01. She attended drama school with another legend. Lucy briefly studied at the prestigious John Murray Anderson-Robert Milton School of Theater and Dance in New York City, New York. She was only 16 years old and living in New York City, over six hundred miles away from her home in upstate New York. The school’s star pupil at the time was a driven 18-year-old who was also destined to become a superstar: Bette Davis. While Davis thrived under the pressure of having to constantly rehearse and perform, Lucy was overwhelmed. “All I learned in drama school was how to be frightened,” she later recalled. Tired and homesick, Lucy dropped out after only a month and returned to her family in Jamestown.
02. Her resemblance to a major star nabbed her a job. When Lucy returned to New York City, she was spotted by Hattie Carnegie, the proprietor of a chic boutique on Forty-ninth Street. Carnegie thought Lucy slightly resembled actress Constance Bennett, one of her many famous clients. She urged Lucy to lighten her hair in order to strengthen the resemblance and then hired her as a fashion model. Lucy was finally making a decent wage for herself but the rigors of living in the big city proved too much for her. She became overworked and ill and returned home once again.
03. She maintained a close but complex relationship with her mother. Lucy’s father died of typhoid fever when she was only three years old. Her mother, DeDe, remarried several years later and moved with her new husband to Detroit, leaving Lucy and her younger brother Fred in the care of relatives. DeDe eventually returned to her children in New York but she was forced to work and had trouble finding time for them. The experience of being separated from her mother had a profound effect on Lucy. She became determined to keep her family together. After she established herself as an actress in Hollywood, she paid for her mother, brother, grandfather and cousin to relocate to California. They lived together in a small rented house in West Hollywood. Her mother became a constant companion for her. DeDe was a devoted grandmother, much more than she was as a mother, and helped care for Lucy’s children. DeDe also strongly supported Lucy’s career. She was in the studio audience of every single series sitcom episode Lucy ever made.
04. She had one of the most famous pregnancies in television history. Lucy found out that she and Desi were expecting their second child during the second season of I Love Lucy. The pregnancy was written into the show. “Lucy Goes to the Hospital,” the episode in which Lucy’s character gives birth, was purposely scheduled to air on January 19, 1953, the same day that she was scheduled to deliver her real baby via Caesarean section. Lucille Ball gave birth to Desi Arnaz, Jr. that morning and Lucy Ricardo had Little Ricky that night. The stunt worked. It was the most-watched television program up to that time with 71.7% of all American television viewers watching the broadcast. Accordingly, Desi Arnaz, Jr. was given the honor of appearing on the very first cover of TV Guide in April 1953.
05. She once registered as a member of the Communist Party. On March 19, 1936, Lucy registered as a member of the Communist Party in Los Angeles. She and her other family members did so to appease her eccentric grandfather, Fred Hunt, who was a dedicated Socialist. Her voter registration was eventually canceled in 1938 when she failed to actually vote in any elections. The fact that she had once registered as a Communist came back to haunt her once I Love Lucy became a smash hit. In September 1953, Lucy announced at a press conference that she was investigated by the United States House Un-American Activities Committee as a suspected Communist. The public was shocked. Desi Arnaz rushed to her defense, quipping to their studio audience before a taping that “the only thing red about Lucy is her hair, and even that’s not legitimate.” The HUAC ultimately was unable to link her to any Communist activities. Lucy was fortunate in that the scandal did not have any negative impact on her career.
06. Desilu wasn’t just a studio. Lucy and Desi bought a five-acre ranch in Chatsworth, California in 1941, shortly after their marriage. It was a quiet haven for the extremely busy couple, nestled away from the city in the San Fernando Valley. When it came to naming the ranch, the couple was inspired by Pickfair, the legendary home of silent screen stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. They similarly combined their names and christened it “Desilu.” They loved this moniker so much that they used it as the name of their production company in 1950. Lucy and Desi found the long commute to the Desilu ranch to be increasingly inconvenient and they decided to sell it in 1954. They bought a new home next to Jack Benny and his wife, Mary Livingstone, at 1000 North Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills that was much closer to the studio.
07. She had the same hair color for over forty years. According to hair stylist Sidney Guilaroff, the special henna rinse that gave Lucy her trademark color was perfected at MGM in the 1940s. Her personal hairdresser, Irma Kusely, wrote the special formula down on a piece of paper and Lucy used it for the rest of her life. She started wearing wigs exclusively on screen during the 1958-1959 season of I Love Lucy, but continued to dye her own hair the same shade even though it wouldn’t be seen on television.
08. She was a groundbreaking businesswoman. Lucy and Desi created Desilu Productions in 1950 to produce I Love Lucy. The company expanded rapidly throughout the 1950s. In 1957, the company bought the RKO Pictures lot, giving it a total of 33 soundstages, more than both MGM and Twentieth Century-Fox. Desi Arnaz resigned as president of Desilu in November 1962 and Lucy succeeded him, thus becoming the first woman to head a major studio. She took an active part in running the company, serving as both president and CEO while simultaneously starring in The Lucy Show. She preferred performing to business, however, and ultimately sold the company to Gulf+Western in February 1967.
09. A ski accident changed her life. During a family ski vacation in Snowmass, Colorado in January 1972, Lucy was seriously injured when she was struck by another skier, breaking her leg in four places. She was sixty years old but still highly active. The injury required surgery and forced her into a leg cast. She had no choice but to refrain from doing any physical comedy during the rest of the season’s episodes of Here’s Lucy. Her leg healed but it left her movement permanently restricted. This affected her ability to learn and rehearse the choreography for her starring role in the upcoming big screen version of Mame. The ratings for Here’s Lucy dropped drastically during the next season and it was canceled by CBS in 1974. Mame, released the same year, was a critical and commercial failure. This double blow seriously hurt Lucy's confidence. It would be twelve years before she returned to series television. She would never make another motion picture again.
10. She was an avid game-player. Throughout her life, Lucy loved playing all kinds of games, including cards, board games and charades. Her particular favorite was backgammon. In her later years, she often played it for hours everyday. Lucy was also a huge fan of game shows. Throughout her career, she was often a guest star on TV games like What’s My Line?, I’ve Got a Secret, Body Language and Password.
No comments:
Post a Comment