Preserved memory | News, sports, jobs

The May 18, 1991 cover of The Post-Journal Tempo Magazine.
P-J file photo

It's been 30 years since Lucille Ball, Jamestown's most famous comedian, died at the age of 77 after a rupture of the aortic.

Ball's impact on the world of comedy and Jamestown speaks for itself.

In addition to playing in feature films like Forever, Darling and the iconic I Love Lucy, Ball has left his mark on the television world through DesiLu Productions, the Ball studio created with her husband, Desi Arnaz , and then ran alone launch famous TV shows like "Star Trek," "Impossible mission" and "The Incorruptible," as well as serving the studio home for "The Dick Van Dyke Show" The Andy Griffith show, "The Jack Benny Program" "The show of Danny Thomas" and "My three sons."

As for Jamestown, look no further than the National Comedy Center and the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center, entities that preserve both Ball's memory and contributions to comedy, as well as the discovery of comedy as art. Thousands of people flock to Jamestown each year for the annual Lucille Ball Musical Festival, a sign of the impact of Ball's name, three decades after his death.

NEW TRIBUTE CYCLE

The tributes were broadcast online Friday by fans and stars like Marie Osmond. The Hollywood Museum hosted a Remembering Lucy event earlier this week, which also unveiled the museum's new exhibit, Remembering Lucy. Kate Luckinbill-Conner, Lucy's granddaughter and daughter of actors Lucie Arnaz and Lawrence Luckinbill, attended the event. Luckinbill-Conner also announced The Lucy Legacy, a project to introduce Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz to the present.

Lucie Arnaz was unable to attend the event due to a time conflict with her own Florida performance, but posted comments posted on her Instagram page.

"But, it's a wonderful tribute to her and I think Mom would be very happy to know that, 30 years after leaving the building", we remember her with so much tenderness, " Arnaz wrote. "Lucille Désirée Ball grew up with a disproportionate sadness early in her life, and after all that, all she wanted to do was to" make people laugh "to try to make their trials go away, their tribulations disappear for a few minutes. , help them feel a little better. How lucky that she could have made a living doing what she loved. And she has been analyzing the same medicine for almost 70 years. Many people have been inspired by his professional work and the courage of his personal story. But I think what would make her more proud today would be to see how her grandchildren had embraced … and expanded … all Lucy Legacy, all of us focusing on the growing relevance of her and my father's contribution, even today. It's heart-warming to see my daughter, Kate, or my son-in-law, Nick, tell how the show and its legacy is impacting their generation, bringing LUCY into the new century with such zeal and enthusiasm. A secluded generation, they were able to embrace this phenomenon from an entirely new angle and breathe new life into what Lucy, Desi and I Love Lucy represent. "

DIGITAL ARCHIVES ANNOUNCED

Regarding the National Comedy Center, the local organization announced Friday that it would launch a new initiative to digitally preserve the many archives of the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz museum.

Lucille Ball at her home in Celoron.
Photo file

The National Comedy Center, named last month by the US Congress as the national cultural institution dedicated to comedy, will start digitizing hundreds of documents, photographs and media stored in the archives, in order to preserve them for future generations. make it accessible to comedy fans around the world. These archives include behind-the-scenes production materials, rare family and studio photographs, handwritten notes, letters and telegrams from notable personalities such as Ball and Arnaz, most of whom have never been exposed before. The archives will be made available to the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz National Comedy Center and Museum in the coming years.

Part of the National Comedy Center Complex, the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum explores the legacy of "First comedy couple" and the impact they had on comedy and popular culture. It presents artifacts and original elements of Ball and Arnaz's life and career, as well as their revolutionary impact on entertainment as the founders of Desilu Productions, which in 1962 became the largest production company in Canada. independent television in the United States, producing legendary series including "I love lucy," "Star Trek," "Impossible mission" and "The Incorruptible," as well as serving the studio home for "The Dick Van Dyke Show" The Andy Griffith show, "The Jack Benny Program" "The show of Danny Thomas" "My three sons" and much more.

"Lucille Ball was a pioneer, an innovator and a huge talent. It is a great honor for us to realize his dream with the opening of the National Comedy Center last August and to see the incredible response of our visitors ", said Journey Gunderson, executive director of the National Comedy Center. "On this important anniversary, we look forward to numerically preserving our Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz archives to make their history always accessible and engaging for generations to come."

With "I love lucy," Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz have created and starred in one of the most beloved series in the history of television. She has been nominated for 13 Emmy Awards and has been awarded four times for her work in "I love lucy" and "The Lucy Show. Beyond her comic actress legacy, Ball was the first woman to head a large Hollywood production studio and renowned for being a savvy businesswoman in an otherwise dominated industry. by men. While supporting the first Jamestown concepts to build a museum in her honor, she expressed the wish that it be a much broader celebration and review of comedy, which led to the creation of the National Comedy Center, the first museum dedicated to comedy. Art form.

For over 25 years, the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival in Jamestown featured emerging comedians and comedy stars including Jerry Seinfeld, Amy Schumer, Jay Leno, Lily Tomlin, Lewis Black, Trevor Noah, Joan Rivers, Ellen DeGeneres and Jim De Gener. Paula Poundstone, Ray Romano, Bob Newhart and The Smothers Brothers, and more than 100 other comic artists. The 28th annual comedy festival Lucille Ball, presented by the National Comedy Center in August, will be starring Sebastian Maniscalco and John Mulaney.

Lucille Ball went solo and came back on The Lucy Show in 1962. Later, she was redesigned and became Here's Lucy. Gale Gordon, left, became his new sidekick.
Photo file

Memories of a childhood friend

Thirty years ago, residents of the area shared their memories of Lucille Ball through a special section of The Post-Journal. Many memories have been dedicated to Lucy's decision to welcome a prime minister from "Forever, darling" in Jamestown or chance meetings with the famous actress. One of them, in particular, stands out for 30 years: the memories of Cecelia Ditonto Welch, who wrote The Post-Journal a letter detailing Lucy's plays in Celoron and the times when she occasionally caught up Lucy years that followed.

"About once a month, Lucy put up a small room in one act that she made herself up," Welch wrote. "She had so much talent. It would occur in the schoolyard during the hot winter months. At lunchtime, she would go home, eat lunch and return with a bag full of clothes fors & # 39; dress."She asked me to help her get dressed for her number. She was hiding behind the bushes to get ready and get dressed for her number. All children would wait in the school yard. "

While Welch and Lucy were friends in elementary school, Welch then moved to Jamestown and the two lost touch. It was only after Lucy's visit to Jamestown in the 1940s that the two men saw each other during a visit to the Jamestown Hotel. They met again at the Jamestown Hotel in 1956, and again in the 1960s, when Lucy was playing at Universal Studios with John Davidson.

"It was really a big show" Welch wrote. "Watching the show, I saw Lucy's mother nearby and when the show was over, I went to see her. Lucy's mother was so happy to see me and she directed me to Lucy's office, where she went after the show. Once again, we had a good visit. She said, "When I come to Jamestown, I want to see you." About three months ago, I wrote to Lucy to make a beautiful picture. I was so happy! Lucy was a good friend – kind, honest and talented.