Everything Lucy (Lucille Ball)

Jamestown, N.Y. Loves Lucy, But It Doesn't Necessarily Love Gays

2012-05-03T09:00:00.000-04:00

Like many rustbelt towns, struggling little Jamestown, N.Y. puts its hopes for a brighter economic future on its ability to draw tourists to sample its charms. One of those charms, which already draws many fun-loving tourists, happens to be a museum and arts center celebrating hometown girl, comedienne, and gay icon Lucille Ball.

Local residents have never seemed too bothered by the fact that their beloved Lucy, when asked about gay rights in a 1980 People interview, said, "It's perfectly all right with me. Some of the most gifted people I've ever met or read about are homosexual. How can you knock it?"

But when their openly gay City Council President, Greg Rabb, recently suggested that Jamestown promote itself as a destination for same-sex couples from other states seeking to get married in New York now that it's legal there, they weren't so amused, even if it might bring in more tourist dollars. In fact, the local newspaper published an editorial criticizing the idea, then posted a slew of ugly letters and comments from readers attacking LGBT people, the council president, and his revenue-generating idea. Mr. Rabb even starting receiving threats.

How's that for charm and a Lucy-inspired sense of humor?

Fortunately, many good people in the community rose up and held a powerful anti-hate rally to let it be known that Jamestown not only would not succumb to the whims of right-wing bigots but would in fact be a welcoming and fun place for all -- kooky, lovable redheads as well as LGBT people and their families, friends, and allies!

So if you're ever in the area, stop by and see the many charms that this beautiful little city has to offer, especially its increasingly visible and vocal LGBT community. And by all means let locals know that your tourist dollars aren't just green: they're pink, red, and all the wonderful colors of the rainbow.

Today is the Anniversary of Lucille Ball's Passing

2012-04-26T11:26:00.001-04:00

Today, 23 years ago, Lucille Ball left us. At approximately 5:47AM P.S.T on April 26, 1989 she died of a ruptured Aorta but her passing left us with many memories and for the past 61 years, she has appeared on TV and I would presume it will continue. So in a way, she never left us - she's still here every day.

FINAL TV APPEARANCE

It was just about a month before her death that Lucy made her last TV appearance. On March 29th Lucille Ball appeared at the annual Emmy Awards ceremony, along with Bob Hope, who had been Lucille Ball's friend for decades prior. Hope had talked Lucy into making the appearance after many phone calls and much begging. Finally, Lucy had agreed but she did not like the idea of appearing in public. She hated putting on the wig she had chosen to wear, complaining that the netting gave her a headache.

"Goddamn Hope," Lucy complained, "No one cares what the hell he looks like, but everybody cares what I look like–God, I'm so tired of myself."

Lucy had been a bit down. She never really completely recovered from the death of her former husband, Desi Arnaz. He was her first love who she managed to persuade CBS to co-star with her on I Love Lucy. Her closest friends saw Lucy's love for Desi; although she was married to Gary Morton, she never stopped loving Desi. Desi always sent Lucy flowers on her birthday and their anniversary, and the two kept in close touch by phone throughout the years.

Lucy also never got over the failure of her most recent TV series, Life with Lucy (1986). She thought her fans had abandoned her and it influenced how she felt.

Lucy spent the days watching TV, playing Scrabble and Backgammon (which was her favorite), and having an occasional bourbon, which she referred to as "slushies".

LAST LUCY/ETHEL MOMENT

As told by Lee Tannen, Lucy's friend and Backgammon partner, one night the month she died in April, there was a loud party going on next door. Lucy and Tannen found some milk crates in an alley. They used the milk crates to prop themselves up and spied on what was happening at the party. The two stood on the crates, “peeping through the trellis and palm fronds.” According to Tannen, he felt like Ethyl Mertz in an I Love Lucy episode, standing there spying with Lucy.

"Lucy was fascinated by the goings-on, commenting on everything, and eyeing everybody who, ironically, would have given their eye teeth to meet the crazy redhead on the other side of the wall."

HOSPITAL SURGERY

On Tuesday, April 18, Lucy started experiencing chest pains while she was at home in Beverly Hills. Her husband called her doctor and tried to talk Lucy into going to the hospital. Lucy refused to go until Gary called Lucy’s daughter, who finally convinced her, but Lucy only agreed to go if she could get nicely dressed and put on her make-up. She was rushed by ambulance to the Emergency Room of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where cardiologist Yuri Busi diagnosed "a dissecting aortic aneurysm", a tunnel through the wall of the largest artery that feeds blood to the body. A hundred minutes later she was on the operating table, and during the next seven hours and 40 minutes a team of specialists replaced her aortic valve and a portion of the aorta itself, a high-risk procedure that can only be performed while the patient's heart is stopped. She received an aorta, from a 27 year old male victim of a motorcycle crash.

Despite her age, Lucille recovered rapidly. When she woke up in intensive care, she looked up at husband Gary Morton and, calmly asked "How's the dog doing?" He told her Tinker was doing fine. Then she asked, "Was it a big surgery?" He said, "It was a big surgery, but it was a good surgery." When her daughter, Lucie, showed up, she lifted her oxygen mask and murmured: "Wouldn't you know, this was the day I was supposed to get my hair color done." The next morning she got up and sat in a chair, and the day after that she walked around her room with a little help from her nurse. Thousands of telegrams piled up in the hospital mail room, tons of flowers were turned away (no pollen allowed in the intensive care wing) and fax messages came in at a steady rate of one every two minutes. When Doctor Busi last saw Lucille she was in high spirits, keen to get on with her life. "I'll be back sooner than you expect" she told him happily.

DEATH OF A COMEDIAN

On Wednesday, April 26, just before dawn, Lucy awoke with severe back pains and was dead within minutes. Her aorta had ruptured again at a point fairly distant from the previous site of the operation and she quickly lost consciousness. A team of doctors and nurses worked frantically but failed to revive her. "I don't think she had enough time to know what was happening to her," Busi said. Lucy died at approximately 05:47 PST. She was 77 years old.

FUNERAL AND BURIAL(S)

Her funeral was private, but there were three public memorial services scheduled around the country for her. One in Los Angeles, one in Chicago, and one in New York. They were all held at 8pm on Monday, May 8th. The same time I Love Lucy used to air on television. Lucy was cremated, and she was interred in the Columbarium of Radiant Dawn, at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.

In March of 2002, Lucy's children moved Lucy and DeDe's (Lucy's mother) remains from Forest Lawn, and reburied them in Lucy's hometown at the family plot at Lake View Cemetery in Jamestown, New York, where Lucy's parents, brother, and grandparents are buried.

NEWS AND TRIBUTES

Headline News - on the Death of Lucille Ball, 1989

I Love Lucy Returns to TV Land

2012-04-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

TV Land is bringing back the classic '50s sitcom I Love Lucy! This iconic comedy featuring everyone's beloved redhead, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz has not aired on the network since the end of 2008 when it moved to Hallmark in January 2009.

As of now, Hallmark Channel will still air I Love Lucy until June when TV Land will start airing the series again. TV Land is set to air the series on Monday, June 4, 2012! It will air weekday mornings from 11am-12pm, Saturdays 9-11am, and a block on Sundays starting at 11am (usually lasting to 4:30pm).

Lucie Arnaz Signs On As Comedy Showcase Host

2012-04-24T09:00:00.000-04:00

Tickets for Lucy Fest 2012 are now on sale at www.LucyComedyFest.com.

The festival will feature performances by Billy Gardell, star of the hit television show Mike and Molly, and Paula Poundstone at the Reg Lenna Civic Center. Tickets are also available by telephone at 484-0800 and at the Lucy Desi Center at 2 W. Third St., Jamestown.

Lucie Arnaz has signed on as host and musical guest of the Stand-Up Showcase on Friday, Aug. 3. Ms. Arnaz is the daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and has seen critically acclaimed success wearing the hats of producer, singer, actor and director. She'll host a showcase of rising comics in the country, co-produced by San Francisco-based Rooftop Comedy. Lucy Fest has featured performances by then-rising stars Ray Romano, Lewis Black and Ellen Degeneres, and aims to catch comics on a similar rise to the top with the 2012 showcase.

Lucy Fest 2012 will also feature Jamestown hosting its very own "Lucy Olympics," a competition at City Hall on Friday, Aug. 3, and Saturday, Aug. 4. Contestants will compete in events including grape stomping from the "Lucy's Italian Movie" episode, conveyer-belt candy wrapping from the famous "Job Switching" episode, the most comprehensive I Love Lucy trivia contest ever believed to be held and a costume contest featuring several categories.

The Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, or "Lucy Fest," embodies Ball's vision for her hometown legacy: a celebration of the comedic arts held annually on the weekend closest to her birth date, Aug. 6. Lucy Fest 2011 commemorated Lucille Ball's 100th birthday, set an attendance high at 13,000 attendees, featured more than 10 comedians from New York City, Boston, Atlanta, San Francisco and Los Angeles performing over five days, and made international news with the setting of a Guinness World Record for "Most People Dressed as Lucy Ricardo" with 916 participants.

Lucy Fest 2012 Schedule Update

2012-04-10T09:00:00.000-04:00

Lucie Arnaz: Host and Musical Guest, Friday August 3rd

Lucy Fest's Friday Night Stand -Up showcase with host and musical guest Lucie Arnaz. Arnaz, daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, has seen critically acclaimed success wearing the hats of producer, singer, actor and director, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of The American Theatre Wing.

Tickets for this show, Paula Poundstone, and Billy Gardell will go on sale starting April 17th. For more information visit www.LucyComedyFest.com.

Lucy Fest 2012 will feature Jamestown hosting their very own Lucy Olympics, a competition on Friday Aug. 3 & Saturday Aug. 4. Contestants will compete in events including candy wrapping from the "Job Switching" episode, grape stomping from the "Lucy's Italian Movie" episode, and the most comprehensive I Love Lucy trivia contest ever believed to be held! Along with all of this, a costume contest featuring several different categories will also be held as part of the Olympics. Any contestants testing positive for abnormal levels of vitameatavegamin or any other performance enhancing drugs will automatically be disqualified.

Be part of the "studio audience" for a live "Lucy" radio comedy show!

By popular demand, Gregg Oppenheimer, son of I Love Lucy creator Jess Oppenheimer, returns to Jamestown to direct more radio comedy on the stage of the beautiful Reg Lenna Theatre. Last year, on this same stage, the world premiere of his original production I Love Lucy: The Untold Story was a huge success-so much so that it was the subject of four separate nationwide broadcasts on SiriusXM Radio.

This year's laugh-filled show opens with another original behind-the-scenes look at the creation of I Love Lucy-the world premiere of Gregg Oppenheimer's "Finding Fred and Ethel." Next up is a side-splitting episode of Jess Oppenheimer's first sitcom, Baby Snooks, the show that inspired him to create the character we know as "Lucy Ricardo". And to round out the program, another hilarious episode of Lucille Ball's radio sitcom, My Favorite Husband: "Valentine's Day" (later adapted for TV into the I Love Lucy episode "Lucy Plays Cupid.")

All three shows will be performed in the style of old-time radio, with the actors standing at microphones on the stage, plus sound effects and music, including live singers.

Jessica Simpson Planning An 'I Love Lucy' Remake

2012-03-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

Heavily pregnant Jessica Simpson is developing a remake of classic sitcom I Love Lucy with the expectant star in the lead role.

The singer/actress is due to give birth to her first child imminently, but she's already working on her showbiz return and has reteamed with TV producer Ben Silverman, the man behind her new design show Fashion Star, to breathe new life into the popular 1950s comedy.

And Simpson has her sights set on stepping into Lucille Ball's shoes to revive the role she made famous.

During an interview with Elle magazine, Simpson is heard chatting about the prospective project with Silverman, during which he asks her, "What about that I Love Lucy thing you and I were talking about? The sitcom. We really should go to the networks. It could be super funny."

Simpson replies, "Let's develop it. But I think it would be good to play myself, a new mom, and not do anything so different that people won't grasp it."

And Silverman is convinced the show will be a hit with Simpson in the starring role.

Speaking to Elle magazine, he says: "She is just naturally funny. Jess has such a disarming wit for a beautiful girl, making fun of herself in the most charming way."

I Love Lucy Live on Stage Will Make Chicago Debut in the Fall

2012-03-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

I Love Lucy Live on Stage, the musical stage show adapted from the long-running television program that starred Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, will play Chicago's Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place (175 East Chestnut St.) starting September 12, 2012 through November 11th.

Under a license from CBS Consumer Products, the show premiered in Los Angeles in 2011.

"Imagine stepping back in time and into the Desilu Playhouse soundstage!" press notes state. "It’s 1952 and you are a member of the studio audience awaiting the filming of two hilarious and oh so familiar 'I Love Lucy' episodes. A charming host entertains and enlightens you to the behind-the-scenes filming process, the 1950s hi-fidelity technology, and this brand new thing called ‘television.’ The episodes begin and you witness, firsthand, the side-splitting antics of that crazy redhead in the Ricardos’ New York apartment and thrill to the Cuban sounds of 'The Ricky Ricardo Orchestra' at the famed Tropicana Nightclub. In between scenes? The Crystaltone Singers perform live advertising jingles of the show’s newest sponsors in perfect ’50s style harmony. Can you say ‘Brylcreem’?!"

I Love Lucy Live on Stage is staged and directed by Rick Sparks, and presented by S. Kahn Presents and Millrock Company.

Tickets range from $23–$65. Tickets are available now for groups of 10 or more by calling Broadway In Chicago Group Sales at (312) 977-1710. Individual tickets will go on sale at a later date.

For more information, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com or www.ilovelucylive.com.

National Portrait Gallery Featuring Lucille Ball

2012-03-16T09:00:00.000-04:00

Lucille Ball was known for her comedic timing and personality that didn't need color to help it pop. But now, because of a new exhibit displaying the technologically advanced work of one deceased photo journalist, visitors can get a better sense of the comedienne's orange-red hair.

The National Portrait Gallery exhibit, called In Vibrant Color, shows the work of Harry Warnecke who worked on color pictures of famous stars who were best known by their black-and-white versions of themselves.

Mr Warnecke worked for The New York Daily News in the 1930s and had the foresight to understand the future importance of investing in color technology.

'Warnecke designed and built a one-shot camera that yielded the red, blue and green separations needed for color reproduction,' the exhibition explains.

Once the paper understood that they would be more successful than their competitors financially if they had color photos and others did not, the newspaper yielded and built the photographer a color photo studio.

The 24 photos are displayed at The National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. now through until September 9th.

The Lucille Ball Specials - Lucy Moves to NBC

2012-03-14T09:00:00.000-04:00

Lucy Moves to NBC, a Lucille Ball Special which first aired on February 8, 1980 on NBC will be available on DVD starting on March 20th! This 60 minuite NBC Musical Comedy features Lucille Ball playing herself, retired but talked back into show business by NBC president Fred Silverman (satirically played by Gary Imhoff). Congratulations are proffered in guest spots by Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Gene Kelly, Jack Klugman and Gary Coleman, cast as a network programming VIP. Lucy's hired to do is create a new series with the help of her production assistant Gale Gordon. They come up with is a variety show a la 'The Partridge Family,' headlined by Donald O'Connor and Gloria DeHaven. But what evolves is a spoof of TV decision-making as well as long-and-dance numbers highlighted by O'Connor's medley from the movies, an O'Connor-Ball duet set to 'A Real Live Girl' and a rousing banjo solo performed by Scott Plummer."

Following is a review by SitcomesOnline:

Beginning in the early '50s, Lucille Ball began her career on CBS with I Love Lucy, and maintained a starring role (always playing Lucy) in a series on the network for several decades to follow, until the mid '70s when she reduced her role to starring in just a few occasional specials on the network. But just before the '80s, there really wasn't much else that CBS could do with Lucy, and there was another network out there that was seriously struggling and needed all the help that it could get. That network was, of course, NBC, and in 1979, Lucy made her big move to the network that was "proud as a peacock" in a deal that would put her in charge behind the scenes.

Needless to say, in the long run, the arrangement didn't quite work out. We all know Lucy as the star of three (or four depending upon how you count The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour) CBS series spanning over twenty five years, but there really isn't anybody who truly remembers her days at NBC. NBC, in fact, was on the verge of hitting their stride just a few short years later, but that stride didn't include Lucille Ball. But with high expectations of what she could have done for the network--and if it were only a few years earlier, it probably would have turned out much different--NBC brought in the queen of comedy with great fanfare, giving her an entire special to hype the big move to NBC and her getting acquainted with her new co-workers, new digs, and making her transition into a whole new decade where things weren't quite the same as her heyday of television where new territory, political tensions, the sexual revolution, and controversy were all constantly being encountered.

Lucy Moves to NBC is a star-studded feature which stars Ball of course, but also features many of the other "stars of NBC" welcoming her to the network, including Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Jack Klugman, Gene Kelly, and, oh yeah, since this was 1980, Gary Coleman, of course! The special begins with Lucy moving in to her new office and meeting her new boss, which as we would all expect, it would have been NBC president Fred Silverman. But not quite. How do you work the network's most adorable kid into the special? You make Gary Coleman her boss! Gary Coleman, introduces himself to Lucy as the serious, hard-working guy who has been in television "his entire adulthood," proposing that they use her immaturity and newcomer status to television to do the best for NBC. In this introduction, Lucy also gets to meet all of her new fellow NBC stars as well, but unlike Gary Coleman, they're not running the network. As the special progresses, Lucy encounters an old friend, Gale Gordon, and works with him to devise a new pilot for NBC, which we see in the process of development all the way through to the final product (which is somewhat odd, because the special suddenly evolves turns into the actual pilot towards the end), a musical comedy starring Donald O'Connor and Gloria DeHaven, along with Robert Alda, Ruta Lee, Doris Singleton, and "introducing" (he really didn't do a whole lot after this) Scotty Plummer. The entire special has a runtime of 1:13:36.

Normally, we don't cover special features until a bit later in our review, but they are very much integral to this release, so we will cover them now. As for the special itself, it begins with a new introduction (1:25) from Ruta Lee and Jack Klugman, as they remember the special. There is also a retrospective looking back at the special (21:59) with Jack Klugman, Ruta Lee, Hal Kanter (who has recently passed away), Doris Singleton, and others. It is a mostly positive look at both the special and the overall legacy of Lucy herself.

Lucy's move to NBC didn't actually produce any hits for the network, but it did introduce one pilot in 1981 (in addition to the one presented in the special) that was actually directed by Lucy, Bungle Abbey (27:51), a somewhat quirky (but fun) series about monks in a monastery who were not your ordinary monks, at all. The pilot stars Charlie Callas, Guy Marks, Gino Conforti, Graham Jarvis, Peter Palmer, and (of course) Gale Gordon. There is also an introduction to this pilot from Gino Conforti (1:27) where he admits the very obvious: this series would have never worked, and in fact, it was a challenge to even write enough material just for the one pilot episode, but it was still a very fun pilot to do, and I think many people will enjoy watching it. It feels a bit like a sketch from the end of an episode of Saturday Night Live that was made a bit too long, but it was a nice effort at the very least.

"Let's Talk to Lucy: Bob Hope" (9:25) is a very brief 1964 radio interview featuring Lucy interviewing Bob Hope, which is particularly appropriate for this release, as Bob Hope was one of the early big stars of NBC. I say "very brief" because Bob Hope only takes part in the first few minutes of the interview. Much of the interview features Lucy talking to her husband Gary Morton about National Children's Book Week and keeping a family strong, where she talks about keeping her husband and kids together through education and reading (notice that the "other guy" that she had been married to before is not mentioned... at all... but that is OK).

Finally, "Lucy on the Bob Hope Special" (10:37) is a segment from a Christmas special featuring Bob Hope and Lucy. There is no indication of exactly what year this aired, but it appears to be from the late '70s.

The DVD comes packaged in a standard DVD, with packaging that matches all of the other releases of The Lucille Ball Specials from MPI. The cover artwork features Lucy and Bob Hope, while the back features photos of Lucy with Jack Klugman and Johnny Carson. All of the special features are also listed on the back, along with a description of the special. The single disc has artwork that is identical to the cover artwork.

There isn't a whole lot to the menus on the DVD. The main menu has the theme music from the special playing, and gives you the option of playing the special, playing it with the special introduction, special features, and an option to turn on subtitles. Chapters are placed throughout the special.

The video and audio quality of the release is, to say the least, not all that great. Of course, it is important to consider that this was from an era where everybody seemed to cut corners everywhere to save money, but just before producers began to see the value in creating a product of higher quality... somewhat of a "lull," I guess. The transfer almost looks like a decent quality VHS transfer, but it is by no means a disaster. The audio is a bit low, but I don't think most fans will be bothered. Like just about every other MPI release out there, the release DOES contain English subtitles. It is great to see that MPI, one of the "little guys" out there, almost never neglects this important part of their releases.

I'll admit, this was probably one of the weakest points of Lucy's career (which sadly only got worse when she moved on to ABC several years later with Life with Lucy, a series which was not one of her proudest moments), but still, it is, in fact, Lucy, and an important part of her legacy. Out of all of the specials that MPI has released, this was definitely the least interesting one, but I am still glad that it made it to DVD, and I know that every Lucy fan will definitely want to see this. It helps even more that MPI didn't just slap this together just to get it out, but actually made a great release that is up to the high standards that they have set for pretty much all of their releases of anything Lucy related. If you have yet to pick up any of these specials, though, this probably is not the one that you'll want to start with. Some of the earlier ones brought back some of the Lucy style antics that fans were used to, and are likely to find more interesting. But don't get me wrong on this release. It is a great release, and fans of Lucy are definitely not going to want to pass this one up.

Billy Gardell to headline 2012 Lucille Ball Comedy Festival

2012-03-12T09:00:00.000-04:00

Comedian Billy Gardell, the star of the hit show "Mike & Molly" will headline the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival August 1-5 in Jamestown, NY.

The Pittsburgh native is known to more than 12 million TV viewers each week, appeared in his own hour-long Comedy Central Special in 2011, and will be performing to a house of 1,260 seats in Jamestown Saturday, August 4. Tickets go on sale April 17 at www.LucyComedyFest.com.

Returning after contributing to this success, Paula Poundstone, one of Comedy Central’s 100 greatest comedians of all-time and panelist on NPR’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, will headline the Thursday, August 2 evening.

Attending this show and others, Lucie Arnaz, daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, will be in town to witness the Center’s new Legacy of Laughter direction, one pillar of which is comedic arts education.

That programming debuts this year with a set of comedy courses to take place the week of the festival, culminating with students earning stage time at Lucy Fest and the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City, named by USA Today as one of the top 10 comedy clubs in the nation. Courses are presented in partnership with Jamestown Community College’s Center for Continuing Education, and registration for youth and adults begins April 17.

Classes include intensive training in the areas of improv, sketch and stand-up, and will be taught by Bill Chott, T. Faye Griffin, and Andy Engel, respectively. Engel is the founder of Manhattan Comedy School and the Director of New Talent at the Gotham. Griffin is a former writer and segment producer for both the show In Living Color and the BET Network, as well as a personal joke writer for Steve Harvey. Chott toured alongside Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in The Second City Comedy Troupe before re-uniting with former troupe-mates Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell to work on The Dana Carvey Show and Saturday Night Live. Lucy fans will recognize him for his award-winning portrayal of Fred Mertz in I Love Lucy Live on Stage.

Friday, August 3 features a showcase of some of the hottest rising comics in the country, co-produced by San Francisco-based Rooftop Comedy, the world’s largest producer of interactive comedy programming. Lucy Fest has featured performances by then-rising stars Ray Romano, Lewis Black and Ellen Degeneres, and aims to catch comics on a similar rise to the top with this showcase.

Saturday matinees will include the return of a live on-stage radio show, broadcast last year on SiriusXM and produced by Gregg Oppenheimer, son of I Love Lucy creator Jess Oppenheimer. Also returning is the critically-acclaimed kids comedy troupe, Story Pirates. This non-profit creative writing organization will visit to do in-classroom story-writing workshops in the spring. The stories from these Jamestown public school students will become the basis for the show Saturday, August 4.

Other festival events include Lucy Town Tours, shows featuring the best Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel impersonators in the world, a parade, memorabilia auction, “Party on the Plaza,” and the newly-formatted, largest, and most comprehensive “I Love Lucy” trivia contest ever believed to have been held. This preliminary schedule will be updated as new events are confirmed at www.LucyComedyFest.com.

Lucie Arnaz Honors Dad with Latin Roots

2012-03-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

By Robert Sokol as Special To The S.F. Examiner

“I don’t play that side of me very often,” says the daughter of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, “though I’ve always said that if I didn’t have that side of my family I don’t think I’d have the rhythm or any kind of musical ability at all.”

She’s been playing that side a lot more the last couple of years, paying tribute to the musical influences of her father with a spectacularly reviewed stage show, the CD “Latin Roots,” and a new nightclub act that just played to raves at Manhattan’s Feinstein’s at the Regency.

“When I put together my ‘hybrid’ version of that ‘Babalu’ show – utilizing some of Dad’s charts, a lot of the Latin flavored material that I have been including in my shows for years and a lot of tunes from the CD – I was happily surprised to know how much the audiences accepted my interpretations of some of Dad’s trademark songs, like ‘Cuban Pete,’ ‘The Straw Hat Song’ and ‘Babalu.’”

The impetus for both her nightclub career and, now, the focus on her Latin side has its roots in the Bay Area.

“When my dad passed away I found this wonderful little set of cassette tapes that had been compiled by a man in San Francisco named Edward Maffei, who was a discographer and fan of my father’s work. It included all sorts of recordings and broadcasts of Dad’s that he had gathered.”

Arnaz would drive around playing the cassettes and absorbing the sound. “This was, like, 1987, and it was the whole reason I decided to put together my first club act.”

Spending as much time as she has lately, steeped in her father’s musical legacy, her respect for his talent “really couldn’t have gotten any higher than it was before. But, I am just enjoying that ‘See, I knew I wasn’t crazy!’ sensation, now that everyone else is responding to this kind of material the way I did when I first heard it.”

So, what might her father think of all this? “One can only guess, right? I think he would be very choked up and stand a little taller in his shoes as he watched. I think he would be very, very grateful that all his work during those years had not gone unappreciated in the shade of the very large ‘I Love Lucy’-Ricky Ricardo branches.”

IF YOU GO
Lucie Arnaz
Where: Rrazz Room, Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St., San Francisco
When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 7 p.m. March 11
Tickets: $45
Contact: (800) 380-3095, www.therrazzroom.com

Lucie Arnaz plays in Tucson Show

2012-03-02T10:25:00.000-05:00

Lucie Arnaz has graced some of the most prestigious stages in the world with her lush singing. From Broadway to London's West End. And on Friday, March 2nd she makes her Berger Performing Arts Center debut in Tucson, Arizona.

This singer and actress is coming here with Invisible Theatre for her Latin Roots show. She will perform two shows — 8 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Sunday — at the Berger, 1200 W. Speedway Tickets are $42 through the theater 882-9271 or online .

Arnaz, the daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, isn't exactly taking a page from her father's Latin songbook, but organizers of the show say the song list would make her father proud.

The incomparable Lucie Arnaz sparkles in LATIN ROOTS! “These are the rhythms of my soul”, says Lucie and indeed they are! This is a not-to-be-missed eclectic celebration of her musical heritage blending south of the border sounds, fiery Latin classics and enduring American standards with sophistication and sassy spice! As Michael Feinstein says, “She captures the energy and spirit of her father’s (Desi Arnaz) music and puts her own inimitable stamp on it. She’s an original and a treasure!”

Lucille Ball stars in "I Love Lucy" Facebook game

2012-02-15T10:01:00.002-05:00

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA (Reuters) - Although, technically speaking, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance and William Frawley never left small screens thanks to 60 years of "I Love Lucy," in TV reruns, the gang is back for their first interactive adventure in "Retro World."

"I Love Lucy," from maker Entertainment Games, enters the videogame space in early March as an episodic series available on Facebook and RetroWorld.com with mobile and tablet versions to follow.

The black-and-white game will blend footage from one of the most popular TV comedies of all time with new character interaction, exploration, puzzles and mini-games.

The first installment expands on the classic "Job Switching" episode in which the girls, Lucy Ricardo (Ball) and Ethel Mertz (Vance), go to work while their husbands Ricky (Ricardo) and Fred (Frawley) stay home and take care of the house. In the game, the players control Lucy and Ricky.

"The experience is uniquely designed to feel like you're playing in an actual 'I Love Lucy' episode," said Gene Mauro, President of Entertainment Games.

"In some scenes, players will control Lucy as she struggles comically to stay employed alongside Ethel in the chocolate factory; in other scenes, players become Ricky as he coaches Fred and labors to learn the ropes of basic housekeeping."

Entertainment Games has worked closely with producers Desilu, Too, LLC and CBS Consumer Products Inc., which control rights to products from the classic TV show that first aired from 1951 - 1957, on the game, turning the program's comedy into casual games designed to appeal to the boomer generation.

According to Bruce Bronn, owner of Unforgettable Enterprises, Inc., which represents Desilu/CBS, the show remains popular today with nearly 1 million Facebook likes and mainstream consumer awareness.

"Recent research data obtained by CBS shows 'Lucy' still enjoys an 88 percent awareness factor with 96 percent favorable appeal among the key female 18-54 age group and a 92 percent awareness with 95 percent favorable appeal for females 25-54," said Bronn.

GAMES THAT GO RETRO

Since launching its initial game in November 2011, the company has attracted over 60,000 players to its games like the '60s era spy game "Owl Files" and the '60s era comedy "Kat the Brat." Mauro said "Retro World" gamers are currently attracting mostly women with over 50 percent in the 40-plus age group.

The game makers have been using Facebook to test core gameplay in preparation for the "I Love Lucy" launch, which will mark the initial marketing push for the casual gaming company.

"They have an original idea, and think that iconic branded entertainment will have a lot of appeal, especially among the older Facebook users who remember brands like 'I Love Lucy,'" said Michael Pachter, videogame analyst, Wedbush Morgan Securities. "The unique nature of Entertainment Games' focus on nostalgia could build them a sizeable audience."

New "I Love Lucy" game episodes will be released every few months. Once they finish the first episode, players gain access to a Lucille Ball avatar that they can use to explore the rest of the game world. Ball joins fellow Hollywood icons like Dick Clark, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and John Belushi who already have avatars in the virtual game world.

Mauro said that from "Retro World's" initial inception, the company envisioned working with media companies to bring iconic forms of entertainment already ingrained in people's memories to life through this game platform.

Unlike Zynga, which has 227 million monthly active users across all age groups playing its casual games like "CityVille" and "Hidden Chronicles," Entertainment Games is focusing on the 150 million members of the baby boomer generation who are active on Facebook.

Entertainment Games plans to launch an additional four game franchises this year based on classic CBS TV shows from the '50s, '60s, '70s and '80s. Pachter believes that if Entertainment Games can get other big retro licenses like CBS' "The Brady Bunch" it can build a pretty interesting business.

For now, "I Love Lucy" fans will have more than just re-runs on Netflix or TVLand to enjoy.

(Reporting By John Gaudiosi; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Retro World is available now at http://www.retroworld.com.

About Entertainment Games, Inc. (formerly eGames, Inc.):

Entertainment Games, Inc., headquartered in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, with offices in Woburn, Massachusetts and Montrose, California, develops and publishes casual games for leading social networks, the PC, Nintendo DS and Wii, iPhone, and the Internet. Additional information regarding Entertainment Games, Inc. can be found at http://www.egames.com.

Lucille Ball Specials: Lucy Moves to NBC

2012-02-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

Another Lucille Ball Special, Lucy Moves to NBC, will be released on March 20, 2012.

This special first aired on February 8, 1980. This NBC Musical Comedy features Lucille Ball playing herself, retired but talked back into show business by NBC president Fred Silverman (satirically played by Gary Imhoff). Congratulations are proffered in guest spots by Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Gene Kelly, Jack Klugman and Gary Coleman, cast as a network programming VIP. Lucy's hired to do is create a new series with the help of her production assistant Gale Gordon. They come up with is a variety show a la 'The Partridge Family,' headlined by Donald O'Connor and Gloria DeHaven. But what evolves is a spoof of TV decision-making as well as long-and-dance numbers highlighted by O'Connor's medley from the movies, an O'Connor-Ball duet set to 'A Real Live Girl' and a rousing banjo solo performed by Scott Plummer."

Be sure to Order your copy today of Lucille Ball Specials: Lucy Moves to NBC.

This was the last Lucille Ball Special she starred in until her fateful last series, Life With Lucy in 1986. Her last movie, Stone Pillow, aired in 1985.

Here's Lucy Season Five DVD Coming in Few Short Weeks!

2012-02-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

The Fifth Season of Here's Lucy DVD will be coming in just a few short weeks. Season 5 of Here's Lucy on DVD will be released on February 28, 2012.

This will be a 4-DVD disc set. The complete fifth season of Here's Lucy (1971-72, CBS-TV) features all 24 episodes uncut and digitally remastered for superior quality, plus a wealth of new and never-before seen special features.

Guest stars include Don Knotts, Donny Osmond, Eva Gabor, Joe Namath, Petula Clark, Lloyd Bridges, Ruth Buzzi, Robert Cummings, Totie Fields, Ricardo Montalban, Elsa Lanchester, Jim Bailey, John Davidson, Craig Stevens and Desi Arnaz, Jr.

Lucille Ball got her real life children to co-star with her in CBS' Here's Lucy, which premiered on September 23, 1968. As Lucille Carter, she was mom to her real life son, Desi Arnaz, Jr., who played Craig and her daughter Lucie Arnaz, who played Kim. Lucy found it a wonderful way to work and have a personal relationship with her children.

Almost every episode had a different celebrity guest-star, usually playing themselves. To accommodate the frequent guests, the new format has Lucy Carter working for the Unique Employment Agency run by her Uncle Harry, played by Gale Gordon. Mary Jane Croft returns as Lucy's friend Mary Jane, and Vivian Vance continued to make her yearly appearances.

Like other sets the episodes have been restored from their original prints and look flawless and include the standard 24 shows in a 4-disc set. This season's final episode entitled "Lucy and Harry's Memoirs" was intended to be the show's finale. On Tuesday of the week this show is filmed, CBS President Fred Silverman comes to Lucille's house in Beverly Hills and talks her into doing another year of Here's Lucy. Rather than scrap the episode or cause costly reshooting, the script is slightly reworked so that as Lucille walks out of the office, she leaves a sign that says "closed temporarily".

Following are the complete episode list of Season 5 of Here's Lucy along with airdates:

1. "Lucy's Big Break", Sept. 11, 1972
2. "Lucy and Eva Gabor Are Roomates, Sept. 18, 1972
3. "Harrison Carter, Male Nurse", Sept. 25, 1972
4. "A Home Is Not An Office", Oct. 2, 1972
5. "Lucy and Joe Namath", Oct. 9, 1972
6. "The Case of the Reckless Wheelchair Driver", Oct. 16, 1972
7. "Lucy, the Other Woman", Oct. 23, 1972
8. "Lucy and Petula Clark", Oct. 30, 1972
9. "Lucy and Jim Baily", Nov. 6, 1972
10. "Lucy and Dirtie Gertie, Nov. 13, 1972
11. "Lucy and Donny Osmond", Nov. 20, 1972
12. "Lucy and Her Prince Charming", Nov. 27, 1972
13. "My Fair Buzzi", Dec. 11, 1972
14. "Lucy and the Group Encounter", Dec. 18, 1972
15. "Lucy Is Really In a Pickle", Jan. 1, 1973
16. "Lucy Goes on Her Blind Date", Jan. 8, 1973
17. "Lucy and Her Genuine Trimby", Jan. 15, 1973
18. "Lucy Goes To Prison", Jan. 22, 1973
19. "Lucy and the Professor", Jan. 29, 1973
20. "Lucy and the Franchise Fiasco", Feb. 5, 1973
21. "Lucy and Harry's Pot", Feb. 12, 1973
22. "The Not So Popular Mechanics", Feb. 19, 1973
23. "Goodbye, Mr. Hips", Feb. 26, 1973
24. "Lucy and Harry's Memoirs", March 5, 1973

DVD Bonus Features
New Video Episode Introductions by Lucie Arnaz and Others
Featurette: Here’s Lucy Spotlight: Desi Arnaz, Jr.
Let‘s Talk To Lucy - Lost Interviews with Frank Sinatra
Lucy on The Donny & Marie Show
Treasures From Lucie‘s Vault (Bloopers, home movies)
Here‘s Lucy Slide Show, Production Files and Syndication Promos

There is only one more season of Here's Lucy for MPI to release. No scheduled date for it's release has been announced yet.

Be sure to get your copy of Here's Lucy, available for pre-order here!

Lucille Ball, Business Woman who Revolutionized Business

2012-02-06T10:23:00.000-05:00

Some things change but one thing is for sure - nothing good comes out of Missouri when it's a snotty "teacher wanna-be" blonde. I guess some people feel threatened if they don't come up often enough on the internet. But that takes knowing a thing or two about SEM. Well in doing a little research, I can understand why they feel threatened and will go out of their way to threaten others and do more time in running around in fear instead of producing.

One thing about Lucy - she was open to change and open to sharing information and willing to change and adapt. She accepted everyone and that included the gay and lesbian community. She wouldn't fall for today's conservatives and was a proud red-headed liberal that stood up for her convictions. This is fact and nothing Ms. Missouri can do will ever change that. She stood up to the "Red Scare" and fear from conservatives and she won.

First Couple of Comedy
Lucy took on a man's world and changed it for herself. It was Lucy who was in charge at Desilu, not her husband, Desi Arnaz. While reviewing the Broadway hit, Too Many Girls, back in New York for RKO, which had the movie rights, Lucy first layed her eyes on a bright new Cuban star, Desi Arnaz. She was mesmerized by his appearance. While producing films for Columbia Pictures, CBS offered Lucy a Radio show based upon the book, Mr. and Mrs. Cugat by Isabelle Scott Rorick. Lucy was interested, especially if Desi could costar, but the big brass at CBS thought he was not the type to play a typical American husband. CBS turned a deaf ear to her proposal and she was teamed with Richard Denning in My Favorite Husband.

With the success of My Favorite Husband, CBS began talking about taking the show to television. Lucy saw the possibility of a television series as an opportunity to not only take her radio success to another level, but as an ideal way to mesh career and marriage into one by working with Desi on the same show.

Lucy refused to do the show without Desi, which was a major stumbling block for CBS. In order to get CBS to agree and as a way to promote themselves Lucy and Desi formed a partnership, launching Desilu Productions in the Spring of 1950. They took their vaudeville act on the road, which eventually became the Pilot for the I Love Lucy show featuring Pepito Perez, the renowned Spanish clown.

NBC became interested in the two and thought they made an attractive package, with Lucille's film and radio career and Ricky's nightclub and recording contract with RCA. CBS had no other offer except to accept the two and abruptly okayed the television sitcom that Lucy wanted with Desi portraying her husband.

With that, one of the greatest sitcoms of all time had been formed.

The Spark Continues On
She remained the top comedian for more then the next 3 decades on television. Even today, Lucille Ball remains America's most popular TV comedienne, known for her henna red hair and slapstick comedy routines.

She starred in five different TV shows during her career; the original, I Love Lucy (1951-57), became one of the great TV landmarks of the 1950s and continues today on TV across the world. The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show, known in reruns as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957-60) followed the I Love Lucy format in an hour-long show. After Lucy's divorce from Desi Arnaz, she went on with her friend, Vivian Vance to The Lucy Show (1962-68). Afterwards, she contined with her children in Here's Lucy (1968-1974). Although it seemed she would retire from TV Comedy series, she came back briefly in 1986 with Life With Lucy.

Lucy may be gone now, but she will continue to be with us as long as we have Television!

------------------------------
So there you have it - one woman who is head and shoulders over a "blonde". And unlike others, please feel free to copy and share and distribute anything and everything. It is nothing more then flattery as well as keeping the information flowing freely for all to enjoy, which is the true nature of the internet!

Lucy Desi Center for Comedy Presents Special Valentines Event

2012-01-24T09:33:00.000-05:00

Treat your Valentine to a cocktail hour, a lovely dinner and a romantic movie, all for just $99 per couple at the Lucy Desi Center for Comedy.

Saturday, February 11, the Center is offering a complete evening, starting with a cocktail hour of beer and wine in the Desilu Playhouse attraction (includes two glasses/person followed by cash bar). Enjoy the Playhouse with its replicas of the "I Love Lucy" television sets, original costumes and more..

Then it's upstairs to the Tropicana Room nightclub with your choice of pineapple chicken, thyme roasted filet medallions or a grilled vegetable stack for dinner, accompanied by romantic music. A printed photo of each couple is included in the price of the evening.

After dinner, the party moves to the Lucy Desi Museum for a private showing of the movie, "Too Many Girls," starring Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. It was on the set of "Too Many Girls" that Lucy and Desi first met.

Seating is limited to 25 couples. Make your reservation by calling the Center at 716-484-0800 ext. 201 or ext. 249. Reservation deadline is February 7.

The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center for Comedy is located at 2 West Third Street in Jamestown, NY.

Portland Museum of Art will Showcase Portraits of Lucille Ball and Other Celebrities

2012-01-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

This gelatin silver print of Lucille Ball
was done by Philippe Halsman in 1950

This winter, the Portland Museum of Art will showcase its growing collection of celebrity portraits, highlighting two newly acquired portfolios of works by artists Berenice Abbott and Robert Doisneau.

"Making Faces: Photographic Portraits of Actors and Artists" features 35 black-and-white photographic portraits of recognizable television personalities and famous artists.

It also includes a selection of paintings, drawings and sculptures by leading European modernists such as Pablo Picasso, Fernand Leger and Jean Arp, along with their photographic portraits.

The exhibit, on view Jan. 14 to April 8, reveals the sometimes surprising ways in which appearance, poses and props help define the public's perception of an artist’s work — both on the stage and in the museum.

Other photographers whose works will be on view include Philippe Halsman, with his ground-breaking images of notable early television comics such as Lucille Ball, Jimmy Durante and Imogene Coca, whose wildly expressive faces helped forge their careers.

Barbara Morgan’s photographs of noted choreographer Martha Graham further capture the essence of modern dance in similarly exaggerated movements.

The exhibition also includes a close look at some of America’s most recognizable artistic personalities — Andy Warhol, Andrew Wyeth and Robert Indiana — masters of public relations, as well as the canvas.

The third-floor Konkel Gallery will be devoted to Maine photographer David Etnier’s extensive portrait project, which focuses on the work of his father, Stephen Etnier, and their artist friends who have dominated the Maine art scene for the past 30 years.

On display will be portraits of some of Maine’s favorite artists, including Dozier Bell, Alan Bray, Brett Bigbee, Jack Heliker and Karl Schrag. Each photograph will be juxtaposed with a work of art drawn from the museum’s permanent holdings. Collectively, these works highlight the story of Maine art over the past 50 years.

Life is a Cabaret as Lucie Arnaz Celebrates her "Latin Roots"

2012-01-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

Photo by Steven Sorokoff

Lucie Arnaz was in great voice for the premiere of "Latin Roots," her cabaret show at Feinstein's in New York City, which is based on her CD that celebrates her father, Desi Arnaz, and his conga-happy music. She performed on Thursday night at the packed premiere of her joyfully warm and superbly sung “Latin Roots.”

Arnaz sang and offered anecdotes on opening night when she discussed her parents' different backgrounds and legendary volatility.

Her dad, she said, was from Latin soil - rich, hot and steamy and no stranger to hurricanes. Her mom, Lucille Ball, hailed from hearty acidic compost of New England that's accustomed to long cold periods of frost.

Another amusing moment came from Arnaz's pal Tommy Tune, who, ever the director, couldn't resist getting in on the act ever so briefly as four musicians - Ron Abel, Steve Samuel, Brian Nelepka and Roger Squitero - took to the stage. As the lights dimmed, Tune declared: "Okay, places!"

Good way to start, as Arnaz arrived and everything, even opening-night jitters, fell into place.

A swinging “I’ll See You in C-U-B-A” by Irving Berlin launched the show devoted to her dad, Desi Arnaz, and the south-of-the-border pop sounds the Santiago de Cuba-born bandleader made famous in nightclubs and on “I Love Lucy.”

“This is about my tropical roots,” said Arnaz, who showcased her lean and leggy figure in a short off-the-shoulder dress precisely the shade of a Pink Flamingo, as in the Cuban cocktail.

During the eclectic hour-plus set, Arnaz, whose varied career includes Broadway’s “They’re Playing Our song,” made like a mixologist, shaking up and stirring the moods and music.

“Jip Japa,” an obscure tune her father sang to her as a little girl, found her rolling Latin-style rrrrrr’s fast and furiously. She didn’t do “Babalu,” but she and her four-man band served a spicy “El Cumbanchero.”

On the standards “Lover,” “I Love to Dance” and “I Got Lost in His Arms,” Arnaz worked her lusty vibrato and her father’s lush arrangements, which she’d discovered after he died in 1986.

And in a sweet touch, Arnaz sent a bubbly “Blame It on the Bossa Nova” out as an air kiss to her husband of 32 years, actor Laurence Luckinbill, who was seated with their kids.

Fitting, since “Latin Roots,” which is based on her CD, is about family. And it was apparent that the spirit of mom Lucille Ball was in the house, too.

When Arnaz lost her way during her banter, she sent music director Ron Abel to fetch her notes. She filled the gap by joking, saying “Hi” to pals in the audience — Tommy Tune, Michele Lee, Hal Linden — and clowning with disarming charm. That’s part of her DNA, too.

Lucy-Desi Center Plans A Lot To Love In 2012 And Beyond

2012-01-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

New merchandise available at the Lucy-Desi gift shop cites the recent confirmation from Guinness World Records at the “Be A Lucy” event. Photo by Jason Rodriguez

The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center is pushing ahead with its plans to establish Jamestown as America's capital of comedy.

The Jamestown Post-Journal reports that the center's plans for 2012 are highlighted by a bigger, better Lucy Fest next summer.

The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center returned to the center stage with Lucy Fest this past summer, breezing through the first of its four strategic objectives.

Next year, the center is pushing for an even bigger festival and a closer realization of the ultimate goal - recognizing Jamestown as the capital of comedy.

"In 2011, I would say we accomplished what we needed to," said Executive Director Journey Gunderson. "Our primary benchmark was to establish credibility within the comedy industry, which is national, and as a fortunate result of the quality of the programming and the attraction of the Guinness world record, we got the national spotlight that we hoped for."

She noted how media outlets from even worldwide markets arrived for the first few days of August, culminating in the world record for the most costumed Lucys gathered in one location. Recently, that number has been confirmed by the Guinness World Records as 916.

Meanwhile, Gunderson said a private firm from Buffalo has been hired to complete an assessment of the downtown impact as a result of the multi-day Lucy Fest. A survey has been put out to all festival participants and even as the center waits for concrete data, she said its reports of between 12,000 and 13,000 attendees has already put new ideas on the table for the next year.

"We just finished collecting the data and handing it over to them so that they can get back to us and report the economic impact that the festival had," she said. "We couldn't do what we intend to do in 2012 without having seen the numbers we put up in 2011 - the attendance of the festival exceeded our expectations."

PILLARS FOR LUCY

Gunderson said the "Legacy of Laughter" vision at the center is set to be further unveiled in the summer of 2012.

"Pillar One was to re-establish the annual comedy festival in the way that Lucille Ball envisioned it herself," she said, "... that Jamestown would be a hub of humor and that annually we would celebrate the new voices of comedy."

The next Lucy Fest will be complemented by Pillar Two: the Comedic Arts education program.
"We are planning a comedy college in conjunction with JCC," she said, which will offer five days of classes for youth and adults. Slated headlining instructors are Bill Chott, a writer for the Dana Carvey Show and Saturday Night Live, and T. Faye Griffin, director of the nonprofit Kids in the Spotlight organization.

Gunderson said classes will be a "mix of the comedic arts," including basic fundamental joke construction, sitcom writing improvisational and stand-up comedy.
On the horizon are pillars three and four.

Another companion to the ongoing Lucy Fest would the Comedy Film Festival.
"Such a festival requires a lot of lead time: people need to make the films, enter them locally and have them be reviewed," said Gunderson, adding that such an event is not likely until 2013.

In possible years to come, all future programming would coordinate around a grander bricks-and-mortar home located in Jamestown. The final pillar in the Legacy of Laughter scheme is the National Comedy Museum and Hall of Fame.

An unveiling of a possibility was held last April, with Gunderson and others making the comparison to Cooperstown and its namesake sport.

''Like Cooperstown to baseball, Jamestown will induct and honor the comedic artists who most embody the legacy of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz for their impact on the world through the comedic arts,'' Gunderson said.

She said in the coming year one step toward the ultimate goal is a planned summit of the "minds and moguls of the comedy world ... people who are engrossed in that world and have made careers out of it." She added she is currently planning with boards members if this could take place during Lucy Fest 2012.

LUCY-DESI ATTRACTION

Business has flourished at the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center, and Gunderson said visitors can expect to find some newly added features.

"We are going to be reinvesting in the attraction," Gunderson said. "We have acquired some new items and received donations so some really unique memorabilia."

A new exhibit will document the annual Lucy festival since its inception. Interestingly, 2011 signified the 20th anniversary since the premiere, but Gunderson said this fact was absent from the already crowded marquee.

"One of our challenges has been to be of interest to people of Jamestown right here in the community - it is time for people in Jamestown to be proud of and recognize the amazing talent that has played here," she said. "There are not many towns of our size that can point to a track record and show alumni like us, and so would like to showcase that in the museum."

Gunderson said the exhibit makes a connection between the early performances of Louis Black, Ellen Degeneres and Paula Poundstone in the 1990s with the latest crop of up-and-coming performers to arrive in Jamestown, courtesy of the Rooftop Comedy Stand-up Showcase.

The agency has been signed up for another round in 2012, and Gunderson said their appreciation of the experience is well documented on the Lucy Fest Facebook page.

"They loved being in Jamestown and they were treated very well here," she said. "All of the comedians that came here, they reiterated to us that Lucille Ball was it: she was one of the icons that they looked up to, and for a few of them, the reason they went in to comedy. They said it was an honor to play Lucy Fest, and we were honored to have them here."

"Those growing relationships can only be a good thing," Gunderson added.

Lucie Arnaz Goes Back to Her Roots

2011-12-31T13:35:00.001-05:00

The popular actress discusses performing her Latin Roots show at Feinstein's at Loews Regency in New York City.

Much of America grew up with Lucie Arnaz, having watched her blossom as an actress opposite her mother Lucille Ball on The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy. But Arnaz has since triumphed in a variety of mediums, most notably in the Broadway musical They're Playing Our Song and in the film The Jazz Singer, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.

In recent years, she has become a popular nightclub performer, and on January 5, she brings her new show Latin Roots, based on the CD of the same name, to Feinstein's at Loews Regency in New York City for a four-night run. TheaterMania recently spoke to Arnaz about the show and her career.

THEATERMANIA: Are you looking forward to this gig?
LUCIE ARNAZ: I am very excited, since I haven't played there since 1999, before I left to go to London to do The Witches of Eastwick. Sometimes, I think it's difficult for me to play these ritzier rooms, because the people who come see me look for more affordable spots like Birdland. So I am really happy they agreed to discount the cover charge for this run.

TM: So how did this show -- and your CD -- come about? ?
LUCIE: After my dad [Desi Arnaz] died in 1986, I found this little cassette holder in his sock drawer and in small type on the cover, it said "Desi Arnaz and Orchestra recordings, December 9, 1947 - San Francisco." I thought wow, I had never heard these. So I got in my in car and put it on and just lost myself in this music. Of course, I had heard him sing on I Love Lucy and I had heard a few recordings, but there were no CDs available of this kind of big band stuff. And listening to this cassette sort of changed the direction of where I was going in my career. I knew I wanted to do these songs and these arrangements in front of a band. My father had some really good charts, especially some for girl singers. It just took a lot of time for everything to come together.

TM: I first heard these arrangements when you did the Babalu show at the 92nd Street Y in January 2010, which was an amazing experience. Tell me how that happened?
LUCIE: I happened to be at the Y to do an Ira Gershwin show, and Deborah Grace Winer, who is the artistic director of Lyrics & Lyrcists, told me she loved my father's arrangements and suggested we put together a show about Latin music. And then I realized I had to do everything -- produce, direct, host, and write it. So the first thing I did was call my brother, Desi Arnaz, Jr. He doesn't love to travel, but he loves to play drums and he loves the music, so he jumped at the chance to recreate it.

TM: But the show wasn't just a family affair - you had Raul Esparza singing a lot of your dad's songs, and also the great Valarie Pettiford. Why them?
LUCIE: Raul was at top of my wish list; he's so multi-talented, and like my dad, he's Cuban. But it took me three days to write him an email, since I didn't want to sound too goofy, and then I didn't hear right away, and I figured he wasn't interested. But then he called me and said he would be thrilled to do it. And I thought to have Valarie shake her booty and add her own Afro-Cuban jazz touch was perfect. It was heaven. We did the show again in Miami in July, 2010 -- let's say it was hot on many levels -- and then another concert in October, 2011 in honor of the 100th anniversary of my mother's birth, but that may be it. I would love to see it on Broadway, but we're not going there without Raul; there aren't that many people who can do these songs justice, and Desi won't come to New York for an extended run, so it just wouldn't be the same.

TM: So the Latin Roots show grew out of Babalu?
LUCIE: Yes, I am doing some of Dad's stuff myself. And while we don't have a big band like we did for Babalu, we have my musical director Ron Abel, and we also have some great percussionists so we can do as much of the CD as possible in that room.

TM: Your children are very talented. Did you think of recruiting them for this show?
LUCIE: My son Simon is a drummer and he does play percussion on the road, and Joe is an amazing guitarist with his own CDs, but their music is different from this music. And my daughter Kate is a wonderful singer and she loves this stuff, but she just started working on the production side of Rosie O'Donnell's show and I don't want to distract her.

TM: So, is there any chance we'll get you back on Broadway in something other than Babalu?
LUCIE: I always keep my ears open to what's going on in theater; I am on the board of the American Theater Wing. But doing this is great fun, and I feel like I can choose to have a career and have a life, and be at home at night with my husband [actor Laurence Luckinbill] and not do eight shows a week. But we'll see.

The Lucy Show - Fifith Season DVD

2011-12-22T09:00:00.000-05:00

While you are waiting for the Fifth Season of Here's Lucy to come out in February - you can still get the Fifth Season of The Lucy Show on DVD, which came out on December 6th.

As Lucille Ball headed into the fifth season of "The Lucy Show" in the fall of 1966, the comic icon must have been feeling some pressure.

Though ratings were still high for her first post-"I Love Lucy" show, there was creative trouble afoot. Scripts for the series' fourth season had been mediocre at best and the show struggled to adapt to changes made after the departure of Ball's co-star, Vivian Vance. During this fourth season upheaval, Ball's Lucy Carmichael character not only left Connecticut for California, but underwent a serious back story overhaul. No longer was she a widow living on trust-fund money. Instead, she was single and working at a bank.

With these changes in place, the show stabilized and Ball's manic comedic genius was back in full bloom, a fact that's evident on CBS DVD's four-disc set "The Lucy Show: The Official Fifth Season."
All 22 fifth-season episodes are included, and they're a riot. Like a bull in a china shop, Lucy Carmichael barrels through life and leaves a trail of havoc in her wake. She disrupts a John Wayne movie, confuses a monkey for Mr. Mooney, joins the "beatnik" generation, gets arrested for shoplifting, baby-sits a family of chimps and gets trapped aboard a Navy ship. It's classic stuff, and Ball walked away with an Emmy for best actress in a comedy series in 1967. It was her first Emmy win in 11 years. Also included are a host of extras, including bloopersand the hourlong "Lucy in London" television special directed by Oxnard's Steve Binder.

I Love Lucy: A Celebration of All Things Lucy/Inside the World of Television’s First Great Sitcom

2011-12-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

I Love Lucy: A Celebration of All Things Lucy/Inside the World of Television’s First Great Sitcom by Elizabeth Edwards

Upon the 60th anniversary of the premiere show, and what would be Lucille Ball’s 100th birthday year, this ultimate celebration of both the woman and the iconic program is a perfect tribute.

Even though “I Love Lucy” premiered during the autumn of 1951, sixty years later it is still rerun in dozens of countries throughout the world. If you remember the 1950s, “I Love Lucy” was more than likely one of your favorite weekly sitcoms. The broadcast began during the autumn of 1951. On October 29th, those lucky enough to have a television set tuned in to see the 4th episode of the series,“The Diet,” which had a plot that was fairly typical. Lucy wants to get a job in Ricky’s club, he agrees but claims she must lose 12 pounds to fit into the costume, and so begins dieting and sessions in a sweatbox to lose the extra weight. Her hard work pays off but she collapses right after the show.

“I Love Lucy” was more than just a hit, it was a cultural phenomenon and Lucy, Ricky, Ethel, and Fred became more than just television characters. For many, they became almost like members of the family. Remember when Little Ricky was born? If you do, you recall that it was an international event.

Lucille Ball’s success on television was hardly instant. According to Edwards, Lucy began as a fashion model for Hattie Carnegie, posed for portraits, one of which was used in a Chesterfield cigarette magazine advertisement. When Agent Sylvia Hahlo saw the ad she thought Ball might be perfect as a chorus girl in the Eddie Cantor film, “Roman Scandals.” Ball was hired, left New York, and arrived in Hollywood for what she thought was a six weeks assignment but remained on the West Coast, eventually appeared in more than eighty films and, of course, a fixture on early network television.

This is a fascinating book brimming with illustrations, trivia, and — as promised — facts about all things Lucy. This book brings to life the world of the show and its impact more fully than ever before. Rare backstage photos and images from the stars’ personal collections illustrate new stories about the making of I Love Lucy. Highlights include Lucille Ball’s personal commentary on her favorite episodes, taken from previously unpublished interviews. Chapters filled with trivia, character bios, fashions, music, recipes featured on the show, and much more make this an informative and fabulously entertaining tribute to the classic show.

P.S. I Love Lucy: The Story of Lucille Ball in Palm Springs

2011-12-18T12:00:00.000-05:00

A new Amazon Kindle book has been released. "P.S. I Love Lucy: The Story of Lucille Ball in Palm Springs", by Eric G. Meeks.

This is a new never before revealed history of Lucille Ball. Dozens of never before seen photographs. Read about her starlet days and the Marx brother who introduced her to the area; about how she and Desi first ran off to the desert as young lovers with nothing but their bed clothes; about how they intended to raise their children in Palm Springs; their business misadventures, Desi's winning of prime real estate in a poker game; his drinking, gambling and skirt chasing; and finally, how Lucy spent her golden years in the city of Palm Springs and the fun, clean, healthy lifestyle she enjoyed away from the prying eyes of Hollywood.

Get your Kindle edition from Amazon for $2.99 and download in less then a minute to start reading today!

Dead Celebrity Cookbook: Lucille Ball’s Persimmon Cake

2011-12-16T09:00:00.000-05:00

Long before Gwyneth Paltrow wrote a cookbook or Sara Lee had her own show, Lucille Ball was baking persimmon cake and Harriet Nelson was creating her favorite chicken. This, among other reasons, is why this past fall, Frank DeCaro created The Dead Celebrity Cookbook : A Resurrection of Recipes from More Than 145 Stars of Stage and Screen. The cookbook combines his love of movie and pop culture trivia with authentic recipes from Hollywood celebs who enjoyed cooking well before it was popular.

The idea for a dead celebrity cookbook was first born at a dead celebrity party that DeCaro attended in college, he says. "It was a great concept for a party. I remember going as Euell Gibbons [the spokesperson for Grape Nuts], and thinking that there were no dead celebrity dishes at the party." After sparking the idea, it was DeCaro's love of pop culture that inspired him to start collecting celebrity cookbooks. "It literally got to the point where I was buying anything that had a celeb recipe in it!" Besides his own passion, he also wanted to remind younger audiences of the impact that some great past celebrities have had on present-day culture.

Of the 145-plus dead celebrity recipes featured in DeCaro's cookbook, he does have his favorites. Harriet Nelson's chicken, which "is everything you want on a cold winter's day. It has three cans of cream soup, and probably isn't very healthy, but it's absolutely delicious! Another favorite are Liberace's sticky buns. "They're tastier than crescent rolls have the right to be. I made a batch of 24, and ate nine before they even had time to cool!" Also in the cookbook is one of the most famous celeb-meets-oven recipes, Katharine Hepburn's brownies.

And for your Holiday Baking - here are two of Lucille Ball's recipes:

Lucille Ball's Sunday Night Goulash
Serves 6

Ingredients:
2 bunches green onions, chopped
2 large green peppers, chopped
½ clove garlic, chopped
2 pounds ground beef
1 large can solid packed tomatoes
½ pound small egg noodles

Saute onions, green pepper, and garlic until tender. Brown meat in butter, then add sautéed ingredients. Add tomatoes with juice and simmer slowly. Add salt and pepper to taste. During last 30 minutes of cooking, add cooked, strained egg noodles.

Lucille Ball's Persimmon Cake
Serves 12

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups persimmon pulp
2 cups chopped walnut meats
1 cup seedless raisins
1 cup dates, chopped fine
Rind of one orange, grated
1 cup milk
4 cups sifted cake flour
2 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon nutmeg
4 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients and bake in two large buttered load tins for 4 small ones for 1 ½ hours at 300 degrees F.

If you want to explore more recipes, be sure to purchase the book and get cooking today!