Gale Gordon was indeed Lucy’s first choice to play Fred Mertz, with Bea Benadaret to play Ethel Mertz, but Gordon was committed to playing the role of Osgood Conklin on “Our Miss Brooks” while Benadaret was George Burns’s neighbour on “The Burns and Allen” TV show and occassionally playing one of the telephone operators on Jack Benny’s TV show. In the days of radio it was possible for supporting players like Gordon, Benadaret, Frank Nelson and Mel Blanc to do roles several shows in a week or sometimes even a day because they were basically just reading directly from their scripts and the supporting parts were generally small. In TV where there was a lot of memorization and different shooting schedules, this simply wasn’t possible.
Whatever other faults she may have had, Lucille Ball was intensely loyal to people she worked with and liked. Gordon’s working relationship with Lucille Ball began with Jack Haley’s" Wonder Show" in 1938 and lasted nearly 50 years until her last series, “Life with Lucy” in 1986. He was her go-to guy.
Gale Gordon was indeed Lucy’s first choice to play Fred Mertz, with Bea Benadaret to play Ethel Mertz, but Gordon was committed to playing the role of Osgood Conklin on “Our Miss Brooks” while Benadaret was George Burns’s neighbour on “The Burns and Allen” TV show and occassionally playing one of the telephone operators on Jack Benny’s TV show. In the days of radio it was possible for supporting players like Gordon, Benadaret, Frank Nelson and Mel Blanc to do roles several shows in a week or sometimes even a day because they were basically just reading directly from their scripts and the supporting parts were generally small. In TV where there was a lot of memorization and different shooting schedules, this simply wasn’t possible.
Whatever other faults she may have had, Lucille Ball was intensely loyal to people she worked with and liked. Gordon’s working relationship with Lucille Ball began with Jack Haley’s" Wonder Show" in 1938 and lasted nearly 50 years until her last series, “Life with Lucy” in 1986. He was her go-to guy.