WHEN IRISH EYES ARE LUCY’S

March 16, 1937

It must have been a slow news day in Somerset, PA, because leprechaun Lucy was front page news for the March 16, 1937 Somerset Daily American. 

~March 16, 1937~ 

This brief item in Read Kendall’s March 16, 1937 column in the Los Angeles Times reports that Lucille was at the Trocadero with George Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was a screenwriter and playwright who (in 1937) was responsible for The Last of Mrs. Cheney (with Joan Crawford) and  A Day at the Races (starring the Marx Brothers). He had contributed dialogue to Lucille Ball’s first film, Roman Scandals (1933). Ball’s 1942 film Easy to Wed was based on his script for 1936′s Libeled Lady. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1942. Oppenheimer was a gay man and never married. He was the occasional sexual partner of the young Harry Hay. Lucille Ball was obviously asked by the studio to ‘date’ Oppenheimer to deflect rumors of his homosexuality. This was common in Hollywood at the time.