Raising Money for the Arts

The Palm Springs Art Museum held a celebration of art and music with laughter with Eric Idle as emcee and Lucie Arnaz, Brooke Shields, and Anjelica Huston in the Annenberg Theater, Saturday, March 25th. The event, sponsored by the Museum Associates Council, presented the Awards for Artistic Excellence to artists who have reached the pinnacle of being legends in their chosen artistic fields.

Lucie Arnaz performed after the awards presentations along with her band. Arnaz performed many show tunes and legendary standards beginning with, "If They Could See Me Now." Her parents, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, would have been proud. She was funny and warm, charming the audience with several personal anecdotes.

Many stars and legendary artists gathered including Merv Griffin and Nancy Reagan. Awards were presented to celebrity phtographer Michael Childers, fashion designer James Galanos, sculptor Robert Graham and glass artist Dale Chihuly. Palm Springs Mayor Ron Oden proclaimed the day to their honor for the occasion.

The museum raised $550,000 that will go to bring arts education to 20,000 valley children in Palm Springs.

I Love Lucy Scrapbook

Since the debut of "I Love Lucy" in 1951, Lucy and Desi have brightened the world be sharing their gift of comedy with millions of fans worldwide. Now you can relive the laughter of the classic TV show in 64 pages of a new one-of-a-kind scrapbook!

During their marriage, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz filled over 100 scrapbooks with all manner of memorabilia. Now fans can take a rare peek at the details of the famous TV couple's lives with this fantastic replica composite.


Written by Elizabeth Edwards, "Lucy & Desi: The Real-Life Scrapbook of America's Favorite TV Couple", chronicles the many special moments in the lives of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz along with the historic "I Love Lucy" TV show. This amazing collection of unusual mementos creates a truly unique interactive history. Each episode is remembered with hundreds of photos, fun facts, and authentic, personal notes. The book contains 25 interactive, three-dimensional paper-engineered replicas of actual items--from Desi's report card to important telegrams--which have never been published before. Vintage snapshots of happy family moments, touching love letters, passports, and other precious minutiae, with more than 150 photographs, both black-and-white and color, fill this wonderful, engrossing look back at the golden years of television comedy, when Lucy and Desi charmed America with humor and song. This official scrapbook is a must-have for the millions of devoted fans.

It also features reproductions of such never-before-seen rarities as Little Ricky's birth certificate ("Lucy Goes To The Hospital"), a candy wrapper ("Job Switching"), and Lucy and Ethel's sightseeing tour bus tickets ("The Tour"), you can relive your favorite moments!

Read the label on Lucy's favorite vitamin tonic ("Lucy Does A TV Commercial"), or laugh at Ricky's frantic telegram to the Marriage License Bureau ("Hollywood Anniversary").

Historic materials and detailed narrative of Elizabeth Edwards, longtime author and friend of the families, combine in the ultimate "I Love Lucy" book for the true fan!

You can obtain your copy of this unique book at Amazon.com!

Lucie Arnaz Joins Broadway's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Lucie Arnaz is set to star in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. She succeeds original star Joanna Gleason on May 29th. Before she enters Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, she is scheduled to star in Melinda Lopez' Sonia Flew at Florida's Coconut Grove Playhouse.

Arnaz will return to the Imperial, where she made her Broadway debut in the 1979 musical They're Playing Our Song. Arnaz who made her first Broadway appearance nearly 15 years ago, will star as the wealthy divorcee 'Muriel Eubanks' of Omaha, Nebraska, in the Jeffrey Lane / David Yazbek hit.

Actress Joanna Gleason, who was Tony Award-nominated for creating the role in 2005, let the cat out of the bag in a WOR radio interview March 22nd. After Playbill.com reported the news, the producers confirmed Arnaz joined the troupe.

In addition to Gleason, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels currently stars Jonathan Pryce, Norbert Leo Butz, Rachel York, Gregory Jbara and Mylinda Hull.

"Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is my favorite Broadway musical of last season!" Arnaz said. "Joanna Gleason is leaving and I couldn't be happier to be filling her Feragamos. Jonathan Pryce and Rachel York have just recently joined the company, Norbert [Leo Butz] is still knockin' 'em dead every night and the show is hotter than ever. ...But, please give me a week or so not to be tripping on the turntable. After taking over a role in My One And Only, I know what it feels like to leap onto these moving trains-thrilling and horribly scary!" Arnaz continued.

Arnaz also appeared in Broadway's Lost in Yonkers and toured with Tommy Tune in My One and Only. They're Playing Our Song played the Imperial Theatre, where Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is holed up.

Arnaz received the Theatre World Award for her performance in the Neil Simon/Marvin Hamlisch/Carole Bayer Sager musical, They're Playing Our Song. She returned to Broadway 13 years later to star in Simon's Pulitzer Prize/Tony Award-winning play Lost in Yonkers. She starred opposite Tommy Tune in the national tour of My One and Only, and in the national tours of Whose Life Is It Anyway?, and Social Security. She also appeared in the West End premiere of the musical The Witches of Eastwick. Film and TV credits include Down to You, The Jazz Singer, as well as her famous mother's (Lucille Ball) TV series, "Here's Lucy" and her own headlined show "The Lucie Arnaz Show."

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels opened on Broadway on March 3, 2005. The show won the 2005 Drama League Award as Best Musical, and was nominated for 11 Tony Awards. With a book by Jeffrey Lane and music and lyrics by David Yazbek (em>The Full Monty), the show stars Jonathan Pryce, Tony Award-winner Norbert Leo Butz, Rachel York, Gregory Jbara and Mylinda Hull. The production is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Jack O'Brien and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell. The musical is based on the 1988 MGM film.

The original cast recording is available on Ghostlight Records. Visit the website of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels to learn more. To purchase tickets online, visit telecharge.com.

New Book from Davis and Carroll

Laughing With Lucy: My Life With America's Leading Lady of Comedy by Madelyn Pugh Davis with Bob Carroll Jr. (Emmis, 288 pp., $19.95). Madelyn Pugh Davis has collaborated with her longtime writing partner Bob Carroll Jr. to produce a gracefully written memoir of the five decades she and Carroll spent churning out hundreds of scripts for Lucille Ball's radio and television shows, most notably I Love Lucy.

Davis warns in the first chapter that her book is not a tell-all about the people she used to work with. She steers far away from any discussion of Ball's stormy relationship with costar and real-life husband Desi Arnaz or his high profile drinking, gambling, and womanizing, which have been chronicled by Ball's biographers. (One of the reasons they decided to create I Love Lucy was to save their marriage. They had filed for divorce once before.)

One thing about Ball is clear: Though in the public eye her persona collided with her character's, Ball had little in common with the bubbly, child-like Lucy Ricardo. Davis offers flashes of insight: "Everyone is complicated and Lucy was more complicated than most. . . . She wasn't exactly known for her tact. She was often blunt and had trouble expressing herself." Still, Davis writes, Ball was "a beautiful clown . . . a comedy writer's dream. She made whatever you wrote look great."

You can find this book for sale on Amazon.com.

Free Admission at Desilu Playhouse

The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center is joining the Jamestown, New York community this weekend in the “Wearing of the Green” celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.

The Desilu Playhouse, Jamestown’s newest Lucy-Desi attraction, will offer free admission on Saturday, March 18, and the Lucy-Desi Center will be part of the Downtown Jamestown Development Corporation’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The parade will begin at 1 p.m. in Baker Park on Fourth Street, heading down Main right past the Playhouse, and culminating in Brooklyn Square with the Jamestown Leprechaun’s turning the Chadakoin River green.

Center Events Coordinator Libby Nord said excitement is building for Lucy-Desi’s participation in Saturday’s activities. “St. Patrick’s Day is all about having a good time,” Ms. Nord noted. “It’s a great fit for all of us in Lucille Ball’s hometown!”

The Desilu Playhouse, at 2 West Second Street, will offer free admission from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Named after the studio where “I Love Lucy” was filmed, the Playhouse opened last August and is the permanent home of the 50th Anniversary Tour that traveled the country in 2001-2002 to celebrate the most popular sitcom ever on television. It features exact replicas of “I Love Lucy” studio sets - TV’s most famous apartment and the Hollywood hotel where Lucy pantomimed with Harpo Marx and set her nose on fire with William Holden - plus “Vitameatavegamin,” screenings, a gift shop, and much more.

Other “Wearing of the Green” events include a Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner and entertainment at the Holiday Inn on Saturday night. The O’Sullivan School of Irish Dance, the Molly O’Muir Band and the world famous Glengarry Bhoys are all “on tap” for the evening. For further information and reservations, call the Downtown Jamestown Development Corporation at (716) 664-2477.

For more information about the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center, call or visit the Lucy-Desi Gift Shop, 300 N. Main Street, Jamestown, NY 14701, (716) 484-0800 (toll-free: 1-877-LUCY-FAN) or online at www.lucy-desi.com. Hours for the Lucy-Desi Museum at 212 Pine, the Desilu Playhouse at 2 W. 3rd Street, and the Lucy-Desi Center Gift Shop are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1-5 p.m. on Sundays.