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papermoonloveslucy · 3 years

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LUCY PLEASES PUBLIC

June 30, 1952

Incredibly, this newspaper has misspelled the author’s name. Louella (not Luella) Parsons wrote about Hollywood from 1914 to 1965. At her peak, her columns were read by 20 million people in 700 newspapers worldwide. Louella (or Lolly, as she was sometimes called) was mentioned on “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show,” usually in the same breath as her rival, Hedda Hopper.

HOLLYWOOD.

Unless Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz will be in Honolulu as you read this story. (1) After an un precedented year on their TV show, "I Love Lucy”, which is seen by 30,000,000, they need a holiday.

“Do you think I’ll be criticized because I’m taking time off instead of doing benefits and personal appearances?”

That question is typical of Lucille, who tries hard to do what everyone wants her to, even at the risk of her own health. Her doctor, Mark Rabwin (2), who is also a close personal friend of Lucy and Desi, has insisted she spend week-ends in the hospital to rest because she is so close to exhaustion. Yet, here she is with a guilt complex because she cannot do the many benefits requested of her. Lucille is really the most completely uninhibited person l know. I have always loved Lucy, and I think I love her even more since I’ve grown to know her better these last few years.

In a town such as Hollywood, when an actress zooms to fame as great as that of Lucille, you re bound to hear a few catty, jealous remarks, but I've never heard one person express anything but happiness for Lucille.

Two years ago when I spent my vacation in Del Mar, Lucille and Desl were also there and we had many a talk. They were both praying so hard for a baby. Lucille had Just lost her first child. She said at that time, "I'm willing to give up anything - my career or anything - if I can just have a baby. Desi wants a child so much, too."

Then, one day after we were all back from Del Mar, she telephoned me.

"Oh, Louella, our prayers and yours are going to be answered. Desi and I are going to have a baby."

You'd have thought Lucille was a fragile Dresden China Doll the way Desi looked after her. As for Lucille, she rested and stayed home to be sure nothing happened, because she always felt she lost her first baby because she did so much traveling to be with Desi on his tours.

When the baby arrived finally, it seemed after months of waiting. Desi telephoned me at the crack of dawn. "You're the first to know, Louella," he said, "and we're telling you because you helped us pray for our wonderful little girl."

That little girl, Lucie Desiree, is now 14 months old and a darling, and never has a child been so loved.

Lucille and Desi work side by side, not only in their TV show, but In their Desilu productions. Not only do they do their own show "I Love Lucy," but they are producing Eve Arden's TV show (3) and others, including Red Skelton's filmed commercials.

All this success happened to a girl who wearily trod from agent to agent In New York, trying to get a foothold In show business, although she admits she never got a nickel's worth of encouragement.

"With me," said Lucille, "things always happen unexpectedly. I might never have come to Hollywood if a girl had not backed out of accepting an offer from the Goldwyn company for an Eddie Cantor picture (4). I had never been to the coast.

"I was coming out of an agent's office," Lucille reminisced, "when a Goldwyn representative grabbed me and said, 'How would you like to go to California?' He was desperate. Well, I had to get ready in a matter of hours, and you know the rest."

Yes, I have known Lucille since she came here as a blonde with those great big blue eyes. Then she changed the color of her hair and it's the pinkest hair in the world. She's been kidded a lot, and a Time article (5) describes her hair as "shocking pink and straw berry orange.”

“With all this television success, what about pictures?" I asked Lucille.

"Oh, I'm not giving up my motion picture career," she said, "but I don't know now when I'll have time. After all, TV Is like pictures."

"Don't you admit it's harder?"

"Yes, it is harder," she answered, "because it's like making a picture a week. But we love it."

"You and all the world," I said to her as we parted.

# # #

FOOTNOTES FROM THE FUTURE

(1) Hawaii was one of Lucy and Desi’s favorite getaway destinations. They would travel there whenever time permitted. Lucy Ricardo never got to go to Hawaii, but Lucy Carter did!

(2) Dr. Mark Rabwin was honored to have a character named after him. When “Ricky Has Labor Pains” (ILL S2;E14) January 5, 1953, Dr. Rabwin is played by Lou Merrill. In the 1950s, doctors not only made house calls, but they smoked when they made them!

(3) Eve Arden’s TV show was called “Our Miss Brooks”. It originated on radio, also with Arden. Gale Gordon, Mary Jane Croft, and Richard Crenna, all joined Arden on television, where it ran from 1952 to 1956. In 1956, it also became a motion picture.

(4) The Eddie Cantor picture that brought Lucille Ball to Hollywood was titled Roman Scandals (1933). Lucille became a ‘Goldwyn Girl’ (the film was produced by Samuel Goldwyn) and wore a long blonde wig.

(5) The Time article was also a cover story, published just a month before this column.

#Louella Parsons #Lucille Ball #Time Magazine #I Love Lucy #Hawaii #Mark Rabwin #Roman Scandals #Our Miss Brooks #Eve Arden

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