I Love Lucy – Starring – Lucille Ball – Desi Arnaz – Vivian Vance – William Frawley

I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on CBS. After the series ended in 1957, however, a modified version continued for three more seasons with 13 one-hour specials, running from 1957 to 1960, known first as The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show and later in reruns as The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour.

The show, which was the first scripted television program to be shot on 35 mm film in front of a studio audience, won five Emmy Awards and received numerous nominations. Another award that the show won was the coveted Peabody Award for “recognition of distinguished achievement in television.”[2]

I Love Lucy is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential sitcoms in history.

Premise

Originally set in an apartment building in New York City, I Love Lucy centers on Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) and her singer/bandleader husband Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz), along with their best friends and landlords Fred Mertz (William Frawley) and Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance). During the second season, Lucy and Ricky have a son named Ricky Ricardo, Jr. (“Little Ricky”), whose birth was timed to coincide with Ball’s real-life delivery of her son Desi Arnaz Jr.[7]

Lucy is naïve and ambitious, with an undeserved zeal for stardom and a knack for getting herself and her husband into trouble whenever Lucy yearns to make it in show business. The Ricardos’ best friends, Fred and Ethel, are former vaudevillians and this only strengthens Lucy’s resolve to prove herself as a performer. Unfortunately, she has few marketable performance skills. She does not seem to be able to carry a tune or play anything other than off-key renditions of songs such as “Glow Worm” or “Sweet Sue” on the saxophone, and many of her performances devolve into disaster. However, to say she is completely without talent would be untrue, as on occasion, she is shown to be a good dancer and a competent singer. She is also at least twice offered contracts by television or film companies—first in “The Audition” when she replaces an injured clown in Ricky’s act, and later in Hollywood when she dances for a studio benefit using a rubber Ricky dummy as her dancing partner.

The show provided Ball ample opportunity to display her considerable skill at clowning and physical comedy. Character development was not a major focus of early sitcoms, so little was offered about her life before the show. A few episodes mentioned that she was born in Jamestown, New York (Lucille Ball’s real-life home town), later corrected to West Jamestown, that she graduated from Jamestown High School, that her maiden name was “McGillicuddy” (indicating a Scottish or Irish ethnicity at least on her father’s side, though she once mentioned her grandmother was Swedish; there are sizable Irish and Swedish communities in Jamestown), and that she met Ricky on a boat cruise with her friend from an agency she once worked for. Her family was absent, other than occasional appearances by her bird-brained mother (Kathryn Card), who could never get Ricky’s name right. Lucy also exhibited many stereotypical female traits that were standard for comedy at the time, including being secretive about her age and true hair color, and being careless with money, along with being somewhat materialistic, insisting on buying new dresses and hats for every occasion and telling old friends that she and Ricky were wealthy. She was also depicted as a devoted housewife and attentive mother.

Lucy and Ricky are mountain climbing in the Alps during their 1956 European vacation.

Lucy’s husband, Ricky Ricardo, is an up-and-coming Cuban American singer and bandleader with an excitable personality. His patience is frequently tested by his wife’s antics. When exasperated, he often reverts to speaking rapidly in Spanish. As with Lucy, not much is revealed about his past or family. Ricky’s mother (played by actress Mary Emery) appears in two episodes; in another Lucy mentions that he has five brothers. Ricky also mentions that he had been “practically raised” by his uncle Alberto (who was seen during a family visit to Cuba), and that he had attended the University of Havana.

An extended flashback segment in the 1957 episode “Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana” of The Lucille Ball–Desi Arnaz Show filled in numerous details of how Lucy and Ricky met and how Ricky came to the United States. The story, at least insofar as related to newspaper columnist Hedda Hopper, is that the couple met in Havana when Lucy and the Mertzes vacationed there in 1940. Despite his being a university graduate and proficient in English, Ricky is portrayed as a driver of a horse-drawn cab who waits for fares at a pier where tourists arrive by ship. Ricky is hired to serve as one of Lucy’s tour guides and the two fall in love. Having coincidentally also met popular singer Rudy Vallée on the cruise ship, Lucy arranges an audition for Ricky who is hired to be in Vallée’s orchestra thus allowing him to immigrate to the United States on the very ship on which Lucy and the Mertzes were returning. Lucy later states Ricky played for Vallée only one night before being traded to Xavier Cugat‘s orchestra.

Lucy is usually found with her sidekick and best friend Ethel Mertz. A former model from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ethel tries to relive her glory days in vaudeville. Ricky is more inclined to include Ethel in performances at his nightclub because, unlike Lucy, she can actually sing and dance rather well.

Ethel’s husband Fred served in World War I, and lived through the Great Depression. He is very stingy with money and an irascible no-nonsense type. However, he also shows that he can be a soft touch, especially when it comes to Little Ricky. Fred can also sing and dance and often performs duets with Ethel.

The Manhattan building they all lived in before their move to Westport, Connecticut, was addressed at a fictional 623 East 68th Street, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The addresses only go up to the 500s before the street terminates at the East River.

I Love Lucy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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I Could Have Never Imagined Baumwoll Archives – Keeps Going Towards a million views – On my YouTube videos and my blog, Thanks To You All

When I began Baumwollarchives.com, I hoped that I might get 2,000 people to come and see all my stuff, and my interests. Its hard for me to express how I feel. From the beginning of my life, I had many issues. My folks always kept me close. I didn’t go out at night until I was 19.

I was a sickly baby unable to come home for over 3 months due to the fact that I could not eat the foods that babies were given . My parents were told I was Celiac, and had to eat very special. One of my earliest memories is my older brother teasing me and eating in front of me. I have been sick all my life with this.

At 5 years old, on South Beach in Miami, where my grandfather owned hotels, I almost drowned. One summers day, my father saved me. I had my first out of body experience.

My other two times were when I lived with Ellen Burstyn. One time I got out of her boat as we watched the 1776-1976 Bicentenial. I was shy and would not go to the bathroom over the boat. I got in the Hudson river and it took me for a ride. I have never been the same. It was a wild out of body experience. The other time was in her home, the Stone Mansion in Sneden’s Landing when the part of the mansion, my living quarters, caught on fire. The fire was coming from the kitchen underneath me. Ellen Burstyn and Bill Smith, both screaming from outside, came to my rescue and saved me. 

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Ellen Burstyn’s Stone House – Snedens Landing – New York – 1975

I would live in this house for 3  and half years. The first 6 months I lived there alone as it was undergoing restoration. Ellen Burstyn lived  down the hill in the Old Ferry House while the restoration was being done. She had just won the Tony Award for the play “Same Time Next Year” and the Oscar for the film “Alice dosn’t Live Here Any More”. 

I always had great  difficulty getting out what was in my head. I did not get out of high school until I was 19. I had failed grades and was kept back. I even failed kindergarden. I was always in the special classes. Along with my issues of not liking to be touched, I was very very quiet and was super sensitive. I could not handle loud noises.  I had great difficulty with my speech. I was unable to see words in my head. I found it very hard to pronounce words which caused me to stutter. I also had a severe lisp. I was called names all my life.  I was always in my own world and I preferred to be by myself. My parents hoped that I would find my way.

I’ve realize if I have gone this far in telling who I truely am, I must not try to still hide. My father was a good man. He always made sure that we had what ever we needed. Never were we frightened of not having a home or food or anything that we really wanted. But like all people he was flawed. My mother and him had their problems.  At 11 years old, I began being molested by my fathers’ friends son  who was 25 years old  at the time. This went on for two years as we moved around the country from New York to Florida and then to California. It began as we were heading to California. He told me he would hurt my famly if I said any thing. The level of deprivation and dispair I had was overwhelming, to say nothing of what it did to my self esteeem and self worth. It has taken me a lifetime to find my words and myself and to realize that others had to have known, yet said nothing.  For innocence to be lost is a terrible thing, for one can never get it back. By sharing this with you, I am freeing myself from all the demons that we as people hide in the shadows of our lives. I hope you all understand how difficult it is to share, for there is always fear of what will you think.

By the time I was in my late twenties, through new psychological advances that began to understand about learning and psychological disorders starting in childhood, I discovered that I was dyslexic, along with a form of  Austim. My family was the type of family that had hard times with me for I did not fit in and that seemed to always seem to find its way towards me. They were always trying to change me to fit in. My clothes; my socks, how I looked at my nails, my hair; even how I sat. Nothing I could do would seem to make them proud.

My mother would say to me when we would all be going out as a famly, “You dont really want to go”. She prefered me to stay home. She was ashamed of who I really was. I had gone threw my life as we all do with what was given to us.

I was blessed with many great teachers and mentors; Ellen Burstyn, Joseph Campbell, Dominic Dunne; and many others. What was wild was that they each had found their way. This was one of the gifts, for I yearned to grow and as I lived they came in, each showing me the power of knowledge. With my questions, they helped me find the answers. My schooling came from life.  

I have been searching my whole life for knowlege and growth. I have always wanted to know more of who I was and where I came from. All I was ever told was we were from Belgium. When I began my blog, it came from wanting to share all that I had saved about my family and our time in America. It began all with the times in Edgemere Long Island New York in the early part of the 20th century. But I wanted to know more.  I had read a book by Rabbi Steven Greenberg, the first openly gay orthodox rabbi, telling a story about a very old man in Poland about how gay jewish men were treated when they went to synagogue, they were able to come but had to sit in the back. I had found out by then that my famly was not from Belgium like we were told. We were from Wasaw Poland, I have since discovered as far back as 1720. I have found many of their graves and some of their life stories. I was looking for other gay men in my line. My famly have married each other for 300 years; cousin to couisn. The great grandmother I am named after Bella Pressman Baumwoll was first cousin to my great grandfather. So if there were men in my line that didn’t marry surely they might have been gay. This is now part of my journey.

Not until the computer came along was I able, with the help of my partner of 34 years Andrew Reach, to find my way. It has been like coming home. My brain is free finally and its all coming out. I’ve always been a person who thinks outside the box. My blog has traveled  all over the world. My father would be so happy and proud of me. When he was very ill just before his passing, He had said to my mom, He’s a late bloomer. I know he watches. He like everyone else had to see.  I always had to do it my way and could not handle any one trying to control me.

Never give up, Keep pushing. Trust your feelings. We all are on our own paths. Life is all about solutions, faith and most of all, love.

Thanks to all of you worldwide who have come to visit Baumwollarchives.com and the world of an autodidact. Remember, life really is all a dream. What you think and feel inside, comes out. To be who you are takes courage and stamina. Each decision takes you to the next. Never let any one put you last, we are all our own souls . We’re here for a purpose that we are not able to really know. Follow who you are. I wish you  all peace. We are all sparks of God. No matter what, keep going.

Bruce Baumwoll

jack&brucebaumwollJack Baumwoll and Bruce Baumwoll 

bruce&jack2Jack Baumwoll and Bruce Baumwoll 

ellen, bruce age 1,3 Bruce Baumwoll 

gigiandbruceinfrontof407 Bruce Baumwoll and our dog GiGi, in front of our building  at 407 Central Ave Far Rockaway

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1 981  Andrew and I  , We realize we would never be apart and we never have. He has been my greatest teacher, He has shown me love and what love is.

Some Of My Teachers  

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Lenny Baker

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Joseph Campbell

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Dominick dunne

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Morris Carnovsky

1975burstyn26Ellen Burstyn & Jefferson Burstyn

 

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Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin

LIFE Magazine Photos “Indecent Exposure” – Rockaway Beach – 1946 – Photos by Sam Shere

Thanks to Wayne Oken

For his collection of this wonderful time

Photos by Sam Shere
Aug. 1946

Rockaway Beach
Photo by Sam Shere
LIFE  Magazine Photo Collection
Note: People who are considered underdressed – under the law.

“Indecent Exposure”

11078144_10204119602095014_7323443958269048295_oPhoto by Sam Shere

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Check out Waynes Oken two sites on Facebook 

His two groups are

Friends Of Rockaways

&

 Rockaways Histories and Memories

Andrew Reach Throw Pillows Available for Purchase on Society6.com

I’m proud to introduce to you Andrew Reach’s throw pillow designs now available for purchase at his store on Society6.com. Life is about going on after what ever has happen for Andrew and I it is all thru our art and the healing . This has been fun .

click on the screenshot image to visit his storesociety6_Pillows_screenshot