Ability is of little account without opportunity.
Lucille Ball
August 6, 1911 to April 26, 1989
Born in Jamestown, New York she was the older of 2 children
to Desiree and Henry Durrell. Her
brothers' name was Fred an was born after his dad had passed away. . There were two moves before her dad died, one to Montana and the other to Michigan then her dad
contracted typhoid fever and died. Life was not easy even at the precious age of
3. Her
mother did remarry but after a little while that new husband convinced Lucy’s
mom Desiree to move to Detroit without her kids. Lucy lived with her step dads parents and
Fred, just born, moved in with Desiree’s parents. Lucy remembered not having enough money for even the simplest school supplies.
Use a make-up table with everything close at hand and
don't rush; otherwise you'll look like a patchwork quilt. - Lucille Ball
After her mother returned back to New York, Lucy convinced
her to let her attend, at the age of 15, the New York City Drama School. She
could not get past her shyness up on stage, at least compared to another
student Bette Davis. After a while the school actually sent Lucy's mother a letter saying
that she was a waste of time. While
staying in the New York area in 1927, she changed her name to Diane Belmont. She would work as a model for a fashion
designer and over came Rheumatoid Arthritis.
In the early 1930 she dyed her hair to chestnut blonde and headed for
Hollywood.
Love yourself first and everything else fall in line. You will really have to love yourself to get anything done
in the world. - Lucille Ball
After doing many movies in 1942, she dyed her hair to red. Some of these many movies ended up being B rated movies and her dream of hitting it big started to dwindle. Here real break came when she started the radio show, My
Favorite Husband because her husband Dezi constant push and backing her up 100%. Even if he has his issues, it seems to me,
that he never doubted her talent. So
during 1948 though 1951 they were the golden voice of radio. CBS saw money in the mist so here they went
to the motion picture business of television appearances.
She had two marriages one to Desi Arnaz from 1940 to 1960
than to Gary Morton from 1961 to 1989.
Two is pretty darn good!
She had a daughter Lucie Desiree Arnaz and a
son Desiderio Alberto (Dezi) Arnez Jr. with her first husband.
Her big moves of life were that she was the
first woman to head a major Hollywood studio, Desilu, which produced many shows
that are now done over and over again in Hollywood.
Some names you may have heard about are Star
Trek, Mission Impossible, and The Untouchables.
Other classics include the Andy Griffith Show, My Favorite Martian, the Dick
Van Dyke Show and Make room for Daddy.
I think knowing what you cannot do is more important than
knowing what you can. - Lucille Ball
He push it for Lucy and after their radio show, the television The I Love Lucy Show was
big on CBS from 1951 to 1957; than there was The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour from
1957 to 1960; The Lucy show from 1962 to 1968; and Here’s Lucy from 1968 to
1974.
She was awarded 20 Emmy, which 7 were awarded to her after
her death.
She was awarded 5 Motion Picture Daily Awards, the one in
1954 was with Desi Arnaz for the Best comedy team. That doesn’t surprise me, even my kids found
out whom Lucy was and enjoyed watching her along with The Three Stooges.
I would rather regret things I have done, than regret things
I have not done. - Lucille Ball
I think that watching Lucy when I was younger made me feel
that leggy red-head could do more than model and be a business woman than I
could too. She was in an atmosphere that
could have crippled her into submission many times over. I am sure there were days that she had, like
the rest of us, she was ready to give up.
There probably were moments of weakness that showed up in the public
eye more than any of ours, but I am sure a laugh of sarcasm worked its way in
there too.
I hate failure and that divorce was a Number One failure
in my eyes. It was the worst period of my life. Neither Desi nor I have been
the same since, physically or mentally.
- Lucille Ball
She did pretty well for a poor girl from crappy beginnings. Let’s look at that example and dream big, go
for what we want and even if we have to reinvent ourselves, lets just keep
going!
Thank you, Lucy!
References:
Lucy Desi Center for Comedy
There is a comedy festival set up in her hometown that
happens in August, this year the 4th through the 7th,
(too bad I am in Sturgis every year, it would be neat to try something like
this)
Lucille Ball Biography
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