A Birthday To Celebrate: Lucille Ball (100 Years)

In celebrating the 100th birthday of one of the funniest women who ever lived — and who left a huge legacy on film — it’s worth looking back and celebrating the incredible Lucille Ball:

SOME HIGHTLIGHTS FROM HER CAREER:

The famous, hilarious candy wrapping scene:

Stomping grapes. The big Italian lady in the scene didn’t understand English and it got authentically rough:

Vegemeatvitamin…where Lucy does a live TV commercial over and over..a tonic containing lots of alcohol:

The true heartbreaker: the final episode of the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (the one hour version of the show) right before it ended and they divorced. Edie Adams song reportedly made them teary eyed on the set — since it spoke to what was happening with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. They were all very sad:

In 1961 she returned in The Lucy Show, originally produced by Desi Arnaz — her divorced husband. Vivian Vance returned. The early shows were close to I Love Lucy but quality gradually declined. Here’s part of an early one:

It went to color and Gale Gordon became more and more important in her shows:

By 1970 it became Here’s Lucy, and quality declined greatly. Her two kids were on the show. This show featured lots and lots of famous stars. Here’s Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton:

Her last sitcom was short lived and a critical flop: Life with Lucy. It didn’t last long and some suggest that she was never the same after the shock of her flop. The problem was this: she and Gale Gorden were aging senior citizens and the comedy of old didn’t look the same performed at her age. I still remember reading an interview at the time where, virtually grief stricken, she talked about how she couldn’t compete with herself — the young version of her still running on the tube screen. Here’s part of an episode showing the older Lucy in her final weekly show:

She did some big star variety shows. From the Dean Martin Variety Show compilation, stay with this — because it shows her doing a vaudeville type routine as she comes up on stage playing a woman in the audience. From the mid-60s.

On the Flip Wilson Show in 1971:

On a Bob Hope special in 1988 (age 76), a year before her death:

Her legacy lives on. Here’s some test footage for colorizing the black and whites:

NBC announcing her death in 1989: