Fred & Ethel: "Carolina in the Morning"

[teamdamon91girl]

ive heard that bill & vivan hated each other in real life wheather that is true or not I dont know but they never let there personal realtionship be known when it came to playing fred & ethel

[gooboo1000]

NOW, THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!

[thelonelyslayer]

Considering that they both despised each other, they were always 100% professionals whenever it came to their duet performances. You would have never known there was any animosity between them. cheers to them both.

[tomjones333]

One person wasn't in Carolina in the morning

[Prizm2356]

I wonder why they introduced them as Ethel and Fred

[cheeriosinabowl]

Fred and Ethel look so cute and cuddly here.

Too bad they hated each other's guts.

[thelonelyslayer]

one of my greatest memories of watching "i love lucy" as a child was watching fred & ethel do their little perfromances together. i had no conception of time, so i didn't know that that some of their numbers were so old. i just liked how soft and cheery they always sounded.

[cameronchatterton]

Frawley also introduced the Al Jolson song, My Mammy. He had quite a career.

[montanerfan10]

I love this song! I sing it all the time just to annoy my mom!

[kerryincolumbus]

@montanerfan10 ... LOL!!! why is your mother annoyed by that? it's a great song!! Unless you're singing it horribly off key on purpose, then I could see why she'd be annoyed. LOL

[montanerfan10]

@kerryincolumbus I don't know. I guess she just doesn't like it! lol

[Beautifulmusiclistnr]

It's a shame that William Frawley and Vivian Vance weren't too fond of each other. I've heard that all my life as many of you have. They were excellent at playing Fred and Ethel though.

[montanerfan10]

@Beautifulmusiclistnr They were excelent. From what I've read, when they first met, Vivian said he was to old to be her husband. Well William got p-worded off, and thus the feud began. I've also heard that when William died, Vivian was so happy she was all, "Drinks for everybody!"

[Beautifulmusiclistnr]

@montanerfan10 That's terrible that Vivian would say that after William died. I can't believe that they worked so long and so closely with each other and won awards together (well, they won tv awards individually, but it the other helped), and they didn't get along. So, that's how it started Vivian said that he was too old. Desi requested William to play Fred to begin with, but she said "Drinks for everybody?" That's terrible. Nevertheless, I Love Lucy, Ricky, Fred, Ethel and Little Ricky!

[montanerfan10]

@Beautifulmusiclistnr Yeah. I would never say that if someone died. They worked closley together. William also said, "She was a good girl from Kansas, but I wish she would go back."

[MrDeCorey]

Outstanding perfmance!!!!!!

[shane013a]

Frawley was forced to retire in 1965 when producers of My Three Sons found his poor health made him uninsurable.

[shane013a]

Great vid by two consummate pros. Yes they had the utmost contempt for each other and Mr. Frawley reclaimed his better rep by showing up sober for work all the years he was on I Love Lucy. It was an accepted fact that he first sang My Melancholy Baby, a drunken Damon Runyon called for encores all night the first time he sang it, and was the favored singer of My Mammy over Jolson on the vaudevillian circuit.

[NCeddie]

to: @shane013a

Thank you for commenting on the video, Fred & Ethel: "Carolina in the Morning" Too bad we can't ever see any vaudeville performances, but appearing on stage, live, at the Mayflower Hotel is the next-best thing.

[dancebandleader]

@shane013a  agree on the performance, but according to

Desi's book, There was no real hostility between the two,

Frawley could be crusty, but according to Desi......"she was

great in puttiing up with Bill, and she figured he was too much

of an old poop to change his ways"

[AshleyHelen100]

@dancebandleader

I want to read his book so much! Its 50 bucks to order :( I hope to buy it eventually,

[shazie1436]

I LOVE IT.

[AllDayRippa]

i lololove the music in the beginning

[theminicooper]

Me too!!!! =)

[AllDayRippa]

lol :)

[thejeanienyc]

I LOVE Vivian Vance. So talented. When I was a little girl I wished I were Ethel and Freds' child. Everyone loved Lucy...I loved Ethel and Fred. This is a sweet performance and a special memory.

[waytooambitious]

This performance had special significance. In the audience that night were the President and First Lady, Ike and Mamie Eisenhower. Ike was looking for a subtle way to distance himself from Senator Joe McCarthy without creating an open schism in the Republican Party. McCarthy's red-baitiing had ensnared Lucille Ball accusing her of being a Cmmunist at the height of "I Love Lucy" mania. Mamie - a devoted fan of the show invited the cast to the White House after this show, insulting McCarthy.

[michaeljayklein]

Frawley did not introduce "Mammy", that was written for Jolson. He claimed to have introduced the song performed here, but as noted earlier, he popularized it in his vaudeville act (he did play the Palace!). By all reports, he was a very amiable and funny guy, but could not stand Vance at all! The feeling was mutual. Vance once said she read through the scripts right away hoping she'd never come across a scene where she was in bed with Fred!

[CarlDuke]

Frawley also actually introduced the song Mammy, so linked with Al Jolson. The note that this is the 40th anniversary of the ADL and the date being shown as 1953 bears testimony to the fact that the ADL was founded in1913 the year that an innocent Jewish man named Leo Frank was convicted of the murder of a young white Christian girl in Georgia. Frank was subsequently kidnapped from prison and lynched, ironically the real culprit had been a black man who had testified against him in court.

[ccowgurl13]

i love that song!!!

[lavaman2000]

Fred sounds right, but Ethel sounds like she inhaled helium.

Great stuff. Bill Frawley and Viv Vance were awesome!

[TomBarrister]

It should be noted that Frawley (who was born in 1886) started out as a song and dance man in vaudeville and had a fine singing voice until age caught up with it. Frawley introduced this song in 1912 and also "Melancholy Baby" (in 1922).

[CharleyK4]

It really was a LIVE show and was not recorded properly for any kind of quality recast. That is why both voices sound off.

[NCeddie]

Yes, it is obviously a kinescope. Kinescopes were made by focusing a camera directly in front of a television monitor and recording the live broadcast in that fashion. The "I Love Lucy" show was shot on film directly.

[cool88roleplayer]

i also heard that they hated each other and that William was always telling Desi how she couldnt sing and Vivian told Desi William was way to old to be her husband

[NCeddie]

No one knows for sure why Frawley detested Vance so much. He was once married, and speculation has it that after the marriage ended, he was put way off of wives, and since Vance portrayed his wife in the series, that in itself put Frawley against her-- a bit of psycho-drama!

[stargate121]

When Vance was first introduced to Frawley for I Love Lucy, she said he was old enough to be her father. There is the origin of the feud.

[NCeddie]

Before "I Love Lucy," Vance had been a singer in nightclubs and also on Broadway. Frawley had been a singer in Vaudeville, and was one of the key singers who popularized "Carolina In the Morning" and also "My Melancholy Baby" among others.

Vance was at a nightspot when she heard the news of Frawley's death. She reportedly jumped up and shouted, "Drinks for everybody!"

[NCeddie]

Frawley was the oldest cast member. At the time of the series premiere, Desi was 35, Lucille was 40, Vivian was 42, and William was 64!

[resident4thunder]

great man,

btw i read that in real life they actually hated each other.....:( is that true?

[Muellerdon]

From what I've read, William Frawley and Vivian Vance couldn't stand each other in real life. They'd insult each other and take it personally.

[NCeddie]

But to the credit of both Vance and Frawley, they were complete professionals in front of the camera. One could not tell that they harbored so much animosity toward each other off-screen. Whenever there was a shot of either of them looking at the other, they were exchanging looks from "Fred" and "Ethel."

[waytooambitious]

They performed this for Mamie and Ike

[satisfaction2000]

Thanks for posting this. Vivian's voice seems a bit off,but still great to see.