Happy Birthday, Lucy: Celebrating 103 Years of Laughter

"One of the greatest gifts to mankind is laughter, and one of the greatest gifts to laughter is Lucille Ball. God has her now but thanks to television, we'll have her forever."~ Bob Hope

"Lucy was the show! Viv, Fred and I were just props... and good props! But props nevertheless. P.S. "I Love Lucy" was never just a title."~ Desi Arnaz

As did we all, Lucy!

Born on the 6th of August, 1911, Lucille Désirée Ball, Lucy would bring to the world an incredible sense of joy, a sense of happiness and laughter in her work. The audiences would roar in laughter during her days on the television screen as she portrayed the beloved character in "I Love Lucy", Lucy Ricardo... 

as would they (her thousands of fans) morn just as hard if not harder on that tragic day of April 26th, 1989, when Lucy would be forced to leave us decades later. 

'"I Love Lucy" was never just a title."

And so in commemoration of this iconic beauty, talented actress and comedian, I have compiled a list of 10 unknown facts about the gorgeous redhead whose memory lives on through the roaring laughter provoked from that television screen where we all first met and fell deeply in love with Lucy.

(1.) Lucille Ball became the president of Desilu in 1962, making her the first female to claim a role as such in the entertainment industry.

(2.) Lucille Ball with her television baby, little Ricky appeared on the first cover of TV Guide in Jan. 1953. Ball ended up appearing on the cover of the magazine more than any other celebrity. Her total appearances amounting to 39.

(3.) When little Ricky was born, a greater audience viewed that episode of "I Love Lucy" than the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II as well as President Eisenhower's presidential inauguration. 

(4.) After the death of her father in 1914 from typhoid fever, Lucille was mostly raised by her mother Desiree otherwise referred to as "Dede" Ball and her stepfather Ed Peterson. Their family had been so stricken with poverty that Lucille couldn't even find the means to afford a pencil, an experience that would later cause Lucille's habitual hoarding of pencils throughout the rest of her life.

(5.) Initially, Lucille Ball resorted to bleaching her hair blonde in hopes of better fitting in whilst pursuing both acting and modeling in New York. 

(6.) I Love Lucy was the first comedy to be filmed in the presence of a live audience. In fact, when it aired, department stores closed early and telephone and water usage declined.

(7.) When CBS disagreed with Lucille and Desi Arnaz's insistence upon shooting "I Love Lucy" on pricy film in Hollywood, the couple agreed to take a pay cut in exchange for retaining complete ownership rights to the show as well as running it under their newly formed "Desilu Productions". 

(8.) Thank to the suggestion of Max Factor and with the use of a henna rinse, Lucille dyed her hair red to stand out against the ocean of other actresses and models.

(9.) On February the 8th in the year 1960, Lucille Ball received not only one, but two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures, located at 6436 Hollywood Blvd., the other for TV, located at 6100 Hollywood Blvd.

(10.) The theme song to "I Love Lucy" as a matter of fact, has lyrics. Desi sang them to her in the episode entitled "Lucy's Last Birthday", the lyrics are as follows:

"I love Lucy and she loves me

We're as happy as two can be

Sometimes we quarrel but then

How we love making up again

Lucy kisses like no one can

She's my missus and I'm her man

And life is heaven you see

'Cause I love Lucy, Yes I love Lucy and Lucy loves me!"

So, with all that said... Happy 103rd Birthday Lucy! Thanks for all of the joy you've brought each and everyone of us! There'll never be anyone else like you! xoxo

We Love you Lucy!

~ Erin <3

Candle in The Wind

Candle in The Wind

"your candle burned out long before... your legend ever did."

              "It's a pity that so much beauty has been lost to us"~John Huston

It's hard to believe that underneath that blanket, on the stretcher being wheeled out, destined for the morgue, there lay the body of Norma Jeane Baker, or as the public knew her best, the Hollywood bombshell, Marilyn Monroe!

What could have caused for such a tragic demise? Such a horrifying end? I'm sure the public had to reread the heading of the newspaper reading "Marilyn Dead". 

"Marilyn, Marilyn... why did it have to end like this? Why is life so rotten?"~ Truman Capote

And what about those mysterious final days of Marilyn? What revelations can be determined from those last sessions of psychoanalysis, the troubled movie star's last film (one ridden with trouble due to Marilyn's constant absences and tendencies to appear late on set) which was, however, far from a rarity of Marilyn. She'd in fact been well known in Hollywood for her series of costly delays... therefore, it was certainly no surprise.

Maybe it was when she was dropped from the picture after abandoning the film to make an appearance for JFK's 45th Birthday celebration in New York...

 But no, that couldn't be it... she was rehired and Fox negotiated a much larger sum of money for her than she'd been being paid previously not too long before her death.

Then what could be the reason behind the morbidity of this tragic end? Could it have resided back... way back to the tragic days of her childhood? Could the pain from the neglect of her mentally unstable mother, Gladys finally have killed her?

or could her death come from another? After all, she's had her share of enemies... and mysteriously enough... it had taken her housekeeper, Eunice Murray a considerable amount of time to report her death to the police.

 Could her housekeeper, Miss Murray have known more than she was letting on?


 *sigh* if only we could know more about Marilyn's final days... if only we were able to understand the reasoning for her premature death! I've pondered it for many years! I suppose it's one of those things doomed to remain forever a mystery...

Well, I suppose we'll never know for certain who or what caused Marilyn Monroe's tragic end. One thing, however, remains certain... Marilyn Monroe is and will forever remain a legend.

And even after all these years, Marilyn's memory has managed to live on, despite her untimely end... and I feel that even in decades to come, her legend will still carry a special place in the hearts of all who should ever come to know her. 

"She had a luminous quality... that set her apart and yet made everyone wish to be a part of it, to share in the childlike naivety which was at once so shy and yet so vibrant."~ Lee Strasberg

"The luminosity of that face! There has never been a woman with such voltage on the screen"~ Billy Wilder

"Marilyn is near genius as any actress I ever knew. She is pure cinema"~Joshua Logan

It's hard to believe that 52 years have passed since the movie star's tragic death. It's very liberating to see, however, her success in managing to live on, her legend outliving her timeless finale...

and there's no doubt in my mind that she has managed to fulfill her dream... to simply... "be wonderful".

Goodbye Norma Jean

Though I never knew you at all
You had the grace to hold yourself

While those around you crawled
They crawled out of the woodwork
And they whispered into your brain
They set you on the treadmill
And they made you change your name

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in

And I would have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did

                                             R.I.P. Marilyn! xoxo <3