Coming up on this edition of TV Tuesday is a Lucille Ball television special from 1977 entitled "Lucy Calls The President". Here, Lucy plays an Indiana housewife who gets the news that President Jimmy Carter is coming to dinner at her house. All kinds of chaos ensues.
The show's cast includes Lucille Ball, Vivian Vance, Gale Gordon, Ed McMahon, Mary Wickes, Mary Jane Croft, James Brodhead, Steve Allen, and Lillian Carter.
Lucy Carter calls the office of President Jimmy Carter on one of his phone-in days. She wants to advocate for a camp for underprivileged children that is being threatened by developers. She's in for a shock when she actually gets put through to the president.
She's in for an even greater shock when President Carter announces that he will be driving through the area the next day and wants to discuss the matter further with her in person.
Lucy and her best friend and neighbor Viv get busy making plans for the president's arrival, which now includes a dinner. Lucy's husband Floyd and his father Omar just stand back helpless in the wake of these two powerhouses.
Naturally, everyone in town wants a chance to meet the president, including Aunt Millie and the Mayor and his wife.
Lucy wants to greet the president properly, so she has those who can play an instrument rehearse "Hail To The Chief". It doesn't exactly sound very nice.
"We're practicing Hail To The Chief so we can play it when President Carter gets here. How does it sound?" she asks her father-in-law. Omar smirks and says, "Like you voted for Ford."
On the day of the president's visit, Lucy is even interviewed by Steve Allen for his program "The People Watchers". She has a really hard time adjusting to the equipment and the television cameras.
There's also a really fun conversation that was held earlier in relation to Steve Allen between Lucy and Viv.
Viv: Oh, I just love Steve Allen. He reminds me so much of my husband.
Lucy: Leonard is like Steve Allen?
Viv: Yeah.
They both wear glasses. As a
matter of fact, they could be twins if Leonard was taller, and thinner, and younger, and cuter.
The interview ends in disaster when Lucy's father-law accidentally turns on the sprinklers.
Things get crazier when the Secret Service shows up to perform a security inspection. Lucy's husband Floyd accidentally thinks one of them is a prowler and hits them on the head with a skillet!
Lucy and Viv get busy preparing the courses for the dinner. Viv proudly shows Lucy the cake she made bearing a likeness of President Carter.
Of course (in classic Lucy and Viv style), things get a little out of hand when the two ladies start cake decorating. "This kitchen isn't big enough for both of us!" exclaims Viv. "Well, you're certainly big enough for both of us!" says Lucy in reply.
The Secret Service even gets in on the action! They were outside the kitchen and thought a shootout was going down!
Tragedy strikes when Lucy tastes some peanut brittle and breaks her two front teeth. She's terribly upset.
But not as upset as she is when she accidentally steps in the potato salad and then proceeds to sit on Viv's cake!
An emergency in Washington means that President Carter can't come to dinner. However, his mother, Miss Lillian, phones Lucy and tells her that she would still be very happy to come.
Lucy forgets all of the bad things that have happened once the call is ended. She picks up Viv's cake and says, "Quick, Viv, get some more icing. You know, we got to put Jimmy back together again before his momma sees him."
And that's it for Lucy Calles The President. This was the final time that Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance appeared together onscreen. Vivian was suffering from cancer at the time of filming, and the disease would take her life two years later. This was also the final performance of Mary Jane Croft.
Coming up next is 1993's "Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit", the sequel to the highly-acclaimed and immensely popular "Sister Act". In this story, we see singer Deloris Van Cartier head back under cover to help her nun friends save a school from closing.
The film's cast includes Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makkena, Mary Wickes, James Coburn, Michael Jeter, Barnard Hughes, Lauryn Hill, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Alanna Ubach, Ryan Toby, Devin Kaman, Ron Johnson, Brad Sullivan, Thomas Gottschalk, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Ellen Albertini Dow, and Jenifer Lewis
After a group of nun's helped hide her from her mobster boyfriend and she turned them into a world-renowned choir, Deloris Van Cartier has become a very successful singer in Las Vegas.
On the final night of her show, Deloris's old friends come to see her and say that they have been sent by Mother Superior to get her because her help is urgently needed.
So, it's back to San Francisco for Deloris. When Mother Superior sees her, the older nun welcomes her back with open arms.
Mother Superior wastes no time in getting down to business. The nuns are now teachers, and the school they are teaching at is being threatened with closure unless its reputation can be improved. Plus, the students are extremely unruly and undisciplined. Mother Superior wants Deloris to teach music and help get things in order.
Reluctantly, Deloris agrees, and it's back in the habit she goes, along with having to cope with the austere living conditions of a nun. Once again, Deloris becomes Sister Mary Clarence.
The school is headed by a group of very strict monks who would be very upset if they found out that Deloris wasn't really a nun. Also, Mr. Crisp, a hostile man who is bent on the school's closure, makes things difficult.
Right away, Deloris is confronted with a group of unruly students. Never fear, she can out-attitude any attitude they throw in her direction.
Once she gets their behavior under control, Deloris decides that the best way to work with the students is to turn them into a choir. Naturally, the kids balk at the idea.
So, she takes them on a little field trip to see the famous singing nuns to give them a preview of what a proper choir could be.
An idea comes up that once the kids are in fine singing form, they should enter a choir competition in order to save the school.
The kids are definitely not without talent. A couple of students sing "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" inside the school chapel.
Once they're ready, Deloris has the kids sing "O Happy Day" in front of the entire student body.
At the competition, the kids are pretty nervous once they see their competition.
The choir turns out a fantastic urban contemporary gospel performance of "Joyful, Joyful".
It should come as no surprise that the choir wins the entire competition, enabling the school to remain open.
At the close of the film, the kids find out that Deloris really isn't a nun and according to rumor she is a Las Vegas showgirl. Deloris says in response that "I am not, nor have I ever been a Las Vegas showgirl. I am a headliner."
Cast rundown:
Whoopi Goldberg................................Deloris Van Cartier
Maggie Smith.....................................Mother Superior
Kathy Najimy......................................Sister Mary Patrick
Wendy Makkena..................................Sister Mary Robert
Mary Wickes.......................................Sister Mary Lazarus
James Coburn.....................................Mr. Crisp
Michael Jeter.......................................Father Ignatius
Barnard Hughes..................................Father Maurice
And that's all for Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit. The "Sister Act" films are enduringly popular. In December 2020, Whoopi Goldberg announced that she would be reprising the role of Deloris Van Cartier in a film she will co-produce with Tyler Perry. The soundtrack is also still popular. In 2015, the arrangement for "Joyful, Joyful" was used at a royal wedding in Sweden.
