Skiing Was a Handy Punching Bag When Television Searched for Laughs
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MUST-SKI TV Skiing was a handy punching bag when television searched for laughs. BY JEFF BLUMENFELD t was one of the most famous would focus its gimlet eye on skiing, ABOUT THIS ARTICLE broken legs in modern Amer- often giving the sport a black eye. To research how skiing has been ican history. For comedy writers in New depicted on American television When comedian Lucille York and Hollywood, the sport over the years, author and ISHA Ball suffered a leg fracture dur- was the butt of jokes for countless director Jeff Blumenfeld traveled Iing a skiing accident in Aspen in vintage television shows, especially to New York City to visit The Paley December 1971, the mishap gave new as skiing increasingly became a part Center for Media archives, a per- meaning to the Hollywood term of mass culture in the 1950s. From manent collection containing more “break a leg.” Rather than cancel the Topper to The Dick Van Dyke Show to than 160,000 television and radio fifth season ofHere’s Lucy, the ac- The Brady Bunch and Cheers, you were programs and advertisements. He cident was written into the script, either going to be injured or embar- also interviewed Robert Thompson, with the funny redhead performing rassed or both if you dared to ski. Professor of Television and Popular in a wheelchair and full-leg cast. The Certainly, Vinko Bogataj’s famous Culture at the S.I. Newhouse School first episode, “Lucy’s Big Break,” Agony of Defeat “yard sale” on ABC- of Public Communications at Syra- aired September 11, 1972 on CBS-TV. TV’s Wide World of Sports didn’t help cuse University, and watched dozens It was the beginning of the end sell many lift tickets (see sidebar). Hol- of TV series—from I Love Lucy to for Ball’s brilliant form of slapstick lywood’s incessant search for laughs Charlie’s Angels—on YouTube. He comedy. Sure, there were small gags used skiing as a handy punching bag. focused solely on episodic TV shows that Ball could safely perform with- “I can think of nothing better (weekly series). out further injuring her leg, but ac- than skiing as the basis for physical In an upcoming issue of Skiing cording to Geoffrey Mark Fidelman, comedy. It’s an entire environment History, he’ll take a look at skiing’s author of The Lucy Book (Renaissance waiting for slapstick. The sport is portrayal in feature-length movies. Books, 1999), this was the point the equivalent of slipping on a ba- where the Lucy character was “fi- nana peel,” says Robert Thompson, nally allowed to age.” In an Professor of Television and Popular effort to turn lemons into Culture at the S.I. Newhouse School lemonade, publicists for the of Public Communications at Syra- show pitched the media cuse University, and co-author of on printing x-rays of her Television in the Antenna Age: A Concise fractured leg, adding insult History (Wiley-Blackwell, 2004). to injury. While he has skied on a tiny While we can all name two-lift hill called Four Seasons our favorite ski scenes Golf and Ski Center in Fayetteville, in Hollywood theatrical New York, and enjoys cross-coun- films—yes, we’re looking at try skiing, most of what Thompson you, James Bond—it was knows about skiing is through its television that entertained depiction on TV. us most in the pre-Internet “Skiing has lots of comedic pos- After Lucille Ball broke her leg while skiing in Aspen era. From time to time this sibilities: First is gravity, which in December 1971, her accident was written into the “vast wasteland,” as a for- works against the skier more than fifth season of Here’s Lucy. mer FCC chairman called it, an athlete playing on a horizontal 20 | September-October 2018 SKIING HISTORY minating in Frasier lamenting that despite a five-way love “triangle,” which included a swimsuit model and gay ski instructor, no one was lusting for him. “There’s a Las Ve- gas quality to it,” says Thompson. “What happens in the ski lodge, stays in the ski lodge.” In 2009, TV Guide ranked “The Ski Lodge” episode 31st on its list of the 100 Greatest Episodes, as if TV On a 1963 episode of The Dick Van Dyke comedy writers needed any further Show, Rob Petrie (played by Van Dyke) encouragement to spoof the sport. practices before his first ski trip...but still “Skiing represented overindulgence, returns home injured. Wife Laura (Mary recklessness, things you’re not sup- Tyler Moore) doesn’t buy his explanation. posed to do as a responsible adult,” says Thompson. Brady Bunch (1969 to 1974) was a playing field. There’s romance in- er than endure a bunch of I-told- comedy about a woman with three volved: You go away to ski. It’s not you-so’s. Upon his return, Laura daughters who marries a man with something to enjoy in your back- discovers him covered in bandages, three sons. “The Brady Bunch intro- yard. There’s also a conspiratorial which Rob vainly tries to explain duced us to things middle class peo- nature to a ski vacation.” is his “ski protection.” Lots of ple could [now] do that we couldn’t Thompson recalls an episode talk about breaking a leg, sprained do before, like traveling to Hawaii, of The Dick Van Dyke Show called wrists, broken ankles and cracked or going skiing,” says Thompson. “Don’t Trip Over That Mountain” ribs, which the canned laugh track In the episode titled “Father of the (1963) in which Rob Petrie, played thinks is simply hilarious. Year” (1970), housekeeper Alice, by Van Dyke, promises his wife Thompson also points to the played by Ann B. Davis, practices Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) he won’t 1984 Cheers episode titled “Snow for a family ski trip by skiing on a get injured on his upcoming two- Job.” Sam is heartbroken over hay-lined ramp in the backyard. day skiing trip. It’s his first-ever the death of his Uncle Nathan in She skis about three feet for- ski trip; in fact, the scene opens Stowe, Vermont, where he must ward before falling, complaining, with Rob on skis practicing in the travel for the funeral. But his girl- “Your snow has splinters in it.” living room. No problem. His pal friend Diane knows he’s really Jerry Helper (Jerry Paris) is going to going on a ski weekend with his SPOOKS AND SKI BUNNIES teach him. What could go wrong? buddies to pick up a few “snow One of the earliest skiing refer- You already know what’s com- bunnies,” as he’s done before. ences in TV comedy was the series ing: Rob sustains a full body sprain In the 1998 Frasier episode called premiere of Topper (1953–1955) star- due to a four-person collision with “The Ski Lodge,” a farce of ill- ring Leo G. Carroll. In an episode a billy goat, then does all he can to intended, romantic room visitations titled, “Topper Meets the Ghosts,” keep his injuries from his wife rath- unfolds throughout the night, cul- staid banker Cosmo Topper (Car- “What happens in the ski lodge, stays in the ski lodge.” In this Housekeeper Alice (the actress Ann B. Davis) practices on a 1998 Frasier scene, psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane (played by hay-covered wooden ramp in the backyard prior to a ski trip Kelsey Grammer, in the blue robe) misses out on a five-way love on The Brady Bunch. She fell and wound up with splinters—an “triangle” that unfolds overnight. unauspicious start to the family vacation. www.skiinghistory.org September-October 2018 | 21 rol) and his wife Henrietta, played the chair ahead fall off, and thinks bus. Not because of the color of his by Lee Patrick, move into a house she’s going to die. As her life flash- skin, but because he’s a snowboarder. haunted by its previous tenants – es before her, her male chairmate “We’re all just people with wood the mischievous, sophisticated ghosts suggests they have sex on the lift so strapped to our feet sliding down a George and Marion Kerby (played his “seed” would live on. mountain,” he complains. by Robert Sterling and Ann Jeffreys) On the Internet, ski lift malfunc- and their spectral, alcoholic St. Ber- SATURDAY NIGHT SPOOF tions are likely to go viral—after nard, Neil—who are visible only to Comedy writers on Saturday Night the Gudauri, Georgia, lift accident Cosmo. George and Marion were Live had a field day in 2002 with a last season, the Washington Post on killed on a skiing vacation, another cold open titled, “Mormon on the March 16, 2018, ominously warned black eye for the sport. Slopes,” a spoof of the 2002 Olympic readers, “Don’t watch this video of In a 1979 episode of Charlie’s Angels Winter Games in Salt Lake City. a malfunctioning chair lift if you (1976–1981), called “Terror on Skis,” Dan Aykroyd and Will Ferrell try to ever plan to ski again.” But all in the government hires the Angels to convert racer Amy Poehler, while on all, skiing is no longer maligned on find people responsible for killing downhill skis. “Would you like to be the tube. It isn’t that sinful any- the president’s special aide in Vail, a Mormon?” they ask. Aykroyd sug- more, it’s not the court jester of Colorado. The Angels go undercover gests she could be one of his wives. sports, it’s less conspiratorial, and as —what else?—ski bunnies.