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 this 13″ choker style necklace in the film made by Joseff of Hollywood. The piece features large oval, bezel-set emerald color jewels and alternating diamonds with a spring clasp closure. The necklace was previously worn by Natalie Draper in Forever Amber (20th Century, 1947) and Adrian Booth in The Last Bandit (Republic, 1949).
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.
