How Lucille Ball Did It All
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Abrams Books for Young Readers
(pub. 3.19.2024)
48 pages
Ages 4 - 8
Authors: Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville
and Illustrator: Brigette Barrager
Character: Lucille Ball
Overview:
" Lucy was not a proper little girl. She was sassy. She was bold. She was funny. She was a rule-breaking, chance-taking, comedy pioneer.
Can’t act? Can’t sing? Can’t dance? Lucy proves them all wrong—and then has the last laugh when she finally lets her inner funny girl shine. In 1951, the hit show I Love Lucy took television by storm, and has made millions laugh ever since.
Lucy! is the true story of how Lucille Ball overcame the odds to become the world’s Queen of Comedy."
Tantalizing taste:
"Her first day on the studio lot, Lucy was eager to perform - but she was directed to stand silently in the background with a group of other 'Goldwyn girls' picked to fill out the scene. Once again, Lucy wouldn't get to be her silly, sassy self.
Until clever Lucy had an idea: She'd show them what made her special.
When the movie's star came over to say hello, Lucy knew just how to make him chuckle...
And when the director needed an actor to take a pie to the face, Lucy was the first to volunteer...
One day, Lucy accepted a role in a radio comedy show. She played a rebellious and funny housewife, at a time when housewives were supposed to be pretty, proper, and polite."
And something more: The authors, Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville, shared in the Authors' Note: "In 1962, Lucy became the first woman to run a major television studio, Desilu Productions not only made I Love Lucy, but also went on to produce Star Trek, Mission Impossible, and many other famous shows."
The authors also shared that "Lucy's antics kept her live studio audience roaring - the show holds the record for receiving the longest laugh in television history. It was so long - 67 seconds- that it had to be cut down for the final airing!" Of course, I had to find out which scene it was -- it's when Lucy hid dozens of eggs in her shirt to fill up their non-producing henhouse. But before she can deliver them, Desi asks to practice the tango which ends with a hug and a huge SPLAT!
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