I am watching the Hallmark marathon of the Lucy/Desi comedy hour and there is a question I have regarding the Milton Berle episode. At the end when Ethel (Viv) is singing, is that Vivian's voice or has it been dubbed? I think Ms. Vance was graceful, funny talented and so lovely. Her voice was especially gorgeous but in the (Milton Berle episode) it does not sound like her voice to me. It's been driving me crazy every time I watch that episode.

Also, while I am posting about the Lucy/Desi comedy hour specials, which is your favorite? I like the one with the racehorse, only because little Ricky is featured in it, instead of being shipped off to spend the night with a friend. I always thought Keith Thibodeaux was a doll and a great young actor.

I don't know about Vivian Vance's voice, but NOTHING Lucy and Desi ever did beats the LDCH episode with Bob Cummings. The scene where Lucy dukes it out with that goldfish has got to be the single funniest bit she ever did. Every time I watch it I laugh so hard I cry. I'm laughing now just remembering it. Many other good laughs in that episode, Lucy following Ricky around on her knees begging for pearls, Ethel smacking Fred on the head with the fan at the Geisha House and the classic bathtub scenes with Lucy and Bob. Anyway, I have a crush on Bob Cummings! I thought he was one of Hollywood's most handsome leading men from that era. Great, enduring episode that I'll always love.

I don't know about Vivian Vance's voice, but NOTHING Lucy and Desi ever did beats the LDCH episode with Bob Cummings. The scene where Lucy dukes it out with that goldfish has got to be the single funniest bit she ever did. Every time I watch it I laugh so hard I cry. I'm laughing now just remembering it. Many other good laughs in that episode, Lucy following Ricky around on her knees begging for pearls, Ethel smacking Fred on the head with the fan at the Geisha House and the classic bathtub scenes with Lucy and Bob. Anyway, I have a crush on Bob Cummings! I thought he was one of Hollywood's most handsome leading men from that era. Great, enduring episode that I'll always love.
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Thanks so much for your reply and I just finished watching the Bob Cumming's episode! You are so right, he was indeed a very handsome man. I was thinking that he had a great smile didn't he? I too, loved Lucy crawling on her knees while talking with Ricky, for some reason, it strikes me so funny. Lucy was definitely the Queen when it comes to physical comedy. Fred deserved that smack from Ethel when he says that even the best pearls would look like they cost $2.98 if Ethel were wearing them:rolleyes: You have made me think of the Bob Cumming's episode in a new way, I will have more appreciation for it from now on.

Vivian Vance had a great singing voice. I don't think there would be a need to dub it.

The best of the 13 hour shows were Tallulah Bankhead and Danny Thomas. I really didn't care that much for the rest to be honest.

It seems like Vivian Vance recorded her song before taping the show and it was dubbed in after the taping.

The best of the Lucy And Desi Comedy Hour for me is "The Celebrity Next Door" and "Lucy Makes Room For Danny". These two shows seem closest to an "I Love Lucy" episode. The other hour shows that I liked were "Lucy Wants A Career", "Lucy's Summer Vacation", "Milton Berle Hides Out At The Ricardos"(This show up to when Ricky punches out Mildred), "The Ricardos Go To Japan", "Lucy Meets The Mustache", and "Lucy Goes To Alaska".

"The Celebrity Next Door" and "Lucy Makes Room For Danny" nearly every scene is classic "I Love Lucy".

It seems like Vivian Vance recorded her song before taping the show and it was dubbed in after the taping.

The best of the Lucy And Desi Comedy Hour for me is "The Celebrity Next Door" and "Lucy Makes Room For Danny". These two shows seem closest to an "I Love Lucy" episode. The other hour shows that I liked were "Lucy Wants A Career", "Lucy's Summer Vacation", "Milton Berle Hides Out At The Ricardos"(This show up to when Ricky punches out Mildred), "The Ricardos Go To Japan", "Lucy Meets The Mustache", and "Lucy Goes To Alaska".

"The Celebrity Next Door" and "Lucy Makes Room For Danny" nearly every scene is classic "I Love Lucy".
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Thanks so much to everyone for their replies and thanks especially for the answer to my question about Viv's song. I think she has an A-MAZING voice for example when she does that song from "The Chocolate Soldier." In Ethel's hometown.

Yes, "The Celebrity Next Door." Is a classic, I love the lines:

Lucy:" I've been thrown out of better places then this."
Tallulah Bankhead:" You've never been in better places then this.":lol:

I also have fond memories of watching Make Room for Daddy as a kid so I love the Danny Thomas episode and you're right, these two do most closely resemble I Love Lucy episodes.

I am watching the Hallmark marathon of the Lucy/Desi comedy hour and there is a question I have regarding the Milton Berle episode. At the end when Ethel (Viv) is singing, is that Vivian's voice or has it been dubbed? I think Ms. Vance was graceful, funny talented and so lovely. Her voice was especially gorgeous but in the (Milton Berle episode) it does not sound like her voice to me. It's been driving me crazy every time I watch that episode.

I've often wondered the same thing, but I tend to believe that is her voice for a couple reasons: 1) Vivian Vance had a long track record in musical comedy and knew how to sing; she knew how to use her vocal chords and project her voice in ways that sounded very different from her speaking voice; and 2) I've heard her on a couple other occasions singing with traces of the voice we hear in that Milton Berle episode. In these clips, if you listen closely, there are a couple points where she sounds like she did in that Milton Berle episode. The first is from her first screen appearance at age 24 in Take a Chance from 1933. Vivian appears at 5:44 in this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVP2qnCMcXw

And this is three decades later in The Lucy Show, singing "Steamboat Bessie," by her longtime friend, Max Showalter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d-pCNQ0xNg

I've often wondered the same thing, but I tend to believe that is her voice for a couple reasons: 1) Vivian Vance had a long track record in musical comedy and knew how to sing; she knew how to use her vocal chords and project her voice in ways that sounded very different from her speaking voice; and 2) I've heard her on a couple other occasions singing with traces of the voice we hear in that Milton Berle episode. In these clips, if you listen closely, there are a couple points where she sounds like she did in that Milton Berle episode. The first is from her first screen appearance at age 24 in Take a Chance from 1933. Vivian appears at 5:44 in this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVP2qnCMcXw

And this is three decades later in The Lucy Show, singing "Steamboat Bessie," by her longtime friend, Max Showalter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d-pCNQ0xNg

Aw, thanks so much for the clips Little Ricky! I am going to watch them now (Vivian is my favorite from the show, such talent!) I'm also glad to know that you too have wondered about her singing in that episode, I'm glad I am not on my own:)

Wow!! Just watched and what a voice and style, Viv had, these clips have me thinking your right, had to be her singing in the Milton Berle episode.

Thanks again!

I also loved the Talllulah Bankhead and Danny Thomas episodes the best. The Fred McMurray one was corny but I really enjoyed that one too.

Well, I like the episode with Cesar Romero and Ann Southern. It does not match historically with some things that had been stated, but the talented cast is telling this new story so well !

My favorite part is Lucy's duet with Desi on the drums.

In Bart Andrews' THE I LOVE LUCY BOOK, you'll read that Vivian Vance was actually a talented musical actress as well as a comedienne. She appeared in several Broadway musicals, such as "Hooray for What!" and "Red Hot and Blue." Between gigs, she sang in New York bistros (her best songs included "Danny Boy" and "Japanese Sandman", which she also sang in the Alberquerque episode, only to be upstaged by Ricky, Lucy and Fred and some goofy vaudeville schtick.)

In fact, William Frawley had a history of vaudeville performances dating back to the 1910s....and he too wasn't a bad singer! Both William and Vivian were actually insulted when Jess Oppenheimer asked if they could sing. And as it turned out, it was a bonus that we still enjoy in such episodes as "Lucy's Show Biz Swan Song."

;)

Well, I like the episode with Cesar Romero and Ann Southern. It does not match historically with some things that had been stated, but the talented cast is telling this new story so well !

My favorite part is Lucy's duet with Desi on the drums.

Actually, I think the duet scene ("That Means I Love You") in "Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana," had Ricky singing to Lucy's drum accompaniment!

Good thing Lucille McGillicuddy played saxophone far better than conga drums!

In Bart Andrews' THE I LOVE LUCY BOOK, you'll read that Vivian Vance was actually a talented musical actress as well as a comedienne. She appeared in several Broadway musicals, such as "Hooray for What!" and "Red Hot and Blue." Between gigs, she sang in New York bistros (her best songs included "Danny Boy" and "Japanese Sandman", which she also sang in the Alberquerque episode, only to be upstaged by Ricky, Lucy and Fred and some goofy vaudeville schtick.);)

Indeed, Vivian Vance had a very lengthy career in musical comedy dating back many years before I Love Lucy. Here she is at age 23 or 24 in the earliest known footage of her performing. I understand this was filmed in New York. Vivian Vance is the woman on the staircase. At 5:44, she has a brief solo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVP2qnCMcXw

In fact, William Frawley had a history of vaudeville performances dating back to the 1910s....and he too wasn't a bad singer!

William Frawley was very well-known decades before I Love Lucy. In fact, it was William Frawley who debuted the song, "Carolina in the Morning," way back in 1922! Here he is singing that same song years later when he made this recording in 1958:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQAUUFdAbSs

And here he is singing in a WWII-era promotion to support the war effort:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OVpLEeAZSg

Here's an even earlier clip of William Frawley, in the 1935 film, Ship Cafe, singing with Inez Courtney:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEJOHx9Dkw8

Incidentally, Inez Courtney later appeared in Lucille Ball's 1939 film, Beauty for the Asking.

I wasn't a real big fan of the "Lucy/Desi Comedy Hour". The idea of the Ricardo running into famous stars every week just never rang true. The one exception was the "Make Room for Daddy" episode, which was hilarious, and just as good as anything in "I Love Lucy"'s prime. EVERYONE was great in that episode, but my favorite scene was the snowball fight where sweet-as-pie Marjorie Lord tries to calm everyone down, and fed-up Lucy yells at her "Don't you EVER get mad?"

Not a great episode, but "Lucy Meets The Moustache" has sentimental value because it was the last time all four worked together. No one was talking on-set, making the scene where Edie Adams sings "That's All" very poignant.