———. “A Visit with Lucille Ball.” July 18, 1960.
———. Review of The Lucy Show. 1967.
———. “I Love Lucy 50 Funniest Moments.” October 13, 2001, 18–40, 67.
———. “50 Greatest Shows of All Time.” May 4, 2002, 22.
———. “50 Greatest TV Guide Covers.” June 15, 2002, 14.
———. “In Jamestown, New York, They Love Lucy.” July 6–12, 2002, 28.
———. “50 Worst Shows of All Time.” July 20, 2002, 20.
TV Stage. “Lucy and Desi’s New Ranch.” June 1954.
Unger, Arthur. “Lucille Ball as a Bag Lady?” Christian Science Monitor, November 4, 1985, Arts section.
U.S. News & World Report. “Comedienne Lucille Ball on the Mess in Television Land.” September 26, 1977, 88.
———. “Lucy Has Grown Up a Lot.” September 22, 1986.
USA Today Magazine. “I Love Lucy Turns 50.” September 2001.
Valentine, Leslie. “Lucy Today: Her Life of Love, Luck & Loneliness.” Photoplay, September 1973.
Van Ryzin, Jeanne Claire. “Claiming Our History.” Austin [Tex.] American Statesman, September 26, 2000, sec. E, p. 1.
Variety. Film reviews, 1938–1942.
———. “Harry Finstein (Parkyakarkus).” November 16, 1958.
———. “When in Trouble Call ‘Lucy.’ ” November 19, 1958.
———. “Parkyakarkus Fatally Stricken.” November 25, 1958.
———. “Martin Leeds Exits Desilu.” September 28, 1960.
———. “Shows on Broadway—Wildcat.” December 21, 1960.
———. “Lucy Continues to Recover from Surgery.” April 26–May 2, 1989.
———. “Tribute to Lucille Ball.” May 3–9, 1989.
Vejnoska, Jill. “Lucy Lives On.” Atlanta Journal–Constitution, October 15, 2001.
VeLocci, Tony. “Lessons of Leadership: The Real Lucille Ball.” Nation’s Business, October 1981.
Vogue. “$54,000,000 Bonanza—Lucille Ball.” May 1968.
Wall Street Journal. “Desilu Stock Sale of 525,000 Shares, at $10.00 per Share.” November 11, 1958, 15.
Ward, Patricia Biederman. “Family Attractions; Lucy—The Museum.” Los Angeles Times, March 10, 1991.
Wasserstein, Wendy. “Rebel in a Housedress.” New York Times, April 18, 1999.
Waters, Jim. “Lucy Is ‘Mame.’ ” People, March 18, 1974, 34–45.
Waters, John. “A Career Colored by Lucy.” Electronic Media [Los Angeles], October 1, 2001.
Watson, Jenny. “When Lucy Was the Queen of the Ball.” Liverpool Daily Post & Echo [London], November 21, 2001.
Weeks, Janet. “Annual Convention Pays Tribute to Lucille Ball.” Daily News [Los Angeles], July 9, 1997.
———. “A Redhead Revival: Lovers of Lucy Launch Convention.” Press–Enterprise [Riverside, Calif.], July 10, 1997.
Werts, Diane. “The Show That Changed TV Forever.” Newsday, October 15, 2001.
Whisper. “The Night Desi Arnaz Wasn’t Half Safe.” August 1956, 19–21, 54.
Whitney, Dwight. “The President Wore a Dress to the Stockholders Meeting.” TV Guide, July 15–21, 1967.
Wick, Ted. “Irrepressible Lucy Plays Again.” Alberta Report, February 3, 1997, 41.
Wilson, Earl. It Happened Last Night. New York Post, December 19, 1960.
Wilson, Jeff. “Lucille Ball Survives Heart Attack, Seven-Hour Surgery.” Press– Enterprise [Riverside, Calif.], April 19, 1989.
Wohls, Robert. “Angela: The ‘Mame’ Who Got Away.” Los Angeles Times, April 14, 1974.
Zimmerman, Paul. Review of Mame: “On the Ball.” Newsweek, March 18, 1974.
Zoglin, Richard. “The TV Star: Lucille Ball.” Time, June 8, 1998.
WEB SITES/PROGRAMS
ABC Special Report. Barbara Walters and guests, “A Celebration: 100 Years of Great Women.” April 30, 1999. http://abcnews.go.com/onair/DailyNews/sp990430_100women_promo.htm.
AP General News. “Aussie Answer to Lucille Ball Farewelled in Sydney.” June 11, 2002.
AP Spanish Online. “Contemplan Llevar los Restos de Lucille Ball a Nueva York.” March 20, 2002.
AP Wire Service. Carolyn Thompson, “More Family Involvement Signals Bigger and Better Shrine to Lucille Ball.” July 11, 2002.
Biography Channel. “American Classics: Celebration of Comedienne Lucille Ball.” December 2001.
Craig’s Big Bands and Big Names. http://www.bigbandsandbignames.com/.
eLibrary Photographs. http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/b/ball-l1uc.asp.
Glen Charlow’s Lucille Ball Collection. http://www.lucilleball.net/collection/magcov.htm.
Lucille Ball [computer file]. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation [1998?]. Mode of access: Internet from the FBI Web site. http://foia.fbi.gov/ball.htm.
Mr. Blackwell’s List of Worst Dressed, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966. http://www.mrblackwell.com/list/.
Nesi, Ted, comp. “Lucy’s TV Appearances and Specials.” http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/6066/lucindex.htm.
NPR Wire Transcript. David Hiltbrand & Scott Simon, “No Question What’s Number One to TV Guide.” May 29, 1996.
———. Renee Montague interview with Kathleen Brady. August 6, 2001.
———. Diane Hanses, “Profile: ‘Skit Performed by Various TV Personalities—Slowly I turned. . . .’ ” July 7, 2001.
TV Guide Online. “Insider: Lucy’s Darkside.” May 11, 2000.
Variety.com. “Lucy Awards,” June 24, 2002.
World News Tonight Transcript. Peter Jennings, “The Century on Friday.” March 12, 1999.
Photographic Credits
CHAPTERS 1–9, 11–14:
Personality Photos, Inc./Howard Frank Archives P.O. Box 300050, Midwood Station Brooklyn, NY 11230-0050
CHAPTER 10:
Hollywood Confidential
CHAPTER 15
Cathy’s Closet at www.lucystore.com
INSERT PHOTOS:
Lucy modeling: Personality Photos, Inc./Howard Frank Archives
Desi: Photofest
Lucy and Desi with their mothers: Personality Photos, Inc./Howard Frank Archives
Lucy with a whip: Personality Photos, Inc./Howard Frank Archives
The Ricardos and the Mertzes as Santa Claus: Personality Photos, Inc./Howard Frank Archives
Lucy stills: Photofest
Family portrait: Personality Photos, Inc./Howard Frank Archives
Lucy as Chaplin: Ralph Crane/TimeLife Pictures/Getty Images
Lucy with Buster Keaton: Personality Photos, Inc./Howard Frank Archives
Newspaper covers: New York Post credit Photofest/El Diario credit El Diario
Lucy in bronze: Courtesy of the Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism
Lucy merchandise: Cathy’s Closet at www.lucystore.com
Modern Maturity cover: Courtesy AARP/Photo: Bettman/Corbis
Research by Villette Harris
Lucy as a top Hattie Carnegie mannequin in New York, circa 1932, decked out in the designer’s famous low-hemmed white sharkskin suit.
The first time she saw Desi drumming in Too Many Girls (1939), Lucy recalled, “I recognized the kind of electrifying charm that can never be faked: star quality.”
From childhood onward, both Lucy and Desi were exceptionally devoted to their mothers: Lucille with DeDe Hunt; Desiderio with Lolita Arnaz.
In her starlet period Lucy was glad for any assignment, no matter how ludicrous. Here she cracks a rhinestone whip as the cats dance in The Ziegfeld Follies (1946).
The Ricardos and the Mertzes dress the part for their Christmas program in 1951. From left: Vivian Vance, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, William Frawley.
Give Lucy a situation and she invariably jumped into it headfirst: “Lucy Gets in Pictures” (right) in 1955, and “Lucy and the Loving Cup” (1956).
When the going was good: against the backdrop of their Beverly Hills home, Desi an
d Lucy pose for a family portrait in 1955 with Desi Jr., aged two, and Lucie, four.
Turning her breadstick into a cigar, Lucy poses as Charlie Chaplin, to whom she was often compared. The salute occurred on her 1962 New Year’s show.
Modern Hollywood considered silent comedian Buster Keaton to be all washed up. Not Lucy, who played straight woman to her old adviser in a 1965 TV special.
Lucy’s death in April 1989 was given front-page treatment in the mainstream and Latino papers. The latter understandably emphasized her marriage to Desi Arnaz.
Since 1995, Emmanuil Snitkovsky’s bronze statue of Lucy has welcomed visitors to Palm Springs, California, where the Arnaz family spent many vacations.
Cathy Kelley of “Cathy’s Closet,”a booming Internet site based in Texas, with hundreds of Lucy items for sale, ranging from wristwatches to salt and pepper shakers.
In autumn 2001, Lucille Ball’s older fans were treated to a glamorous and astute reappraisal in Modern Maturity, house organ of the American Association of Retired Persons.
STEFAN KANFER
BALL OF FIRE
Stefan Kanfer’s books include The Eighth Sin, A SummerWorld, The Last Empire, Serious Business, and Groucho. He was a writer and editor at Time for more than twenty years. A Literary Lion of the New York Public Library and recipient of numerous writing awards, Kanfer is currently in the Distinguished Writer program at Southampton College, Long Island University. He lives in New York and Cape Cod.
ALSO BY STEFAN KANFER
Groucho: The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx
The Essential Groucho
Serious Business: The Art and Commerce of Animation in America from Betty Boop to Toy Story
The Last Empire: De Beers, Diamonds, and the World
A Summer World: The Attempt to Build a Jewish Eden in the Catskills, From the Days of the Ghetto to the Rise and Decline of the Borscht Belt
The International Garage Sale
Fear Itself
The Eighth Sin
A Journal of the Plague Years
FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, NOVEMBER 2004
Copyright © 2003 by Stefan Kanfer
Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows:
Kanfer, Stefan.
Ball of fire: the tumultuous life and comic art of Lucille Ball / Stefan Kanfer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Ball, Lucille, 1911–1989 2. Entertainers—United States—Biography.
I. Title.
PN2287.B16 K36 2003
791.45’028’092—dc21
[B] 2002043090
www.vintagebooks.com
www.randomhouse.com
eISBN: 978-0-307-42491-4
v3.0
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