AROUND TOWN | LAURA ANDERSON
One of the things I enjoy about our (semi)new car is that it has Sirius XM radio. I know I’ve written about this before. My personal favorite channel is 70’s on 7, followed by 80’s on 8. It’s a luxury, but when my husband was driving to Pawtucket every day for work, the ability to listen to an all-Grateful Dead station made the drive more bearable.
In addition to the permanent channels that cater to Springsteen and U2 fans, news radio junkies and oldies fans, there are the “seasonal” channels that pop throughout the year. During the holiday season, ‘Holly’ plays Christmas favorites. Around Valentine’s Day channel 70 was branded ‘Love’, playing nothing but love songs. That segued into summer when channel 70 became ‘Yacht Rock’, a compilation of the whitest, blandest music Thurston Howell the third every listened to (Christopher Cross, Hall & Oates, Little River Band).
The other night on my way home from work I was flipping around the dials and one of our presets, 104, must have changed recently because suddenly I was listening to a channel entitled “Let’s Talk to Lucy”. I don’t remember what had previously been on that channel, but now it’s rebroadcasting old episodes of Lucille Ball’s 1964 radio talk show.
Now, I love Lucy. I grew up watching reruns of all her shows. Who doesn’t have the candy assembly line bit burned into memory? Or Lucy stomping on grapes in a giant vat? Or one of the most brilliant bits of all, Vitameatavegimin. (“Do you pop out at parties? Are you un-poop-ular?”). Some of my fondest memories are of Lucy’s classic bits, from mimicking Harpo Marx to the giant loaf of bread she bakes that pins her to her kitchen counter. But hosting a radio show? Who knew?
Apparently, in addition to starring in ‘The Lucy Show’ in 1964, and serving as chief executive of Desliu Productions, Lucille Ball hosted her own 10-minute daily talk show on the CBS radio network. Using her own portable reel to reel tape recorder, Lucy chatted with fellow actors, writers, and other celebrities of the era.
The idea seemed odd to me. Lucille Ball was one of the greatest physically comediennes of our time. Her expressions, her body language, her pratfalls were instrumental to her legendary career. What made radio producers believe her skills in a visual medium would translate into success as just a voice on the radio? And what made Sirius XM believe there was an audience of listeners clamoring for this? Did someone in programming say, “You know, it’s great we have ‘Hair Nation’ and ‘Ozzy’s Boneyard’ but you know what our listeners would really love? Lucy!”
On the brief commute home, I listened to Lucy talk about her life, about how she pinned a note to her bathroom mirror that said, “Is this good for Lucy?” and made it her mantra for the rest of her life, always asking herself that question when an opportunity arose. She advised her listeners to do this as well, substituting their own name, of course. She then spoke about how to take time for yourself, carving out a special place in your back yard to relax and live in the moment. Decades before ‘Goop’, Lucy was all about self-care.
The next morning on the way to work I listened to her interview Barnaby Conrad, a writer, artist, and amateur bullfighter. On my ride home she interviewed film stars Betty Hutton and Doris Day. Lucy’s interview style wasn’t anything extraordinary, but there were no awkward pauses or uncomfortable silence. The conversations were peppered with phrases you never hear any more like “Gosh” or “I just adore that” or “you look divine”. It harkened back to those golden days of Hollywood, and was a welcome break from some of the doom and gloom rhetoric being broadcast on the news and political channels.
I started out a skeptic, but I have to say I’m hooked. The series will run on Sirius XM for three weeks, the first time these interviews have been run since their original broadcast. After that, they will be available on a variety of platforms as a series of podcasts. I’ll definitely keep listening throughout the three-week Sirius XM run. Because, as it turns out, I still love Lucy.