Hello! A couple of exciting things have happened to me since my last post. On Monday I learned that Vivian Vance and William Frawley (I Love Lucy's Ethel and Fred Mertz) are among this year's inductees into the Television Hall of Fame! Lucille Ball was one of the innaugural inductees in 1984, and I believe Desi Arnaz was inducted posthumously, along with I Love Lucy, in 1992. So, HOORAY for Viv and Bill! It's about time! Read about Viv and Bill's "illustrious" company and the full story here. I hope someone special like Keith Thibodeaux (Little Ricky) or Lucie Arnaz (daughter of Lucy and Desi) can accept the awards on Viv and Bill's behalf. Or if the Academy wanted to get creative they could get one of Bill's My Three Sons co-stars and Ralph Hart, Vivian's son on The Lucy Show, to accept.
Speaking of Lucie Arnaz, she is the subject of my second exciting event. Earlier this month, Lucie Arnaz auctioned authentic Lucy-Desi memorbelia from her personal collection and I was lucky enough - FLOORED is more like it! - to be able to win a postcard that Lucille Ball wrote to her mother from London in the 1960s.
That postcard is obviously now one of my most prized possessions, and as soon as I received it I Lucie a note to tell her how grateful and excited I was to have won this postcard and to thank her for her generosity. It was a heartfelt letter of appreciation, if I do say so myself! You can imagine, then, how pleasantly shocked, touched, and THRILLED I was when I came home from work yesterday and discovered that there was a note from Lucie Arnaz waiting for me in the mail! On Lucie's personal stationary, and in her own handwriting:
My day, my week, has been made!
The real purpose of this post, however, is to honor Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's 71st wedding anniversary on November 30, 1940. Lucy and Desi's deep, passionate, heartbreaking, and, ultimately, enduring love affair has been the subject of literally dozens of books (I should know - I own 45 of them!), and I don't think I can say much else about this fascinating and extraordinary couple that hasn't already been said. I love them, and I love the wonderful gift they left for their millions, billions of fans. I think the best way for me to honor them is to share some of my favorite Lucy-Desi pictures (these come from the massive file of Lucy pictures I've amassed over the years). Enjoy!
Newlyweds!
A little PDA never hurt anybody.
Face-to-face.
Flaunt what you've got, baby!
Sweet nothings?
Clean-up crew!
I love a couple that likes to party!
Now this looks like fun!
I don't dig scruffy mans, but Desi can pull it off. For the record, I prefer him clean-shaven!
I love that this is in color!
I wish I could stay here all day and post pictures, but unfortunately I have my grad class in an hour and I've made myself late! Ciao, darlings, and Happy Anniversary to Lucy and Desi!
Oh, so exciting that Viv and Bill have been inducted - it's about time!
ReplyDeleteIt's so cool that Lucie Arnaz wrote back to you! I love her for the way she conducted this auction, on eBay so regular people could buy things. I didn't think of writing to her, but now I wish I had and will probably send her a note. :)
I loved this post, by the way. I thought I would be the only one remembering Lucy and Desi's 71st, hehe. :) My file of Lucy photos on my computer is humongous, too, and so much of them are of her and Desi! They're my very most favorite Hollywood couple. ;)
I love Lucie Arnaz. She's so down-to-earth and has obviously inherited her mother's sense of fan appreciation! I wrote to Lucie a few years ago after I saw her perform live and she sent me a lovely autographed picture of herself. I'm sure she'd reply to you if you wrote to her! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked this post! I wish I'd had time to do a longer, more proper tribute but I had to rush to class after work today. Your Lucy-Desi post was spectacular. I'm headed over to your blog to leave you a proper comment. Lucy and Desi were a wonderful couple. I'm always happy to find other people who love and appreciate them as I do! :)
Amen.
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