#henry ball

[briannabug]

this song makes me feel safe somehow,

even though i remember it best from alice is dead, maybe its the nostalgia?

[uwmspeccoll]

Typography Tuesday

THE CURWEN PRESS TYPES AND BORDERS

The Curwen Press was found in 1863 by Rev, John Curwen, originally to print music. His grandson Harold Curwen took control of the business in 1916 and was soon joined by Oliver Simon in 1920, transforming what was essentially a family job-printing business into a notable fine-press publishing enterprise. The two made a great impact on the typographic world of the 1920s, with their well-designed types and borders, fine illustration work, and their attention to design and color. The Press maintained its reputation for quality until it closed its doors in 1984, with its considerable collection passing to Cambridge University Library, including much of its distinguished stock of type. Much of the credit for rescuing the types from the melting pot goes to Ian Mortimer, artist, designer, printer, and proprietor of I. M. Imprimit in London.

The selection displayed here of borders and typefaces from the Curwen Press were compiled and proofed from the original types by Ian Mortimer, printed offset by Adrian Lack at the Senecio Press, and were inserted as part of John Dreyfus’s article “The Curwen Press Collection in Cambridge University Library” in Matrix 5, Winter 1985, pp. 23-33. All the borders shown here were commissioned by Curwen for its exclusive use. The typefaces also include some exclusive designs, such as Curwen Sans designed by Harold Curwen, initials by Jan Van Krimpen and Percy Smith, and some typefaces particularly associated with the Press, such as Walbaum. 

Borders and typeface names, along with their designers are printed beneath each specimen. Besides Curwen, Van Krimpen, and Smith, other designers of note whose designs are displayed here include Albert Auspurg, Henry Ball, Edward Bawden, Harry Carter, Rudolf Koch, and Paul Nash.

Matrix 5 was printed in October 1985 by John and Rosalind Randle at the Whittington Press in Andoversford, Gloucestershire, in an edition of 715 copies, and is another fine donation from our friend Jerry Buff.

View other posts relating to the Curwen Press.

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[papermoonloveslucy]

Henry Durrell Ball

September 16, 1887 - February 28, 1915

Lucille Ball’s father, Henry Durrell Ball, known as “Had” to friends and family, died on February 28, 1915, at 1am, according to his death certificate. Oddly, his death certificate lists the date as February 27, possibly due to the death occurring at 1am. 

The official cause of death was typhoid fever. He left his wife Desiree (”Dede”), and a daughter, age four, Lucille (”Lucy”). His wife was pregnant with his second child at the time of his death. His son, Frederick (”Fred”) was born in July 1915. His family is distantly related to George Washington, first President of the United States. Henry Ball was just 28 years old when he died, having been born on September 16, 1887 in Sheridan, New York. Coincidentally, this was the same year that William Frawley (Fred Mertz) was born. 

Rumors persist that Henry and Desiree also had another daughter, Ethel Madeline Mitchell (nee Ball). No tangible proof establishes the year of birth or validity of the claim. The rumor was probably motivated by the name “Ethel”. 

At the time of his passing, he was living at 126 Biddle Street, in Wyandotte, Michigan. Professionally, Ball was a lineman for the Bell Telephone Company. He took job offers that moved his family across the country, including Montana and New Jersey.  

"I do remember everything that happened," Lucille said. "Hanging out the window, begging to play with the kids next door who had measles, the doctor coming, my mother weeping. I remember a bird that flew in the window, a picture that fell off the wall." ~ Lucille Ball

The death of her father at such an early age had a great impact on the future queen of comedy. Throughout her television career, and the four situation comedies built around her, the “Lucy” characters had mothers, but their references to their fathers remained vague and off-screen. There are one or two anecdotal mentions of fathers, but nothing of any substance, let alone emotional resonance. 

The one notable exception is in “Lucy and Johnny Carson” (HL S2;E11). When appearing on “The Tonight Show” and playing Stump the Band, Lucy Carter chooses a song titled “Snoops the Lawyer” that she says her father sang to her when she was a child. 

Another was in “Mother of the Bride” (LWL S1;E8) in 1986, where Lucy Barker and her sister Audrey (Audrey Meadows) mention their father in a private conversation in the kitchen. 

The location of Henry’s passing, Wyandotte, Michigan, haunts early seasons of “I Love Lucy” through a framed portrait of Major John Biddle painted by  Thomas Sully (1783-1872). In 1818, Biddle (1792-1859) acquired 1,800 acres of land south of Detroit and built an estate which was later developed into the city of Wyandotte, Michigan. Lucille Ball was about a year old when her family moved to Wyandotte so that her father could take a job with Michigan Bell. Coincidentally, they lived at 126 Biddle Street. When Henry died the family moved back to Jamestown, New York, where Lucille had been born in 1911. 

The portrait of Biddle turns up again during season 5 in “Lucy Goes to a Rodeo” behind the desk of Ricky’s new agent, Johnny Clark. 

OH, HENRY!

Only minor characters in Lucille Ball series’ shared her father’s Christian name: 

On Lucy’s radio show “My Favorite Husband” an elevator operator played by Louis Nicoletti was named Henry.

The nearsighted waiter played by Frank Nelson in “Lucy Changes Her Mind” (”Pork chops, huh?”) was named Henry. 

The tourist from Kansas at the top of the Empire State Building in “Lucy is Envious” was called Henry (Dick Elliott) by his wife, Martha. 

The psychiatrist friend of Ricky’s in “The Inferiority Complex” (“Treatment, Ricky! Treatment!”) played by Gerald Mohr was named Dr. Henry Molin. 

Ralph Dumke played Henry Opdyke in the film Forever Darling. 

William Windom played Jerry Carmichael’s handsome History teacher Henry Taylor in “Lucy Digs Up a Date”.  Ironically, Lucy would later claim Taylor was her maiden name! 

A teller at the Westland Bank was named Henry (Irwin Charone) in “Lucy Gets Mooney Fired.” 

A showroom waiter played by Milton Frome in “Lucy and Donny Osmond” was named Henry. 

A college student in “Lucy and Andy Griffith” played by Hank Stohl is named Henry. 

Like her own mother, Dede (who is said to have attended every filming of her daughter’s television shows) Lucy Carmichael, Lucy Carter, and Lucy Barker are all widows with children. Lucy Carmichael went the extra mile to be both mother and father to her children in “Lucy Becomes a Father” (TLS S3;E9) in 1964. 

“Several days later Desirée and Lucille accompanied Had's body on the long train ride to upstate New York. On the chill, iron-gray morning of March 5, Had was buried at Lake View Cemetery in Jamestown. Lucille looked on blankly, oblivious to the glances in her direction. At the last moment, as Had's casket was lowered into the grave, the loss suddenly hit home. The little girl was led away screaming to her grandparents' house on Buffalo Street in Jamestown. Mother and child had no other refuge.” ~ BALL OF FIRE by Stefan Kanfer 

When Lucille Ball passed away on April 26, 1989, she was first buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood. Three years later, her children had her exhumed and moved to the family plot at Lake View Cemetery in Jamestown, where Lucy now rests with parents, as well as her brother and grandparents. A new headstone was also created.  “You’ve Come Home”

[papermoonloveslucy]

LUCILLE BALL: NUMBER 1, BUT STILL TRYING HARDER

July 29, 1974

Editor's note: following is the final part in a series of eight profiles on America's self-made women.

By PHYLLIS BATTELLE 

“Success - whaddya you mean by that?” rasps Lucille Ball in that rowdy voice which strikes adoration into the hearts of Lucy lovers. 

“If your concept of success is happiness in what you’re doing, in being a mother, in being a wife, then I’m a success. I’m also damned lucky that I have my health and guts life takes guts and that my work paid off. 

“But if you’re talking of the kind of success that’s about dollars and cents, forget it. The real wealth is not out here in Hollywood. Its all highly taxable, honey, and who cares? Money has never been important to me. I hate looking at bills. I hate math. I’m a typical Leo: money-blind. What I’m saying is that not one of us out here has more than $25,000 to buy a stamp with! 

“Pennies, Pickles Or Something" 

So much for Lucy’s petty cash. Aside from stamp funds, she has assets: a million-dollar home in Beverly Hills, another in Palm Springs and an apartment near Aspen, Colo.; investments resulting from the sale of her Desilu Studios to Gulf & Western for $17 million in stock, her own Lucille Ball Productions Company: earnings from 23 years of “Lucy” series (now running in 77 countries); a percentage of “Mame”, the new super-movie musical; not to mention the proceeds from diligent work dating back to 1913, when she was two years old in Jamestown, N.Y., and spoke little pieces at the grocery store for pennies or pickles or something. 

At 62, Lucille Ball Arnaz Morton is No. 1 - but still trying harder. (1) Husband Gary Morton says proudly, “Her work is an obsession and a labor of love, and as long as the public likes her shell never retire.” 

Lucy recently did terminate her “Here’s Lucy” series, at least temporarily, but will hold her "business family” (about 500 staff and cast members) together while she produces TV specials. Now, she leers at her orange-haired image in a dressing room minor and says, “I’ve loved to work, always. I discovered very early that the way to please people was to make them laugh at me. So I appeared at church, school, Girl Scouts, anything and anywhere. Made the tickets, sold them, starred in my own shows. That seems backward now. That’s gone out. The business has been hanging itself, and the kids with it, by making stars and superstars out of strange, young people who don’t know their craft."

Drums And Records 

An example, Lucy says, could be found in her own son, Desi Arnaz, Jr. "When he was nine, he was very good on drums. Used to beat them while the records played as background. He got a group together with a couple of kids at school Dino Martin and Billy Hinsche and they called themselves Dino, Desi and Billy. Then Sinatra heard them, and they made a record and had a hit. 

"A magazine took off on them, and they went on tour. Poor waifs - thank God, they didn’t have any more hits. But it left its mark, this being made a star when you don’t know anything at all, and after two years it was damn hard for Desi and the other kids to get back to doing their homework." 

That sort of "big payoff for mediocrity" was not what happened in Lucy's own youth. Her family in Jamestown was "lower than middle-class, hard working, had a truck garden and was never hungry." 

Most Influential Man 

Lucy's father, a mining engineer, died when she was four. (2) Her stepfather was the most influential man in her early life. To encourage young Lucy’s "flair," he took her to see Julius Tannen, a monologist. (3) “When I saw Tannen sitting on a empty stage in a dark theater, making people cry and then laugh - oh, it was magic, pure magic," she recalls. 

At 16, she went to New York, where her stepfather entered her in drama school. "I found out how shy, awkward and unable to cope I was. The teachers put me down, said I had no talent whatever.” Lucy's blue eyes flash. “New York frightened me. Still does. You have to take me out of the hotel on a leash to get me on the streets of New York today. Being tall, lithe and well-sculptured, Lucy took up modeling. But then, almost tragically, she contracted pneumonia with complications and was bedridden for eight months. It took three years of convalescence before she regained complete control of her legs. At 21, through an agent, she was hired to become a Sam Goldwyn showgirl in Hollywood for an Eddie Cantor film, “Roman Scandals”. 

Would Take Any Part 

“Out here in California, I knew as much as the rest of the girls in movies, which was nothing,” she says. “The difference was I would take any part. I never sought to be a star. I didn't mind being typed. I wanted to be typed. One of the greatest thrills of my life was hearing a director say he wanted a Lucille Ball-type for a picture. 

Of course, later it was different, she growls, "when they said they wanted a young Lucille Ball-type. 

In 10 years as willing “Queen of the B movies," Miss Ball was out of work only two days. 

In 1939 she met a young Cuban bandleader named Desi Arnaz, and they married in 1940. From the beginning, their marriage was a difficult venture: Desi toured the United States with his group, while she stayed in Hollywood making movies. Then Desi served in the army, while Lucy starred not in films but a popular radio series, “My Favorite Husband”. They split. They tried again. 

Finally, in 1951, in a desperate move to keep their marriage alive. Lucy sold CBS on what, at the time, seemed an unlikely television series: "I Love Lucy.” 

It was the beginning of greater professional success, but not the end of domestic upheaval. Their first child, Lucie, was born when her mother was 40; Desi was born when Lucy was 43. But the much-adored children were not to save the marriage, and in 1960 - tearfully, knowing her diligent efforts had failed - Lucille divorced Desi, citing his outbursts of temperament, instability and violence. Desi did not contest the action. 

In parting, they split a $20-million television empire. They are better friends today - at arms length, with new matrimonial ties - than they were during the 19 years of marriage. 

Today, Lucy’s sense of well-being with one-time comedian Gary Morton (who is executive vice president of her production company), is obvious and delightful.

"It s really a super life, grins Gary, living with a thoroughbred." Says Lucy, I guess its very possible to live without a good man. Possible, but no fun. To bake a cake is no fun without a man. It’s no fun to make a garden without a man to watch it grow." 

Lucy also is, and always has been, a proud and over-protective mother. Is that bad? I don’t think so." 

A Share Of Problems 

But despite Lucy’s mother-hen" closeness to Lucie, now 22, and young Desi. 20, the Arnaz offspring have strayed into their share of problems. Desi and actress Patty Duke had a much-publicized affair when he was 16 (and Patty was 28); later he became engaged to Liza Minnelli, but that broke up last summer. Lucie was married in 1971 to actor Philip Vandervort, but the couple quickly split. 

Lucy is convinced her daughter, who is featured on “Here’s Lucy," will be a star. “Lucie," her mom says, “has all the material of stardom - ability, inclination, vitality, intelligence, beauty, good sense and good taste. 

“Wholesome Movies Alive" 

In fact, one reason that Lucille Ball finally agreed after three years of rejecting the role to star in the movie “Mame” is that Gary convinced me it could keep wholesome movies alive for talented people like my daughter. 

"This industry," Lucy shudders, “has turned into a sex-and-violence factory. The whole thing’s ugly, with thousands of ugly people ripping-off their clothes and ripping-off the public. If that’s what makes good box office, and if box office is what they mean by success, then success is out of kilter!”

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FOOTNOTES FROM THE FUTURE

(1) The advertising slogan “We Try Harder” was developed in 1962 for Hertz Rent-A-Car company, who was perpetually number two in popularity to Hertz Rent-A-Car. Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett satirized the campaign on “The Carol Burnett Show” on October 2, 1967. 

(2) Henry Ball, Lucille’s father, was actually a telephone lineman, not a mining engineer. One story had Hunt as the executive of a mining company in Montana. his death certificate listed him as a ‘laborer’. 

(3) Julius Tannen (1880-1965) was a monologist in vaudeville. He was known to stage audiences for his witty improvisations and creative word games. He had a successful career as a character actor in films, appearing in over 50 films in his 25-year film career. He is probably best known to film audiences from the musical Singin' in the Rain, in which he appears as the man demonstrating a talking picture early in the film.