Lucy's Roxbury House

I have so many Lucy clippings in my files that it's hard to choose just what to present here.

I was always fascinated with Lucy's Roxbury house so let's start with an article about that from the archives:

 

Remember when the "lost" Lucy pilot was on TV? Unlike a lot of "lost" items, this one really was lost as you can see in this 1987 ad from "Broadcasting" magazine:

 

Lucy popped up in ads in the strangest places. Here's yet another one from 1992:

 

 

And finally this time around we showcase one of the apparent "Lucy fans will buy anything". This time a $247.50 (plus postage and handling of course) for Lucy phone cards! I wonder how many of those they sold?

 

 

Bag Lady Lucille Ball: Stone Pillow

It seems like singers want to act, actors want to be singers, and comedians want to do dramatic parts. Lucy was no different. In 1985 she starred in a TV movie called "Stone Pillow" which was panned by the critics. Lucy looked terrible but of course that was the part she was playing. At the end of the show she came on in a clip as "herself", probably to reassure the audience that she didn't really look that old and disheveled. I haven't seen the movie since 1985 and really don't care to see it again....but apparently it has its fans and is available on Youtube. Click here to watch it.

Today we look back at some of the publicity for "Stone Pillow."

 

Later Years of Lucy and Desi in the newspapers

After Lucy retired and Desi had long since exited show biz, there wasn't much to read about them in the papers...unless it involved their kids. Here are a couple of tidbits I found in the archives:

This one is regarding Lucie's wedding:

This one is regarding Desi Jr.'s wedding (sorry I didn't save their pics in the article, only Lucy and Desi. It looks like that is the only pic of Desi Senior that the paper had as it turns up in multiple stories!

 

I remember several National Enquirer stories about Lucy. Even though she was out of the public eye she still was able to sell scandal sheets. What did Lucy and Desi think about it? Liz Smith dishes the dirt:

 

And finally let's recall the first time I Love Lucy came out on video. We paid $29.95 plus postage and handling and tax for three episodes! That's over ten bucks an episode. I guess those who are complaining about the various dvd incarnations need to have a reality check. I certainly couldn't afford all of the VHS tapes at the time... or was I still using beta?!

 

 

Lucy's Christmas Wish/We Love Lucy Specials 1987

Since Christmas is almost here, 

here's a message from Lucy about this special day:

 And while we're here, let's take a look back to 1987 when Viacom brought the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour back to their advertising forefront. This is what they presented to the TV stations in an ad from Broadcasting Magazine:

When the We Love Lucy specials aired, it was big news back in 1987:

Will They Love Lucy in the 80s?

In the 1980s Lucy came back with a failed sitcom called "Life With Lucy." It was all upbeat before it aired, as you can read about in this article from July 6, 1986.

 I had forgotten that Desi was talking to CBS in the early 80s about an "I Love Lucy" special. Read what he said about that in this Bettelou Peterson article from the Detroit Free Press.

Desi Arnaz dies in his daughter's arms 1986

 Here are some more obituary articles about Desi Arnaz. Hard to believe it has been almost 27 years....

News Room Bulletin from 1986: Desi Arnaz Dies

In 1986 I was working as the news director for WMBN in Petoskey, Michigan. In those pre-internet days we got our breaking news off of the teletype machine. I was in shock when this came through and saved it for the archives:

 Of course a day later it was all over the newspapers....

I have several other Desi obits that I hope to post soon.