If Not Good as Mame...
Maybe Helen Lawson perhaps? If she had played Helen Lawson in Valley of the Dolls, do you think she could have pulled that one off?
shareThis has been brought up before, on the VALLEY OF THE DOLLS board. Lucille Ball wouldn't have touched the Lawson role, nor would she have had much good to say about VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (she was a very good friend of Ethel Merman's, by the way) - as she often stated in interviews, one of the reasons she did MAME was to bring back family entertainment - she was very disturbed by the trends in movie-making in the early 1970s.
"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified."
I know all about that. The question was...IF she had taken the role....or better yet, IMAGINE IF.....could she have pulled it off?
shareI seriously doubt it - by then Lucille Ball was so settled into her "Lucy" persona, seldom straying far from it for fear she'd alienate her audience - even Mame Dennis became "Lucy-fied" to some extent.
"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified."
Maybe so. But I can see her in some of the over-the-top 60's makeup and dresses along with that gravel-sounding voice. I think she just might could have pulled it off. I can see her spouting off "they drummed you right out of Hollywood....so you come crawling back to Broadway. Well Broadway doesn't go for booze and dope...now you get outta my way 'cause I've got a man wating for me....."
Oh the wonder.
I see the OP's point here. Lucy wouldn't have had to act at all. Her behavior on the set of Mame was Helen Lawson-ish.
But Hayward owns the part, for better or worse.
Reportedly, Lucy was a Hell on Wheels if you ever crossed her. She would have never done the role because of her need to maintain her nice-as-pie TV image, but from what I understand, she could have out-Hayward'd Hayward as Helen Lawson.
shareJust heard an interesting comment on the audiocommentary of Brian McKay's BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE - he said Lansbury told him that Lucille Ball came to see her during her run in MAME and said how glad she was that Angela was finally getting her due in such a great role and show, and she'd do the movie, and so on. Then Lansbury spotted Lucy watching from the wings, taking notes, and knew she'd never get the movie.
I wonder about this, though, as Lansbury last performances as Mame were in L.A. sometime in 1968, and Lucy's casting wasn't announced until late 1971, I believe - filming was expected to begin in 1972, but Lucy broke her leg and, because Warners was willing to wait for her, filming didn't begin until January, 1973.
"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified."
I believe that Miss Ball coveted the role and movie from the very second she saw the legit stage musical.
share