This page archives items, features, pictures, and tidbits we've published on Lucille Ball, "I Love Lucy," the cast, and just about everything "Lucy." Not everything, mind you...there's not enough bandwidth! Have a Ball!This Month in the Lucyverse* Archive
(*the Lucille Ball universe)
© 2008 By Joyce Kellogg and Michael Karol
Exclusively for Sitcomboy.com!
June 1, 1942 In "Behind the Makeup," Los Angeles Examiner's Harry Crocker writes, “A personal Oscar to — Lucille Ball! Each day as Lucille leaves The Big Street, she loads her station wagon with leftover food from the many film eating sequences and distributes it to needy families in the San Fernando Valley, previously located for help from the huge Victory garden she and [husband] Desi Arnaz planted.” [The Big Street co-starred Henry Fonda, and Lucille's dramatic performance is said to have sealed her MGM contract that year.—MAK] June 2, 1950 Variety called the Arnaz' stage tour — which they did to prove to CBS execs that the average viewer would "accept" them as a married couple — "top fare for vaude houses and niteries.” [Much of this routine ended up in an episode of I Love Lucy.] Their 20-minute routine [consisted] of a quickly assembled first-rate vaudeville act devised by an old friend, the renowned international Spanish clown, Pepito, involving a physical-comedy sketch for which he coached the couple personally and rigorously at the Coronado Hotel in San Diego; the creation of a xylophone and "an incredible cello" [prop] based on an invention of his own, which had been part of his act. Other routines included a Pugh-Carroll-scripted skit and musical routine based on "Cuban Pete" [Desi’s creation] and "Sally Sweet" [for Lucille to join him in a second chorus], as well as a comedy sketch illustrating a married couple's true-to-life difficulties, busy lives and predicaments. June 3, 1948 William Frawley (a.k.a. Fred Mertz), an avid baseball fan, joined other fans on a special five-hour-long show aired on Gene Autry’s local TV station [a paid political announcement which convinced enough voters to approve a referendum to build a better stadium for the Dodgers than the Los Angeles Coliseum]. June 9, 1938 Dog Day: The Los Angeles Evening Herald Express's Harrison Carroll reported, “Lucille Ball is off Great Danes for life: a friend’s knocked her into the swimming pool with her clothes on. She had to borrow clothing to get back home.” June 15, 1936 In the Hollywood Citizen News, Elizabeth Yeaman wrote, “Lucille Ball, a young stock player at Radio Pictures, is the recipient of three exciting offers from Broadway, as a result of her performance in Breakfast With Lenora, under Lela Rogers’ [Ginger's mom] tutelage. The studio views other stage offers good for her career, and plans are being worked out to lend her to Pemberton in August. Before she leaves, however, she will star in The Big Game, annual football picture." [Note: Though I could no evidence that Lucy appered in this film, her friend and fellow Goldwyn Girl, Barbara Pepper did, and is credited as "Lois, the Drunk's Girl." —MAK]
June 18, 1952 In her popular Hollywood gossip column, Louella Parsons broke the news of Lucille Ball's pregnancy on this date. She apologizes for doing so in the same column, but explains "it would be a disservice to her readers to withhold such important information." June 18, 1960 Erskine Johnson, NEA (National Education Assn.) Hollywood correspondent, wrote an article headlined, Desi’s Good Luck Kiss For Lucy Is Main Course: “It was a ‘happy reunion’ luncheon for Bob Hope and Lucille Ball. Lucy’s first movie in more than four years (during which all she made was money) had reunited the redhead and Ski Nose after 11 years [the movie was The Facts of Life, a rare comedic drama for both Ball and Hope that dealt with the subject of adultery]. A ‘good luck kiss’ from an ex-husband of a couple of weeks [Arnaz] turned out to be the main course for all the photographers who were there; and they are friends, you know.” June 21, 1943 In the Los Angeles Examiner's "Behind the Makeup" column, Harry Crocker reported, “Du Barry gives historians something to talk about; but Lucille Ball, as the siren’s streamlined prototype, gives the movies its first new hair color since the platinum blonde. It’s tange red – the golden sheen of the tangerine plus the flame of fire. The screen’s first Technicolor musical, DuBarry Was A Lady, pairs Red Skelton and Lucille Ball, and the screen sizzles.” [And thus, a redheaded legend is born. —MAK] June 26, 1940 Sidney Skolsky wrote, in the Hollywood Citizen News, an article titled, Watching Them Make Pictures: "George Abbott will produce-direct Too Many Girls [a departure from his usual stage-work-only routine]. He has two men from his Broadway production, one of whom is Desi Arnaz, strictly the Spanish type; [he] arrived with the reputation of being a ladies’ man; a great conga dancer, which is supposed to be something. While on the set, he was introduced to Ginger Rogers as he wanted ‘to meet a real movie star.’” [Two points: Rogers was already a good friend of Arnaz's future wife, Lucille Ball, who was the star of Too Many Girls; indeed, Lucy and Desi met as a result of the filming of this motion picture.—MAK] June 28, 1951 In Gramercy Park, during a posh dinner party in this elegant New York neighborhood [right next to the New York neighborhood of yours truly—MAK], prominent public relations representatives of the Biow Company speak of “...buying a little thing being made out on the Coast...a situation comedy with Lucille Ball and her husband, whatsizname?...I don’t know if it will amount to anything,” and viewed a 16-mm. print of the I Love Lucy pilot.
July 1, 1933 & 1939 In 1933 on this date, the Jamestown [N.Y.] Morning Post reported that, “Lucille Ball Has Arrived in Hollywood ... has finally heeded the call of the talking screen, previously appearing on stage in musical comedies, as well as cigarette advertisements.” A mere six years later, to the day, in the Los Angeles Evening Herald Express, writer Anita Loos picked 10 Glamor Girls, among them our favorite — what?! — brunette: “Lucille Ball is RKO’s No. 1 glamor girl, the dark-haired lassie having remained for screen fame after appearing as one of the models in Roberta.” Week of July 4, 1967 Vivian Vance (a.k.a. Ethel Mertz and Vivian Bagley) stars in a play written for her, and in which she has appeared around the country for three years, Everybody’s Girl, at the Cherry County Playhouse, in western Michigan. Advance press releases tout Vance’s important work as a volunteer talking to ptients at mental health societies and hospitals. [Vance had a considerable Broadway stage career through WWII, after which she had a nervous breakdown and was unable to perform for several years. She was coaxed out of retirement by friend Mel Ferrer to appear in The Voice of the Turtle at his La Jolla (Calif.) Playhouse, which is where she was "discovered" by Desi Arnaz, Jess Oppenheimer and Marc Daniels, and subsequently cast in I Love Lucy. After years of successful therapy, Vance considered her work for the mentally ill one of the most important things she ever did.—MAK] July 6, 1989 Lucille Ball, posthumously, is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, with four other highly-regarded Americans, as “The First Lady of Television – one of America’s greatest comediennes; whose face has been seen by more people more often than the face of any human being who ever lived. Who can forget Lucy? She was like everyone’s next-door neighbor, only funnier – a national treasure bringing laughter to us all. Love, Lucy? Sure. This nation is grateful to her and we will all miss her dearly." [Lucy had died several months earlier.—MAK] July 10, 1940 In the Hollywood Citizen News, Sidney Skolsky reported in his columm "Watching Them Make Pictures": “Despite travel from Hollywood to New York by train taking three days, and to Hollywood from New York by plane in 12 hours, it still takes a full season for a Broadway musical comedy to reach a Hollywood sound stage. RKO is now up to one of last season’s hits, Too Many Girls, with Desi Arnaz, of the original stage cast, and others from the stage version cast for the film version.” [Lucille Ball was the star of the film, and on this movie set Lucy and Desi met for the first time.—MAK] July 10, 1947 Detroit Times drama editor, Harvey Taylor wrote, after seeing Lucy in a performance of the play Dream Girl during her national tour, “. . . after opening night, those people who forgot to unknot fingers they had desperately crossed for Detroit Stage’s first venture, were spraining them right and left applauding Lucille Ball in Dream Girl at the Music Hall, and my being of a cautious nature, can only say that she was sensational. Husband Desi Arnaz and mother Desirée Peterson were also in attendance.”
July 15, 1967 In this week's TV Guide, Dwight Whitney reported under the headline, The President Wore a Dress to the Stockholders Meeting: “Lucille Ball was followed and approached by an attorney in meetings she was having with Jackie Gleason in Miami, trying to get him to appear in a movie she planned to make; needing to make contact with her in her role as president of the largest TV-producing facility in the world. Gulf and Western wanted to buy up Desilu; but, Lucille couldn’t make up her mind — after she had an hour to weep, she said 'Yes.'" July 17, 1940 Harrison Carroll reports, in the Los Angeles Evening Herald Express: “Nice the way things are breaking for Lucille Ball. RKO picked up her option and she can take her pick of Broadway offers. Too Many Girls’ director wants her for a stage show. There’s also an offer for summer stock in New Jersey and another with Orson Welles’ troupe.” [Unfortunately, none of these options seems to have panned out.—MAK] July 23, 1948 The Hollywood Citizen News' Zuma Palmer wrote, in her Radio-Television column, that, “Lucillle Ball now has a weekly date at 6 over at KNX. Miss Ball is the somewhat scatter-brained, but not dumb, Liz Cugat, on My Favorite Husband, with Richard Denning, her vice president banker husband, George Cugat, and Hal March, their friend Cory. Characters [were] created in the I.S. Rorick novels, Mr. & Mrs. Cugat and Outside Eden." July 26, 1909 Vivian [Roberta Jones] Vance [a.k.a. Ethel Mertz and Vivian Bagley], daughter of Robert and Mae Ragan Jones, was born in Cherryvale, Kan., this date. Vance (who once said she couldn't wait to leave Kansas), traveled to New York and carved out a stage career, first singing in supper clubs, then on Broadway: starting in the chorus, understudying Ethel Merman, and finally co-starring in her own musicals and plays. Vance finally became a legend as Ethel on I Love Lucy and the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, and Vivian Bagley, TV's first series regular divorcée, on The Lucy Show, over a 15-year period. She appeared with Lucille Ball in approximately 300 filmed TV episodes/specials together, making them one of the medium’s most-watched and beloved comedy teams. (It should be noted that Vance, as do many performers, played with her birth date, making herself a few years younger than she actually was; her real date of birth was uncovered after her death.—MAK] July 31, 1958 Lucy Buys Westinghouse, a 45-minute promotional film made to be show to Westinghouse dealers, was produced and directed by Desi Arnaz. Never-aired on television, the film was done to get the sponsor and its dealers excited about the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse premiere in October 1958. Hosted by Arnaz and featuring his wife, the film was shot at various locations on Desilu lot, including the opening sequence, featuring a young Lucie Arnaz, shot in her father’s executive office. Vivian Vance and William Frawley also played "themselves," yet blurred the already thin line between reality and fantasy, as all seem to be channeling their I Love Lucy counterparts. They visit the sets of Desilu’s "Bernadette" and the upcoming Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour [which will air infrequently in the same spot over the next few years—MAK], starring Maurice Chevalier; plus the prop, makeup and wardrobe departments. The highlight of the promotional film is an aerial tour of Desilu Studios ... by helicopter!
Aug. 3, 1936 In the Hollywood Citizen News, Elizabeth Yeaman wrote: “Lucille Ball and Barbara Pepper (long-time friend and veteran supporting cast member) are the latest additions to cast of Winterset at [RKO] Radio Pictures, Lucille having been promised her part will be finished by August 18, as she is to leave for New York that date. She will have a leave of absence for a play on Broadway, although she has never had any stage experience outside the little studio plays she has done under the guidance of Lela Rogers (Ginger Rogers’ mother). She is engaged for the second lead in Hey Diddle Diddle.’” [The play never made it to Broadway due to its star — a forgotten stage and early film actor named Conway Tearle, becoming ill. Lucy, however, got fabulous reviews. She got the role thanks to RKO director Pandro Berman, who reportedly had a major crush on her and also cast her in the classic film Stage Door, Lucy's first big attention-getting role. Pepper later fell on hard times after the death of her husband in the late 1940s and a descent into alcoholism, but Lucy never forgot her, casting her in bit parts in many I Love Lucy episodes. Pepper did manager to continue her film career, mostly in small parts and walk-ons in more than hundred roles, and gained famed on TV as Doris Ziffle in the hit Green Acres. She died during the run of that series.] Aug. 4, 1953 Elois Jenssen, then costume designer for I Love Lucy, took her designs for Lucille Ball to see at the Arnaz's Chatsworth Ranch, a secondary approval, first approval being by Karl ‘Papa’ Freund, who was a stickler on colors, etc., for lighting purposes. Ball and Jenssen walked out to her car, and noticed little Lucie face-down in the family swimming pool — Lucille went into shock, and Elois jumped in and saved Lucie’s life that day. Aug. 7, 2000/
2001An announcement is made at We Love Lucy [the Lucille Ball Fan Club Convention] in Burbank, California, regarding a new Postal Stamp in the “Legends of Hollywood” Series, this date in 2000. The USPS Postage Stamp “Loving Lucy,” a portrait by artist Drew Struzan of Pasadena, Calif., is the second of two stamps (and the only stamps of a civilian issued within two years of each other). The seventh “famous face" in the Legends of Hollywood" series, available for purchase only at Post Offices in groups of 20, debuts this date in 2001. [The first stamp, now a collectible, featured Lucy and Desi Arnaz in a tribute to I Love Lucy, one of 10 stamps honoring the decade of the 1950s, issued as part of the USPS series "Celebrate the Century, depicting famous events from each decade of the 20th Century.] Aug. 12, 1933 Desiderio Alberto Arnaz de Acha II [Desi Arnaz’s father] — the youngest Mayor of Santiago de Cuba, starting at 23, [for 10 years] — was forced into hiding by the first Baptista Revolution overthrowing Machado’s Cuban government. He was also a Congressman, and owner of three drug stores. The revolution landed his father in jail this day for six months, and stripped his family of its wealth and power. Arnaz's father was released when U.S. officials, who believed him to be neutral during the revolt, intervened on his behalf. Arnaz and his parents then fled to Miami, Florida...where Desi Jr. cleaned bird cages and did whatever was necessary to support the family, finally forming a band; his love of music and talent were noticed by Xavier Cugat, and the rest is history. Aug. 15, 1953 Lucy, writing in her autobiography Love, Lucy, noted, “In mid-August 1953, we settled into a rented house on the beach in Del Mar, California, with both babies, a nurse, Desi’s mother, and an assortment of houseguests. It was there I received a call from William A. Wheeler, an investigator for the House Un-American Activities Committee. [The Committee] wanted DeDe [Lucy's mom], Freddy [Lucy's brother] and me in a closed hearing September 4, in Hollywood....” [Lucy's familiy had registered as Communists for the 1936 election to appease her Socialist grandfather; Ball, who by this time was already beloved by the American public, was exonerated of all charges, and went on to film the 68th episode of I Love Lucy, during which Desi Arnaz informed the studio audience, instead of his traditional warm-up, about Lucy's innocence, and famously proclaimed, "The only thing red about Lucy is her hair, and even that's not legitimate!"]
Aug. 17, 1979 A sad day — Vivian Vance [Lucy’s Ethel Mertz and Vivian Bagley, her co-star in almost 300 television programs, in addition being an accomplished Broadway and theater actress], died of breast and bone cancer at the age of 70; requesting no funeral service, she was cremated in San Francisco and her ashes scattered at sea. Vance's fourth husband, John Dodds, died of cancer in 1986. He left his estate, including Vance's unpublished autobiography, to friend and antiques dealer Serge Matt. Quotes from the manuscript were published in Vance's biography, The Other Side of Ethel Mertz, in 2000. Aug. 20, 1963 In her "Voice of Broadway" column, Dorothy Kilgallen reports under the heading Gossip in Gotham: "Lucille Ball Going After Bing For TV Show and Upcoming Film - Lucille Ball may be making big show business news in the near future. She wants Bing Crosby to appear on one of her television shows next season, and she also hopes to talk him into co-starring with her in a movie. Lucy never hesitates to admit that ‘Der Bingle’ is one of her all-time favorite performers.” ["Der Bingle" and Lucy never performed together on any of her sitcoms.] Aug. 22, 1963 Associated Press movie and television writer Bob Thomas noted concerning Desilu, “The President of the corporation arrives for the annual stockholders meeting in a pink golf cart. Lucille Ball enters the studio theater precisely the hour when Desilu shareholders are to convene for her first meeting as President. They are 61 in number. She is happy to report the first 13 weeks of the new fiscal year shows a 44 percent increase in net income. Production is at 90 percent capacity. Desilu is at its peak financial condition. Desilu [corporate] employs 180; full production [staff] is 1,600.” Aug. 27, 1948 A lucky radio audience tuned in to Lucille Ball and co-star Richard Denning, appearing on CBS Radio’s 30-minute situation comedy My Favorite Husband, in an untitled episode asking the question: “Is Your Ship of Matrimony on the Rocks?” Episode #6, with veteran supporting cast member John Hiestand, was written by Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr., who, along with head writer Jess Oppenheimer, would go on to create and write I Love Lucy, with the Lucy Ricardo and her scheming nature (and many plots) lifted directly from this hit radio program. Aug. 30, 1966 Desi Arnaz reports a roudy group at his Del Mar beach house to the police [Desi was nervous because Lucie Arnaz, age 15, and a girlfriend were spending the night with him at the time], and was ultimately arrested himself, since he tried to break up the gang in front of the beach house by firing a gun into the sand trying to scare them off. [Upon hearing the scary details, Lucille Ball, still protective of Desi, reportedly sent a supply of blanks to Desi to help ‘prove’ his case, should there have been a further investigation. There was none.] Sept. 4, 1910 L. Pauline Lopus — Lucille Ball’s life-long friend, childhood next-door neighbor, her beloved “Sassafrassa,” is born this date. They formed an all-girl band called The Gloomchasers Union, with another friend, Violet Robbins. Got her nickname because her father would take her and Lucille to the nearby Seneca Indian land to gather sassafras bark; Pauline recalled that Lucille was “moody, kindhearted and helpful,” i.e., one time a train derailed near their home and Lucille filled two pails with water, running to see if perhaps anyone had been riding the train and was in danger due to the fire; and again, after an accident at the same area, Lucille found a wristwatch at the scene, where a well-to-do woman was taken to the hospital; Lucille took her the watch when she became well. Sept. 5, 1964 William Frawley (Lucy’s Fred Mertz), had a cameo in the CBS half-hour Summer Playhouse episode, “The Apartment House.” Frawley had moved on immediately after I Love Lucy to My Three Sons, where he was cast as the lovable, curmudgeonly Bub. He stayed with the series for five seasons, until 1965, when illness forced him to retire. His final TV appearance was, fittingly, a cameo on The Lucy Show in 1965. Sept. 7, 1942 MGM hairstylist Sydney Guilaroff, the first stylist to get onscreen credit, alters Lucille Ball’s brunette hair to its trademark flaming orange/red color, this date, creating perhaps the most famous redhead in movie and TV history. [On the other hand, Lucy's longtime film and TV stylist, Irma Kusely, will often refer to Lucy's hair color as apricot, not red or orange.] Sept. 10, 1967 Desi Arnaz’ series The Mothers-in-Law, starring Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard as feuding in-laws, premieres this, with Arnaz directing the first episode, “On Again, Off Again.” [This was the only series from Desi Arnaz Productions that went beyond the pilot stage; it ran on NBC for two years.] Sept. 15, 1952 TV critic Jack Gould reviewed the classic I Love Lucy episode “Job Switching” [the premiere of the second season]: “I Love Lucy — the top program of last season” — [is] back in fine fettle ... a triumph of familiar nonsense, beautifully-timed. Miss Ball’s comic artistry can easily be missed because she has a way of making it appear deceptively easy. ... Desi Arnaz, who is Miss Ball’s husband both on and off the stage, has improved remarkably as a performer since the series’ premiere a year ago. One thing more: The film production is much the best to come out of Hollywood. As an act of simple charity toward the long-suffering home viewer, Miss Ball and Mr. Arnaz should tell the other TV producers how they do it!” Sept. 16, 1958 NBC’s Desilu Production of Fountain of Youth, with Desi Arnaz as executive producer and Orson Welles as writer and director, airs. NBC Colgate Theater and Desilu will win a special Peabody Award — TV's most prestigious honor — for this half-hour pilot anthology TV series with Welles as host; many long-time Lucy employees and guest supporting players were featured. Welles used many then-innovative techniques for the short film, such as stills and stop-motion. The pilot was not picked up as a series. [Welles was longtime friend of the Arnazes, and a big believer in Lucille Ball's comedic talent; he'd tried more than once to get a movie made starring Ball. He guest-starred as himself on the Oct. 15, 1956 episode of I Love Lucy.] Sept. 19, 2001 Lucy Moves to TV Land: Cable channel TV Land (a spin-off of Nick-At-Nite) announced the addition of I Love Lucy to its schedule by reporting it would present the series as it hadn’t been seen since its original run — on the series' Golden Anniversary, with restored elements not seen since the original broadcast. It ran 50 episodes in a week-long marathon salute celebrating I Love Lucy's “50 Greatest Laughs,” which kicked off October 15th, 9 p.m. [The original animated openings and closings, featuring the iconic Lucy and Desi stick figures, were used, but the Philip Morris cigarette advertisements were replaced.] Sept. 22, 1986 "Lucy Has Grown Up a Lot" — in an article published in U.S. News & World Report, the comedy legend talked about how TV had evolved. Ball said women run things and take charge, and answer and respond differently than on shows in the past — not just in television ... but in books, magazines, and every medium. She also felt they were "becoming too vulgar." Sept. 24, 1934 In the Los Angeles Daily News, Eleanor Barnes reported, “Lucille Ball has won a contract at Columbia Studios after working her way upward starting as a mannequin in New York and graduating to stage roles. Miss Ball, who is a perfect blue-eyed, blonde type, received her education at Jamestown, N.Y. and the Chautauqua Musical Institute. She will play her first part for Columbia in The Criminal Within.” [Actually, Lucy's first appearance at Columbia was in a 1934 short called Perfectly Mismated. The Criminal Within was eventually made as Murder at Glen Athol in 1936 by Chesterfield Motion Pictures Corp.] Sept. 30, 1943 The Los Angeles Evening Herald Express' Harrison Carroll wrote, “Lucille Ball couldn’t be more amazed. She, Greer Garson and Judy Garland wrote comedy lyrics on the Hollywood Cavalcade Bond Tour, which they named “The Rooney-Pidgeon-Skelton Blues.” An MGM official heard the words and promptly ordered them set to music. The song will be used in Ziegfeld Follies." [The song was not part of the movie, which was made in 1946, although Lucy was featured in the opening dance number, "Bring on the Beautiful Girls." according to the Web site mininova.com, "I've Got Those Rooney/Pidgeon/Skelton Blues" would've had Garland, Garson and Ball moaning about their (respectively) frequent co-stars.] The Lost Vivian Vance Hirschfeld!
This drawing, by the master of the line and Broadway chronicler Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003) was done for a December 1941 issue of the New York Herald Tribune (Hirschfeld later drew for The New York Times, the paper with which he is perhaps best associated). Shown are Edith Meiser, Eve Arden, and Vivian Vance, as they appeared in the wartime musical Let's Face It. They played wives who missed their servicemen husbands' company, and contemplated having affairs.
The show opened on October 29, 1941, ran for 547 performances, and was Vance's biggest Broadway hit (she'd begun her stage career as an understudy to Ethel Merman in such musicals as Anything Goes (1934) and Red, Hot & Blue (1936). Eve Arden, of course, went on to movies, including her Oscar-nominated turn in Mildred Pierce (1945) and Our Miss Brooks on radio and television. Meiser eventually appeared several times on Vance's show I Love Lucy as Mrs. Littlefield, Ricky's boss's wife, most memorably in "Lucy's Schedule," in which Lucy and Ethel enlist her to help teach "the boys" a lesson.
Until I found this wonderful and historic drawing while researching at the New York Library of the Performing Arts, I could only document one drawing of Vance by Hirschfeld: a 1962/63 TV season promo done for CBS's The Lucy Show. This provides a nice bookend from another period in Vance's career, and raises the tantalizing question: how many more "lost" Hisrchfelds might exist... "out there"? Let me hear from you if you find any: e-mail me at lucyfann@hotmail.com.
A Rare Look at Lucy During the Red Scare
One of the best things about being a fan and collecting is finding "new" items — new in the sense of modern recreations and collectibles, sure, but finding items and press clips you've never seen before can be even more thrilling. In the best of circumstances, the latter can illuminate facets of the person or persons about whom you collect. Nowhere is this more evident as I keep researching the lives and careers of Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, William Frawley, and Vivian Vance. For example, many of you will know that Lucy was branded a Communist in the early 1950s, thanks to a registration card she filled out in the 1930s simply to satisfy her beloved grandfather (she was ultimately cleared of all charges). But you may never have seen (I know I didn't) the front page of the New York Daily News (at right) that blasted the news across its front page. I have, and now, so can you. Finally, I've included a picture of Lucy from the 1940s that ran in a Chicago newspaper, no doubt to publicize one of her films (below right, under the "American Masters" headline). In it she's showing a lot more leg than she usually does, and looks either wistful or regretful. In either case, she's a knockout. It's nice to know that even in a 50th Anniversary (of "I Love Lucy") year, when the media is flooded with more familiar images of Lucy and her co-stars, there is always something that can surprise and delight the fan, if you look hard enough.
Lucy in the News
Not a day goes during which you can't find Lucille Ball somewhere on TV. But even more than a decade after her death, she still makes good copy, as we in publishing used to say. That was evident in two Lucy appearances circa 2000, one in Entertainment Weekly's 10th anniversary issue, out in late May, and the other in talk magazine (now defunct). The former is more of a cameo appearance, since Entertainment Weekly didn't start publishing until after Lucy's death (though she still made two covers over the magazine's 10-year history). On the back page of the issue, EW speculates what its covers might have been like if the magazine had been publishing "when Pop Culture really began to infiltrate our lives" after WWII. Lucy, natch, is on the 1950s-era mock cover, with a typical EW cover line: "Have We Fallen Out of Love with Lucy?" (The date on it is 1955; see pic at left).talk took a different approach; in honor of the almost 50th anniversary of I Love Lucy, the magazine looked back at Lucy's real life and her many problems, with an oral history (herstory?) conducted by Rex Reed. Interviewed were many of Lucy's closest colleagues and friends, including daughter Lucie Arnaz. The overwhelming theme of the stories they told was one of anger, bitterness, and sadness, at Lucy's quest for perfectionism, on screen and off; her drive to succeed to the point of being brusque and alienating to many; and the sad fact that she could never make her marriage to Desi Arnaz work. Even second husband Gary Morton admitted Desi was the love of her life, and vice versa: After Lucy died, Morton said to Lucy's close friend, and Wildcat Broadway co-star Paula Stewart, "I guess she's happy now; she's with Desi."
The article is illustrated with many wonderful photos, including this gorgeous shot of Lucy from the Kobal collection, at right. Cousin Cleo Smith regrets the drinking that overtook Desi's life. Actress and friend Sheila MacRae tells a devastating story of visiting Lucy and Gary one night when a drunk Desi showed up, using his key to the house. Irma Kusely, Lucy's hair stylist for more than 40 years, related how she kept Lucy's apparently youthful appearance up using wigs, pantyhose, and bandages, so that the star never had to have full face-lift. Protégé and comedienne Carole Cook is sorry that Lucy never used the last decade of her life to do more things like travel, read, go to the theater, or hold classes as opposed to playing backgammon ad infinitum. And daughter Lucie describes her mother as "not a peaceful person."
Still, within the comments are all the things you'd expect to hear, about her talent, her never-say-die attitude about putting togther her show, her comic genius, her lighter side, and her nicer side, too. She would call up a total stranger who had cancer to cheer her up; and she would be loving and loyal once she got to know you. Above all, she was totally modest about her status in the world: she couldn't comprehend the love that poured out for her from 99.9 percent of the households in the world (the estimate of how many had tuned her shows in at one time or another). And though friend Stewart thought her final resting place too tiny at Forest Lawn (her cremated remains were seven feet high identified by a plaque that says "Lucille Ball Morton"), others point out that that's because it's what Lucy wanted. No fuss. No media circus. "Just enjoy what I've left you and move on." Well, we do. Her personal life may have been bumpy (whose isn't?) but her professional life is legend, and her legacy of laughter is forever. (P.S. Lucy's remains, and her mother's, were moved from Forest Lawn to Lake View Cemetary in Lucy's homeown, Jamestown, N.Y., in 2002 at the request of Lucy's children, Lucie and Desi Jr. Lucy's Father, Henry, and other members of the Ball family are also interred there.)
Lucy "What's New" Archive
2007
12.31.07 Here's hoping for a surprise: a sweet New Year, full of peace, laughter and joy.
It's the end of one year, and the beginning of another. It's been a fractious year, an argumentative year, a politically trying year, and worldwide, a disconcerting year. Personally, it was an emotionally fraught year for me on many fronts, coalescing exactly one year ago and lasting through the summer. I don't usually get personal here, but I've found the strength to begin fixing my own condition in a positive way, and put together a "survival guide" that helps me when I feel I'm losing it. When I've shared this guide with my friends, they invariably ask me for a copy, so I thought I'd share it with faithful readers of this site. I'm sure Lucy herself would have approved. Here it is:
Things I've Learned in 2007
Have Patience.
Channel your anger to a positive place.
Laugh as much as possible.
Worrying only hurts ME.
Have fun while you’re here.
Enjoy every precious moment.
Be nice to people—even if you’d rather not.
Smile.
Take it one day at a time.
Yes, I can.
Live in the Present.
Don’t be so hard on yourself.
You’re in it for the long haul…so don’t expect things to change/turn on a dime.
Do the things you love. Often.
Take the time to tell your loved ones that you love them.
Remember, it’s easier to destroy the light inside than to fight the darkness all around you.
When following your inner voice, you must deal with uncertainty. The future is not laid out, and it all comes down to trust…trusting that the support you need will be there, that the money will come, that if one path does not work out, another will open up.
The future is unknowable. The past is unreachable. Therefore…today is the day in which you must live.
Hope that is of some use, and have a happy, joyous, peaceful and healthy New Year!Speaking of fractious behavior, apparently there has been and continues to be an upheaval at the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center In Jamestown, N.Y. As a journalist, I have been taught not take take sides; at this point, I simply don't know enough of the facts to speak to the situation. Many of you may have heard rumblings about what has been going on for the past month or so. I can merely report what was in the Jamestown Post-Journal on December 5th: "“Four members of the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center board of directors, including Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr., have left the board and have been replaced with local residents, organization officials confirmed Tuesday. Other departures include Wanda Clark, Lucille Ball’s longtime personal secretary, and Mary Rapaport, a Buffalo-area resident and an active supporter of the Lucy-Desi community.”
What this likely means is there’s an internecine struggle going on within (and outside of) the Lucy-Desi Center for control of the center, its activities, and its direction in the future. A statement from Lucie Arnaz, who had also served as board president, noted, “We hope to continue to work with the people of Jamestown and its beautiful surrounding community, and to be supportive of their desire to utilize the memories of Jamestown’s ‘first daughter’ and its ‘adopted son-in-law’ to maximize the area’s potential for revitalization and growth.”
Rumors are flying, and I can note the center still plans to continue its day-to-day activities, including its two annual festivals—one over Memorial Day weekend, and one honoring Lucy’s birthday in August. Check this website for updates.12.24.07 The Los Angeles Times announced today that Michael Kidd, who produced, directed, and choreographed Wildcat!, Lucille Ball’s 1960 Broadway musical, had died. Kidd won five Tony awards for choreographing such shows as Can-Can, Finian’s Rainbow, and Guys and Dolls. He also choreographed movies, like 1954’s Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and won a special Oscar in 1997 for "his services to the art of the dance in the art of the screen.” He was 92.
12.02.07
In its November 23rd issue, Entertainment Weekly joined with cable channel TV Land to announce "The 50 Greatest TV Icons of all Time." Johnny Carson was #1, and while his importance to many TV genres cannot be denied, for me, the magazine's #2 choice -- Lucille Ball; the fab illustration by Zohar Lazar you see here accompanied Lucy's tribute -- will always be #1, for obvious reasons. What I find more interesting (and somewhat sad) is that Lucy was the only Golden Age TV star other than Jackie Gleason (#13) and Ed Sullivan (#14) to make the Top 20! (Milton Berle, Mr. TV himself, was #22). Except for emcee Bob Barker, at #34, no other star from TV's Golden Age made the Top 50! I know people have short memories, but this is ridiculous. Bob Hope was #51 and Jack Benny, Sid Caesar, George Burns, [add your favorite here] et al didn't even make the Top 100. They were aced out by such modern "icons" as Simon Cowell (#47) and Judge Judy (#92)! But let's concentrate on the positive: in the accompanying Internet poll, the public chose Lucy as the #1 icon (Carson was #2). Whoever said the American public had bad taste (at least in TV icons...)?
11.01.07
Lucy returned to her hometown, Jamestown,
N.Y. in 1946 during WWII to sell war
bonds, and act in a skit at the Chautauqua
Institution with performers from the Little
Theater of Jamestown, of which
she was an alumnus. In this pic, she's
interviewed by another Little Theatre performer,
then-local radio announcer Marshall
Schantz, who went on to become the TV
spokesman for the Reynolds Aluminum Co.,
under the name Rex Marshall. Thanks
to Dave Woodman for the pic! Lucy loved
the bucolic early existence she led
in the Jamestown/Celeron region
of west New York state so much so that
she'd have her favorite rye bread from
a local bakery flown in to Los Angeles
to enjoy on a regular basis. And the
names of Jamestown friends, neighbors,
and family often turned up given to
characters on her various TV series.Lucy A to Z Fourth Edition update: the galleys
have been sent to the publisher and I
should have them back in a few weeks.
With any luck, the book will be out in
late December. Stay tuned!
10.18.07
Well, October 16, 2007 has came and went, and for most it was a typical day—but some lucky people ended up with jewelry formerly owned by Lucille Ball, part of Christies, NY Magnificent Jewels’ auction. The grand total was a whopping $256,375, a percentage of which will go to The Lucille Ball-DesiArnaz Center in Jamestown, N.Y./ Individual results for Lucy’s gems, otherwise known as Lots 24-33 in the auction catalog, are as follows (all totals are taken from Christies’ online site; more detailed descriptions of the jewelry are below in the 9-28 entry).
Lot 24: Sodalite, Diamond and Gold necklace, Van Cleef & Arpels. Est. $3-5,000; sold for $9,375
Lot 25: Onyx, Emerald and Diamond Pendant Necklace, Van Cleef & Arpels. Est. $10-15,000; sold for $32,200
Lot 26: Tiger’s Eye and diamond pendant necklace, Van Cleef & Arpels. Est. $4-6,000; sold for $7,500
Lot 27: Tiger’s Eye and Gold Wristwatch, by Bueche Girod. Est $3-5,000; sold for $10,000
Lot 28: Diamond and Gold penant necklace, Maltese Cross. Est. $8-12,000; sold for $25,000
Lot 29: Diamond bracelet, flexible tapered band, mounted in platinum. Est. $14-18,000; sold for $25,000
Lot 30: Cabochon sapphire and diamond ring. Est. $12-15,000; sold for $32,200
Lots 31, 32 & 33: Suite of yellow sapphire and diamond jewelry, by Van Cleef & Arpels. Inlcudes pendant necklace with detachable, oval-cut yellow sapphire, a pair of ear clips and a ring. Est. $25,000-35,000; pendant and necklace, earrings, and ring sold for sold for $82,600, $21,250, and $11,250, respectively.
09.28.07 Lucy did love her jewelry, and had very unique taste. Some of what we know has been reported on in the past; some has recently been revealed as part of 10 lots going up for auction on October 16, 2007, at Christies, N.Y. as part of the auction house's occasional Magnificent Gem sales. Property is from the estate of Lucille Ball; partial proceeds from the collection will benefit the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown, New York. All descriptions and estimates are taken from the auction catalog, available to look at online at Christies (and to buy for $50). Clockwise from top left: A sodalite, diamond and gold pendant, with 18K gold rope chain, 30.5 inches, est. to sell between $3,000-$5,000; a textured gold bow-link 30-inch chain suspending a textured Maltese Cross in gold and diamonds with a cabochon emerald inside a circle of diamonds, backed by an octagonal onyx plaque, est. to sell between $10,000-$15,000, both from Van Cleef & Arpels; a tiger's eye and gold wristwatch by Bueche Girod with a wide, flexible band designed as a series of ropework knots, centering on an oval tiger's eye watch dial with gold hands; 7.5 inches long, est. to sell between $3,000-$5,000; a detachable tiger's eye and diamond pendant necklace by Van Cleef & Arpels of geometric openwork deign, centering on a pavé diamond square panel and a circular-cut diamond panel and triangular top, on an 18K 24-inch chain, est. to sell between $4,000-$6,000; a diamond and gold pendant necklace, also a Maltese Cross, featuring graduated collet-set and baguette cut diamond rays and pear-shaped diamonds at the end of each ray, on a 30-inch gold rope and bar-link neck chain, est. to sell between $8,000-$12,000; a suite of yellow sapphire and diamond jewelry, featuring earrings (not shown), a ring, and a unique-shaped pendant necklace that has an oval cut sapphire surrounded by and topped with diamonds, in a cartouche panel, est. to sell between $25,000-$35,000; a diamond and 18K gold 'Tonneau' wristwatch by Cartier, with a curricular-cut diamond bezel, 6.25 inches long in a Cartier red leather case, est. to sell between $6,000-$8,000; a retro 18K diamond and gold evening bag with a hinged flap trimmed by a scrolling row of circular-cut diamonds, and 18K cigarette case inscribed "Light this for Me, Gary," circa 1945, bag is 7.25x4.25 inches, cigarette case 3.5x2x1 inches, both est. to sell between $6,000-$8,000; a cabochon star sapphire weighing approx. 46.92 carats, surrounded by two-tiers of marquise-cut diamonds, also in platinum, est. to sell between $12,000-$15,000; and finally, a diamond bracelet designed as a flexible band of circular and marquise cut diamond clusters, mounted in platinum, 6.25 inches long, est. to sell between $14,000-$18,000. Please keep in mind the relative sizes of each piece are not accurate; each has been reduced by me to fit in one picture so you could enjoy them all. Happy auctioning!
08.10.07 Hollywood makeup great William Tuttle has died at the age of 95 on July 27, it was announced recently. Tuttle, who designed the makeup for more than 300 films, including classics like Logan's Run, Young Frankenstein, The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, Forbidden Planet, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, High Society, An American in Paris, The Wizard of Oz, and the 1954 Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz hit, The Long, Long Trailer, among many others, won an Oscar before it was annually given out for makeup effects (beginning in 1981), for the 1965 fantasy Dr. Lao.
08.07.07Jamestown, New York, the hometown of our favorite redhead, is getting a new home for the Lucy-Desi Museum. The announcement came during the celebration of Lucy's birthday weekend (Aug. 3-5) via New York State Senator Cathy Young.
The Lucy-Desi Center reports that "during the opening ceremonies for Lucille Ball’s Birthday Celebration, Senator Young announced that New York State is awarding $100,000 to the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center for its future development." The Center's Executive Director, Ric Wyman, followed up with the news that the Center will be using this grant to purchase a property in downtown Jamestown that will be the expanded and relocated home of the Lucy-Desi Museum.
“When visitors come to Jamestown next year,” Wyman said, “they will enjoy a brand-new experience in the hometown of the Queen of Comedy!” Wyman revealed that the location of the new Lucy-Desi Museum will be 10 W. 3rd Street, in a building adjacent to the Desilu Playhouse, which is the I Love Lucy museum. He added that the original museum on Pine Street, though offering a wonderful presentation, did not have the capacity to comfortably accommodate the increasing number of visitors (and memorabilia the Center has acquired).
A major new attraction for visitors will be the exhibit of Lucy’s 1972 gold Mercedes-Benz. The expanded offerings will also feature never-before-displayed items from Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s wardrobe, costumes, and personal memorabilia.
07.12.07 Well, as hoped, the recovery was fabulous -- not too much pain other than a severe sore throat, and now I can breathe freely through my nose for the fisrt time in 30 years. And the sleep apnea is gone. Unbelievable. Who knew tonsils could be such an adverse thing for your health? Thanks for visiting while I was away...And now, it's my sad duty to report the passing of character actor Charles Lane. The actor, whose face was seen in more than 200 films, and more than 100 television shows, died yesterday at the age of 102½. His remarkable career in entertainment stretched from initial uncredited appearances in films from the early 1930s to supporting or bit roles in dozens of classics, like Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and It’s a Wonderful Life. On TV, he made four appearances on I Love Lucy, was a regular the first season on The Lucy Show, and made regular appearances on such shows as Soap, Dennis the Menace, The Beverly Hillbillies, and literally dozens of others. Described accurately on the IMDB as “skinny, hatchet-faced, bespectacled American character actor, with a prominent nose, rimless eyeglasses and a permanent scowl, he typically portrayed short-tempered and often loudmouthed bureaucrats, yes-men and other minor minions, principally in lighter fare.” Lane is someone whose face you’d know even if you hardly ever watched TV or went to the movies, he was that ubiquitous. In fact, he’s the subject of a documentary called You Know the Face, by Garret Boyajian and George Ridjaneck, currently in post-production. I met Garret and George in Jamestown, N.Y. last year when they were filming interviews for a different documentary on Lucy, and they were filled with amazing stories about Lane, his career, and his amazingly good condition and joie de vivre despite his advanced age. The documentary will be filmed gold for any student of television and film. Lane is someone about whom it can honestly be said, there’ll never be another like him, and more’s the pity.
06.29.07 Sorry for the lack of postings...have been dealing with personal and health issues for the past few months that have taken up much of my time, culminating in a tonsilectomy and deviated septum operation today. The surgery went fine and I should be fully recovered in a few weeks, at which point postings will hopefully resume.
04-21-07 Ray Evans, the movie, TV and stage composer died April 15, and was remembered in a Hollywood ceremony April 21. Evans won three Oscars with partner Jay Livingston — for "Buttons & Bows," "Mona Lisa" and "Que Sera, Sera" — and the pair were nominated for four more. Evans, who was 92, was often referred to as the "last great of the great songwriters of Hollywood” (Livingston died in 2001 at the age of 86). The pair also wrote the music for two of Lucy's pictures with Bob Hope: Sorrowful Jones and Fancy Pants, including the title song for the latter, which Lucy, dubbed, "sang" in the film.
04.16.07 Genial comic actor Barry Nelson died on April 7, days before his 90th birthday. Known for his Broadway performances in such comedy hits as The Moon is Blue, Mary, Mary and Cactus Flower, Nelson also had an extensive TV and movie career. He was the first James Bond in an hourlong adaptation of Casino Royale on CBS's Climax Mystery Theater in October 1954, and he played the level-headed George Cooper, husband to the ditzy Liz (Joan Caulfield) in the TV adaptation of Lucille Ball's hit radio show (and the inspiration for I Love Lucy), My Favorite Husband, which ran for two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953-December 1955.
03.26.07 I knew there was a reason I loved Bill Clinton. The former President told a TV Land upfront presentation audience (where the networks show potential ad buyers their new schedules) "his must-see TV shows include I Love Lucy, All in the Family, The Andy Griffith Show, and Bonanza — all of which (not so coincidentally) air on TV Land, which sponsored his appearance at Jazz at Lincoln Center in the Time Warner Building in New York. "As you know, my wife is away, so I'm home alone a lot," Clinton said, referring to his wife, Senator Hillary Clinton, who is campaigning for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination in. "I'm particularly grateful to TV Land for giving me something to do at night."
03.14.07
The Lucille Ball collection is being released in June by Warner Brothers, and features (finally!) some of Lucy's best pictures and at least one of her campiest. The best include the plush DuBarry Was a Lady (1943, Lucy was rarely photographed lovelier than in this wartime escapist musical); Dance, Girl, Dance (1940, a pioneering feminist vision from gay director Dorothy Arzner which pits practical stripper Lucy against naive "dancer" Maureen O'Hara); and The Big Street (1942, in which Lucy shows her dramatic chops as a selfish, greedy lounge singer idolized by bus boy Henry Fonda). The mediocre is Critic's Choice, the least effective of Lucy's four pairings with Bob Hope; don't blame the stars, the script was old-fashioned even for 1964.
And finally, we come to the camp-fest that was Lucy's big-screen farewell: 1974's Mame. Most people, even Lucy's most ardent fans, have problems with this movie. I don't. The critics hated it, and years later people still ask, "Why didn't they get Angela Lansbury to do it? She was a star." Ummm...not so much, at least in the eyes of the Warners studio. Lansbury may have had a rapt Broadway following at the time, but in Warners' eyes, she lacked the star wattage to put across a major motion picture musical. They'd brought the property for Lucy, and Lucy would play it. In fact, Lucy was considered the only bankable Hollywood star "of a certain age" who could play Mame Dennis. They even waited for Lucy's broken leg to heal (the reason she doesn't so much "dance" in the movie as "shimmy" or allow herself to be led around). Lucy's singing voice, or what's left of it, is a moot point. If you have a problem with her low, basso rasp, then don't watch, or listen. Her performance, however, is pretty damned good. Notice that even when doing slapstick she is NOT being Lucy Ricardo (such as the bit on skates at the department store).
Another sore point: Lucy got rid of Madeline Kahn (initially signed to play Agnes Gooch) when it became apparent Kahn was going to take her time getting into character. Lucy wanted to see the frumpy Eunice character Kahn created for What's Up, Doc?, but Kahn was less a comedian than a comic actress. Finally, Lucy just demanded they "Get me the Gooch I saw in L.A.!" which happened to be the original stage Gooch, Jane Connell. P.S. Kahn got $50K for her non-work, more than Connell made for making the picture. And went right into Young Frankenstein. So don't feel bad for her. P.P.S. Ruth Buzzi was also condsidered for the role Connell eventually won.
Critics savaged the movie, but more to the point, they savaged Lucy personally—which devastated her—as if to say, How dare you take on this role? How dare you use gauze and Vaseline and makeup to tame your years? (I mean, Hollywood's been doing that since the get-go with movies and publciity stills. Face it, would you have wanted to see Bette Davis without makeup? Trust me, the answer's no. Or the forest of blonde hairs that grew on Ginger Rogers' face? Uh-uh. Or have Claudette Colbert revealed as the no-neck she was? Probably not.) So give Lucy a break, enjoy the fabulous Technicolor art direction and color, the incredible costumes, and a generally top-notch cast (excepting the charmless Kirby Furlong, who plays the young Patrick, but I never could figure out what a Kirby Furlong was). Open a new window. It's today. You might find the picture an enjoyable period piece. And if not, you'll never stop me from loving it!
These movies follow the release of Best Foot Forward, another one of Lucy's fab Technicolor MGM movies, and one of her best. It's available on its own (see box).Lucille Ball's younger brother, Fred Ball, died at the age of 92 on Feb. 5 at his home in Cottonwood, Arizona. I met Ball at one of the 2005 Lucy festivals in Jamestown, NY (his birthplace) and though obviously dealing with some of the problems associated with aging, he was sharp as a tack when his memory was prodded. Ball and his wife were videotaped visiting the house he (and Lucy) grew up in, in Jamestown, which is being lovingly restored to its original condition. He is pictured at left with Lucy in 1956, possibly during the promotional tour forl Lucy and Desi Arnaz's movie Forever Darling.
02.06.07
According to the Lucy-Desi Museum, Ball left Jamestown to join his sister in California in the 1930s. He later traveled with his brother-in-law Desi Arnaz and his band, and worked at Desilu Productions, the studio that produced Mission Impossible, Star Trek, and The Untouchables, as well as I Love Lucy, of course. He and his wife operated a motel in Cottonwood.
Ball is survived by his wife, Zo, who joined him on his most recent visit to Jamestown in May of 2005, four children, seven grandchildren; several great-grandchildren; and nephew Desi Arnaz Jr. and niece Lucie Arnaz, and their families.
From her home in New York City, Lucie Arnaz said, “It was always special to us that Uncle Fred and I shared the same birthday. In addition to being my mother’s brother, he was also a close friend of my father. I like to think that they are all enjoying a wonderful reunion right now.” Ball wanted his ashes interred in Jamestown’s Lake View Cemetery along with his sister, parents, grandparents and other family members.01.29.07 Bob Carroll Jr., known to Lucy fans worldwide as one of the key writers (with partner Madelyn Pugh) responsible for Lucille Ball’s radio show, My Favorite Husband, and subsequent smash hit TV series, I Love Lucy, died on Jan. 27 after a brief illness. He was 88.
It was while working as a staff writer for CBS Radio in Hollywood that he was teamed with fellow writer Pugh. Their partnership lasted more than 50 years, and included approximately 400 TV shows and 500 radio shows. Carroll and Pugh submitted a script and ended up writing for Husband for the entire three-season run, along with head writer and producer Jess Oppenheimer. The three then created the format for Lucy’s long-running sitcom (after helping to create the vaudeville act for Lucy and husband Desi Arnaz, which they took on the road to prove audiences would accept them acting together, and which became the basis for the I Love Lucy pilot).
Lucy often marveled at how Carroll and Pugh could nail the antics of two married couples (the Ricardos and the Mertzes) when they remained single. The writers used their instincts about relationships to help formulate scripts, and routinely acted out bits of business that Lucy and company would be doing, to make sure they could be done.
Carroll and Pugh wrote (with Oppenheimer) 39 episodes per season for the run of the series, aided in the final years by “the two Bobs,” Schiller and Weiskopf. They were nominated for three Emmys but never won. In helping to create the "Lucy" character, which Ball played in one form or another for over 40 years, Carroll’s legacy can be seen and felt to this day on TV. The writing duo also wrote episodes of The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, and Ball's final series, Life With Lucy (1986).
Other projects for Carroll and Pugh included contributing the story to Lucy’s hit movie Yours Mine and Ours, writing for Those Whiting Girls, Arnaz’s sitcom The Mothers-in-Law, and The Paul Lynde Show. The pair won a Golden Globe as producers of the hit Alice. He recently (2005) co-authored Pugh’s biography, Laughing With Lucy. Carroll’s death leaves Pugh as one of the few remaining key I Love Lucy creators. Carroll will be missed, but fortunately his comedy-writing legacy will live forever as a testament to his talent and wry sense of humor.
2006
12.12.06 Newsweek online, located on the MSNBC Web site, has a very sweet and pretty much useless article on how TV influenced the Baby Boomer generation. Except for one comment: "I Love Lucy is still one of the two funniest shows ever (the other is The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Skip the rest of the article unless you're eager to read the same old s--- about us (I am a Boomer) and why we watched what we watched. In the cases of Lucy and Mary, for example it's very simple: They were damned funny and remain so. Let's leave it at that.11.28.06 Please excuse me for not posting anything in some time. The loss of someone near and dear to you invariably throws you for a loop, and the death of my best friend, Criag Hamrick, in September has surely done that. Life goes on, and I know that Craig wanted me to keep on writing and entertaining and informing; for my tribute to him, go here).
09.05.06
More Lucy Jamestown stuff: had the pleasure of sharing breakfast with Lucy's former chauffeur, Frank Gorey, and marvel as he told tales of screenings at Lucy's house where the invited guests typically included Milton Berle, Jack Carter, and other classic stand-ups. "Jack was a normal guy one-on-one," Frank recalled, but if there was another comic around, he was 'on.' They were all like that." He says that Berle, surprisingly, was the most down-to-earth of the bunch. Unfortunately for any regular guests at these occasions, like Frank, Lucy "expected everyone to hold their own, humor-wise, for example, or they weren't invited back." How does Mr. Joe Average Fan hold his own with the likes of Berle and Carter? Bring a funny joke along with you, Frank says. And if it's a bit off-color, but not outrageously so, that's even better. Then, deliver it like your life depended on it! More Festival stories coming. (That's me at left with Lucy and Ethel impersonators Diane Vincent and Rhonda Medina in the Lucy-Desi Center store. Diane and Rhonda supply so much of what's fun during the Lucy fests, by bringing the characters of Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz alive. And personally, both of them are fine actresses with many credits and just plain good folk to boot.)
08.08.06 Jamestown and Lucy's birthday bash were a blast, as usual, this past weekend. Carole Cook lived up to her stage reputation (and then some) with a bawdy show and some revealing comments about Lucy, as did Lucy protege and friend Robert Osborne, of Turner Classic Movies (see my book, Lucy A to Z, for the full scoop on both in their entries). But as usual, it was the extreme helpfulness of the Lucy-Desi Museum staff and the just plain niceness of the fans who really made the weekend worthwhile. Also, Lucy impersonator Diane Vincent and Ethel impersonator Rhonda Medina revealed themselves to be as wonderful 'playing' their real selves as they are impersonating two of TV's classic comedians. Very soon I'll have a wrap-up with some pictures here.
07.14.06
In a cleverly titled salute to second bananas from all areas of show business (“We’re No. 2!”), Entertainment Weekly lists the top 50 sidekicks in its June 19th issue. And coming in at Number 5 is…you betcha, Vivian Vance (right) as Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy (the top four, in order: Ed McMahon; Robin, of Batman & Robin; George Costanza (aka Jason Alexander) of Seinfeld; and Star Wars’ Chewbacca). EW writes about our beloved blonde: “Without Ethel to bail her out of trouble each week on I Love Lucy, original desperate housewife Lucy would have been nothing more than an overbearing harpy. But as cannily played by Vivian Vance, Mrs. Mertz — whose spats with hubby Fred hinted at dysfunction when TV rarely even acknowledged marital discord — was a perfectly exasperated partner in crime: happy to play along, even happier to put the kibosh on her pickle-prone friend's worst impulses.” This kind of recognition 55 years after the first broadcast of I Love Lucy is further evidence of the iconic status all four major characters on the show have achieved. (For a take on Lucy as Icon, see my book The Comic DNA of Lucille Ball.
June Allyson, who died recently at the age of 88, will be remembered for her fresh-scrubbed, genial personality in dozens of Hollywood musicals. Her first feature film (after a number of short subjects) was the Lucille Ball starring vehicle Best Foot Forward (1943). One of the films you need to see if you want to watch Lucy in all her Technicolor glory, it remains an enjoyable, if somewhat dated, college romp. Oscar- and Emmy-winner Red Buttons, who passed away a few days ago at the age of 87, apparently never starred in anything with Lucy (at least, nothing I could find in a quick scan of the Web), but certainly, as a pioneer of TV’s Golden Age he must have known Lucy and Desi, and there are tangential connections: Buttons guest-starred in the Desilu drama The Greatest Show on Earth (1965), and among his writers in the early fifties were trwo who would go onto write for Lucy: the Bobs, as they were known, Schiller and Weiskopf. Finally, Casey Rogers, best known as the second (and longer-lasting) Louise Tate on Bewitched (1966-1972), has also died, in early July. Rogers guest-starred on an episode of The Lucy Show in 1968. Hollywood’s star has dimmed a bit with the loss of these three talents.
06.06.06 Just noticed the interesting date today...so if you dislike anything I write, I can always say "The devil made me do it." Heh, heh, heh...Anyway, today I found a couple of negative things written about Lucy and Viv I'm going to share. First, from We Love Lucy fan club president Tom Watson comes this report from the Memorial Day Lucy convention in Jamestown, N.Y.: "I especially enjoyed the Sunday morning appearance of Shirley Mitchell (I Love Lucy's Marion Strong). She had great memories of working on the show. She's the first person to speak of the Vivian Vance-Bill Frawley relationship and speak up for Bill. Everyone in the past has painted a picture of "Saint Vivian" and "mean old Frawley." Shirley said Viv was always picking on Bill -- and often tried to direct their scenes together, which is usually what caused Frawley to explode. Shirley added that Viv even tried tell Shirley herself how to do a scene or two -- so Shirley knew from whence she spoke. Hearing different sides to a story is what makes these celebrity seminars so interesting -- and valuable!" And from the Amazon page of a new book called The Last Days oF Dead Celebrities, a Booklist review notes, "And when Fink [the author] quotes an expiring Lucille Ball remarking, 'I'm so tired of myself' (to which veteran couch potatoes may breathe a silent 'You and me both'), he imparts insight into what it must be like to end life with a celebrity-crazed public raptly watching."
With regard to Mitchell's comments about Vivian Vance and Bill Frawley, I tend to agree with Tom. There are two or more sides to every story, and hearing a new angle after many years of being fed the same angle is fascinating. That said, it's been reported so often that Frawley was continually insulting Viv, Lucy and Desi re their performing skills, I feel confident in saying, Vance probably gave back what she got. As for trying to direct Mitchell, perhaps a bit of Lucy rubbed off on Vance after all those years together.
The Lucy "dying quote" (I haven't read the book) is sad if nothing else. What's sadder still to me is the reviewer thought he needed to add his own two cents about how "veteran couch potatoes" are just plain sick of Lucy. Honestly, in all the years I've spent writing about Lucy and celebrities I've certainly heard some negatives about Lucy's behavior on the set (especially after she split with Desi and took control of her own production company) but even those who had not-so-nice things to say never said anything remotely like they were sick of her. And judging from the continued populairty of I Love Lucy and Lucy's own iconic status, it seems just the opposite: us regular fans, (many of whom are veteran couch potatoes) will never get sick of her, or tired of hearing about her. So to that reviewer, I humbly say -- if you're not interested, change the channel.05.25.06 If you're a true fan of Lucy and I Love Lucy, one of two very special dates is coming up: this Memorial Day Weekend, The Lucy-Desi Museum in Jamestown, NY will hold Lucy-Desi Days, a weekend-long festival during which fans can meet and greet each other, authors who've written about Lucy's life like Tom Watson, and celebrities like special guest Marjorie Lord (best known as Danny Thomas' TV wife, who worked with Lucy and Desi on TV and Vivian Vance on stage). You can participate in a special trivia challenge, find real Lucy collectibles (the good, old stuff), and participate in an auction of Lucy memorabilia. Lucy's personal secretary, Wanda Clark (and she's a real doll) will be heading up special bus tours of Lucy country. Visit with Lucy's "number one fan, " Michael Stern (who wrote the Foreword to my book Lucy A to Z). Watch a special screening of Forever Darling with commentary by the man who edited it (and I Love Lucy), Dann Cahn. And there's so much more. For a complete schedule, visit the museum's Web site at www.lucy-desi.com. I won't be there, but my books will be, so please feel free to partake! The second special date for fans, coming in three months, will be the Museum's annual Lucy Birthday celebration. I will be in Jamestown for that, along with many other people and events. As the dates (August 4-6) get closer, I'll fill you in. Im the meantime, hope you're Jamestown bound this coming holiday weekend, and tell everyone I said "Hey!"
04.18.06 Check out the new biography of Lucy on this site by clicking here. IN the decade since I began this site, I've done a lot of writing about Lucy and TV, but never thought to put a bio up until I realized there wasn't one, and some people might want one that's accessible and not too long.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is doing fine in hew new CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine. One critic even compared her shenanigans on a recent episode to Lucy herself. Tom Shales wrote in The Washington Post that, "Louis-Dreyfus has a priceless moment in the second episode, with a mustachioed Andy Richter guest-starring as a (potentially) one-night stand that Christine picks up at the supermarket. Attempting earlier to seduce another shopper, she nervously babbles out her entire autobiography, then stumbles awkwardly into a would-be come-hither wiggle that looks more spasmodic than erotic. It's a combination of physical and verbal humor that evokes memories of -- and one can never say this lightly -- the immortal Lucy herself." The article was headlined "Juicily Lucy-ish, Zanily Elainey," also referring to Louis-Dreyfus' Emmy-winning turn on Seinfeld.
04.04.06 Forever Darling, the Technicolor fantasy-comedy that Lucy and Desi made in 1956, is finally being released on DVD, in a “Lucy-Desi” set along with Too Many Girls (1940; the movie on which Lucy and Desi met) and The Long Long Trailer (1954). Though not a smash hit in the vein of Trailer, Darling had its moments, and the whole “broken marriage needs fixing” plot becomes oddly touching in retrospect considering the state of the Arnaz’s marriage (though film editor Dann Cahn notes, “They (Lucy and Desi) weren’t breaking up yet, they were fine.”). In honor of the release, here’s an exclusive conversation I had with Cahn in 2005 at the Lucy-Desi Days festival in her hometown, Jamestown N.Y.
“It was a bit maudlin even with all the comedy shtick we put in it,” Cahn recalled. “Al Hall directed it. It got a little heavy handed sentimentally, and Bud Molin [a Desilu film editor] and I worked closely with Hall. We got his cut – it was summertime (1955); and we all got together in a bus, Lucy, Desi, Al, myself, Jerry Thorpe, the associate producer; we ran the picture [for a preview audience], it was somewhat long, and it got a little overly-sentimental, those were the comments from the preview cards.
“So we get out of there, get into the bus to head home – Lucy had it catered so there was a lot of food and booze, and we had to drive up to LA from San Diego. Lucy was in the back of the bus, I was somewhere in the middle and Al Hall was up front. He’d been a film director for a long time [since the early 1930s; though he’d worked in silent films as an editor and assistant director; Hall was Oscar-nominated for Here Comes Mr. Jordan, a 1941 classic that also had a heavenly theme; Forever, Darling was his final film]. He also owned a turkey farm. The Arnaz’s previous film, The Long Long Trailer, had been a smash hit, and Lucy was making low-key comments along the way home. At one point, she yelled out, ‘Al, why don’t you go back to your turkey ranch?!’ And Al responded, ‘After this turkey, Lucy, that’s just what I’m gonna do.’”
“That preceded our going down to Del Mar, myself and an assistant; Desi got us a motel on the beach, and we spent the rest of the summer working with Desi on the picture, recutting it, reworking it, and he actually let us shoot a few little things. [By this time Cann’s title at Desilu was Editorial Supervisor.] So we finished it and I had to deliver it to MGM. The second time around we took it to the Rowena Theater in Sherman Oaks on Ventura Blvd. to preview—the box office is still there but it’s now part of a mall. Clark Gable and his wife, lots of stars came … and the press. We’d done quite a bit with the movie, and the reviews came way up. But to my mind, it’s still a little maudlin in spots.”04.01.06 You know that I Love Lucy is responsible for many broadcast firsts...but did you know one of them was that it was the first sitcom to appear on British TV, in 1955, when the ITV network began broadcasting?
As the World Turns turns 50 years old in April and you'd think that would be a mandate for a festive week of clip shows or something similar. But no...the show got it in its head to celebrate its 50th by recreating classic sitcoms like I Dream of Jeannie, The Munsters, and, of course, I Love Lucy. Though the game cast should be applauded, one must ask, WHY? When there are 50 years of videotapes and kinescopes from ATWT most fans would kill to see snippets of? The Lucy tribute saw nice turns from Terri Columbino as "Lucy," Mike Collier as "Ricky" and Trent Dawson as "Fred AND Ethel Mertz" (I guess for copyright reasons the character names were all changed, and it became I Love Katie; Katie is the name of Columbino's ATWT character.) Still...you have to wonder what the show's producers were thinking.
03.06.06 Well, the *YAWN* Oscars are finally over, and though I love Jon Stewart, I must say he made a rather uninteresting host. Looked like he was cowed by all the "big stars" in the audience. Oh well. The only interesting thing to me was a blink-and-you-missed-it shot of Lucy from the movie The Dark Corner during a tribute to film noir. Well, Heath, there's always next year, or...never.
02.01.06
What you're looking at (at left) is Lucy's signature on her very first Hollywood contract. The historic document -- indicating Lucy would receive “railroad transportation including lower berth from New York to Los Angeles” and $60 per week for a “role to be selected by the producer in a photoplay to be designated by the producer” -- was discovered at an autograph dealer in California by Bill and Mary Rapaport, major donors to the Lucy-Desi Museum in Jamestown, N.Y. (Mary is also on the Board). Lucy's first role was as a blonde showgirl in 1933’s Roman Scandals. The contract further stipulated that, should “the producer” choose, it could be extended for up to seven years, with a final salary of $500 per week. (Otherwise, return transportation from Los Angeles to New York would be provided.) Of Course, Lucy never returned to New York until after she'd become a movie star.
“When my husband and I found these contracts in California we knew that we not only had to purchase them but we also had to immediately donate them to the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center,” Mary said. “Lucille Ball’s first Hollywood contract is historic and something that should not be retired to a private collection but instead shared with the tens of thousands of visitors the Lucy-Desi Center welcomes each year to Jamestown.” The document will be archived until a proper display can be arranged.Warner Bros. recently announced that coming in May is The Lucy and Desi Collection (due 5/9, SRP $29.92) featuring the three movies they made together: Too Many Girls (1940, a college-set musical during which Lucy and Desi met for the first time); The Long, Long Trailer (1954, one of the top-grossing films of that year due to their TV success), and Forever, Darling (1955), a sentimental but likable final pairing of Lucy and Desi on the big screen. Hopefully, they'll come remastered, in fine prints, and with some special features that'll expoand on our knowledge of these classics.
01.09.06 The Phillipine Daily Enquirer reported on January 7 that a TV special spotlighting the "most memorable moments in entertainment in the U.S." picked I Love Lucy as the number 7 moment: "Lucille Ball's show is so funny that viewers still love it on its umpteenth replay, more than 50 years later!"
01.01.06 A Happy, Healthy, Joyous New Year, and all good things in 2006!
For information on events year-round, contact the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown, N.Y., at 1-877-582-9326, or go online to www.lucy-desi.com.
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