Day One of Lucy's Birthday Bash: Your Guide to Celebrating Lucy's 100th

Hi, everybody!!!!

As you can tell (a la the exclamation points) I'm pretty excited for Lucy's bday. I mean, all of us Lucyphiles are just bouncing off the wall. ;) I feel like Princess Ann in that scene of Roman Holiday when Joe picks her up all drowsy on the streets of Rome - "So happy, so happy." Except, in a more alert state.

So, I thought I'd start of Birthday Week with a little guide on how to celebrate the Lucy festivities.

The most obvious thing you could do is travel to Jamestown, New York, for the Lucille Ball 100th Birthday Celebration. As all us Lucyites know, Jamestown is Lucy's hometown and the location of the Lucy-Desi Museum, Desilu Playhouse, "The Tropicana Club," and Lucy's childhood home and gravesite, all founded by Lucy's children, especially Lucie Arnaz.

But Rianna won't be going to Jamestown... ** weep weep ** ....

...

:(

- Attempts to brighten up - however, for those of you who may be lucky to go, the festival takes place from the 3rd to the 7th and will feature Joan Rivers as a highlight for stand up comedy. And, AND, for those of us Lucyphiles who won't be able to make it there, this guide is for you - we can STILL celebrate Lucy's birthday!

I am happy to announce that there are going to be lots of Lucy tributes televised over the following days. I was a little nervous at first, especially since last year instead of showing Lucy's movies on TCM (on the 6th) they showed Ingy's. (And I <3 Ingy, too, of course, but I mean... Ingy's birthday is on the 29th. They could've waited until then!!). But, things are different this year.

August is "Summer Under the Stars" month on TCM, and Lucy will be one of the honorees (to check out the rest of the awesome stars, see here: TCM Summer Under the Stars). Of course, she takes the August 6th spot.

Lucy's page on Summer Under the Stars - how awesome is that??!!

So, of course, they'll be showing Lucy all day on the 6th. Obviously in the line up is "The Long, Long Trailer." Some other interesting movies - "Miss Grant Takes Richmond" (I can hardly wait to catch this... it's with William Holden, and I've been dying to see it, but unfortunately it's not available on Netflix), "Panama Lady" and "The Affairs of Annabel." (Unfortunately, they'll be showing that at three in the morning so I'll have to TiVo it, I guess).

Here's the whole schedule:

I'm pretty happy with the lineup. A lot of these are "B" movies from the 1940's, but they star Lucy, so that's okay. In my opinion, though, it would have been nice to add "Yours, Mine and Ours" (I adore that one) with Henry Fonda, from 1968, and maybe a few of the movies she made with Bob Hope. (Don't see any of them here). Still, they've done a pretty good job, and we'll take what we get!

That's what TCM has got in store (God Bless TCM!). Next up, Hallmark Channel, the home of "I Love Lucy" is joining in the fun with a "100 Years of Lucy: Birthday Bash" celebration, taking place on August the 6th and 7th.

Which is a marathon of back to back "I Love Lucy" episodes - and no "Fraisier" in between! - starting at 5:00 AM Saturday the morning, and closing at 8:00 AM Monday morning. So you can watch "Lucy" all weekend long. Unfortunately, we won't get a mix of Lucy's three shows, but "I Love Lucy" in itself is great enough. Looks like there will be all the classic episodes, like "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" (where the amazing Vitavetavegamin tidbit comes from) and the candy scene in "Job-Switching."

I think I'll tune in for TCM's Lucy marathon on the 6th, then stop by at Hallmark for the rest of the weekend for "I Love Lucy." Or you could alternate and a get a nice mix of both. ;)

Here is the schedule on Hallmark. Click the tabs to view Saturday, the 6th.

Besides these televised tributes and the Festival in New York, there have already been lots of press releases about Lucy. I saw in yesterday's issue of Parade a notice about Lucy's 100 Birthday - I was pink with pleasure, and cut it out to add to my Lucy press clippings - and more honors are popping up throughout the web.

Intelligence Report @ Parade Magazine - We Still Love Lucy

Los Angeles Times: More love for Lucille Ball as 100th birthday nears

Newsday: Loving Lucy on her 100th birthday

And that's just a little bit of the web - don't forget us Bloggers, especially the thirty two bloggers (Frankly, My dear included) that are a member of the "Loving Lucy Blogathon." (And if you Blog yourself, it's not too late to join! Click the banner on my sidebar).

We love Lucy, and we remember Lucy. It's pretty amazing that so many years after her death people still care and want to celebrate her big 100. How awesome is that???!!!! Pretty awesome.

So, there it is. The first day of Lucy's birthday bash.

Only five more days until Lucytennial!!!! Can you hardly WAIT???

Until tomorrow, keep Loving Lucy - and by the way, it's never too early to start celebrating. Why not go and catch an episode of "I Love Lucy" now?

Ciao!