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HEDDA HOPPER’S HOLLYWOOD

January 10, 1960

Directed by William Corrigan

Written by Sumner Locke Elliott

Original Music by Axel Stordahl

Hedda Hopper (1885-1966) was born Elda Furry in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. She was one of Hollywood's most powerful and influential columnists. She appeared on “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” Among her hundreds of films as an actress, she did two with Lucille Ball: Bunker Bean (1936) and That's Right – You're Wrong (1939). Hopper was best known for her flamboyant hats. She was also a well known conservative, Republican, and staunch supporter of blacklisting suspected communists. In films and television, Hedda Hopper has been portrayed by such actors as Fiona Shaw (RKO 281), Jane Alexander (Malice in Wonderland), Katherine Helmond (Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story), Helen Mirren (Trumbo), Tilda Swinton (Hail, Caesar!), and Judy Davis (“Feud”), to name a few.

Special Appearances By (in alphabetical order)

Jerry Antes (uncredited) was an actor with the Desilu Workshop who also appeared with Lucille Ball and Hedda Hopper on the Christmas Day 1959 “Desilu Revue” presented as part of the “Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse.”

Lucille Ball (1911-89) was finishing her run as Lucy Ricardo with the final episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” airing in April 1960. She announced that she was divorcing Desi that very month.

John Barrymore (uncredited, archival footage)

Anne Bauchens (1882-1967) was Cecil B. DeMille's film editor for forty years. She won an Oscar in 1941. Bauchens edited Reap the Wild Wind (1943) and played herself in Sunset Boulevard (1950), just as Hopper did.

Stephen Boyd (1931-77) was an Irish-born actor best known for Ben Hur (1959), which won him a Golden Globe Award in 1960. In 1966 he played the leading role in The Oscar, which featured Hedda Hopper as herself.

Francis X. Bushman (1883-1966) was a silent film actor who received an honorary Golden Globe in 1960 as well as getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Coincidentally, Bushman played the same role as Stephen Boyd in the 1925 silent version of Ben Hur. Even more coincidental, Bushman was mentioned as Mrs. McGillicuddy's favorite movie stars in the same “I Love Lucy” episode that starred Hedda Hopper!

John Cassavetes (1929-89) was an actor and director who was then starring in the series “Johnny Staccato.” Later in his career, he was nominated for three Academy Awards.

Gary Cooper (1901-61) co-starred with Hedda Hopper in the 1927 films Wings and Children of Divorce, as well as the 1930 film The Stolen Jools. In 1942 he was featured in the third newsreel version of this TV special. In “Lucy Meets Harpo Marx” (1955) Lucy Ricardo dressed up in a Gary Cooper mask to fool her nearsighted friend Caroline Appleby. His name was also mentioned in two other episodes of “I Love Lucy.”

Ricardo Cortez (1900-77) was an actor / director who (like Bushman) got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. His final appearance was an episode of “Bonanza” which aired a week before this special.

Robert Cummings (1910-90) appeared on television with Hopper in “The Colgate Comedy Hour” (1955) and “Disneyland '59”, a celebration of the park's fifth anniversary. Cummings guest-starred in “The Ricardos Go To Japan” (1959, above) and on two episodes of “Here's Lucy.”

William H. Daniels (1901-70) was cameraman for 24 out of 26 of Greta Garbo's films.

Georgine Darcy (uncredited) was an actor with the Desilu Workshop who also appeared with Lucille Ball and Hedda Hopper on the Christmas Day 1959 “Desilu Revue” presented as part of the “Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse.”

Marion Davies (1897-1961) acted with Hopper in 1925's Zander the Great. This TV special marked the first filmed appearance by Davies since she had retired from the screen in 1937. It was also her last.

Walt Disney (1901-66) is the founder of Disney Motion Pictures and the Disney theme parks. He appeared on television with Hopper (and Bob Cummings) on “The Colgate Comedy Hour” (1955) and “Disneyland '59”, a celebration of the park's fifth anniversary. In 1956 he was on “The Ed Sullivan Show” with Lucille Ball.

Janet Gaynor (1906-84) won an Oscar in 1929. Between 1925 and 1930 she was in four films with Hedda Hopper. She was part of the group of 1960 recipients of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Bob Hope (1903-2003) and Hedda Hopper first worked together in the film Thanks for the Memory (1938), the title tune of which became Hope's theme song for the rest of his career. In addition, they were together in “Hedda Hopper's Hollywood #4” (1942), “The Colgate Comedy Hour” (1955), three episodes of “The Bob Hope Show” and the film The Oscar in 1966. Hope and Lucille Ball did four films together as well as episodes of both Lucy and Bob's television shows.

Hope Lange (1933-2003) appeared in a 1957 episode of “Playhouse 90” hosted by Hedda Hopper. She was nominated for an Oscar in 1958 for Peyton Place.

Mario Lanza (uncredited / voice only)

Harold Lloyd (1893-1971) was considered one of the great silent film clowns of film history. He directed Lucille Ball in A Girl, A Guy, and a Gob in 1943.

Harold Lloyd Jr. (uncredited) was the only son of Harold Lloyd. He died after a massive stroke at age 34.

Suzanne Lloyd (uncredited) is the granddaughter of Harold Lloyd. She became a film producer nominated for a primetime Emmy.

Jody McRea (1934-2009) was the son of actor Joel McRea. He was most famous for his work in beach party movies.

Liza Minnelli (born 1946) was the daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli, who directed Lucille Ball in The Long, Long Trailer. In the 1970s, she dated Lucille Ball's son, Desi Jr. She won an Oscar in 1973 for Cabaret. She was just 14 years old when this special was filmed.

Don Murray (born 1929) appeared with Hope Lang (his then wife) on Hedda Hopper's “Playhouse 90” in 1957, the same year he earned an Oscar nomination in 1957 for Bus Stop, also starring Lange.

Ramon Navarro (1899-1968) was a Mexican-born actor who appeared with Francis X. Bushman and Stephen Boyd in the 1925 silent version of Ben-Hur. He also acted with Hedda Hopper in The Barbarian (1933). Along with Bushman, Navarro was mentioned as one of Mrs. McGillicuddy's favorite movie stars in the “I Love Lucy” episode “The Hedda Hopper Story” (ILL S4;E20).

Anthony Perkins (1932-92) is probably best remembered as Norman Bates in Hitchcock's Psycho (1960).

Tyrone Power (uncredited / voice only)

Debbie Reynolds (1932-2016) is best remembered for the musicals Singing in the Rain (1952) and The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964). Reynolds and Hedda Hopper both played themselves in the 1960 film Pepe. Lucille Ball and Reynolds appeared on talk and awards shows together. Her photograph was prominently seen on the cover of a movie magazine read by Lucy Ricardo on “I Love Lucy,” although her name was not spoken. Ironically, Hedda Hopper’s chief rival Louella Parsons is mentioned on the same cover!

Teddy Rooney (1950-2016) was the son of Mickey Rooney and Martha Vickers. In 1960 he did a number of television shows and films. He is the youngest participant in this special at age 10.

Venetia Stevenson (born 1938) is a British-born starlet whose career ended just one year after this special.

James Stewart (1908-97) was one of Hollywood's most treasured actors. He was an Oscar winner who was nominated again in 1960. Stewart and his wife Gloria were friends and neighbors of Lucille Ball's. He appeared on shows tributing Ball such as “All-Star Party for Lucille Ball” (1984) and “CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years” (1976). Celebrity voice artist Rich Little imitated Stewart on an episode of “Here's Lucy.”

Gloria Stewart (uncredited) was married to James Stewart in 1949.They had twin daughters, Judy and Kelly. Gloria also had two boys from her first marriage, Ronald and Michael McLean. Stewart starred in Roman Scandals (1933) which featured a young Lucille Ball. She later became famous again for appearing in James Cameron’s Titanic (1997).

Gloria Swanson (1899-1993) was a silent film star whose career managed to transition to talkies, something typified in the 1951 film Sunset Boulevard, which earned her a third Oscar nomination. Hedda Hopper played herself in the film.

King Vidor (1894-1982) was a film director who directed Hedda Hopper in the 1924 silent film Happiness.

Perc Westmore (1904-70) did make-up for The Life of Emile Zola (1937) and The Virgin Queen (1955). He made up Hedda Hopper on the 1932 film The Man Who Played God and did Lucille Ball's make-up for The Big Street (1942).

Bud Westmore (1918-73) did make up for Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948) and Man of a Thousand Faces (1957). He did make-up for “The Jack Benny Show” when Lucille Ball appeared in 1964.

Wally Westmore (1906-73) did make-up for Barbara Stanwyck in The Great Man's Lady (1943). He also did make-up for Lucille Ball's films Sorrowful Jones (1949) and Fancy Pants (1950), as well as a 1968 episode of “The Lucy Show.” He also did make-up for four films starring Hedda Hopper.

Frank Westmore (1923-85) claims he put hair on Yul Brynner. It was for the 1958 film The Buccaneer.

In 1938, actress Hedda Hopper was given a chance to write a gossip column for the LA Times. It was called “Hedda Hopper's Hollywood.”

This also the title given to a series of six 9 or 10-minute documentary short films that accompanied feature films from December 1941 to October 1942.

In the second entry, Desi Arnaz was seen at the Mocambo. Although Lucy was mentioned, she didn't get any camera time.

The title was also given to a 1964 episode of “The Beverley Hillbillies” which featured Hopper playing herself.

In 2011, author Jennifer Frost used the title for her book Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood: Celebrity Gossip and American Conservatism.

Throughout the hour-long special, Hopper is never in the same frame with the celebrities. Rather she introduces 'talking heads' segments and uses voice-over narration to link them together.

The special was presented as part of NBC's “Sunday Showcase” (1959-1960), an anthology series of specials. In 1959 the series presented a “The Lucy-Desi Milton Berle Special” which featured Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, visiting Las Vegas. It was only one of two times Lucille Ball played Lucy Ricardo on NBC, rather than CBS. Their presentation of "The Sacco-Vanzetti Story" earned a 1961 Emmy nomination for Program of the Year. Richard Adler composed the opening theme music, titled "Sunday Drive."

The special opens with Hedda Hopper wearing one of her trademark big hats, strands of pearls and a fur stole, sitting on a scenic layby overlooking Hollywood in the valley below.

Hedda: “This is a story of my town. There's no town like it on the face of the earth. Because it's business is make-believe. And for over fifty years the people in this town have been getting up and going to work to to to tell the world a story. Down in that valley, some of them are busy crowning an emperor and some others are fighting the Civil War again. Somewhere else a band of cattle thieves are shooting it out with the sheriff's posse and two people who only met this morning are being married in front of an army of cameramen and crew for this – is Hollywood.”

Hopper says she's been in Hollywood for 21 years.

The scenes switches to a studio gate where Lucille Ball drives up. This is Desilu, formerly RKO, where Lucille Ball got her start. After phenomenal success on television, she and husband Desi Arnaz eventually bought the studios. The car stops in front of the Desilu Workshop, which Lucy says was inspired by the RKO workshops she attended as a young contract player, conducted by Ginger Rogers' mother, Lela. Lucy calls out to a few of the students waiting for her – Jerry [Antes] and Georgine [Darcy]. At the time, the group was preparing for a TV variety show to be broadcast on Christmas Day 1959 as part of “The Westinghouse-Desilu Playhouse,” the same anthology series that would present the very last “Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” episode just four months later, bringing the end to an era. In return for this appearance, Hopper made a brief appearance as herself in the show, titled “The Desilu Revue.”

Lucy (about the Desilu Workshops): “We have paid audiences, because I feel a paid audience is a more demanding audience.”

Lucille Ball is also just weeks away from formally divorcing husband Desi Arnaz. Lucy talks about the special in the past tense as the special will air a week after the Workshop.

Getting into a golf cart, Lucy says she is on her way to “The Untouchables” set, where Nick Georgiadi is a series regular, and also a member of the workshop. She says she also has to visit stage 3 where Ann Sothern is rehearsing in order to convince her to use some of her workshop students. Sothern, a great friend of Ball's, was filming “The Ann Sothern Show.” Finally, Lucy says she has to check on some costumes at wardrobe.

Bob Cummings sits on a sound stage telling the story of how he was discouraged from pursuing an acting career. Despite this he got an opportunity that turned into the film Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939). While filming this story for Hedda Hopper, his second TV series “The Bob Cummings Show” had just finished a five season run on CBS. A year earlier, he guest-starred in “The Ricardo’s Go To Japan”, a 1959 installment of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”

On another stage (actually the same set, slightly redressed), Anthony Perkins talks about young actors trying to carve a unique niche in Hollywood.

Four (of the six) Westmore Brothers, make-up artists from the Westmore dynasty, sit in front of a dressing room mirror. Perc, Wally, Bud, and Frank all reveal one of their famous make-up credits.

The scene shifts to the western street of a back lot. Jody McRae sidles up to disclose that he's working with his father (Joel McRae) on a series called “Wichita Town” (1959-60). Unfortunately for father and son, the series was canceled after just one season.

Inside a western street saloon sits Gary Cooper, who says his first talking picture was The Virginian (1929). The show assumes that viewers know who he is on sight, so Cooper does not introduce himself, nor does Hopper's voice-over. Cooper says some of his favorite films were The Pride of the Yankees (1942), Sergeant York (1941), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), and High Noon (1952).

Cooper: “We used to wonder when the Western story material would peter out. Seems like it never will.”

In 1960, that may have seemed true, but by the mid-1970s the Western genre had gone out of fashion on screens big and small.

Cooper ends his segment with his trademark “yep” something he memorably did in the 1949 Warner Brothers picture It’s a Great Feeling. Hopper's voice over says that one of the best westerns he did was The Plainsman (1936), directed by Cecil B. DeMille. This leads to a visit to DeMille's library where we he planned “the dividing of the red sea” - a reference to The Ten Commandments (1956). We are introduced to his editor Anne Bauchens. DeMille died just one year before this program was filmed.

Hopper (voice): “Spectacle was Hollywood's cup of tea. From the San Francisco earthquake to William Wyler's chariot race.”

Hopper is referring to the films San Francisco (1936) and Ben-Hur (1959). At a table at The Brown Derby (actually a reasonable facsimile), Stephen Boyd, Ramon Navarro, and Francis X. Bushman discuss the spectacle of shooting chariot races in both the 1925 and 1959 films of Ben-Hur.

Bushman is strategically positioned sitting in front of a line drawing of Hedda Hopper. Both “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show” set scenes at The Brown Derby. After their stories, the camera pans over to the next booth, where Hedda Hopper is sitting, listening. She is positioned in front of a line drawing of Mickey Rooney.

Hopper: “Thirty five years has passed between the first Ben-Hur and the one you're seeing today. You know, it wouldn't surprise me if they made another Ben-Hur sometime.”

Hopper's prediction came true in 2016 – 56 years later - when a brand new Ben-Hur was released starring Jack Huston as the title character.

Hopper (in front of her home): “You know, every morning when I go to work, I thank the good Lord I'm still alive. Like everybody else in this town I go to work and come home at night. There are many kinds of homes in Hollywood. This is mine. I bought it 17 years ago, and oh, I love it. I hope to go on living in it for the rest of my life.”

Paparazzi-style film captures Jimmy and Gloria Stewart leaving their homes and getting into the family car to go to out on a Sunday afternoon.

Next, the camera goes inside the home of Hope Lange and Don Murray, who is putting on a puppet show for their two children, Christopher and Patricia. Their marriage broke up the following year.

The camera takes the long trip up the driveway of the Greenacres, the palatial home of Harold Lloyd. The silent film star strolls out onto the portico with his son Harold Jr. and his granddaughter Suzanne (by his daughter Gloria) to wave for cameras. Hopper's voice over describes some of the home's charity events and parties with famous silent film stars.

Lloyd's wife, Marion Davies, dressed to the nines, says a few words of welcome. It marked her final filmed appearance. Davies was fighting cancer when she appeared on this show. It was her final film appearance.

Hopper: “Yes, there are still many great houses that belong to the glorious gilded days – before income tax.”

From real Hollywood homes, we are now on the back lot at MGM where the homes were used in the filming of Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) starring Judy Garland.

Ten year-old Teddy Rooney (son of Mickey Rooney) is discovered on Carville Street, where the Andy Hardy pictures were made by his father. Teddy says he is about to start shooting his first television series “Man of the House.” The show co-starred his real life mother, Martha Vickers, but only a pilot episode was ever shot.

Hopper is found sitting in a box at the Paris Opera House set from the original 1925 film version of The Phantom of the Opera starring Lon Chaney. Hopper hears voices from the past like John Barrymore, Tyrone Power, and Mario Lanza. While Hopper is listening to the voices, director John Cassavetes appears on the stage to tell her that they will need the set to rehearse a scene from his series “Johnny Staccato.”

Producer King Vidor talks about location shooting taking over for back lots. Downsizing of background artists is also the way of the future.

Gloria Swanson talks about the way films have changed for audiences and actors.

Debbie Reynolds (in the same dressing room occupied by Swanson) tells us how busy she's been and how she craves to get away.

As an example of how young starlets conduct themselves today [1960] Venetia Stevenson drives onto the studio lot in a tiny sports car, casually dressed, grabs her script and runs into the soundstage. Right behind her is a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce. A maid gets out holding a puppy wearing a huge bow. Hedda Hopper steps out of the car, bedecked in jewels and furs. “This is the way they used to do it!” The maid holds the train on Hopper's gown as she heads into the soundstage.

Hedda Hopper (without her trademark hat) says that only one person has the right to be called a Hollywood legend: Greta Garbo. Hopper shows still photos of Garbo in Anna Karenina (1935), Mata Hari (1931), Queen Christina (1933), and Camille (1936). Hopper played Garbo's sister in As You Desire Me (1932) and says that the reclusive star briefly let down her guard with her to reveal a warm and intelligent person.

William Daniels, Garbo's cameraman on 24 of her 26 pictures, says he hopes that she will return to the screen someday, to let a new generation appreciate her beauty and talent. Her last film before going into self-imposed retirement was in 1941. Hopper tells of Garbo's first (silent) picture, The Torrent (1926), where her leading man was Ricardo Cortez.

Cortez (above) recalls that Garbo was sensitive and shy, but a hard worker.

Walt Disney talks about Mickey Mouse, the first mouse ever to win an Oscar. Disney shows a still of Mickey's premiere in Steamboat Willy (1928) for $1,200. To balance out Mickey, Disney created a more mischievous character, Donald Duck. From there, Disney was able to produce Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), their first feature length animated film. That first Mickey Mouse cartoon also led to Disneyland and their upcoming animated feature 101 Dalmatians (1961).

Sitting in a void, 14 year-old Liza Minnelli sings “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” a song her mother Judy Garland introduced in 1939's The Wizard of Oz.

Janet Gaynor talks about winning the very first Academy Award in 1928 for Seventh Heaven, Sunrise, and Street Angel. These were her first three roles. Ever since, it has only been given for one performance.

Standing amid a pile of suitcases, Bob Hope talks about Hollywood in general, presenting almost a monologue on the subject. He riffs on make-up artists and then starts to joke about the investigations surrounding the quiz show scandals, which came to a head in 1959.

Hope: “I think they're going too far with this honesty thing. The other night on 'Wells Fargo' the heavies held up the stagecoach and gave back all the money from the week before.”

Hope: “Hedda has a fabulous fund of Hollywood knowledge. She knows whose who, who's where, where's what, and how, when, and where there's going to be some hoo-hooing. Hedda's a listener in the largest party line in the world. She has to wear those big hats to keep the secrets from leaking out.”

Hope: “I think Hedda's gowns are very colorful tonight. She makes the NBC peacock look like a beatnik seagull.”

Although this program may have been filmed and aired in color (most “Sunday Showcase” episodes were), it only remains in monochrome kinescope copies.

Back on the scenic overlook as the sun sets, Hopper sums up her feelings about “her” town – Hollywood.

Lucy Ricardo and Hedda Hopper

In 1952's “The Gossip” (ILL S1;E24) Lucy calls Ricky and Fred “Hedda and Lolly” after hearing them indulge in gossip about the Tropicana hat check girl. Lolly refers to Hopper's chief competition, gossip columnist Louella Parsons. Ricky usually pronounced her name Hedda Hooper.

In 1955′s “The Hedda Hopper Story” (ILL S4;E20), Lucy comes up with an elaborate plan conspire to get into Hopper’s column and get some much-needed publicity for Ricky. Little do they know that Lucy's mother has invited her over for tea.

Ricky: “Mother, darling. Why didn't you tell us it was Hedda Hooper?” Mrs. McGillicuddy: “You didn't ask me!”

To kick off “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour,” a flashback to how Lucy and Ricky met was framed by an interview with Hedda Hopper in “Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana” (1957). Desi convinced the network to extend the show by fifteen minutes for this episode. As a result, Hedda Hopper's framing interview is usually cut for syndication. Here Ricky finally learns how to pronounce Hopper’s name. Unfortunately, the apple doesn’t fall far from the Latin-American tree: Little Ricky greets her by saying “How do you do, Miss Hepper!”

This date in Lucy History – January 10th

"California, Here We Come!" (ILL S4;E13) – January 10, 1955

"Lucy and Art Linkletter" (TLS S4;E16) – January 10, 1966

"Lucy and the Chinese Curse" (HL S4;E18) - January 10, 1972

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