LUCILLE BALL - Her Days of GLAMOUR & GRIT

BEFORE SHE BECAME A BELOVED TELEVISION ICON, SHE SPENT 20 YEARS AS A STRUGGLING ACTRESS

- LOUISE A. BARILE, Lindsay Hoffman

In 1933’s Roman Scandals, Lucille Ball kicked up her heels in a circle of gorgeous women dressed alike in blonde wigs and tunics. The ancient Rome-set musical, starring comedian Eddie Cantor, marked her big-screen debut as a Goldwyn Girl.

Like so many young starlets arriving in Hollywood in the 1930s, Lucille dreamed of being a movie star. Fate had other plans and for nearly 20 years, the future legend lingered on the cusp of film stardom. During that period, Lucille appeared in over 70 films in many genres, earning herself the nickname Queen of the B movies.

Lucille’s mother, Dede, encouraged her daughter’s dreams from a young age. “She was a pioneer spirit,” Lucie Arnaz tells Closer of her grandmother. “You could go to her for anything, she was game for anything and she had a great cackling laugh.”

Lucille had been paying her rent as a model and Chesterfield cigarette girl in New York City when she heard of the opening among the Goldwyn Girls in Los Angeles. The first thing she did was call her mother, who was supportive of her move west. “She said do it,” says Sarah Royal, author of A.K.A. Lucy: The Dynamic and Determined Life of Lucille Ball.

ONE OF THE GIRLS 

In many of Lucille’s earliest film appearances, she has no lines. “She would hang around the studio, so she’d be on hand when someone said, ‘Hey, we need a pretty face to stand there,’” says Royal. “She became like a chorus member in the background.”

That was okay. For Lucille, no role was too small. “I loved being part of the business. I would have swept floors just to be in it,” she said.