Category: Uncategorized
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WHO’S QUITTING!
July 31, 1954 The July 31, 1954 issue of TV Guide (volume 2; number 31) featured actor William Bendix on the cover with the headline: “Who’s Quitting! Say Lucy and Desi”. The last day of the listings in this Guide is August 6, 1954, Lucille Ball’s 43rd birthday! The inside article is by Desi Arnaz,…
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RUDY VALLEE
July 28, 1901 Rudy Vallée was born Hubert Prior Vallée in Vermont and raised in Maine. He started his career as a saxophone player and singer and became a popular bandleader, hosting a hit radio program in the 1930s. His first film was 1929’s The Vagabond Lover. He also wrote a popular song of the same…
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DESILU SOLD!
July 27, 1967 Desilu Productions was formed in 1950 by Lucille Ball and her then-husband, Desi Arnaz. The name was a portmanteau of the couple’s first names and was originally applied to the Ball-Arnaz ranch. Desilu was one of many television production companies that sprung up all over the Hollywood catering to the growing needs…
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LUCILLE BALL DUSTS OFF HER SLAPSTICK
by Aljean Harmetz for The New York Times, August 3, 1986 On Stage 1 at the old Samuel Goldwyn studio on a hot day in the middle of last month, Lucille Ball came back. Barking the familiar laugh that blends a strangling Airedale with a porpoise, mugging for assistant directors and stagehands who weren’t even…
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TYPEWRITER TESSIE!
Lucy and the Typewriter On July 23, 1829, American William Austin Burt patented a machine called the “Typographer” which is listed as the first typewriter. The London Science Museum describes it as “the first writing mechanism whose invention was documented”. Burt never found a buyer for the patent, so the invention was never commercially produced. …
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RED SCARE!
July 22, 1940 Being the Ricardos (2021) is built around several real-life events in the lives of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Perhaps the most critical is the accusation that Lucille Ball was a Communist. Pointedly, the Los Angeles Herald Express used red (the color of communism and Ball’s famous locks) ink for a rare…
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VIVIAN VANCE
July 26, 1909 Vivian Vance was born Vivian Roberta Jones in Cherryvale, Kansas in 1909, although her family quickly moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where she was raised. She had extensive theatre experience, co-starring on Broadway with Ethel Merman in Anything Goes. She was acting in a play in Southern California when she was spotted…
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VERNA FELTON
July 20, 1890 Verna Felton (1890-1966) made her professional stage debut at the age of 10 as ‘Little Verna Felton,’ working extensively on stage. Felton was one of the most successful performers in radio, and soon went on to television. She played the persistent Mrs. Day (mother of Dennis) on “The Jack Benny Show” (1955-62). …
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FANCY PANTS
July 19, 1950 Fancy Pants is based on the 1915 novel Ruggles of Red Gap by Harry Leon Wilson, which was adapted for the stage by Harrison Rhodes and opened on Broadway on December 25, 1915. It featured songs by Sigmund Romberg and Harold Atteridge and ran for 33 performances. It was first filmed in 1918 (starring Taylor Holmes…
Papermoon Loves Lucy 