As I watched the news this week, it came to my attention that a movie is going to be made about The Queen of Comedy, Lucille Ball. As a little girl I grew up watching Lucy and Ethel get into all kinds of trouble trying to live an independent life and then as a teenager and budding women’s libber, I realized that Lucy had found her way to independence by being the first woman to own a television studio. I thought maybe we all might need a refresher on the dynamo that was Lucille Ball.
The woman who will always be remembered as the crazy, accident-prone, lovable Lucy Ricardo was born Lucille Desiree Ball on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. Her father died before she was four, and her mother worked several jobs, so she and her younger brother were raised by their grandparents. Always willing to take responsibility for her brother and young cousins, she was a restless teenager who yearned to “make some noise”. She entered a dramatic school in New York City, but while her classmate Bette Davis received all the raves, she was sent home; “too shy”. She found some work modeling for Hattie Carnegie‘s and, in 1933, she was chosen to be a “Goldwyn Girl” and appear in the film Roman Scandals (1933).
She was put under contract to RKO Radio Pictures and several small roles, including one in Top Hat (1935), followed. Eventually, she received starring roles in B-pictures and, occasionally, a good role in an A-picture, like in Stage Door (1937) or The Big Street(1942). While filming Too Many Girls (1940), she met and fell madly in love with a young Cuban actor-musician named Desi Arnaz. Despite different personalities, lifestyles, religions and ages (he was six years younger), he fell hard, too, and after a passionate romance, they eloped and were married in November 1940. Lucy soon switched to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where she got better roles in films such as Du Barry Was a Lady (1943); Best Foot Forward (1943) and the Katharine Hepburn–Spencer Tracy vehicle Without Love(1945). In 1948, she took a starring role in the radio comedy “My Favorite Husband”, in which she played the scatterbrained wife of a Midwestern banker. In 1950, CBS came knocking with the offer of turning it into a television series. After convincing the network brass to let Desi play her husband and to sign over the rights to and creative control over the series to them, work began on the most popular and universally beloved sitcom of all time.
With I Love Lucy (1951), she and Desi pioneered the 3-camera technique now the standard in filming sitcoms, and the concept of syndicating television programs. She was also the first woman to own her own studio as the head of Desilu Productions. Lucille Ball died at home, age 77, of an acute aortic aneurysm on April 26, 1989 in Beverly Hills, California.
LUCILLE BALL YOU ROCK!
The information in this post first appeared in the IMBd website.
I invite you to share a link to your story of an inspiring woman.
I used to watch I Love Lucy and enjoyed the laugh. Thank you for sharing, Bernadette!
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Thanks for reading. This post put a smile on my face.
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I still hear their voices and all the funny scenes!
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I Love Lucy is one of the programmes I remember from way back when we first had a tv. A real family show. Great lady!
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Thanks Clive for taking the time to comment.
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Thanks. Like everyone of our era I grew up watching the TV show. Later, I learned how good she had been in Movies.
Here’s a link to an Immortal Jukebox Post on Doris Troy who led an inspiring life in her quest to get out on that stage and Sing!
http://wp.me/p4pE0N-3Y
Regards and delighted to see you posting again – Thom.
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So happy you joined in. Thanks.
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Love Lucille Ball!! I once heard met her daughter who Spoke highly of her. She was an amazing woman.
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The biopic about her was done by her children. So nice when Hollywood children report nice things about their parents.
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I grew up with Lucy too.😂
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How I loved ‘I love Lucy’ as a little girl and how I love Lucille Ball for being the smart, brilliant and talented woman she was. Truly inspiring and your article paints such a clear picture of a woman who we really all, as woman, should bow to and say thank you. So I say thank you Lucy and thank you Bernadette 🙂
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I treasure your opinion. Thank you.
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I too grew up watching I Love Lucy, thanks for the memories and I’m glad you’re back 💜
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Thank you.
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So happy to see Feminist Friday back, Bernadette. My daughter-in-law inspires me and here is a link to a post a wrote about her ability to manifest desires. It includes my own twisted experience giving it a go.
http://www.shallowreflections.com/when-you-have-dreams-why-not-dream-big/
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So happy to have you join me this morning. Your writing always makes me smile.
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So glad to see you back! I have missed you.
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Thank you so much.
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I still “love Lucy”. Sometimes, on a bad news day, I wake up early and switch to an oldies channel to catch her madcap silliness. I’m glad you included that photo…with all of her clowning around, we forget what a beauty she was !
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Smart, sassy and stunning. She was a triple threat.
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I remember watching I Love Lucy :))) I was a kid, so I’m sure some stuff may have gone over my head, but I remember her antics always made me laugh 🙂
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Hope all is well with you. Thanks for your encouragement my friend.
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I love Lucille Ball! She is one of my all time favorite women. She’s right up there with Betty White in my book. I love her perseverance and her grit. 🙂 When I grow up I want to be like Lucille Ball and Betty White!
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🤗
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Bernadette, you couldn’t have selected a better woman for Feminist Friday. I love Lucille Ball and enjoyed “I Love Lucy” for years. I am delighted to see you posting again.
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Thank you my friend
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You are welcome, Bernadette.
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Lucy was a dynamo. Glad you are back
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You have been such a great support. And I have not made it easy. Thank you my friend b
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Lucille Ball was always a huge favorite with our whole family. What a gift & legacy she left us – the gift of laughter, the kind that keeps on going. Much 💜 Bernadette!
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Virginia, thanks for taking the time to read and comment and thanks for your heartfelt support.
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Reblogged this on Blog Pad 2017.
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Bern, thanks for posting this info about Lucille Ball. The I Love Lucy Show was one of my two favorites as a kid. The other was My Little Margie! When I watched Lucy re-runs when I was older I always chuckled about the twin beds in Lucy’s and Desi’s bedroom. I guess it was just too risque to show a full size bed and suggest that they actually had sex!
But speaking of inspiring women, I just saw War Paint on Broadway. It’s about the fierce 4+ decades-old competition between Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden. They both came from very humble beginnings, becoming titans of 20th century cosmetics, each owning her own company. They were bold, brilliant, focused and passionate women. So here’s to Lucille, Helena and Elizabeth! Thanks for being such trail blazers!
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Hi Elizabeth, I have really wanted to see that show about two really amazing women. Thanks for sharing your recommendation.
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It’s hard to think of Lucille Ball as “too shy!” I loved watching her shows as a kid and then the reruns as I got older. Pure comedy. 🙂 Thanks for sharing, Bernadette.
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I grew up watching I Love Lucy. It was a really fun show. It seems a lot of great actors are shy… Thank you fir sharing Lucille. 🌼🌼🌼
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