August 2006 – Day 3 – Finale: Lane Loves Lucy! (A.K.A. Lucy Fans Love Lane)
This wonderful weekend drew to a spectacular close with a tribute to the man who has been the backbone of Hollywood for almost eight decades – Charles Lane. Unlike the author’s breakfast, and the Bob Schiller legends event, this event didn’t begin with a conventional screening of one ILL episode, but with opening remarks by filmmakers Garret Boyajian and George Ridjaneck. Garret seemed to do most of the talking while George seemed to be doing more backstage stuff at first. Garret introduced his and George’s documentary presentation for Lucy fans entitled “Lane Loves Lucy.”
From the very beginning of the documentary, I would tell that this doc was going to be something just a little “outside the box” (in a very good way) and that us audience members were in for a real treat! The opening was the traditional ILL “heart-on-satin” opening, which was colourized, and a few frames into opening, the music stopped and the “I” was scratched out and written over with “Lane”. Great start! What came after this clever opening was something truly special – a short visit with a living legend.
Our host, Ole’ Charlie Lane himself, now a sprightly 101, is still as wonderful as ever. He still looks almost exactly the same as he has since 1949, having suffered from Elizabeth Patterson Syndrome where one visually reaches the age of 75 at 40, staying fixed there for their wonderful career. He still has that distinctive, slightly nasal way of speaking, but, with age of course, his voice is slightly more deliberate than when he was enduring Miss Grant before she took Richmond or economically procreating an all-girls softball team. I am also pleased to report that, like Bob Schiller, his sense of humour has not taken a vacation! Charlie talked about first becoming friends with Lucy at R.K.O. when they were bit players together. He talked about many of his subsequent movies (including Look Who’s Laughing and Miss Grant Takes Richmond) and, of course, his many appearances on I Love Lucy and The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour.
Charlie says that of all his hundreds of appearances in movies and television, he gets the most recognition from his appearances with a certain redhead whose name escapes me at the moment… I was also pleasantly surprised that due space was given to Charlie’s recurring role as Mr. Barnsdahl on The Lucy Show. He was fantastic in his too-few appearances with Lucy Carmichael and Viv Bagley but, in my experience anyway, these appearances are rarely mentioned. If many people in the audience had been limited to the lousy public domain episodes of TLS on the market today, I hope the brilliant clips of Lucy and Barnsdahl included in this documentary sold new fans on TLS. The hilarious clip of Lucy ravishing Charlie in “Viv Sues Lucy” got a huge laugh out of the audience.
Also included in the documentary were clips from Charlie’s 100th Birthday Party (including a Lucy Show reunion with Candy Moore and Jimmy Garrett, and a reunion with Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League member Peggy Rea!!!!)! I am so glad that Garret and George were on hand to film this historic occasion. Also included was a special visit to Charlie by Lucy-Desi Museum board members including Ric, Wanda, and Mary Rapaport. So many brilliant people came to this event that to have it lost to the ages would be tragic…along with Desilu’s unspeakable destruction of the ILL outtakes. At the end of the short documentary, Charlie made mention of the fact he was unable to come in person to Jamestown (“I’m too old!”) but just having him take part in a documentary for Lucy fans at his impressive age was more than I ever would have expected!
But the tribute to Charlie didn’t end with “Lane Loves Lucy”, we were also given a sneak peek to the full-length documentary on Charlie that Garret and George are working on. After seeing this tribute, I can’t wait to see the finished product. Ah, who am I kidding, I’ve been dying to see this ever since I first heard about its conception…seeing the preview has just turned me into Pavlov’s Dog! I need more!!! The documentary “You Know The Face” looks amazing! It starts off with Charlie catching up with old friends at a local restaurant, just shooting the breeze and making very funny remarks. Charlie’s still got it! The preview also showed many rare photos of Charlie and his wife Ruth presented very groovily (yes, groovily) in the form of a newspaper “The Centenarian Times.” Interviews with many of Charlie’s friends and co-stars are also incorporated into the documentary including Phyllis Diller, Jamie Farr, William Schallert, Sally Field, Frank Cady (!), and Linda Kaye Henning. Great stuff!
That’s not all, folks!
After the two screenings, it was time for “Lane Loves Lucy” trivia! This part was a video trivia contest where questions were screened on the…well, screen…with specially made graphics. The questions were multiple choice and the players were selected from raffle tickets received by each audience member at the door. An example question:
What is the character name of the person in “Lucy Tells The Truth” who auditions for the casting director before Lucy?
a) Minnie Finch
b) Mercedes Minch
c) Kathryn Card
If you answered “a” or “c” you would have heard a buzzer saying you were wrong, but if your answer was “b”, your answer would have been “dinged” and would be followed by a video clip with the answer. Thankfully Mercedes was the first “fowl” singer WE had heard that day…too bad the same couldn’t have been said by Charlie’s character. Each winner won a Lucy “bunco” game!
After spending the afternoon with the one and only Charlie Lane, only made possible by Garret and George, Lucy’s Birthday Celebration 2006 drew to a close. We were able to catch up with old friends, make new friends, empty our wallets, honour the first couple of comedy, and spend time with legendary performers and creative minds. A big ‘thank you’ for everyone who made this weekend possible!
From the very beginning of the documentary, I would tell that this doc was going to be something just a little “outside the box” (in a very good way) and that us audience members were in for a real treat! The opening was the traditional ILL “heart-on-satin” opening, which was colourized, and a few frames into opening, the music stopped and the “I” was scratched out and written over with “Lane”. Great start! What came after this clever opening was something truly special – a short visit with a living legend.
Our host, Ole’ Charlie Lane himself, now a sprightly 101, is still as wonderful as ever. He still looks almost exactly the same as he has since 1949, having suffered from Elizabeth Patterson Syndrome where one visually reaches the age of 75 at 40, staying fixed there for their wonderful career. He still has that distinctive, slightly nasal way of speaking, but, with age of course, his voice is slightly more deliberate than when he was enduring Miss Grant before she took Richmond or economically procreating an all-girls softball team. I am also pleased to report that, like Bob Schiller, his sense of humour has not taken a vacation! Charlie talked about first becoming friends with Lucy at R.K.O. when they were bit players together. He talked about many of his subsequent movies (including Look Who’s Laughing and Miss Grant Takes Richmond) and, of course, his many appearances on I Love Lucy and The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour.
Charlie says that of all his hundreds of appearances in movies and television, he gets the most recognition from his appearances with a certain redhead whose name escapes me at the moment… I was also pleasantly surprised that due space was given to Charlie’s recurring role as Mr. Barnsdahl on The Lucy Show. He was fantastic in his too-few appearances with Lucy Carmichael and Viv Bagley but, in my experience anyway, these appearances are rarely mentioned. If many people in the audience had been limited to the lousy public domain episodes of TLS on the market today, I hope the brilliant clips of Lucy and Barnsdahl included in this documentary sold new fans on TLS. The hilarious clip of Lucy ravishing Charlie in “Viv Sues Lucy” got a huge laugh out of the audience.
Also included in the documentary were clips from Charlie’s 100th Birthday Party (including a Lucy Show reunion with Candy Moore and Jimmy Garrett, and a reunion with Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League member Peggy Rea!!!!)! I am so glad that Garret and George were on hand to film this historic occasion. Also included was a special visit to Charlie by Lucy-Desi Museum board members including Ric, Wanda, and Mary Rapaport. So many brilliant people came to this event that to have it lost to the ages would be tragic…along with Desilu’s unspeakable destruction of the ILL outtakes. At the end of the short documentary, Charlie made mention of the fact he was unable to come in person to Jamestown (“I’m too old!”) but just having him take part in a documentary for Lucy fans at his impressive age was more than I ever would have expected!
But the tribute to Charlie didn’t end with “Lane Loves Lucy”, we were also given a sneak peek to the full-length documentary on Charlie that Garret and George are working on. After seeing this tribute, I can’t wait to see the finished product. Ah, who am I kidding, I’ve been dying to see this ever since I first heard about its conception…seeing the preview has just turned me into Pavlov’s Dog! I need more!!! The documentary “You Know The Face” looks amazing! It starts off with Charlie catching up with old friends at a local restaurant, just shooting the breeze and making very funny remarks. Charlie’s still got it! The preview also showed many rare photos of Charlie and his wife Ruth presented very groovily (yes, groovily) in the form of a newspaper “The Centenarian Times.” Interviews with many of Charlie’s friends and co-stars are also incorporated into the documentary including Phyllis Diller, Jamie Farr, William Schallert, Sally Field, Frank Cady (!), and Linda Kaye Henning. Great stuff!
That’s not all, folks!
After the two screenings, it was time for “Lane Loves Lucy” trivia! This part was a video trivia contest where questions were screened on the…well, screen…with specially made graphics. The questions were multiple choice and the players were selected from raffle tickets received by each audience member at the door. An example question:
What is the character name of the person in “Lucy Tells The Truth” who auditions for the casting director before Lucy?
a) Minnie Finch
b) Mercedes Minch
c) Kathryn Card
If you answered “a” or “c” you would have heard a buzzer saying you were wrong, but if your answer was “b”, your answer would have been “dinged” and would be followed by a video clip with the answer. Thankfully Mercedes was the first “fowl” singer WE had heard that day…too bad the same couldn’t have been said by Charlie’s character. Each winner won a Lucy “bunco” game!
After spending the afternoon with the one and only Charlie Lane, only made possible by Garret and George, Lucy’s Birthday Celebration 2006 drew to a close. We were able to catch up with old friends, make new friends, empty our wallets, honour the first couple of comedy, and spend time with legendary performers and creative minds. A big ‘thank you’ for everyone who made this weekend possible!
posted by Brock at 10:08 PM
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