MovieChat Forums > I Love Lucy (1951) Discussion > Lucy Goes to Sun Valley

Lucy Goes to Sun Valley

posted 4 years ago by [email protected] (1732)
5 replies | jump to latest

Next up in the Lucy/Desi Comedy Hours that I've watched (for the first time in decades).

First, a recap of the what I've watched thus far. As is (fairly) noted, "The Celebrity Next
Door" (ep #2) is a genuine classic, with laughs galore, thanks to our four talented stalwarts,
as well as the truly unique, brilliant, and bizarre (c'mon, let's be fair) Tallulah Bankhead. This
script was originally conceived for Bette Davis (one of Lucy's old acting school chums), but
it's hard to see how even Ms. Davis could've topped Bankhead's bewildered comic timing.

That said, I ripped apart the series' opener, "Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana" because it is
a 70 minute bore. Arnaz's ego is all over the place, with three - count 'em - THREE "guest
stars" (two playing characters, the third - an aging and corny Rudy Vallee - playing "himself").
A bloated, unfunny mess, from start to agonizing finish.

The third installment, "Lucy Hunts Uranium" is better than I remembered, and while it gets
tiresome fairly quickly, it's such a huge improvement on the debut ep. "Lucy Wins a
Racehorse" I've already covered in another thread. So...the latest is an extremely
forgettable - yet fairly engaging - offering called "Lucy Goes to Sun Valley."

Aired in late spring, '58 (just a year after ILL ended), this ep takes a fairly adult look at
the staleness of marriage after 18 years. Extremely well-acted by Ball, Arnaz and Vance,
it is basically a rehash of Lucy asking a movie stair to make Ricky jealous (think Charles
Boyer). Ball has a few, surprisingly funny moments (remember, I haven't seen some of
these since I was a kid, when a local station aired them on Saturday nights). And it's
cute watching Fred sing "Melancholy Baby."

Unfortunately, the script is bogged down by an entirely FORGOTTEN "star", Fernando Lamas,
a Latin heartthrob of the '50's. In his defense, he is given very little to do, although he and
Lucy share some funny moments skiing.

Worst moment: The show ends with a couple of black eyes, which no longer plays funny
(didn't Ball and Arnaz get that their second-season ILL ep, "The Black Eye" was bad enough??).

On balance, I feel this offering is a curio, worthy of one viewing. And there's an eerie
aspect to be sure: In 1972, Ball would make headlines for breaking her leg skiing, not
unlike a mishap in this episode.

[–] [email protected] (5495) 4 years ago

I saw all these episodes a long time ago. Just don't remember them too well. They never captured the magic of the original.

If the Arnazes really wanted to continue on TV for a few more years, I think they should've continued with ILL in Connecticut. The hour shows seemed to padded. And I could never warm up to Lucy running into a celebrity or two in EVERY freakin episode. lol Too much of a stretch and too farfetched.

But since you mentioned Fernando Lamas, who was a pretty big name back then, it reminded me of Billy Crystal's hilarious "Fernando's Place" sketches on SNL. I never watched the show regularly, but his impression of Fernando Lamas, "Dahling, you look mah-velous!" was hilarious.

[–] [email protected] (1732) 4 years ago

Over the last few nights, I caught "Lucy Goes to Mexico" and "Lucy Goes to Alaska." Both feature strong performances
by the foursome, with an agreeable guest star (Maurice Chavalier and Red Skelton). However, both suffer from inane,
ridiculous finales. In "Mexico", Lucy winds up in a bullfight; in "Alaska", she and Skelton crash land an airplane in the
snow. Thoroughly ridiculous. But since I paid for them, I'm going to watch them at least once.

[–] steven1660 (140) 4 years ago

Yes, the endings were crazy! But those episodes were mostly good. I can't understand why they just didn't continue with the half hour episodes but just with a reduced amount. Like 8 episodes in the fall and 8 episodes in the spring which would have been a 16 episode season, that seems more doable but, what's done is done! And in my opinion any episode of Lucy is funnier that most sitcoms today. I don't know what's happened to comedy writing nowadays but that's a conversation for another time haha.

[–] [email protected] (1732) 4 years ago

Just watched "Lucy Wants a Career" with the (now-highly-forgotten) guest star, Paul Douglas.

To my surprise, this one is among the better offerings. Lucy, at nearly 40 (I mean, the character), is feeling very
bored and unfulfilled as a housewife. Once more, the first half plays very truthfully, and it's nice to see Ricky
being finally supportive of his wife. The comedy is spot on, as Fred convinces one and all that ETHEL should be
Lucy's maid while she works.

Lucy's scheming to get the job as Douglas's "girl Friday" (on his early morning TV show) is quite funny. Naturally, Lucy
eventually wants out, so she can return to being a housewife. But her quitting, then taking "two sleeping pills" so
she won't be available feels very contrived, and Ricky and Douglas's dragging her out of bed into the studio is padded
nonsense, as Douglas would only have to contact casting for a temporary bimbo replacement.

The cereal scene isn't inspired, or particularly funny, but it's nice to have an episode conceived on true issues affecting
women (just being a housewife) and set in in the East Coast (instead of Alaska).

[–] L1 (1316) 4 years ago

I had seen this person a couple of times.