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| Ed Sullivan re: The 'Wildcat' Debacle | |
| Last Edit: Marlo*Manners 08:20 pm EDT 07/31/20 | |
| Posted by: Marlo*Manners 08:06 pm EDT 07/31/20 | |
| In reply to: re: The 'Wildcat' Debacle - JohnDunlop 07:56 pm EDT 07/31/20 | |
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| Yes she was on Ed Sullivan. Her voice is what it is but Lucy has star energy and a big theatrical personality. She could have done the show as long as she wanted to and it would have eventually paid back its investment. I think Lucy got tired of doing it night after night. Also, the weird thing is that Lucy started as a chorus girl in early movie musicals - a "Goldwyn Girl" so maybe more of a showgirl. She should have had some dance experience. Also, she did lots of musicals - the film versions of "Best Foot Forward","Too Many Girls", "Fancy Pants" and "Dubarry was a Lady" - but she was dubbed by Trudy Erwin, Martha Mears and Annette Warren et al. And after the supposed "Wildcat" 'debacle', Lucy went on to purchase the film rights to "Mame" and insisted on doing her own singing despite rumors that Lisa Kirk was going to dub her. Also, 171 performances is not that bad a run in 1960. Musicals didn't have to run for years to make back their money in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. |
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| Link | Lucy and Paula Stewart on the Ed Sullivan Show |
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| How long was she signed for? Today, 6 months might be a full contract. | |
| Posted by: Delvino 10:18 am EDT 08/01/20 | |
| In reply to: Ed Sullivan re: The 'Wildcat' Debacle - Marlo*Manners 08:06 pm EDT 07/31/20 | |
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| Road try-out plus six months on B'way wouldn't be odd today, though with the assumption of a successful recast (Well, Josh Groban was to be replaced by a star, or maybe wasn't, but we'll leave that for another ethread). Was Ball signed for a year? Would she have left in August without health problems? | |
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| re: How long was she signed for? Today, 6 months might be a full contract. | |
| Posted by: FleetStreetBarber 10:56 am EDT 08/01/20 | |
| In reply to: How long was she signed for? Today, 6 months might be a full contract. - Delvino 10:18 am EDT 08/01/20 | |
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| I think I recall reading that she planned to do the show for 18 months and had signed a 5-year lease on her UES apartment. | |
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| re: How long was she signed for? Today, 6 months might be a full contract. | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 10:48 am EDT 08/01/20 | |
| In reply to: How long was she signed for? Today, 6 months might be a full contract. - Delvino 10:18 am EDT 08/01/20 | |
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| Wildcat sold out performances when Ball was in the show. However, she wasn't able to consistently do 8 shows a week. According to every source I know of, Ball was the sole producer and she alone decided to close the show after 171 performances before the show was able to recoup. | |
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| re: How long was she signed for? Today, 6 months might be a full contract. | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 04:09 pm EDT 08/03/20 | |
| In reply to: re: How long was she signed for? Today, 6 months might be a full contract. - BroadwayTonyJ 10:48 am EDT 08/01/20 | |
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| It's kind of a shame that HELLO, DOLLY! didn't come along a few years earlier. I'm sure that David Merrick would have taken Ball as a replacement Dolly for however long she wanted to do it or could commit to do it between seasons of television sitcoms. And that show surely wouldn't have taxed Ball as a singer or dancer as much as WILDCAT might have done. Going in as a replacement for 3-6 months would have been ample time for Ball to discover that she would get bored (if that's the case) or figure out that an 8 performance week was not something she was either capable of or interested in doing. If FOLLIES had run longer, she might have been an interesting replacement Carlotta had that been something she was interested in at the time. |
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| re: Ed Sullivan re: The 'Wildcat' Debacle | |
| Posted by: FleetStreetBarber 10:04 am EDT 08/01/20 | |
| In reply to: Ed Sullivan re: The 'Wildcat' Debacle - Marlo*Manners 08:06 pm EDT 07/31/20 | |
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| I think it was more than mere boredom. Lucy was a shrewd businesswoman, and as co-owner of Desilu, which reportedly was the sole investor in the show, I doubt that she would have run out on the production if it weren't for the fact that she didn't have the health and stamina required for eight shows a week. Her performance on The Ed Sullivan Show came on the night before she was due to return to the show after a two-week vacation. She had collapsed on stage in the middle of Act II at a Saturday evening performance in February of 1961 and Sheilah Hackett, Michael Kidd's assistant and later his wife, stepped in and finished the show as Wildcat Jackson. (On the original unedited Ed Sullivan Show clip, you could hear Lucy cough during the chit-chat with Sullivan after "Hey, Look Me Over.") Then, a few months later, another hiatus was announced, this one to last nine weeks to give the star more time to recover, but alas a few days later the decision was made to close the show for good. | |
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| re: Ed Sullivan re: The 'Wildcat' Debacle | |
| Posted by: larry13 01:11 pm EDT 08/01/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Ed Sullivan re: The 'Wildcat' Debacle - FleetStreetBarber 10:04 am EDT 08/01/20 | |
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| Shelah Hackett, assistant choreographer for WILDCAT, did marry Kidd(1969 to his death in 2007)but first married Keith Andes, Lucy's leading man, a couple months into the run. As far as I know, she is still alive. | |
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