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In the CreativiTator Spotlight:
 
Lucille Ball and
Desi Arnaz
Lucille Ball Intro on Wikipedia.org:
Lucille Désirée
Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989)
was an iconic American actress, comedian and
star of the landmark sitcom I Love Lucy,
a four time Emmy Award winner (awarded 1953,
1956, 1967, 1968) and charter member of the
Television Hall of Fame. A 'B-grade' movie
star and "glamour girl" of the 1930s and
1940s, she later achieved tremendous success
as a television actress. She received the
Kennedy Center Honors in 1986. Ball, known
as the "Queen of Comedy," was also
responsible with her then-husband, Desi
Arnaz, for the foundation of Desilu Studios,
a pioneering studio in American television
production in the 1950s and 60s.
Desi Arnaz Intro on Wikipedia.org
Desi Arnaz (born
Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha, III)
(March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986) was a
Cuban-American musician, actor, comedian and
television producer.
Desilu Productions
Intro on Wikipedia.org
Desilu Productions
was a Los Angeles, California based company
jointly owned by American actors Lucille
Ball and Desi Arnaz. The name is a
portmanteau of their first names. It was
home to such television series as Star
Trek, The Andy Griffith Show,
Mission: Impossible, The Untouchables,
Mannix, The Lucy Show, I
Spy and, of course, I Love Lucy.
The studio was named after Arnaz and Ball's
ranch.... Much
of the studio's early success can be traced
to Arnaz's unusual business style in his
role as producer of I Love Lucy. For
example, lacking formal business training,
Arnaz knew nothing of amortization, and
often included all the costs incurred by the
production into the first episode of a
season, rather than spreading them across
the projected number of episodes in the
year. As a result, by the end of the season,
episodes would be nearly entirely paid for,
and would come in at preposterously low
figures. In addition, Arnaz took the
unprecedented step of buying the episodes of
I Love Lucy for an astoundingly low
cost from CBS, realizing, as the network did
not, the potential of the rerun
Be sure
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Links:
PBS "American Masters" profile of Lucille Ball
We Love Lucy fansite
The Museum of Broadcast Communications profile of I Love Lucy
The Museum of Broadcast
Communications profile of Lucille Ball
The Museum of Broadcast Communications profile of Desi Arnaz
Extensive
profile of Lucille Ball on Wikipedia
Extensive
profile of Desi Arnaz on Wikipedia
Extensive profile
of Desilu Productions on Wikipedia
Books and DVDs:
BOOK:
Love, Lucy
by Lucille Ball, Betty
Hannah Hoffman (1996)
Amazon.com description
Although Lucille Ball died in 1989,
this autobiography written prior to 1964 has only recently
been discovered among her papers. She describes a childhood
deeply affected by her father's death and her mother's
withdrawal from her life. Raised by her grandparents, Ball
craved attention and developed a tempestuous, vivacious,
fiery, and yet insecure personality that would later lead
her to comic stardom. It took years of working from the
bottom of show business before she became a television hit,
with the help of her husband, co-star, and business partner,
former Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz.
Ball abandoned the book for fear of hurting Arnaz, although
she gives him credit for the tremendous success she enjoyed
with "I Love Lucy."
BOOK: Desilu: The Story
of Lucille Bll and Desi Arnaz
by Coyne S. Sanders, Tom Gilbert
Amazon.com reader review
This is the ultimate book for those
who love not only Lucy but the fabled studio that did so
much interesting TV. It's all here--I Love Lucy, the
Specials, the Lucy Show, Star Trek, Mission Impossible,
Mannix... full and never dull rundowns on the lives of Lucy
and Desi and how their lives impacted television and the
hundreds that worked for them. Not a love letter to either
of them but not a Desilu Dearest either.
BOOK: Lucy & Desi: The
Real-Life Scrapbook of America's Favority TV Couple by
Elizabeth Edwards
Amazon.com book description:
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. LUCY &
DESI, our exclusive, real-life scrapbook of the couple's
lives, 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.
(More facsimile content: a 1940 Lucy speeding ticket;
their marriage certificate; a birth announcement for Desi
Jr.; an illustrated pamphlet on how to do La Conga, the
"latest dance creation as done by Diosa Costello & Desi
Arnaz.")
DVD: CBS Salutes Lucy--The
First 25 Years (1976)
Amazon.com description:
This is Lucy at her finest: getting drunk on
Vitameatavegamin, stuffing chocolates down her dress on the
assembly line, sinking in quicksand with Jack Benny, and
making movie deals with fellow cleaning woman Carol Burnett.
This 1976 tribute to Lucille Ball captures prize moments
from her three television series (most notably I Love
Lucy), highlights from her movie career, and excerpts
from numerous other TV appearances. Each segment of the
97-minute special is introduced by famous cohorts, from
series regulars such as ex-husband Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance,
and Gale Gordon to sometime coworkers like John Wayne, Sammy
Davis Jr., and Dick Van Dyke. Although she lived another 13
years after this special was made and had a fourth go at a
TV series, this DVD captures the most brilliant moments of
her trademark physical comedy. The red-haired queen of
American comedy makes an appearance at the end when Jimmy
Stewart gives her an honorary plaque, making for a nostalgic
moment. A short time later the credits roll, revealing that
Ball's production company was behind the tribute and
reminding viewers she wasn't a bad businesswoman either.
--Kimberly Heinrichs
DVD: I Love Lucy 50th
Anniversary Special (2001)
Amazon.com description
The producers of The "I Love Lucy" 50th Anniversary
Special had a tough assignment, and they triumphantly
rose to the occasion. Ostensibly a vehicle for a
fan-selected list of top 10 favorite "I Love Lucy" episodes
(available in the Best of I Love Lucy Collection),
this 2001 special covers all the requisite territory with a
solid sense of history and affectionate nostalgia, combining
loving reminiscence and commentary (by such luminaries as
Lily Tomlin, Barbara Walters, and Dick Van Dyke) with
vintage clips from the selected episodes. More substantial
segments demonstrate the deeper significance of the Lucy
phenomenon past and present, from Desi Arnaz's influential
impact on Latino culture in America to Lucy's historic
onscreen pregnancy. When surviving children Lucie Arnaz and
Desi Arnaz Jr. visit their mother's childhood home, their
emotions are as genuine as I Love Lucy's cultural
importance, adding gentle tears to an abundance of laughter.
As valentines go, this anniversary couldn't be more special.
--Jeff Shannon
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