Halsman Archive File 03 -Lucille Ball 1950

Halsman first photographed Lucille Ball in June 1950 for a LIFE magazine assignment. At the time she was a B-movie actress and radio show star. She had just taken her CBS radio show “My Favorite Husband” on the road, and because of its popularity, landed the TV version of the show in CBS’s 1951 line up. Ball’s persona was really crystalized in the consciousness of the American public through the show, which was renamed “I Love Lucy.” The show ran for seven years, and Ball made astute moves behind the scenes and became a Baller. She was the first woman to run a TV production company (Desilu Productions), which produced Star Trek, Mission Impossible, etc. Later she sold her shares and Desilu was renamed Paramount Television. Halsman and Ball did one more shoot together in 1962 for TV Guide. Ball was launching a new show “The Lucy Show” with out Desi Arnez, whom she had recently divorced. Ball is remembered for her comic timing, physical comedy, and face making. She embodied a harmonious blend of glamour and slapstick, and Halsman’s portraits of her (one of which was on the cover of Entertainment Weekly’s “The 100 greatest TV shows of all time”) ride the line between the two.