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Johnny Carson interviews Lucille Ball
This excerpt from the Tonight show from March 22, 1974 features two comedy legends together, late night king Johnny Carson and sitcom legend Lucille Ball.
I never thought Lucy came off very well in TV interviews, in this one she mugs her way through a good portion of these segments.
After 23 years, Lucille Ball no longer had a show to do, Here’s Lucy ended in 1974 after 6 seasons and Lucy moved over to NBC to do specials that weren’t that highly rated or well produced. Or funny.
Lucy was at the tail end of her days as the Queen of Television and starring in the big budget motion picture flop Mame in 1974. It was controversial that Lucille Ball was awarded the role of Mame (for one thing Lucy couldn’t sing very well), insiders would have preferred the part go to Angela Lansbury who originated the role of Mame on Broadway in 1966 and won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for the production.
Ironically, Frank Sinatra wanted Lucille Ball for the role of Mrs. Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate but director/producer John Frankenheimer nixed that idea in favor of Angela Lansbury.
One bright spot in this interview comes when Lucy is surprised by her son, Desi Arnaz, Jr., toward the end of this talk.
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Johnny Carson interviews Lucille Ball
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