Love to Laugh

Lucille Ball

August 6, 1911 - April 26, 1989

 "“The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.”

-Lucille Ball

“Luck? I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it and I'm afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: Hard work - and realizing what is opportunity and what isn't.”

-Lucille Ball

“I think knowing what you cannot do is more important than knowing what you can."

-Lucille Ball

“It's a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy."

-Lucille Ball

Those who know me best know that I have ALWAYS loved Lucy! Since I was a kid, I always loved watching, and that is the honest to God's truth! I own every episode of I Love Lucy and I made my brother Thomas watch every episode with me. Whenever I may be in a down mood, I pop an episode or two in and my whole attitude changes. Like I said, ask anyone who knows me, my cell phone ring tone has been the I Love Lucy theme song for the last 4 or 5 years!

Being the kind of person that I am, when I truly admire a person, I want to learn all about them and understand the person they became. I always loved Lucy for her talent and ability to make people laugh like no one else can, but also for the many great "firsts" that left so many different Legacies. But beyond that, she was all business. She was serious in her work and ran her studio with an iron fist, and knew everything to her business inside and out! Something I always admired about her and always wanted to have in myself.

I have watched countless of interviews of her, countless of documentaries, several biographies, and this past Memorial Day weekend I read her autobiography which was published years after her death. So I am a little Lucille Ball expert, if I don't mind saying so myself. But her story fascinates me.

When she was a teenager, he went to an acting school in the city, where she was starstruck my the schools top student Betty Davis! She was told to go home, that she had no talent, and would never amount to anything. Can you imagine if Lucy listened? Can you imagine how stupid that teacher must have felt years later??

She was in over forty movies, nothing that made her a HUGE star however. She was known as the Queen of B pictures, and she met her Cuban husband, Desi Arnaz, in one of those pictures called Too Many Girls. Their marriage was rocky at the beginning and she wanted to work with her husband. An opportunity came up t have a TV show, which was frowned upon at the time, and she wanted her real life husband to play opposite of her. She was given a lot of opposition. Who would believe she was married to a Cuban? But her only answer to that was "I AM married to a Cuban!"

Then in October of 1951 I Love Lucy aired. To this day, I Love Lucy is the only TV show to never have been off the air, and is playing every hour of every day SOMEWHERE in the world! No other TV can say that. Not Friends, Will and Grave, The Big Bang Theory, The Nanny, The Golden Girls, NONE of them! Only I Love Lucy!

Lucy was the first woman to be pregnant on TV and you weren't even allowed to say "pregnant!" If she hadn't done that, Fran Fine from The Nanny couldn't have done it, nor would Rachel and Phoebe from Friends could have done it! Without Lucy, there would never have been The Golden Girls or  The Carol Burnett Show, there would never have been female comediennes! And to this day, none can come close to her talent! She didn't have to curse, or be immoral. Just being silly and totally wacky was enough to get that gut laughter out of you! No one can top her.

After her divorce from Desi Arnaz, she not only did two other TV series (The Lucy Show and Here' Lucy), but she also ran the entire Desli Studios and was a tough cookie. She made the men cower. She knew where every light was, where you were supposed to stand, how the cameras were going to shoot, she made it her business to know everything about her work. And the time and work she put into her acting is unprecedented. I think that perfectionist attitude is something I admire most about her. 

If you look at Betty White, Fran Drescher, Bea Arthur, Carol Burnett, Lily Tomlin, and Ellen Degeneres, they all have been influenced by Lucille Ball's style of comedy. Even the foul-mouthed Joan Rivers idolized Lucy, calling her "a legend." And they have all admitted to it. 

But no story touched me more than Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball. Carol Burnett's ultimate role model was Lucille Ball. She watched her on her television growing up and always wanted to be just like her. Year later, Carol was in an off Broadway play called Once Upon a Mattress. The second night it opened, Lucy was in the audience and Carol was more nervous that night then the opening night! After the show Lucy went back stage and ave her advice, encouragement, and above all, great friendship.

Lucy and Carol became great friends and Lucy had her on her show several times, and when Carol had to do a special that began her own variety show, she called Lucy and told her about it and before she finished Lucy said "When do you need me?" Carol didn't even get the words out of her mouth!

Lucy always sent flowers to Carol Burnett on her birthday. And in 1989 Lucy was in the hospital that week and everyone thought Lucy would be released. Then one morning Carol was watching the morning news and found out Lucy passed away. She died on her birthday. But then, later that afternoon, Lucy's flowers still came in the mail for Carol.

I have heard this story from Carol Burnett on several occasions, which is why I can tell it so much. I always love stories where people get to work and mentored by their personal role models! And this story is probably the best one. Below I have a video that really gets the story well and does justice to Lucy as a tribute. I hope as a master instructor that I can have the same kind of affect on my students as Lucy did with so many of today's "greats." I also idolize her work ethic and hope I can instill that work ethic to my training and in the running of my business, if I haven't already. And I hope I can make people relaxed and at ease, and remember to laugh, just as she.

Thank you Lucy, for the many years of MY OWN LIFE of laughter you have brought. In the words of Desi Arnaz "I Love Lucy was never just a title."

Yours in service,

ANDREW TRENTO

Start the video at 4:56