orson welles on “i love lucy”

its true, he was, in 1956. he played himself, as a guest on ricky’s benefit show–he is to declaim some shakeapeare (romeo and juliet) and to perform some magic. he offers lucy, via ricky, the job of assistant for the magic, but ricky decides lucy will just wreak her usual havoc and tells her she can take little ricky and go to florida for part of the winter. of course, when lucy goes to buy clothes for the trip, orson is signing albums (of shakeapeare monologues), so she introduces herself and, of course, ricky’s deception is uncovered. lucy stays in new york, but she also misunderstands and thinks she is going to read shakeapeare with him. at the rehearsal, lucy flatters orson by saying he is the best shakespearean actor, better than several others but orson notices that she’s skipped laurence olivier, she agrees he’s better than olivier. (this exchange was in claudia pierpont’s article inthe new yorker) lucy calls, to invite, her high school drama teacher and when (after a few other twists) the teacher does appear but lucy realizes she is not going to play juliet, she spends her time trying to inject shakespeare into the magic act. in the end, orson declaims the dying romeo’s soliloquy. loverly. according to the dvd notes, welles admired lucille ball and tried to cast her in one of his films. he also wrote an award-winning pilot for desilu.