Lucy would have been 99 today!

Just a quick "Happy Birthday" to our leading lady of comedy, Lucille Ball. She would have been 99 today, born August 6th, 1911 in Jamestown, NY.

A few years before she died in 1989, she was honored by The Kennedy Center on December 7, 1986, here are video clips from that Honors ceremony:



Walter Matthau gives a presentation on Lucy's career with some great video clips:



Desi Arnaz, who had just died five days earlier following a long bout with cancer, had written a touching statement for this event, which is read here by Robert Stack. (Lucy had to fly almost immediately to Washington following Desi’s funeral in order to attend this event.) Lucy struggles to keep her composure, but the mood quickly changes when Bea Arthur, Valerie Harper and Pam Dawber come out for a musical tribute to Lucille Ball — a musical medley of WILDCAT, MAME and I LOVE LUCY, set to special new lyrics. “I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t had this thing to keep me occupied. Desi died and my show got canceled. If I hadn’t had this, if I hadn’t this reassurance that I was still wanted, I don’t think that I could have gone on.” — Lucille Ball



Lucy - Happy Birthday - We still Love Lucy!