Amazon.com
If one thing served as Lucy Ricardo's holy grail, it was her goal to be in show business. As the years on the long-running series demonstrated, she didn't care whether it was comedy or drama, dancing or singing, respectable or questionable. She just wanted to be a part of celebrity. Eventually, she got her wish.
I Love Lucy may even have invented the importance and promotion of the guest star and those celebrities' effect on ratings. In her TV days, Lucy (Lucille Ball) met everyone from Bob Hope to John Wayne, from William Holden to Harpo Marx. In "L.A. at Last," Lucy, her husband Ricky (Desi Arnaz), and their friends Fred and Ethel Mertz (William Frawley and Vivian Vance) have finally reached Los Angeles after a long drive (and lots of adventure) from New York. She gets her dearest desire after she heads out to the legendary Brown Derby and sees Eve Arden and William Holden, who play themselves. Someone gets a pie in the face, and it's hysterically funny, despite how old that joke is. Holden's wife, along with the spouses of Dean Martin, Gordon MacRae, Richard Carlson, Van Heflin, and Forrest Tucker, are featured in "The Fashion Show," as is couturier Don Loper. Lucy has an opportunity to join the celebrity wives in a fashion show and she takes it, but she wants a slight tan first. Lucy's resulting lobster skin--and Ball's impeccable timing--are simply the funniest.
--N.F. Mendoza
