#Anne Appleby

[brandomonk]

[markedbyindecision]

UnREAL S2E6 “Casualty”

[hoggleswart]

prompt:    oh,  i  did  it  wrong? for:    closed  to  moira  graves.    (  @hopcflowered  ) location:    the  appleby  autumnfest.

＂  there’s  a  right  way  to  pumpkin  carve?  ＂  the  question  sounds  rational  enough  to  her,  but  slow  glance  around  at  the  other  attendees  participating  has  her  wondering  otherwise.  their  commitment  shows  in  furrowed  brows  and  when  she  accidentally  makes  eye  contact  with  one,  they  lean  away    /    turn  their  pumpkin  to  shield  it  from  view,  as  if  their  neighbour  might  steal  their  design.  it  sure  is  a  sight  to  behold.  damn,  some  people  took  their  autumn  festivities  to  a  whole  new  level.  their  artistic  designs  make  her  own  jagged  lines  and  messy  gut  -  scooping  look  like  child’s  play,  which    (  in  her  defence  )    it  was;  marco  sat  beside  her  with  a  sharpie  to  doodle  whatever  he  liked  onto  orange  rind.  ＂  i  sit  corrected.  i  think  we  might  both  be  doing  this  wrong.  ＂  forehead  leans  into  sticky  hand  and  she  turns  back  to  moira,  nose  wrinkled  slightly,  voice  lowering  as  not  to  upset  the  hard  -  workers  around  them.  ＂  i  vote  we  steal  one  of  theirs.    —-    snatch  and  run.  i  bet  they’d  never  catch  us.  ＂      

[hoggleswart]

the  warmth  in  her  smile  is,  for  once,  genuine  rather  than  strained.  there’s  nothing  quite  like  the  innocence  of  children,  bright    &    alight  with  excitement  over  the  mundane,  to  remind  roshana  some  good  still  existed  in  the  world.  the  way  they  found  unadulterated  joy  in  the  simplest  of  activity  was  truly  a  wonder  and  smile  only  softens  further  when  her  own  boy  squeezes  his  mother’s  hand  to  tug  them  both  closer  for  a  better  view.  ＂  it  sounds  like  we  have  a  new  apple  -  bobbing  champion  among  us.  ＂  her  gaze  shifts  from  a  dancing  basil  to  moira.  it’s  nice  to  see  her  here,  relaxed  and  laughing,�� enjoying  time  with  family.  these  were  far  better  circumstances  than  being  trapped  in  the  confinements  of  st.  mungo’s  not  too  long  ago.  normal,  for  lack  of  a  better  word.  ＂  whatever  you  do,  don’t  tell  my  eldest  two.  i  watched  them  spend  hours  splashing  around  earlier.  i  thought  they’d  drown  before  they  admitted  defeat.  thankfully,  that  wasn’t  the  case,  but  i  have  a  feeling  they’ll  be  sulking  about  it  for  a  while.  ＂

𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍: appleby autumnfest, apple bobbing station. 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐒: open to all ( @startertms ) !!

any excuse to let basil set free all of the energy in his bones was a good one for moira, it meant she would have an easier bedtime routine - not to say basil was tough to put to sleep, but most nights were spent listening to the same list of bug facts that have now been engrained into moira's mind. she counts down with the stall owner as basil bounces excitedly at the wooden barrel, red and green spheres bobbing up and down inside. "go go go, bas!" clapping enthusiastically, her son's face split wide into a mixture of anticipation and excitement before he began his tirade on the unsuspecting fruits - it took everything in her to not snort with her laughter. basil was both careful and reckless in his movements, teeth gnashing like a wild animal as his mother held her stomach from the joyful giggles spilling from parted lips; it was when the teeth connected with a shiny, red apple that they softened. the six year old jumped up with wide eyes, covered in water and arms held in the air with triumph. he had done it. the stall owner ruffled basil's damp curls at his win. "well done, buddy!" moira grinned, watching as his arms begin to bounce in time with dancing feet, "you've put us all to shame."

[whencyclopedia]

Youth of George Washington

The youth of George Washington (1732-1799), the first President of the United States, remains the least understood chapter of his life, shrouded in folklore and myths. Yet the experiences of his youth, and the bond he felt toward his older half-brother Lawrence, shaped the man he was to become and helped put him on the path toward revolution and the presidency.

Young George Washington with His Father

John C. McRae after G. G. White (Public Domain)

This article examines what is known about the lineage and youth of George Washington, from the first time his great-grandfather set foot on the shores of Virginia in 1657 until George's own coming of age in 1753, a year before the shots fired at the Battle of Fort Necessity changed the trajectory of his own life and, it can be argued, of world history.

Tall, strong, and somewhat physically awkward, the young George Washington grew up on a plantation just outside of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and moved to Mount Vernon as his brother's ward shortly after the death of their father. He became a land surveyor at the age of 16, measuring over 60,000 acres of land along the unmapped western frontier of Virginia. When Lawrence contracted a fatal case of tuberculosis, George accompanied him to Barbados, the only time he ever left the boundaries of the future United States; while there, he had a short but painful bout with smallpox, and for the first time came face to face with the military might of Great Britain. He had experienced much by his 21st birthday in 1753, although nothing could have prepared him for what was still to come.

Family & Parentage

The story of the Washington family in Virginia begins with a shipwreck. On 28 February 1657, the merchant vessel Seahorse of London ran aground on the shoals of the Potomac River during a storm; laden with precious tobacco, the ship had just embarked on its return voyage to England. Among its crew was a young Englishman named John Washington (b. 1633), who had taken to a life at sea after his father, an Anglican rector, had had his properties confiscated for his support of the Royalists during the English Civil Wars (1642-1651). As the crewmen went to work repairing the Seahorse of London, John Washington befriended several locals including Anne Pope, the daughter of a wealthy Maryland planter. It was perhaps out of love for Anne – or perhaps because he spied more opportunity in America than on the open seas – that induced John to stay behind after the crewmen sailed the repaired vessel back to England. John Washington married Anne Pope in late 1658, with the marriage ultimately producing five children.

Before his death in August 1677, John Washington made quite an impression on his adoptive home of Virginia. He had purchased or inherited upwards of 5,000 acres of land, upon which tobacco was planted and harvested by both enslaved Africans and white indentured servants. John's eldest son, Lawrence (b. 1659) was therefore left with a decent inheritance and was perfectly poised to enter public service. Before the age of 25, he served as both the Justice of the Peace and in the House of Burgesses, cementing the place of the Washington family among the colony's landed gentry. Around 1686, he married Mildred Warner, the daughter of the Speaker of the House of Burgesses, with whom he would have three children: John (1692-1746), Augustine (1694-1743), and Mildred (1698-1747). Lawrence died an early death in 1698, after which his widow remarried to an English merchant, George Gale, and moved her children to Whitehaven, England, before she died in 1701. Gale took care of the orphaned Washington children, enrolling the boys in the nearby grammar school at Appleby.

Augustine Washington, the middle child of Lawrence and Mildred, returned to Virginia sometime before he came of age in 1715 to claim his inheritance. Called 'Gus' by family and friends, he was tall, blond, and muscular, and was said to have been as gentle as he was strong. Upon his 21st birthday, he inherited 1,000 acres of land as well as six enslaved people; his marriage to Jane Butler that same year added another 1,700 acres to his already considerable amount of property. The couple settled on Gus' main plot of land at Pope's Creek in Westmoreland County, Virginia, where construction soon began on a home called Wakefield. It was here that Jane gave birth to three surviving children: Lawrence (1718-1752), Augustine, Jr. (1720-1762), and Jane (1722-1735).

Wakefield House at Pope's Creek, Virginia

Benson J. Lossing & William Barritt (Public Domain)

Like his own father, Augustine entered public life, serving as Justice of the Peace and sheriff for Westmoreland County. He also continued buying up properties, including a tract of land near Accokeek Creek, 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Fredericksburg. It was on this land that rich deposits of iron were discovered in the late 1720s; looking to capitalize on this, Augustine began negotiating with the Principio Company, an association of British ironmasters and merchants, to construct an ironworks on the land. In 1729, Augustine went to England to finalize negotiations with his new business partners only to discover upon his return that his wife Jane had died. Distraught though he was, it was not customary for Virginian widowers to stay single for long, and, on 6 March 1731, Augustine Washington was remarried to 23-year-old Mary Ball.

Continue reading...

[sporadiceagleheart]

Monday edit for missing kids and kids died from murder Kim Rae Doss, Tracy Anne King, Gina Dawn Brooks, Mikelle Diane Biggs, Joan Gay Croft, Teekah Latres Lewis, Moira McCall Anderson, Rachel Marie Anderson, Monica Arellano, Amber Nicole Crum, Victor Arellano, Anastacia Marie Argentova-Stevens, Allyson Kathleen Dalton, Athena Sheetz, Thanit Sheetz-Marti, Emily Maria Izykowski, Haleigh Breann Culwell, Bianca Elaine Lebron, Russell "Russie" John Mort, Alexis S. Patterson, Beverly Rose Potts, Jenna Ray Robbins, Rachael Marie Runyan, Eliška “Elsie” Paroubek, Harmony Renee Montgomery, Reachelle Marie Smith, Danyel Lou Sparpana, Brandi Jondell Summers& TIFFANI WISE, Omar Vargas, Darko Stančević, Linda Jane Stillwell, Kimberly Alizee Torres Rodriguez, Vivian Aileen Trout, Rebecca Elizabeth West, Sophia Anabel Larranaga, Fabricio Herman Barajas, Serina "Seri" Victoria Clark, Tammy Alexandra Flores, Diego Flores, Acacia Nicole Duvall,Jon "JP" Pierre Duvall, Sarah Arielle Skiba, Lisa Mae Zaharias,Christopher Zaharias, Azaria Chantel Loren Chamberlain, Tricia J. Kellett, Amy Burney, Diana Belinda Alvarez, Trudy Leann Appleby, Isabella Balajonda-Annibal, Lysbet Balmontez-Fernandez, Jersey Arnett, Carol May Big Tobacco, Karen Lynn Tompkins, Ricky Jean "Jeannie" Bryant, Lorie Lynn Lewis, Ann Marie Burr, Mary Louise Day, Patricia Louise "Patti Lou" Zentner, Athena Strand, Amber Hagerman, Christine Jessop, Debbie Randall, Jessica Gutierrez, Michaela Joy Garecht, Joan D’Alessandro, Cherish Perrywinkle, Audrii Cunningham, April Tinsley, Asifa Bano, JonBenét Ramsey, Elizabeth Shelley, Sharon Lee Gallegos, Sarah H. Foxwell, Opal Jo Dace Jennings,

[periodoakantiques]

THIS WONDERFUL TABLE IS FROM THE GREAT HALL OF APPLEBY CASTLE , WESTMORELAND. SEAT OF LADY ANNE CLIFFORD. SEE IMAGE ATTACHED. THIS TABLE IS COMPLETELY ORIGINAL, IT HAS A FIVE SIDED TOP WITH ORIGINAL HINGES, AN ORIGINAL SLIDE OUT LEG PULLS OUT TO SUPPORT THE EXTENDING LEAF. WITH A CUPBOARD UNDER WITH ORIGINAL HINGES AND HANDLE, THE WHOLE WAIST GADROON CARVED TO ALL SIDES, STANDING ON TURNED LEGS WITH A POT SHELF BELOW.

Visit us at: https://www.periodoakantiques.co.uk/antique-tables/a-rare-mid-17th-century-english-oak-folding-credence-table-appleby-castle-circa-1630-2-stockno-1727/

[disappointingyet]

The Deadly Affair 

Director Sidney Lumet Stars James Mason, Simone Signoret, Maximilian Schell, Harriet Andersson, Harry Andrews UK 1967 Language English 1hr 55mins Colour

Moody Le Carré adaptation 

[SPOILER ALERT – NOT FOR THIS FILM, BUT FOR THE 2011 VERSION OF TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY]

Let’s deal with the oddity straight off. The Deadly Affair is based on a novel that introduced one of the major characters of late 20th British fiction (in books and on screen), yet the protagonist of this film is called Charles Dodds, not a name that rings down the ages. That paradox has a simple explanation: the rights to the name George Smiley belonged to the producers of the 1965 film version of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. So even though Smiley is a supporting character in TSWCIFTC and the lead in Call For The Dead, the book The Deadly Affair was based on, he got renamed here.

Maybe that’s just as well, because James Mason’s Dodds isn’t very Smiley-like. Whereas Smiley’s impassiveness often drives other characters nuts, Dodds is a pretty emotional guy. Part of what John Le Carré was trying to do was write novels about human beings involved in the espionage industry rather than conventional spy thrillers, and that seems to be what appealed to Sidney Lumet here, too. A sizeable chunk of the story is about Dodds’ marriage to the chronically unfaithful Ann (Harriet Andersson) and the torment it causes him. And when Le Carré decided, several years after this film, to finally write another book with Smiley as the central player – rather than as a supporting character (as he was in The Spy Who…) – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, that would again be the chink in his armour that his most dangerous opponents know how to exploit.

The plot goes like this: Dodds, who is in the security service (ie, MI5) is assigned to investigate claims that a Foreign Office official is passing secrets to the Soviet bloc. Dodds interviews the man and they have a pleasant chat about the appeal of Marxism to young intellectual Brits before the Second World War and how things had changed since. But soon after, Dodds is told the man has apparently committed suicide. Dodds is unconvinced, and sets about investigating with the aid of retired detective Inspector Mendel* (Harry Andrews). This involves both long, uncomfortable interviews with the dead man’s widow (Simone Signoret) and some bits of action in the dark and dank streets of London. Those London streets are important. Le Carré was always strong on the correct geography of the capital and this film feels like it’s been shot in real London (and the commuter belt). It’s got a nice moody look to it.

Indeed, the vibe of the film, and the creation of its world is good – there are some excellent scenes in a local theatre down in Surrey with a fine turn from a young Lynn Redgrave. 

What I’m less sure about is the pivotal relationship in the film, between Dodds and Dieter (Maximilian Schell), his protege who might now be one of Ann’s many lovers. Maybe it’s that, maybe it’s the film’s obsession with Dodds’ cuckold-ness at the expense of his professional nous, but the film never quite makes the step from interesting to actively good. The film certainly doesn’t live up what you could reasonably expect from the potent combination of Lumet, Le Carré and Mason, but if you drift across it on TV, it’s worth sticking with.

And few people in 1967 would have been pondering whether Dodds was particularly Smiley-like, because he didn’t become Le Carré’s trademark hero until Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in 1974, and was then immortalised by Alec Guinness in the great BBC TV adaptation in 1979 (matched, I think, by Simon Russell Beale in BBC radio’s wonderful The Complete Smiley).

Oh, and that spoiler? There was a big thing made in the 2011 Tinker Tailor about the plot change in which ladies man Peter Guillam (played by B Cucumberpatch) turns out to be secretly gay. Here, Guillam is renamed Bill Appleby and the character is fairly clearly coded as gay.

*So this is what’s head-scrambling for Le Carré regulars: some of the characters have been renamed, but some haven’t. And some have had aspects of their character changed, but if you’ve seen either the BBC or film version of Tinker Tailor, then Mendel is very much the same Mendel, although his character is much more fleshed-out here.

[wahwealth]

Young People (1940) | Shirley Temple (last child star film) | Jack Oakie...

The movie, Young People, was Shirley Temple's last movie as a child star.  It is still a great movie, in fact, Film Daily wrote, "Shirley Temple's latest and last offering for 20th-Century Fox is loaded with entertainment and finds the youngster as appealing and attractive as ever,:  This is the full length film in origina. technicolor.   Movie CAST Shirley Temple as Wendy Ballantine Jack Oakie as Joe Ballentine Charlotte Greenwood as Kit Ballentine Arleen Whelan as Judith George Montgomery as Mike Shea Kathleen Howard as Hester Appleby Minor Watson as Dakin Frank Swann as Fred Willard Frank Sully as Jeb Mae Marsh as Maria Liggett Sarah Edwards as Mrs Stinchfield Irving Bacon as Otis Charles Haltin as Moderator Arthur Aylesworth as Doorman Olin Howard as Station Manager Harry Tyler as Dave Darryl Hickman as Tommy Shirley Mills as Mary Ann Diane Fisher as Susie Bobby Anderson as Jerry Dakin You are invited to join the channel so that Mr. P can notify you when new videos are uploaded, https://www.youtube.com/@nrpsmovieclassics

[galerie3]

Anne Appleby, Swaney's Meadow, ca.1999

[snowshoe1980]

Anne Appleby - Oregon Grape

[luthierlady]

09/05/2023 Papa

Since I was old enough to read, Papa has been putting books into my hands.

Once when I was about 12, he found me reading some sort of mediocre adventure novel and, nodding, disappeared into his study. He came back with Le Morte D’Arthur and handed it to me silently, and I read it and reread it in my usual way, until I was using the detached cover as a bookmark.

When I was younger it was Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Later on it was Old Man And The Sea.

In high school, he brought me my first Shakespeare play. It was one of the histories, but I can’t recall which! He knew I wanted action. I swarmed over that whole section of his library and read my way through the rest of the plays on my own.

That led to a funny anecdote about my (maternal) grandfather!

This was the New England side of my family (Papa is Italian). On my mother’s side I have two Mayflower ancestors. In fact, one of them happens to have been Stephen Hopkins, a contumacious and colorful guy who was the real life inspiration for Stephano in The Tempest—but I’m getting sidetracked.

One Thanksgiving I accidentally left a copy of Henry V at my grandparents house. My grandfather picked it up, I guess happy for a change of pace from the newspaper, and read it through.

He gave the book back to my father next time we visited and told Papa without an explanation that Shakespeare was bunk. I have no idea what he came across that he didn’t like but that was the word he reserved for swindlers and people who sell water filters. Very low company.

Just a few months later, I managed to leave a copy of Anne of Green Gables at my grandparents’. I got a call from Grandma and she whispered to me that she would have to buy me a new copy of that book, because she had just walked in on Grandpa reading it and weeping. She couldn’t take it away or let on that she’d seen him!

There’s something out there for everyone.

I have Papa to thank forever for this beautiful gift of reading.

My earliest memory of him is when he returned from his trip to Ireland to interview Sean O’Faolain for Papa’s book. (In the event Papa was so nervous he aimed the tape recorder at himself instead of O’Faolain and had a heck of a time afterwards understanding the great man’s mumbled responses) I was so little I was a bit afraid of his voice when he came to see me in my crib, but he handed me a little stuffed donkey which was always afterwards my most precious toy.

When we moved to Appleby in ‘83 he was on sabbatical and writing that particular book*, so the sound of the typewriter was a big part of the experience of that home; as much so as the sound of his chain saw and axe. It was a cold old place and took a lot of work to heat it in winter! Those were hard days for him.

Here he is (above) writing while he and my mother traveled across the country together the year before I was born. I think it might have been poetry at this time. I remember the SMELL of that tent!

This past trip North was no different. We got into a conversation about Italo Calvino and he handed me Marcovaldo. I was so tempted to take his copy with the notes in the margins, but I contented myself with ordering a used copy to be delivered back home. I can’t steal his books all my life! I only read the first story, Mushrooms In The City, while we talked but it was fabulous! The way each paragraph and almost each sentence follows the same win-loss pattern as the story itself. I love Invisible Cities for the eerie imagery of it and this will be just as thrilling. Papa always knows what I’ll love to read.

*Sean O’Faolain’s Irish Vision, Richard Bonaccorso, long out of print but available used on Amazon of course.

[metrotrinity]

Anyways after a happy dinner with my family who loves me Id like to return to the sentiment of “they’ll never want paintings like this from a girl from (whereever)” with some of my favorite woman painters who don’t just make pretty realist oil paintings because if you actually went to one art museum and let yourself experience it without wanting to be mad you would find that girls have actually been just making those paintings and this narrative is hateful spiteful bullshit that keeps your mind narrow. Since you’re so handy with the google why don’t you go ahead and type up Joan Mitchell, Perle Fine, Mary Abbott, Alice Baber or even Georgia O’Keeffe because this post makes you look less known about art than you could imagine. Even better go to your nearest large city’s art museum and see what they have from the region you live or from the world, or even better go to a local gallery and brave all the art that doesn’t escape there to maybe see something transcendent instead of believing all art should be oil painting details that are pretty enough for your blog

Btw here’s my favorite painting by Anne Appleby, a lovely color field artist from deep in the north of Montana inspired by the nature she grew up around! I was so lucky enough to see this twice in real life, an internet picture of her pieces can never compare to the size and depth you experience looking at her works, but maybe you will realize with this that it also goes for Pollock, Newman, Rothko, or any of the other worthwhile artists people rage-bait over despite it being the collector market’s fault they drive prices so high.

Or maybe like most useful idiots you’ll move the goalpost or just ignore the sentiment that you’re limiting yourself with a train of thought that is rightfully dying out.

"I could make that"

"But you didnt"

Yeah, you're right. I didn't. Which is why it's worth millions. Because some girl from West Virginia didn't make it. If I did that, no one would think it's noteworthy. If I did that, it'd be worthless. Do you see the problem we have with splatters on a page being treated like godly works of art?

[papermoonloveslucy]

CURTAIN UP!

Lucy On Stage ~ Act 4

Lucille Ball’s dream was to be on Broadway. She achieved that goal in 1960, but along the way she found herself on various other stages.  Here’s a look at Lucille Ball, stage actress. 

In school, Lucille’s mother Dede encouraged her daughter to be active in the drama club. Lucille performed and directed with the group, staging a production of Charley’s Aunt by Brandon Thomas, which opened on Broadway in 1893.  In the above photo, Lucille Ball is seated in the front row, second from the left. Her teacher was named Lillian Appleby. Lucille later honored her by naming a character on “I Love Lucy” after her. 

The Celoron, New York, grammar school Lucille attended (above) has long since been razed. But a formative moment in Lucille Ball’s life occurred on this site when her stepfather, Ed Peterson, brought her to see a performance by the renowned monologist Julius Tannen in the school auditorium. As Lucy remembered, “I don’t think a stage career ever occurred to me until that night.”  Lucille left school before graduating, going to New York City to attend drama school. The experiment was short-lived and Lucille returned home. 

In 1929, 18-year-old Lucille Ball was cast in a production of Within the Law by Bayard Veillier  – her first stage performance outside of school. Lucille played the supporting role of Agatha at Jamestown’s Shea Theatre. In 1991, the theater was formally renamed The Lucille Ball Little Theatre in a ceremony with Ball’s family in attendance.

Back in Manhattan, Lucille was cast (but quickly fired) from the chorus of two road shows of Broadway productions. Rio Rita was a New York hit produced by Flo Ziegfeld. 

In a 1963 epsiode of “The Lucy Show” Lucy Carmichael says that Thelma Green (Carole Cook) once appeared in the third road company of Rio Rita. The writers used Ball’s real-life history but attributed it to Thelma. 

She was also in the road company of The Stepping Stones, a musical fantasy about Raggedy Ann and Andy starring Fred and Dorothy Stone. Again, Lucille was quickly let go. 

In Hollywood, Lucille Ball was coached by Lela Rogers, Ginger’s mother, on the RKO lot. At the RKO Little Theatre (later the Desilu Workshop Playhouse) Lucille appeared in several plays. In 1936 she was in Fly Away Home, a play that had appeared on Broadway the year before starring Montgomery Clift and Sheldon Leonard. Agents, Managers, and members of the public could attend for twenty five cents.

Also in 1936, she appeared in Breakfast With Vanora by Fred Ballard, which received good notices in the press. Lucille played the leading role and Barbara Pepper was in the ensemble. Above, Lela instructs John Shelton how to hold a gun while Lucy looks on.  

In 1937, Lucille took a break from Hollywood to make (what she hoped) would be her Broadway debut in Hey Diddle Diddle, a play by Bartlett Cormack starring Conway Tearle. The play premiered at McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, with a destination of the Vanderbilt Theatre on Broadway. In its second out-of-town stop in Washington DC, Tearle become gravely ill. That, combined with the fact that producers felt the script needed revisions, caused the production to be halted.  Lucille returned to Hollywood. In 1953, Tearle’s name was mentioned on “I Love Lucy.” He had died in 1938. 

In mid-1947, now married and a successful film star, Lucille Ball again began to think about her stage aspirations and left Hollywood for the boards. She toured in a tour of Dream Girl, a fantasy play by Elmer Rice that had played Broadway in 1945. 

The play’s fantasy sequences seemed tailor-made for Ball’s style and comic wit. In a way, Georgina was a prelude to the “Lucy” character on TV, who is dreaming her way out of her suburban life - and sometimes succeeding.

The play co-starred Scott McKay as the imaginative writer. McKay played the role of Wilbur in the 1958 pilot for TV’s “Mr. Ed” but was replaced on the series by Alan Young.

"I have seen other productions of this play, but the only actress whose performance really delighted me was Lucille Ball. She lacked… tender wistfulness, but her vivid personality and expert timing kept the play bright and alive." ~ Edgar Rice, Playwright

The tour was produced by Herbert Kenwirth who later directed 14 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.”  It featured Barbara Morrison, Alan Hewitt, and Hayden Rorke, who would all later appear on Lucy sitcoms. 

In January 1948, Lucille got the opportunity to recreate the role in Los Angeles, but fell ill with a virus shortly after it opened and the show closed prematurely. It wasn’t long before Lucille was back in front of a live audience, but this time on radio, as the star of the sitcom “My Favorite Husband,” which led to her meteoric success on “I Love Lucy.”  

After the series came to an end in early 1960, Lucille again revived hopes of acting on Broadway. Wildcat, a new musical about by Richard Nash with songs by Cy Coleman was looking for a star. Nash had envisioned the main character of as a woman in her late 20s, and was forced to rewrite the role when 49 yearl-old Lucille Ball expressed interest not only in playing it but financing the project as well. Lucille personally chose her co-stars Keith Andes as her love interest and Pauls Stewart as her sister. Future sitcom star Valerie Harper was in the chorus (above right). 

Lucille played Wildcat ‘Wildy’ Jackson, who dreams of striking oil in 1912 Centavo City, California. The score included what would become her signature tune: “Hey, Look Me Over”.  

The Philadelphia tryout opened on October 29, 1960 to a glowing review from Variety, but local critics were less enthusiastic. The scheduled Broadway opening had to be postponed when trucks hauling the sets and costumes to New York were stranded on the New Jersey Turnpike by a major blizzard. After two previews, the show opened on December 16 at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon).

Ball quickly realized audiences had come expecting to see her Lucy Ricardo persona and began ad-libbing to bring her characterization closer to that of the zany housewife she had portrayed on television. But the rigors of singing and dancing in a Broadway musical eight times a week caught up with Ball. She got illl and demands for refunds ran high, the producers planned to close the show for a week to allow her to recover. The closure came sooner than planned when Ball, suffering from a virus and chronic fatigue, departed for Florida. She returned two weeks later, but collapsed on stage. It was decided the show would close for nine weeks at the end of May and reopen once its star had fully recovered but when the musicians' union insisted on members of the orchestra being paid during the shutdowns. Not even Lucille’s deep pockets could afford the cost, and the show closed permanently on June 3, 1961.  

Lucille returned to Hollywood, her dream realized, even if it was short-lived. Thereafter, she would incorporate her love for theatre into her television and film performances, starring in many ‘mini-musicals’ on “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy” and - in 1974 - tackling the full-scale Broadway musical Mame on film. 

CURTAIN DOWN on ACT 4

[nobrashfestivity]

Anne Appleby, Requiem for a Ponderosa Pine, 2010.

 Oil and wax on canvas. Museum Purchase: The Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Endowment for Northwest Art with partial gift of the Artist and PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, 2014.5.1a-d © Anne Appleby