It Is a Women’s World When the hit show “I Love Lucy” was on air about 72% of all U.S. households with a television watched the show (ANDERSON). Lucille Ball was born in Jamestown, New York on August 6, 1911. As a young girl her teachers told her she would never be successful in the entertainment business, so she proved them wrong. Ball ended going into the model business for a while and then she moved to Hollywood to get her career in radio and television started. She moved back to New York in 1932 to work on her radio show with CBS. She married Desi Arnaz in 1940 and made her hit television “I Love Lucy” based off of her radio show “My Favorite Husband” with Arnaz starring in the show with her. Lucille Ball’s bold lifestyle influenced the …show more content…
Lucille Ball made the impossible happen by starring in her own television show, showing that women can be the hilarious and ladylike simultaneously. As the main character of her own show Lucille Ball was able to show women that they can do exactly what men can. “Her genius did not go unrecognized. During its six-year run, I Love Lucy’s success was unmatched. For four of its seasons, the sitcom was the No. 1 show in the country. In the 1953 program captured an unheard-of 67.3 audience share, which included a 71.1 rating for the episode that featured Little Ricky’s birth, a turnout that surpassed the television audience for President Eisenhower’s inauguration ceremonies” (Lucille Ball Biography). Ball did not go unnoticed in the television industry because her show was a complete hit throughout the United States. She was able to be an exemplary figure of what it means to pursue your dreams and make them a reality. Lucille Ball was able to show people that it was possible to be a lady while being a comedic figure on television as a woman. “Much of I Love Lucy’s success was credited to Ball’s incredible …show more content…
As soon as she found out she wanted to be able to make this her show and save her marriage. Ball created her very own television production company by leaving CBS and using her own money to get started. “The network executives were reluctant, fearing viewers would have difficulty accepting the Cuban Arnaz as the husband of all-American redhead Ball. To prove they could make this sitcom work, Arnaz and Ball formed Desilu Productions (the very first independent television production company) and used $5,000 of their own money to produce the pilot for “I Love Lucy”. In doing so, Arnaz and Ball made themselves their own bosses, providing their product to CBS rather than working directly for the network or a sponsor, which was then the common practice in television” (Growth Strategies). Ball proved to a large production company that she did not need them and could do exactly what they do. While building her own company and producing new shows she also starred in her very own show. She created a pilot episode of I Love Lucy and was able to sell it to CBS, where she also introduced reruns to the company. “Again CBS protested, claiming that live production in Los Angeles was impractical. Because of the time difference between the coasts, the network would be forced to air blurry kinescopes in the East, where most television-viewing homes were located. Arnaz and Ball offered a simple
Lucille Mulhall was born on October 21, 1885 in Oklahoma and died December 21, 1940 in Oklahoma when she got in a terrible vehicle accident. She is the first born child of Zach (1847-1931) and Mary Agnes Mulhall (1859-1931). Her sister’s name is Margaret Reed (1906-1925) and she was the last child born. She married her first husband in 1916 and his name was Martin Van Bergen. Lucille then divorced this man and married a man named Thomas Loyd Burnett (1871-1939). He was born in Denton County, Texas and died in Wichita County, Texas on December 26, 1938. Lucille Mulhall was a soft spoken and beautiful young lady. She was very feminine and had a very good education. When she was a teenager, she was known as one of the top cowboy performers in
Shirley Temple Black continues to inspire children today. She has achieved great accomplishments in the world of politics and in the world of childhood fame. She was the world’s most popular star in the worst of times, and always brought smiles and happiness where ever she went, in her life and in her movies. Her name is still connected with fame, although it has been over 50 years since she has appeared in a movie, much less been a star. However, Shirley Temple Black continues to be a household name in homes across the world. The little girl with curls, who radiated enough happiness to bring a smile to everyone who saw her, even during the darkest days of the Depression, will never be forgotten.
Betty Marion White was born on January 17, 1922 in Oak Park, Illinois. She is the only child of Horace and Tess White, an electrical engineer and a house wife. At the age of two her and her family moved to Los Angeles. Betty White graduated from Beverly Hills High School California, in 1939 at 17. Betty started modeling they same year she graduated. She first did various radio shows in the 40s. But her first TV show was on Hollywood in Television in 1949. Whites first produced television show was Life with Elizabeth. "I was one of the first women producers in Hollywood."
Lucille Ball, also known as Lucy, had a difficult childhood but discovered her gifts despite the hard challenges of life. When Lucille was four years old her dad, Henry Durrell Ball, died of Typhoid fever (Ball 55). Her Mother, or as Lucille called her, DeDe, was very depressed after Henry died. DeDe continued to get more depressed after Lucille’s brother, Fred or as most people called him, Freddy, was born. Having a newborn and an active four-year-old, DeDe struggled to be an attentive mother. In an attempt
In the summer of 1950, they went on tour, performing for live audiences to prove that the show would work. Well, as you know, the rest is television history!*P**BR*Desi made the first 5,000 dollars spent into millions in just four years. He convinced the show's sponsor, Phillip Morris, that Lucy having a baby on the show would give them great publicity. He was right: the birth of Little Ricky drew 44 million viewers (the swearing in of the President that year only drew 22 million), and the story made headlines everywhere across America. With Desi as a successful executive, and head of the couple's production company, DesiLu, Arnaz pioneered a new way of producing TV shows, shooting each episode of I
Coretta Scott King was born and raised in Marion, Alabama. She was born on April 27, 1927. Coretta grew up on a farm and picked cotton to help make money for her family. She graduated valedictorian
Diana Ross was born in 1944. Emerging from the housing projects in Detroit to become an international superstar, she gained prominence first as a member of the supremes, then as a solo artist. The mention of her name evokes the indelible image of the broadly smiling diva, the long hair, sequined gowns, etc.
Mary Pickford was one of the most famous women in the 1920's. She was an actress. She didn't star in movies like what we have today the ones with sound, she was the star in silent screen movies. She starred in movies such as "Pollyanna" followed by "Suds" and then three releases in 1921 entitled "The Love Light," "Through the Back Door," and Little Lord Fauntleroy" all which were silent movies. Mary Pickford had great success when it came to her videos. Peopled loved her. She had very long curly hair that she wore in long curly braids. That style made her look younger then she really was. That is why she was always asked to play rolls of either child or a teenager. Mary was always the first name that would come to mind when they needed an experience young person to play a roll. Even though she was not young she looked very young.
At the age of nineteen she met and married Louis Jones. Together they had two children Gail and Teddy (who later died in 1970 from kidney failure). While trying to get used to raising a family and having a career, she received a call from an agent, who had seen her at the Cotton Club, about a part in a movie. Her controlling husband allowed her to be in “The Duke is Tops” and also the musical revue “Blackbirds of 1939."
Not many know how to achieve success in all categories, but Tina Fey didn’t have any problems figuring that out. Tina fey, television writer, screenwriter, actress, comedian, and mother, has taken the world by storm. Tina Fey has a powerful influence on our world today and she has become a worldwide icon in the eyes of many young women. Tina Fey may have been THE woman to make it stylish to wear glasses in the mid-2000s, but there is more to this multi-talented woman then those trademark black-rimmed spectacles.
	Lucille Ball's major contribution has been as a comedienne. Not only was she the star of the world renowned television show, I Love Lucy, but she has also performed on radio, in films, and even on Broadway. Ball had an extraordinary personality. "In short, Lucille Ball's unique brand of wacky physical comedy made her the queen of TV. . ." (Dziemianowicz 54). Her hit television show, I Love Lucy, was one of the most watched television shows of all time. The success of I Love Lucy was due mostly to Ball's comic brilliance (Zoglin 188). "With near perfect timing, and a genius for sightgags, red-haired Ball careened through nineteen episodes of the original sitcom as a ditzy housewife" (Biography 1). Her show was so successful and popular that, "the 1953 episode on which she gave birth to 'Little Ricky'. . . was said to attract more viewers than the concurrent inauguration of President Dwight D Eisenhower" (Biography 1). Her impact was so great that even today, everyone knows that "Lucy Ricardo, of course, achieved eternal life" (Brady 342).
Ruby Bridges was born on September 8, 1954. Ruby Bridges grew up on a farm in Mississippi. Ruby Bridges was born in the same year that the Supreme Court desegregated schools. When she was four years old, her parents moved to New Orleans, hoping for a better life in a big city. In kindergarten, she was one of many African American students chosen to take a test that determined whether or not she would be able to attend a white school. The test was especially difficult, so that it would be hard for students to pass. Bridges’ father didn’t want her to take the test, fearing that there would be trouble if she passed. However, her mother wanted her to pass the test, as she wanted Ruby to get a better education.
It includes quotes from the producers, cast members, network executives, and various news outlets. The book also weaves in important historical events of the time and how the television industry operated during certain decades. The book itself starts out by explaining how the 1960’s, “…rural purge…”, saw a shift from rural television shows like “The Beverly Hillbillies” & “Lassie” to more youthful and socially aware quality programs. (ch.5). As Armstrong points out, times were changing and network executives wanted to cater to “…young, wealthy, educated consumers”. (ch.2). The character of Mary Richards, a single and thirty career woman working in an all male field, “…described the fate of more than a few real women at the time, but it was it a scenario that had never been depicted on television.” (ch.2). Thus, the socially aware “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” with it’s realistic portrayal of the single working woman of America became a hit among women in the
I read voraciously as a child. I grew up in a college town and spent my summers in Middlebury, Vt, where my father taught summer school. That meant I was surrounded by libraries and by people who love to read and discuss literature. During the Vermont summers, one of my favorite places was Middlebury College's rare books room where I read first-edition Louisa May Alcott novels.
Civil rights activist and writer, Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. At the age of three, Angelou witnessed a divorce between her parents and was sent to live with her grandmother. At the age of eight, she was removed from her comfortable lifestyle