A-LISTS theatre LUCILLE
BALL’S Memory is
Alive &
Swell by tony reverditto Lucille Ball is hands-down the most dearly loved and
best female comedian of all time! In her later years, few people knew America’s madcap sweetheart, Lucille Ball, the way Lee Tannen did. Though distantly related, and 40 years apart in age, Lucy and Lee became the nearest and dearest of friends during the last decade of her life. His world premiere show, I Loved Lucy gives an intimate look at the personal side of Lucy’s very public persona. Having spent the last of her years by her side, Tannen invites Lucy lovers into the interpersonal experience of what is was like to be her friend, and appreciate how she was so like, yet unlike, her TV alter ego.
The Rage Monthly: Lucy is still near and dear to my heart and has been my very favorite comedian since I can remember. I was lucky enough to see her in person back in 1982 at Claremont College in a produc- tion called A Conversation with Lucille
Ball. How incredible was it to be a dear friend of hers? Lee Tannen: Well, that was the word, it was pretty incredible, an amazing journey. During the last decade of her life
I was fortunate enough to be with her a lot of the time. Most of that time was actually
spent in Beverly Hills, Palm Springs, New York, and Snow Mass, Colorado; that’s where she spent a lot of her life in her last decades.
Rage: How did you first find out you were related to Lucy’s husband, Gary Morton?
LT: Gary Morton’s sister, Helen was married to a man named Bob whose first cousin was my father, Bob—So that how I am related fifth cousins, three times removed or something like that. Then she married in to my fam- ily when I was ten years old. Then I actually got to meet Gary’s mother while he was dating Lucille Ball and I couldn’t believe I was actually talking to Gary Morton’s mom while Lucy was dating her son.
16
RAGE monthly | OCTOBER 2010
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92