COLUMBIA & THE PINK LADY

January 8, 1948

On January 8, 1948, it was announced that Lucille Ball had been signed by Columbia Pictures to do a film a year, the first of which was to be titled Pink Lady. 

The news was covered by the Gray Lady – the New York Times – on January 8, 1948. 

It was also hot news for of Hollywood’s top gossip columnists: Hedda Hopper…

…and Louella Parsons. 

The film Pink Lady was never made. After doing Her Husband’s Affairs for Columbia in 1947, her next films for Columbia were Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949), A Woman of Distinction (1950), The Fuller Brush Girl (1950), and The Magic Carpet (1951). Like many of her colleagues, Ball had already cast a speculative eye toward doing a regular radio series (”My Favorite Husband” 1948-51) and then on to television (”I Love Lucy” 1951-1957).  

The Pink Lady was originally a Broadway musical comedy that played two seasons (1911 & 1912) making a star out of Hazel Dawn, who was then dubbed “The Pink Lady” by fans and the press. Virginia Van Upp was one of Hollywood’s few female writers and producers. For Columbia, she produced Gilda in 1946 starring Rita Hayworth. She made only one more film, Here Comes The Groom (1951) before retiring due to illness.