Ball of Fire (54 page)

VeLocci, Tony. “Lessons of Leadership: The Real Lucille Ball.” Nation’s Business, October 1981.

Vogue.
“$54,000,000 Bonanza—Lucille Ball.” May 1968.

Wall Street Journal.
“Desilu Stock Sale of 525,000 Shares, at $10.00 per Share.” November 11, 1958, 15.

Ward, Patricia Biederman. “Family Attractions; Lucy—The Museum.”
Los Angeles
Times,
March 10, 1991.

Wasserstein, Wendy. “Rebel in a Housedress.”
New York Times,
April 18, 1999.

Waters, Jim. “Lucy Is ‘Mame.’ ”
People,
March 18, 1974, 34–45.

Waters, John. “A Career Colored by
Lucy.
”
Electronic Media
[Los Angeles], October 1, 2001.

Watson, Jenny. “When Lucy Was the Queen of the Ball.”
Liverpool Daily Post & Echo
[London], November 21, 2001.

Weeks, Janet. “Annual Convention Pays Tribute to Lucille Ball.”
Daily News
[Los Angeles], July 9, 1997.

———. “A Redhead Revival: Lovers of Lucy Launch Convention.”
Press–Enterprise
[Riverside, Calif.], July 10, 1997.

Werts, Diane. “The Show That Changed TV Forever.”
Newsday,
October 15, 2001.

Whisper.
“The Night Desi Arnaz Wasn’t Half Safe.” August 1956, 19–21, 54.

Whitney, Dwight. “The President Wore a Dress to the Stockholders Meeting.”
TV
Guide,
July 15–21, 1967.

Wick, Ted. “Irrepressible Lucy Plays Again.”
Alberta Report,
February 3, 1997, 41.

Wilson, Earl. It Happened Last Night.
New York Post,
December 19, 1960.

Wilson, Jeff. “Lucille Ball Survives Heart Attack, Seven-Hour Surgery.”
Press–
Enterprise
[Riverside, Calif.], April 19, 1989.

Wohls, Robert. “Angela: The ‘Mame’ Who Got Away.” Los Angeles Times, April 14, 1974.

Zimmerman, Paul. Review of
Mame:
“On the Ball.”
Newsweek,
March 18, 1974.

Zoglin, Richard. “The TV Star: Lucille Ball.”
Time,
June 8, 1998.

WEB SITES/PROGRAMS

ABC Special Report. Barbara Walters and guests, “A Celebration: 100 Years of Great Women.” April 30, 1999.
http://abcnews.go.com/onair/DailyNews/sp990430_100women_promo.htm
.

AP General News. “Aussie Answer to Lucille Ball Farewelled in Sydney.” June 11, 2002.

AP Spanish Online. “Contemplan Llevar los Restos de Lucille Ball a Nueva York.” March 20, 2002.

AP Wire Service. Carolyn Thompson, “More Family Involvement Signals Bigger and Better Shrine to Lucille Ball.” July 11, 2002.

Biography Channel. “American Classics: Celebration of Comedienne Lucille Ball.” December 2001.

Craig’s Big Bands and Big Names. http://
www.bigbandsandbignames.com/
.

eLibrary Photographs. http://
www.encyclopedia.com/html/b/ball-l1uc.asp
.

Glen Charlow’s Lucille Ball Collection.
http://www.lucilleball.net/collection/magcov.htm
.

Lucille Ball [computer file]. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation [1998?]. Mode of access: Internet from the FBI Web site. http://
foia.fbi.gov/ball.htm
.

Mr. Blackwell’s List of Worst Dressed, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966.
http://www.mrblackwell.com/list/
.

Nesi, Ted, comp. “Lucy’s TV Appearances and Specials.”
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/6066/lucindex.htm
.

NPR Wire Transcript. David Hiltbrand & Scott Simon, “No Question What’s Number One to TV Guide.” May 29, 1996.

———. Renee Montague interview with Kathleen Brady. August 6, 2001.

———. Diane Hanses, “Profile: ‘Skit Performed by Various TV Personalities—Slowly I turned. . . .’ ” July 7, 2001.

TV Guide Online.
“Insider: Lucy’s Darkside.” May 11, 2000.

Variety.com
. “Lucy Awards,” June 24, 2002.

World News Tonight Transcript. Peter Jennings, “The Century on Friday.” March 12, 1999.

Photographic Credits

CHAPTERS 1–9, 11–14:

Personality Photos, Inc./Howard Frank Archives P.O. Box 300050, Midwood Station Brooklyn, NY 11230-0050

CHAPTER 10:

Hollywood Confidential

CHAPTER 15

Cathy’s Closet at
www.lucystore.com

INSERT PHOTOS:

Lucy modeling: Personality Photos, Inc./Howard Frank Archives

Desi: Photofest

Lucy and Desi with their mothers: Personality Photos, Inc./Howard Frank Archives

Lucy with a whip: Personality Photos, Inc./Howard Frank Archives

The Ricardos and the Mertzes as Santa Claus: Personality Photos, Inc./Howard Frank Archives

Lucy stills: Photofest

Family portrait: Personality Photos, Inc./Howard Frank Archives

Lucy as Chaplin: Ralph Crane/TimeLife Pictures/Getty Images

Lucy with Buster Keaton: Personality Photos, Inc./Howard Frank Archives

Newspaper covers:
New York Post
credit Photofest/
El
Diario
credit El Diario

Lucy in bronze: Courtesy of the Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism

Lucy merchandise: Cathy’s Closet at
www.lucystore.com

Modern Maturity
cover: Courtesy AARP/Photo: Bettman/Corbis

Research by Villette Harris

Lucy as a top Hattie Carnegie mannequin in New York, circa 1932, decked out in the designer’s famous low-hemmed white sharkskin suit.

The first time she saw Desi drumming in
Too Many
Girls
(1939), Lucy recalled, “I recognized the kind of electrifying charm that can never be faked: star quality.”

From childhood onward, both Lucy and Desi were exceptionally devoted to their mothers: Lucille with DeDe Hunt; Desiderio with Lolita Arnaz.

In her starlet period Lucy was glad for any assignment, no matter how ludicrous. Here she cracks a rhinestone whip as the cats dance in
The Ziegfeld Follies
(1946).

The Ricardos and the Mertzes dress the part for their Christmas program in 1951.
From left:
Vivian Vance, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, William Frawley.

Give Lucy a situation and she invariably jumped into it headfirst: “Lucy Gets in Pictures”
(right)
in 1955, and “Lucy and the Loving Cup” (1956).

When the going was good: against the backdrop of their Beverly Hills home, Desi and Lucy pose for a family portrait in 1955 with Desi Jr., aged two, and Lucie, four.

Turning her breadstick into a cigar, Lucy poses as Charlie Chaplin, to whom she was often compared. The salute occurred on her 1962 New Year’s show.

Modern Hollywood considered silent comedian Buster Keaton to be all washed up. Not Lucy, who played straight woman to her old adviser in a 1965 TV special.

Lucy’s death in April 1989 was given front-page treatment in the mainstream and Latino papers. The latter understandably emphasized her marriage to Desi Arnaz.

Since 1995, Emmanuil Snitkovsky’s bronze statue of Lucy has welcomed visitors to Palm Springs, California, where the Arnaz family spent many vacations.

Cathy Kelley of “Cathy’s Closet,”a booming Internet site based in Texas, with hundreds of Lucy items for sale, ranging from wristwatches to salt and pepper shakers.