Tag: Lucille Ball
-
PARLEY BAER
August 5, 1904 Parley Baer was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. He studied drama at the University of Utah. Early in his career, Baer was a circus ringmaster and publicist before entering military service in World War II. In the 1950s, he had a job training wild animals at Jungleland and was a docent at the…
-
TV WEEK / TV GUIDE – GALE GORDON
August 4, 1962 On August 4, 1962, Gale Gordon appeared on the cover of TV Week, a supplement to the Sunday Chicago Tribune newspaper. At the time, most all newspapers provided some sort of pull-out, stand-alone TV and/or radio guide. Although Lucille Ball was then filming episodes of her new series, “The Lucy Show” for CBS,…
-
MYRNA LOY
August 2, 1905 Myrna Loy was born Myrna Adele Williams in Radersburg (near Helena), Montana. When she was thirteen, Myrna’s father died of influenza in the great flu pandemic of 1918, and the rest of the family moved to Los Angeles. She was educated in L.A. and the Westlake School for Girls where she caught…
-
The ‘Wildcat’ Episode, or, Did Broadway Love Lucy?
-
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,…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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. …
Papermoon Loves Lucy 