Lucie Arnaz hosts health talk in Torrance

The daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz will discuss the impact of her mother's death and her childhood in a celebrity household in the keynote address at the Women's Heart Health Conference.

According to The Contra Costa Times, staff writer Lisa Hirschmann writes:

Acting genes aren't the only thing Lucie Arnaz inherited from her mom, Lucille Ball. Unfortunately, she also got the genes for heart disease.

The daughter of the "I Love Lucy" star, and her husband, Desi Arnaz, Lucie Arnaz has made heart-healthy living one of the cornerstones of the talk she gives around the country -- "Surviving Success."

Saturday she will discuss the impact of her mother's death and her childhood in a celebrity household in the keynote address at Torrance Memorial Medical Center's Second Annual Women's Heart Health Conference.

"It was a wake-up call to think that your mother, who was seemingly so healthy, would just drop," Arnaz said. Ball died from an aortic dissection in 1989 at age 77.

Aortic dissection is caused by a hereditary gene with a 50 percent chance of being passed on to one's children. Since her mother's death, Arnaz visits the doctor regularly to keep an eye out for it.

She believes both the mental and physical aspects of cardiovascular health are important.

"There's a lot we can do just by our thoughts. There's a way we land stress on ourselves," she said.

The presentation promotes balanced living as one of the best ways to maintain cardiovascular health.

"It's about taking stock of what you're trying to do in your health," she said. "I try to talk to women who are younger so they don't think `Oh my god, I wish I'd known this.' "

Saturday's conference will include presentations and interactive workshops on heart health, including "Emergency What to do if you think you're having a heart attack," "Stroke: Every Second Counts" and "The Hormone Heart Connection: How HRT Affects Heart Health."

"With a history of heart disease in the family and its prevalence in our society, we are especially interested in seeking medical advances in cardiovascular medicine," said Richard Lundquist, a hospital benefactor who is sponsoring the conference along with his wife, Melanie.

Screenings of blood pressure, body mass index, skeletal muscle mass, resting metabolism, risk profile and blood glucose will also be available.

Additionally, a continental breakfast and boxed lunch will be served. For information call Torrance Memorial's HealthLine at 310-517-4711 or visit the medical center's Web site to make a reservation.

Lucy & Desi: A Home Move Coming to DVD

Coming February 10th is the release of "Lucy & Desi: A Home Move" on DVD. Prior to this it was only available as VHS. This DVD will contain more information then before as it will contain all previous releases in one DVD.

Desi and Lucy's daughter, Lucie Arnaz, directed and produced this emotional yet honest glimpse at the extraordinary lives of her world-famous parents, highlighted by never-before-seen color family movies along with insightful interviews from family members, business associates and celebrity friends such as Bob Hope. Winner of the Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Special, LUCY & DESI: A HOME MOVIE is a sensitive and absorbing documentary that details the circumstances which brought the immortal twosome together and ultimately drove them apart.

This new DVD release will also include an interview with Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr., outtakes and bloopers, trivia, still gallery, lost Lucy & Desi television appearances, and more.

The Outtakes are all the secrets, bloopers, truths and trivia stories that weren't included previously about life with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

The Interview is a candid 30-minute talk with Lucie and Desi Arnaz, Jr. about growing up with TV's most famous redhead.

The original VHS was produced in 1993 in response to the 1991 movie, "Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter", which starred Frances Fisher as Lucille Ball and Maurice Benard as Desi Arnaz. Lucie Arnaz was very much outraged by the portrayal of her parents in this movie believing that the makers of it didn't really go into explaining the reasons behind the couple's tumultuous marriage. This prompted Lucie Arnaz and her husband, Laurince Luckinbill, to create the Emmy Award-winning, Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie, which gave a lot of insight into the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz marriage.

After her mother's death, Lucie had found reels of film that she had never seen before. When she had viewed them she realized that they were old home movies of her parents from early in their marriage until the end. The problem was that there was no sound to any of the footage. Lucie knew that fans would have loved to have seen it so she put this documentary together.

Lucie manages to get as many family members, co-workers, friends and celebrities that knew her parents to speak in this documentary. Interviews, spliced with the home movie footage along with hundreds of photographs--Lucie manages to tell a turbulent story. A story that is not filtered through tabloids and exaggeration--but a natural and raw view of these two people who were so much in love. The admiration and adoration between the two lovers is explained through stories and anecdotes. It proves that "I Love Lucy" was "more than just a title." It starts to where each parent was born to how they got famous to their deaths.

Also, we learn of the deterioration of the marriage and how ugly it actually got between the two. Desi's constant unfaithfulness poisoned the relationship. That, along with his drinking that only escaladed as he was in charge of Desilu, their major TV company, grew in popularity. We understand how painful the marriage has become and how terrible it must have been for everyone involved---especially their children. Lucie and Desi Jr. are on camera speaking about how hard it was to go through times when their parents fought in front of them.

Lucy and Desi eventually moved on with their lives--Lucy returning to television with more sitcoms--while Desi eventually retired. Although they had separate roads, they were so intertwined that they would never really ever part.

The last 10 minutes of this documentary is a home movie shot by Lucie herself of her parents in a pool with their grandson. Although divorced for many years already, watching these two people in the pool--you realized--this wasn't Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz who played Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, but rather: real people.

This is the most real we'll ever see Lucy and Desi. It is a true to form and real telling of the two lovers. This is the best documentary of Lucy and Desi you'll ever see.

Be sure to watch for this DVD, coming February 10th and preorder your copy today at the "Everything Lucy Store" on Everything Lucy!

Lucy-Desi Center Search for New Executive Director

As reported at The Post-Journal by Kristen Johnson:

The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center has begun searching for a new executive director.

Charles Edward Fagan, a local attorney and the center's former acting executive director, submitted his resignation from that post on Nov. 20 and followed it on Dec. 16 with his resignation as president of the center's board of directors.

The center recently began advertising its need for an executive director. Ads began appearing in the classifieds section of The Post-Journal and have appeared in a number of other newspapers and on major online job-hunting sites.

"What happened? Nothing, really," Fagan said Thursday. "I thought it was a good step forward, one that would indicate that my days as acting executive director were indeed transitional. The board, I think, understood why I was stepping aside. The fundamental changes that I tried to see to were successfully undertaken and in place."

Mike Latone, who was appointed to the board of directors in late October, has been named president. Latone, the owner of D&S Glass, is a charter member of the center's Acquisition Society and was instrumental in the establishment of the Lucy-Desi Museum. He is also the past president of REI and has volunteered with the United Way.

Latone, who is out of town, could not be reached for comment.

Terry Lind, the president of Lind Funeral Home, was also appointed to the board in late October. He is the board's vice president.

Pat Smith, who on several occasions has stepped up to oversee the day-to-day operations of the center, is the center's interim executive director.

'WHAT I SET OUT TO DO'

Fagan said he never intended for his tenure to be permanent.

He had been serving as acting executive director since April 9, a position he reportedly took at the behest of the late Lucille Ball's family which had, at the time, been asking for the return of loaned memorabilia. Former executive director Ric Wyman continued to oversee the day-to-day operations of the center until, on Sept. 12, he and his assistant, Pat Brininger, were fired. At the time, there was considerable concern over whether Fagan had the authority to fire Wyman and Brininger.

Concerns have also been raised over whether Fagan had acted appropriately in other ways as acting executive director - a past article by The Post-Journal noted that Fagan at one time hired a different attorney than the one approved by the board of directors and that no minutes were recorded during the board of directors meeting at which Fagan named himself acting executive director.

But Fagan mentioned none of that Thursday. He said his resignations weren't the result of "anything happening" - instead, he said, he had simply "accomplished what I set out to do" during what he called "the best eight months of my life."

Fagan said he was able to see the two projects "I cared about the most get under way."

One of those projects was the signing of a new business agreement between Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's children, Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill and Desi Arnaz Jr., and the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center. The three-year business licensing agreement, which was signed in September, allows the center to continue using images and likenesses of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

Fagan also considered a new mission and outreach by the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center "very important." The center is the driving force behind a national initiative to combine humor and health care. The initiative will bring humor to hospitals and clinics around the country, Fagan said. In November, experts from Tampa, Fla., St. Louis, Mo., and Rochester came to Jamestown to collaborate with center officials on how the initiative could best be undertaken. A local advisory committee has also been formed.

"I felt that these things were absolutely and fundamentally important to the continuing mission of the center," Fagan said. "Those things having been successfully begun, I felt it was time to step down. I always said my tenure would be temporary. I wasn't hired - the nature of my service was completely voluntary. The center went through a year of very difficult transition and I tried my best to make sure it was on better footing."

While Fagan does not know whether he will continue to work with the Board of Directors or the center itself in any official capacity, he did say his "services are always available."

"I certainly hope, if they ever call me, that I will be able to help them," he said. "I have a real love for the center and an abiding love for the arts in Chautauqua County. I'd try anything to help keep the arts a part of our community. I think the center is a very valuable asset to the community."

Fagan praised Latone and Smith and said he feels they are "absolutely great" choices for board president and interim executive director, respectively.

"I think Mike is a very dedicated individual who wants to do what's best for the Lucy-Desi Center," he said. "And Pat is wonderful. She's got an open-door policy, she's involved in every aspect of day-to-day operations, and she's just a great choice. I knew she was the right person when I first brought her in. I can't say enough about her."

THE HIRING PROCESS

Though Smith has, on numerous occasions, become the center's "go-to person" when there's a leadership void, she said she's not interested in a permanent directorship.

"No, I won't be applying for the position," she said. "I work with a number of other organizations and I'm not really looking for a permanent, full-time job. I've stepped up to keep things going so the board doesn't feel rushed during the process to find a new executive director."

Smith said she will likely play a somewhat active role in choosing the center's new executive director, though.

"We went through a planning process and looked at where the board wanted to go before we started advertising the position" she said. "We wanted to take a very logical, careful course. I will probably sit in on the interviews, but really, the hiring decision is the board's."

The center's board of directors hopes to have someone in place by April 1, Smith said, and they will be working with human resources specialist Richard A. Koerner throughout the hiring process.

Missing I Love Lucy Show Yet?

For those who haven't noticed, I Love Lucy is no longer on TVLand. The show has moved to The Hallmark Channel with two episodes, weekdays at 8AM ET/PT and 4PM ET/PT!

Visit The Hallmark Channel for more information and showtimes.

Desi Arnaz Jr. to star in "Love Letters"

As reported by Becky Bosshart in The Las Vegas Sun:

As its title implies, "Love Letters" is an intimate look into the lives of two lovers who are always far apart, though on the stage they sit side-by-side.

The A.R. Gurney play is often performed as a benefit production, and in the past it has been staged by such film greats as Elizabeth Taylor and James Earl Jones.

The Boulder City benefit production will be done by local star Desi Arnaz Jr. and Mary Crosby, best known in her role as the character who shot J.R. Ewing in the television series "Dallas."

Arnaz said "Love Letters" is the perfect benefit play because it can be produced at a low cost: it requires only two players — the characters Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III. It also requires no memorization because the lines are read as letters and has a simple set design.

"Love Letters" plays at 4 p.m. Jan. 24 at Desi's Boulder Theatre, 1225 Arizona St. Tickets cost $40 and proceeds benefit the nonprofit Boulder City Ballet Co.

The play follows the lives of the upper class New York elite as World War II turns their world asunder. It has bittersweet love, dysfunctional families and that old-fashioned history that audiences love, said Arnaz, who starred in "Automan," a science-fiction series of the mid-1980s, and played his father in the 1992 movie "The Mambo Kings."

Arnaz said he is excited about reprising the "Love Letters" role — he performed it with Liza Minnelli about 15 years ago and with Linda Purl a decade ago — because of his history with Crosby. Their parents were friends and they spent time together as children. Arnaz is the son of television stars Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and Crosby is the daughter of singer Bing Crosby.

"We bring a certain amount of reality to it because of our history together," he said.

That doesn't include real love letters, he said, but a deep respect for one another's work through the years.

Tickets must be reserved in advance because it will be a sell-out performance, said Amy Arnaz, Boulder City Ballet Co. executive director. About 80 tickets are left in the 380-seat theater. After expenses, the company is expected to raise $4,000 for ballet programs. Call 293-1161 for tickets.

Next up for the theater is "An Evening with Lucille Ball," featuring impersonator Suzanne LaRusch, on April 10 and 11. The $30 tickets will also benefit the ballet company.