If Your Are Going to Jamestown....

I might have mentioned this before, but I am from upstate New York and Jamestown (Lucy's hometown)is just about the halfway mark between where I live now and where my family is in New York so we will often meet in Jamestown.

I love Jamestown. Much like many places in upstate New York, it's a homey little place with old brick houses and a great little downtown with neat shops, cozy little eateries and fun pubs. We usually stay at the Holiday Inn (only because we have preferred customer cards) and there is a gorgeous oil painting of Lucy hanging behind the front desk that once hung in Lucy's own home in California.

The home where Lucy was born still stands at 69 Stewart Avenue and the home where she lived as a child is there as well at 59 Lucy Lane (which was formerly called 8Th Street) in Celeron (just a hop,skip and a jump from Jamestown).

Most of the things you will read will tell you that Lucy is interred in California, but that is not the truth. Lucy's ashes are in the Hunt family plot in the Jamestown Cemetery with her other family members, and you can drive thru the small cemetery and pay your respects.

If you have read any biographies, you know she spent a lot of time at Celeron Park (she even got a job there as a young teenager) which was a major amusement park in the area. It is now the Lucille Ball Memorial Park and is on Chautaqua Lake and only a short drive from Jamestown.

I would suggest a trip to Jamestown anytime between now and the third week of October or so because you have never seen fall color as you will in Upstate New York at that time of year. The mountain scenery is ablaze and any camera buff or "Lucyite" will be thrilled. If you do make the trip, please report back. I'll tell you more about Jamestown in my next post.

More news about Desi

Of was course we all know that Desi Arnaz was born in Cuba, but did you know he was born into a very wealthy and privileged family. Desi's father, Desiderio Arnz II, became the mayor of Santiago, Cuba in 1923 when Desi was just a boy of 4. His mother, Dolores de Acha was thought to be one of the most beautiful women in all of Latin America and was heiress to the Barcadi rum empire.

According to all reports, Desi was a very spoiled little boy, yet showed the promise of quite a mind for business even then. His father put him in control of about 100,000 acres, a large number of race horses and was making plans to attend the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Wow, that one really shocked me.

Anyway, I thought you might enjoy this photograph of Lucy, her mom, Desi and his mother Dolores. If you look really close, I think she looks a little bit like the little lady that played Ricky's mom on I Love Lucy.

Desi's real name anyone? and other interesting facts about out favorite Cuban band learder.

If you know the answer to these questions, you'll be ready for any trivia contest regarding Lucy and Desi so study up! You never know when you might win something exciting! Desi's birth name was officially "Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha" which he thought would be too long to catch on.
"Cuban Pete" wasn't just a song that his alter ego Ricky Ricardo sang on I Love Lucy, but was a movie Desi start in where he earned the name "Rhumba-King".
Lucy and Ricky were actually married twice...the first time was in Connecticut because the two were so in love they couldn't bear to be out of each other's sight. The second one was an official Catholic ceremony back in California to please Desi's mother who was a very devout women. (actually, if you want to be a stickler, you could say they were married three times because there original marriage was loosely re-enacted on one of the episodes of the show).
Desi bought Lucy's first wedding ring was bought for $5.00 at Woolworth's!
Desi was once the bandleader for Bob Hope's radio show. He and Lucy remained life-long friends of Bob.
Desi's first major part that brought him acclaim was for the hit show "Too Many Girl's" on Broadway. When he went to Hollywood to re-create the roll for the Movie version, it was there that he
Born: Mar 02, 1917 in Santiago, Cuba
Died: Dec 02, 1986 of lung cancer
The photo of Desi and Lucy's wedding is taken from a Saturday evening post magazine, May 31, 1958.
met Lucy and things were never the same again!

Did you know that Desi and Lucy were dog lovers?

Early in their marriage, Ricky and Lucy owned a 5 acre ranch in the San Fernando Valley which they named Desilu. Among other animals they raised chickens, cows and had about 5 or 6 dogs. Ricky and Lucy were such animal lovers that although they ate their chicken's eggs and drank their cow's milk, they never killed their animals for food but treated them all like pets. Their dogs were coddled. Lucy had a toy poodle she named Tinker which frequently traveled with her. In fact, she had a succession of five toy poodles, all of which she named Tinker and she loved them all dearly. Just another reason to love Lucy.

Little known facts about William Frawly

In 1928, William was fired from the Broadway show `She`s My Baby` starring Beatrice Lillie for allegedly punching Clifton Webb in the nose.
Bill always loved to sing and did a lot of it in his career in his earlier days. This was a big surprise when I found this out, but supposedly, it was Bill, and NOT Al Jolson who introduced the son "My Mammy" to vaudeville audiences!
Never got along with Vivian Vance and in fact, they detested each other!
Was Catholic, was born in Iowa, and his first job was that of a stenographer for a railroad. William Frawly was in more than 100 movies!

My Very Favorite Episode!

As promised, while the contest is still going on, I'm gonna tell you about some of my favorite episodes. My first and foremost, very favorite episode has not been mentioned by anyone in the contest, which kind of surprises me, but here goes.
It's not really shown very often and occurs in season 5. I think the title is RETURN HOME FROM EUROPE
The European tour has come to an end and the girls are packing up to go home. Lucy has bought souvenirs for everyone but her luggage is over the airlines weight limit so Ricky says she can't take stuff on the plane but would have to ship it by mail. Lucy just refuses to do this because she wants to present people with their gifts as soon as they return, especially her mother, to whom she has promised a 25# of special Italian cheese. She just has to get that cheese on the plane.
Well leave it to Ethel...for once, she has a bright idea. She tells Lucy that it's too bad it wasn't a baby, because babies fly for free, which gives Lucy the wonderful idea to put a bonnet on the cheese and to wrap it in a blanket.
She actually takes it on the plane and passes it off as a baby. Unluckily for her, a woman with a real baby sits next to her and the fun begins. The woman is very curious to see Lucy's baby. She shares her formula with her, which Lucy drinks and makes the same face and body shivers that she makes when tasting that awful vitametavegamin! There's just too many funny things too list but to make a long story short, she finds out you do have to pay for babies and afraid that Ricky will kill her, Lucy and Ethel try to eat the cheese. When they realize that they can't. they decide to stuff the cheese in the instruments of Ricky's band members. If you get a chance to watch it, please do. It's really funny!

Don't leave your little girl out of the fun!

I don't know about you, but all of my four children were raised on Lucy. Sometimes the boys wish they weren't. My oldest son is a dective and wishes he couldn't whip into "sweet sue" at a moment's notice infront of all of his cop friends when the name "Sue" happens to come up, or say "You've got some 'splainin' to do" when he arrests a drug pusher....but what can I say. The girls have more appreciation.

If you're like me, your girls will too, so here is a great costume for your little girl and a wig made espesciall to fit little heads. Check it out!