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[papermoonloveslucy]

JOY OF LIVING

May 6, 1938

Directed by Tay Garnet

Produced by Felix Young for RKO Radio Pictures

Written by Gene Towne, Graham Baker, Allan Scott, based on an original story by Dorothy and Herbert Fields

Synopsis ~ Broadway star Margaret Garrett (Irene Dunne) has spent her whole life working to support her sponging relatives. When she meets carefree Dan Webster (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), she learns how to have fun for the first time.

The film was in production at RKO Studios from December 6, 1937 until February 8, 1938.

PRINCIPAL CAST

Lucille Ball (Salina Pine) makes her 36th film since coming to Hollywood in 1933. 

“Do you expect me to support this family of leeches?” ~ Salina Pine 

Irene Dunne (Margaret "Maggie" Garret) had appeared with Lucille Ball in 1935′s Roberta. Between 1931 and 1949 she was nominated for five Oscars. 

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (Dan Brewster) also appeared with Lucille Ball in Having Wonderful Time (1938). 

Alice Brady (Minerva) won an Oscar in 1938 for In Old Chicago. This is her only film with Lucille Ball. 

Guy Kibbee (Dennis) also appeared with Lucille Ball in Don’t Tell The Wife (1937). 

Jean Dixon (Harrison) also appeared with Lucille Ball in I’ll Love You Always (1935). 

Eric Blore (Potter) appeared with Lucille Ball in Old Man Rhythm, I Dream Too Much, and Top Hat, all in 1935. He also appeared with Ball in Fancy Pants (1950). 

Warren Hymer (Mike) also appeared with Lucille Ball in Kid Millions (1934). 

Billy Gilbert (Café Owner) appeared with Lucille Ball in His Old Flame (1935), I Dream Too Much (1935), So and Sew (1936), and Valley of the Sun (1942). 

Frank Milan (Bert Pine) makes his only appearance with Lucille Ball. 

Dorothy & Estelle Steiner (Dotsy & Betsy Pine) were real-life sisters making their first and only appearance with Lucille Ball. 

Phyllis Kennedy (Marie) appeared with Lucille Ball in 1937′s Stage Door. She was also Tallulah Bankhead’s maid in “The Celebrity Next Door”, a 1957 episode of the “Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” 

Franklin Pangborn (Band Leader) appeared with Lucille Ball in Stage Door (1937), A Girl, A Guy, and a Gob (1941), and Lover Come Back (1946). 

James Burke (Mac) appeared with Lucille Ball in Blood Money (1933), The Bowery (1933), and The Affairs of Annabel (1938). He was also seen on “I Love Lucy” as the owner of “The Diner” (ILL S3;E27) in 1954, and would go on to make an appearance on “The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour” (1958) as the man who deliver Whirling Jet the racehorse to the Ricardos. 

John Qualen (Oswego) appeared with Lucille Ball in The Three Musketeers (1938). 

Spencer Charters (Magistrate) appeared with Lucille Ball in The Farmer and the Dell (1936) and Look Who’s Laughing (1941). 

UNCREDITED CAST

Richard Alexander (Angry Man in Revolving Door)

Stanley Blystone (Cop at Dock)

Bill Cartledge (Boy at Skating Rink)

George Chandler (Taxi Driver)

Joe De Stefani (Waiter)

Bill Dooley (Courtroom Janitor)

Pat Flaherty (Autograph Hound)

Tay Garnett (Man on Phone in Newspaper Office)

Chuck Hamilton (Court Bailiff) 

Al Hill (Look Photographer)

Kenner G. Kemp (Roller Skater)

Fuzzy Knight (Sideshow Piano Player)

Mike Lally (Backstage Photographer) was a background performer who did ten films with Lucille Ball as well as two episodes of “I Love Lucy,” and at least one of “The Lucy Show”.  

Charles Lane (Fan in Margaret’s Dressing Room) was a ubiquitous character actor appeared in 7 films with Lucille Ball between 1933 and 1949; four episodes of “I Love Lucy” from 1953 to 1956, all as different characters; two episodes of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”; and four episodes of “The Lucy Show” as Banker Barnsdahl.

Frank Moran (Cop with Gravel Voice)

Clarence Nash (Donald Duck Voice)

Dennis O'Keefe (Man in Building Lobby)

Franklin Parker (Third Producer)

Bob Perry (Seaman)

Russ Powelll (Man Leaving Elevator)

Cyril Ring (Man in Margaret’s Dressing Room)

Bert Roach (German Waiter)

Grady Sutton (Florist)

Frank M. Thomas (Arthur)

Charles Williams (Pitchman at Recording Studio)

Harry Woods (Cop)

JOY OF TRIVIA

“Why do you always smile when I talk to you?” Miss Ball queries Doug [Fairbanks] between takes. "Because I’m a polite little boy,“ he replies. "You Rat” says Lucille coldly.

The film features the hit song "You Couldn't Be Cuter," written by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields.

The working title of this film was Joy of Loving.

According to an October 1937 news item, John Barrymore was set for the lead in the production.

It seems that the entire town of Tulare, California go on board to promote Joy of Living, with a give-away contests and all the local merchants participating. 

On April 16, 1942, a tragic car accident happened outside the Tudor Theatre in New York City where the film was playing. A car plowed into a pole by a drunken driver, killing his passenger. The press flashcubes also captured the ironic marquee in the background as the police attempted to cover the body.  

Ty Garnett's production budget quickly ballooned out of control, topping out at over a million dollars, an astronomical sum for films at that time. Despite the priceless talent, Joy of Living didn't have a chance at recouping its costs and was a financial failure for the studio.

A publicity photo of Lucille Ball taken for Joy of Living. 

Lucille Ball remembered watching the stars and comparing their styles; "Hepburn 'telegraphed,' she said - 'Well, I'm going to be funny' - whereas [Irene] Dunne always surprised, even in repeated takes of the same scene. But I watched her do takes-literally, one day there were thirty-two takes-and twenty-five must have been different. She really worked on how to do that scene. Where Kate would do it the same way every time and telegraph it every time.'"

The film enjoyed a worldwide release.  Here are film posters for France (left) and Belgium, which include both the Flemish (”Levens Vreugd”) and French titles. 

The film was released on DVD (Warners Archive Collection) on April 20, 2009. 

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Inside the sports/bar/deli from the episode Playback, with a bonus Mike Lally cameo in the last shot (left)!

Listen to us discuss this episode with our guest Dylan Meconis

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Nightmare Alley (Edmund Goulding, 1947)

[papermoonloveslucy]

Lucy and the Return of  Iron Man

S4;E11~ November 29, 1965

Synopsis

Lucy and Mary Jane spend a day at the track.  When they place a bet for Mr. Mooney, they mistakenly rip up his bet slip, so Lucy must go back to work doing stunts as Iron Man Carmichael in order to pay Mr. Mooney his winnings. 

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Gale Gordon (Theodore J. Mooney), Mary Jane Croft (Mary Jane Lewis)

Guest Cast

Saul Gorss (Rusty) was a Hollywood actor and stunt man whose career began in 1931 with The Front Page. This is his only appearance with Lucille Ball.  

Ross Elliott (Director) also played the director of Lucy's famous Vitameatavegamin commercial in 1952.  He played Ross, Ricky's publicity agent in three other episodes. From 1961 to 1964 he played another TV director on “The Jack Benny Program.”  He will do one episode of “Here's Lucy.”  

Sid Gould (Waiter) made more than 45 appearances on “The Lucy Show,” all as background characters. He also did 40 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” Gould (born Sydney Greenfader) was Lucille Ball’s cousin by marriage to Gary Morton. Gould was married to Vanda Barra, who also appeared on “The Lucy Show” starting in 1967, as well as on “Here’s Lucy.”

Helen Thurston (Lucille Ball’s Stunt Double) Thurston had done stunts for nearly every female star during Hollywood’s Golden Age, including Katharine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Doris Day, and Ethel Merman. Helen had been Lucy’s stunt double in films like “Two Smart People” and “The Fuller Brush Girl” and on TV, including doubling in the crane bucket sequence in "Milton Berle Hides Out at the Ricardos.”

The Racetrack Patrons are played by:

Monty O'Grady was first seen with Lucille Ball in The Long, Long Trailer (1953) and played a passenger on the S.S. Constitution in “Second Honeymoon” (ILL S5;E14). He was a traveler at the airport when “The Ricardos Go to Japan” (1959). He made a dozen appearances on the series and a half dozen more on “Here’s Lucy.”

George Hoagland was an uncredited extra in hundreds of movies and TV shows, including Lucy and Desi's film The Long, Long Trailer in 1953.

Kenner G. Kemp appeared in seven films with Lucille Ball between 1936 and 1960.

Mike Lally was seen in two episodes of “I Love Lucy” and eight films starring Lucille Ball.  

Arthur Tovey was seen in the Lucille Ball film Critic's Choice in 1960 and the TV special “Swing Out, Sweet Land” in 1970 in which Lucille Ball is the Statue of LIberty.   

Other uncredited background performers play the racetrack patrons and the pirates. 

This is the second of three Iron Man Carmichael episodes where Lucy gets to do stunts, this time in a pirate movie. The first (S4;E5) was a western and the last (S4;E22) will be a war picture.  All three episodes were written by Edmond Beloin and Harry Garson and were directed by Maury Thompson. Jesse Wayne was “The Lucy Show” stunt coordinator. In this one and the first, the Directors were played by actors who had also played directors on “I Love Lucy.”

We learn that Mr. Mooney and his (never seen) wife Irma have been married for 25 years.

At the track, Mr. Mooney bets on Banker's Dream, with odds of 25 to 1. Lucy and Mary Jane bet on Redhead Mary.  

Mr. Mooney says that a banker at the racetrack is as conspicuous as Yul Brynner standing among The Beatles. Actor Yul Brynner was known for being bald while The Beatles were a rock group known for their long, shaggy hair. The Beatles were mentioned in several episodes of “The Lucy Show.”  On “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” follicle-challenged Fred Mertz (William Frawley) often compared himself to Yul Brynner.

Mary Jane has taken a job as a script girl at the studio.  

The beach party movie being filmed on an adjacent sound stage is titled Who's the Dirty Meanie Who Stole Grandmother's Bikini?

Before Iron Man Lucy is shot out of the canon, she says “It's the only way to fly.” This was the advertising slogan of Western Airlines a US carrier that was in operation from 1926 to 1987, before merging with Delta Airlines. In 1965 R&B singer Jewel Akens (“The Birds and the Bees”) released a song titled “It’s the Only Way to Fly.”  The slogan was previously uttered in “Lucy Gets the Bird” (S3;E12).  

Callbacks!

Lucy Ricardo spent a good deal of time at the horse track – as a jockey – in “Lucy Wins A Racehorse”, a 1958 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”  

Blooper Alerts!

Blooper?  After Lucy / Iron Man is shot out of the canon, the camera pans over too far and a stage lighting instrument is in the frame!  Because we know that a movie is being shot, it is not really a blooper. 

Door is Ajar! Once again, Mr. Mooney enters Lucy's apartment but fails to shut the front door.

“Lucy and the Return of Iron Man” rates 3 Paper Hearts out of 5 

[mikelallyglasgow]

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Mike Lally: The Vision, Leadership, and Work Ethic Behind His Success

In this episode, we dive into the leadership and drive that define Glasgow-based entrepreneur Mike Lally. Known for his versatility across technology, construction, retail, and leisure, Mike brings a sharp vision and disciplined work ethic to every project. From founding his first IT networking company, Lalcom, as a teenager to launching Freedom Boat Club Loch Lomond in 2022, he consistently blends innovation with execution. His influence is evident in the growth of family businesses, the successful completion of major infrastructure projects, and the creation of award-winning ventures that reflect Scotland’s strong entrepreneurial spirit.

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Ellen Drew, Sonny Tufts, and Mike Lally in The Crooked Way (1949).