The Untold Truth Of Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball made a big impact on television that’s hard to beat. She was an actress and comedian who did things that were groundbreaking. For example, she was brave to be a woman in comedy, and she was one of the first women to act on TV while pregnant. She also helped make an interracial marriage seem normal to everyone watching. Overall, Ball showed a lot of fearlessness, which is why she’s remembered as one of Hollywood’s most loved stars ever.

Believe it or not, there’s more to Lucille Ball than just her amazing career. She was a regular person with her own ups and downs. She had kids, got married to and divorced Desi Arnaz, and later remarried. Sadly, she passed away in 1989 because of heart issues.

So, what else is there to know about Lucille Ball? What was she like in real life? Keep reading to find out more about her untold story.

Lucille Ball didn’t have a very happy childhood

Even though Lucille Ball was famous for being really funny, her family life wasn’t all laughs. Her dad died when she was just four, and then her mom got married again. Lucille ended up living with her stepfather’s grandparents, who were strict and had old-fashioned ideas. She felt like they treated her differently than the other kids, which she didn’t like. She said it wasn’t the best way to raise a child.

Even though her family’s strict ways were maybe not the best, they helped Lucille Ball find something important: humor. She said feeling frustrated made her want to make people laugh to feel better. Luckily, her school’s principal noticed her talent and let her be in musicals and plays. Plus, her stepfamily supported her interest in the arts.

Lucille Ball’s life changed when she was 16

Something big happened to Lucille Ball on July 4, 1927. Her life changed a lot in just one moment. That day, her grandfather was teaching her brother how to use a new gun he got for his birthday. They set up a tin can target in the backyard. It was a real .22-caliber rifle.

Unfortunately, while a friend of her brother was aiming at the target, something terrible happened. Lucille Ball’s eight-year-old neighbor ended up in the way of the bullet by accident. Though he didn’t die, the bullet hit his spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed for the rest of his life.

The boy’s family sued Lucille Ball’s grandfather for a lot of money. They wanted everything he owned. Lucille Ball explained that they even took their house, the things her mom worked hard to buy, like furniture, and their insurance. They took everything they could. After that, her grandfather couldn’t find work again. It really hurt him a lot.

At the beginning of her career, Lucille Ball was a starving actress

Even though Lucille Ball became really famous in Hollywood because she was super smart and funny, she didn’t start out rich or famous. When she first went to Los Angeles, California to follow her dreams of being an artist, she had no money at all. In an interview with David Fantle and Tom Johnson, she said she was so poor that she went hungry sometimes. She was young and felt shy and clumsy. The only thing she knew was vaudeville, so she tried to get into it to make a living.

When Lucille Ball got to Hollywood, vaudeville wasn’t popular anymore, so she had to find other ways to make money. She said she didn’t have enough food and couldn’t find work, so she started modeling. Then, she became a showgirl, which was her first job in Hollywood. Even though she only planned to stay for six weeks, she ended up staying because that’s where her future was.

Lucille Ball was open about pregnancy loss

Lucille Ball is famous for being one of the first women to be on TV while pregnant. Back then, it was considered really unusual and even frowned upon. She and Desi Arnaz had to ask the TV network if they could even talk about the pregnancy on the show. They also had to get approval from a priest, minister, and rabbi for each episode, which might sound like a funny story, but it was serious business back then.

What many people don’t know about Lucille Ball is that she was open about having a miscarriage right after she and Arnaz came up with the idea for “I Love Lucy.” They even took their early show to Vaudeville partly to help her deal with the sadness of losing the baby.

Lucille Ball wasn’t afraid to talk about giving birth. She told The Saturday Evening Post that both her kids, Lucy and Little Desi, were born by Cesarean section. She said that knowing beforehand helped her plan better.

In real life, Lucille Ball was quite serious

If you’ve seen “I Love Lucy,” you might think Lucille Ball was just as funny in real life as she was on the show. But Pamela Mason Wagner, who directed the bio-documentary “Finding Lucy,” says otherwise. She explained in an interview with American Masters that Ball was actually quite different off-screen. She said Ball had some surprising sides to her personality, like being a funny actress who couldn’t tell jokes and being serious in real life. It’s kind of unexpected, right?

Besides being serious, Wagner says Ball wasn’t really into having a lot of influence in Hollywood, even though she became one of the most successful businesswomen there. Wagner mentioned that Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz basically created the sitcom, but Ball still wasn’t all about the power she had.

Was Vivian Vance really Lucille Ball’s rival?

While Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were the stars of “I Love Lucy,” Vivian Vance, who played Ethel Mertz, and William Frawley, who played Fred Mertz, were also important parts of the show. There were rumors that Ball and Vance didn’t get along and couldn’t stand each other on set.

However, celebrity interviewer Tom Johnson revealed a different side of the story. He said Ball actually admired Vance a lot. Johnson shared in an interview with Fox News that Ball would watch Vance whenever she watched her own TV shows, and she loved working with her. He also mentioned that the real tension on set was between Vance and Frawley, who didn’t get along well.

Lucille Ball wasn’t interested in drugs

If you haven’t seen “I Love Lucy,” you might be surprised at how much smoking there is on the show. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz even did commercials promoting cigarettes for Phillip Morris, who sponsored the show for a few years. Ball was a smoker in real life as well.

But smoking was the only thing Ball did. She didn’t like getting drunk or high. She told People magazine that the first time she was offered marijuana, she didn’t understand why someone would pass her a cigarette they had just smoked. She said she never tried it. When it came to alcohol, Ball said it either made her sick or put her to sleep.

Ball also didn’t like strong drugs because of how they made her feel. She said she was allergic to morphine, Percodan (a mix of aspirin and oxycodone), and codeine. She couldn’t take them because they had the opposite effect on her, keeping her eyes wide open instead of making them close.

Lucille Ball didn’t improvise on I Love Lucy

When it comes to favorite moments from “I Love Lucy,” fans have a lot to talk about: Ethel and Lucy working on the chocolate line, Lucy stomping grapes, and Lucy meeting Harpo Marx, to name a few. But were these moments improvised comedy gold?

Not according to celebrity interviewer David Fantle — and Lucille Ball herself was clear about this. “She wanted people to know that there was no ad-libbing,” he explained to Fox News. “We knew our characters inside and out. There was no ad-libbing. We came in, read the script and did our jobs.”

Ball also wanted to make something clear about the physical comedy on the show. “Despite what they thought, the slapstick and the zaniness was just a tiny part of the series,” Fantle added. Instead, Ball insisted that the talented writers deserved credit.

Lucille Ball performed this classic bit in just one take

One of the most famous episodes of “I Love Lucy” features Lucille Ball promoting a health tonic called Vitameatavegamin. The writers, Madelyn Pugh Davis and Bob Carroll Jr., said in an interview with the Television Academy Foundation that the scene was written just like it was performed. “The TV commercial was scripted,” they explained. “It took us a day and a half to come up with that name Vitameatavegamin. That was a tough one!”

What’s really amazing about that scene is that Ball didn’t need a lot of help or time to do it perfectly. “The most amazing thing is that she didn’t use any cue cards,” they added. “She did that whole thing in one take. Which she did a lot.” It shows how talented she was at comedy and acting.

There would be no Star Trek without Lucille Ball

After ending “I Love Lucy” in 1957, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were financially well-off. So, what did they do with their money? Entertainment Weekly reported that they bought the old RKO Studios and renamed it Desilu Productions. It became one of the biggest independent production companies in Southern California.

This move made Ball one of the most powerful women in Hollywood. It also ended up saving the now-famous science-fiction series “Star Trek.” Gene Roddenberry, the series creator, was scouted by Desilu, and he got a pilot order from NBC. But the Desilu board of directors didn’t like the idea. Luckily, Ball disagreed with them and made sure the expensive pilot was made.

Even though NBC said no to the first pilot, Ball didn’t give up on “Star Trek.” She used some of her own money to help make a second pilot. This time, NBC accepted it. As former studio executive Ed Holly revealed, Desilu historian Coyne Steven Sanders said, “If it were not for Lucy, there would be no Star Trek today.”

Lucille Ball says that Desi Arnaz frightened her

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz are one of the most famous couples in Hollywood history. They were groundbreaking because they showed an interracial marriage on TV, with Ball being white and Arnaz being Cuban-American. But Ball wasn’t bothered by that at all. She remembered meeting Arnaz in May 1940 at RKO Studio, and he asked her out that very night. “Pretty soon we were married,” she said.

However, Arnaz’s wild side, especially his driving, made Ball nervous. The first time she rode in a car with him, she thought he drove too fast and scared her. “Marrying Desi was the boldest thing I ever did,” she admitted.

Their marriage lasted 20 years, according to History. But it ended mostly because of Arnaz’s drinking and affairs outside of marriage.

After their divorce, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz got along

Even though Desi Arnaz wasn’t exactly the best husband in the world, after his marriage to Lucille Ball came to an end, his ex-wife said they still got along. “Always have,” she told People magazine. “We didn’t even get two lawyers for the divorce.” Ball added that they continued to see each other on social occasions, and that his second wife was a “very nice girl.”

Like Arnaz, Ball also remarried. In 1961, she wed comedian Gary Morton, who she described as a naturally moderate person. “He doesn’t think the grass is greener elsewhere, he’s not a workaholic or a playaholic and he appreciates his home,” she told the publication. “Desi was a very generous man who built many houses but never lived in any home.”

Ball and Morton were married for 28 years until the actress passed away in 1989, according to the Independent. Morton died ten years later.

Lucille Ball had progressive views for her time

Although Lucille Ball grew up in a more conservative time, she had some pretty modern ideas, like marrying Desi Arnaz in 1940. She also supported women’s rights, even though she didn’t actively participate in the movement herself. “They can use my name for equal rights, but I don’t join protests because I’ve never felt held back,” she said in an interview with People magazine. She was so determined that she overcame any obstacle in her way.

Ball was also open-minded about gay rights and didn’t care who people dated. “It’s fine with me,” she said in a 1980 interview. “Some of the most talented people I’ve met or heard of are gay. How could you criticize that?”

Lucille Ball was once accused of being a communist

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, America was scared of communism, and politicians were searching for people they thought were involved. Even Hollywood was affected. Dann Cahn, who edited the TV show I Love Lucy, said they were scared during the show’s early years because of the Red Scare. People even accused Lucy, the main character, of being a Communist. Everyone in Hollywood was afraid they might have to talk to the House Un-American Activities Committee.

But after the government looked into it, they found out Lucille Ball, the actress who played Lucy, wasn’t a Communist after all. Cahn said Lucy’s grandfather had been a Socialist, and Lucy had signed a card for the Communist Party to keep him happy. Once people knew the truth, things calmed down.

Lucille Ball is a descendant of those accused of witchcraft in Salem

In the late 1600s, something dark happened in Salem, Massachusetts: the Salem Witch Trials. It was a scary time when people were accused of being witches, and it was the deadliest witch hunt in America’s history. According to NPR, 19 women and men, along with two dogs, were killed. And a lot more—between 144 and 185 people—were accused of being witches. These included a five-year-old girl and even older folks in their eighties. The whole situation reminded people of the Salem Witch Trials when, nearly 300 years later, there was another hunt for supposed communists. This was something playwright Arthur Miller thought a lot about when he wrote The Crucible.

Now, you might wonder what all this has to do with Lucille Ball. Well, it turns out she and some other famous Americans were related to the people accused of being witches. NPR says that Ball, Clara Barton, and Walt Disney all had ancestors who were accused. Makes you think about who else might have been wrongly accused during those scary times.

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