Tag: Erskine Johnson
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LUCY SHUNS AUDITIONS
July 21, 1950 [In the below article, reprinted verbatim, Johnson writes using a lot of imagery and insider jargon. This sort of article was common in trade papers like Variety, but seems odd in a daily newspaper.] Hollywood—(NEA) Lucille Ball slipped me the lowdown on her failure to pin to the canvas the dumb chick role…
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LUCILLE WINS 10 YEAR FIGHT
July 15, 1943 By ERSKINE JOHNSON It took Lucille Ball 10 years to travel five miles to stardom. There’s a smooth, concrete highway all the way with only an occasional boulevard stop. “But its the toughest five miles,” Lucille said today, "that I’ve ever traveled in my life.” With, she added, plenty of stops and…
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RECONVERSION
February 3, 1946 By ERSKINE JOHNSON, NEA Staff Correspondent HOLLYWOOD, Feb. 3 (NEA) ~ Lucille Ball is reconverting and we do not mean her hair is changing color again. It is natural blonde and not the shocking pink which M-G-M insisted upon for Technicolor and which caused prop boys and junior scenarists to wear blinkers…
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THIS IS YOUR LIFE: WILLIAM FRAWLEY
January 8, 1961 “This Is Your Life” was a documentary series broadcast on NBC radio from 1948 to 1952, and on NBC television from 1952 to 1961. It was originally hosted by its creator and producer Ralph Edwards. In the program, the host surprised guests and then took them through a retrospective of their lives in front…
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COVER GIRL ‘47
January 5, 1947 On January 5, 1947, film star Lucille Ball was the cover girl of the Picture Section of the Chicago Sunday Tribune. During Lucille Ball’s pre-television career, she continued to say that she was born in Butte, Montana, instead of Jamestown, New York. In fact, her family did spend a short time living…
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SIR CEDRIC & JOHNSON GET ANSWERS ON LUCILLE’S DRESS
December 5, 1946 [This is syndicated columnist Erskine Johnson’s regular Hollywood column. The column was not always published on the same date in every newspaper. The column has been reprinted verbatim.] Sir Cedric Hardwicke (1893-1964) was an English-born actor who had great success on stage and screen in England and the United States. At the…
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LUCILLE & DESI SOLVE A PARENT PROBLEM
November 22, 1952 Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were on the cover of TV Digest for the week of November 22, 1952. The inside article was titled “Lucille and Desi Solve a Parent Problem.” “With a baby due in January, how does the show stay on the air?” The article reveals that the past summer hiatus…
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EXTRA! EXTRA! LUCY IN THE PAPES!
September 26, 1952 Friday, September 26, 1952 was a particularly busy news day for Lucille Ball. “I Love Lucy” had just kicked off season two with the iconic “Job Switching” episode and followed up with the memorable “The Saxophone”. That day, several press releases and Lucille Ball references hit the nation’s newspapers all at once! Let’s take…
Papermoon Loves Lucy 