a blog post written for my We Love Lucy Blogathon
Edna Ferber's theatrical play, Dinner at Eight, was adapted for radio by the Campbell Playhouse in 1940. One of Orson Welles' productions, Dinner at Eight guest-starred Lucille Ball in the role of his wife, a character much like her role in Fancy Pants with Bob Hope, slightly uncouth and uncultured.
A farcical look at upper-class arrogance and oneupmanship, Dinner at Eight never actually shows the dinner, but all of the events leading up to the meal, including the hostess' difficulty in obtaining the correct number of people from the correct social class. She's forced to invite a couple from Texas, played by Orson and Lucy, who are potentially her least favorite people in the entire world due to their coarse manners and habits.
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I'm a bit of a radio buff and a huge Orson Welles radio fan, so it only made sense that I would eventually stumble across this play, but what I wasn't expecting was Lucy. In fact, I hadn't even paid much attention to the credits at the beginning as I was listening, and then Lucy's voice woke me right out of my reverie.