Samesies. Nov 18 and I just started decorating and singing this. I'm sorry for all the times I rolled my eyes at people who needed this sooner. Ugh this year. 😞
"But Auntie Mame, it's one week till Thanksgiving Day now"! Don't worry kid your timing is not off. Walmart starts celebrating Christmas one week before Halloween.
Angela Lansbury made the *musical* role famous on Broadway in the musical Mame (1966). Rosalind Russell played her first in the non-musical Broadway play and subsequent 1958 film, Auntie Mame. Lansbury sang the song in a much higher key!
As the coronavirus pandemic grips us with anxiety and fear, we should all follow Mame's lead and light up the night with holiday lights and light hearted music.
This is the aunt I aspire to be, someone warm and loving and always there for my nephews. Somebody you can have fun with, that can put a smile on your face even when things look grim.
I’m 54, Long Island. Loved the song forever, but know not this at all. I played baseball, lacrosse and football as a young man. My sister was into the Drama Club and the band. A flutist? Thank you!!!
We all need a little Christmas now. What a wonderful embracing beautiful song. We need to remember the good times that will return with Gods blessings 🎄🎅🏻👍❤️😁
Just discovered this gem. We all need a little Christmas 🎄 right NOW when things are so uncertain! Of all versions of Auntie Mame, this is my favorite.🎅Who 🧑🎄doesn't Love 🤶 LUCY?
Hill m: Because it was an excellent property with great box office potential. But some Warner Bros. Z idiot allowed Lucille Ball to pay $2 million in order to get the film role and since she’s the core of the film, it was all downhill quickly. The screenplay wasn’t funny, the direction uninspired, better casting was available and Ball couldn’t sing, dance, gave bad line readings and was too old.
First heard this song on the radio at Christmas time. Very appropriate song for the holidays. I always thought that this song sounded like it was from a musical. Nice to know that I was correct.
Jackie McMeekin: I’m sorry that your loss of hearing makes you believe you’re hearing what you want BUT THE DAME PLAYING MAME CAN’T SING, FANCE, GAVE POOR LINE READINGS AND WAS TOO OLD. She’s supposed to be “Auntie” NOT “Granny” Mame!
As the years pass, this movie seems to get better and better with each viewing. It plays much better on the small screen than it does on the big screen. Lucy was actually very good in this movie, and when she "acts" an emotion, she is able to make us feel it with her. Her scenes with Bea Arthur (one of her close friends) are priceless. I especially love the "Bussum Buddies" sequence". Priceless timing and facial expressions.
It's "Bosom Buddies," and if you'd seen the original with Lansbury, you'd know how badly Lucy butchered her part of the song. And that little skippy dance she does with Bea Arthur is painful to watch.
@@jenniferdonlin6627 Lucy was coming off of a terrible skiing accident, and was fighting to regain the use of the leg, but was still hesitant to really give it 100%. She was standing still on her skis when another skier slammed into her, and as she put it, ""Screwed my leg into the snow". It was very serious with a few operations to repair the damage, and there was talk that she might never be the same again, but Lucy was ever the trooper and practiced with a dancer a few hours each day to regain as much strength in the leg as she could. But, unfortunately, she could never be "Lucy". again, and it depressed her greatly. The injury made it impossible for her to do her trademark physical comedy. "Mame" was certainly was not her finest performance, but it does improve with age, and is much more palatable when viewed on the small screen
@@TheVerbalVolley I'm a Lucy fan, too, and know all about her skiing accident. But no amount of dancing could've saved her performance. She was just too OLD. That's what it comes down to. Mame is no older than 45, she's not touching Social Security like Lucy. The critics savaged the movie and her performance, as well they should. That was the era when big movie musicals were on their way out. Not until Grease, four years later, did they come back--and that's only because the main cast was young, not creaky. If Lucy can't sing--and we all know she can't, it was a running joke on ILL for years--and she can't dance "100%," as you put it, then what's left? Her comedic timing? Her way with a quip? What? None of those things worked. You know it, as well as I do. No amount of defending this overblown elephant of a movie is going to raise it from the dustbin of Time.
@@TheVerbalVolley Bad acting, singing and dancing does not improve with age. Ball was advised from the start against this, or at the very least to have someone dub her voice, but she refused. She would never be able to carry a dance number, even prior to the accident, heck even when she was young; the same with singing too. She could've taken a supporting role (one that had NO singing and dancing).
This brings back memories both of when I first heard this song at Christmastime of 1979 with cuts of Christmas scenes from Cartoons on my local Channel 56 of Cambridge/Boston.Then to follow shortly after the New Year of 1980 in my Highschool's Production of the play of Mame. Then Shortly after this was when I first saw This Mame Movie on my local Channel 27 of Worcester for the first time.
It's fate that makes the difference and within a short span of time and the version outside of Mame has a one line difference where it's said either as in the Movie but it's just one week til Thanksgiving day now and in the play it's said but it's just one week past Thanksgivingday now.
Like me you are of the Creature double Feature/Saturday Matinee/Willie Whistle and "Uncle" Dale Dorman generation of Bostonians. I first watched this at Christmastime 1981 with my mum.
I had only ever seen this on a square TV screen where they crop the pictures. It really makes a difference to see the full screen like here as it played in the movie theater.
just so much ignorance around these comments....like the movie or not....here are just a few FACTS. Lucy always wanted to do this movie, and was going to film a few years earlier but she broke her leg. They waited for her to heal, and then for schedules to line up, etc. . . That somewhat limited her dancing.....So if it occurred as planned this would have been made when she was just a few years younger. No matter, Lansbury didn't want to do this. Her son was ill at the time and she was caring for him. Lucy, right or wrong, wanted to do this mostly because she felt there were too few family friendly options, and no musicals anymore which were "clean." She also loved the spirit of the story. She never felt she could sing or dance especially well, and admired others who she felt could, from her own daughter to Carol Burnett. I know this as my source was Lucille Ball. More than anything in life she simply took pleasure, great pleasure, to entertain.....she would be so happy to know that her reruns still air, and networks even play shows at Christmas.
They waited a year for her leg to heal, and Lucy thought this movie would return her to movies in a big way. She'd never been able to carry a movie by herself, always being paired with another superstar comic--like Bob Hope. She put all her hopes in Mame. Except there was one little problem. She just couldn't sing, her voice had been destroyed by cigarettes, and you can even hear her taking large breaths--something non-smokers know absolutely nothing about. I'm honestly surprised she didn't have an oxygen tank on the set. The character of Mame was vivacious and bigger than life. Lucy didn't come across that way. She was stiff and overly made-up, with enough foundation to make an undertaker proud. And the soft lighting didn't help. This was a vanity production all the way. And frankly, Lucy was woefully behind the times. She left the modern world sometime in the 1960s and entered into a fantasy world where entertainers like Lawrence Welk and Wayne Newton were "hip" and "cutting edge." Nobody wanted her type of "clean entertainment," which usually involved a guest celebrity and a production number, with Lucy front and center. Here's Lucy illustrated every week how badly she'd lost it. That's why Life with Lucy was such a monumental flop. She refused to change with the times.
@@jenniferdonlin6627 True, Here's Lucy showed how absolutely behind the times she really was, absolutely unwilling to adapt. She essentially was just stuck in time for almost 40 years. People wanted realistic shows they can relate to, hence the popularity of All In The Family, Mary Tyler Moore and Mash, and here she was still doing stupid, predictable slapstick with special guest stars in the November of their years, standing there and collecting a paycheck. Some you could even tell how embarrassed they were to be doing such hokey cameos. Fine, if she wanted to do a clean, sex-free musical, fine, then do it right. Take a supporting role (one that involved ABSOLUTELY NO singing and dancing) and let someone with musical talent, not to mention being the right age, take charge. Apparently the last two or three season producers and even Lucie Arnaz herself tried to convince Ball to adjust the format of the show, to tone down the special guest star gimmicks and all (Oh look, there's Ginger Rodgers), but to no avail. Not only that she went full throttle with this disaster, refusing to let a real singer do the vocals; at least then it could have had a successful soundtrack). And twelve years later Life with Lucy showed how stuck in time and unwilling to adapt, downright bull headed she was. All of this made you wish she had just pulled a Garbo after I Love Lucy.
@@ericnelson9100 Exactly--and well said. Jerry Herman, who wrote the score for Mame, was devastated by how Lucy butchered it. Take the "Need a Little Christmas" number. On stage, it's a joyous moment, and the song rightfully became a Christmas standard. When Lucy starts singing, with her basso, "hawlllll out the holleeee," it's like we're about to attend the showing in a funeral parlor. And when she starts prancing around, wearing a scary Santa mask, and marching as if she's leading a band (a shtick she did on I Love Lucy ("Friends of the Friendless"), The Lucy Show (with Donald O'Connor, another cutting edge guest-star), Here's Lucy and even Life with Lucy), the whole thing becomes like a deep throbbing toothache. I wanted Lucy to succeed because she was absolutely hilarious, when she wasn't fawning over Frankie Avalon, Sammy Davis, and Milton Berle, and the Burtons. But she was too busy trying to look embalmbed. Just watch her first big number, "It's Today." Again, on stage that's a great showcase, with lots of dancing and singing. In the film, she croaks out "Light the candles, roll the rug UP!" and proceeds to "dance" around the room (actually, she's carted around the room by some male dancers). Meanwhile, her face is frozen in a smile, like they're carrying around a mannequin. It's downright scary. Nobody but insane Lucyphiles want to see that crap.
What is wrong with you people? This was a wonderful role for the great Lucille Ball and she sang this song beautifully!!! We all need a little Christmas about now!
Lucy's performance isn't as bad as I remembered from seeing the movie 46 years ago, but this song makes anyone who sings it sound good! Jane Connell's spintho soprano grace notes are an added bonus.
How exactly does this particular song make anyone who sings it sound good? My upstairs neighbor Mrs Nayfack sings it for our rabbi every year and it is a sound you would not want to hear twice.
Watched this musical in high school and I remember someone in my class making fun of Bea Arthur’s performance and over half the class and the teacher going off on them!😂
HollowedJes: HOLLOWED BE THE NAME! Are you tone deaf?? Lucille Ball can’t sing, couldn’t dance, gave poor line readings and was too old which required the soft focus to hide (hint: It didn’t!). And it’s not “Dame Landsbury” but Dame Angela.
Tetsuya: Rosalind Russell is AUNTIE MAME but Dame Angela Lansbury will always be MAME. Rosalind Russell couldn’t sing any better than Lucille Ball (and she didn’t need a soft focus!)
I know the big debate tends to be Angela vs. Lucille, but as someone who generally prefers Angela's Mame, Lucille injects this with such joy and feeling that it's hard not to love her version.
The years are being kind to this film. Lucille Ball actually sounds fine here. The studio needed a huge name to cover costs, much like Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. Like Julie Andrews, many wanted Angela Lansbury. Miss Ball got the brunt of the anger. I attended a party in NYC for the premiere with Lucille Ball and her husband. She was unbelievably beautiful in person--and didn't need the soft focus.
Because the Masses want every female lead in a musical to have been Barbra Streisand or Julie Andrews back then? All I can come up with. Same types who wanted Bette Davis in _Gone With the Wind_ instead of Vivien Leigh. It's that thinking that gives us mediocrity in entertainment for decades. Thank God for prior engagements, or we'd be treated to few surprises on film.
The main problem with this movie, was that by the time it was made in 1974, Lucy had been smoking for decades. Smoking always ruins a woman's voice. It becomes gruff and deep and is no longer clean and crisp and clear. Rosalind Russell did a great movie version of Mame in 1958. I Love Lucy, but I can't listen to her speak or sing in this movie without thinking about cigarettes.
Even when she was younger she wouldn't have been able to pull off such a role, she was never known for singing and dancing; there was a reason pre-I Love Lucy she known as "Queen of the Bs."
I think that may well have been what happened...smoking. Same thing happened to my aunts. That along with perhaps some directing weakness ruined what should have been a great movie. At 1:19 she sounded pretty good. I wonder if she sang in a higher key if that would have been better. The Santa mask should have been skipped. A Santa beard might have been better. Why would you ever want to cover up a talented actress' face, certainly not for more than 24 frames.
I remember Lucille Ball saying she didn't want to do this movie and why not get Angela Lansbury to play the part? She also complained "she'd have to sing."
I dont agree with all the haters i knew from the begining Lucy could not sing im cool with it, i love Lucy she has a torch voice, a sound all her own and im cool with it i like the movie Mame starring Lucille Ball !!!!
I agree. Her being Mame worked for me. She doesn't have the vocal power of Angela Lansbury or other singers but she carries a tune nice enough. And her acting was great! They made her character on I LOVE LUCY sound completely tone death but she was a better singer than that. They did the same with Jean Stapleton/Edith on ALL IN THE FAMILY and she was a really good singer in real life.
It's not hateful to rightfully criticize someone's performance. She was not up to par for this role, plain and simple, Angela Landsbury should have been cast in the title role!
@@thehollyberry7975 I want to think that the prop design person had good intentions with that mask... but part of me thinks they actually saw it and were like, "You think they'd actually use this prop? It's really frightening." Cause a Santa beard would be so much easier and then you'd actually see Lucy's face wearing it and it could be cute, but with the face it's not a pretty sight.
Listen to Angela Lansbury sing this from the cast album. Its on YT. As for Lucy, just because you want to play a part, doesn't mean you SHOULD play the part. A true artist knows the difference. And thats not for just Lucy, look at Audrey Hepburn, Johnny Depp, Russell Crowe, etc. They were unsuited for their musical roles to the detriment of the piece.
I feel like poor Lucy would have gotten so much less slack for this role if this film hadn't been a musical - now, don't get me wrong :P I know that Ms. Lansbury originated the modern ideal version of the role but. really, THAT'S the problem... ... ... the movie was BURDENED by trying to live up to the broadway show - it SHOULD have based itself more on the original 1958 film that was based on the book. Lucy might have stood a chance in comparison to Rosalind Russel - she at least had the acting chops to make it a decent challenge - but because they went with a musical it ended up looking like she was just trying to copy Lansbury :(
I much prefer Angela’s voice. Lucille’s is a little too gruff for my taste. That said, this song is all I know about this role. Lucille’s acting and presence in this is great, so even if I don’t really like her voice, I can see why people like this casting.
The problem with Lucy's voice by the time this movie was made in 1974, was that Lucy had been smoking for decades. Smoking always ruins a woman's voice.
Lucy was 62 years old making this film. A roll for a 40 year old of which Angela Lansbury was 42. STOP comparing the two. LUCY IS FANTASIC FOR AGE 62. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
@@mpshields LUCY herself said she wasn't a singer or dancer. What's wrong with you? Grow up a bit. Lansbury was brilliant on Broadway in the role. She should have gotten the part. The movie with Lucy bombed!
Even the movie studio can’t get it right. The name of the song is “We Need A Little Christmas.” NOT “We All Need A Little Christmas.” First they miscast the film and then the can’t get the song titles right. Oh well, we Lucille Ball in the film no wonder they called it MAIMED!!
It's 2020, I'm totally feeling this song
SAME
Samesies. Nov 18 and I just started decorating and singing this. I'm sorry for all the times I rolled my eyes at people who needed this sooner. Ugh this year. 😞
Me, too! 🎄
That's why I'm here.
The parking area of my local tree lot was full Sunday and more homes are decorated than usual. A lot of people "need a little Christmas!"
"But Auntie Mame, it's one week till Thanksgiving Day now"! Don't worry kid your timing is not off. Walmart starts celebrating Christmas one week before Halloween.
We definitely need a little Christmas NOW.
But we need Angela Lansbury belting it, not Lucy croaking it out!
Right! Now! That's also right now!
I thought about this song when the COVID outbreak was at its worst and even started singing it to myself when I saw the news reports!
This is certainly the feeling now in November
Angela Lansbury made the *musical* role famous on Broadway in the musical Mame (1966). Rosalind Russell played her first in the non-musical Broadway play and subsequent 1958 film, Auntie Mame. Lansbury sang the song in a much higher key!
My grandmother would sing this song as she poured whiskey in a jar lol
I would have loved to met your grandmother
Love Lucille Ball - RIP Ms. Ball and thanks for all the years of laughter and entertainment - a national treasure
As the coronavirus pandemic grips us with anxiety and fear, we should all follow Mame's lead and light up the night with holiday lights and light hearted music.
Way ahead of you. ❤️
AMEN
All a nothing burger. Should have not stressed as Mame would have kept her cool
Fear nought - all will (and will) be well...
Told you ...
It's December 2024 and still coming back to this song. One more year.
This is the aunt I aspire to be, someone warm and loving and always there for my nephews. Somebody you can have fun with, that can put a smile on your face even when things look grim.
I’m 54, Long Island. Loved the song forever, but know not this at all. I played baseball, lacrosse and football as a young man. My sister was into the Drama Club and the band. A flutist? Thank you!!!
One of my favourite musical sequences.....from "MAME" with Lucille Ball xxx
I'd play it at funeral.
We all need a little Christmas now. What a wonderful embracing beautiful song. We need to remember the good times that will return with Gods blessings 🎄🎅🏻👍❤️😁
Love that song, that film . My Mother loved it so much.
These lyrics are so on point for 2020
Lucille Ball s great in anything she is in!
Classic. Timeless. Wonderful movie and cast.
Murph3579: Your comments were posted to the wrong film. This one is a piece of s**t and Lucille Ball’s casting ruined it.
Just discovered this gem. We all need a little Christmas 🎄 right NOW when things are so uncertain! Of all versions of Auntie Mame, this is my favorite.🎅Who 🧑🎄doesn't Love 🤶 LUCY?
I will never understand how people don’t love this movie and cast. Makes me so happy ever time.
Hill m: Because it was an excellent property with great box office potential. But some Warner Bros. Z idiot allowed Lucille Ball to pay $2 million in order to get the film role and since she’s the core of the film, it was all downhill quickly. The screenplay wasn’t funny, the direction uninspired, better casting was available and Ball couldn’t sing, dance, gave bad line readings and was too old.
@@johnpickford4222 So apart from that you liked it? 😁
This is what I call a good Christmas Movie.
Except it's a musical and NOT a Christmas movie.
I watch this movie every Christmastime. It’s one of my favorites and I love Lucy’s voice in this.
You must be used to hearing bulls in heat.
I always try to watch this the day before Thanksgiving as it's a great way to start the Holiday season!
Hahahaha!@@jenniferdonlin6627
the entire globe needs this song 2023
We'll get it in 2024, or certainly 2025.
First heard this song on the radio at Christmas time. Very appropriate song for the holidays. I always thought that this song sounded like it was from a musical. Nice to know that I was correct.
Lucille does a great job singing this joyous song. The movie, Mame, is great. What a talented woman!
Are you really Luci Arnaz?
I’m not, and I think she was fabulous too!
Jackie McMeekin: I’m sorry that your loss of hearing makes you believe you’re hearing what you want BUT THE DAME PLAYING MAME CAN’T SING, FANCE, GAVE POOR LINE READINGS AND WAS TOO OLD. She’s supposed to be “Auntie” NOT “Granny” Mame!
I am listening to this on Halloween night as I pull out my Christmas decor. This has been a tough year. Need a little Christmas now!!!!
My favorite Thanksgiving/Christmas song
One of my all-time favorite movies!
As the years pass, this movie seems to get better and better with each viewing. It plays much better on the small screen than it does on the big screen. Lucy was actually very good in this movie, and when she "acts" an emotion, she is able to make us feel it with her. Her scenes with Bea Arthur (one of her close friends) are priceless. I especially love the "Bussum Buddies" sequence". Priceless timing and facial expressions.
No she was terrible sorry Lucy!! 😩
It's "Bosom Buddies," and if you'd seen the original with Lansbury, you'd know how badly Lucy butchered her part of the song. And that little skippy dance she does with Bea Arthur is painful to watch.
@@jenniferdonlin6627
Lucy was coming off of a terrible skiing accident, and was fighting to regain the use of the leg, but was still hesitant to really give it 100%.
She was standing still on her skis when another skier slammed into her, and as she put it, ""Screwed my leg into the snow". It was very serious with a few operations to repair the damage, and there was talk that she might never be the same again, but Lucy was ever the trooper and practiced with a dancer a few hours each day to regain as much strength in the leg as she could. But, unfortunately, she could never be "Lucy". again, and it depressed her greatly. The injury made it impossible for her to do her trademark physical comedy.
"Mame" was certainly was not her finest performance, but it does improve with age, and is much more palatable when viewed on the small screen
@@TheVerbalVolley I'm a Lucy fan, too, and know all about her skiing accident. But no amount of dancing could've saved her performance. She was just too OLD. That's what it comes down to. Mame is no older than 45, she's not touching Social Security like Lucy. The critics savaged the movie and her performance, as well they should. That was the era when big movie musicals were on their way out. Not until Grease, four years later, did they come back--and that's only because the main cast was young, not creaky. If Lucy can't sing--and we all know she can't, it was a running joke on ILL for years--and she can't dance "100%," as you put it, then what's left? Her comedic timing? Her way with a quip? What? None of those things worked. You know it, as well as I do. No amount of defending this overblown elephant of a movie is going to raise it from the dustbin of Time.
@@TheVerbalVolley Bad acting, singing and dancing does not improve with age. Ball was advised from the start against this, or at the very least to have someone dub her voice, but she refused. She would never be able to carry a dance number, even prior to the accident, heck even when she was young; the same with singing too. She could've taken a supporting role (one that had NO singing and dancing).
This brings back memories both of when I first heard this song at Christmastime of 1979 with cuts of Christmas scenes from Cartoons on my local Channel 56 of Cambridge/Boston.Then to follow shortly after the New Year of 1980 in my Highschool's Production of the play of Mame. Then Shortly after this was when I first saw This Mame Movie on my local Channel 27 of Worcester for the first time.
It's fate that makes the difference and within a short span of time and the version outside of Mame has a one line difference where it's said either as in the Movie but it's just one week til Thanksgiving day now and in the play it's said but it's just one week past Thanksgivingday now.
Like me you are of the Creature double Feature/Saturday Matinee/Willie Whistle and "Uncle" Dale Dorman generation of Bostonians. I first watched this at Christmastime 1981 with my mum.
@@peterraymond8470 Wow! Very Interesting!
I had only ever seen this on a square TV screen where they crop the pictures. It really makes a difference to see the full screen like here as it played in the movie theater.
Lucille ball look so pretty in this movie
just so much ignorance around these comments....like the movie or not....here are just a few FACTS. Lucy always wanted to do this movie, and was going to film a few years earlier but she broke her leg. They waited for her to heal, and then for schedules to line up, etc. . . That somewhat limited her dancing.....So if it occurred as planned this would have been made when she was just a few years younger. No matter, Lansbury didn't want to do this. Her son was ill at the time and she was caring for him. Lucy, right or wrong, wanted to do this mostly because she felt there were too few family friendly options, and no musicals anymore which were "clean." She also loved the spirit of the story. She never felt she could sing or dance especially well, and admired others who she felt could, from her own daughter to Carol Burnett. I know this as my source was Lucille Ball. More than anything in life she simply took pleasure, great pleasure, to entertain.....she would be so happy to know that her reruns still air, and networks even play shows at Christmas.
I adore this movie musical version of "MAME"...it's become a classic....
They waited a year for her leg to heal, and Lucy thought this movie would return her to movies in a big way. She'd never been able to carry a movie by herself, always being paired with another superstar comic--like Bob Hope. She put all her hopes in Mame. Except there was one little problem. She just couldn't sing, her voice had been destroyed by cigarettes, and you can even hear her taking large breaths--something non-smokers know absolutely nothing about. I'm honestly surprised she didn't have an oxygen tank on the set. The character of Mame was vivacious and bigger than life. Lucy didn't come across that way. She was stiff and overly made-up, with enough foundation to make an undertaker proud. And the soft lighting didn't help. This was a vanity production all the way. And frankly, Lucy was woefully behind the times. She left the modern world sometime in the 1960s and entered into a fantasy world where entertainers like Lawrence Welk and Wayne Newton were "hip" and "cutting edge." Nobody wanted her type of "clean entertainment," which usually involved a guest celebrity and a production number, with Lucy front and center. Here's Lucy illustrated every week how badly she'd lost it. That's why Life with Lucy was such a monumental flop. She refused to change with the times.
@@jenniferdonlin6627 True, Here's Lucy showed how absolutely behind the times she really was, absolutely unwilling to adapt. She essentially was just stuck in time for almost 40 years. People wanted realistic shows they can relate to, hence the popularity of All In The Family, Mary Tyler Moore and Mash, and here she was still doing stupid, predictable slapstick with special guest stars in the November of their years, standing there and collecting a paycheck. Some you could even tell how embarrassed they were to be doing such hokey cameos. Fine, if she wanted to do a clean, sex-free musical, fine, then do it right. Take a supporting role (one that involved ABSOLUTELY NO singing and dancing) and let someone with musical talent, not to mention being the right age, take charge. Apparently the last two or three season producers and even Lucie Arnaz herself tried to convince Ball to adjust the format of the show, to tone down the special guest star gimmicks and all (Oh look, there's Ginger Rodgers), but to no avail. Not only that she went full throttle with this disaster, refusing to let a real singer do the vocals; at least then it could have had a successful soundtrack). And twelve years later Life with Lucy showed how stuck in time and unwilling to adapt, downright bull headed she was. All of this made you wish she had just pulled a Garbo after I Love Lucy.
@@ericnelson9100 Exactly--and well said. Jerry Herman, who wrote the score for Mame, was devastated by how Lucy butchered it. Take the "Need a Little Christmas" number. On stage, it's a joyous moment, and the song rightfully became a Christmas standard. When Lucy starts singing, with her basso, "hawlllll out the holleeee," it's like we're about to attend the showing in a funeral parlor. And when she starts prancing around, wearing a scary Santa mask, and marching as if she's leading a band (a shtick she did on I Love Lucy ("Friends of the Friendless"), The Lucy Show (with Donald O'Connor, another cutting edge guest-star), Here's Lucy and even Life with Lucy), the whole thing becomes like a deep throbbing toothache. I wanted Lucy to succeed because she was absolutely hilarious, when she wasn't fawning over Frankie Avalon, Sammy Davis, and Milton Berle, and the Burtons. But she was too busy trying to look embalmbed. Just watch her first big number, "It's Today." Again, on stage that's a great showcase, with lots of dancing and singing. In the film, she croaks out "Light the candles, roll the rug UP!" and proceeds to "dance" around the room (actually, she's carted around the room by some male dancers). Meanwhile, her face is frozen in a smile, like they're carrying around a mannequin. It's downright scary. Nobody but insane Lucyphiles want to see that crap.
I understand your comment, but what in these comments qualifies as ignorance?
What is wrong with you people? This was a wonderful role for the great Lucille Ball and she sang this song beautifully!!! We all need a little Christmas about now!
Lucy's performance isn't as bad as I remembered from seeing the movie 46 years ago, but this song makes anyone who sings it sound good! Jane Connell's spintho soprano grace notes are an added bonus.
How exactly does this particular song make anyone who sings it sound good? My upstairs neighbor Mrs Nayfack sings it for our rabbi every year and it is a sound you would not want to hear twice.
@@gargantuaism Why would s rabbi want to hear a very obvious Christmas song. My the rabbi has the seasonal hots for your neighbor. Oy vey!!
This woman - Rosalind Russell (correction, Lucille Ball) - reminds me so much of my grandmother, who passed in 1984. Thanks for the memories!
That’s great but that’s Lucy Ball 3:33 3:33
@@Rie-r8u Wow, you are correct. R. Russell was in "Auntie Mame" in the 50's, but you're right, this is Lucy in 1974. Thanks!
Lucy was a bit older for the role but still love her
I think we all have needed a little Christmas for a few months now.
Classic. I love Lucy.
Absolutely brilliant ❤
Watched this musical in high school and I remember someone in my class making fun of Bea Arthur’s performance and over half the class and the teacher going off on them!😂
Vintage Old Bag Beauty: Well, they were right. Beatrice Arthur was excellent; it was Lucille Ball who, er, dropped the ‘ball’ as she was terrible.
I play/watch this for the last 5 years,kind of personal..!🎁🎄🎁🎄🎁🎄🎁🎄🎁🎄🎁
July 2024 and thinking of the upcoming elections, this song really hits home! Love this movie too!
Lucy does a very nice job on this song
She's no Dame Landsbury, but personally I like Lucy's singing! It may not be professional, but she acts the song, and her voice gives it character!
HollowedJes: HOLLOWED BE THE NAME! Are you tone deaf?? Lucille Ball can’t sing, couldn’t dance, gave poor line readings and was too old which required the soft focus to hide (hint: It didn’t!). And it’s not “Dame Landsbury” but Dame Angela.
この映画は大好きです。小学生の時観てから頭から離れません。たのしかったり、笑えたり驚きと色々あり面白いミュージカルでした
We all need a little Christmas right about now!
Everybody knocks Lucy's performance but ladies and gentlemen without her clout it would never have been made
I do love Lucy & Landsbury, but Rosalind Russell will always be THE Auntie Mame.
Agreed. She IS Mame!
Tetsuya: Rosalind Russell is AUNTIE MAME but Dame Angela Lansbury will always be MAME. Rosalind Russell couldn’t sing any better than Lucille Ball (and she didn’t need a soft focus!)
I know the big debate tends to be Angela vs. Lucille, but as someone who generally prefers Angela's Mame, Lucille injects this with such joy and feeling that it's hard not to love her version.
I am.totally feeling this, we need it!
Even she admitted that
I love lucy and I love Lucy as Mame.
"Hawwwwlll out the holleee!"
We feel his way in 2021
We all sure "Need a little Christmas now" !
❤💚❤💚❤💚❤💚❤
Lucy was so pretty...!!!!
❤💚❤💚❤💚❤💚😊😉
Wow I hope this movie wasn’t underrated back in the 70s!, because this is happy to listen to!😁
It wasn't underrated. It was a big bloated flop.
@Aquilaria's Dream Beloved? It's still considered a failure, and Lucy is miscast. So, how is this "beloved?" More like "despised."
@@jenniferdonlin6627 Lucy never made another movie again because of the flopped so badly.
Boy do we!!
Love Lucille Ball, but OMG - that dress! She looks like the CEO of the Convent.
The years are being kind to this film. Lucille Ball actually sounds fine here. The studio needed a huge name to cover costs, much like Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. Like Julie Andrews, many wanted Angela Lansbury. Miss Ball got the brunt of the anger. I attended a party in NYC for the premiere with Lucille Ball and her husband. She was unbelievably beautiful in person--and didn't need the soft focus.
Superb ... and I surely do
The best !!
2 weeks until Thanksgiving Day here listening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania today on November 11th, 2021 ✨❤✨💚✨
Woke up today with this on my mind. Too early? Timely, I think.
Take your meds. Please.
Been watching this movie at 13
we went to see this when it came into town we loved it.
No one can compete with Rosalind Russell in this role, not even Lucy. Roz is still the best Mame.
I never understood why this movie and Lucy's performance was so savaged. I liked it when I first saw it and it gets better with age.
It's better with age because your hearing is going.
Because the Masses want every female lead in a musical to have been Barbra Streisand or Julie Andrews back then? All I can come up with.
Same types who wanted Bette Davis in _Gone With the Wind_ instead of Vivien Leigh. It's that thinking that gives us mediocrity in entertainment for decades. Thank God for prior engagements, or we'd be treated to few surprises on film.
Just Absolutely Wonderful xoxoxo
The main problem with this movie, was that by the time it was made in 1974, Lucy had been smoking for decades. Smoking always ruins a woman's voice. It becomes gruff and deep and is no longer clean and crisp and clear. Rosalind Russell did a great movie version of Mame in 1958. I Love Lucy, but I can't listen to her speak or sing in this movie without thinking about cigarettes.
Even when she was younger she wouldn't have been able to pull off such a role, she was never known for singing and dancing; there was a reason pre-I Love Lucy she known as "Queen of the Bs."
I think that may well have been what happened...smoking. Same thing happened to my aunts. That along with perhaps some directing weakness ruined what should have been a great movie. At 1:19 she sounded pretty good. I wonder if she sang in a higher key if that would have been better. The Santa mask should have been skipped. A Santa beard might have been better. Why would you ever want to cover up a talented actress' face, certainly not for more than 24 frames.
Fabulous.
Thank you Jerry Herman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lovely!!
Lucy should have been Vera as the comic foil. She doesn't own the role of Mame as well as Rosalind Russell did.
I remember Lucille Ball saying she didn't want to do this movie and why not get Angela Lansbury to play the part? She also complained "she'd have to sing."
we need a little Marni Nixon...clearly!
😂😂😂
I love Lucy, but excuse me while I flee to find Angela Lansbury.
🤣😂🤣
what a GREAT comment. Bravo.
I dont agree with all the haters i knew from the begining Lucy could not sing im cool with it, i love Lucy she has a torch voice, a sound all her own and im cool with it i like the movie Mame starring Lucille Ball !!!!
I agree. Her being Mame worked for me. She doesn't have the vocal power of Angela Lansbury or other singers but she carries a tune nice enough. And her acting was great! They made her character on I LOVE LUCY sound completely tone death but she was a better singer than that. They did the same with Jean Stapleton/Edith on ALL IN THE FAMILY and she was a really good singer in real life.
It's not hateful to rightfully criticize someone's performance. She was not up to par for this role, plain and simple, Angela Landsbury should have been cast in the title role!
@@ericnelson9100 We get it. You know everything. We know nothing. Take up gardening, would ya? Sheesh...
wonderful. the best.
One of the best movie musicals ever made.
This was definitely before the advent of "Christmas Creep".
(Get it? Advent???)🤣🤣🤣
I'm pretty sure they couldn't have found a scarier Santa Claus mask if they tried.
They used that mask back in the day....check out old holiday photos with someone wearing it. Yeah, not good!
@@thehollyberry7975 I want to think that the prop design person had good intentions with that mask... but part of me thinks they actually saw it and were like, "You think they'd actually use this prop? It's really frightening." Cause a Santa beard would be so much easier and then you'd actually see Lucy's face wearing it and it could be cute, but with the face it's not a pretty sight.
Oy gevalt, this is Dead On Arrival!
Listen to Angela Lansbury sing this from the cast album. Its on YT. As for Lucy, just because you want to play a part, doesn't mean you SHOULD play the part. A true artist knows the difference. And thats not for just Lucy, look at Audrey Hepburn, Johnny Depp, Russell Crowe, etc. They were unsuited for their musical roles to the detriment of the piece.
Awesome!
The Muppets did a version of this song and it was really good.
2020 🎄
I feel like poor Lucy would have gotten so much less slack for this role if this film hadn't been a musical - now, don't get me wrong :P I know that Ms. Lansbury originated the modern ideal version of the role but. really, THAT'S the problem... ... ... the movie was BURDENED by trying to live up to the broadway show - it SHOULD have based itself more on the original 1958 film that was based on the book.
Lucy might have stood a chance in comparison to Rosalind Russel - she at least had the acting chops to make it a decent challenge - but because they went with a musical it ended up looking like she was just trying to copy Lansbury :(
Live lycy and Bea Arthur in this movie!!
She sounds like Mrs. Bighead from Rocko's Modern Life
Angela Lansburry was MAME on Broadway.
Who could portray her today in
a stage or television revival ??
I much prefer Angela’s voice. Lucille’s is a little too gruff for my taste. That said, this song is all I know about this role. Lucille’s acting and presence in this is great, so even if I don’t really like her voice, I can see why people like this casting.
The problem with Lucy's voice by the time this movie was made in 1974, was that Lucy had been smoking for decades. Smoking always ruins a woman's voice.
The tobacco clearly took over by this time.
Lucy was 62 years old making this film. A roll for a 40 year old of which Angela Lansbury was 42. STOP comparing the two. LUCY IS FANTASIC FOR AGE 62. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Even Lucy said she wasn't a singer or dancer. So you stop.
@stationarywanderer7910 Angela Lansbury ain't no singer or dancer. Stop these horrible comparisons. Lucy is far more talented.
@@stationarywanderer7910Angela Lansbury ain't no singer or dancer. Stop these horrible comparisons. Lucy is far more talented.
@@mpshields LUCY herself said she wasn't a singer or dancer. What's wrong with you? Grow up a bit. Lansbury was brilliant on Broadway in the role. She should have gotten the part. The movie with Lucy bombed!
Me encanta ésta canción!!! Feliz navidad a cada uno de ustedes 🎄🎁🎇🌨️☃️
I adore Lucy. But Angela Lansbury IS Mame. 🌟 Ever, and always. Just as Rosalind Russell is Auntie Mame. 🌟
Yasss!
Yes we do
ディズニーランドのクリスマスパレードの曲です🎄
When movies were just fun!
I do not think that Mame was miscast- Lucy does a very nice job in this Musical !
Hawwwwwl out the holleeeee!
Even the movie studio can’t get it right. The name of the song is “We Need A Little Christmas.” NOT “We All Need A Little Christmas.” First they miscast the film and then the can’t get the song titles right. Oh well, we Lucille Ball in the film no wonder they called it MAIMED!!
Seems awfully like Herman reused the melody of "It Takes a Woman" from Hello, Dolly here.
@TepidShark He had a recognizable style. The title song from "Dear World" has a lot of Jerry Herman styling that shows up in his other shows too.