6 WEEKS turns into 3 YEARS

April 17, 1938

Lucille Ball’s 6-Week Stay In Filmland Lasts 3 Years  

By Harriet Parsons (Special to The Examiner) HOLLYWOOD

Practically everyone who saw “Stage Door" wanted to know the name of “the funny tail girl who went home to Oregon to marry a lumberman."  They know now she’s Lucille Ball… and she’s since been promoted to comedy leads. 

Three years ago Lucille was a fashion mannequin in New York City. Samuel Goldwyn brought her to Hollywood to be a showgirl in "Roman Scandals”. She expected to stay exactly six weeks… but she got a break in the Ginger Rogers-Fred Astaire musical, “Roberta” and was immediately signed by RKO. 

There she went Into training under Mrs. Leila Rogers, then head of the studio talent school. Good performances in Little Theater plays on the lot brought her to the attention of producers. There followed small roles In “Top Hat,” “Chatterbox,” “Follow the Fleet” and “Winterset." 

Her first real chance came with the second femme lead in "That Girl From Paris.” “Stage Door” convinced the studio she was a valuable property and she was handed important roles in “Having Wonderful Time” and “The Joy of Living.” She’s just finished playing opposite Joe Penner in “Go Chase Yourself” and RKO is planning on building her into a star comedienne. Originally picked as a beauty and glamour girl, she’s developed a fine flair for comedy.

Born in Butte, Mont. (1) moved to Jamestown, N. Y. as a baby and calls that city ‘home.’ Graduated from the Chautauqua Institute of Music. Family planned a musical career for her, but she wanted to be an actress and enrolled with the John Murray Anderson School In New York City, played in stock and with road companies, was chosen by the late Florenz Ziegfeld as a show girl in “Rio Rita.” Interludes of starving and living in cheap hall room between shows sent her into the mannequin model business for Hattie Carnegie.

For three years was a star also posed for posters advertising a famous brand of cigarettes, got plenty of jobs In shows but never had money enough to last her through rehearsals, would always quit and return to modeling. 

Since coming to Hollywood she’s only returned to Broadway once, went back for eight weeks last fall to appear in “Hey, Diddle, Diddle.” (2)

Has blue eyes and blond hair (3), is 5 feet 6 ½ inches tall and weighs 120 pounds. Has to eat fattening food to keep her weight up. The height and slenderness which made her an ideal mannequin now aid her as a comic.

(Formatting, punctuation, and spelling errors have been corrected from the original.)

FOOTNOTES

(1) Lucille Ball claimed to come from Butte, Montana, for most of her film career. She originally thought it sounded more interesting than Jamestown, New York.  

(2) Although she did appear in “Hey Diddle Diddle” the play did not go to Broadway. It opened at McCarter Theatre in New Jersey and was headed to Broadway when a cast member got ill and the engagement was cancelled. Lucille’s Broadway debut came in 1960 with “Wildcat.” 

(3) A natural brunette, Lucille dyed her hair blonde at first, and was later convinced to try red to attract more attention in color movies. She became known as Technicolor Tessie. 

Author Harriet Parsons (1906-83) was the daughter of famed gossip maven Louella Parsons, who was mentioned several times on “I Love Lucy”.  Like Louella, Harriet was a shrewd professional who combated the prejudices of her contemporaries in order to achieve success in the Hollywood film industry. Upon signing with Columbia Pictures to direct and produce in 1934, Harriet became the only woman producer and, with the exception of Dorothy Arzner, the only woman director working in Hollywood at that time.