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CRITIC’S CHOICE

April 13, 1963

Directed by Don Weis

Produced by Frank P. Rosenberg for Warner Brothers

Written by Jack Sher, based on the play by Ira Levin

Synopsis ~ Parker Ballantine is a New York theater critic and his wife writes a play that may or may not be very good. Now Parker must either get out of reviewing the play or cause the breakup of his marriage.

PRINCIPAL CAST

Lucille Ball (Angela Ballantine) marks her 80th feature film since coming to Hollywood in 1933. This is her fourth and final film with Bob Hope.

Bob Hope (Parker Ballantine) was born Lesley Townes Hope in England in 1903. During his extensive career (in virtually all forms of media) he received five honorary Academy Awards. He died at the age of 100. In 1945 Desi Arnaz was the orchestra leader on Bob Hope’s NBC radio show. Lucille Ball and Hope made four films together: Sorrowful Jones (1949), Fancy Pants (1950), The Facts of Life (1960), and Critic’s Choice (1963). In between the first two and the second two, he appeared on “I Love Lucy” in “Lucy and Bob Hope” (ILL S6;E10) in1956. Hope made a cameo appearance in a 1962 episode of "The Lucy Show” that starred Jack Benny. Lucy and Hope appeared together in dozens of television programs, including Ball’s final appearance at the 1989 Oscars.

Marilyn Maxwell (Ivy London) appeared with Bob Hope in “The Colgate Comedy Hour” (1950, 1951, 1953, 1953), The Lemon Drop Kid (1951), Off Limits (1952), “The Bob Hope Show” (1954) and with Lucille Ball in DuBarry Was A Lady (1943), Thousands Cheer (1943), Forever Darling (1956), as well as “Here’s Lucy: Lucy The Co-Ed” (1970).

Rip Torn (Dion Kapakos) was nominated for an Oscar in 1983. This was his only film with Lucille Ball.

Jesse Royce Landis (Charlotte Orr) makes her only appearance with Lucille Ball.

John Dehner (S.P. Champlain) also appeared with Hope and Ball in the television special “Mr. and Mrs.” in 1964.

Jim Backus (Dr. von Hagedom) is most famous for playing millionaire Thurston Howell III on “Gilligan’s Island.” He appeared in Easy Living (1949) with Lucille Ball and was heard on her radio show “My Favorite Husband.”

Ricky Kelman (John Ballantine) was a child actor who later appeared as a teenager on “Here’s Lucy” in “Lucy and Andy Griffith” (HL S6;E8) in 1973.

Dorothy Green (Mrs. Champlain) makes her only appearances with Lucille Ball.

Marie Windsor (Sally Orr) also appeared with Lucille Ball in The Big Street (1942).

Evan McCord aka Joe Gallison (Phil Yardley) makes his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Richard Deacon (Harvey Rittenhouse) is probably best remembered as Mel Cooley on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (1961-66). He appeared as Tallulah Bankhead’s butler in “The Celebrity Next Door,” a 1957 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” He was employed again by Desi Sr. as a regular on “The Mothers-in-Law” (1968). He made two appearances on "Here’s Lucy.”

Joan Shawlee (Marge Orr) also appeared with Lucille Ball in Lover Come Back (1946).

Jerome Cowan (Joe Rosenfield) appeared with Lucille Ball in The Fuller Brush Girl (1950). He was featured in such films as 1947’s Miracle on 34th Street (with William Frawley) and as Miles Archer in 1941’s The Maltese Falcon. He appeared in one episode of “The Lucy Show” in 1966 and one episode of “Here’s Lucy.”

Donald Losby (Godfrey) makes his only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Lurene Tuttle (Mother) played the president of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “The Club Election” (ILL S2;E19) on February 16, 1953.

Emestine Wade (Thelma) makes her only appearance with Lucille Ball.

Stanley Adams (Bartender) made three appearances on “The Lucy Show.”

UNCREDITED CAST (who shared credits with Lucille Ball)

Leon Alton (Audience Member) appeared with Lucille Ball in The Facts of Life (1960), two episodes of “The Lucy Show” and three episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Walter Bacon (Audience Member) was seen in “Lucy Wins a Racehorse” (LDCH 1958) and “Lucy Puts Main Street on the Map” (TLS S5;E18) in 1967.

Paul Bradley (Audience Member) made six appearances on “The Lucy Show” and two episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Charles Cirillo (Audience Member) was also an uncredited extra in 1968 film Yours, Mine and Ours. He did a 1971 episode of “Here’s Lucy” and a 1968 episode of “The Lucy Show.”

Paul Cristo (Audience Member) was seen on an episode of “I Love Lucy,” two episodes of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour,” and two of “The Lucy Show.”

George DeNormand (Party Guest) appeared in three films with Lucille Ball from 1937 to 1963. He also appeared on “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.”

James Flavin (Security Guard) played Sgt. Wilcox two episodes of “The Lucy Show” including “Lucy and the Safe Cracker” (TLS S2;E5). He appeared in four films with Lucille Ball, including playing a police sergeant in Without Love (1945).

Bess Flowers (Audience Member at 'Sisters Three') was hailed as Queen of the Extras in Hollywood. She appeared in more films with Lucille Ball than any other performer. She often was seen on “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show.”

Sid Gould (Cab Driver) was Lucille Ball’s cousin by marriage to Gary Morton. He appeared in more than forty episodes of “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy” in small roles.

George Holmes (Spectator) was in the studio audience in “Lucy and Art Linkletter” (TLS S6;E4). He also did an episode of “Here’s Lucy” and two more films with Lucille Ball: The Facts of Life (1960), and Mame (1974).

Shep Houghton (Audience Member) made three films with Lucille Ball, including Too Many Girls. He did two episodes of “The Lucy Show” and one episode of “Here’s Lucy.” Houghton was one of the Winkie Guards in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz and a Southern Dandy in Gone With the Wind (1939).

Breena Howard (Girlfriend) also played a waitress in “Lucy Goes to Vegas” (TLS S3;E17) in 1965.

Joseph La Cava (Bellhop) did an episode of “I Love Lucy” and returned to work with Lucy in an episode of “Here’s Lucy.” He was also seen as a restaurant patron in Mame (1974).

Mike Lally (Audience Member at 'Sisters Three') was seen in two episodes of “I Love Lucy,” one “The Lucy Show,” and eight films starring Lucille Ball.

William Meader (Audience Member) appeared as an airport extra in “The Ricardos Go to Japan” in 1959. He made many appearances on “The Lucy Show,” most times as a clerk in Mr. Mooney’s bank.

Harold Miller (First Nighter in Audience) did eight films with Lucy and two episodes of “I Love Lucy”.

Monty O'Grady (Audience Member) was first seen with Lucille Ball in The Long, Long Trailer (1953) and played a passenger on the S.S. Constitution in “Second Honeymoon” (ILL S5;E14). He was a traveler at the airport when “The Ricardos Go to Japan” (1959). He made a dozen appearances on "The Lucy Show” and a half dozen more on “Here’s Lucy.”

Murray Pollack (Audience Member) was one of the party guest in “Country Club Dance” (ILL S6;E25). Like Monty O'Grady, he was at the airport when “The Ricardos Go to Japan” (1959). He made two appearances on “The Lucy Show” and returned for three episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Paul Power (Audience Member) was seen in two episodes of “I Love Lucy” and two films with Lucille Ball.

Beverly Powers (Girl with Dion) played Mimi Van Tysen in “Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (TLS S4;E20) in 1966. In that episode, she had a gorilla on her arm, not Rip Torn!

Alan Ray (Hotel Doorman) was seen on “I Love Lucy” as the clapstick boy at “Ricky’s Screen Test” (ILL S4;E6), a Brown Derby waiter in “Hollywood at Last” (ILL S4;E16), and a male nurse in “Nursery School” (ILL S5;E9). He made four appearance on “The Lucy Show,” including once as a hotel doorman! In 1950 Ray was also in the film A Woman of Distinction in which Lucille Ball had a cameo.

Frieda Rentie (Audience Member) made two appearances on “Here’s Lucy.”

Victor Romito (Audience Member) was seen as the Bartender in “Lucy Meets John Wayne” (TLS S5;E10) as well as one more episode of “The Lucy Show.” He appeared in four episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”

Bernard Sell (Audience Member) made three appearances on "The Lucy Show”. He was also an extra with Lucille Ball and Bob Hope in their film The Facts of Life (1960). He turns up on a 1971 two-part episode of “Here’s Lucy.”

Hal Smith (Drunk) is probably best known around the Desilu lot for playing Otis the drunk on “The Andy Griffith Show”. He made three appearance on “The Lucy Show” including the role of Mr. Weber in “Main Street U.S.A.” (S5;E17). He did one episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1972.

Norman Stevans (Clerk) was in the audience of “Over The Teacups” during “Ethel’s Birthday” (ILL S4;E8) and at the airport when “The Ricardo’s Go To Japan,” in 1959. He appeared in two episodes of “Here’s Lucy” and in the 1974 Lucille Ball film Mame.

Arthur Tovey (Audience Member) did one episode of “The Lucy Show” and the TV special “Swing Out, Sweet Land” in 1970 in which Lucille Ball is the Statue of Liberty.

Ralph Volkie (Audience Member) is best remembered for playing John Wayne’s masseuse in “Lucy and John Wayne” (ILL S5;E2) in 1955. As Wayne’s trainer, he also appeared in sixteen films with the Duke.

‘CRITICS’ TRIVIA

Lucille Ball’s costumes for the film were designed by Edith Head. Irma Kusely, Lucille’s long-time hairdresser, did her hair design.

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Lucille Ball and Bob Hope break the fourth wall and appear as themselves in the film’s trailer.

Because of poor audience reaction at test screenings, this film sat unreleased for a year before being sent to theaters. The delay did not help, as it received generally unfavorable reviews.

"It is pleasing to look at in its expensive décor, color and scope, ably played by its experienced stars and ingratiating in its quieter insights into a sophisticated marital relationship. So long as it meanders modestly through some above-average repartee, it provides an agreeable way to pass an evening. Instead of leaving well enough alone, unfortunately, the director, Don Weis, has tried to upholster the shaky plot with slapstick and broad burlesque...Both stars, old hands at this sort of thing, go through their paces with benign good humor, but their subtler comic talents remain untapped. At this rate, the critics' popularity seems unlikely to improve." ~ The New York Times

Angela's play opens at the 46th Street Theatre. This is an actual Broadway theatre, though it has since been renamed the Richard Rodgers Theatre and since 2015 has been home to Hamilton. At the time of filming it was host to the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical How To Succeed in Business...Without Really Trying. Lucille Ball was on Broadway just one year earlier at the Alvin (now the Neil Simon) Theatre in Wildcat.

The collage of stylized posters for Broadway plays (The Music Man, Life With Father, Fanny, Gypsy, Camelot) that appeared under the opening credits, were all productions that had (or in the case of Camelot, would later be) filmed by Warner Bros.

Ira Levin's original play had been produced on Broadway in 1960, when it enjoyed modest success under the direction of Otto Preminger. The play starred Henry Fonda in the Bob Hope role of Parker Ballantine, and also featured Georgann Johnson (in Lucille Ball's role).

Angela and Dion fly from New York to Boston in an American Airlines Lockheed Electra, registration number N6102A. By the time the movie was released in 1963, the plane no longer existed - on August 6, 1962 (Lucille Ball's 51st birthday) it was wrecked in a landing accident during a thunderstorm at the Knoxville, Tennessee airport. Fortunately, all aboard the plane survived.

The casting of Marilyn Maxwell as Hope's first wife was a kind of ironic joke, as their long-time affair was well enough known in the industry for her to be often referred to as "the second Mrs. Hope."

The Ballantines were based on renowned theatre critic Walter Kerr and his playwright wife Jean Kerr. As an inside joke, Hope mentions one of her plays, "Mary, Mary."

The film’s music orchestrations are credited to Arthur Morton (inset photo). Not only is Morton Ball’s married name, Arthur Morton was the name of the character played by Richard Crenna who had a crush on Lucy Ricardo in “The Young Fans” (ILL S1;E20)!

The film is mentioned on “What's My Line?” featuring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball on May 5, 1963. Lucy and Bob are on a promotional tour, New York being the eleventh of their 19 cities. They had just come from being on “The Ed Sullivan Show” earlier that evening, also to promote Critic’s Choice.

Lucille Ball mentions the film on “Dinah!” featuring Bob Hope on April 15, 1977. About Critic’s Choice (1963), it is clear that this was a film Lucy didn’t want to do. Lucy and Hope were obliged to do a 11-theatre promo tour to “sell” the film. Hope calls it their only flop.

#Critic's Choice #Lucille Ball #Bob Hope #1963 #Walter Kerr #Ira Levin #Broadway #Rip Torn #Marilyn Maxwell #Edith Head #Jim Backus #Richard Deacon

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