Bob and Lucy, Together Again

Here we go…

Bob Hope and Lucille Ball seem like a dream pairing, right? They really are. These two made four movies together, and the third was 1960’s The Facts of Life, a cautionary tale about messing with the status quo.

The film opens at the airport in Monterey, where Kitty Weaver (Lucille Ball) is waiting for Larry Gilbert (Bob Hope), a man who’s not her husband. They seem awfully affectionate, though.

Anyway, the story is told mostly in flashback, with Kitty at an event at her country club with her husband, Jack (Don DeFore), and everyone they know. She’s bored. She’s heard all the jokes. She knows them by heart. Most of all, she’s bored by the fact that she and Jack are about to take their usual vacation with the same two other couples. That they’re going to Alcapulco doesn’t seem to excite her in the least.

As it happens, Jack can’t go because of work, but he promises to join them in a couple of days. Larry’s wife, Mary (Ruth Hussey) stays home with one of the kids, who’s suddenly taken with a fever, but also promises to join in a few days.

Then the third couple, the Masons turn up sick with some unnamed illness, maybe food poisoning, leaving Kitty and Larry alone to go marlin fishing, where they find out they went to the same high school. How they’ve been hanging out so long and not know that is funny, but they bond over homeroom teachers and the school fight song. Oh yeah, and they catch a marlin, who they name Claude.

As it turns out, neither Mary, Jack, or the Masons ever do make it to the party, so Kitty and Larry keep hanging out, and naturally, they fall in love. When the week is over, though, they have to join the real world, and they know they’re treading on dangerous ground. It doesn’t help that they’re part of the same circle and see each other all the time at their country club.

It gets harder and harder to stay casual. Kitty and Larry try meeting for a date, but Larry has to lead an Indian Guide meeting first, where a kid reads a long report on smoke signals. Then he and Kitty go to the drive-in, where they try to kiss but get stuck together while the horn blares, getting everyone to look at them. An attempt to get a room is similarly ill-fated, as Larry goes out to get coffee and can’t find the hotel again, and by the time he finally does the hotel owner has sent Kitty home.

They decide to get out of town, which brings us to Monterey at the beginning of the movie. Larry has secured what he thinks will be a love nest for he and Kitty, but on the way over, there’s a downpour, the roof of the convertible won’t pop up, and the cabin has a leaky roof.

Kitty has also left Jack a note saying she’s divorcing him, but she may end up regretting her ultimatum. The big question is, of course, is, can she and Larry get away with cheating, and if they can’t, can they still salvage the lives they thought were so boring?

This movie is unfailingly fun, despite the fact that it’s making the viewer root for two people who are cheating on their spouses. Larry and Kitty are so danged cute together, but they’re married to other people. Larry and Kitty get their faces stuck together at the drive-in and possibly recognized by Thompson (Peter Leeds), the dry cleaner, but they’re married to other people. They try for a romantic getaway, but they’re married to other people. The irony is thick enough to slice.

Bob Hope gives a wonderful performance, and surprisingly dramatic for someone who is mostly known for quippy humor and song and dance routines. His costar, Lucille Ball, said, “Bob just didn’t believe in his abilities as a dramatic actor. That was unfortunate because in my humble opinion he could have been a really fine one if he’d believed in himself. He should have branched out, given himself a chance.”

For her part, Lucy seemed content to watch Bob do his thing while she played it straight. It must have seemed quiet after all the chaos surrounding the I Love Lucy universe and her recent divorce.

Or maybe things weren’t so quiet, because according to TCM, the production of The Facts of Life was beset with problems. Lucille Ball fell eight feet and suffered severe bruises, so production had to be shut down for two weeks. Then the director, Melvin Frank, broke his ankle during a golf game. Don DeFore hurt his back. Not even Bob Hope was safe–he caught his finger in a door jamb. Yikes.

The premiere must have been a relieved affair, and likely the box office returns as well: The Facts of Life brought in a respectable $9.1M at the box office, or $155M in today’s money. Audiences must have enjoyed the sight of Bob Hope and Lucille Ball living dangerously and trying not to like it.

Mishaps seem to follow The Facts of Life even today, at least in my experience. I’m just thrilled I made it through this thing, to be honest. Amazon Prime kept crashing for some reason, and after the first ten instances of watching my home screen pop up, I felt like chucking all hope of finishing the movie and turning on Angel or something, but on the other hand, I wanted to see how it ended. Bravo, Mr. Hope and Ms. Ball.

For more of the I Love Lucy Blogathon, please see Ari at The Classic Movie Muse. Thanks for hosting this, Ari–it was fun! Thanks for reading, all, and I hope to see you tomorrow for our newest “Cooking With the French Chef” post.

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The Facts of Life is available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon. It is also free to stream on Amazon Prime.

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