Tag: Lucille Ball Worn

Lucille Ball’s 1967 Emmy Awards Gown

On June 4, 1967 Lucille Ball won her third Emmy for ‘Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series’ for The Lucy Show. This honor was a complete shock to Ball saying, “I cannot believe it” multiple times.

Lucy accepted the award wearing this custom-made, floor length sheath dress with a pastel green, pink and blue floral pattern, ornamented with silver sequins and rhinestones. The gown was designed and made by Edward Stevenson and features a boat neckline, cap sleeves, two side slits and has a pink silk lining with zipper back closure. To match the dress a clutch by Kurt Chambre was also custom-made using the same materials. The gown originally had a sheer chiffon caftan that went over it but somehow over the years has been separated.*

Lucille wears the gown for a second time the following year on the final episode of The Lucy Show entitled “Lucy and the ‘Boss of the Year’ Award” which aired on March 11, 1968. She appears in it for a third time as a guest star on “Ann Margret: From Hollywood with Love” that aired on December 6, 1969. Also part of this group is an original program from the 1967 Emmy Awards and a gold metal table favor commemorating the event.

*If the whereabouts of the sheer caftan are known, please contact us!

by Categories: Awards, CBS, Clutch, Edward Stevenson, Emmy Awards, Lucille Ball, Personal, Shown Worn, Television, The Lucy ShowTags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Necklace worn by Lucille Ball in “Annabel Takes a Tour” by Joseff of Hollywood

Annabel Takes a Tour (1938) was an early comedic film Lucille Ball starred in while under contract with RKO. It was the sequel to The Affairs of Annabel released that same year. Lucy played Annabel Allison a movie star who is desperate for some good publicity to help boost her career so she does a variety of wacky stunts.

In the film as well as publicity photos, Lucille wears this simulated diamond and sapphire necklace made by Joseff of Hollywood. Measuring twenty three inches in length, it features open metal work centering on a large central medallion.

The necklace as also worn by Bette Davis in a 1930’s publicity portrait, John Bennett in a wardrobe test for The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) Ruth Donnelly in Pillow to Post (1945).

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.

by Categories: Annabel Takes a Tour, Film Worn, Jewelry, Joseff of Hollywood, Lucille Ball, Movie, Necklace, RKOTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Lucille Ball’s Bardot Blouse from ‘The Fuller Brush Girl’

In 1950 while under contract with Columbia Pictures, Lucille Ball starred in the slapstick comedy The Fuller Brush Girl. Lucy plays Sally Elliot opposite Eddie Albert’s Humphrey Briggs who both work for a steamship company. After getting fired, Lucy’s character tries to sell Fuller Brush cosmetics.

In a disguise at a burlesque show, Lucille wears this champagne-colored off the shoulder silk bardot blouse. Created by Academy Award winning French-American costume designer Jean Louis, the blouse features a ruched bodice and waistband, elastic neckline and cuffs with zipper and hook-and-eye closures in the back. The interior retains the original Columbia studio label with “L. Ball” written in pen.

by Categories: Columbia Pictures, Costume, Film Worn, Lucille Ball, Movie, Personal, Shown Worn, The Fuller Brush GirlTags: , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Gold Serpent Bracelet worn by Lucille Ball, Vivian Vance & Lucie Arnaz

It is amazing to see costumes and props being utilized multiple times. This brass serpent bracelet is one such item that spanned the course of two decades and three different Lucille Ball series. It was first seen on Vivian Vance’s (Ethel Mertz) arm in the I Love Lucy episode “Charm School” from season 3 which aired on January 25, 1954. Then Lucy Carmichael wore it on the first episode of season 2 of The Lucy Show – “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” that aired on September 30, 1963. Several years later it makes a final appearance on Lucie Arnaz’s arm, on the season 2 Here’s Lucy episode “Lucy and the Generation Gap” airing on December 8, 1969.

by Categories: Costume, Desi Arnaz Jr, Desilu, Ethel Mertz, Here's Lucy, I Love Lucy, Jewelry, Lucie Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Personal, Prop, Shown Worn, Television, The Lucy Show, Vivian VanceTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Lucille Ball’s Purple Kennedy Center Honors Gown by Nolan Miller

On December 7, 1986 Lucille Ball was bestowed with the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington DC. The prestigious award could not have come at a better time in her life. Only a few days prior, Desi Arnaz pass away and a couple of months earlier her series “Life With Lucy” was cancelled. The rainbow ribbons were placed around Lucy’s neck during the black tie ceremony dinner held in the State Department’s Benjamin Franklin Dining Room.

Lucille look amazing wearing this custom-made purple gown by Nolan Miller. Consisting of dual-layered silk and chiffon the floor frock features a gathered waist for an elegant draped effect in the front, sheer long sleeves with button cuff closures and a high ruched collar.

The televised portion of the awards aired on December 26, 1986 and included performances to honor Lucy by Bea Arthur, Pam Dawber and Valerie Harper. A very poignant and emotional speech was given by Robert Stack which included a message from Desi. Lucy wore a different gown that evening which was also designed by Nolan Miller. Lucille Ball’s ribbons can be seen at the Lucy-Desi Museum and The National Comedy Center in her hometown of Jamestown, NY.

by Categories: Awards, Gary Morton, Lucille Ball, Nolan Miller, Personal, TelevisionTags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Lucille Ball’s 3-Piece Aqua Pant Suit

Aqua was a color that just looked sensational on Lucille Ball. It’s no wonder many of her garments from the 1960’s through the 1980’s were made with variations of this hue.

This 3-piece raw silk pant suit was one of those creations, custom-made for Lucy in the early 1980’s. It was a favorite of hers as it was worn on multiple television appearances and publicity pictures. The aqua blazer features a notched lapel with stitching detail that follows the entire hem, side vents and is lined with a light blue silk. The matching pants have an elastic waist with rear zipper and hook and eye closures, front pleats and two pockets, along with side vents at the bottom hem. A short sleeve silk blouse in a lavender and aqua floral pattern has a mandarin collar with attached bow tie and faux covered buttons down the front. The actual closure for the blouse are a series of hidden snap buttons.

Lucille wears the ensemble to a filming of Password Plus in August of 1980, opposite Dick Martin. The clip shown from this episode is adorable as she beats the buzzer and guesses the password and mentions her hometown of Jamestown, NY. She then can be seen in it again as a guest on The Tonight Show with Joan Rivers. In 1984 Lucy donned it for an interview with Entertainment Tonight (ET) talking about I Love Lucy and her career. The photoshoot in 1986 for Life With Lucy had her sitting in a white wicker peacock chair wearing the outfit in various poses. Photos from this session have been widely used online, in print and even book covers.

by Categories: Life With Lucy, Lucille Ball, Password Plus, Personal, Shown Worn, TelevisionTags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Lucille Ball’s Ruby Ring from “The Magic Carpet” by Joseff of Hollywood

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.

by Categories: Columbia Pictures, Jewelry, Joseff of Hollywood, Lucie Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Movie, Ring, The Magic CarpetTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

“CBS: On The Air” Pink Gown worn by Lucille Ball

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 wore 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.

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Elois Jenssen Lucy Ricardo fashion sketch for Lucille Ball on I Love Lucy

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.

by Categories: Autograph, Desi Arnaz, Desilu, Elois Jenssen, Ethel Mertz, I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball, Lucy Ricardo, Ricky Ricardo, Shown Worn, TelevisionTags: , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Lucille Ball’s ‘Fright’ Wig from Here’s Lucy

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.

by Categories: Don Knotts, Here's Lucy, Lucille Ball, Shown Worn, Television, WigTags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Lucille Ball’s MAME Costume by Theadora Van Runkle

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.

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Blue Polka Dot Blouse Worn by Lucille Ball on Here’s Lucy

Season 2 of Here’s Lucy saw the return of the ‘dynamic duo’ when Vivian Vance guest starred in an episode called “Lucy and Viv Visit Tijuana.” Lucille Ball wore this custom-made, blue and white polka dot polyester blouse on their trip south of the border with Gale Gordon.

It features a large pointy collar, covered buttons down the front, side vents, large cuffs with faux button and snap closure at the wrists. The off white pants shown with this blouse were also Lucy’s but the scarf is after market but used here to complete the look. When Lucy liked a certain style of garment she often had multiples made in different colors. This blouse is a prime example – she also had ones made in brown, yellow and pink.

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