#chris stafford

[addictivecontradiction]

Edge of seventeen, 1998

[filmjunky-99]

e d g e o f s e v e n t e e n, 1998 🎬 dir. david moreton

[dyscomancer]

This is a little out of left field, kinda off brand for me and specific to my area, but still. A very, very good person and critical figure in our local music scene was taken from us yesterday. This is really, really devastating for our city.

When these kinds of things happen I like to try and echo the voice of the departed as much as I can. So like if anyone is interested in broadening your musical horizons or hearing what music from my section of the world sounds like, it'd make me happy if y'all pulled up Feufollet's music and let his memory just exist a bit beyond our little corner of the swamp, at least for a bit. Would mean a lot

We often joke that Lafayette has 100 musicians but only 10 bands because everyone plays with each other. He was emblematic of that. Every person who has ever picked up an instrument in this city has an experience with this guy

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

Lil Nas X’s brother getting revealed on Claim to Fame was perhaps the funniest thing that’s ever happened. This man literally goes “he taught me so much about the l b g t community” and my brother and I bURst out laughing.

[getoutofthisplace]

Dear Gus & Magnus,

We had a 12-hour shoot today for a script I wrote of a cooking show spoof. I spent most of the day trying not to eat the pastries on set. It was a long day, but I think it's going to be a solid video. I can't wait to see what it looks like on screen. Driving home tomorrow.

Dad.

Wichita, Kansas. 1.25.2023 - 5.33pm.

[theroyalsandi]

British Royal Family - The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh smile at each other at the Right Stuff Amateur Boxing Club during their visit to Staffordshire in Stafford, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson) | March 04, 2024

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Bengiyo's Queer Media Syllabus

For those who are not aware, I have decided to run the gauntlet of @bengiyo’s Queer Cinema Syllabus and have officially started Unit 1: Coming of Age Post Moonlight. The films in Unit 1 are Pariah (2011), Get Real (1998), Edge of Seventeen (1998), My Own Private Idaho (1991), and Mysterious Skin (2004)

Today I will be writing about:

Edge of Seventeen (1998) dir. David Moreton

[Available on: Kanopy, Archive, Amazon, Run Time: 1:44]

Summary: A teenager copes with his sexuality on the last day of school in 1984. It shows him coping with being gay and being with friends. (from IMDB)

Cast: Chris Stafford as Eric, the main character  Tina Holmes as Maggie, Eric’s best friend/girlfriend-ish? Anderson Gabrych as Rod, Eric’s gay awakening Lea DeLaria as Angie, former work supervisor of Eric, Maggie, and Rod at their summer job. 

__

I had some firsts with this film. This was the first film in the syllabus that had identifiable tropes that carry through some of the BLs, which makes sense as this syllabus was designed as a progression in to BL. But most importantly, this was the first film in the syllabus that made me truly understand how important it was for me to work my way through these films, and that comes down to the surrounding conversation I had with @bengiyo and @shortpplfedup, when I expressed absolute shock and awe that a film from 1998 had two men shoving their tongues down each other’s throats, mouthing at penises through pants, massaging bare asses on screen, mentioning/simulating rimming, showing and actually using lube. 

I decided to work my way through this syllabus because growing up I a) didn’t know I was queer or at the very least b) did not admit to myself I was queer, c) did not have any out queer people in my family and d) did not have any our queer elders in my surrounding life. Therefore every single piece of queer cinema or television that I consumed was something that I just happened to stumble across, or that I had potentially seen someone post about on tumblr. Thus, there is a wealth of queer cinema that I never knew existed. 

In the past few years I have reflected a lot on how little history I know about my community. I have thought about lines in The Inheritance play where older gay men are discussing how baby gays just Simply Do Not Understand but also how they don’t know the names of important and influential people in the community, we may all know Stonewall, but honestly until a year or so ago I could not name a single other important moment in US queer history. I don’t like how much I am missing because I didn’t know myself and didn’t have anyone around to learn it from. 

All of this to say, I wanted to watch more queer cinema because I didn’t know what was out there, and in doing so I have realized how important it is to me to see these glimpses of history in what was allowed, acceptable, tolerated, made visible, and the level to which queer characters were humanized and treated with empathy and compassion. 

Anyway, I was watching this film and DMing Ben and Nini about it and when I expressed surprise that they were going this far in a film from over 20 years ago, they said the following (independent of each other): 

“I realize you came of age after 9/11, but you truly have no idea how hard this nation regressed” 

“Ah the halcyon days of the 90’s before the weird post-911 puritanical backlash” 

So, naturally a conversation begun around society, art, and culture and how it change between the 90s and 2000s (@shortpplfedup). How military service and gay marriage were compromises compared to what queer people were pushing for before 9-11 (@bengiyo). And that is when I was struck with the understanding that I needed to go through this syllabus. For the sake of understanding what art and culture and queerness was like before 9-11. For the sake of understanding just how far film and television have regressed in the US when it comes to queerness and how it is portrayed, how frequently, and in what contexts in film and television. 

And there are little moments in this film that I see nodding to queer history, the most visually striking one for me being the shot of the back of a record holder that had a pink triangle as its design. That feels extremely intentional to me. 

It is also the first film in the syllabus I’ve seen that contains trends/tropes utilized in BL. First being where a boy, left unattended, grabs the nearest article of his crush’s clothing and smells it. The way the enter the final sex scene in this film by focusing initially on the feet, which I have seen done a number of times in the BLs that I have watched (l just finished You’re My Sky today and they imply sex through foot position, you can see it in the trailer for Only Friends as well). But unlike most of the BLs, I’ve watched that utilize that imagery due to rating requirements or censorship, THE CAMERA KEEPS GOING and you’ve got bare, hairy asses, all the hip you could possibly want, and two men practically eating each other’s faces. I see so many echos of Teh and Tarn’s relationship to one another reflected in the dynamic between Eric and Maggie. 

I guess I don’t have much else say about the film itself except that it is very clearly created by people who are queer, who get it, who understand what Rod is saying when he says he likes Madonna, how you can immediately tell that Eric is going to a gay club when he pulls up to the parking lot of Universal Fruits and Nuts. The way the exterior of that building feels very different from what is inside, and made me think a bit about speakeasies. The shirt Eric wears when he comes out being a disassembled, abstracted face, his brother wearing a That’s The American Way t-shirt. You know what the film is trying to tell us about Eric’s identity based on which female musical artists he has on his wall. 

Like the other two films I have seen in Unit 1, the ending of the film is the most striking, lingering part for me. Eric comes out to his mother in the following exchange: 

Eric says “I’m gay” \\ in the quietest voice she has, his mother says “I know” Eric and his mother hug* and she asks him“What did I do wrong?” she lets go and moves to the other end of the living room \\ Eric looks devastated says* “I love you” \\ she turns to look at him and says “I don’t know how to handle this”. 

In that initial “I’m gay” \\ “I know” exchange be followed by a nice, warm hug, there was a spark of hope in me that this would be a coming out that his parent would handle gracefully (despite the other moments in the film where she starts to suspect and question him). I thought for the briefest of seconds that her question “What did I do wrong?” was her asking Eric how she had misstepped in ways that he was worried about coming out to her. But in about the same amount of time that it took for Eric to process the question, I realized a much deeper, more painful thread was being called to the surface: “What did I do wrong [to make you gay?]”

This feels like an admission a la Mol in 180 Degrees, telling Wang that she is, in fact, disappointed that he is gay. And you can see the way it impacts Eric. And silly me, I should never for a second thought that this coming out might go over flawlessly, because this story and parts of gay culture and gay sex that are included in this film indicate to me there are queer people behind the story. Which means the way that Eric’s mother handles the coming out is so much more likely to be realistic. Parent and child both confirming that they love each other, but their child still being hurt by their parent’s inability to understand and figure out how to handle new information like that spoke directly to how the conversation between me and my mother went when I came out. 

But even more important to me than that scene, than the complexity that comes from loving someone and not knowing how to reconcile love and homophobia, is that life goes on. Eric leaves the house, and ends up back at the gay club, surrounded by queer elders, seeing a boy he has a crush on, and smiling and enjoying himself with his community while he listens to his friend sing the words “nothing but blue skies from now on”. Which just feels…idk, so goddamn real? Carrying the pain of rejection with you but being determined to find joy in the people who accept you, despite how much the rejection may hurt. 

I place this film in the by, for, about category 

In general, I would have given this show an 8.5/10, but with the inclusion of poppers, blow jobs, rimming, use of condoms, and the first fucking inclusion of lube in any gay sex scenes I’ve ever seen on screen, I’m bumping it up to a 9. 

Favorite Moment:

The Redi-Whip can spraying in Eric's hand after Rod says something out of pocket.

Favorite Quote:

Eric: “I guess I thought if I came out, everything would get easier” 

Angie: *immediately bursts out laughing*

[padawan-historian]

How do the memories and magic of children disrupt and upRoot the histories we tell ourselves? How do children navigate spaces of oppression and liberation? How do they find joy and hope in places that were not created for them to exist? They live.

(1) Portrait of two young Jackson girls in wrinkled, informal wear. Potentially the descendants of emancipated Virginian Bethany Veney, who authored a narrative of her life in slavery and went on to own three houses in Worcester's Beaver Brook neighborhood (1900)

(2) Three sister dressed in matching outfits (and shoes). The center girl holds a favorite object close, perhaps a record album (1926)

(3) Florence Jones (in white dress with large bow) and a friend swing on a family hammock in Lincoln, Nebraska (1915-1920)

(4) Students at the Harry Prampin School Recital in Harlem (1927)

(5) Washington, D.C. Young boy standing in the doorway of his home on Seaton Road in the northwest section. His leg was cut off by a streetcar while he was playing in the street (1942)

(6) A girl and her dog pose in a New York studio (1921)

(7) Ho-Chunk cousins Carrie Elksit (ENooKah) and Annie Lowe Lincoln (Red Bird) wearing elaborate beaded necklaces and earrings. Carrie (left) was the afroindigenous daughter of Lucie Elk, while Annie (right), was the daughter of King of Thunder in Black River Valley (1940)

(8) Ms. Ruby dons her Pullman maid’s uniform and and poses next to a young girl in Stafford County, Virginia (1904-1918)

(9) Eileen Buckner poses with her grandfather Anthony T. Buckner, who was born enslaved and would go on to be one the most respected merchants in the Charlottesville. Eileen's father, George W. Buckner, would go on to write the New Negro manifesto in 1921

(10) A girl smiles wide as she milks a cow (1934–1956)

(11) A young child plays the phonograph in his family cabin located at the Transylvania Project in Louisiana (1939)

(12) Two brown skinned girls pose in matching dresses near the center of their classroom picture in front of Lincoln High School, Nebraska (around 1919)

(13)  A young sharecropper lays out on his attic bed in New Madrid County, Missouri (1938)

(14) Chris Easterling (left) and George Mashatt learn how to signal when they want the bus to stop in Ann Arbor (June 1975)

(15) A little girl watches the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with her family in New York (1946)

(16) Little ballerinas dance at the Frederick Douglass housing project located in Anacostia, D.C. (1942)

(17) Integrated summer activities at Camp Nathan Hale in Southfields, New York where children learned different skills, like first aid, under the guidance of the Methodist Camp Service (1943)

(18) A young girl smiles at her feline friend; notice the ribbon on the cat's neck (1925)

(19) Children stand in a line to pose during their candy eating competition W.E.B. DuBois' Brownies Book

Sources: Worcester Art Museum, James Van Der Zee Collection, Library of Congress, Harris & Ewing, Leslie Jones Collection, Boston Public Library, National Museum of African American History and Culture

[sunburnacoustic]

14/08/2004  Muse forced to cancel Curiosa dates We are very sad to confirm that due to an injury Chris has sustained to his wrist, Muse have been forced to cancel their remaining three shows of the Curiosa festival. We apologize to all those looking forward to seeing the band in Chicago, Dallas and Houston, but the injuries are such that Chris is unable to play these dates. The band have just returned to London and Chris is currently receiving medical attention. We will of course keep you informed on this matter as soon as we have any news. Thanks so much for you patience and understanding at this time.

-------------

21/08/2004  Muse to play V! Muse are going to take the stage at the V Festivals tonight and tomorrow despite Chris being unable to play the bass. Morgan Nicholls has kindly stepped in and busted a gut learning the parts over the past few days. Full respect to him. Chris will be there and involved on stage. We hope those that are coming enjoy the spectacle! Confirmation of Muse playing Wiessen Festival in Austria and the Saint-Cloud Festival in France later this week will we be given after V.

------------

24/08/2004  Confirmation of Forthcoming Gigs Muse are pleased to confirm that they will be playing '2 days a week' in Wiesen, Austira on 26/08/2004 and 'Rock en Seine' in Saint-Cloud, France on 28/08/2004. All Australian and New Zealand dates will also go ahead as planned in early September. Morgan Nicholls has kindly agreed to cover for Chris until the fracture in his wrist has healed.

------------

09/09/2004  Chris back on the bass

The Australian tour is going really well. The cities, people and response to the shows are a real pleasure. Chris has now stepped back onto the stage with his loving bass around the neck and is playing full shows with his plaster cast. Having picked it up for a few songs in Wiesen and Paris before coming out here, in Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne he's been somehow going up and down the fret for the whole show and clearly pleased to be back and rocking. We're more than happy to say we've still got Morgan Nicholls with us, on standby should Chris' arm falls off. Morgan stepped in playing bass at the V and some European festivals. He's a talent and a touring inspiration. So Morgan, cheers you fiend. A real nice show coming up in Sydney, check back for some photos and footage from it soon. Meanwhile there's some shots from the V festival at Stafford to keep someone going.

------------

30/09/2004  From Morgan... A huge thanks goes out to the Muse family.. band, crew and fans alike for making me feel so welcome over the last few weeks.. It was a pleasure and a privilege to be asked to fill in for chris and I only hope I did him and his noodling some justice, given the 3-4 days of rehearsal time. I shall miss you all and as much as I would of loved to hang out and get into trouble for the rest of the tour...my kidneys need a new bra and I would hate to have been the one responsible for any more hitches !!! Anyway I hope the rest of the year goes well and is as much fun.... lots of love and get well soon! cheers Morgan PS:(I should also thank Mike Skinner for being such a geez and letting me miss a few Streets gigs at such short notice...cheers mate!)

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Developments on Chris' broken wrist in 2004 (chronologically), taken from archives of the news section of muse.mu.

Chris was indeed involved on stage, I believe he was on the keys?

[veryqueermovies]

|| Edge Of Seventeen (1998) || 4/5🌟 || Drama/Romance || "Set in 1984 in Sandusky, Ohio, it follows the coming-out of a naive 17-year-old at exactly the moment when gender-bending pop stars like Boy George and the Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics were flaunting androgynous images. As the youth, played with a heartbreaking sweetness by Chris Stafford, goes through his first rites of gay passage he emerges as a poignant gay everyman."

Content Warnings: Some Nudity, Alcohol, Homophobia, Sex scenes.

The chemistry Chris Stafford had with all the actors he was linked with is wild.

Beautiful story.

I need all of Eric's outfits please and thank you.

Queer Film everyday of June 15/30 🏳️‍🌈

[addictivecontradiction]

Edge of seventeen, 1998

[mynoisycollectionstarlight]

Samara Joy – vocals

Kendric McCallister – tenor saxophone, arrangements

Pasquale Grasso – guitar

Ben Paterson – piano

Kenny Washington – drums

David Wong – double bass

Terell Stafford – trumpet, flugelhorn

Donovan Austin – trombone

____

Matt Pierson – producer

Mark Wilder – mastering

Will Bennett – recording assistance

Chris Allen – recording, mixing

Sampson Alvarado – recording assistance

Ryan Rogers – creative direction, design

Meredith Truax – photography

-

℗ A Verve Records release.;

℗ 2022 Dear Beverly Music

[marastriker]

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday Fran Healy of Scottish Band Travis.

Although born in Stafford, England, Healy grew up in Glasgow his parents’ hometown. His mother had moved back to Scotland after divorcing her husband, who was abusive (towards her); as a result of this, Healy continues to refuse any contact with his father. Healy has said that both his mother and his grandmother were major influences on him as a child. Healy attended Holyrood Secondary School in Glasgow.

Although as a young child at primary school, he had been awarded a book of Rabbie Burns poems and a certificate “For Outstanding Singing Abilities” after singing the old Scottish song “Westering Home” while dressed in a kilt, Healy showed no further interest in singing until his teens. His obsession in song writing began to take shape when he got his first guitar in 1986 at the age of 13, having seen Roy Orbison perform his hit Pretty Woman on The Last Resort With Jonathan Ross. First songs played on the guitar were old rock'n'roll numbers like Johnny B. Good and 3 Steps To Heaven by Eddie Cochran. His first complete song was written about the Headmaster of his school, Peter Mullen entitled “Mr. Mullen Blues”

He played in a couple of school bands until drummer of Glasgow band Glass Onion Neil Primrose asked if he would like to audition. This band would become Travis, named after the main character in Wim Wenders movie Paris, Texas.

Travis’ first single, “All I Want to Do Is Rock”, was written by Healy while on a visit to Millport on Greater Cumbrae, a small island in the Firth of Clyde. Going there with the sole intention of composing the best song he had ever written, Healy surprised even himself when the track was born. In spite of Healy’s success as a songwriter since, he is without formal musical training. As the band have risen to prominence, Healy has continued to be Travis’ main songwriter, as well as the band’s main spokesman and most recognisable member.

Healy’s songwriting has been praised by Paul McCartney, Elton John and Noel Gallagher. In 2005, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin called himself “a poor man’s Fran Healy”. In interviews, Healy has talked of being influenced by songwriters such as Joni Mitchell, Paul McCartney and Graham Nash (of the Hollies and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young fame). Healy has since played with both McCartney and Nash. Although Healy predominantly plays guitar, he has also been known to write and perform with piano.

Travis have twice been awarded British album of the year at the annual BRIT Awards, and is credited as having paved the way for British bands such as Coldplay and Keane. Travis have released nine studio albums, beginning with Good Feeling in 1997.

Fran is involved with the Save the Children Organization, for which he has just launched the biggest ever global campaign to help the ten million children who die unnecessarily each year survive, he has made visits to Sudan to highlight the plight of children in third world countries. He is a keen runner, having been a member of the Glasgow athletics club Bellahouston Harriers in his youth, and took part in the Berlin Relay Marathon in 2012.

 I’ve chosen my favourite Travis song, Fran Healy wrote it while on holiday in Israel. He wanted to go somewhere sunny because in his hometown of Glasgow it rained all the time. In an interview at the Live 8 concert, he explained that he was spending a short holiday in the southern vacation city Eilat in the middle of the winter. The city is known for it’s hot weather even during the winter time, but surprisingly it began to rain for two days during his stay. The line “is it because I lied when I was 17 is about him lying to get a job in a nightclub as a teenager.

Why Does It Always Rain On Me was their first top ten hit and when Travis began to perform this song at the 1999 Glastonbury Festival, after being sunny for several hours, it began to rain exactly when the first line was sung and ended when they finished the song! 

[papermoonloveslucy]

LUCY’S DINGING GUIDE!

The Restaurants & Eateries of the Lucyverse ~ Part 2

Eating out brought Lucy to a wide variety of dining spots: sit down resaurants, diners, cafés and lunch counters are all here – in Lucy’s Dining Guide!

The Cavalier Restaurant ~ "Lucy is a Kangaroo for a Day” (1962)

When Lucy’s knit dress unravels, she has no choice but to don a kangaroo costume to deliver important papers to a fancy restaurant. A bowl of onion soup is spilled in her pouch! 

The Elm Tree Inn ~ “Chris’s New Year’s Eve Party” (1962) 

While Chris has a party for her teenage friends, Lucy and Viv bring their sons to the Elm Tree Inn for dinner and dancing. The boys especially enjoy the ice cream sundaes. 

When Chris’s party is a dud, Lucy, Viv and Harry (Dick Martin) come to the rescue with entertainment, a silent movie sketch featuring Charlie Chaplin at a café. 

The Pink Pheasant ~ “No More Double Dates” (1963)

When Lucy and Viv double date, there’s an argument about where to dine and the couples split up, fibbing about their plans. Harry suggests going to Tony DiBello’s for Italian food. DiBello’s will be featured in “Lucy Meets a Millionaire” (1964). Viv suggests The Country Kitchen in Ridgebury. Eddie wants to dine where George Washington slept – the 300 year-old Colonial Inn. Lucy makes one more suggestion: The Café Tambourine, which is probably a gypsy tea room.

Naturally they end up at the same classy restaurant: The Pink Pheasant. So that Viv and Eddie (Don Briggs) don’t discover their deception, Lucy hides under the table. [The Pink Pheasant restaurant is really just a re-dressed version of The Cavalier, a restaurant seen earlier in the season in “Lucy Is A Kangaroo for a Day”. They even use the same chairs!] 

Wilbur’s Ice Cream Parlor ~ “Lucy is a Soda Jerk” (1963)

When Chris can’t make it to work at Wilbur’s Ice Cream Parlor, Lucy and Viv fill in. While Lucy works the counter, Viv handles table service, waiting on patrons played by James Gonzales and Desi Arnaz Jr.

Charlie’s Café ~ “Lucy Visits the White House” (1963)

When the train to Washington DC stops in Greenview, Lucy darts into a trackside café to steal their sugar cubes to rebuld the model of the White House her cub scouts are bringing to President Kennedy. Charlie’s menu includes coffee, sundaes, hamburgers, and bacon & tomato sandwiches. 

Tony DiBello’s ~ “Lucy Meets a Millionaire” (1964) 

Lucy’s dates Umberto Fabrini, an Italian millionaire who doesn’t speak English. Naturally, he takes her to an Italian restaurant - Tony DiBello’s. Tony is played by Jay Novello. Novello is associated with Italian food having played Mario, the "Visitor from Italy” turned pizza chef on “I Love Lucy.”

Umberto (Cesare Danova) orders Tortellini Bolognese, which - thanks to Lucy - ends up in his lap!  

Fleeing the restaurant to make a phone call, Lucy and Mr. Mooney pass an un-named café . 

Four Corners Café ~ “Lucy and Viv Open a Restaurant” (1964) 

The abandoned and run down café offers Raviola (another name for ravioli) and has a Sugar Bowl Special. 

Despite their renovations, the café fails to bring in any customers. To rescue their investment, Lucy and Viv hastily reinvent their investment.

LUCY: “How about making it a Spanish restaurant?” VIV: “Great! How about calling it El Fiasco.”

They settle on a Gypsy Tea Room, serving Hungarian fare.

OLGA the COOK: “Push the Hungarian goulash.” 

When the Gypsy Tea Room doesn’t work out, they transform it into The Colonial Inn, an Early American themed restaurant, complete with the George and Martha as greeters (aka Lucy and Viv).

OLGA the COOK: “Push the Yankee Pot Roast.”

Danfield Train Depot Snack Bar ~ “Lucy is a Process Server” (1964)

The chalkboard says they offer Roast Beef Sandwiches, Hot Dogs, and Hamburgers. Stafford Repp plays the bored counterman. Mr. Mooney orders a hot dog and accidentally squirts himself with mustard. [Oops! Gale Gordon actually is eating a hamburger, not a hot dog.]

Restaurant ~ “Lucy the Meter Maid” (1964) and “Lucy the Coin Collector” (1964)

The streets of Danfield featured these same no-name restaurant windows. 

The Park Royal Restaurant ~ “Lucy Meets Danny Kaye” (1964) 

Lucy pursues the star into a fancy restaurant, where she succeeds in dumping a tray of food on his head! 

Coffee Shop ~ “Lucy and the Ceramic Cat” (1965) 

After shopping for sales at Bigelow’s, Lucy and Viv duck into a coffee shop for a cup of tea. They run into Mr. Mooney, who is having liver for lunch. 

The Golden Greek ~ “Lucy and The Golden Greek” (1965)

Lucy and Mary Jane double date at a Greek restaurant. Lucy’s date Howard suggests the moussaka. Lucy thinks he is talking about the musicians!

International Supper Club ~ “Lucy and the Undercover Agent” (1965) 

After seeing a James Bond movie, Mr. Mooney takes Lucy and the Countess (Ann Sothern) for dinner at a fancy restaurant. There Lucy sees a man she believes to be a spy. 

Seafood House ~ “Lucy and Bob Crane” (1966)

Crane takes “simple and unassuming” Lucy out for a lobster dinner at a “simple and unassmuing” restaurant decorated in a nautical theme. Crane orders them both lobster. 

LUCY: “Lobster is so ‘simple and unassuming’.” 

The Studio Café ~ “Lucy and John Wayne” (1966)

While Wayne is filming a movie, Lucy has lunch with him at the commissary. Thanks to Lucy, Wayne ends up with a face full of catsup! 

Hamburger Hovel ~ “Lucy Visits Viv” (1966)

To find a wayward Danfield boy, Lucy and Viv visit the Sunset Strip, where they search a biker bar. Motorcycles are parked in front of a burger joint called Hamburger Hovel, home of the original Bikerburger!  The eatery’s name is a pun on the real-life

Hamburger Haven

on Santa Monica Boulevard. 

Doc Putnam’s Drug Store ~ “Main Street U.S.A.” & “Lucy Puts Main Street on the Map” (1967)

In Bancroft, Lucy and Mel (Mel Torme) order two Strawberry Ice Cream Sodas (Mel: “In a clean glass”). Doc Porter is played by Paul Winchell. 

Restaurant ~ “Lucy Meets the Law” (1967)

After shopping (and before getting arrested), Lucy and Mary Jane pass by an un-named restaurant on their way to the bus stop.

Phil’s Fatboy Burgers ~ “Lucy Gets Involved” (1968)

Lucy takes a part-time job as a carhop at a drive-in burger joint where she must deliver food on roller skates!  Lucy’s boss, Mr. Burton, is played by Jackie Coogan. 

The Dining Room of the Lafayette Men's Club ~ “Lucy Meets Sid Caesar” (1968)

Lucy order. chicken cacciatore, baked lasagna and broccoli with Hollandaise sauce. Mr. Mooney orders roast turkey with oyster dressing, apple fritters, candied yams, and homemade cornbread. Sid Caesar (aka Frankie the Forger) orders cottage cheese and skim milk - because he’s on a diet. 

BONUS RESTAURANT(S)

“The Danny Kaye Show” (1962) 

In this Emmy Award-winning special, Kaye and Ball play three couples visiting three themed restaurants of different cuisines: Japanese, French, and Tahitian.

Kaye introduces all three sketches as himself. The first sketch is done without dialogue. At a Japanese Restaurant, Lucy has trouble with chopsticks, a bowl of fried noodles, and lychees. 

In the second sketch, this time with dialogue, co-workers Miss Naomi Dinsmore (Lucy) and Charlie(Kaye), are on a first date at an elegant French Restaurant.

Kaye:“Where the menu is in French, and the waiters are in French, and the prices are insane. The food is not only in French, but in Brandy, Cognac, and pure alcohol.  You can get drunk just by breathing the napkin.”

Lastly, married couple the Andersons go to a tropical restaurant named The Tahitian Typhoon.  

Kaye: “These are usually, the most exotic, the most authentic, the most uncomfortable, and… the most popular.”

It lives up to its name when a sudden downpour drenches the couple. On the way through the tropical foliage, Mrs. Anderson steps in quicksand.  

Mr. Anderson: “Don't struggle, you'll only sink faster. I learned that in the Amazon.”  Mrs. Anderson: “The Amazon?”  Mr. Anderson: “Yeah, it's a restaurant in Cleveland.”

Refusing to pay the check since they didn’t eat anything, the angry tribal maître d’ claps his hands, mutters an incantation, and shrinks the Andersons to pygmy size!  

Look for Part 3 of LUCY’S DINING GUIDE