LUCILLE BALL THRIVES ON MISTAKES

January 16, 1965

The original, un-cropped photograph. 

[CLICK ON THE UNDERLINED TEXT TO VISIT THE EPISODES WHERE LUCY LEARNS A NEW SKILL!]

TV Week now presents a girl who has made a career out of making mistakes. 

Meet Lucille Ball. 

She admits that the art of making mistakes is not only fun, but highly educational. 

“Perhaps I should explain,” explains Lucy, who appears Monday nights at 8 o’clock on the CBS network, “that before you purposely make a mistake before millions of television viewers, you must first learn to do whatever you’re doing right before you start clowning it up." 

Once you have mastered the proper method of doing something, she said, you find it infinitely easier to louse it up. a job at which the red-haired comedienne has few peers. 

"For example,” Lucy continued, “for one show, I had to learn to be a dignified and efficient secretary. Well, I knew how to type, but any resemblance between my style and that of a professional secretary is open to discussion. Of course, there were such other items as how to take dictation, operate an intricate intercom system, answer the phone correctly, and how to act in front of the boss. So I had to take a short course in how to do it right, then when it came time for a show, I had to do everything wrong, and brother, what I did to that scene would send a professional into shock.” 

DURING her career on television, Lucy has learned how to make candy, bake bread, play the violin, install plumbing, paint, lay bricks, jerk sodas, be an announcer, refinish furniture, play golf, drive a dump truck, fly-cast, put up a tent, scale fish, raise chickens, tango, tap dance, twist, waltz, rhumba, box, jiu jitsu, ride a horse, raise flowers, fight a bull, play softball, sail a boat, walk on stilts, erect a TV antenna, skin dive, and even catch butterflies. 

And just to make sure she doesn’t lose her touch, Miss Ball will do the following this season: fly a helicopter*, play every percussion instrument in an orchestra, jump into a life net**, plaster a house, and assemble and dismantle an army rifle. 

And if you should say, “Tennis, anyone?” you’ve got yourself a partner.

* = Although Lucy Ricardo famously dropped from a helicopter and Desilu produced a series about helicopters, “The Lucy Show” never featured an episode where Lucy flies a helicopter. 

** = Lucy did this stunt in 1963, but did not repeat it in 1965. 

“Lucy Goes To Las Vegas” (TLS S3;E17) premiered on Monday night, January 18th. 

This Guide also includes a listing for A Girl, A Guy, and A Gob (1941) starring Lucille Ball on Tuesday, January 19 at midnight.