ANCIENT& not so ancient WISDOM
offering a weekly positive perspective

September 22, 2005

"One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself."

- Lucille Désirée Ball (1911 - 1989)

Lucille Désirée Ball was born in Celoron, New York in 1911. He father died when she was young and she was raised by her working mother and grandparents. In 1925,  she enrolled in the John Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts. She was outshined by another pupil, Bette Davis, and Lucy went home in a few weeks when drama coaches said she "had no future at all as a performer".

I'm not funny. What I am is brave.

In 1927, her grandfather, who she considered her father, was sued when a friend of her brother’s was accidentally shot. Lucy decided to leave soon after.

She moved back to New York City to become an actress and had some success as a fashion model for designer Hattie Carnegie and as Chesterfield cigarette girl. She moved to Hollywood in 1933 and after a short time with RKO became one of the Goldwyn Girls and eventually ‘the B-Movie Queen’ as a contract player for MGM.

Luck? I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it, and I'm afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: hard work -- and realizing what is opportunity and what isn't. 

In 1940, she met Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz, who was doing the film version of a stage played he’d been in. The two hit it off immediately and eloped the same year with much press attention. However, Arnaz's philandering and drinking caused problems right from the start. They divorced in 1945, but remarried later the same year.

In 1948, Lucille was cast as a wacky wife in My Favorite Husband, a radio program. The program was successful, and CBS asked her to develop it as a television program. She agreed and insisted on working with Arnaz. This show eventually became I Love Lucy. CBS was not impressed with the pilot episode produced by Desilu, the production company started by Lucy and Desi. So they toured the road in a  vaudeville act with Lucille as the zany housewife wanting to get in Arnaz's show. The tour was a success and CBS put the show on their lineup. 

At her direction, I Love Lucy was one of the first sitcoms filmed with a live audience. They shot the TV show in film, rather than the inferior-quality kinescope of other TV shows of the time. 

Lucy and Desi agreed to take a pay cut to finance filming in film from the sponsorship money of Philip Morris. In return, CBS relinquished the show rights back to Desilu after broadcast. Desilu made the millions on rebroadcast through syndication. Lucy and Desi also hired Czech cameraman Karl Freund as their director of photography. Freund developed the three-camera setup, which became the standard way of shooting situation comedies. Shooting long shots, medium shots, and close-ups on a comedy in front of a live audience demanded discipline, technique, and close choreography. Among other non-standard techniques used in filming the show, cans of paint were kept on the set to 'paint out' shadows and disguise lighting flaws. 

In 1961, a few years following their divorce, Lucille bought out her ex-husband's share of the studio, Ball functioned as studio head. While many of their future productions were a success, her final series, Life With Lucy in 1986, was flop. 

Lucille Ball died on April 26, 1989 from a ruptured aorta, which she suffered after open heart surgery.

The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.

Wishing you optimistic viewpoint that supports your efforts.  

Sincerely,