Lucille Ball as Wildcat

Speaking of Cy Coleman benefit, who remembers his FIRST show, WILDCAT, which was also Lucille Ball's Broadway Debut?

She moved to NYC after split with Desi; set herself up in a penthouse apartment and began reading scripts.

For some reason (not sure why?) WILDCAT, the story of "wildcat oil drilling"; appealed to her.

Show opened right on target with memorable "Hey, Look Me Over," but then plunged downhill almost immediately.

Lucy got sick of saying the same thing "8 times a week" and got "ill."

Management could not find replacement (who wanted to risk following her?) so show folded after 171 performances.

P.S. Valerie Harper (Rhoda Morgenstern to you and me) was a dancer in show.

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Ball was also offered The Unsinkable Molly Brown but chose Wildcat instead.

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I don't think she would have worked in Molly Brown. That score works best when the actress is a strong belter.

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I saw Wildcat a few times at what is now the Neil Simon Theater(then the Alvin). It was really well received by the audiences. However, die hard I Love Lucy fans were disappointed as the show presented Lucy in quite a different manner. During previews, out of town, more Lucy Ricardo bits were put in. You can hear these moments on the RCA cast recording. All in all, Lucy was not in good mental or physical condition following the divorce and the show opened and closed two or three times in about 6 mos.

Some fun things in the score (though I think Coleman and Leigh's next show, Little Me is vastly better), but I have a copy of the script to Wildcat. Talk about deadly. The mafia could save thousands in cement. They could just use the script of Wildcat to weigh down bodies in the East River.

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The original materials for Little Me are all pretty sound. The book has been weakened by Neil Simon in its two Broadway revivals, but his original book was hilarious. And the things I've seen of the original Fosse staging, like "Deep Down Inside" on the Ed Sullivan Show are terrific. I think Little Me's misfortune has been a case of bad timing. It originally opened when both How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum were also new. I think those two shows overshadowed Little Me. The '82 Broadway revival wrecked the conceit of the show by splitting the Sid Caesar roles between James Coco and Victor Garber. (I happened to see the revival version in London, when they went back to one actor playing all of the roles, and it worked rather well. And I think the London revival had a successful run, the one time the show has been a genuine hit). The Roundabout revival a few years ago suffered from other problems in staging and performance and again, from another dispiriting rewrite of the book. In performance, Little Me can seem a little cold and exhausting, and by the time you get to the last scene with all of the shootings and revelations, it's all a bit too much. But again, in its original form, it's very funny stuff, with a dud-free score.

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Yes, it's on CD from RCA, although I'm not sure if it's still in print. It comes with all of the trademark RCA 1960's recording distortion, although the London original cast recording is even MORE distorted, though the London recording quite happily has "Rich Kid's Rag," the dance music in "Dimples," a longer dance break in "Boom Boom," a longer middle section of "Goodbye" and (a particular favorite), the dialogue break between Young Belle and Older Belle in "Little Me," with Older Belle telling her younger self "You tell 'em, honey!" as the orchestra blares back in for, "When it comes to parlez vous..."

Speaking of the title song, it is performed at breakneck speed on the London recording, as is the Overture and the reprise of "The Other Side of the Tracks". There is also a really exciting key change in "Be A Performer" as they sing "So, listen to Bernie..." Ironically, "I've Got Your Number," performed again by Swen Swenson, is at a ploddingly slow tempo. No swing at all.

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Updated On: 10/8/04 at 12:02 PM

Just found out something else interesting about WILDCAT--many critics thought N. Richard Nash (author of Book) heavily "borrowed" from his own play THE RAINMAKER to develop story for WILDCAT.

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Hey Mallardo :)

One of the reasons why Leigh doesn't get proper credit may have been is that the shows she wrote did not succeed (WILDCAT, LITTLE ME, HOW NOW, DOW JONES.)

The only exception is PETER PAN; and even there when management turned production from semi-musical to full blown musical they ignored the songs Charlap/Leigh had already written and added numbers by Styne, Comden & Green.

In my opinion, Leigh is one of the many talented artists who never got the "big break" that pushed them into the forefront of the theatergoing public. (Like Carol Channing in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES or Yul Brynner in THE KING AND I).

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Hi Issame, :)

Do you know whose decision it was to break up team?

Coleman's ?

Leight's ?

Mutual ?

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i thought the show had a cute poster. love that drawing of Lucy.

Updated On: 10/10/04 at 08:28 PM

There's a great video of Lucy and Paula Stewart singing "Hey, Look Me Over!" from an Ed Sullivan Show. Her performance was really athletic and she was totally committed. But the very last note of the song, she gets trucked offstage in a jalopy and you can hear her do a total Lucy Ricardo bad note slide, going up for the note, not quite hitting it and then swinging down to a very low note.

When she was being interviewed by Ed you could tell her voice was little hoarse.