October 5, 1942
Lucille Ball was profiled in the October 5, 1942 LIFE Magazine (volume 13, number 14) in connection with her upcoming MGM musical film DuBarry Was A Lady.
The cover image promoted an inside article about ‘eye catching hats.’ [Note: this is not Lucille Ball!]
The article about Lucille Ball was part of the Movies section and titled “Lucille Ball Wins First Chance as Big-Time Star” on page 116.
DuBarry Was A Lady was Ball’s 39th film. Filmed in color, this was the film for which Lucille earned the moniker Technicolor Tessie by dying her hair its enigmatic red. The article appraises this as Ball’s ‘big break’ at film stardom. It mistakenly says that Ball was a Broadway chorus girl in Rio Rita. Ball was hired by Flo Ziegfeld for the third road company of the musical, but was quickly fired.
“Lucille herself…is ambitious, hard, flamboyant, and luxury-loving. Yet paradoxically, she is generous, funny, extremely sensitive, and a crack poker player…”
LIFE was given access to Ball’s trampoline rehearsal for their photo shoot. She is being put through her ‘bouncy’ paces by dance coach Charles Walters. Walters was veteran of the 1939 Broadway version of DuBarry starring Ethel Merman. He had just worked with Ball on Seven Days’ Leave (1942) and would work on four more films, two episodes of “Here’s Lucy,” and two “Lucille Ball Specials.”
The finished trampoline bed scene in full costume and on set.
The film opened on May 30, 1943 in New York City.
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