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 and 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.