Another Merv Griffin Show clip. From 1980, Merv welcomes Lucille Ball to his stage for a somewhat fawning conversation. At one point, she makes reference to a student of hers named Stuart sitting in the front row. That's our pal Stuart Shostak, host of the oft-plugged-here Stu's Show. He was then taking one of Lucy's classes and later went to work for her for a time.
Stu is only one of several friends I have who speaks of Lucy's greatness. I'm afraid I never quite saw it the way they do. I thought she was a solid, hard-working comic actress who was good when she had good writing behind her…but I'd never rank her up with great TV comics like Silvers, Van Dyke, Groucho, Hope, Gleason and Carney (and I rank Carney way ahead of Gleason) or many others. Just my taste. Here she is…