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Informationen zum Autor Pamela Pollack and Meg Belviso are authors of several books in this series, including Who Is George Lucas? and Who Was Susan B. Anthony? Klappentext Who doesn't love Lucy? The legendary actress, producer, and comedian steps into the Who Was? spotlight. Much like her hit TV show, I Love Lucy, Americans in the 1950s fell in love with Lucy. Born in New York in 1911, Lucille Ball was always a natural performer. She danced in the chorus of Broadway shows and acted in small parts in Hollywood movies. But Ball's true gift was comedy. She found a way to showcase her gifts in 1951 when CBS gave her the chance to star in a sitcom. She based the show on her life and called it I Love Lucy. Over sixty years later, it is still one of the most loved television shows of all time. Lucille Ball became the first woman to run a major television studio, Desilu, and her comedic genius has kept people laughing for generations. Who Was Lucille Ball? In the spring of 1952, cities across America experienced a mysterious drop in the water pressure every week between 9:30 and 9:35 p.m. In New York City, it seemed impossible to get a taxi on a Monday night. All the cabbies were off duty. And in Chicago, a department store changed its business hours because it seemed like no one was shopping on Monday nights anymore. What was going on? It turned out that it was all related to a TV show! A half-hour comedy. On Monday nights, Americans from coast to coast rushed through their dinner. Kids finished their homework as fast as they could. By nine o’clock everyone gathered in front of their televisions. And waited. In the 1950s, TVs took a while to warm up. Finally a big heart appeared against a satin background. The theme song of I Love Lucy began, and America was watching. It turned out that the viewers across the country were all waiting for the show to be over before using the bathroom. Toilets all flushing at the same time had caused the water pressure to drop throughout one city! No one wanted to miss a minute of Lucy. Lucille Ball, the star of the show, was the most beloved woman on television. Whatever trouble she was in, Lucy could make it seem like the funniest thing anyone had ever seen. All over the country, people couldn’t stop laughing. How did Lucille Ball become one of America’s first big TV stars? It wasn’t easy. She worked for years in Hollywood, making movies before she got a chance to show TV viewers how funny she could be. But she wasn’t afraid of hard work. And she wasn’t afraid to take a pie in the face or fill her pockets with eggs or her mouth with chocolates, all to make people laugh. I Love Lucy was the name of her show, and how could you not? Chapter 1: Lucyball Lucille Desiree Ball was born in Jamestown, New York, on August 6, 1911. Although she always preferred Lucille, her family nicknamed her Lucyball, and the world came to know and love her as Lucy. Her father, Henry, worked for Bell Telephone, putting up phone lines all over the country, so he, Lucy, and Lucy’s mother, Desiree, moved around a lot. When Lucy was three and her mother was pregnant, Henry died of typhoid fever. Lucy and her mother, who was known as “DeDe,” moved in with DeDe’s parents, Frederick and Florabelle Hunt. The family lived in Celoron, New York, not far from Jamestown. There, Lucy’s brother, Fred Ball, was born in 1915. Other relatives came to live at the house in Celoron, too, including Lucy’s young cousin Cleo. Grandpa Fred took Lucy to the theater to see the live vaudeville shows in Jamestown on Saturdays and to the silent “flickers” (movies) shown outside in the park during the summer months. Even though she was still very young, Lucy was a responsible girl. After her grandmother died, she lo...
