Essential for Lucy lovers, this found treasure, available for the first time on DVD, is more than a special, it's more like aThis Is Your Lifefor the First Lady of Television. It reunites Lucy with two of her most dependable writers from theI Love…days, Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Davis, and a veritable stock company ofLucyplayers, including Gale Gordon (The Lucy Show,Here's Lucy,Life with Lucy), Mary Jane Croft (I Love Lucy,The Lucy Show,Here's Lucy), Mary Wickes (The Lucy Show,Here's Lucy), and Vivian Vance appearing with herI Love Lucycohort for the last time. In this one-hour special taped before a studio audience in 1977, mayhem ensues when Lucy frantically prepares for a visit from President Jimmy Carter and his family. Gordon portrays her Republican father-in-law, with Ed McMahon as ever the consummate straight man as Lucy's husband. Some of the humor is atypically (for Lucy) topical. When she asks Gordon how her saxophone rendition of "Hail to the Chief" sounded, he replies, "Like you voted for Ford." But there's plenty of old-school slapstick and clowning that never gets old. What's really special are the generous bonus features, a trove of archival rarities including recently unearthed rehearsal footage, aTonight Showappearance with a deferential Johnny Carson, and an excerpt from a 1965 radio broadcast of "Talking with Lucy" featuring Steve Allen, who appears as himself inLucy Calls the President. This is oneCallLucy fans will not want to miss.--Donald Liebenson