August 30, 2006

Classic Emmy Clips of Lucy

NBC has posted, along with this year's Emmy Awards, some classic Emmy moments. One of these is a video clip of Lucille Ball winning an Emmy for "The Lucy Show" in 1968. The clip is mislabeled as it reads "Lucille Ball Wins for I Love Lucy" but Frank Sinatra introduces Lucy and presents the award for "The Lucy Show". Also, as Lucy gets up from the audience, her husband, Gary Morton, gives her a kiss. Gary and Lucy were not married until 4 years after I Love Lucy was last aired.


Click here to view this Great Lucy moment from history!

August 29, 2006

I Love Lucy stays on TV and Here's Lucy in Canada

TV Land had orginally removed "I Love Lucy" from their programming schedule. This would have been the first time that the famous redhead's Comedy series would not be aired since it first came to television in 1951. They have confirmed that the series, "I Love Lucy" will continue as part of the weekly programming for the upcoming season.

With the newly revamped TVLand.com web site, they will feature clips, retromercials, celebrity interviews and much more in their video player. Many clips of the most famous and popular scenes from "I Love Lucy" are being shown.

As for our neighbors to the north, Canada, they get a special bonus! The Sun-TV Network will be airing in sydication order, Lucille Ball's third TV Series, Here's Lucy. The scheduled episodes will begin to air at 1pm EST throughout the work-week on Monday, September 4th.

All I can say to my family in Canada - get your VCRs ready as I will be waiting for those tapes!

August 17, 2006

Lucille Ball Fur Coat Fetches Hefty Pricetag

Apparently, a fur coat that was once made exclusively for Lucille Ball went up for auction on eBay by an unknown seller. The asking opening bid was for $120,000 but there were no takers and the auction closed August 16th unsuccessfully. The seller's ID had no history and was only created this past July. Possibly, this is the reason there were no bids made on the apparent item.

The coat supposedly featured a gold lining and had the embroidered initials LB. Lucille Ball was to have owned the coat for many years and it was purported to be one of her most treasured possessions (and I thought it was the Backgammon Game). She then gave the coat as a gift to her long time friend Betty Grable so she would always have something special to remember her by. The Coat was then purchased at a Betty Grable Estate Sale. The coat was to have only been worn by Lucille and Betty.

According to the seller, a private collector contacted him/her about the fur coat and was willing to pay $150,000.

I'm always leary of items such as this that are supposed to have been of the personal collection of Lucille Ball. Although, I do own a fur hat and a vial of her Henna but both have been authenticated and have a COA. Now if I could find one of her wigs for sale ....

August 16, 2006

Lucille Ball Holiday Barbie - The Surprise May Not End

As many Lucy fans already know, Mattel's Barbie sneaked in another Celebrity Barbie edition of Lucille Ball. The "I Love Lucy" Holiday Barbie is based on a special Christmas episode, sometimes knows as "The Christmas Show".

This episode is also known as "The Lost Episode" or "Jingle Bells" because this was a special and employed so many long flashback sequences of various "I Love Lucy" shows, this episode was not included in the eventual syndication package. The last time even a portion of it was telecast was December 1981 on Rona Barrett's short-lived NBC series, "Television: Inside and Out." Desuli featured a special Christmas tag to "Drafted." It featured the Ricardos and Mertzes around a Christmas tree and five Santas.

Apparently Mattel released this "I Love Lucy" Holiday Barbie in June as a Walmart exclusive. It was released along with the the standard Lucille Ball Barbie collection edition of "Lucy Gets in Pictures" from the "I Love Lucy" episode 116 as mentioned here on this blog back in February.

Ever since it's release, collectors have scrambled to find it at their local Walmarts, Walmart Online and on eBay. There have been spottings at various Walmarts throughout the country but it seems like the majority of the dolls have been snatched up already. Even the Lucy Desi Museum Store received only a few and is selling the doll at more then the retail price of $34.97. They offer mint condition at $69.95 and worn box at $49.95.

This is sure to be a hit and one that a collector does not want to miss!

August 08, 2006

Everyone Loves Lucy

This past weekend, Jamestown celebrated the birthday of one of the city's most famous citizens and the city was full of celebrities, come to join in the celebrations.

Diane VincentAmong them was one who looked very familiar. This is because she looks and dresses like Lucy Ricardo, the fictional character who made Lucille Ball a star. Her name is Diane Vincent.

Ms. Vincent is a resident of Los Angeles. She is one of only two women in the world who have been officially licensed to imitate the famous redhead. She has been coming to Jamestown celebrations since 1999.

"I am a singer, dancer and actor in my own right," Diane laughed when asked if she wore the red wig under the wimple. "When I was growing up, people didn't used to run over and tell me I looked like Lucy."

Joining Diane was Rhonda Medina, who imitates Ethel Mertz, Lucy's partner in chaos and sidekick.

So how does a singer, dancer and actor who was born after I Love Lucy was no longer being produced, come to be an imitator of a fictional character?

"I was appearing in a production of the musical Pal Joey, back in the late 1980s. My costume included a red wig, big eyelashes and a big red lipstick mouth. Someone took a photo of the cast and when it was printed, people often commented that it appeared Lucy was in the show." Diane said.

Struck by the similarity, not long afterwards, she saw an advertisement for people to audition for the Universal Studios Theme Park as a number of celebrities, including Lucy. She auditioned by standing on a stage and answering a battery of questions in character as Lucy. It took nine months for the studio to make the selection, but she’s been doing Lucy ever since.

"I work at the park, 40 hours per week, plus I appear in shows when I can and it's not infrequent that people in Hollywood want impersonators of various stars to come to parties, openings of new facilities and so on. I do as many as I can," she said.

Is there a particular costume that she always wears when portraying Lucy? She said she is gradually acquiring a wardrobe of Lucy costumes.

"At first I just had the blue and white, polka dot dress, which is the one she wore most frequently in the series — in 25 different episodes, in fact," she said.

As time goes by, she has worked with a dress maker to watch episodes of the series, identify costumes which the actress wore, and produce them in real life.

One of the problems in creating her growing wardrobe turns out to be color.

"Since the series was filmed in black and white, people made up their minds what color everything was, but different people might have assigned different colors," she said. "Our best guide has been the paper doll books, for which the authors researched the colors and shades of everything as closely as possible."

August 02, 2006

Lucille Balls' 95th Birthday Celebration!

This Sunday, August 6th would have marked Lucille Ball's 95th birthday. This weekend in Jamestown, N.Y. - where Lucy was born and has since been buried and where a major Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz museum now exists - they'll be having a Lucy birthday blowout, with Lucy-Desi fans expected from all over the globe.

The organizers, led by Ric Wyman, executive director of the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown, have scheduled three days of events starting on Friday the 4th, including such special guests as "Lucy" film editor Dann Cahn, "Lucy" co-writer Bob Schiller, former Desilu contractee Carole Cook and a "Lucy" semi-regular, the amazing 101-year-old actor
Charles Lane. Lane's hundreds of television appearances included roles in at least a half-dozen classic episodes of "I Love Lucy”, and he was a first-season regular on The Lucy Show.

There also will be a large-scale Lucy-Desi memorabilia collectors' show, seminars, picnics, a boat cruise, town tour of Lucy sights, book signings by authors of Lucy-Desi tomes and screenings of various Desilu TV episodes, including one from Lucy's last TV series that never aired.

Guests also will be able to see two rarely seen RKO features that the comedy genius made before her days as a major star: 1938's "Affairs of Annabel" and "Annabel Takes a Tour" (Lucy as a saucy starlet who'll stop at nothing to get publicity, aided by a indefatigable publicist, played in both by the comical Jack Oakie).

For more information or to order tickets for any events, please visit the Lucy-Desi Museum's web site.