A BUNDLE OF LOVE AND LAUGHS FOR LUCY

By Shirley Gilbert

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It was as if Lucille Ball was in the room with the 65 attendees to the Why We Still Love Lucy presentation, telling us her story and showing us some of her classic and hilarious moments in TV.

Sad to say, Lucy passed away in 1989.  Thankfully, she left us her autobiography entitled Love, Lucy, which was discovered by her daughter many years after her death.

To bring her story to life, AAUW Fremont Branch member Shirley Gilbert narrated parts of Lucy’,s history and Bay Area Community Theater actor Sandy Cashmark read excerpts from Lucy’s autobiography to give the delighted audience a glimpse into her exciting but sometimes difficult journey from her birth in 1911.

The place was Fremont Main Library, the date was Monday, October 29, and the occasion was the second offering of AAUW’s One Book, One Community Lots of Laughter spotlighting Lucille Ball who, for 30 years, was the most loved and recognized entertainer in the world.

On behalf of AAUW, Florence Silver welcomed the guests to this celebration of an entertainer who was a comedian, film, television stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive and was literally the Queen of Comedy in her era.

Florence gave the audience a recap of the Branch’s five years of One Book, One Community offerings.

Then the 40-minute slide and Reader’s Theater presentation began, describing a life that had hundreds of highlights but plenty of difficulties and disappointments.  Lucy’s dad died when she was just four and her family struggled through many difficult years in Jamestown, New York.  Lucy herself suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and couldn’t walk for two years.

But when the beautiful and glamorous Lucy made her way to Hollywood her fortunes changed and she became known for many years as the glamorous Queen of the B Pictures.  Comedic fame didn’t come to Lucy until she discovered television in the 1950s and with husband Desi Arnaz created the I Love Lucy show with neighbors Ethel and Fred Mertz.

The show lasted for nine years and 180 episodes and was judged — even today — the best television show of all time.

Many were surprised to learn that Lucy was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee to answer charges in 1953 that she was a Communist sympathizer.  This accusation was thrown at her because she registered as a Communist to please her grandfather Fred Hunt in the 1936 election.  She was finally cleared of all charges and luckily the accusation did not affect her escalating career.

Lucy was hailed as the funniest woman on TV and inspired many other women comediennes to follow suit.  She was nominated for Emmies 113 times and won four times — not only for I Love Lucy but for The Lucy Show (1962-68) and Here’s Lucy (1968-74).  After a devastating divorce from Desi she married once more in 1962 to Gary Morton, a stand up comedian who Lucy believed “had the natural humor of someone who loves to laugh and wants everyone to laugh with him.  That made two of us.”

Lucy’s last appearance was at the 1989 Academy Awards telecast.  She died from a ruptured aorta just one month later.  She was 77 years old.

One of the attendees, Janice Habild, has been a fan of Lucille Ball’s for many decades and has been saving memorabilia from the I Love Lucy show for years.  She created a fascinating display for all to enjoy; which she claimed is only a very small part of her collection.   There were Lucy and Desi dolls, pictures of Lucy, some signed by the zany actress herself, and even a cup and saucer from the show.

One member of the audience felt it was sad that Lucy, at the end of her life, had to explain to younger people who she was and how popular her show had been.

The grand finale of the event was watching some of Lucy’s classic and funniest moments.  There was the frenzied chocolate factory scene, the inebriated Vitameatavegamin girl, the amazing Harpo Marx pantomine and finally her dance with Van Johnson that showed both the comic and the graceful dancer side of Lucy’s talent.  Dan Pavlik, well-known Bay Area video producer and film maker, put together the clips that delighted us all.

When watching the made-for-AAUW video, branch member Florence Silver felt that Lucy belonged to a different, more innocent age of American development.  “But it’s so interesting,” added Florence, “that she’s still as funny today as she was in the ’50s.”

There were so many people to thank for bringing this presentation to the library.  The One Book, One Community Leadership team were all there to help with the snacks of chocolates and popcorn.  The library community room folks made certain everything worked smoothly.  And kudos go to Sandy Cashmark for playing the part of Lucille Ball.

Visit the 2012 Lucy Album to see lots more pictures.

Back to the Lots of Laughter Page