Vitameatavegamin '07

Check out "Vitameatavegamin '07," a modern take on the classic "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" episode of "I Love Lucy."

"Watch Some Lucy and Call Me In The Morning!"

For participants of the Somerset DayBreak, a daytime program for senior citizens and disabled adults, a daily dose of Lucy is just what the doctor ordered.

Larry Ladd, who was busy helping make tree decorations, was excited about Christmas -- until the TV went on. Immediately, he hopped over to the couch with a smile on his face as Lucille Ball appeared on the screen.

Source: http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/3426043.html

Lucy in the Classroom

"I would kill to watch 'I Love Lucy'!"

Haven't we all been *there* at some point? But, for a man named Billy "Much Love" Pitts his desire to watch The Ricardos and Mertzes can't be satisfied by watching TV Land or buying a DVD. Mr. Pitts is homeless. He told Vermont's Burlington Free Press:

"I'm cold, I'm lonely, and I would kill to watch 'I Love Lucy.' Isn't that stupid?"

Mr. Pitts' quote was used in a memorable quotes of 2006 article published today by The Burlington Free Press. Click here to read the original article published in July.

"Vitameatavegamin" Used In Texas Classroom

An ESL teacher in Lake Jackson, Texas used a clip of Lucy Ricardo pitching "Vitameatavegamin" to inspire beginning-English speakers.

TheFacts.com reports:

The ESL class began meeting the first week of September and ended this month. To prepare for their commercial, each student selected a product, created a slogan, wrote a script and designed a poster to use as a visual prop.

For inspiration, the class watched the classic Lucille Ball “Vita Vegamin” television clip, in which the comedian tries to sell a vitamin drink during a live commercial.

“We all enjoyed that,” Cherian said.

Lucille Ball's Dried Up Lemons Sell For $152 on eBay

From Daily Southtown.com:

They were just some dried up lemons once owned by Lucille Ball, but Sean Lindsay was able to sell them on eBay for $152.

In Tinley Park on Thursday, the Monee resident was trying to persuade visitors to the Chicago Southland Chamber's Expo & Conference he could turn their lemons into lemonade.

An exhibitor at the 21st annual business-to-business event, Lindsay touted his home-based business, iSellYourItems, as the Southland's "first mobile eBay consignment business."

Rather than taking items to an eBay drop shop, Lindsay drives to customer's homes to pick up goods and then sells them, for a fee, on the popular online auction site. It's been his full-time job since April.

The customer with Lucy's lemons had picked them up at an estate sale. Lindsay started the bidding on eBay at 99 cents.

"They were just four little dried up lemons," he said. They sold for $152.50.

Olympic Skating Coach Loves Lucy

Priscilla Hill, a nationally-known figure skating coach, loves Lucy!

From The Post-Journal:

‘‘When I was little, my mom would sit me in front of the TV, but I would sit still long enough only for I Love Lucy. I guess I would say,‘Ucy, Ucy, Ucy, I want to watch Ucy,’ ’’ Ms. Hill said. ‘‘I watched her and I think she’s hysterical.’’

It was only a few years ago, when the first North Atlantic Regional competition was held in Jamestown, that Ms. Hill visited with skaters and discovered Lucy’s hometown in Celoron and that the comedienne’s childhood was spent largely in and around Jamestown.

‘‘I went right to the museum and picked this up,’’ she said, pointing to her jacket.

She describes Jamestown as comfortable and similar to her native Lake Placid, N.Y. She loves the rolling hills here, the changing leaves and eventually, yes, the snow.

Diane Vincent Speaks About Portraying Lucy

It may be hard to see it under her black wig and heavy eye makeup, but Diane Vincent ---- who's playing the faux Chinese landlady Mrs. Meers through Sept. 3 in "Thoroughly Modern Millie" at Vista's Moonlight Amphitheatre ---- is a redhead at heart.

The L.A.-based actress is one of only two people in the world licensed by Lucille Ball's estate to portray the flame-haired television comedian. When she's not performing onstage, Vincent has a full-time job at Universal Studios playing Lucille Ball's television alter-ego Lucy Ricardo from CBS's "I Love Lucy," and she performs as Lucy at events all over the country, including the semi-annual Lucy festival in Ball's hometown of Jamestown, N.Y.

Vincent, who moved at age 7 to L.A. from Indianapolis (her father was an actor), said she'd been told over the years that she resembled Ball, but it wasn't until 1995, when she saw an audition notice for Lucy Ricardo impersonators at Universal Studios, that she decided to give the character a try.

After nine months of auditions, she landed the job and she now works as a "strolling entertainer" at the L.A. theme park's Lucille Ball museum.

Vincent said playing Lucy is in her blood, having grown up watching "I Love Lucy" reruns on television and knowing every line and episode by heart.

"I've absorbed the character by osmosis, I've got natural comedic sensibilities and some people say I remind them of Lucy," Vincent said. "I don't really look like her, but I've got the right facial structure, so once you add the wigs, the lips and lashes, it all comes together. I just try to capture the comedy and heart of her."

Vincent said playing Lucy is a pleasure because Ball is such a revered icon.

"People who respond to Lucy and see her in 3-D want to feel the love of the show and try to embrace that. She's so loved and it's an honor and a privilege to play her," she said.

Thanks to cable TV networks such as Nickelodeon and TVLand, the popularity of "I Love Lucy" endures and even seems to be growing, said Vincent, who added that she has no plans to give up the Lucy role.

"It's been a great ride and it's been a good living and I'll do it as long as the face holds up," she joked, adding that as she ages she can play some of Ball's TV and stage characters from later in life. "After I'm done with Lucy Ricardo, then I can be Lucy Carmichael, then Lucy Carter, then 'Mame' Lucy, and then finally 'Stone Pillow' Lucy."

This is an excerpt. Read the full article.

Hometown Celebrates 'I Love Lucy'

By Casey J. Bortnick
Published Aug 06, 2006

Jamestown, the birthplace of Lucille Ball, celebrated her birthday in style Sunday afternoon with guests visiting from near and far. Like millions of other Lucy fans, Danielle Gross has seen just about every episode of the world's most popular television show. "No matter how old the episodes get, everyone can always relate to them. There are always stories about friendship and families and those stories will never get old," said Gross, Pittsburgh. Danielle saw her first episode at age six and was hooked ever since. Now only 19, she represents a new generation of fans discovering a television classic. Bob Schiller was brought onto the "I Love Lucy" writing staff for the final two seasons. He said bringing new ideas to an established hit was a challenge. “We would get what we thought was a funny scene at the end then work towards it. To make it work. To make it realistic. When I just got tired, I go to sleep in the office because I didn't want to waste time driving home. So, we were around the clock for the most part," said Schiller. Schiller said while the staff of five writers was brilliant, but the comedic genius of Lucille Ball is the secret to the show’s continued success. Schiller said writing material for the person he considers the world's greatest comedian was certainly a rewarding experience. "You would write something and visualize it as being funny. Give it to her and it would be funnier. What more could a comedy writer ask for," said Schiller. After the show went off the air in 1956, Schiller went on to have great success as a writer for television hits like "Maude" and "All in the Family" but Schiller said being associated with "I Love Lucy" is one of his crowning achievements. It is an achievement that has passed the test of time inspiring a new crop of fans with a happy ending. "I always like at the end no matter how much trouble Lucy's gotten herself into, Ricky takes care of everything," said Gross.

Source: http://www.rnews.com/Story_2004.cfm?ID=40722&rnews_story_type=18
Thanks again to Sharon (gidgetgrape)!

Official impersonator will attend celebration

Everyone loves Lucy8/5/2006 - Official impersonator will attend celebration
Source: http://post-journal.com/articles.asp?articleID=5264
By ROBERT W. PLYLER

This weekend, Jamestown will celebrate the birthday of our city’s most famous citizen and the city will be full of celebrities, come to join in the celebrations.Among them will be one who will look very familiar. This is because she looks and dresses like Lucy Ricardo, the fictional character who made Lucille Ball a star. Her name is Diane Vincent.Ms. Vincent is a resident of Los Angeles. She is one of only two women in the world who have been officially licensed to imitate the zany redhead. She has been coming to Jamestown celebrations since 1999.We spoke with her by telephone, recently, as she prepared to go on stage at the Hollywood Bowl, for her final performance in The Sound of Music, in which she was performing opposite television actor John Schneider and the immortal Marni Nixon who did the actual singing for three of the finest musical films in history.‘‘I am a singer, dancer and actor in my own right,’’ she laughed when I asked if she wore the red wig under the wimple. ‘‘When I was growing up, people didn’t used to run over and tell me I looked like Lucy.’’Throughout the coming weekend, Diane Vincent will be going from event to event, adding a bit of Lucy to people’s experience. Doing the same will be Rhonda Medina, who imitates Ethel Mertz, Lucy’s perennial partner in mayhem.Among their activities will come Saturday at 3:45 p.m., when they will help to re-create the ‘‘Visitors from Italy’’ episode of I Love Lucy, when Lucy caused chaos in a pizza parlor. You’re invited to be part of the episode, if you’re chosen, based on your advance knowledge of the episode.At 4:30 p.m., they’ll be conducting a public trivia contest, based on the television series and the career of Ms. Ball, also.So how does a singer, dancer and actor who was born after I Love Lucy was no longer being produced, come to be an imitator of a fictional character? She answered, ‘‘I was appearing in a production of the musical Pal Joey, back in the late 1980s. My costume included a red wig, big eyelashes and a big red lipstick mouth. Someone took a photo of the cast and when it was printed, people often commented that it appeared Lucy was in the show.’’Struck by the similarity, not long afterwards, she saw an advertisement for people to audition for the Universal Studios Theme Park as a number of celebrities, including Lucy. She auditioned by standing on a stage and answering a battery of questions in character as Lucy. It took nine months for the studio to make the selection, but she’s been doing Lucy ever since.‘‘I work at the park, 40 hours per week, plus I appear in shows when I can and it’s not infrequent that people in Hollywood want impersonators of various stars to come to parties, openings of new facilities and so on. I do as many as I can,’’ she said.Is there a particular costume that she always wears when portraying Lucy? She said she is gradually acquiring a wardrobe of Lucy costumes. ‘‘At first I just had the blue and white, polka dot dress, which is the one she wore most frequently in the series — in 25 different episodes, in fact,’’ she said. As time goes by, she has worked with a dress maker to watch episodes of the series, identify costumes which the actress wore, and produce them in real life.You might see her in the costume in which Lucy stomped grapes or in which she wrapped chocolates in paper or in quite a few other ensembles. She says this weekend there’s going to be a surprise outfit, which she thinks people will like.One of the problems in creating her growing wardrobe turns out to be color. ‘‘Since the series was filmed in black and white, people made up their minds what color everything was, but different people might have assigned different colors,’’ she said. ‘‘Our best guide has been the paper doll books, for which the authors researched the colors and shades of everything as closely as possible.’’This weekend, our community will be playing host to hundreds of visitors, from all around the world, come to pay tribute to one of our own. Why not get yourself a schedule and drop in to as many activities as you can?

Thanks to Sharon (gidgetgrape) for contributing this news!