In the 1960’s Edith Head and Edwards Stevenson made Lucille Ball a heavily beaded, turquoise sheath dress. To match the garment they also made a custom clutch to complete the look. This blue Pert Bag ‘original’ was covered in the matching fabric and the same beadwork pattern as the dress. Each bead, stone and sequin was handsewn on. It proved to be a favorite of Lucy’s as she carried it around to various events throughout the 60’s and 70’s.
If the whereabouts of the sheath dress (see last photo) are known, please contact us!
The Magic Carpet (1951) was the last film Lucille Ball starred in while under contract with Columbia Pictures. She plays Narah, a villainess Iraqi princess. Columbia gave her the part in the low-budget, B movie hoping Lucy would break her contract and not pay her for the remaining term. She did the film anyway to force their hand as well as hid her pregnancy with daughter Lucie.
Lucille wears gold ring in the film made by Joseff of Hollywood using their signature Russian plating technique. The piece features a white pearl surrounded by five simulated ruby stones.
Eugene Joseff was the premier costume jeweler during Hollywood’s golden age. He developed a matte metal finish for his jewelry which minimized the glare from lighting. Their custom jewels were designed, manufactured and rented to movie studios and can be seen in nearly every production from the 1930’s to the 1950’s.
From home of The Morton’s is this 8″ x 10″ color 1960’s photo of Lucille Ball and Gary Morton . Centered in a large and very ornate framed which features green velvet, brass edges and a porcelain painted oval. Green and gold were a favorite color combination of Lucy’s home décor.
On October 12, 1951, three days before the official television premiere of I Love Lucy, an audience packed the Desilu Playhouse to watch the filming of an episode called “The Audition.” This was the sixth I Love Lucy show of season one where Lucy Ricardo replaces a clown named Buffo for an act at Ricky’s club. Lucy is referred to as “the professor” and is dressed in an oversized blue suit who plays the cello. Shown here is an original ticket to that show. Tickets were complementary and given out in excess to fill the roughly 300 member audience each week. Accounting for all the episodes of I Love Lucy and number of people in each audience, over 50,000 tickets would have been made during the series run. However so few still exist today making them a rarity and highly collectible among fans.
CBS commemorated its 50th anniversary in March of 1978 with a week long celebration entitled CBS: On The Air, running for a total of nine and a half hours of shows from Sunday March 26th to Saturday April 1st. The specials featured nearly all of CBS’s stars from past and present performing to reflect on their history. Lucy and Co. owned Monday nights so it was only fitting she was part of Monday’s segment – “Have a Laugh on Us.”
Lucille Ball alongside Bea Arthur, at the time star of Maude, did a musical dance number which began as a vaudeville, pantomime act and ended with an elegant, showstopping chorus line and a comedic pie in the face. For the dramatic finish Lucy this two-piece pink ensemble.
The triple-layered gown is made of silk chiffon and features a high empire waist, large angel sleeves and an attached floor-length neck scarf. The bodice of the gown also has a built-in corset complete with boning and padded bust. A sleeveless, floor-length over coat that is made of a thick twill-like material lined in silk fuchsia, features a train and ornate beading with rhinestones all along the front hem. The whole outfit easily weighs close to, if not over 20 pounds but the gosh did this dress move and flow while she was dancing. That same year Lucille wore only the gown to a TV special honoring Milton Berle called A Tribute to Mr. Television.
For Christmas in 1986 Lucille Ball gave these gold wristwatches to close family and friends as well as those who worked on her last series Life With Lucy. The face of the watch features the Al Hirschfeld caricature above her ‘Love Lucy’ signature. Each watch had a black leather band and came in a hard shell case. Time pieces were a favorite gift of Lucille’s and would often be accompanied by messages reading – “I will always have time for you.”
Two styles were made – ones with large faces and etched lines on the edge were considered the men’s, while a slightly smaller face and smooth edge were for the ladies. The leather bands were also different with the men’s having textured leather (as seen in these photos) and the women’s being smooth. Less than 100 of these watches are said to have been made making them a special keepsake among fans.
A fashion sketch by designer, Elois Jenssen for Lucille Ball’s character Lucy Ricardo on I Love Lucy. This particular illustration was recreated by Elois reportedly in the 1970’s. The original sketches Elois drew in the 1950’s are distinguished by darker vellum paper, tanned presumably from age.
The dress and can be seen in four classic I Love Lucy episodes – “Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined”, “Million Dollar Idea”, “Oil Wells”, and “The Black Wig” spanning 1953 to 1954.
Thankfully, many of Elois’ sketches like this exist as it has aided to accurately colorize garments when CBS began doing to a handful of I Love Lucy shows. This dress and other memorable looks were beautifully recreated in 2004 for the official I Love Lucy Paper Dolls book.
At the end of the 5th season of I Love Lucy, creator and head writer Jess Oppenheimer left the show. At his farewell party he presented ‘Oppy Awards’ to select members of the cast and crew in appreciation of their long and devoted service. These bronze statuettes looked similar to an Oscar but more like Jess – a little man with glasses, bald and hands that were discreetly positioned in front of his crotch. Made of plaster and attached to a wood base each award stands 10.5 inches tall and has a bronze plaque affixed to the front. This particular “Oppy” award was presented to Dann Cahn, editor of I Love Lucy.
During the Here’s Lucy years, Lucille Ball gave this black vinyl ice bucket to the cast and crew of her third hit series. The front features a large caricature of Lucy by Al Hirschfeld in gold. The reverse has “Love, Lucy” mimicking her actual signature. The ice bucket stands 11 inches tall and measures roughly 8 inches in diameter. This particular bucket includes the original thongs just as it was given to a crew member of the show.
This brown fright wig was worn by Lucille Ball on Here’s Lucy in the show entitled “Lucy Goes on her Last Blind Date” from Season 5, episode #16 that originally aired on January 8, 1973. (Synopsis: Uncle Harry’s wealthy cousin Ben played by Don Knotts goes on a date with Lucy but she’s not interested. In a scheme to scare him off she becomes a werewolf in a Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde bit.) The base color matches Lucy’s red hair and it appears to have been over-dyed the dark brown. The wig still retains its rigidness from the original hair spray.
Desilu was a powerhouse in the television industry by the late 1950’s. Thus, a department called Desilu Sales Inc. was created to handle the sales, marketing and distribution of its shows and productions to markets across the country. Promotional items were created as gifts that were not available to the general public, such as this very rare coaster set.
Held together in a 4 inch square wooden case, is a ceramic toper featuring the Desilu Sales logo under a Lucy Ricardo stick figure and Lucille Ball’s signature. Underneath is a set of seven cork coasters for use when those meetings go a little longer than expected. Other promotional gifts included coffee mugs, ashtrays, lighters and more.
On March 7, 1974 Lucille Ball brought “Mame Dennis” to the big screen for her final feature film, MAME. She wore an unprecedented number of costumes in the movie, all of which were designed by Theodora Van Runkle.
One of the gowns was this three piece ensemble consisting of a silver lamè sleeveless, floor length gown with high collar, silver lamè turban with black lace lining, and a black wool and satin jacket with silver lamè lapels and cuffs with large covered buttons. The labels have large ornate deco-style diamond pins attached.
Lucy wears the costume for roughly ten seconds in the film during Robert Preston’s serenade of “Loving You” but dawns it more often for the press luncheon at the start of filming, publicity photoshoots as well as other events.
