GOING STRONG AT 50

August 8, 1961

Lucille Ball, who scrapped her way out of a wheelchair to become a towering star of American show business, turns the half-century mark tomorrow. (1)

She is still scrapping as she celebrates her 50th birthday. Although health problems forced her to quit the tough grind of the Broadway musical “Wildcat,” she’s looking ahead to work — and more work. 

That’s the word from one of her closest associates, who said “All kinds of movie often waiting for her.” (2)

And two nights ago she told a friend: “I have never — ever — felt better in my life.” 

Lucy, who spent three years in a wheelchair after an automobile accident in 1927, has gained about six pounds since bowing out of ‘Wildcat.” She has moved back to her home here in Beverly Hills, and is placing her children, Lucie, 10, and Desi IV, 8, in school. 

She plans to spend her birthday with the children at Disneyland — and stay overnight there with them.

A friend said a chauffer probably will drive the children to her from Del Mar, Calif. the home of her ex-husband Desi Arnaz, with whom she starred in TV’s most successful show — “I Love Lucy.” 

Lucy, of course, still has a big chunk of the vast Desilu empire carved from their TV show – the pinnacle of a life that began in Butte, Mont. She was taken to Jamestown N.Y. at 2 when her father— a mining engineer — died. (3)

At 15 she went to New York to study drama but failed. 

“My first real job on Broadway” she said “was as a soda jerk in a drugstore.” 

After that she became a model in the garment district. She had joined Hattie Carnegie’s exclusive staff of models and was on her way when the car accident struck. Told she might never walk again she refused to quit — and in 1932 she rejoined Miss Carnegie from where she progressed to movies. 

The lanky redhead once said: “I hold no grudge against my yesterdays. They brought a great deal of fun and laughter and a lot of happiness. They proved the worth of many friends who are friends still.” 

As for Hollywood: 

“It is a town where a player may go almost unrecognized for 10 years then suddenly get three starring roles in succession. It is hard work to be a star — harder than ever because more is expected of you. 

“Show business is highly competitive, the same as life itself, but it is more intensified. It is a survival of the fittest and an actress must take her rebuffs impersonally or she is beaten.

“It seems to me that she must know her good qualities and then make the best of them without worrying too much about her deficiencies. If you go around with your bad points on your mind they’re certain to show up in your personality. There’s no percentage in worrying about what you haven’t got.” 

The other day she told a business associate: Just give me till Aug. 20 to rest up, see the kids and get straightened away. Then just point which direction you want me to go. I’ll be ready.” 

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FOOTNOTES FROM THE FUTURE

(1) Lucille Ball’s birthday was August 6, not August 9.  It is possible that the article got bumped from the August 5 edition and that the date discrepancy was not changed. 

(2) There may have been many offers, but after this date Lucille made very few films compared to her pre-TV career. In 1963 she co-starred with Bob Hope in “Critic’s Choice.”  In 1967 she had a cameo in “A Guide for the Unmarried Man”. “Yours Mine & Ours” was released in 1968. Her final big screen film was “Mame” in 1974, a film several years in the making. 

(3) Even in 1961, editors were still relying on Lucille’s ‘fantasy’ bio from the 1930s. To reiterate, she was born in Jamestown, not Butte. Her father was a lineman for the telephone company and died in Wyandotte, Michigan.