introduces Jack Benny as the King, to great fanfare.
Instead of Benny, the show opens with Imogene on the telephone of a busy office in the Kingdom of Midas. Harvey Benson, an American reporter, arrives to see the Queen, who thinks he is there for money, but he wants the story of something that happened there recently. She tells the story in flashback...
A month ago, King Midas is at breakfast with his family. Imogene complains about having cornmeal mush for breakfast again, but Midas reasons that they have a 752 pounds of corn (thanks to the foresight of his father), so they must eat it!
Matthew, King Midas’ butler, suddenly quits after 32 years! He is tired of carrying the King’s gold. He is also tired of the mush. Because of an ancient decree, the help must eat whatever the King eats.
Imogene and the Queen insist King Midas counts his money too much - 80 million dollars a day! Once the King is gone, the Queen sends Imogene on a mission to see a magician named Ipusda to buy a genie.
At Ipsuda’s shop, Imogene has her pick of genies - even ones vacuum packed in cans (only for tourists)! She buys the blue bottle special for 5 gold pieces - plus a small deposit on the bottle!
Imogene brings the magic blue bottle back to the Queen, who says the magic words: “Genie out and at attention! Do the chores which I will mention!” The giggling Genie immediately appears, talking in rhyme, very amused at his own cleverness. They promise the Genie his freedom if he does as bid. The Queen whispers the orders to the Genie, without letting Imogene know.
Next morning, Imogene and the Queen introduce Midas to his new servant - the Genie! At their bidding, he conjures up bacon and eggs. Midas hates the Genie’s rhyming. He asks Midas what one wish he wants more than anything else in the world. Naturally, he wants more gold.
The Genie grants him with the skill to turn everything he touches to gold! The Genie pops back into the bottle. Imogene notices his utensils have turned to gold - then his eggs - then his coffee.
Before he can stop himself, he turns his own daughter to gold! Midas demands the Queen bring the Genie back, but she refuses and storms off.
Midas hears the kitchen servants Tony and Molly arguing in the next room. Tony goes to shake his hand, but he turns to gold! He touches Molly and she, too, turns to gold.
The ice man arrives and sees the two golden servants. Signing for the ice, the King tries to give him the golden pencil as a tip! Midas explains his problem - everything he touches turns to gold. Jake is about to phone his brother-in-law, Ipsuda, but when he learns that it was the work of a genie, he hangs up. All they can do is wait for the Queen to return to get the Genie out of the bottle!
Time passes and Jake reveals that the King is not as highly regarded in the Kingdom as he thinks. The King admits to being money mad. Midas decides to start giving his money away - starting now!
The Queen arrives and she Midas admits that he never wants to see gold again as long as he lives. After accidentally turning Jake to gold during a hug, the Queen summons the Genie to change the King back - in return for his freedom and a good job. The Genie removes the curse.
Flash forward to the Queen’s interview with newspaper reporter Harvey Benson. Mr. Gene Blue, the president of the relief organization, enters. He makes a joke about his name sounding like “Benson Burners.” He laughs hysterically as the music swells.
Lucille Ball closes the show by asking if the audience knows how Hedda Hopper makes a hat, comparing it to how scientists make a concoction out of ordinary things to create something incredible: jewels out of sawdust, perfume out of coal tar, medicine out of weeds or mold. She says the power of prayer, just like the ordinary things that create something magical, are there all the time, but must be used to get benefits: the jewel of a happy home life, the perfume of uplifted hearts, medicine for a sick world.
LUCILLE BALL: “The family that prays together, stays together.”
Announcer Tony Lo Frano reads the credits and says that next week’s program Walter Brennan and Bette Lynn in “A Star for Helen” with the honorable Frank Walker as host.
#King Midas#The Golden Touch#Family Theatre#Vintage Radio#Lucille Ball#Verna Felton#Tony Lo Frano#Jack Benny#Midas#Barbara Eiler#Eleanor Audley#Howard McNear#Alan Reed#Howard Culver#Ted De Corsia#Frank Nelson#Mutual Broadcasting System#1951#Robert F. Mansfield#Robert Hugh O'Sullivan
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LUCY AND CAROL BURNETT (aka THE HOLLYWOOD UNEMPLOYMENT FOLLIES)
S3;E22 ~ February 8, 1971
Directed by Jack Carter ~ Written by Ray Singer and Al Schwartz
Synopsis
Harry has fired Lucy again, so she visits the unemployment office where she reunites with secretary turned actress Carol Krausmeyer (Carol Burnett) and meets other out of work show biz folk. They decide to put on a show in order to make some dough!
Regular Cast
Lucille Ball (Lucy Carter), Gale Gordon (Harrison Otis Carter), Lucie Arnaz (Kim Carter)
Desi Arnaz Jr. (Craig Carter) does not appear in this episode, but is given opening title credit.
Guest Cast
Carol Burnett (Carol Krausmeyer) got her first big break on “The Paul Winchell Show” in 1955. A years later she was a regular on “The Garry Moore Show.” In 1959 she made her Broadway debut in Once Upon a Mattress, which she also appeared in on television three times. From 1960 to 1965 she did a number of TV specials, and often appeared with Julie Andrews. Her second Broadway musical was Fade Out – Fade In which ran for more than 270 performances. From 1967 to 1978 she hosted her own highly successful variety show, “The Carol Burnett Show.” Lucille Ball made several appearances on “The Carol Burnett Show.” Burnett guest starred in four episodes of “The Lucy Show” and three episodes of “Here’s Lucy,” only once playing herself. After Lucille Ball’s passing, Burnett was hailed as the natural heir to Lucy’s title of ‘The Queen of TV Comedy.’
Krausmeyer is the same last name as the music teacher played by Hans Conried on Lucille Ball’s radio show “My Favorite Husband.”
Richard Deacon (Harvey Hoople) is probably best remembered as Mel Cooley on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (1961-66). He appeared as Tallulah Bankhead's butler in “The Celebrity Next Door,” a 1957 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” He was employed again by Desi Sr. as a regular on "The Mothers-in-Law” (1968). This is the first of his two appearances on "Here’s Lucy.”
Harvey Hoople is a clerk at the Unemployment Office, although his name is never spoken aloud.
Clarence Landry and Vernord Bradley (“The Highhatters”) were a tap dance duo who both appeared in in the Vitaphone 1941 short Minstrel Days.
Landry and Bradley are a introduced to Lucy by Carol using their real first names.
Jack Benny (Himself) was born on Valentine’s day 1894. He had a successful vaudeville career, and an even greater career on radio with “The Jack Benny Program” which also became a successful television show. His screen persona was known for being a penny-pincher and playing the violin. Benny was a Beverly Hills neighbor of Lucille Ball’s and the two were off-screen friends. Benny previously appeared on “The Lucy Show” as Harry Tuttle (a Jack Benny doppelganger) in “Lucy and the Plumber” (TLS S3;E2), did a voice over cameo as himself in “Lucy With George Burns” (TLS S5;E1), and played himself in “Lucy Gets Jack Benny’s Account” (TLS S6;E6). This is the third of his four episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” Benny and Ball appeared on many TV variety and award shows together. He died in 1974.
Although Benny plays into his 'tightwad' personae, he is never identified by name or recognized as a celebrity.
Vanda Barra (Unemployment Cashier) was married to Sid Gould so is Lucille Ball’s cousin-in-law. This is just one of her over two dozen appearances on “Here’s Lucy” as well as appearing in Ball’s two 1975 TV movies “Lucy Gets Lucky” (with Dean Martin) and “Three for Two” (with Jackie Gleason). She was seen in half a dozen episodes of “The Lucy Show.”
Unusually, Barra is nothing more than a background performer in this episode, but still gets end credit billing. She has no dialogue.
The 'Canadian Mounties' are played by:
Sid Gould (left) made more than 45 appearances on “The Lucy Show,” and nearly as many on “Here’s Lucy.” Gould (born Sydney Greenfader) was Lucille Ball’s cousin by marriage to Gary Morton. He was married to Vanda Barra (Cashier).
Johnny Silver (center right) was a busy Hollywood character actor who was seen with Richard Deacon (Harvey Hoople) on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and with Jack Benny (Himself) on “The Jack Benny Show.” He will do one more episode of “Here's Lucy.”
Mike Wagner (right) makes his only appearance on “Here's Lucy.”
Kay Kuter (center left) was a character actor who made an appearance in the 1970 TV movie Swing Out, Sweet Land with Jack Benny and Lucille Ball as the voice of the Statue of Liberty.
Carol identifies Kuter as “Chuck Walters, a fantastic singer” when they are the unemployment office. This character was named in honor of Charles Walters, director of the previous episode, “Lucy and Aladdin’s Lamp” (S3;E21). Carol probably should have said “fantastic dancer” since the real Walters was known as dance director of MGM musicals, six of which featured Lucille Ball.
Others at the unemployment office, including two male acrobats and various clerks, are played by uncredited background performers.
This episode is sometimes known as “The Hollywood Unemployment Follies” to distinguish it from previous episodes also titled “Lucy and Carol Burnett.”
Interestingly, although “The Carol Burnett Show” usually followed “Here's Lucy” at 10pm on CBS, there was no new episode the night this “Here's Lucy” first aired.
On the series DVD this episode is introduced by Carole Cook, who says that Lucille Ball did her own signing on this episode, despite the fact that Cook had previously dubbed Lucy in other musical episodes.
In a previous episode, Kim reminds Lucy that Harry has fired her 14 times. This makes 15.
Kim tells Lucy that in California she could get as much as $65 a week in unemployment insurance. As of this writing (late 2017) the maximum was $450 a week for 26 weeks.
Carol jokingly tells Lucy that 'Carol Krausmeyer' isn't her professional name when acting – it's Raquel Welch. She looks down at her bosom and says “Ok, someone let the air out.” Raquel Welch was a voluptuous movie star who was previously mentioned on “Lucy and Johnny Carson” (S2;E11), “Lucy, the American Mother” (S3;E7) in which she was mentioned alongside Burnett, and as Jack Benny’s Palm Spring neighbor in the second episode of the series. Carol also used Welch's name as a punchline in “Lucy Competes With Carol Burnett” (S2;E24).
When Harvey Hoople decides to join up with the unemployed performers to write and direct their show he says “Governor Reagan, I quit! You can keep your old job! I'm back in show biz, Ronnie! Don't you wish you were?” Former Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan had been elected Governor of California in 1967, a position he held until 1975. He was later elected 40th President of the United States and served until 1989. He was previously mentioned in the second episode of the series, “Lucy Visits Jack Benny” (S1;E2) and more recently in “Lucy and the Raffle” (S3;E19).
To flatter him into being a backer of their show, Carol says that Harry looks like Cary Grant. He dryly replies “So do you!” Harry was compared to Cary Grant (and others) by Kim (disguised as new secretary Shirley Shoppenhauer) in “Lucy Protects Her Job” (S2;E14, above). Grant was often mentioned on all of Lucille Ball's sitcoms, although the two never acted together.
The subtitle of the “Hollywood Unemployment Follies” is “How to Starve in Show Business Without Really Trying.” This is a variation on the title of Frank Loesser's 1961 Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which was made into a film in 1967.
The ensemble sings “Hooray for Hollywood” a song by Johnny Mercer and Richard A. Whiting that was first sung in the 1937 movie Hollywood Hotel. This song is the only one to features specially written lyrics to fit the episode's theme. This version mentions Henry Fonda and his children Jane and Peter. Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda starred in the film Yours, Mine and Ours together in 1968.
Stumbling onto a Hollywood soundstage, Lucy, Carol and Kim discover a mannequin of Humphrey Bogart. Kim had a poster of Humphrey Bogart (inset) on her wall in “Lucy and the Andrews Sisters” (S2;E6). In “Lucy and the Bogie Affair” (S2;E13) Kim and Craig name a lost dog Bogie because it has the same sad look as Bogart did at the end of 1942’s Casablanca. Ogling the mannequin adoringly, Carol references the famous line “If you want anything, just whistle,” Lauren Bacall’s parting words to Humphrey Bogart in the film To Have and Have Not (1944). This line was also referenced in “Lucy and the Bogie Affair” (S2;E13).
They then admire a larger than life photo portrait of Jean Harlow. Jean Harlow (1911-37) was Hollywood's original wisecracking blonde bombshell. Only five months older than Lucille Ball, Harlow died of uremic poisoning at age 26 just as Lucy's career was getting started.
They move to a mannequin of Jimmy Cagney dressed in prison stripes. Kim does her impression of Cagney saying “You dirty rat.” Cagney never actually said the famously mis-quoted dialogue but a line in his 1932 film Taxi! probably came closest, calling a philandering man “You dirty, yellow-bellied rat!” James Cagney (1899-1986, inset) was a singer, dancer and actor best known in Hollywood for playing tough guys.
They then encounter mannequins of Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh dressed in costumes from Gone With the Wind (1939). Carol, using a high pitched Southern accent, imitates Scarlet O'Hara. Coincidentally, Carol will play Scarlet (re-named Starlet) in a one of her most famous sketches from “The Carol Burnett Show” in 1976 (above right).
Lucille Ball herself was short-listed for the role of Scarlet O'Hara and even did a screen test for the part. Ball will play Scarlet O'Hara in “Lucy and Flip Go Legit” (S4;E1) with Flip Wilson as Prissy.
Lucy imitates Butterfly McQueen, who played Prissy, Scarlet's maid, using the famous lines “I don't know nuthin' 'bout birthin' babies.” After Lucy's imitation of Butterfly McQueen, Carol sarcastically says “it sounded more like Steve.” Steve McQueen (1930-80) was an actor who would receive an Oscar nomination for The Sand Pebbles in 1966, the same year that he was mentioned in “Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (TLS S4;E20).
The final mannequin on the 'soundstage' is of Judy Garland (inset) in The Wizard of Oz wearing her famous blue gingham dress and ruby slippers. Kim does a high-pitched imitation of the Munchkins. Two of the Singer Munchkins, Jerry Maren and Billy Curtis, appeared in “Lucy and Ma Parker” (S3;E15) and Shep Houghton, one of the Winkie Guards, was a background performer on “Here's Lucy.”
Lucy, Kim and Carol launch into “We're Off to See the Wizard,” written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg for The Wizard of Oz, which brings them to a wardrobe rack conspicuously labeled COSTUMES WORN BY BETTY GRABLE AND ALICE FAYE. Faye and Grable did two films together, Tin Pan Alley (1940) and Four Jills in a Jeep (1944). Betty Grable (1916-73) made two films with Lucille Ball when they were both at RKO in the mid-1930s. She then guest-starred as herself with her second husband bandleader Harry James in “Lucy Wins a Racehorse,” a 1958 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” Alice Faye (1915-98) often played gritty, non-nonsense women in films. She was married to Phil Harris, who will play himself on a 1974 episode of “Here's Lucy.”
In a magical reveal (aka editing) Lucy and Carol become blondes singing “Chicago (That Toddlin' Town”) a song written by Fred Fisher and published in 1922.
After a quick costume change (editing again), they sing “Alexander's Ragtime Band” which was composer Irving Berlin's first hit in 1911, the same year Lucille Ball was born.
After a commercial break, Lucy and Carol discover “the derby worn by the one and only Bill Robinson.” Bill Robinson (1878-1949) was the preeminent tap dancer of his day. He is best remembered for his appearances with young Shirley Temple in four of her 1930s films. Robinson worked with Lucille Ball on the 1935 musical film Hooray for Love.
After some camera trickery (more editing), Kim is wearing the derby and introducing (through song) one of the Highhatters as Bill “Bojangles” Robinson (inset) doing a tap routine which she then joins in.
Next up, four comical Canadian Mounties sing “Stout-hearted Men,” a song by Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II for the operetta New Moon in 1927 with film versions in 1930 and 1940. Richard Deacon (also dressed as a Mountie) and Carol Burnett sing “Indian Love Call” by Rudolf Friml, Herbert Stothart, Otto Harbach, and Oscar Hammerstein II written for the 1924 operetta Rose-Marie. The melody was used for the mating call of the wild Gorboona in “Lucy's Safari” (S1;E22) which guest-starred Howard Keel, who was in the 1954 film version of Rose Marie.
Dressed as Marlene Dietrich, Lucy sings “Falling in Love Again (Never Wanted To)” from the 1930 German film The Blue Angel. Harry plays a World War I German soldier. Marlene Dietrich (1901-92) was born in Berlin, but came to Hollywood to make films in 1930. She was nominated for an Oscar in 1931.
The Highhatters introduce Carol as Miss Ruby Keeler and they sing “Shuffle Off To Buffalo” by Al Dubin and Hugh Warren, originally written for the 1933 film 42nd Street. They then do a dance challenge to the title song from the film. Ruby Keeler (1910-93) was a singer, dancer and actress most famous for her pairing with Dick Powell in a series of movie musicals, including 42nd Street. Like Lucille Ball and (now) Lucie Arnaz, Keeler had a home in Palm Springs, California.
As the finale, the entire ensemble is dressed in rain slickers and performs “Singin' in the Rain” written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown in 1931. It was most famously featured in the film Singin' in the Rain in 1952.
Many of the movie posters decorating the 'soundstage' were from Paramount Pictures, to which Lucille Ball sold Desilu / RKO and where they filmed “Here's Lucy”:
Hollywood or Bust (1956) starring Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin
Samson and Delilah (1949) starring Hedy Lamarr and Victor Mature
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) starring Charleton Heston, Betty Hutton, and Gloria Grahame, who replaced Lucille Ball when Lucy became pregnant with Lucie
Short Cut to Hell (1957) directed by James Cagney
Gone With the Wind (1939) starring Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh
Under Two Flags (1936) starring Claudette Colbert and Ronald Colman
“The Lucy Show” established Lucy Carmichael as a film fanatic in the Hollywood-themed episode “Lucy Goes To A Hollywood Premiere” (TLS S4;E20).
The Scarlet O'Hara dress is the same one Lucy Carmichael wore in 1965 as Lucybelle in “The Founding of Danfield,” a community theatre play featured in “Lucy and Arthur Godfrey” (TLS S3;E23).
The vaudeville backdrop curtain during “Chicago” and “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” was also used in “Lucy and Jack Benny’s Biography” (S3;E11).
Props! The wardrobe rack of costumes worn by Betty Grable and Alice Faye also contains Gale Gordon's silver space suit from “Lucy and the Generation Gap” (S2;E12). It is hard to imagine either woman wearing that!
Who Am I? One mannequin on the 'soundstage' doesn't get identified. It is dressed in Roman armor. It may have been Charleton Heston in Ben Hur, but was cut for time.
Spell-Check! The end credits miss-spell 'Mountie' as 'Mounty'. The word is an informal reference to The Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
“Lucy and Carol Burnett” or “The Hollywood Unemployment Follies” rates 4 Paper Hearts out of 5
This episode seems more like “The Carol Burnett Show” than “Here's Lucy” - especially when Lucille Ball is off-screen. A Hollywood revue is a great idea, but the 'book scenes' (in between the songs) are played in such a naturalistic way that they don't really seem any different than the actual show. It is almost as if the trio actually walked into a Hollywood Hall of Fame and had musical dreams. It all feels very much like the old Judy Garland / Mickey Rooney 'let's put on a show in a barn' genre. Gale Gordon has very little to do (not even a cartwheel!) and Desi Jr. is completely absent. Not unenjoyable but not the best of these musical comedy episodes either.
#Here's Lucy#Lucille Ball#Gale Gordon#Lucie Arnaz#Jack Benny#Richard Deacon#Vernord Bradley#Clarence Landry#Sid Gould#Johnny Silver#Kay Kuter#Mike Wagner#Carole Cook#Unemployment Office#Raquel Welch#Carol Burnett#Ronald Reagan#Cary Grant#How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying#Alexander's Ragtime Band#The Wizard of Oz#Judy Garland#Humphrey Bogart#Casalbanca#Gone With the Wind#Vivian Leigh#Clark Gable#Singin in the Rain#Ruby Keeler#Jean Harlow
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LUCY AND HARRY’S MEMOIRS
S5;E24 ~ March 5, 1973
Directed by Coby Ruskin ~ Written by Robert O'Brien
Synopsis
Harry has sold the Unique Employment Agency for $25,000 and plans to retire. While packing up the office, Lucy and Harry share memories.
Regular Cast
Lucille Ball (Lucy Carter), Gale Gordon (Harrison Otis Carter)
Archival Footage Cast
Lucie Arnaz (Kim Carter) is the real-life daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. She was born in 1951 just before the premiere of “I Love Lucy.” Lucille Ball was actually pregnant during the filming of the show’s pilot. Despite rumors to the contrary, Lucie Arnaz never appeared on “I Love Lucy.” Lucie played Cynthia (as well as other characters) on “The Lucy Show.” She has been twice married, to actor Phil Vandervort (1971) and actor-writer Laurence Luckinbill (1980–present). She has three children with Luckinbill: Simon, Joseph and Katharine. She now lives in Palm Springs, California, near the home once owned by her parents.
Desi Arnaz Jr. (Craig Cartrer) is the real-life son of Lucille Ball. His 1953 birth was worked into the plot of “I Love Lucy” although Desi Jr. never played the role of Little Ricky Ricardo. He did, however, appear on the final half-hour episode of the series “The Ricardos Dedicate a Statue” (ILL S6;E27) in a crowd scene. He was occasionally seen as Billy Simmons and other minor characters on “The Lucy Show.” At the time of filming “Here’s Lucy” he was part of the band Dino Desi and Billy along with Dean Martin Jr. and Billy Hinsche. Arnaz was married to actress Linda Purl from 1980 until 1981. In 1987, Arnaz married Amy Laura Bargiel. They lived in Boulder City, Nevada, with their daughter, and own the Boulder Theatre, a cinema converted into a theatre and home to the Boulder City Ballet Company. Amy died in 2005 after a long battle with cancer. Desi Arnaz has a daughter, Julia.
This episode (#120) was intended to be the final episode of the series. The show had dropped out of the top 10 (#15 with a 21.9 share) so Lucille Ball wanted to end the series.It was filmed without a studio audience in one day. But CBS president Fred Silverman convinced Ball to return for a sixth season. Rather than scrap the episode or undergo costly re-shooting, the ending was slightly reworked to leave a window of possibility for a sixth season.
The night this episode first aired (March 5, 1973) “Here's Lucy” was on against a TV movie on NBC, Brock's Last Case starring Richard Widmark. Widmark had guest-starred on “I Love Lucy” in “The Tour” (ILL S4;E30), in which Lucy Ricardo scaled the wall of his Beverly Hills estate to get a grapefruit as a souvenir. The movie also featured character actor Dub Taylor, who played Rattlesnake Jones in “Lucy Goes to the Rodeo” (ILL S5;E8).
The date of the first airing was also Jack Cassidy’s 46th birthday. Cassidy played Professor Zoorkin in a 1965 episode of “The Lucy Show”. Sadly, in 1976, he died tragically in an apartment fire.
Harry and Lucy break open a magnum of Champagne vintage 1953. Lucy says it was a very good year. For Lucille Ball, 1953 was the year she gave birth to Desi Jr. and Lucy Ricardo gave birth to Little Ricky. “I Love Lucy” was at the height of its success and Lucille Ball graced the very first national edition of TV Guide.
Harry plans to go on a fishing trip to Canada. Lucy suggests they go on vacation together, which spurs her memory of their road trip to the Colorado River. There are two clips from "Lucy Runs the Rapids" (S2;E4) directed by George Marshall and written by Gene Thompson.
Getting tipsy, Harry thinks the wall is crooked, but Lucy realizes that it is just the autographed framed photo of Richard Burton that is crooked, not the wall. This jars her memory of the time she got Elizabeth Taylor's priceless diamond ring stuck on her finger.
The flashback consists of one clip from "Lucy Meets the Burtons" (S3;E1), directed by Jerry Paris and written by Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Davis. Although Richard Burton's headshot and coveralls are seen, the actor is not in the archival footage.
Lucy finds the parachute that Harry made to advertise the Employment Agency when Lucy went skydiving.
There is a clip of Lucy jumping out of an airplane from "Lucy, the Skydiver" (S3;E2) directed by Herbert Kenwith and written by Larry Rhine and Lou Derman.
Lucy has saved the cast from her broken leg after her skiing accident. She plans to make a lamp out of it. When Harry reminds Lucy to pack his barometer, she approaches it with a hammer. Harry stops her, remembering the last time he set her loose to do home repair.
A clip from "Lucy the Fixer" (S1;E14) follows, directed by Jack Donohue and written by Milt Josefsberg and Ray Singer.
During the last scene, the background music plays “September Song” (without lyrics) written by Kurt Weill for the 1938 musical Knickerbocker Holiday. After being used in the 1950 film September Affair, the song was recorded by numerous singers and instrumentalists, most notably Frank Sinatra.
Flashback episodes were still rare in 1973. The first television 'clips show' of a scripted program was “The 'I Love Lucy” Christmas Show” in 1956 although it wasn’t aired again until 1989.
Near the end of its run, “The Lucy Show” also had a 'clips show' titled “Lucy and Viv Reminisce” (TLS S6;E16) starring Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance. In this episode, Lucy Carmichael’s broken leg was a plot contrivance, not a reality, as it would be on “Here’s Lucy”.
FAST FORWARD!
If Lucille Ball had known what Burton had written about her in his diaries, she might not have praised him as a “great actor” - although his 1970 episode with Elizabeth Taylor was one of the most memorable of the series. The diaries (memoirs) were published in 2012, after his death.
“She is a monster of staggering charmlessness and monumental lack of humor….Milady Ball can thank her lucky stars that I’m not drinking. There is a chance if I had, I might have killed her!”
Ironically, Lucy Carter is drunk when praising Burton!
During the sixth and final season, Harry sells the Unique Employment Agency again. The new owner is Ken Richards who immediately changes the name. Harry develops a bad case of seller’s remorse. Like “Memoirs”, it was intended to be the series finale, but was not the last aired, preferring to showcase Lucie Aranz (Kim Carter) in its final episode, “Lucy Fights the System” (S6;E24).
Title Trouble! The word “memoirs” generally refers to a written or otherwise recorded accounting of a person's past. The title should more accurately have been “Lucy and Harry's Memories,” unless the title refers to the episode itself being a “memoir”.
Missed Opportunity! The most memorable thing in the office, the “Unusual Jobs for Unusual People” sign, is taken down during the commercial break! When Harry moved the office to Lucy's home in “A Home is Not an Office” (S5;E4) he carried the sign with him to its temporary new location. This is only the second time that the audience has seen that the sign covers a wall safe!
Last Minute Loophole! Lucy conveniently has a sign that says “Temporarily” under her blotter! The word is hastily written in the same hand and ink used by those who write the show’s cue cards! Lucille Ball also breaks the fourth wall to wink at the camera, something she rarely does.
Plot Prop! Lucy says she hates to take down the framed autographed photo of Richard Burton, and wants to leave it for last. This is the first and only time we have seen the photo decorating the walls of the Unique Employment Agency.
Door Stop! Although it would have been more poignant and fitting to fade out on the “TEMPORARILY OUT OF BUSINESS” sign, the door will not stay open on its own and swings closed after Lucy has left.
“Lucy and Harry’s Memoirs” rates 4 Paper Hearts out of 5
The interesting thing about this episode is that the clips were all chosen so as not to have to get permission of any other performers - only Lucie and Desi Jr. are seen. Were there funnier episodes? Possibly, but they would have probably involved tons of paperwork and payments and Lucille Ball wanted to call it quits. Thankfully, she didn’t!
#Here's Lucy#Lucille Ball#Coby Ruskin#Gale Gordon#Lucie Arnaz#Desi Arnaz Jr.#Robert O'Brien#Jack Donohue#Richard Widmark#Brock's Last Case#1953#Champagne#Richard Burton#parachute#Larry Rhine#Lou Derman#finale#September Song#George Marshall#Gene Thompson#Milt Josefsberg#Ray Singer#Dub Taylor#Fred Silverman#TV#1973#CBS#Herbert Kenwith
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KIM MOVES OUT
S4;E20 ~ January 24, 1972
Directed by Coby Ruskin ~ Written by Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Davis
Synopsis
Lucy is concerned when Kim is dating a bearded writer (Tim Matheson). Deciding she's tired of her mother's hovering, Kim moves into a nearby apartment above a garage. Of course, Lucy can't help being a ‘helicopter’ mother and visits her daughter at every opportunity.
Regular Cast
Lucille Ball (Lucy Carter), Gale Gordon (Harrison Otis Carter), Lucie Arnaz (Kim Carter)
Guest Cast
Tim Matheson (Peter Sullivan) began acting on screen when he was just 14 years old. He is probably best known as Eric Stratton in the 1978 film Animal House, although he also received two Emmy nominations for his work on “The West Wing” (1999-2006). Matheson first worked with Lucille Ball in the film Yours, Mine and Ours (1968, inset photo) where he played her step-son Mike. It was then that he also met his first wife, Jennifer Leak, who played Lucy's daughter Colleen in the film.
Peter's father is a doctor. He hopes to become a writer. He plays piano. In a fit of anger, Lucy calls him a “fuzzy-faced pencil pusher”!
This is one of two episodes where Kim's name is in the title, while Lucy's is not. This is part of the ill-fated attempt to spin the character off into her own series at the end of season 4.
The day this episode originally aired, actor James Cowan died at age 74. Cowan had appeared with Lucille Ball in The Fuller Brush Girl (1950) and Critic’s Choice (1963). He appeared on “The Lucy Show” in 1966 and as Mr. Gary in “Lucy the Crusader” (S3;E5, above) in 1970.
Lucy says that Kim wants to be a teacher and that Craig wants to be a musician. This is the third mention of Craig in the past three episodes, after 14 weeks of not hearing anything about him. This is also the first time we've heard that Kim's career path is to be a teacher.
Kim moves over the Thompson's garage next door to her mother!
For a housewarming gift, Uncle Harry brings Kim goldfish named Bertha and Sam.
Kim is hoping to be cast by Jack Foley in a college musical revue. Jack Foley (1891-1967) was the developer of many sound effects techniques used in film and TV. To this day, those who work in sound effects creation are called Foley Artists.
The zodiac poster that decorates Kim’s closet door was issued in July 1968 by Portal Publications. The artwork is by California artist Jane Oka (inset). Each astrological sign was also available as a separate poster. During her tenure at Portal, Oka also designed Kitchen Charts, Gourmet Guides, and Proverbs, many of which were made into calendars. Her work was seen decorating the bedroom walls on Lucille Ball’s favorite sitcom, “Three’s Company” and were also seen in the 1973 Woody Allen movie, Sleeper.
When Lucy opens Kim’s overstuffed closet to try to hide, the dress hanging in on the door is one worn by Kaye Ballard in “Lucy and Harry’s Italian Bombshell” (S4;E3) earlier in the season. There are also a few Saks Fifth Avenue hatboxes in storage. These would have been at home in the Ricardo closet in 1955, but seem out of place in the closet of a 20 year-old in 1972!
With her mother stuffed in the chimney hiding, Kim rehearses the song “I Got Love” with Peter playing the piano. The song was written by Gary Geld and Peter Udell for the Broadway musical Purlie (1970) and was introduced by Melba Moore. It was also the title of Moore's first solo album, on which it also appeared. In her DVD introduction to the episode, Lucie Arnaz remembers singing the song live on the set with just piano accompaniment.
Note: Tim Matheson did not actually play the piano. It was likely Marl Young who generally provided piano accompaniment, sometime on camera. Actually, if you listen closely, there is also a snare drum added in!
To teach Lucy a lesson and prolong her stay in the flue, Kim and Harry sing a few hours of old standards. First up is “Ma, He's Making Eyes at Me,” which was written by Con Conrad and Sidney Clare in 1921 and was covered by many artists.
Finally, Kim and Harry end their punitive jam session with "When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob Bob Bobbin’ Along).” The song was previously sung in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3). The song’s title was mentioned (but not sung) in “Mertz and Kurtz” (ILL S4;E2). Written in 1926 by Harry Woods, the song was popularized by Al Jolson, with whom William Frawley (Fred Mertz) had a long-standing rivalry. That same year (1957) it was recorded by Doris Day, who, coincidentally, had a television show that followed “Here's Lucy” on CBS!
Kim tells Uncle Harry (within earshot of her mother, who is hiding in the fireplace) that she got a job offer to be a ‘bunny.’ Kim doesn't say the words ‘Playboy Bunny’ but that is what she is referring to. Bunnies were female staff members at the Playboy Clubs, which were in business between 1960 and 1988. Based on Hugh Hefner's Playboy magazine mascot, they wore abbreviated costumes that showed off their legs and cleavage while also featuring rabbit ears and a large fluffy tail. “Here's Lucy” has previously made reference to Playboy magazine (above), the bunny costume, and even top-less waitresses (which the Playboy bunnies were not!)
This episode is partially inspired by the very first episode of “The Lucy Show” “Lucy Waits Up For Chris” (TLS S1;E1), in which Lucy Carmichael waits up for her teenage daughter Chris after her first date with a boy named Tom, resulting in Lucy getting locked out of her own home!
Lucy Carmichael had trouble saying goodbye to her son Jerry in “Lucy and the Military Academy” (TLS S2;E10). Although Lucy thought it was best for him to go away to school, she found she missed him too much and he came home. Ironically, Jerry eventually was sent away to a military academy when the Carmichaels moved to California.
Although “The Lucy Show” featured an episode titled “Viv Moves Out” (TLS S2;E22) the title is the only thing these two episodes have in common. Lucy Carmichael rented out Viv's room to a singer and her drummer son (!) who rehearse loudly at all hours. The plot was necessitated when Vivian Vance wanted to work less due to her commute to Connecticut.
The first part of the episode featuring Lucy not knowing if Kim came home or stayed out all night, was inspired by “Don Juan and the Starlets” (ILL S4;E17) in which Lucy Ricardo thinks Ricky stayed out all night at a premiere. He has an alibi thanks to an efficient hotel maid.
FAST FORWARD
In 2006, the HBO series “Lucky Louie” also produced an episode titled “Kim Moves Out”, the series’ finale. In this case, however, the character of Kim is the lead’s wife, not daughter. Coincidentally, the cast also included a character named Lucy and an actress named Kim!
Ground Plan Goof! As usual with TV show apartments, the room above the Thompson's garage is unrealistically spacious. It also features a fireplace, something unlikely to be found in an over-the-garage flat. In addition, Kim's new place has a spinet piano, despite the fact that she doesn't play. Kim will also have a spinet piano in her apartment when she moves to Marina Del Rey in “Kim Finally Cuts You-Know-Whose Apron String” (S4;E24) at the end of the season.
What Color is Her Parachute? This is the first we hear about Kim wanting to be a teacher. In future episodes, she works as an administrative assistant in an entertainment agency.
“Kim Moves Out” rates 3 Paper Hearts out of 5
Some nice moments between mother and daughter, but not enough to merit a spin-off, despite the fact that Lucie Arnaz is talented and funny in her own right. She will get another chance at her own series in 1985, but that show, too, did not catch on with viewers and was cancelled after just six episodes.
#Here's Lucy#Kim Moves Out#Lucille Ball#Lucie Arnaz#Gale Gordon#Tim Matheson#Coby Ruskin#Bob Carroll Jr.#Madelyn Davis#James Cowan#Jack Foley#Purlie#I Got Love#Ma He's Making Eyes at Me#When the Red Red Robin#Playboy Bunny#1972#CBS#TV
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