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Lucille Ball

Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 - April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedian and star of I Love Lucy. A 'B-grade' movie star of the 1940s, she became one of the best and most popular stars in television history.

She was born in Jamestown, New York and after her father died, was raised by her working mother and grandparents.

She moved to New York City to become an actress and had some success as a fashion model and chorus girl. She moved to Hollywood in 1933 to appear in films. She appeared in many small movie roles in the 1930s as a contract player for RKO. She switched to MGM in the 1940s, but never achieved great success in films. She was known in many Hollywood circles as "the B-Movie queen", sharing the "royalty" honor with Macdonald Carey, who was designated as her "king".

In 1948, she was cast as a wacky wife in "My Favorite Husband", a radio program. The program was successful, and CBS asked her to develop it as a television program. She agreed, but insisted on working with her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz.

"I Love Lucy" was not only a star vehicle for Lucille Ball, but a way for her to try to salvage her marriage to Desi Arnaz, which had been badly strained by the fact that each had a hectic performing schedule.

Along the way, she pioneered the television sitcom, and was among the first stars to film before a live audience.

From a production aspect, the use of actual film during production, instead of making just an inferior-quality kinescope as most other TV shows did at the time, paved the way for rebroadcast through syndication.

In filming I Love Lucy, Desi Arnaz pioneered the '3-camera setup', now a standard in television. Among other non-standard techniques used in filming the show, cans of paint (in shades ranging from white to medium gray) were kept on set - to 'paint out' innappropriate shadows and disguise lighting flaws.

Following "I Love Lucy", Ball appeared in "The Lucy Show" which was later renamed "Here's Lucy." In 1986 she appeared in "Life With Lucy", which sadly was a critical and popular flop.

Lucille Ball died on April 26, 1989 and was interred in the Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California, but was later moved by her children, Desi Arnaz, Jr. and Lucie Arnaz to the Lake View Cemetery, in Jamestown, New York.

As a Clown

Considered by professional clowns to be one of their own, Lucile Ball's 'clown character' was, of course, "Lucy Ricardo", (nee "Lucille McGillicuddy" - an instantly recognizable'clown 'monikker') "Lucy Ricardo" was a friendly, ambitious and somewhat naive housewife who was constantly getting into trouble of one kind or another.

"Lucy! You got some 's-plainin' to do!" became a famous cry of Ricky Ricardo. The setup ofthe show provided ample opportunities for Ball to display her skills at clowning and physical comedy. She is regarded as one of the best, ever, in the history of film and television at physical 'schtick'.

In the course of the television series, Lucy shared the screen with numerous famous clowns, prominent among these were Red Skelton and Harpo Marx.

Clown 'shtick' on I Love Lucy

• Lucy tries to Get into the Act - a recurring and almost omnipresent theme on the show, was that "talentless" plain old Lucy the Housewife dearly desired a chance to perform, as anything: a dancer, showgirl, clown, singing cowboy - or in any role. The real joke here is that Lucille Ball, aside from being regarded as beautiful, was also quite talented in a variety of performance arts, as well as being a ground-breaking television director. Perhaps the best example of this gag is when Lucy shows up unannounced at Ricky's club, toting a clown-modified cello and pretending to be a musician, asking to speak with "Risky Riskerdoo" (Ricky Ricardo) this classic includes Lucy winding the cello's tuning peg as if it were a watch (to the accomaniment of ratcheting sounds) and shooting the cello's bow at Ricky's backside.
• 'Lucy in the Candy Factory' - ("Speeeeeeed it Up a little!!") Lucy and Ethel attempt to get jobs in for which they are demonstrably unprepared, the classic candy-gobbling scene in this epidode is an American cultural icon.
• 'The Mirror Gag' - now a classic improvisational acting exercise(with Harpo Marx), in which Lucy, dressed as Harpo Marx encounters Harpo unexpectedly in a doorway, and mistakenly thinks she is looking into a mirror.
• 'The Stranger with a Kind Face' (aka 'slowly I turned' or 'Niagara Falls!') in which a veteran clown introduces Lucy Ricardo to some basics of the clown art, and is schooled in this classic (and at that time quite familiar) vaudevillian routine ...complete with 'seltzer bottles'(a familiar clown prop) and slapstick.
• 'Meata-vita-vege-min' - "Do you Poop Out at Parties?", "It's so tasty too!" Mrs. Ricardo as television 'huckster' pitching a foul-tasting and alcoholic concoction (amusingly, Lucille quite enjoyed the taste)... the 'gag' being that, aside from tasting bad and having a name which only a clown would embrace, the product contained alcohol, and in numerous repeated rehearsals prior to the live spot, Lucy gradually and inexorably becomes half-crocked... with the inevitable hilarious result, made only the more funny by the alliterative, tongue twisting product name and pitch. -
• Lucy Tries to Meet the Famous Star - another recurring theme, many popular stars were eager to appear on the show, and hilarity ensues in countless episodes as a result of the character, Lucy's obsession with fame and the famous.
• The 'Cousin Ernie' story arc. Lucy receives a letter informing her that her "Best Friend's Roommate's Cousin's Middle Boy" - of whom she has never heard - is coming to visit from "Bent Fork Arkansas". 'Cousin Ernie'(immaculately played by "Tennessee" Ernie Ford) is a stereotypical country Boy in The Big City, in awe of the sophistication (as he perceives it) of his new hosts. Cousin Ernie and the citizens of Bent Fork and it's environs are encountered several times during the course of the show's life.
• The Singing Jailbreak" Ricky, Lucy, Fred, and Ethel- as well as Cousin Ernie have a songfest to cover the sounds they are making, cutting the bars on Lucy's jail cell... in a scene that takes placein the tiny Bent Fork Arkansas jail. The 'blowoff' of the scene is a square dance called by Cousin Ernie in the course of which the sherrif and his two daughters are tied up with a handy piece of rope.

Notes

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz founded Desilu Productions.

There are Lucille Ball museums located in the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, Florida and Universal City, Los Angeles.