By Carol Fisher-Linn
It is the 30th Anniversary of Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum and the 75th Anniversary of I Love Lucy.
Chautauqua County’s beloved Lucille Ball never forgot her roots, but moreover, she and her family wanted her fame to mean something substantial to her hometown, not just a name on a “Welcome to Jamestown” sign. Thanks to community leaders and volunteers/fundraisers and to Lucy’s family, especially her daughter, Lucie Arnaz, a museum was built in Jamestown thirty years ago. Let me tell you about it.
It’s Lucy’s birthday (August 6, 1911) so it’s a proper time to celebrate Lucy, Lucy and Desi and the I Love Lucy Show which had its debut performance on October 15, 1951. As an Octogenarian, I remember full well my siblings and I gathering on the floor in front of the black-and-white TV watching I Love Lucy every Monday night without fail. Our parents were so charmed by the Arnaz’s on-screen antics that we children were allowed to stay up after 9pm on a school night. As I look back, considering the social structure of the times, the Lucy and Desi story was hardly normal. Ricky was Cuban and spoke with a pronounced dialect, even breaking into his original language when he grew frustrated with Lucy, which was often. Somehow, their harmless antics helped to expose us to a multi-cultural household, giving it normalcy at a time in society when it was not readily accepted. The show was Lucy’s brainchild and she and Desi formed Desilu Productions to produce the show. She wanted to adapt her very successful radio format, “My Favorite Husband,” into television. To her credit, when the time came to cast a husband, she would not back down when she wanted her own Cuban husband to play the role, totally against the casting agent’s desires. She won. The show, the first with a live studio, was an instant success. It won over twenty awards including five Emmy’s entertaining viewers until 1957. When they divorced in 1960, Lucy bought out Desi which made her the very first woman to own a major studio. It’s important to note that they remained friends until Desi died.
NY near the National Comedy Center, takes visitors back in time into the
madcap lives of the Arnazes. You will find recreated sets from their New York
City apartment and Hollywood hotel suite. Screen-used costumes and props
fill out the displays, along with rare artifacts, rarely seen footage, Emmy
awards, scripts, photos and personal memorabilia celebrating their lives, their
impact on the film industry, and each other.
The zany woman with the penchant for finding herself in sticky, farfetched situations alone or with a partner-in-crime gal-pal, Ethel Mertz, undid the 1950’s stereotype of the quiet, obedient housewife with her sometimes loud, physical and outrageous behavior. Yet housewives and their husbands loved watching them. Lucy was a first in many things, but one of her gutsiest firsts (again, remember this was the ‘50’s) was to reveal her real-life pregnancy and include it into the show. Bottom line, their show redefined the television sitcom, pioneered production techniques still used today, and inspired generations of comedians, writers, and performers.
The Lucy Desi Museum, located at 2 West 3rd Street in downtown Jamestown, NY near the National Comedy Center, takes visitors back in time into the madcap lives of the Arnazes. In the museum, you’ll find Lucy’s custom detailed, monogrammed 1972 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE which was donated by Lucy’s family and detailed and restored by Jamestown’s Kyle Crandall and his Ziebart team. You’ll also find recreated sets from their New York City apartment and Hollywood hotel suite. Screen-used costumes and props fill out the displays, along with rare artifacts, rarely seen footage, Emmy awards, scripts, photos and personal memorabilia celebrating their lives, their impact on the film industry, and each other. Bonus: Who wouldn’t want the opportunity to perform in your very own Vitameatavegamin commercial? You can. Alas, there is no wine stomping vat on site but this writer was reminded of the fact that in October 2014, the Lucy Desi Center for Comedy set a new world record when 1,232 people stomped 60 tons of Welch’s grapes in a city-block sized vat. Word has it, that was Lucy’s favorite episode.
Many thanks to Megan Arnone Eckwahl, National Comedy Center Manager, Marketing and Communications who generously shared much information for this article and reminds readers that if they want to experience both the Lucy and Desi Museum and the National Comedy Center museum, a smart purchase is the dual admission, good for two consecutive days. Reminder: tickets for the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival (August 6-9) are separate from the museum admission tickets. For more information call 716-484-2222, comedycenter.org, and Facebook: National Comedy Center. Maybe a trip to the museum will answer some of the “splainin” Ricky was known to ask Lucy for.