Last week Lucille Ball would have turned 100 years old. Not every celebrity achieves the level of popularity that justifies posthumous birthday announcements, and I am glad that it applies to this great comedienne, who entertained people for so many years. (As a side note, I must mention that it is a testimony to our electronic dependency that Google doodles have become integral parts of establishing people's immortality - I love them too, by the way.)
And I love Lucy, who also undeniably belongs in this blog as a brilliant businesswoman - one of the most powerful Hollywood women of all times.
The business success started with Desi's shrewd decision of setting up a television company Desilu (with Lucy's effigy right there in the logo), equally owned by the spouses and responsible for production of not just I Love Lucy, but also Star Trek, The Andy Griffith Show, Mission:Impossible, The Lucy Show, Our Miss Brooks, The Jack Benny Program, and many others. Only three years into its existence, the company was considered such a powerful television presence that it became a natural choice of many consumer product conglomerates, including Phillip Morris, for production of high quality TV advertisement.
Desilu was one of the first entertainment companies to recognize a power of merchandising - an entire line of I Love Lucy products, from pajamas and dolls to furniture sets, was a tremendous success. In 1954 alone they brought a net profits of $500,000 (over $4 million in today's money). After purchasing RKO's facilities, Desilu Productions has become the largest studio in Hollywood, running 33 sound stages (more than either MGM or Twentieth Century Fox). When Lucy bought Desi out in 1962, she became the first female head of a major studio.
I've seen different numbers estimating Lucy's worth at the time of her death in 1989, wildly ranging between $25 million and $65 billion. It does not really matter. One thing we can say for sure - she did well for herself.
Many biographers, TV historians, and ardent fans, have been arguing for decades, about whose contribution was most important in Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's financial success. While Desi did present the company as a President, we may never know whose idea it was was to do this or that deal. Without a doubt, Lucy was always a bankable asset. Moreover, it is a known fact that the artistic merits and public appeal of such long-lived franchises as Star Trek and Mission: Impossible, that still continue spawning new feature movies, were evaluated and approved by her personally.
But the most remarkable lesson in Lucille Ball's shrewdness as a business woman comes from a very personal matter. Many enterprises fall apart on account of minor tiffs between unrelated partners. Lucy and Desi Arnaz stuck together through marital problems for a long time and got a divorce only after the final episode of Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour was filmed. Moreover, they managed their business separation in the most civilized and mutually-beneficial manner, remaining friends for the rest of their lives.