#1
Posted: 4/26/05 at 12:42am
Today, April 26th, 2005, is the 16th anniversary of the passing of Lucille Ball, who is possibly the greatest actress to ever live in my eyes.
As a child, my parents would sit me in front of the TV and play me tapes of all the great classic shows: Mary Tyler Moore, All in the Family, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeanie...all of which I loved, but one show stuck out...I Love Lucy. I remember catching my first glimpse of Lucy on TV and I was immediately smitten. Her comic brilliance, her warm heart, and her beautiful face completely captured me and I was hooked. Today, I have probably seen every episode of "I Love Lucy" at least nine or ten times. It remains my favorite television show of all time.
"For more than thirty years, Lucille Ball was one of the most recognized and loved entertainers in the world. Known to all simply as Lucy, she portrayed a scatterbrained housewife with the ability to turn simple chores into unparalleled fiascoes. Clumsy and unsophisticated at nearly everything she tried (and she tried nearly everything), the television Lucy won the hearts of average Americans across all social and cultural lines with her wacky schemes. Ironically, it was Ball's wide range of experience and talents that made her such a success in this role.
Dropping out of high school at the age of fifteen, Ball moved to New York to study acting and found her first stage work as a chorus girl in 1927. She had her first break as a poster-girl for Chesterfield cigarettes and soon found herself in tinsel town as one of twelve slave-girls in the Eddie Cantor film, ROMAN SCANDALS (1933). By the mid-1930s, if you went to the movies (and in the 1930s everyone went to the movies) you would be certain to see Lucille Ball. Sometimes a nurse or a dancer, sometimes a flower clerk or a college girl, but always there. By the end of the decade she had been in forty-three films and was known as "Queen of the B Movies."
After two successful years of her well-recieved radio situation comedy,"My Favorite Husband," Ball moved her act to the new medium of television, bringing along her husband, the Cuban band leader Desi Arnaz, as a co-star. Together they created the most popular television show of the 1950s. I LOVE LUCY was the perfect home for Ball - a place where she could return to the physical comedy she was master of, while working alongside the man she loved. This love, of the work and the people, came through and created a unique, more personable kind of star, one unknown before television. For many Americans, tuning in every week was a way of seeing what an old friend was up to. Each new show looked at a different aspect of everyday life, finding humor in our dreams and frustrations. Ball had found the key to television-- she had made a character Americans could not live without.
More than her seventy plus films, her hundreds of television appearances, her work running a studio which brought us such major television series as MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and STAR TREK, Ball's true legacy can be found in her understanding of the possibilities of television before it understood itself. She saw that it could have the excitement of vaudeville, the wonder of the movies, and come directly to people's homes with the intimacy of the radio. Since the premiere of I LOVE LUCY in 1951, Lucille Ball's oh-so-human character has graced the small screen, and it is a testament to her visionary talent that it is hard to imagine television without her." - PBS, American Masters
Ball also appeared on Broadway, along with Valerie Harper, in the short-lived musical "Wildcat" with music by Cy Coleman and Lyrics by Carolyn Leigh.
Lucy will always live in my heart as my idol and inspiration. She is the woman who inspired me to go into acting. I stand as living proof that she continues to affect and inspire people long after her show was brought off the air. I can't imagine where I'd be had my parents not exposed me to the classic tv shows as a child. While most children grew up on cartoons, I grew up on VITAMEATAVEGAMIN and the Chocolate Factory bit. She has brought so much joy to my life and it is a shame she's no longer here to share her genius with us. Lucille Ball will go down in history as being a true legend. Her ability to reach across time and continue to touch the hearts of so many people is a testament to her greatness.
We love you Lucy, and we miss you. May you continue to rest in peace. RIP, Lucille Ball, August 6th, 1911 - April 26th, 1989.
As a child, my parents would sit me in front of the TV and play me tapes of all the great classic shows: Mary Tyler Moore, All in the Family, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeanie...all of which I loved, but one show stuck out...I Love Lucy. I remember catching my first glimpse of Lucy on TV and I was immediately smitten. Her comic brilliance, her warm heart, and her beautiful face completely captured me and I was hooked. Today, I have probably seen every episode of "I Love Lucy" at least nine or ten times. It remains my favorite television show of all time.
"For more than thirty years, Lucille Ball was one of the most recognized and loved entertainers in the world. Known to all simply as Lucy, she portrayed a scatterbrained housewife with the ability to turn simple chores into unparalleled fiascoes. Clumsy and unsophisticated at nearly everything she tried (and she tried nearly everything), the television Lucy won the hearts of average Americans across all social and cultural lines with her wacky schemes. Ironically, it was Ball's wide range of experience and talents that made her such a success in this role.
Dropping out of high school at the age of fifteen, Ball moved to New York to study acting and found her first stage work as a chorus girl in 1927. She had her first break as a poster-girl for Chesterfield cigarettes and soon found herself in tinsel town as one of twelve slave-girls in the Eddie Cantor film, ROMAN SCANDALS (1933). By the mid-1930s, if you went to the movies (and in the 1930s everyone went to the movies) you would be certain to see Lucille Ball. Sometimes a nurse or a dancer, sometimes a flower clerk or a college girl, but always there. By the end of the decade she had been in forty-three films and was known as "Queen of the B Movies."
After two successful years of her well-recieved radio situation comedy,"My Favorite Husband," Ball moved her act to the new medium of television, bringing along her husband, the Cuban band leader Desi Arnaz, as a co-star. Together they created the most popular television show of the 1950s. I LOVE LUCY was the perfect home for Ball - a place where she could return to the physical comedy she was master of, while working alongside the man she loved. This love, of the work and the people, came through and created a unique, more personable kind of star, one unknown before television. For many Americans, tuning in every week was a way of seeing what an old friend was up to. Each new show looked at a different aspect of everyday life, finding humor in our dreams and frustrations. Ball had found the key to television-- she had made a character Americans could not live without.
More than her seventy plus films, her hundreds of television appearances, her work running a studio which brought us such major television series as MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and STAR TREK, Ball's true legacy can be found in her understanding of the possibilities of television before it understood itself. She saw that it could have the excitement of vaudeville, the wonder of the movies, and come directly to people's homes with the intimacy of the radio. Since the premiere of I LOVE LUCY in 1951, Lucille Ball's oh-so-human character has graced the small screen, and it is a testament to her visionary talent that it is hard to imagine television without her." - PBS, American Masters
Ball also appeared on Broadway, along with Valerie Harper, in the short-lived musical "Wildcat" with music by Cy Coleman and Lyrics by Carolyn Leigh.
Lucy will always live in my heart as my idol and inspiration. She is the woman who inspired me to go into acting. I stand as living proof that she continues to affect and inspire people long after her show was brought off the air. I can't imagine where I'd be had my parents not exposed me to the classic tv shows as a child. While most children grew up on cartoons, I grew up on VITAMEATAVEGAMIN and the Chocolate Factory bit. She has brought so much joy to my life and it is a shame she's no longer here to share her genius with us. Lucille Ball will go down in history as being a true legend. Her ability to reach across time and continue to touch the hearts of so many people is a testament to her greatness.
We love you Lucy, and we miss you. May you continue to rest in peace. RIP, Lucille Ball, August 6th, 1911 - April 26th, 1989.
"I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about." - Oscar Wilde
Updated On: 4/26/05 at 12:42 AM
