Right Said Fred
Posted by Steve L. on February 27th, 2012 · Comments (10)
Via Rob Neyer -
Actor William Frawley, who would have turned 125 yesterday, had a unique clause in his I Love Lucy contract: If the Yankees were in the World Series, he didn’t have to work. And in those days the Yankees were in the World Series every year. So Frawley was written completely out of two episodes.
That’s a man of my own heart…
I didn’t know about that but I think that’s fantastic. I’m going to have to share that tidbit with my dad, who was a big “Lucy” fan back in the day.
Frawley was some character that’s for sure. His scripts contained only stage directions and his lines. He couldn’t stand Vivian Vance (Ethel). After I Love Lucy, he appeared in “My Three Sons” but had to be let go because the production company could no longer get insurance on him. He would still show up on the set occasionally but irritated the actor who replaced him to such an extent he had to be banned from the set. Vance heard about his death while dining in a restaurant, she was so happy he had died, she offered to buy everyone a drink.
Well, here’s my favorite Frawley film:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056435/
Joseph Maloney wrote:
Wow, I didn’t know that. I don’t know whether that’s funny or bitchy.
@ MJ Recanati:
The actual quote was “Champagne for everyone!” But the feud between Vance and Frawley has been a bit overblown. Yes, the disliked each other intensely, but they were professionals. Vance was a Broadway musical actress who had studied under William Inge and Eva Le Gallienne; Frawley was an old vaudeville trooper who had worked in 100 or so pictures. Neither was the first choice for their parts on Lucy. They worked hard and they worked together to land their roles.
Good summary on the backstory of William Frawley and his issues:
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/118536
@ Steve L.:
Nice read on a character I used to watch as a little kid at my grandma’s place.
Michael Keaton apparently had or has a similar deal in his contracts, only it’s for the Pittsburgh Pirates. That was a big deal in the early 90s for him of course, back when he was still a big deal. Now, not so much. But it came out last year during the Pirates brief flirtation with being good.
I liked Frawley in “Miracle on 34th Street”. It was a small part, but he made it interesting.
@ JeremyM:
LOL, that’s an awesome bit of trivia on Keaton. Who knows, maybe in 2015 when Taillon and Cole are headlining the rotation, Keaton will be cast in a movie again…and will have to take the day off to watch a Pirates team in the playoffs for the first time in 20 years.
Here’s a link to the article MJ, and a highlight: http://tinyurl.com/3ptladx
But none might be a bigger fan than Keaton, who has insisted on a clause in his movie contracts that allows him to leave the set to attend games if the team reaches the postseason. “They thought I was kidding,” Keaton says of negotiations for the 1989 film Batman. “I wasn’t.”