Old sexy Lucille Ball clip

[packman]

In memory of that lovable lady who was a real eyeopener in the days of old:

Thanks, Lucy, for all the good times

[malthaussen]

1. Lucy was quite the sexpot

Last edited Sat May 9, 2015, 10:26 AM - Edit history (1)

George MacDonald Fraser, in his memoir of life in the Burma campaign of WWII, relates an interesting discussion his section had on "Madame DuBarry's tits."

(Quartered Safe Out of Here, which was just reprinted last year. One of the great war memoirs)

-- Mal

[murielm99]

2. Those other women certainly look jealous.

I have seen pictures of Lucy during her younger days. She was sexy! Even as she aged, she was tall and built. She was a gorgeous woman.

She made herself up to look like a female clown for her act, because that is the type of comedy she did. She was extremely talented at that, too.

And don't forget that she had financial vision. She made sure she kept her money and the rights to her work.

Lucky was a beautiful and groundbreaking woman.

[hunter]

3. My grandpa and Lucy were Hollywood pals, probably the shallow kind.

I have pictures of them together.

My grandfather's Army Air force job was to keep eccentric scientists and technical people out of jail. He was the handsome Army Air Force officer with the big black Army car and enlisted driver carrying the "get out of jail free" card. As an occasional duty he'd find ways for Hollywood celebrities to contribute to the war effort. Pretty damned successful for a kid who fled rural Wyoming to smuggle booze from Canada and Mexico into California during Prohibition.

He wanted to fly when he signed up for military duty after the First World War. His true love was always airplanes and rockets. The Army Air Force, in its infinite wisdom, kept him on the ground. His eyes and inner ear and general coordination failed, he was not pilot material. We suspect he made it into Spain and Italy once or twice as a passenger, but he never talked about the war or times before. He was later an engineer for the Apollo Project, making various "impossible" bits of titanium. That was his proudest life achievement. Some of his work is in the Smithsonian..

[CrawlingChaos]

4. She was really gorgeous when she was young

I've always thought so, but I think so many people remember her from I Love Lucy and later, at which point she was - don't ask me why - doing rather odd, clownish things with make-up that made her look strange. But in her youth she was stunning and statuesque.

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I'm kind of an early movie buff so I've seen a lot of her in her prime.

[Special Prosciuto]

5. That beats the chocolate factory scene by far.

[Special Prosciuto]

6. MGM 1943

[malthaussen]

8. Some serious star power in that pic.

Kate's hair looks kind of dark in that pic, though.

For the curious, the seating chart:

Front Row:
James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, Lucille Ball, Hedy Lamarr, Katharine Hepburn, Louis B Mayer, Greer Garson, Irene Dunne, Susan Peters, Ginny Simms, Lionel Barrymore

Second Row:
Harry James, Brian Donlevy, Red Skelton, Mickey Rooney, William Powell, Wallace Beery, Spencer Tracy, Walter Pidgeon, Robert Taylor, Pierre Aumont, Lewis Stone, Gene Kelly, Jackie Jenkins

Third Row:
Tommy Dorsey, George Murphy, Jean Rogers, James Craig, Donna Reed, Van Johnson, Fay Bainter, Marsha Hunt, Ruth Hussey, Marjorie Main, Robert Benchley

Fourth Row:
Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Keenan Wynn, Diana Lewis, Marilyn Maxwell, Esther Williams, Ann Richards, Marta Linden, Lee Bowman, Richard Carlson, Mary Astor

Fifth Row:
Blanche Ring, Sara Haden, Fay Holden, Bert Lahr, Frances Gifford, June Allyson, Richard Whorf, Frances Rafferty, Spring Byington, Connie Gilchrist, Gladys Cooper

Sixth Row:
Ben Blue, Chill Wills, Keye Luke, Barry Nelson, Desi Arnaz, Henry O’Neill, Bob Crosby Rags Ragland

-- Mal

[UTUSN]

7. Her grand pappy was a Socialist, love him (and her)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucille_Ball

Testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities[edit]
When Ball registered to vote in 1936, she listed her party affiliation as Communist.[57] (She was registered as a Communist in 1938 as well.)[58] In order to sponsor the Communist Party's 1936 candidate for the California State Assembly's 57th District, Ball signed a certificate stating "I am registered as affiliated with the Communist Party."[59] The same year, she was appointed to the State Central Committee of the Communist Party of California, according to records of the California Secretary of State. In 1937, Hollywood writer Rena Vale, a self-identified former Communist, attended a Communist Party new members' class at Ball's home, according to Vale's testimony before the United States House of Representatives' Special Committee on Un-American Activities, on July 22, 1940.[60] Two years later, Vale reaffirmed this testimony in a sworn deposition:

J. Edgar Hoover, then director of the FBI, named "Lucy and Dezi [sic]" among his "favorites of the entertainment world."[65] Immediately before the filming of episode 68 ("The Girls Go Into Business&quot of I Love Lucy, Desi Arnaz, instead of his usual audience warm-up, told the audience about Lucy and her grandfather. Reusing the line he had first given to Hedda Hopper in an interview, he quipped: "The only thing red about Lucy is her hair, and even that is not legitimate."[66]

Eisenhower’s swearing-in ceremony had an audience of 29 million people, while 44 million watched Lucy Ricardo welcome little Ricky

Ball was outspoken against the relationship her son had with Liza Minnelli. Talking about Minnelli dating her son, she was quoted as saying, "I miss Liza, but you cannot domesticate Liza."[

Because of her liberated mindset and approval of the Women's Movement, Ball was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2001

[malthaussen]

9. The cited passages show her as Communist...

Last edited Sat May 9, 2015, 10:35 AM - Edit history (1)

... not Socialist. There is a difference, after all.

-- Mal

[UTUSN]

10. Yeah, there is a difference, ain't there. My reference was to her grandfather, while my quotes

were about her. My label on him was from years ago what I had heard applied to him, not from this Wiki, but for kicks, here's a different piece of the same article:

"On September 4, 1953, Ball met privately with HUAC investigator William A. Wheeler in Hollywood and gave him sealed testimony. She stated that she had registered to vote as a Communist 'or intended to vote the Communist Party ticket' in 1936 at her [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]socialist grandfather[/FONT]'s insistence. She stated she "at no time intended to vote as a Communist.' "

Thanks for the lesson.

[malthaussen]

11. She is lucky J. Edgar liked her...

... or "I Love Lucy" would have had a much shorter run. Being certifiably Communist in 1953 (whatever her "real" intentions) would have had her blacklisted if not jailed. You could say she'd have had a lot of 'splainin to do.

-- Mal