Here's another musical number with Lulu from The Red Skelton Show in 1968. It features her. It features The Tom Hansen Dancers, one of whom is the gentleman who fixed my leaky roof years later. And it features Burl Ives. Mr. Ives was one of my favorite musical performers but he was not, shall we say, "gifted" in the terpsichore department.
I once heard a choreographer refer to a proposed number on a show we were doing as a "Burgess Meredith job." Since Mr. Meredith was not at all part of our cast, I asked what that meant. The choreographer said that was her term for having to stage something with someone who couldn't dance one entire step without being off the beat and awkward. Like all who staged dances for a living, she did a lot of Burgess Meredith jobs…once in a while, even with Burgess Meredith.
I assume Tom Hansen staged this one. He did a pretty good job camouflaging the fact that Burl Ives was almost as bad a dancer as…well, he's not quite as dreadful as me but he's close. There's one point in there where all he has to do is walk and he still manages to start on the wrong foot. And just think: This was done on tape so they may have done it twenty times and this was the best take.
Nevertheless, I'm still a fan of Burl Ives. I still have a crush on Lulu. I'm still grateful to whichever of the dancers fixed my roof. And I've got to get me an outfit like the ones they're wearing.