Levy, Ralph

I Love Lucy - The Complete First Season

A domestic comedy featuring Lucy Ricardo, her bandleader husband and their neighbors.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 11-JUL-2006
Media Type: DVD

I Love Lucy - The Complete Second Season

Season 2 of I Love Lucy includes two of the most famous half-hours in television history. "Job Switching," originally broadcast mid-September of 1952, is the crazy, battle-of-the-sexes episode in which husbands Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) and Fred Mertz (William Frawley) trade roles with wives Lucy (Lucille Ball) and Ethel (Vivian Vance), culminating in the men making a shambles of domestic chores while Lucy and Ethel take disastrous work at a chocolate factory. That's right: This is the show where the ladies have a Chaplinesque experience with a too-fast factory conveyor belt, forcing them to hide candies in their mouths, in their hats, and down their blouses lest a tough forewoman fire them for incompetence. A half-century later, the scene is still so fresh and funny it would grace any current sitcom. "Lucy Goes to the Hospital," which received an amazing 71.7 rating on January 19, 1953, is the historic episode featuring the birth of Little Ricky and a load of wonderful slapstick. Other television series (The Dick Van Dyke Show) and movies (Nine Months) have tried to top Lucy's time-to-go-to-the-hospital shenanigans, but there's nothing like the sight of Ricky and Fred falling all over themselves or Ricky showing up at the maternity ward (direct from a voodoo-themed show at the Tropicana) in witch doctor makeup.

The other 31 episodes included in I Love Lucy: The Compete Second Season have choice moments, too. "Lucy Becomes a Sculptress" finds the ever-ambitious redhead falling for empty flattery at an art-supply store and commencing an ill-advised career working in clay. Ricky agrees to bless this new endeavor if an art critic says she has talent, but Lucy tries to increase her chances by posing as a bust of herself--resulting in mayhem, of course. The usual running themes in I Love Lucy--Lucy's misguided desire to be a part of Ricky's musical career, and her penchant for disguising herself to investigate something--are all over The Complete Second Season. "Ricky Loses His Voice" is a delightful piece in which Ricky's laryngitis inspires Lucy, the Mertzes, and an aging chorus line to put on a Tropicana spectacle, and "Ricky Has Labor Pains" finds Lucy and Ethel going undercover as male reporters to find out what happens at a stag party. Lots to enjoy here, and the special features include bloopers, information about the guest cast, and snippets from Ball's radio show. --Tom Keogh

From its 1951 premiere to the present day I Love Lucy has never been off the air! You'll see why in this hilarious five-disc DVD collection containing the show's entire second season. Laugh out loud at such gems as "Job Switching" - in which Lucy and Ethel do unforgettable battle with a chocolate factory conveyor belt; "The Handcuffs" - in which Lucy cuffs herself to Ricky and then loses the key; and "The Operetta" - in which Lucy's money problems bring down the curtain on her role as 'Queen of the Gypsies.' This collection also includes the groundbreaking "pregnancy shows" including the touching moment at the Tropicana when Lucy breaks the news to Ricky that they are going to have a baby and "Lucy Goes to the Hospital" - the record-setting episode that garnered the highest rating in the history of television!DVD Features: Featurette: Disc 23- Behind the Scenes Featurettes Disc 5- Behind the Scenes Slide ShowAdditional Scenes: Deleted footage and lost scenesBloopers: Flubs on discs 1-5Other: Guest Cast Information (all discs) Original Openings (all discs) Production Notes on discs 1-4 Lucy's Radio Show on discs 1-4System Requirements: Running Time 779 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSICS Rating: NR UPC: 097368796942 Manufacturer No: 879694

I Love Lucy - The Complete Fourth Season

A domestic comedy featuring Lucy Ricardo, her bandleader husband and their neighbors.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: I LOVE LUCY
Title: SEASON 4
Street Release Date: 05/03/2005
Domestic
Genre: TELEVISION

I Love Lucy - The Complete Seasons 7-9

The I Love Lucy Hour Shows is a series of hour-long specials that aired from 1957-1960 that continued the I Love Lucy saga. Housewife Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) lives in Westport Connecticut with her bandleader husband Ricky ( real-life husband Desi Arnaz) and their son Ricky Jr. (Keith Theibodeaux.) Always nearby are the couple's best friends Fred and Ethel Mertz (William Frawley and Vivian Vance.) Ricky's job as an entertainer requires him to travel a lot. As a result he often takes Lucy little Ricky and the Mertzes with him to such far-off places as Japan and Mexico. Ricky's career also allows him to meet many famous celebrities from Betty Grable to Ida Lupino. Of course when Lucy meets up with these celebrities chaos naturally ensues.System Requirements:Run Time: 739 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097368513440 Manufacturer No: 851344

From Lucy-tormented Hollywood A-listers and bongo-propelled production numbers to archival goodies such as long-lost footage, there is much to love in this collection of all 13 episodes from The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show (also known as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour). Following I Love Lucy's sixth and final season, these monthly (give or take) specials reunited America with Ricky and Lucy (and Keith Thibodeaux's adorable Little Ricky, still living the country life in Connecticut. The expanded, hour-long format allowed for celebrity guest stars and excursions to far-flung locales, such as Japan and Mexico. Not matter where they go, Lucy can always be counted on to act, in Desi's words, "a little crazy in the head," which is how she winds up masquerading as Ernie Kovacs' chauffeur in "Lucy Meets the Moustache" (an episode making its home-video debut), dangling Milton Berle from a construction crane in "Milton Berle Hides Out at the Ricardos," or sparking a uranium uproar in Las Vegas in "Lucy Hunts Uranium."

A highlight of this set is the first-ever home video release of the uncut version of "Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana," a flashback episode in which Lucy meets Ricky on a "maiden voyage" to Cuba. She also meets future best friend Ethel (Vivian Vance) and her new husband Fred (a toupeed William Frawley), and goes overboard for her first celebrity sighting, Rudy Vallee. Because these episodes do not play as often in syndication, they seem fresher than their endlessly re-run counterparts. They are full of delights for movie, TV, and Lucy buffs, among them, Fred MacMurray getting "Uranium" fever, Maurice Chevalier singing "Yankee Doodle Boy" in the "Mexico" episode, prolific character actor Sid Melton as a bellboy in the "Alaska" episode, and a va-voom Vance decked out as maid and a dance hall girl, respectively, in the "The Celebrity Next Door" and "Milton Berle" episodes. Among this set's prodigious bonus features include 1951 color footage that an audience member surreptitiously filmed, rediscovered scenes that were cut from the original broadcasts, and a filmed presentation to Westinghouse, which sponsored the series. If you don't add this to your library, you have some 'splainin' to do. --Donald Liebenson

I Love Lucy - The Complete Sixth Season

The sixth and final season of I Love Lucy finds new laughs in some old formulas while also expanding the hugely popular show's horizons with a change of scene. Things get off to a familiar start when Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) gets in the middle of husband Ricky's business--in this case, disguising herself as a hot dog salesman at Yankee Stadium in order to get near Bob Hope. Hope, she believes, has ignored Ricky's offer to be the first act at his new nightclub. But, in fact, Hope had already agreed; Ricky was just sitting on the information to keep Lucy from getting typically ditzy in front of one of his celebrity pals. Not surprisingly, mayhem follows when poor Hope finds his hand slathered with condiments and his noggin bonked by a foul ball. Other celebrity sightings include Orson Welles, who copes with Lucy's aspirations as a Shakespearean actress, and George Reeves, television's Superman, who shows up unexpectedly, in costume, at Little Ricky's birthday party. Meanwhile, Lucy--who didn't want to disappoint the tyke--stands in a makeshift Man of Steel outfit on a window ledge, in the rain.

A number of episodes concern Little Ricky (Keith Thibodeaux) now that he's old enough to be a functioning character on the show. In "Little Ricky Learns to Play the Drums," the lad takes after his musician father and starts playing percussion, leading to some frayed nerves. A couple of episodes later, young Ricardo gets a bad case of stage fright at school, and Lucy suggests Ricky let him play the drums at the nightclub. (But then, of course, she has to figure out how to talk her son into performing.) A big change comes to I Love Lucy in the season's second half, when the Ricardos decide it's time to become homeowners and pull up stakes at their old Manhattan apartment. Moving to a nice, new house in Connecticut, they're soon joined by Fred (William Frawley) and Ethel (Vivian Vance), and the season's storylines take on a distinctly suburban flavor, with country clubs, barbecues, and gardens figuring into the comedy. With those developments, I Love Lucy came to a close after making television history as a much-beloved sitcom. Lots of special features, including multiple audio commentaries, flubs, lost scenes, and five episodes of My Favorite Husband, Ball's radio show. --Tom Keogh

They say all good things must come to an end but the sixth and final season of I Love Lucy's leaves a hilarious legacy with this four-disc must-have DVD set. Season Six of this classic television sitcom sees the Ricardos longing for a less-hectic life in the country so they make plans to move to rural Connecticut . . . but not before Lucy leaves The Big Apple reeling with some riotous escapades. To help further her "showbiz" aspirations Lucy attempts to get chummy with comedian Bob Hope at a baseball game by masquerading as both a hot dog vendor and a tobacco-chomping pitcher. Then with Little Ricky's birthday approaching Lucy makes a superhuman effort to have Superman (George Reeves) appear at the festivities. And only Lucy could somehow wind up with jockey Johnny Longden's loving cup stuck firmly on her head! Will life in rural Connecticut be more tranquil? Well not when Lucy believes that her wedding ring has fallen into the mortar Ricky has used to build a new patio barbecue. And in one of the funniest TV episodes ever Lucy learns the hard way that you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket er um blouse! Here are all 27 "Final Season" episodes of I Love Lucy television's timeless unforgettable comedy series.System Requirements:Running Time: 713 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 097368809246 Manufacturer No: 880924

I Love Lucy - The Complete Third Season

A domestic comedy featuring Lucy Ricardo, her bandleader husband and their neighbors.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 11-JUL-2006
Media Type: DVD

I Love Lucy - The Complete Fifth Season

I Love Lucy: The Complete Fifth Season finds Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) making an international mess out of husband Ricky's globe-trotting tour as an entertainer. Beginning with "Lucy Visits Grauman's" and "Lucy and John Wayne," the impulsive redhead risks Ricky's sanity in Hollywood by stealing a cement slab, from the famous entrance to Grauman's Chinese Theater, that contains the imprint of John Wayne's footprints and signature. In the tradition of superstars playing themselves on I Love Lucy, an exasperated (and very funny) Wayne gets into the act over and over and over again, making new imprints on multiple slabs because Lucy keeps messing up the results. After more shenanigans in Los Angeles (Lucy attends a ritzy party with a dummy substituting for her unavailable husband) and a disastrous train ride home, it's time to jeopardize Ricky's success during an interview show that ends disastrously.

Lucy's fifth season travel theme continues when Ricky and his band are booked on a European tour that does not include his wife or the Mertzes. Of course, that doesn't stop the determined Lucy (or Ethel), who schemes her way into Ricky's plans, only to have a number of snafus arise as she tries to leave the country. In the I Love Lucy tradition, entire episodes are written around such simple matters as trying to get a passport, or helping with Fred's fear of getting seasick while traveling. All this show's stars really need is a ridiculous, open-ended situation to exploit, and the comedy flows from there. "Bon Voyage" is a particularly funny episode in which Lucy gets left behind by the European-bound ship carrying Ricky and the others, and she has to find a way to get back aboard. The hilarious "Lucy and the Queen" finds her angling in London for a way to meet the Royal Family after Ricky is invited to say hello at the Palladium. From there, Lucy creates chaos in Scotland (this episode includes a memorable dream sequence in which Ricky appears as Scotty MacTavish MacDougal MacCardo), Paris (where she and Ethel plot to meet guest star and good sport Charles Boyer at an outdoor café), Rome (the outstanding "Lucy's Italian Movie" finds her dispatched to a vineyard, where she has to crush grapes--brilliantly--with her feet). Lots of special features, including a behind-the-scenes peek and bloopers. --Tom Keogh

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: I LOVE LUCY
Title: SEASON 5
Street Release Date: 08/16/2005
Domestic
Genre: TELEVISION

Do Not Disturb

An American couple's relocation to the English countryside strains their marriage.
Genre: Musicals
Rating: NR
Release Date: 30-JAN-2007
Media Type: DVD

Beverly Hillbillies: The Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1

Original Music...Newly Restored !! From the creative genius of TV pioneer Paul Henning (The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show, Love That Bob, Petticoat Junction), comes the story of poor Ozark mountaineer Jed Clampett and his kin, striking it rich with oil and headin' for Beverly Hills, California. Join the feistiest Granny of them all, wise Uncle Jed, his critter-loving daughter Elly May and love-crazy Cousin Jethro in their unrefined, legendary quest for an idyllic West Coast existence. Welllll, Doggies! This astounding Ultimate Collection, with rare footage culled from creator Paul Henning's private archive, features 26 newly-restored and unedited episodes with the classic opening and closing theme songs (The Ballad Of Jed Clampett), the complete and never-before-broadcast pilot (The Hillbillies Of Beverly Hills), rare cast commercials, interviews and a heapin' helpin' of behind the scenes footage.

Petticoat Junction - Ultimate Collection

Includes Original Music...Return to Hooterville and ..."Come ride the little train that is rolling down the track to the junction!" The long-running television classic Petticoat Junction (CBS-TV, 1963-1970) was one of the most successful and beloved situation comedies of the 1960s. Created by Paul Henning, the same mastermind behind The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction ranked as the fourth-highest rated series during its debut season. Set in the folksy farming community of Hooterville, Petticoat Junction centers on Kate Bradley, a widow who runs the charming Shady Rest Hotel with the help of her three beautiful young daughters - Billie Joe, Bobbie Joe and Betty Joe - along with the girls' Uncle Joe. Sam Drucker runs the local general store. Railroad engineers Charlie Pratt and Floyd Smoot operate the Cannonball, a steam engine train that runs through the valley and brings a host of interesting visitors and humorous mishaps to the Shady Rest. This Deluxe Collector's Set features 20 restored episodes complete with the original theme song from the show's first year. It also contains all-new, trivia-packed introductions by actress Linda Kaye Henning (Betty Joe Bradley). Additional bonus features include a special documentary, "The History of Paul Henning and Hooterville," with rare footage, photographs and cast interviews from Petticoat Junction, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres and more.=20 Vintage network promos and cast commercials round out the set, making it a must-have for any fan of classic TV. So..."Forget about your cares, it is time to relax at the junction."