Originally Posted by The Monkees
What in the hell is I Love Lucy: The Movie? I've never heard of this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_Lucy_%28film%29
Love Lucy was a 1953 feature film spin-off of the immensely popular sitcom I Love Lucy. Except for one test screening in Bakersfield, California, the film was never theatrically released and was shelved.
The film consisted of three first-season episodes edited together: "The Benefit", "Breaking the Lease" and "The Ballet". In the opening scene, Desi Arnaz speaks to the studio audience and introduces the cast, just as he would do at every filming of the show. Additional scenes featuring the cast were filmed and put between the episodes to tie them into one cohesive story. Eight minutes of newly shot fooatge were added for the beginning of the film and an additional five minutes were added to the end.[1]. Just as he would always do, Arnaz thanks the audience at the end and brings the cast out for a curtain call.
A test screening in Bakersfield, California went very well and Desilu prepared to release the film. But MGM demanded the movie be shelved because they felt it would diminish interest in The Long, Long Trailer which Lucy and Desi were contractually bound to promote. The I Love Lucy movie was ultimately forgotten.
But in 2001, the film was found and clips of it were featured in I Love Lucy's 50th Anniversary Special. A screening was held in August 2001 at the 5th Loving Lucy fan convention in Burbank, California.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_Lucy_%28film%29
OLD ARTICLE:
http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve...7C1%7C,00.html
Lucy Fans To See Lost Film
By Mike Szymanski
The soundstage where almost exactly half a century ago a funny red-head first shouted "Hey Ricky" was dedicated and dubbed "The Lucy Stage" on Thursday, kicking off the 50th Anniversary of "I Love Lucy."
The stage, film and TV starlet will be honored by about 3,000 fans gathering in Hollywood and Burbank over the next weekend for the fifth annual Loving Lucy Convention.
Among the things the Lucy fans will discuss and see is a Lucy Movie seen for the first time since its premiere screening in Bakersfield, Calif. decades ago. The long-lost film is actually three episodes of "I Love Lucy" that were created to bring the TV show to more audiences who may not have had access to TV, said one of convention organizers, Michael Stern.
"There are eight minutes of footage added at the opening and five minutes at the end, and there is some dispute as to who actually owns the film," said Stern, who is known as the ultimate Lucy fan, so dubbed when he met the startlet as a 12-year-old boy. In later years he went to her house to play her favorite game -- backgammon. He has since helped on many books, documentaries, conventions, memorabilia shows and the Universal Studios backlot museum dedicated to Lucy.
The film was never released after the first screening because studio execs decided to make a full-length feature in color and that became Ball's film "The Long, Long Trailer" (1954).
They will also be honoring Lucy's TV editor Dann Cahn, who found the lost footage of the recovered movie being shown.
The conventioners will have a bus tour through Hollywood, showing the spots where some of the wackiest moments happened on the TV show (stealing John Wayne's footprints from the Chinese Theatre and chasing celebs at the Brown Derby or by the pool of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel).
The weekend at the Burbank Hilton will have 75 vendors selling Lucy memorabilia, there will be panels of stars, writers, directors and experts, a trivia contest, a Lucy auction, a screening room and gallery.
"People come every year from all over the world, from Australia, Europe and everywhere," said Stern.
Convention organizer Rick Carl, who along with author and conference mastermind Tom Watson, said he was particularly thrilled about the dedication of the studio, which may help preserve a piece of Hollywood history.
"We had Johnny Grant (the unofficial Mayor of Hollywood) come out to dedicate the building and now the plaque is there for the whole world to see," Carl said.
Soundstage 2 at the Hollywood Center Studios, 1040 Las Palmas Ave. in Hollywood is where on Oct. 15 in 1951, Ball shot the first of her successful TV shows. The staged housed the show until 1953 when they bought their own studio space and created Desilu Productions.
There's a plaque now commemorating the spot at the stage, near the large gray elephant doors opening into the studio.
Loving Lucy is open to the public and is held at the Hilton Burbank Airport and Convention Center. The Lucy hotline is (818) 843-6000 or go to www.LucyFan.com.
