February 28, 2007

DVD Review of Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour


The final DVD release of "I Love Lucy" which is entitled as Seasons 7, 8 and 9 - which Lucy fans realize is actually "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" is set for release in only a few weeks.

Rob Klein reviewed the DVD and gave a detailed and fasanating account. It's a must read for all Lucy fans who are anticipating this release of the "Final Season of I Love Lucy" on DVD!

You will be able to find this DVD at any retail outlet or directly from the Everything Lucy website through Amazon.com! It is set for release on March 13th and should show up on the website under the DVD section from the the home page links on the right or in the local navigation. Help support Everything Lucy by purchasing directly through our website! Your purchase is guaranteed through Amazon.com.

This set features restored prints and they look fantastic, crisp and clear. The bonus features are exemplary and include deleted scenes, bloopers and original titles sequences. If that was not enough disc 2 features a film made for Westinghouse employees. It is shot like an episode of I Love Lucy but Desi and Lucy play themselves along with Vivian Vance and William Frahley. Desi gives a studio tour of all Desilu's movie studios documenting the studio property by helicopter. Including priceless footage of Motion Picture Center, where I Love Lucy was done, the old RKO Gower lot recently acquired at the time of the filming, and the old David O. Selznick Studios that had been owned by RKO since the 30s. The footage is incredible. In the fly by of the old Culver back lot as the helicopter reaches the end of the studio property the last facade is positively Tara from Gone With the Wind, which was shot there 20 years earlier. Unfortunately to an untrained eye most will not notice Tara or the Train Station set as it is not pointed out. This DVD set will become that of legend for containing this rare film. Thank you CBS video.

February 26, 2007

New Book on Lucille Ball Movie Career


"Lucy at the Movies", by Cindy De La Hoz, features information on Lucille Ball's extensive film career. The book will contain detailed reviews, background notes and information on her earliest films. Little is published on some of these earlier films and this book will feature these as well as her short subject films during Lucy's starlet days. Some films that were planned and never released will also be detailed. Publicity stills and rare production photos will be illustrated in this 386 page hardcover edition.

Available in October of this year, the Lucy-Desi Center is offering autographed copies for those who pre-order at $29.95. Amazon.com is offering the book currently at $19.77 but will not be autographed by the author.

Photo courtesy of The Lucy-Desi Center and Museum, in Jamestown, NY.

February 19, 2007

"Wildcat" Costume Design Sketches on Display

Alvin Colt, the legendary costume designer is still working at the age of 90 and is being celebrated in an exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York through May 17th.

Colt's career spans seven decades and includes such productions as "On the Town," "Pipe Dream," for which he won a Tony, and "Jerome Robbins' Broadway." This new exhibition, Costumes and Characters: The Designs of Alvin Colt, includes three dozen costume sketches from 20 shows, among them "Guys and Dolls," "Around the World," starring Orson Welles, and "Wildcat," starring Lucille Ball in her lone Broadway show.

Lucille Ball's "character and her costumes were rough-and-tumble," says Colt. "But she was an absolute sweetheart."

For 13 years, Colt has created the gorgeous, glamorous - and often very goofy - clothes for the musical-comedy revue "Forbidden Broadway," now at the 47th Street Theatre. Colt helped select sketches for inclusion in the museum show. Going through past work, he says, he thought: "Did I do that? That's pretty damn good."

Legacy of Laughter Event Panelists

As reported in The Post-Journal, the panel for the third annual Legacy of Laughter event, sponsored by the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center, is now complete.

The seminar will be March 3 in Boulder City, Nevada,. Lucie Arnaz, center board president, will moderate a panel of noted individuals who use humor in their personal and professional lives.

"We already had three exceptional individuals on our panel," Ms. Arnaz said, ‘"and now we have really gone ‘over the top’ with the addition of Christina Carroll and Sebastien Gendry."

Ms. Carroll is an artist who has studied at Connecticut College, DeCordova Museum School, Boston Museum School and Sir John Cass School of Art in London. She is the daughter of Bob Carroll Jr., who, with others, wrote every episode of "I Love Lucy.”

"With Bob Carroll’s recent passing, Christina has a lot to share about how laughter helped those close to her father get through the past months," Ms. Arnaz said.

Sebastien Gendry is an author, educator and motivational speaker who is the founder and director of both the American School of Laughter Yoga and the Laugh Angeles Foundation. He was the first American to train as a certified laughter yoga teacher and represents the Laughter Yoga movement in the United States.

"I feel particularly drawn to the work of Laughter Yoga," Ms. Arnaz said. "I’m looking forward to Sebastien’s teaching me — as well as the audience — how to do some serious laughing."

Carroll and Gendry will join actor and musician Desi Arnaz Jr., actor and Academy Award-nominated director Sean Astin of The Goonies, Rudy, Memphis Belle, Lord of the Rings; and Kangaroo Court, and Jim Dunnigan, a family and crisis intervention counselor, on the panel.

The Boulder City event will include video clips, conversation and insight by each of the panelists and audience participation. Seating is limited, and the event is expected to sell out prior to the evening. All seats are $20. For tickets, call the Historic Boulder Theatre, 1225 Arizona St., at (702) 293-1161. For more information, visit the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center Web site at www.lucy-desi.com.

February 14, 2007

Mattel I Love Lucy Doll 2007


Mattel showcased their single I Love Lucy Doll for 2007 at the Toy Fair this past weekend and it's going to be Lucy from the episode, The Audition.

This episode was inspired by the Pilot Episode of I Love Lucy that featured Pepito the Clown.

There will be another double-set released as well in the I Love Lucy series. I have inside word from an affiliate that it will be Lucy and Ethel from the "Friendship" episode where both Lucy and Ethel purchase the same dress for their Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League Talent Show. I will post pictures as soon as I receive them.

February 06, 2007

Lucille Ball's Brother, Fred Has Died

Fred Ball, the brother of Lucille Ball has passed away Monday, February 5th at the age of 91. He died in his home at Cottonwood, Arizona where he and his wife, Zo operated a motel.

Fred Ball was born July 17, 1915 in Jamestown, New York. The younger brother of Lucille Ball moved from Jamestown to California after Lucy went there to start her Movie career in 1933-34. He worked as a band manager with Desi Arnaz and his band as well as with Desilu Productions, the studio that Desi and Lucy purchased in 1951.

Fred Ball is survived by his 4 children, Pamela Ball Von Pinnon, Melissa LeBritton, April Jackson, and Geoffrey Ball as well as 7 grandchildren and great-grandchildren as well as Lucille Ball's children, Desi Arnaz, Jr. and Lucie Arnaz.

From her home in New York City, Lucie Arnaz said, "It was always special to us that Uncle Fred and I shared the same birthday. In addition to being my mother’s brother, he was also a close friend of my father. I like to think that they are all enjoying a wonderful reunion right now."

His ashes will be interred in Jamestown's Lake View Cemetery along with his sister, Lucille Ball and his parents, Henry and Desiree (Hunt) Ball, and his grandparents and other family members.

February 05, 2007

Carol Burnett Impressed with Lucy-Desi Museum

In todays Jamestown's Post-Journal, Carol Burnett remembers Lucille Ball and thrilled with the Legacy.

As you know, Lucille Ball was my good friend.

To her, I was "The Kid," and she was a tremendous teacher and mentor. Her passing left a hole in my heart that can never be filled.

I am thrilled to know of the work you are doing to preserve Lucy and Desi’s legacy. And you are correct in recognizing that it is a legacy of more than props and costumes and personal belongings: it is truly a legacy of love and laughter.

Should the stars ever properly align, I would welcome the opportunity to visit Jamestown and celebrate her legacy with you.

One hundred years from now people around the world will still be laughing at Lucy’s antics. And I hope that for those folks who want to learn more about that wonderful clown, her hometown will still be honoring the one and only Lucy.

February 02, 2007

Lucille Ball to be honored at TV Land Awards

This year's TV Land Awards will go to Lucille Ball and I Love Lucy. The show, set to air April 25th, will be hosted by Kelly Ripa. Kelly is currently cohost with Regis Philbin on the Regis and Kelly daytime talk show.

The TV Land Awards will feature Carol Burnett as well as Lucille Ball's children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr. who will accept the award in their mother's honor.

Lucy-Desi Center to Host Seminar in Nevada

Jamestown, NY – Following successful seminars in both Los Angeles and Jamestown, New York -- the hometown of The Queen of Comedy -- the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center is coming to Boulder City, Nevada, for its third "Legacy of Laughter (LOL)", an interactive celebration and exploration of "The Legacy of Laughter."

On Saturday, March 3, actress, singer, dancer, business executive, director, Broadway star, and Emmy Award-winning producer Lucie Arnaz will moderate a panel of noted individuals who use humor in their personal and professional lives. To date, panelists for the seminar include:

Desi Arnaz, Jr.: vice-president of the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center, musician and actor, who, with his wife Amy, currently operates the Boulder City Ballet Company and the Historic Boulder Theatre

Sean Astin: actor (The Goonies, Rudy, Memphis Belle, Lord of the Rings), Academy Award nominated director (Kangaroo Court), and member of the Directors Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

Jim Dunnigan: drug and alcohol intervention counselor

In announcing the event, Desi Arnaz, Jr., noted, “As the children of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and as president and vice president of the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in our mother's hometown of Jamestown, New York, my sister Lucie and I searched for some time for a way to explore, extend and celebrate the global impact that our parents created through their television show, ‘I Love Lucy’. We believe that these Legacy of Laughter seminars provide such a vehicle, and I’m pleased that our next one is in Boulder City.”

Past panelists have included child star Jane Withers, Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry, and award-winning television writer Sam Denoff (The Steve Allen Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, That Girl). The third “LOL” will be held in the Historic Boulder Theatre at 1225 Arizona Street. A reception will follow the 7 p.m. event. As audience participation is important, there is limited seating.

All seats are $20. For tickets, call the Historic Boulder Theatre at 702-293-1161. For more information, visit www.lucy-desi.com.