Tallulah Bankhead Made Hell For Lucille Ball

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Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were initially thrilled when they signed illustrious Broadway legend Tallulah Bankhead to be the special guest star on the second installment of their new monthly hour long series. Tallulah proved to live up to her tempestuous reputation and often showed up intoxicated during rehearsals completely unable to remember her lines. Highly professional Lucy was a stickler for tightly disciplined rehearsal time and was horrified by her unruly behavior.. Lucy vowed never again would a guest star be allowed to get away with that kind of behavior on one of her shows.
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Опубликовано:

11 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 35

@ChuckDransfield 9 месяцев назад

I wholeheartedly agree with you. Over the years I have spoken with people who were employed in various capacities by Lucille Ball.Almost every one of them personally told me that Lucy was one of the kindest and most compassionate bosses they ever had. The dissenters who claimed Lucy was such a bitch were usually the ones who were not prepared to do their jobs properly. Lucy expected everyone working for her to adhere to high standards. I may make a video in the future that addresses this.

@citygirlro 9 месяцев назад

What a fabulous story I wonder if her being drunk in and not knowing her lines and blocking, was all a ruse so that she could show up on go night with perfection. She more or less lowered the expectations of what to expect from her and then over delivered on the expectations. Great story.❤❤❤ love your bids. They are little flecks of gold on RU-vid.

@ChuckDransfield 9 месяцев назад

Thank you so much for your kind words. Yes, Lucille Ball later speculated that was precisely the tactic of Tallulah to intentionally throw off and upstage her fellow performers.

@michaelisennock8391 9 месяцев назад

Tallulah was a pro, and Lucy was jealous. She performed eight shows a week in "The Little Foxes", and knew what she was doing every second. A drunk Tallulah was still better than most of Hollywood at any moment. Hitchcock has the best story about Tallulah. While filming "Lifeboat", the crew noticed she wasn't wearing underwear and Hitch famously replied, "“I don’t know if this is a matter for the costume department, makeup, or hair dressing.”

@ChuckDransfield 9 месяцев назад

It is a given that Tallulah Bankhead was a supremely talented stage actress who consistently delivered marvelous performances. However, my own feeling is that not being fully prepared, not knowing lines, showing up drunk during rehearsals and throwing off other actors to prevent them from doing their best work was anything but professional behavior. I do not know of a single actor who would consider that being a “pro.” Lucy was completely justified to be angry.

@kevinryan4857 9 месяцев назад

Great Tallulah anecdote. Thank you.

@ChuckDransfield 9 месяцев назад

Glad you enjoyed it. Tallulah was one of the most colorful personalities in all of show business and there are many, many more stories to tell. If you scroll through my videos you will see another one where I tell of the time she attempted to seduce Noel Coward to somewhat predictable and hilarious results.

@aa19631963 9 месяцев назад

I love this episode. It remains one of the best, including the original I Love Lucy. Bankhead upstages Lucy in every scene, which is not easy to do. Regardless of the backstage drama, they produced a work of art. And kudos to Vivian Vance, who was hilarious and held her own as Ethel Mae the maid.

@ChuckDransfield 9 месяцев назад

I am so glad you said this because I completely agree with everything that you just said. It has always mystified me why people put down the hour long episodes because there are a few such as this that (at least in my opinion) are among the very best they ever did during the entire nine year run of I Love Lucy installments.

@hope5360 Месяц назад

@ChuckDransfield Hi! First time seeing your channel. So interesting! I checked out some clips and for the life of me, I couldn't see any errors. Loved all the performances. So funny!!!! 😂 Wish she was a regular...Her expressions were priceless. Easy for me to say, but I wish Lucy could have loosened up a bit? I think bc of Desi's issues...

@DavidLS1 9 месяцев назад

Cool story...even though fewer and fewer people are around who know who these women were.

@kevinhanson6106 9 месяцев назад

@david Sad but true, the younger generations only know the minimally talented the studios hire for looks and appeal. As well as AI that steal jokes from classic scripts and calls them new.

@ChuckDransfield 9 месяцев назад

Today Tallulah may be best known to present day audiences for the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour episode. Thank goodness it shows Tallulah at her sparkling comedic best.

@richardmcleod1930 9 месяцев назад

Lucille Ball was asked which woman and which man influenced her the most in her lifetime. Her response was Tallulah Bankhead and Orson Welles. She admired these two individuals more that any of the many she could have chosen.

@ChuckDransfield 9 месяцев назад

Interestingly enough after Lucy actually worked these two individuals she found the experiences to be perfectly maddening. Neither one was easy to get along with. I saw an interview in 1975 where Lucy was asked who her single greatest career influence was and her immediate response was Carole Lombard.

@richardmcleod1930 9 месяцев назад

I saw Lucille Ball in person at the Claremont Colleges Auditorium back in the mid 1980's while she was performing her live one woman show where the audience was allowed to ask questions and a brief film shown prior to the on stage and questions from the audience. This was put on by the Claremont Colleges in California. When the Colleges had this type of show, I was also able to see Carol Burnett and Cary Grant. All three were great shows and quite revealing during the questions from the audience section. Lucy was asked about her relationship with Desi and was quite rude in her response. I think everyone in the audience was surprised at how fast she could snap back if she didn't like the question. It was here Lucy was asked about the male and female individuals that impressed her the most by their personalities in her life that she named Tallulah Bankhead and Orson Welles. Glad I was able to see these three individuals (answering questions live) give One Person Shows at that time as all are dead now except for Carol Burnett.@@ChuckDransfield

@LawrenceMartinez-fb1tt 9 месяцев назад

My favorite Tallulah Bankhead quote,” 'My father warned me about men and booze but he never said anything about women and cocaine.'

@ChuckDransfield 9 месяцев назад

I think that’s my favorite quote also from Tallulah. Of course, there are many, many more to choose from.

@SuZ4242 9 месяцев назад

Good heavens! Of all of the vids to discover your channel on 🤣 I loved Ms Bankhead. She was quite underestimated and undervalued, IMO. It is hard to find her early work, but well worth the hunt 😉

@ChuckDransfield 9 месяцев назад

Welcome aboard! I am delighted and privileged to have you join my channel. I have so many wonderful old Hollywood stories that I plan to tell in future videos. This is a great love and passion of mine. Yes--Tallulah alone could keep me in entertaining stories for the next five years. Such a colorful and outrageous lady.

@SuZ4242 9 месяцев назад

@@ChuckDransfield Ta muchly! 😁 I saw her on... Merv or Dick Cavett...? in the 1960s or early 70s. During my "formative" years. She made an impression as a pioneer of independent women on the lines of Katherine Hepburn 😁

@lanceharsh7025 9 месяцев назад

Thanks for sharing the story. Absolutely loved it!

@ChuckDransfield 9 месяцев назад

I truly appreciate your kind words. Thank you. Tallulah is always a great source for colorful stories.

@JAMESPATTERSON-mk9sr Месяц назад

Anther commenter has it right when mentioning Miss Balls being a stickler for rehearsals and was put off by Bankhead's behavior . Even though she was a fan of Miss Bankhead and in fact asked for permission in the earlier days of ILL do an imitation of Miss Bankhead . Desi Arnaz was put off also but he should known that Miss Bankhead was " a quick study " just like he was similar to Jackie Gleason , with the ability to glance at script and have it down cold . But anyway that was one of the better episodes of the Lucy--Desi comedy specials . A little known fact : Bette Davis was originally slated to this show but was injured . I would imagine that Ball and Arnaz would have had a rough time with Miss Davis

@neildickson5394 8 месяцев назад

"Moped the floor "😂😂😂 The final outcome was exactly right. Had they gone with the original choice, the too expensive Bette Davis, I don't think it would have anywhere near the entertainment.

@ChuckDransfield 8 месяцев назад

I always wished there could have been a separate show featuring Bette Davis as a guest star. It is such a shame we never had the privilege of seeing her and Lucy work together.

@luminyam6145 9 месяцев назад

I have no idea how I found you but I am glad I did. This is quite fascinating.

@ChuckDransfield 9 месяцев назад

Thank you so much for your kind complement. The story I told was fairly easy to find because it has been described before in several biographies of Lucille Ball.

@LJ-ht4zs 8 месяцев назад

Lucille Ball was not okay with people who came late to rehearsals, were drunk, and did not know their lines. Tallulah threw other people off - due to her behavior.The same thing happened with Richard Burton. And he was furious that a tv personality should dare correct the great Burton. These type of people were narcissistic and cared little about others. While both had great abilities - the world had to put up with them. Burton was so drunk in later pictures he had to rehearse his lines sitting or lying down.

@ChuckDransfield 8 месяцев назад

According to most accounts of people who were on the set the week the Burtons appeared on Here’s Lucy they got along well. This was the stance that Lucille Ball took (at least publicly). What truly devastated Lucy was when Burtons’s personal diaries were published in the late 80’s and he had scathing things to say about her. Lucy tearfully told friends that she simply could not understand why he felt that way and could not understand his animosity.

@harpereion8702 Месяц назад

Where did this information come from? In all of the LUCILLE Ball interviews, I never her mention this. She died 35 years ago.

@ChuckDransfield Месяц назад

@@harpereion8702 The story of Tallulah Bankhead’s unprofessional behavior while working on The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour is well documented in the book Desilu: The Story off Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz by Coyne Steven Sanders and Tom Gilbert. It was also discussed by I Love Lucy writers Bob Carroll Jr and Madelyn Davis at several of the Lucille Ball conventions held in Burbank, Ca. during the late 1990s. One must remember that Lucille Ball rarely if ever discussed in interviews negative things that took place during the production of I Love Lucy.

@LJ-ht4zs 8 месяцев назад

While I liked Tallulah Bankhead on the Episode of "I Love Lucy" - I would not appreciate it if TB was actually acting to throw Lucille Ball off her game. She successfully did that but why? Because of her known predispositions to do things like that she was not welcomed on films and shows. So when I top rated person says "Come on Board" and you stick it to them, - shame on you.

@ChuckDransfield 8 месяцев назад

I think in the case of Tallulah she had a psychological predisposition for behaving in this manner when working. For certain, the woman had a number of self destructive traits that proved detrimental to her career. A magnificently towering talent but a troubled human being.