On June 12th, a movie starring Desi Arnaz, Jr. will be coming out. "A Wedding" is a 1978 comedy which also stars Carol Burnett, Lillian Gish, Mia Farrow, Lauren Hutton and many others. Desi Arnaz, Jr. plays Dino Corelli who is getting married into a different class of American society.
Then on June 19th, two releases are coming out on DVD. The Lucille Ball Film Collection, which features six of Lucille Ball Films! Critics Choice (1963), Dance Girl Dance (1940), Du Barry Was a Lady (1943), The Big Street (1942), Best Foot Forward (1943), and the long awaited DVD release of Mame (1974).
...hordes of her fans will descend on Jamestown, her proud hometown, for the annual Lucy-Desi Days festival running Friday through Sunday.
Some will be die-hard pilgrims from one of more than 75 countries that air "I Love Lucy." Others will be weekenders simply out for some fun, remembering how, as youngsters, they howled with delight as Lucy stuffed herself sick with chocolates as candy streamed by relentlessly on a conveyor belt.
Whoever they may be, visitors will not want for diversion. A nine-page printout of the festival's events includes screenings, memorabilia shows and auctions, tours of the city (including Ball's 1911 birthplace, childhood home and gravesite), a boat cruise (related to a sitcom episode), "laughter yoga" workshops, musical revue, reunion picnic, comedy improv troupe, masquerade party, contests, photo opportunties with impersonators and a concert by Ball's daughter, Lucie Arnaz, a performer in her own right.
QUOTE FROM JERRY LEWIS:
"Like Burns and Allen, Abbott and Costello, and Hope and Crosby, we were vaudevillians, stage performers who worked with an audience. But the difference between us and all the others is significant. They worked with a script. We exploded without one, the same way wiseguy kids do on a playground, or jazz musicians do when they're let loose. And the minute we started out in nightclubs, audiences went nuts for us. As Alan King told an interviewer a few years ago: "I have been in the business for fifty-five years, and I have never to this day seen an act get more laughs than Martin and Lewis. They didn't get laughsâit was pandemonium. People knocked over tables."
Today, Arab, Turkish and Chinese couch potatoes — and viewers who speak one of 18 other languages — are watching dubbed reruns of the show centered around her endearing character. After five decades on television, more people have seen her face than any other person who ever lived, according to TV Guide, which did its part by putting Lucy on its cover more than 45 times.
That explains, in part, why thousands of her fans will descend on Jamestown, her proud hometown, for the annual “Lucy-Desi Days” festival over the Memorial Day weekend.
Some will be diehard pilgrims from one of more than 75 countries that air “I Love Lucy.” Others are simply out for some fun, remembering how they howled with delight as they watched Lucy stuff herself sick with chocolates as candy streamed by relentlessly on a conveyor belt.
We say in the television business, that "funny is money," and nothing has endured longer than I Love Lucy. This show was born out of Lucille Ball's desire to keep her Cuban bandleader husband Desi Arnaz off the road, as Desi was a bit of the ladies' man. When no network was willing to cast the thickly accented Desi as Lucy's husband, they used their own money to produce the pilot. In doing so, they created a comedy classic, one against which all other comedies are still measured.
Of course Lucy's is the most "professional" of the lot, and there is very little of it that is sentimental in any way. She makes a point on the first page of saying that she intentionally is not leaving anything to any of her relatives not specifically mentioned, especially her brother Fred and his wife Zoe. (There's got to be a juicy story there!) It's 20 pages long, and comes with a copy of her death certificate - (NO embalming!). Desi Arnaz specifically excluded Lucy from his will and provided for the lifetime care of his mother above and beyond any other provision in his will. And he goes to great lengths to see that both Desi Jr. and Lucie Arnaz receive equal benefits. His will is only 5 pages long, but attached to it are 13 pages of court documents filed after his death, including creditors claims, and even a claim by the executor. Lots of interesting documents, signed by his kids, and his death certificate -- (he died from lung cancer, which he had for 9 months prior.) Vivian Vance had four sisters and one brother, and left each of them one thousand dollars -- but named her much younger husband as the executor of her will and left him everything else (ah, love!). Her will is 4 pages but followed by about six more pages dealing with the husband's appointment in the courts. Her death certificate (scattered at sea!) is also attached. William Frawley's is the simplest (only 2 pages) and the saddest (24 pages of will contesting and creditors claims - including one from the cemetery in which he was laid to rest.) It goes so far into the assets he left behind that it lists individual pairs of cufflinks valued at $3.00. His death certificate (arrived DOA at a Hollywood hospital).
Today, Arab, Turkish and Chinese couch potatoes -- and viewers who speak one of 18 other languages -- are watching dubbed reruns of the show. More people have seen her face than any other person who ever lived, according to TV Guide, which did its part by putting Lucy on its cover more than 45 times.
That explains, in part, why her fans will descend on Jamestown, N.Y., her proud hometown, for the annual Lucy-Desi Days festival over the Memorial Day weekend, May 25 through 27. Visitors will not want for diversion, including memorabilia shows and auctions, screenings, tours of the city (including Ball's childhood home and grave site), "laughter yoga" workshops, musical revue, comedy improv troupe, and a concert by Ball's daughter, Lucie Arnaz, a performer in her own right.
