8 /10 1 Votes8
Initial release 9 August 2003 First episode date 3 August 2003 | 4/5 Amazon Running time 50 minutes Original release August 3, 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Created by Tracey UllmanAllan McKeown Starring Tracey UllmanDebbie ReynoldsPaul DooleyBarbara BainGlenn ShadixLynne Marie StewartSam McMurrayJane KaczmarekCheech MarinGeorge SchlatterRose Marie Cast Similar Tracey Ullman: Live and, Ellen DeGeneres: Here and, Bill Maher: The Decider, The Pee‑wee Herman, Black on Broadway | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales is a 2003 HBO comedy special starring actress-comedian Tracey Ullman, a spin-off from Ullman's sketch comedy series Tracey Takes On....
Contents
The special, which was originally conceived as a pilot for a possible series, spotlights just one of Ullman's characters – Ruby Romaine, a Hollywood make-up artist in her seventies. Ruby recounts tales of old and present-day Hollywood as celebrities sit in her makeup chair in the on-set hair and makeup trailer. She also reveals details of her personal life, which includes living with her shell shock Vietnam-veteran son Buddy, and their pot-bellied pig, Oinky. The celebrity in Ruby's chair for this particular episode is actress Debbie Reynolds.
The working title for the project was Ruby Romaine, Trailer Trash. This was Ullman's directorial debut (aside from directing second unit during the fourth season of her series Tracey Takes On...).
Premise
Ruby recounts the time she decided to retire from the makeup industry and the events that followed, including her decision to return to the business.
While the special's main focus is Ruby Romaine, Ullman plays two additional characters: Romaine's Russian prostitute neighbor Svetlana and Pepper Kane: an African-American former-actress-turned-manager to her rapper grandson Slurr P. In the 1950s, Pepper was an actress who was made up to look white by Ruby.
Awards
The special was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards and won a Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Award for "Best Makeup - Television Mini-Series/Movie of the Week".