Lucy and Desi's Lost Christmas Episode

**The Following Great Information is taken from a wonderful website, TVPARTY.COM which has great information about some wonderful old TV shows. Be sure to take the time to check them out.

On Christmas Day, 1959, The Desilu Playhouse (1958-1960) presented a special Christmas broadcast starring the whole I Love Lucy gang, in addition to the Desilu Players and numerous stars of other popular Desilu productions like George Murphy, Spring Byington, Lassie, Danny Thomas, Hugh O'Brien and Ann Sothern. Even Hollywood hag Hedda Hopper made an appearance!

The wrap-around plot had Hollywood gossip queen Hedda Hopper interviewing Lucy and Desi about the Desilu Players and the show they recently staged. This led to flashbacks of Lucy (who was directing the stage show) creating chaos backstage between the musical numbers.

This Desilu Christmas special was produced and (essentially) directed by Lucille Ball herself. This is the only Desilu production I can think of that features the I Love Lucy cast members playing "themselves."

The juxtaposition of the 'real' Lucy with the Lucy character is slightly confusing and, though Vivian Vance is referred to as "Vivian" here, her personality is basically Ethel's with more attitude.

If you ever get the opportunity to watch this hour-long special, look for the scene where William Frawley (as himself?) tries to pick up one of the young girls in the show. How's this for a come-on: "Miss Lovell, do you feel about older men the way I feel about younger women?"

This program is significant because it's one of the last appearances of the four I Love Lucy cast members together, Lucy and Desi filed for divorce just a few months after this special was filmed. They only appeared together in one more Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Show; they never again acted together on any another TV show.

The Desilu Players was a pet project of Lucille Ball's, who hand-picked each of the versatile performers as her protégés (they actually were appearing in a stage revue that she produced in LA around the time of this broadcast). The musical and comedy numbers from the live show were filmed almost exactly as originally staged, but only the musical numbers ended up in the Christmas special's final edit.

One of those musical numbers ('I'm Only Happy When I'm Singin' the Blues') featured some wild art direction and garnered excellent revues for the sterling performances by Carole Cook and Dick Kallman as singing/dancing coffeehouse beatniks.

Carole Cook went on to become a life-long friend of Lucy's, appearing on Broadway and several times on The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy. Dick Kallman starred in the fondly remembered TV series Hank in 1965. He also embarked on a promising Broadway career before being tragically murdered in his New York apartment in 1980.

Also in the Desilu Playhouse cast: Majel Barrett (Nurse Chappell on Star Trek another Desilu show) and Robert Osborne (the Classic Movie Channel host and erstwhile writer for the Hollywood Reporter

I Love Lucy episodes often mirror real life

The Club Election (Episode #47)

Lucy often used inserted events and people from hers and Desi's life into Lucy and Ricky Ricardo's life on I Love Lucy. This particular episode was full of names of real life people who were near and dear to Lucy's heart.

Originally aired on February 16, 1953

You will remember that the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League is having its annual club election and Lucy and Ethel both wind up running for club president. Unfortunately, the vote is split pretty evenly between the club members which means the newest member Ruth Knickerbocker (with the cut glass punchbowl and matching cups) will have the deciding vote.

Guest Cast In This Episode: Doris Singleton (Lillian Appleby whose name is later changed to Carolyn Appleby); Ida Moore (Mrs. Knickerbocker); Margie Liszt (Marion Strong); Hazel Pierce (Grace Munson); Lurene Tuttle (outgoing club president); Peggy Rea (Pauline Lopus)



Interestingly, this was the first episode to feature Doris Singleton as Lucy and Ethel's friend... In this story, she is called Lillian Appleby. In real life, Lillian Appleby was one of Lucy's Jamestown, NY teachers. Marion Strong, Grace Munson, and Pauline Lopus were all good personal friends of Lucy.

Here's a funny clip of Lucy talking about Marion Strong's hat and her "cackling" laugh! This one is from "Lucy Tells The Truth"

Fell Like Shopping?

Feel like shopping? I love collecting Lucy memorobilia and there's no better place to get it than the Lucy-Desi online gift shop run by the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown New York. They sell the same great stuff on-line that you can get if you visit but you get to pre-order new and up-coming items that are just in the planning stages. I'm gonna show you a few here. I have a hunch they're gonna be really popular and if they come out in time for Christmas, look out. Pre-order what you like now so you are sure to get them in time. Here's the link. Go to lucy-desi.com to check all the goodies out for yourself!

I Love Lucy Disposable Camera

Have your picture taken with Lucy anytime and anywhere! This clever camera contains 12 different "I Love Lucy" scenes that will surround you in smiles!

Price: $14.95


"Peppy People" Travel Mug

You will definitely be a "peppy person" when taking this sturdy ceramic Lucy travel mug full of coffee! Stands 6.5" high.

Price: $12.95


I Love Lucy Fabric (there are a lot of different fabrics, so check out the link!)

These fantastic fabrics will allow any Lucy-Desi fan's imagination to run wild! Create pants to curtains, aprons to quilts using these long awaited fabrics.

(You'll even find a quilting kit which includes all necessary fabric and instructions!)
PLEASE INCLUDE THE NUMBER OF YARDS IN THE QUANTITY AREA. PRICE INDICATED IS PER YARD.

Price: $9.95 per yard

Well, there's a few ideas to 'whet your whistle'. I've already pre-ordered the camera. I can't wait for it to come in! If you order anything, let us all know!

Lucy's Wardrobe

I know we've mentioned it before, especially when talking about our Paper Doll give-a-way. Most Lucy lovers agree, we loved Lucy's I Love Lucy wardrobe from her cocktail dress right down her house dresses and even her weird "I'm gonna get Ricky back for that!" outfits! We owe the majority of those lovely creations to Eloise Jenssen who was Lucy's dress designer, on and off the set, for many years.

Eloise died on Valentines day in 2004. This is an excerpt of the 2004 "Still In Love With Lucy newsletter that was written by Thomas Watson for the Lucy - Desi Museum contributors and members. Thomas had run a previous article about Eloise. These are the readers comments. I thought you might enjoy reading them. I did.

"Many thanks for the nice e-notes regarding fashion/costume designer Elois Jenssen, who passed away February 14. One fan wrote: "I always loved the outfits that Miss Jenssen did for Lucy... Even her everyday clothes were suddenly smart and spiffy. Many of the outfits Lucy wore in the real early episodes were a little on the dowdy side..."

Another said: "Elois did not just dress Lucy... She seemed to participate in the creative process, because in some instances, her outfits WERE the joke. I am thinking particularly of the Charm School get-ups that Lucy and Ethel wore. Whatta riot!"

Author Allan Glaser agrees... "There are many times that Elois' contributions 'made the moment.' I am thinking particularly of the breakaway outfits Lucy and Ethel wore for the 'Friendship' number, the Marilyn Monroe outfit, and the heavy showgirl headdress Lucy tried to wear in Hollywood. The outfits made the comedy moments believable."

If you want to have some fun and go through some old newsletters, you can get to them through this link. Go to lucyfan.com to find some interesting information. If you like what you read and find anything you'd like to share, leave a comment on this post for everyone else to read.

I'll have more information on Eloise in a later post.

WE HAVE OUR WINNER!!!

Congratulations to Lynn! She's the winner of the beautiful I Love Lucy paper dolls give-a-way! Thanks to everyone else who entered. We still have our other contest going on right now for the second season of I Love Lucy on DVD so be sure to enter!

Early Desi information

Young Desi Arnaz first started his 'rhumba band' when he came to America at a very young age. He became very attracted to the musical rhythms of his own nationality and decided he wanted to work in the nightclub business. Even though it eventually became a long running joke, Desi began a partial partnership with fellow bandleader Xavier Cugat and Cugat promised Desi that he would send him a few band members.

Instead of experienced Spanish musicians, Cugat sent band members alright,but each man came from a completely different background. Not one of them even knew any Latin songs, so Desi had to start from scratch and teach them. The men didn't get along very well at first, however, with some hard work their personalities melded and Desi would soon developed his own actual rhumba band.

NEW FALL CONTEST!!! I Love Lucy - The Complete Second Season from 1951

To wish my wonderful "Lucy" readers a Happy Fall season, I've decided to have another contest! Yes, that's right! This time, we'll be giving away the boxed set of I Love Lucy - The Complete Second Season (1951 on DVD.

All you have to do to enter is follow these two simple steps:

1. either subscribe to this blog OR become a follower of it. Either way, you'll receive automatic notifications of updates.

2. Leave a comment on this post telling us which one of the "supporting" cast of characters on the show was your favorite. For example; Mrs. Trumble, Freddie Filmore, Ernie Ford, Teensie or Weensie, Marion Strong, Caroline Appleby...or any of the many others.

That's it! That's all there is to it! The contest will run through Midnight of Friday November 27, 2009. After all of that Christmas shopping, some lucky reader will be getting a nice gift for themselves! The winner will be chosen at random. There will be only ONE winner and the contest is only for those in the Unites States.

So, tell your friends and REMEMBER....there's still time to enter our PAPER DOLLS contest. That one runs until Halloween so happy entering!

Lucy, Hollywood's Technicolor Tessie

Back in the day, according to LIFE magazine, Cameramen and technicians both referred to our lovely Lucy as "Technicolor Tessie" because she was so colorful and looked so beautiful on film. With her gorgeous hair that was described as every color from strawberry blond to apricot, her beautiful deep cornflower blue eyes and her famous red lips, Lucy was made for the camera.

Lucy's skin was so fair, she always looked natural in front of the camera, no matter what look the make-up artist was going for. For technicolor films, three times more light was needed than for black and white films. Makeup needed to be thinner and lighter in order for it not to look mask-like on camera. Lucy carried it off because of her beautiful, flawless skin.

These photographs are proof that Lucy deserves the title bestowed on her by the studios. They were taken by photographer Walt Sanders. She is wearing nothing more than everyday street makeup, and they were done with everyday lighting and not special effects.

These beautiful pics were originally shown in LIFE magazine, the August 9, 1943 issue

Old Suspense Radio Shows Starring Lucy and others!

PERFECT LUCY TIME FOR HALLOWEEN!

I've come across this wonderful website that I think you will love. It features wonderful stars from the "good old days" of Hollywood doing thriller/horror shows on radio in the 1940's. There are some from Lucy and other big names like Olivia DeHavilland, Orsen Wells, Susan Haywood,Vincent Price and tons more. Check!k it out. It's perfect for Halloween. Just click on the link, go down the list and open the file you want to listen to. Many thanks to the owner of this site for putting together such a gem!


obscurehorror.com

More I Love Lucy Trivia

From the comments I receive, I know you guys like trivia, so here you go. Comments are always welcome!

This tidbit makes me sad but it is interesting. Desi Arnaz had wanted Episode #153, Return Home From Europe to be the last episode of the series, but he was persuaded to stay on for another season. It's sad because even though the series went on, this episode has many lines that give a sense of closure and fans could sense the end was coming. Also of note, it was the last I Love Lucy episode that involved Jess Oppenheimer(Producer). Oppenheimer later went on to sue Desilu after the The Lucy Show came on the air saying that "Lucy Carmicheal" was really "Lucy Ricardo" with a different last name.

Episode #172, Lucy Does The Tango, has the longest laugh ever recorded in I Love Lucy history - sixty-five seconds long!

In Episode #4, The Diet, we have the first on-screen appearance by Marco Rizo, the accomplished pianist who was also Desi's long-time friend. We also hear the song "Cubn Pete/Sally Sweet" which was part of Lucy and Desi's 1950 vaudeville tour, which was, in part what helped convince CBS honchos to invest in I Love Lucy.

Jack Benny's Favorite Lucy Episode

Here's a little I love Lucy movie star trivia for you:

Did you know that Episode #114, L.A. At Last!, where Lucy sets her nose on fire in front of Bill Holden was Jack Benny's favorite episode?

In Episode #125, The Dancing Star,Ray Bolger (best known for playing the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz) was originally to have been "The Dancing Star," but couldn't make it due to other obligations, so Lucy's long time friend and fellow red head Van Johnson filled in for him.

And speaking of Van Johnson, in episode #122, The Star Upstairs, Van Johnson was originally going to play that part instead of Cornell Wilde but due to a sponsor conflict (I Love Lucy was sponsored by Philip Morris, Johnson was sponsoring Lucky Strike)was unable to do so. Only 28 days later, when his contract for Lucky Strike was completed he filmed the episode #125, "The Dancing Star."

I hope you enjoyed that little bit of trivia. Stay tuned for more, and don't forget it's not too late to enter our Paper Doll contest so tell your friends and spread the word.

Trivia Game

If you like trivia, and I know you do, I just found an actual I Love Lucy trivia game on Amazon. Check it out and see if you can pick one up for yourselves. Here's what it looks like.

Lucy and Gary Morton

In 1960, she starred in the Broadway musical, Wildcat, with actress Paula Stewart, who introduced her to Gary Morton, a stand-up comic whom she married in 1961. Wildcat ended its run after only 171 performances when Lucy, suffering from a virus and chronic fatigue, became too ill to

Lucy met second husband Gary Morton in 1960 while starring in the Broadway musical Wildcat with Paula Stewart. Gary was a stand-up comedian then. The two married in 1961 and remained married until Lucy's death in 1989.

"Be A Pal" Season 1, Episode 2

Did any of you think this on is as funny as I do? Be A Pal. I even love the Ethel reads the book as she sits at Lucy's kitchen table. that Lucy looks so funny in those big old baggy pajamas and her hair up in curlers. I have an aunt that dresses just like that!

Anyway, here's some interesting trivia about that episode. Do you remember when Lucy's last resort was thinking that Ricky just missed Cuba and missed his mother and maybe wanted Lucy to be more like her? So she dressed up like Carmen Miranda and lip syncs "Mama Eu Quero" which is a Brazilian song, not a Cuban song. The other funny part about this episode is this, do you remember when Lucy is having all of the little kids running out of the bedroom area (acting like they are Ricky's younger siblings) and she's telling them about all the delicious food they'll be eating such as tacos etc... Well, in that whole string of food she mentions, none of the food is Cuban!

Since it was only the second episode of the show and the audience was live, certain celebrity friends of Lucy and Desi showed up to show their support. Among them was Jack Benny and his wife, Van Johnson, her close friend Ginger Rogers, Eve Arden Carmen Miranda herself and Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Macrae. The real studio audience had a real treat that night!

NEW GIVE-AWAY!! HIGHLY COLLECTIBLE I LOVE LUCY PAPERDOLLS!!! RARE AND MUCH SOUGHT AFTER!!!

OK, I am excited bout this! I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of the I Love Lucy paper dolls set. These came out in 2004 and now they are SOOOOOO hard to get. Check it out for yourself on Amazon....they are going for over $120 - $140 dollars a pop....and sometimes that's for used ones.

For this give-away, You can win a new set of the same I Love Lucy Paper dolls I am talking about. You get two Lucy paper dolls and 25 of her MOST FAMOUS I Love Lucy outfits! There is also LOTS of information about the show and Lucille herself.

I was so excited when this book of paper dolls arrived, I was tempted to keep it myself!

***So, here's the scoop. This contest will run until Halloween night, 12 midnight Eastern Standard Time.

***To enter:

1) Become a follower or a subscriber
2)Leave a comment telling us about your favorite Lucy Outfit! Serious or funny, just tell us one you loved:-)
3)Leave your First name and e-mail address in the comment.

That's it!!!

I hope you'll spread the word about the contest. It's a great chance for someone to get their hands on a great collectible that's worth a substantial amount of money. Contest begins now, so start your engines and let's go!




Here's some photo's from the book so you have an idea of what your shooting for:

Lucy's birthday celebration if Jamestown, NY

This is the "must-go-to" festival for every Lucy fan. Every year Jamestown pulls out all the stops and celebrates Lucy's birthday better than the year before and EVERYONE is invited. And I mean everyone from around the country and around the world. This year will be no exception. I hope I can get a hotel room!

This year the festivities are scheduled from August 7 through August 9. Let me give you a run-down. Ever year there is the "Komedy Kollege" where participants can get a quick class in how to perform from wacky comedy such as Lucy did, then later that same day they perform a scene from one of the better known I Love Lucy episodes. There are outdoor evening screenings of I Love Lucy episodes, A picnic in the back yard of what was Lucy's childhood home, extended narrated tours of Jamestown outlining where Lucy spent her formative years. There's tons of impersonators, Collectors from all over showing their amazing collections, There's even auctions of some real Lucy-Desi memorabilia. In addition, you can take a cruise on Chautauqua Lake, win hundreds of dollars in valuable prizes and see many surprise guests.

Consider this the best "heads-up" a Lucy Lover could get. If you are taking a summer vacation, this could be it. Make your plans now and get a little closer to seeing the real Lucy.

More trivia....Test your knowledge

There were three episodes of I Love Lucy that were colorized. Can you name them?

1. Lucy goes to Scotland
2. LA at Last!
3. Christmas Special (from season 6)

Apparently the colorized version of LA at last was lost for a while so it has not been included as a bonus on any of the DVD sets. So, lets do a short reader poll here.

So you think that all of the other I Love Lucy episodes should be colorized? If not, why? Let's try to get some good fan input on this so tell your friends!

By the way, I'm working hard on digging up a really good prize for our next contest so stay tuned!

(By the way, the picture above is of one of the I Love Lucy collectible bears. This one is from episode #144 - Lucy Goes To Scotland, and was limited to 1500 made)

Hillarious trivia!

I don't know if this is true or not, but according to the Internet gossip site IMBD.com when she was young, Lucy was once fired from her job at an ice cream store because she kept forgetting to put bananas in the bananas splits! I just love that!

Lucy and Max Factor

Did you know that Lucy signed her first endorsement contract with Max Factor in 1935 and renewed it again in 1942. Of all of the Hollywood celebrities of the time, Lucy had the longest association with the Max Factor company and Max Factor himself was credited for the make-up on the I LOVE LUCY television show.

In Lucy's day, Max Factor was highly sought after not only for his talent as an artist but for his knowledge and inventiveness with makeup. He is responsible for two very important developments in makeup back then. In 1940 he invented Max Factor's True Colour Lipstick which was considered the first lipstick where the color didn't irritate or change after it is applied, and in 1947 Max Factor developed Pan Stick Makeup for television. Max is also credited for creating the false eyelash and the eyebrow pencil.

Lucy was a Leo, Desi was Pisces

Since we all love interesting facts about the people we love, I thought it might be fun to note the astrological signs of Lucy and Desi. Lucy was a Leo
, the sign of the lion.

People born under the star sign of Leo are generally confident, ambitious, generous, loyal and encouraging to others. That sums up Lucy pretty well if you ask me. Some of the weaker points to a Leo's personality can be the tendency to be stubborn and melodramatic. I think, if Lucy had those traits, they served her well. In order to succeed the way she did, she would have had to be stubborn not to give up, to keep pushing, to prove that she was right in doing things the way she wanted. Her way. And, every actress or actor has to have a little melodrama in their personality. It's what makes them an artist in my opinion.

Desi was born under the sign of Pisces the fish. This would mean that Desi would have tended to be passionate,accepting, devoted and imaginative. For those who go for this kind of thing, they would also tell you that the stars would have read Desi to have been over-sensitive and somewhat indecisive.

Does all of this astrology talk remind any of you of episode 7 in season 1 where Lucy and Ethel become interested in Numerology and Astronomy? To make a long story short, Lucy almost ruins Ricky's chances of starring in a new musical so to make amends she goes to visit "Mr. Merriweather" (played by Jay Novello) who is also very interested in these same activities. Somehow, everybody is involved in a seance, with Ethel acting as medium, in order to contact "Tilly" (Mr. Merriweather's beloved cockerspaniel) and then Mrs. Merriweather! Anyway, this episode is known as "The seance" episode and usually gets high points on the perverbial laugh meter.

Really fun I Love Lucy Trivia I Thought You Might Like...

Did you know that during the time that the Ricardos lived in in their New York City apartment they had three different telephone numbers! If you can think back, You will remember Lucy and Ricky giving their numbers as "Murray-hill 5-9975", CIrcle-7-2099, and MUrray-hill 5-9099. These numbers were really telephone numbers that went unused by the New York Bell Telephone Company. Why so many changes you ask? When the numbers had to be used, the telephone numbers would call the shows producers and give them a new unused number!

Did you know....

That in March of 1977 a Disco version of the I Love Lucy theme actually became a hit single. It even stayed on the dance charts for three months and on the pop charts for seven weeks! 1977 was the year I graduated high school (uh oh--dating myself here) and I sure can't remember this. I'm ashamed of myself!

Hotels (well, fake hotels) involved in Ricky and Lucy Ricardo's life

THE BEVERLY PALMS HOTEL
The Ricardos stayed in Room 315 and the Mertzes in Room 317 at this hotel. Of course, there's no listing for this hotel in the phone book because it was made up for the show. This is where everyone stayed when Ricky took the gang to Hollywood to film "Don Juan". No matter that it was as fake as Lucy's nose in the Bill Holden scene it was beautiful and you can see a replica of it at the Lucy-Desi playhouse in Jamestown.

How about THE BROADWAY HOTEL, HOLLYWOOD
True I Love Lucy fans know that we could see this hotel sign out of Lucy and Ricky's hotel window. I couldn't find any listing for this hotel in the phone book so I don't think it was real. Anyone have an info to the contrary, please be sure to let us know.

Hattie Carnegie's Jewelry

As mentioned in an earlier post, Hattie designed a line of costume jewelry that is still highly collectible and sought after today. I would have loved to have seen Lucy in some of these. I wonder if she had worn any of these pieces? It's fun to think that she did.

Some Hattie Carnegie Dresses

To continue on with our Hattie Carnegie storey so we can get a better glimpse of Lucy's modeling days spent with her, here a few photos of Hattie's designs:

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Well, out first contest has concluded and we have a winner! Chosen totally at random, our winner is "Jim W." who, like many of you, choose the Chocolate Factory episode as his favorite. The winning prize was the complete first season of I Love Lucy on DVD. Congratulations Jim! For everyone else, I truly thank you for your entries.

I loved reading about every one's favorites! The chocolate factory and Vitametavegamin came in about tied. The grape stomping and Lucy with Bill Holden in Hollywood were close runner ups. John Wayne's footprints got a lot of votes as did the episode where Lucy told Ricky she was pregnant and where little Ricky was born. You all did a great job. I am planning more contests for the future so please stay tuned. You won't be sorry.

Lucy and Hattie Carnegie

We "Lucy lovers" almost have to credit the famous Hattie Carnegie and her salon with the start of Lucy's career. Hattie was born on 15 March 1889 in Vienna and came to New York where she eventually based her fashion empire.

She rose to fame in the 20's and 30's which was the era of hats for women and Hattie started out as a milliner where owned a beautiful shop on East Tenth street. She called it Carnegi-Ladies Hatter. After that, she turned her attention to her dress shop which she opened in a much ritzier neighbor hood on the upper West side at 42ND and 49Th streets. Now close to Saks Fifth Avenue, the Hattie Carnegie boutique began to cater to a much different clientele. Hattie sold dresses that were her own design as well as dresses from designers such as the famous Chanel and Dior as well as a costume jewelry line she also designed herself. Believe it or not, she even sold cosmetics, but under a different name.

It wasn't long before Hattie's designs were a major success and her client list began to include movie stars and royalty such as the Duchess of Windser and Joan Crawford. Hattie died in 1956 but her dresses, hats and jewelry are still prized and highly collectible even today and often go for outrageous prices and they are worth every Penny!

When young Lucy graduated from high school and went to New York City looking for work and to make her mark on the show-biz world, she thought she'd try her hand at acting but when some teachers at the actors studio told her she was basically talentless (can you imagine!!!), knowing she needed to eat, Lucy decided to give modeling a try. Thinking that the name "Diane Belmont" (after the famous race track in New York) sounded sophisticated, she applied for a job at the famous salon. Because of her height and slim figure, she was hired.

Hattie took a instant liking to the skinny, long-legged girl and saw something in her that that others didn't. She used Lucy more often than her other models because she never complained, worked hard and always maintained a sense of humor. She also had the body to carry off all the looks in the salon. Hattie also recommended Lucy for the "Chesterfield Girl" billboard ad campaign. It seems as if it was a match made in heaven. This photo is one of our Lucy modeling. I can't be sure if this is a shot where she is wearing one of Hattie's designs or not, but it is beautiful and so is our girl. Despite the fact that Lucy was a redhead (for most of her life anyway)and "they" say redheads should wear pink, Lucy adored pink and looked gorgeous in it. This particular Hattie Carnegie dress did NOT belong to Lucy but she would have looked gorgeous in it!

Women from Mars! New Lucy and Ethel Kelly doll Set coming SOON!

There are the most adorable Lucy and Ethel Kelley doll sets I have EVER seen, and the Women from Mars episode is one of my favorites (and no one mentioned it in the contest). The last set I bought was the "Lucy and Ethel get Paris gowns" when Ricky and Fred make those horrible burlap sack dresses. Anyway, you can pre-oder these dolls at Cathy's Closet or from the Lucy - Desi museum gift shop. Both links are under "my favorite links" to the right side of this blog. Don't miss out. These are very collectible. Remember, "It's a moo-moo"

More Jamestown fun....

I'll be you didn't know that New York State's largest community theater is named after Lucy! The theater's season runs October through May so if you do take that Fall trip you can check it out. The Lucille Ball Little Theater of Jamestown can be found at 18 E 2nd Street.

Now, for my favorite two place, almost anywhere. I never get tired of going here. My family thinks I'm crazy but I could go here every day because I find something new and amazing every time I go here. Once, at the Lucy-Desi museum, the exhibited one of Lucy's hairbrushes with some of her hair still in it. I know that makes me sound like one of those crazy Elvis people that save a piece of old meat that he ate that still has his bite marks in it but this is different. I Love Lucy was in black and white and to see the actual color of that famous red hair was truly amazing to me.

Anyway, The Lucy-Desi museum is located at 212 Pine street and is an incredible way to spend a few hours. You will get a truly inside look at Lucy and Desi. Although the exhibits keep changing, I have seen and was able to read personal letters sent between the two that has brought me to tears, I have seen costumes both had worn in episodes on the show, seen some of Lucy's favorite gowns, dishes that Lucy owned, furniture from the Desilu studios, and so much more. It is definitely worth the price of admission, and speaking of admission, you get a discount on both if you also go to the Desilu playhouse which is on 2 West 3rd Street and you won't want to miss it.

The playhouse is named after the studio where I Love Lucy and countless other TV shows were filmed. When you visit this place, it is like stepping into the lives of the Ricardo's and you will NOT want to leave. There are EXACT replicas of the Ricardo's apartment right down to the fireplace, the mantle, the kitchen, the dishes, the knick-knacks, every single thing in that apartment we know so well is right there in front of us and believe me, you will want to jump right over that rope and become part of it.

They have also replicated the Hollywood hotel suite down to every last minute detail. I don't know how they did it. Every last detail is perfect. You can see the tiny bicycle that Pepito the clown rode on one of the I Love Lucy episodes, costumes from some of the shows and there is even an area where you can act out the Vitametavegaamin commercial yourself. And if you love dolls, there is an extensive doll collection with everything from baby dolls to Mattel barbie dolls.

After stilling through both of these, you can visit the gift shop, one of the most complete Lucy stores anywhere, that also has an extensive mail-order catalog. Every penny of the proceeds goes towards upkeep of the Lucy-Desi Center. Check it out at www.lucy-desi.com

So, there you go, the highlights of the trip. Jamestown, NY should be put on your to-do list. If you have any questions, fire away and prepare to have the time of your life!