Tallulah Bankhead: " my father warned me about men and booze, but he never mentioned a word about women and cocaine."😂😂 that woman was a true individual!
I think this was the best of the hour long episodes. It felt the most like an I Love Lucy episode from a pacing and tone perspective. And Tallulah is superb.
It is definitely my favorite. When sitcoms bring on celebrity guests playing themselves it's often stiff and awkward, the celeb is just there for the effect. But here you have a legend like Bankhead (and this goes for the other Comedy Hour episodes and ones on I Love Lucy in Hollywood, etc) jumping right into the action just like any other 'regular' cast member
@@bookerjones8123 Lucy may be the only sitcom that had celebrities play themselves and have it be natural. They certainly had a long time to hone the practice. Lots of eps going back to the Holywood eps. It wasn't as natural on The Lucy Show. The way Lucy would just walk into their homes and hotel rooms was very skit-like.
@@nycp1969 I did kind of like the Milton Berle episode of The Lucy Show, and I recently re-watched the Here's Lucy one with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor; I actually hadn't seen that one since it first aired when I was a kid Somehow it was funnier than I remembered. But the I Love Lucy and Comedy Hour ones are definitely the best. It's not my favorite one, but who but Lucy could get Betty Grable to play herself scheming with Lucy to get Little Ricky a horse, like she's Ethel or something? Rather more entertaining than the way most sitcoms did it, where the guest star coming on stops the action and humor dead in its tracks and everyone gets real polite like it's visiting royalty or something
Its truly great that she had enough of a sense of humor about herself that she would do a scene like this. The ending in particular is poking fun at her whole on screen persona.
I love Tallulah Bankhead. She is totally hilarious and plays every character perfectly whether a caricature of herself or one of her many roles. You can’t help but love her. 💕
Of the Lucy/Desi Comedy Hours, this episode is my absolute favorite. It doesn't let up for one moment. I love t when Lucy calls Ethel her nanny. Actually, I shouldn't single that moment out - because I love EVERYTHING. And this wonderful cut doesn't even show us the play that they do in the end. (Watch out: Tallulah is allergic to strawberries!)
@@mazerook This particular episode of the *Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour* entitled "The Celebrity Next Door" originally aired on Tuesday, 3 December 1957. www.imdb.com/title/tt0637539/?ref_=nm_flmg_slf_16
Tallulah was truly unique in every way. Whilst sauntering down a NYC street someone stopped her, asking if she was Tallulah Bankhead. She replied, "I'm what's left of her daaahling!" Priceless.
Reminds me of what James Mason said he was asked by a little old lady in Dublin. She went up to him on the street and said: "Excuse me sir. But might you be, by chance, Mr. James Mason in his declining years?"
If you would like to see a splendid example of the portraitist's art, take a look at Augustus John's portrait of the young Tallulah, painted when she was performing in London.
Tallulah Bankhead was the daughter of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the granddaughter of one Alabama Senator, and the niece of another. She openly campaigned for Harry Truman in 1948. She was a prominent supporter of equal rights for black people in a day and age when that was not popular. Quite a gal.
Yes I had read this long ago and she did this against some of the will of her family. Seemed liked a opened minded person that lived her life by her own way. Also a great actor I have enjoyed a few of her movies.
Exactly I'm from Birmingham al and when I did my research on TALLULAH G.O.A.T. I LOVED HER EVEN MORE SHE LIVED HER LIFE FOR HER NOBODY'S APPROVAL WAS NEEDED WANTED OR CARED ABOUT. She loved to have fun spoke her mind no matter who didn't like what she said she was 100%REAL ALWAYS. TALLULAH BANKHEAD MISSED NEVER FORGOTTEN OFTEN IMITATED NEVER DUPLICATED
Lucy did not get along with Tallulah during rehearsals and taping, and wanted to fire her for her lackadaisical rehearsing attitude and for possible drinking on the set. But when it came time to actually tape the show, Bankhead kicked in and delivered a perfect, professional performance that stunned Ball and Arnaz. It was the highest rated show that week and is a classic to this day.
@@1Cheytown She gave him an ultimatum that if she ever suspected him of breaking his word about not drinking on the set or showing up tipsy, he’d be gone. He kept his promise and had another success after Lucy, as Bub on My Three Sons.
I wish women still dressed like this, particularly in the evenings foe a night out. Today they all look like they just stepped off an 8 hour shift on a garbage truck!
It's funny seeing Lucy and Tallulah in the same room. They're both such powerful presences, such legends, and yet they give off completely different energies
Verlicka Trickle It’s by far my favorite episode as well. The only other one that even comes close is Bob Cummings in Japan, with Lucy and Ethel as Geisha Girls.
Definitely a group effort, Lucy was secure enough to let Tallulah have the funniest lines, just like Jackie Gleason let Art Carney shine in the Honeymooners.
@@ActionMediaProductions Or Andy Griffith doing the same for Don Knotts. It's so nice to know some actors were secure in their own "self" that it wasn't always about them.
Tallulah Bankhead is the bomb! Of course it goes without saying that Lucille Ball's a genius. But how great is Tallulah Bankhead for poking fun at herself. She has a real comic's sensibility. This. Was. Great!
I think growing up watching old shows prepares you to converse with older people in various generations and see how they experienced how life was like decades before you were born.
They used to have a “Block Party Summer” where each day they’d run 6 episodes back to back of different shows. I know “I Love Lucy” was on Tuesdays and I couldn’t wait to get home from camp on Tuesdays to settle in and watch 6 whole episodes!
I read she drank heavily and didn't show up for practice which had Lucy and Desi very worried but they didn't know she was a professional and would know her lines, Lucy told her what a great job she did afterwards
@@dramamajor1985 Exactly. We never say "practice" in the theatah! Nor, for that matter, do we ever say "tryouts" when we mean "auditions!" So gauche!! 😉😄
Betty Davis must have been Tallulah Bankhead's " *Eve* " for sure ( _All About Eve_ ) ; it seems that Betty continued playing this _persona_ where Tallulah left off. P.S: Tallulah looked gorgeous here, ( _considering the decades of hard lights, hard liquor + cartons of non filtered cigarettes_ ) she was 55 yrs old. RIP to all of these great legends.
@@02chevyguy There are a lot of kids on these boards, and by kids, I mean under 30, who have the vaguest ideas about the great stars. Davis, Crawford, Garbo, Harlow.
@Jay Cee Tallulah Bankhead also played Judith in Dark Victory..who Bette played on film. Apparently Bankhead resented Davis for always getting to play the parts she excelled/made famous on Broadway.
@@leroymccoy9008 Tallulah also never forgave Davis for her shameless Bankhead impersonation in All About Eve, right down to the hairstyle. While the movie set box office records, Tallulah went on the radio and constantly quipped 'Dahling, have you seen that delightful little film, All About ME!?'
I love Tallulah Bankhead (mostly for appearing in one of my all-time favorite movies, "Lifeboat"), but also for a comment she made near the end of her life and career. When she saw the rushes of her work in the thriller 'Die! Die! My Darling", with Stefanie Powers, and realized how pitilessly the camera had revealed the ravages of the years, she turned to the director and said, "They used to shoot Shirley Temple through gauze. They should shoot me through linoleum."
I thought they only shot older actresses thru gauze to erase the wrinkles and such. Why would they use it on a young kid like Shirley Temple was at the time?
@@lray1948 It wasn't only done to improve facial appearance. Shirley (like Mary Pickford, another cinematic icon of sweetness and light) was often shot through gauze to make her look more angelic. "Soft focus" was another such technique. Similarly, villains were lit and photographed so as to seem to have angular, rock-hewn features. The ultimate in this form of "tagging" characters was achieved in 1965's biopic about Jesus, "The Greatest Story Ever Told", where, as one critic wrote sarcastically: "Everyone in the scene where the Pharisees catch the woman in adultery is dressed in white, except for the woman, who is in red; which, as everybody knows, is what adulteresses wear."
If you're partial to the theatre I highly recommend checking out Looped if you ever get the chance. It's a play about Tallulah in the studio trying to re-record a line from Die! Die, My Darling. Based on true events, but also with a good sprinkle of creative license ... it's quite a riot.
I don't see how these two great actresses could say their lines to each other without cracking up. Shows true professionalism. Lucy and Tallulah, what gems!
My all-time favorite Tallulah story concerned Our Heroine when she was appearing on Broadway. For some reason, the director didn't consider her bosom to be equal to the occasion, and insisted that she wear falsies. (How would you like to have been the guy who had to tell TALLULAH BANKHEAD that she had to wear falsies?) On opening night, Tallulah made a grand entrance at the top of a curving staircase, with her leading man awaiting her at the bottom. As she began her descent, one of the falsies popped out of her gown, and went bouncing down the stairs. The audience went crazy, and got even louder when Tallulah put her index finger on her cheek and STUDIED the offending object, as if she were Marie Curie examining radium. Then she looked down at the leading man, as the falsie continued its way down the stairs. "Well, for God's sake, darling, don't just stand there; SHOOT THE DAMNED THING!"
The original guest was Bette Davis, who was iving in Westport CT at the time. When she almost broke her leg, Tallulah stepped in at the last moment and did a magnificent job.
@@RLucas3000 I respectfully disagree. I love the very first of what I call "The Long Long Lucys," which showed how the Ricardos met when Lucy's cruise ship stopped in Havana, Guest stars like Ann Sothern, Cesar Romero, and Rudy Vallee, great period costumes (Fred with hair!), and musical numbers that included a drum duet, in which Ricky thumped what he said contained a coded message, and Lucy thumped it back to him on a table top. The pounding got more and more intense, and although it's been six decades since we watched it together, I still remember my mother screaming with laughter when it ended and a wild-eyed Lucy shouted "WHAT DID WE SAY?" Ricky just shook his head and said she was better off not knowing. Otherwise, I agree. "The Celebrity Next Door" is hands-down the best of the baker's dozen. As someone who drove around LA for 15 years with a "LUCY WHO" license plate framed by "Ethel Mae Potter We Never Forgot Her," it pains me to say that I think the "Three Bobs and a Babe" never really got the hang of filling twice as much air time. That's why we got the big musical number in "Lucy Wins a Racehorse," and the nine-minute pantomime sketch with Red Skelton in "Lucy Goes To Alaska." The latter was a highlight of the whole series, but "The Westport PTA 'Western Frolics'" with Milton Berle is downright embarrassing. The settings and the guest stars make the LLLs fun to watch, but, alas, we'll never treasure them like we do so many of the half-hours.
@@bobzeschin3154my son and I bonded over the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hours. The one with Ms. Bankhead was outstanding, but the other 12-- with the great guest stars--were hilarious as well. My favorite scene was with Tallulah and Ricky in the play--she has unwittingly warren something with strawberries and begins to itch uncontrollably. Ricky...well, y'all know the rest 😂
Arnaz and Ball were afraid that Bankhead would blow up during the filming of this episode , such at her state of drunkeness or being doped up . Also she did not like to rehearse , unlike Ball. They were surprised that she did this program spot on during the actual filming . Bankhead could apparently glance at a script and have everything down pat . She probably had been doing that for 30 years before this show . Arnaz should realized this since he was a " quick study " also.
The amazing thing is that Miss Bankhead was so lousy in rehearsals all week. She showed up drunk, missed her cues, flubbed her lines and Lucy and Desi were worried that they had made a mistake getting Tallulah Bankhead (An aside: they had originally tried to get Bette Davis; Tallulah was a last minute choice; Bette Davis and Tallulah Bankhead were rivals and despised each other). Then, on the night of filming this episode, Tallulah was nothing short of brilliant!
@@huascar66 Yes, I read about that and I also read that Tallullah when drunk flashed her twat to Lucy and Ricky and the crew : O I forgot where I read this but I do remember it.
@@huascar66 Are you sure they despised each other? I think Davis watched her playing the Little Foxes on Broadway to take ideas for the film and she said Bankhead was brilliant.
@@SyonisMacias Really? You would think they would hit it off, They are both strong and opionated. woman .Also Ms. Bankhead met her match, Lucy was sassy as she was.
@@SyonisMaciasHate is a pretty strong word and you say Tallulah Bankhead despised it but certainly did the full episode . Who cares about what you say in my opinion they really were awesome together .
MY GOOD WOMAN WILL YOU KINDLY LEAVE THE PREMISES BEFORE I GRAB YOUR PINK HAIR AND PULL IT OUT BY ITS BLACK ROOTS COME ON TALLULAH GIRL GIVE IT TO ME... THAT'S ONE FOR THE BOOKS... #1 ON THE BOOKS
When Vivian Vance names those stage hits of Bankhead there is a grain of truth . Vance was on Broadway as a supporting player in the 1930s when many of those Bankhead hits were current .
Other commenters have mentioned the rehearsal saga with Bankhead . Two little known facts: One was that Bette Davis was supposed to that particular show but was injured . Two Miss Ball was an admirer of Bankhead and indeed in one the early ILL episodes asked and received permission from Bankhead to do an imitation of her complete with a tight dress and long cigarette holder ,
I read once that *Tallulah Bankhead* once said to a former lover she hadn't seen in years... she said:: _"I thought I told you to wait in the car!"_ LOL! Class! 🚗
Bette Davis was supposed to play herself on this very same episode but for one reason or another - had to drop out. Needing a big name - Lucy & Desi gave the role to Miss Bankhead. Then they thought they have done a mistake because Tallulah had a few too many during rehearsals and didn't quite have it together. Lucy & Desi got panicky. However, when the episode was finally ready for presentation - Miss Bankhead rose to the occasion and produced the wanted results.
Thanks so much for posting this. It's one of the rare moments to see the later-day Tallulah Bankhead performing at her comedic best. Story has it that she was a royal pain during rehearsals, but when it came time for the taping, she was perfect. Just reading the quotes below makes me laugh; but I have to add another of my favorites: "What are these? Leftovers from 'The king and I'?"
Her outfit could have easily been a haute couture creation during the John Galliano Dior days, especially with that paint on the back, or even Christian LaCroix haute couture during his career.
I saw this originally on TV and have watched it again through the years and laugh just as hard at each viewing. Such gifted performers, great writing and, of course, their timing is impeccable.
There’s a family rumor that we may be a distant cousin of Talluah’s. I’m in the process of trying to connect the Alabama Bankheads with the Texas Bankheads. We’ll see!
@@josephcarlbreil5380 How do you know it's fake news? The poster specifically stated it was in TB's autobiography. That means she wrote it. You could read the book yourself.
This was top notch.My Goodness. What greatness those days were. Exquisite Talent everywhere.Amazing. Love watching and listening to anything from the past.
Tallulah belonged to The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Manhattan's Actors Guild along with Rex Harrison, Joan Fontaine, Basil Rathbone and Charlton Huston. An actor in the late 1800s was rejected for burial in other churchyards. His fellow actor, when Tr said yes, exclaimed, "God bless the Little Church Around the Corner." The charming church is still there for prayer and worship. She helped several families escape during the Spanish Civil War and World War II.
When I was 8 years old and was learning to speak English, I used to watch I Love Lucy a lot because there was so much physical comedy. And I remember the moment when I first saw Tallulah Bankhead on the show- I had never seen anyone like that in my life! She was stylish, stunning, and a little intimidating- lol. I was like, man I want to be just like her!
The first time I ever watched The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, this was the episode, of course I had seen I Love Lucy 100 times or more, and all of those episodes were always funny and entertaining, but this episode took the cake for me, I literally was in tears with laughter, and it still makes me crack up HARD every time I see it again. It's probably my favorite episode out of all of the different Lucy tv shows. Both Lucille Ball and Tallulah Bankhead we're both very strong ,independent highly intelligent, beautiful and funny women, especially for the time of their eras, they were both brilliant and determined and they knew where they wanted to go and what they needed to do to get there. After watching this episode the first time, it got me curious & fascinated with who this lady was, I was intrigued with her boldness, bluntness, her southern drawl, & her signature "Daaahling", so later I asked my mamaw about who she was & after the interesting Info she gave me, I did my own research and was pleasantly surprised & even amazed at this woman's real life and personal stories and antics, her career and her blatant IDGAF attitude. She didn't care to tell it like it was and she didn't appear to keep her personal life too personal or private at all, when asked (or when not asked) she told what ppl were shocked to hear about herself, especially for way back when with her "immorality" and especially when it came down to the subject of sex and obscenities! She would be totally serious about something and be shockingly crude while telling the truth in a jokingly & sarcastic manner . Disney's Cruella Deville cartoon was modeled after her, so there ya go lol I think I like Tallulah Bankhead most for her person and rowdiness and bold attitude, basically for being a badass woman in old country H'Wood, more than for her celebrity status and acting bc it's like Hell Yeah, you go girl, at the time while living in a man's world she definitely held her own, and could even cause some of those men to blush!😳 Some of Bankhead's quotes are absolutely legendary, it shows her true self and personality as a person & not as just an actress, I love that she was a woman that didn't feel suppressed by society in those times to be or say anything other than what she was or felt, I guess that's what I was trying to say the whole time! Lol🤣👍
The outfits there and on I L L always took me for a loop! I couldn't imagine going to the park with either of my children in the carriage or stroller dressed to the tee. Thank God for sneakers, jeans and tee shirts WOW! And the episode the loving cup when Ethel says I have never rode the subway in my blue jeans and am not about to start now I wonder what Ethel and Lucy would think about women wearing designer ripped jeans. Fred having a heart attack as a par is sometimes as high as $100! Phew!
I know the role of 'Cruella' was based on Tallulah Bankhead in the '61 '101 Dalmations' and anyone else who doesn't sound/act like her? Forget it. Definitely no on Emma Stone in the new film.
