and Lured. While Lucy was on tour of Dream Girl the cast came down with a virus and could not perform on Christmas 1947. In generosity Lucy paid for the casts hospital bills and wages. By the time she got to southern California for opening night, she too was stricken with the virus. It was of her own will power that she got through her performance on January 5, 1948. The review by the Los Angeles Times Edwin Schallert was favorable and he wrote: Here is a young lady of the films who could, if she would, have a dazzling footlight career. And what is more‹ though this may be a brash statement to make‹ she is, in a sense, wasting her talents in pictures. . . Miss Ball is a striking presence in the footlight world. She has efficiency as a comedienne. She can tinge a scene delicately with pathos. She has special facility in dealing with sharp-edged repartee. She apparently never overdoes the sentimental side of a role. . . (Higham, 89&90). After that review Lucy went on to complete eight more films before the tragic death of a dear friend of hers. In the spring of 1951, S. Sylvan Simon at the age of forty-one committed suicide for unknown reasons. Lucy told that it was he who inspired the crazy comedy that led to I Love Lucy. Lucy and Desi went on to start their own television series. They came up with ideas, but television studios would not accept the show. After taking out loans, Lucy and Desi founded Desilu Productions. I Love Lucy became the most popular television series of its decade running continuously from 1951 to 1957. In 1960, Lucy divorced Desi. Later she became head of two major television companies and did more Lucy series; The Lucy show (1962-69), Heres Lucy (1968-74), and last and the least successful 1986 series Life with Lucy. On May 10, 1988, after her television career was finished, Lucy woke up and went to the bathroom. Suddenly she felt a heavy object fall into her lap. When she picked it up she realized it ...
