"Being The Ricardos"

Few people will argue that "I Love Lucy", which ran on network television from 1951 to 1957, and starring real life husband and wife Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez, is probably one of the funniest, and certainly one of the most significant and groundbreaking situation comedies in the history of television.  And this is not just a generational thing, either.  A few years ago while working with a group of middle school age kids at the Caring Place, I met an eleven year old girl in the group whose idol was Lucille Ball.  We all know the iconic scenes:  Lucy and Ethel in the candy factory, Lucy stomping grapes, Lucy doing the Vitameatavegamin commercial, and on and on and on.  "I Love Lucy" has lived forever in reruns, and it is said that on every singe day of the year, an episode of the show is being shown somewhere in almost every part of the world.

All this leads up to the new feature film written and directed by Oscar winner Aaron Sorkin, "Being The Ricardos".  Not a typical biopic, the movie focuses on one specific week in 1953 on the set of the filming of "I Love Lucy" when gossip monger Walter Winchell went on the air with the announcement that Lucille Ball had at one time been a member of the Communist Party.  Big news during the era of McCarthyism and the communist witch hunts of the House Unamerican Activities Committee , when such accusations and affiliations could and did ruin lives and end careers.  Now, such an accusation was being leveled against the biggest TV star in the country and the existence of the Number One show in America was now in jeopardy.  Oh, and at the same time, another Hollywood scandal sheet was writing about an alleged affair that Desi was having, and this was placing the Arnez' marriage in doubt.

The movie focuses on how Lucy, Desi, the other actors, writers, producers, sponsors, and CBS Network execs responded to and handled this crisis.   In flashback sequences, Sorkin also tells about how Lucy and Desi met, their courtship, and their tempestuous relationship. Oscar winners Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem play Lucy and Desi, and Kidman is sure to pick up an Oscar nomination for her role in this one.  Bardem also pulls off his portrayal of Desi, right down to the "'splain this, Loo-cee" Cuban accent and singing "Baba Loo" while banging on the conga drum. J.K. Simmons and Nina Arianda are also quite good in portraying William Frawley and Vivian Vance.  Other roles of note include old pros Ronny Cox and Linda Lavin playing the older versions of writers Bob Carroll and Madelyn Pugh, and Jake Lacey, who was so detestable in HBO's "White Lotus", as the younger version of Carroll.

Kidman and Bardem

and the real

Lucy and Desi....

Simmons and Arianda

as Frawley and Vance,

"Fred and Ethel"....

If you are expecting to see recreations of classic Lucy bits from the TV show, you may be disappointed.  Sorkin uses black and white footage to focus on scenes from the "I Love Lucy" show, but mostly scenes from the show that is being filmed in that particular week when the movie takes place.   We only get one look at Kidman doing an iconic Lucy bit:  Lucy Stomping Grapes.

The movie is both a history lesson and a tribute to a landmark television show and its iconic stars without falling into the trap of being a fawning nostalgia piece.  It is a well written and quality production, exactly what you would expect from Sorkin, with very good performances from the actors, especially Kidman, who, as I said above, should get Oscar consideration for this one.

Three Stars from The Grandstander.

And if you are interested in learning more about Lucille Ball (and Desi Arnez, too), I highly recommend Season Three of the Turner Classic Movie podcast, The Plot Thickens, which is simply titled "Lucy".  A ten part series hosted by TCM's Ben Mankiewicz.  It just concluded and was excellent.

On The Road Again at Peak'n Peek Resort, and We Still Love Lucy!

Mrs. Grandstander and I embarked on another "Retiree Adventure" this week with a three night stay at the Peek'n Peak Resort just outside of Findley Lake, NY.  If you are not familiar with it, "The Peak" is a ski resort about 15-20 miles east of Erie, PA, about a two and quarter hour drive from our North Hills home.  It had been about a dozen years or so since our last visit, so we decided to head back, and it was a great sojourn.

The resort has two golf courses.  I chose to play the more High Handicap-friendly Lower Course.

I was successful in bringing the course to its knees as I carded a blistering 97 on the round. You can define "blistering" any way you choose.  I define it as "anything under 100"!

After golf, we went poolside, where I rode down this bad boy:

The good news - it was a really fun.  The bad news - well, let's just say that you should always check your bathing suit pocket to make sure your cell phone isn't in there BEFORE you go into a swimming pool.  Oooops!

Walking back from dinner that night, I got this pretty neat picture of the moon over the Lower Course:

Now, you are probably wondering about that picture that appears at the right on the top of this post, so let me 'splain it to you.  On Thursday, we drove into nearby Jamestown, NY to visit a museum dedicated to perhaps Jamestown's most famous native and her husband. Perhaps you've heard of them.

Jamestown established a Museum to honor Lucille Ball soon after her death in 1989.  I believe that it was originally a "Lucille Ball Museum", but it is now, and has been since the mid-nineties, the "Lucy - Desi Museum" and honors Desi Arnez as well Lucy.  As near as I can determine, but could not really confirm, this was done at the insistence of their children, Lucie Arnez and Desi Arnez, Jr.  And why not?  While Lucille Ball was clearly the star of "I Love Lucy", and later sitcoms as well, it was the innovative ideas regarding television production and the business acumen of Desi Arnez that helped make "I Love Lucy" the landmark television show that it was, and remains to this day. According to the Museum, "I Love Lucy" is still on television somewhere in the world every single day of the year.

Each summer, the Museum hosts the Lucy-Desi Festival for Comedy.  Big time comedians come in to perform, there is a film festival, and it is a very big deal in the town of Jamestown. It looks like it is something that would be fun to attend some time.  In 2011, the Festival produced an event that landed in the Guinness Book of World Records when over 900 people gathered in one place while dressed as Lucy Ricardo.  How fun would that have been to see?

Finally, Jamestown also honors Lucy with huge murals on the sides of buildings throughout the town.  Jamestown loves Lucy.  Who doesn't?  The Museum is certainly worth a visit if you are in the area.

On the trip back to The Peak from Jamestown we made several stops in the areas surrounding the beautiful Lake Chautauqua, including a Mayberry-like village called Bemus Point...

...as well as a stop and drive through the famous Chautauqua Institute.  We pumped up the economy at several little shops pleasing to Mrs. Grandstander and had a great lunch a restaurant called Webb's Captain's Table, where I partook of a western New York specialty, a "Beef on a Weck".  Delicious.  We left Peek'n Peak at nine that morning and didn't get back until almost five o'clock.  It was like a work day, only fun!

It was great trip, probably our last overnight excursion in 2013, so we made the most of it.