#dinah!

Mark Hamill doing press for Corvette Summer on daytime talk show Dinah! 10/07/1978.

August 2, 1973

BY FRANK SWERTLOW 

Lucille Ball, the biggest star in the history of television, sits in her spacious Beverly Hills home chatting about her career. 

Suddenly, almost in mid-sentence, she is interrupted by a loud knock at her front door. 

Then another. 

And another. 

"That's just a fan," said Miss Ball calmly. "Just say we are not here." 

Miss Ball was about to go on with her conversation when she was asked if it bothered her to have strangers frequently pounding at her door. Politely, she said no. 

But, she admitted, it can be annoying, like the time convoys of tour buses parked outside her home. 

"It was one great colony of carbon monoxide," she said, adding that she eventually had to invoke a Beverly Hills ordinance to keep buses away. "But if I don't put myself on a big estate behind gates, I can't blame them. I'm very happy they feel that way about me." 

While Ball, who began her career in show business during the 1930s, is no longer unraveled by the curious public, several bizarre incidents stand out. 

The strangest, she said, took place on a Sunday afternoon when she and her longtime pal, Vivian Vance, were startled by a roar of police sirens. At the time, Miss Ball was recuperating from an operation on her big toes. Bruce Cabot stepped on one; a horse on the other.  (1)

"This particular afternoon, we are sitting there, and I had these splints on my feet and Viv is under the hair dryer. We didn't have any makeup on. Suddenly, we hear these sirens. Naturally, we thought they would go away. But they didn't. We thought it might be an accident. So I hobbled over to the window to see what it was. 

"Well, the place was just alive with police, motorcycle cops; car cops; an officer was standing in the middle of the intersection directing traffic. Then, four or five limousines pulled up. We were watching out the window, and all at once the doors of the limousines opened. 'They are coming in here,' I said. 

"I think they were from Thailand, maybe "a maharaja or maharani or something like that. They had saris on, things in their noses. Beautiful women and tiny little men. They all had cameras around their neck." Once Ball and Vance saw what was happening, they tried to rush upstairs to put some clothes and makeup on. It was too late. Ball was caught struggling up the stairs. 

"They didn't notice anything. There were 12 people, plus a public relations man, and they just paraded through the house. They wanted to take my picture in the backyard. "I didn't know who they were. But as they were going out the door, Viv said: 'We'll have to drop in on you some day.' And one of the little men bowed and said: 'By all means.'  (2)

Right now, one version of a Lucille Ball television show is playing somewhere in the world. It seems Lucille Ball is always on. Clearly, she is the most successful performer in the history of television perhaps the richest. 

~ Chicago Daily News

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FOOTNOTES FROM THE FUTURE

(1) Actor Bruce Cabot’s most recent interaction with the redhead was in a 1964 Bob Hope special, “Have Girls, Will Travel”. He also starred with Ball in 1949′s Sorrowful Jones, and 1950′s Fancy Pants, both of which featured horses. Cabot died in May 1972.

(2) Vivian told this same story on “Dinah!” when she surprised Lucille Ball on an episode of Shore’s talk show aired on December 1, 1975, more than two years later. In the television version the foreign guests turned out to be the King of Siam (now Thailand) and his retinue.  The punchline remained the same. 

1972-1978

Dinah Shore  was born Fannye Rose Shore in 1916. She was a singer, actress, and television personality, and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the Big Band era, but achieved even greater success a decade later, in television, mainly as hostess of a series of variety programs. Her first recordings were with Desi Arnaz’s mentor, bandleader Xavier Cugat, and she later changed her named to Dinah after her success with the song of the same name. She was famous for blowing a kiss to her audiences (“Mwah!”) at the end of each show. Her passions were golf, cooking, and painting. Shore died in 1994.

“Dinah's Place” aired from 1970 until 1974 on NBC and was canceled to make way for a network edition of the then-syndicated game show “Name That Tune.” It won a 1973 and 1974 Emmy Award. Lucille Ball made three appearances on this iteration.  It was succeeded by...

“Dinah!” (1974 to 1979) was focused on celebrity interviews promoting recent motion pictures, books and other television programs. It was a popular forum for musical acts receiving national exposure performing short song sets followed by a sit-down interview with Shore. A highly successful vocalist and recording artist herself, Shore would usually sing at least one song on each program; she sometimes dueted with musical guests. Each episode was ninety minutes in length. During the summer of 1976, the show was re-branded as “Dinah and Friends.” “Dinah! was canceled by CBS in 1981.

Dinah Shore guest starred as herself on a 1971 episode of “Here's Lucy” (S4;E7). 

Ball and Diana Ross appeared on “Like Hep!” a 1969 Dinah Shore special.

Lucy interviewed Dinah Shore on her CBS radio show “Let's Talk to Lucy” on January 11, 12 & 13, 1965.

Dinah’s Place

September 11, 1972

Lucy makes Irish coffee and tells how she broke her leg.

The day before Lucy had appeared on “A Salute to Television's 25th Anniversary”

Dinah’s Place 

March 26, 1974

This appearance was part of Lucy's promotional tour for her new movie Mame.

Two days earlier she had appeared on “The Tonight Show.”

Dinah’s Place 

June 24, 1974

Lucille Ball talks about her role in Mame and demonstrates ballet-barre exercises.

Lyle Waggoner shows how to construct an art deco table.

The cape Lucy wore was made of swatches of all Lucille Ball’s costumes in the film Mame. Lucille Ball took several years of ballet lessons as a child. 

Lucy at the barre instantly recalls Lucy Ricardo’s rehearsal with Madam LeMond (Mary Wickes) in “The Ballet” (ILL S1;E19). 

Dinah! 

November 4 or 6, 1974

Lucy shares the stage with the Kingston Trio and George C. Scott.

Lucy promotes her upcoming special “Happy Anniversary and Goodbye” airing November 10, 1974.

Dinah!

April 29, 1975

Dinah's guest is Lucy's Mame co-star Bea Arthur, who played Mame's bosom buddy Vera Charles in the film. Lucille Ball is only seen in archival footage of Mame. 

Vic Damone is the musical guest.

Dinah! 

May 15, 1975

Dinah hosts Lucy along with Vivian Vance, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Bert Parks, and musical guest Sha Na Na.

Four days later Lucille Ball was seen on “The 26th Annual Emmy Awards” telecast.

Dinah! 

September 23, 1975

Dinah’s guests include Lucy, John Byner, and George Segal.

Dinah! 

December 1, 1975

Lucille Ball is joined by her daughter Lucie Aranz, her co-star Vivian Vance, her mother Dede Ball, and her friend Zsa Zsa Gabor.

In this appearance, Lucy is wearing a dark wig with silver highlights.  

Lucy's special with Jackie Gleason “Three For Two” aired two days later.

Lucy and Vivian had not seen each other in more than a year.

Vivian says she's been selling coffee, mostly. Vance was the spokesperson for Maxwell House at the time.  

Vance produces a “mock contract” that Ball gave her (for laughs) years earlier. It is this “contract” that has given rise to the rumors that Vance was contractually obliged to stay overweight and dowdy while working for Lucy.  

Vivian also tells the story of how the King of Siam toured Lucy's house while the two of them were dying their hair.  

Dinah! 

June 4, 1976

Lucy is joined by Valerie Harper, Carol Burnett, and Gale Gordon.  

Dinah convinces Lucy and Valerie Harper to sing “Hey, Look Me Over” from Wildcat. Harper was in the chorus of the 1960 musical with Lucy.

Carol Burnett recalls meeting Lucy for the first time on her second night performing Once Upon a Mattress off Broadway.  

Dinah puts up a still photo from Carol's first time on “The Lucy Show” (TLS S5;E7) in 1966.  

Dinah puts up a second still photo although neither Carol nor Lucy can identify it. It is from a January 1969 appearance on “Here's Lucy,” the only time Burnett played herself on one of Lucy's shows.

Gary Morton's loud guffaw can be heard in the studio audience.

Carol recalls Lucy giving her a baby shower, where her husband Gary “roasted” the various baby gifts.

Lucy talks about her co-stars and Dinah puts up a photo of Gale Gordon from “Lucy and The Great Airport Chase” (HL S1;E18) in 1969. Dinah runs film clips of Gale getting wet during “Here's Lucy” (although she calls it “The Lucy Show.”) 

To Lucy’s surprise, Gale Gordon enters to talk about it. 

Lucy talks about doing scenes in the freezing Colorado River during “Lucy Runs the Rapids” (HL S2;E4) in 1969. Lucille Ball talks about her trepidation about doing television without her radio stars Gale and Bea Benadaret, who got other jobs.

Lucy says the most dangerous thing she's done was to slide down a fire pole full speed in “Lucy and Viv Are Volunteer Fireman” (TLS S1;E16) in 1963. 

She also was scared of working with the live porpoises in “Lucy at Marineland” (TLS S4;E1) in 1965. Lucy says the porpoises head-butted her in the kidneys underneath the water.  

Dinah asks Gale if he's ever thought of getting even with Lucy. With a gleam in his eye, Gordon pulls out a seltzer spritzer, and the other women clear out as Lucy begs him not to do it!  Of course, Gordon has the spout facing himself and gets soaked. Unfortunately, the camera is on the cowering women, not Gordon at the time.  

Dinah! 

July 23, 1976

Dinah interviews Lucy and her husband Gary Morton as well as actor Jimmy Stewart. 

Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme are the musical guests. 

The musical husband and wife had played themselves in a 1973 episode of “Here’s Lucy” (HL S6;E3).

Dinah! 

April 15, 1977

Dinah Shore salutes Bob Hope along with his movie co-stars Rosemary Clooney, Jane Russell, Lucille Ball, Rhonda Fleming, and Dorothy Lamour. 

Hope is there to promote his new book “The Road to Hollywood.”

Lucy gets a standing ovation from the studio audience on her entrance.

Lucy tells a story about their first movie together, Sorrowful Jones (1949). Hope wanted to insert more humor into the script, while Lucy wanted to play the scene seriously. In the end, Lucy got her way.  

On the film Fancy Pants (1950), Lucy says “I nearly killed him” doing the stunts. She praises the film's director George Marshall.  

On The Facts of Life (1960), it was Lucy who ended up in the hospital after taking a fall getting into a boat.  

About Critic's Choice (1963), it is clear that this was a film Lucy didn't want to do. Lucy and Hope were obliged to do a 11-theatre promo tour to “sell” the film. Hope calls it their only flop.  

After all the other ladies have joined the panel, Lucy adds that her experience with Bob was that he was not over-anxious to rehearse. Ball was a stickler for rehearsals.

Regarding Hope's dancing, Lucy said “He knows three steps and he's used them for 30 years.”

Dinah! 

November 16, 1977

Dinah Tributes “First Ladies” of the Entertainment Arts: Lucille Ball (First Lady of Television), Ella Fitzgerald (First Lady of Jazz), Elizabeth Taylor (First Lady of Motion Pictures), and Beverly Sills (First Lady of Classical Music). Taylor is interviewed via remote on the telephone.  

Dinah also accords Lucy the titles of First Lady of Show Business and First Lady of Comedy.

Lucy's last sitcom special “Lucy Calls the President” aired five days later. Dinah calls it “The Lucille Ball Special.”  A clip starring Steve Allen (who plays himself) is broadcast. John William Young (center) is also in the scene. 

Starting alphabetically, Lucille Ball is Dinah's first guest.  She gets a standing ovation.

Audience members ask questions of Lucy:

Q: “What do you think of women who dye their hair?” A: Lucy deflects to Dinah, but then says a woman has a right to dye her hair.

Q: “Did you ever do anything with Sinatra?” A: Lucy gets a worried look on her face and wonders what she means. Dinah says “Junior or Senior?” Lucy says they only have worked together on charity functions.

Q: “Do you drive your own car or do you have a chauffeur?”   A: Lucy says she has her own car AND she has a chauffeur.

Q: “Is either one of you jealous of each other?” A: Dinah goes to a commercial!   

After a break, Dinah asks Lucy if she could do any part of her career over, would she.  Lucy emphatically says no. Lucy says she met the US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. They talked about canning vegetables and raising children. She never got to know Bess Truman, who was a quiet, private woman. Lucy recalls meeting Mamie Eisenhower at the White House with the cast of “I Love Lucy.” She recalls that President Eisenhower didn't let her get a word out in a receiving line. When meeting President Johnson, she asked him if all receiving lines were like that, and demonstrated the “keep it moving” handshake IKE gave her. According to Lucy, LBJ was flung to the floor by her demo. Lucy met his wife Lady Bird later at their Texas home.  

Ella Fitzgerald sings “I'm Beginning To See The Light” by by Duke Ellington, Don George, Johnny Hodges, and Harry James.

Beverly Sills tells Lucy that she once got a review of her appearance in a comic opera that compared to her to “Lucille Ball with high notes.” Sills sings “Italian Street Song” by Victor Herbert and Rida Johnson Young.

Elizabeth Taylor does a pre-recorded interview via remote. In 1974, Taylor played herself on an episode of “Here's Lucy.”  Lucy has never met Sills or Fitzgerald before this interview.

In the commercial break Ella Fitzgerald told Dinah that she hates singing duets because she's afraid of messing up. Dinah says that Lucie Arnaz (who is not on the stage, but may be at the taping) said “If Ella messes up, it's an album.” Lucy praises her daughter's sense of humor. Lucy talks about holding her tongue during Wildcat. She says she shut up “one too many times.” Dinah asks Lucy what she wants her son and daughter to remember. She says she wants them to hold onto the ‘little adventures’ they had together.

After a break, Dinah congratulates Sills on getting a star on the Walk of Fame. Lucy says she's never seen her star but that her mother found it and told her she should have it moved!  

Dinah asks Lucy how she handles her anger. Lucy says she slams doors, breaks dishes, and kicks a few things.

Dinah!

June 5, 1978

Lucy is joined on Dinah’s couch by her husband Gary, her daughter Lucie, friend and colleague Robert Osborne, and Carl Reiner. 

LUCY’S FRIENDS AND FAMILY ON DINAH!

Lucie Arnaz made seven appearances between 1975 and 1978.  

Desi Arnaz Jr. made three appearances between 1975 and 1978.

Vivian Vance made three appearances between 1975 and 1976.

Gary Morton made three appearances between 1977 and 1978. 

Dinah!