DU BARRY WAS A LADY MOVIE CAST - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH CO-SIGNED BY: LUCILLE "LUCY" BALL, RED SKELTON - HFSID 325317

DU BARRY WAS A LADY MOVIE CAST
Photograph of the actor and actress in promotion for the 1943 film, signed by each near their respective image. Framed beautifully to an overall size of 15x13½
Photograph signed: "Lucille/Ball", "Red/Skelton", B/w 10x8 framed to an overall size of 15x13½. Show business veteran LUCILLE BALL (1911-1989) appeared in the chorus of Broadway productions before breaking into films in the 1930s. By 1938, she was a star of "B" movies, having appeared in Stage Door (1937), and her later roles in films such as DuBarry Was a Lady (1943) made her a popular star. Lucy was offered her own television show, but she refused unless her husband, Cuban musician and bandleader, Desi Arnaz, would co-star. After I Love Lucy debuted on the small screen in 1951, Lucy became an American institution. Nominated for 13 Emmy Awards and the winner of four Emmys for her role as Lucy Ricardo in I Love Lucy (1953 and 1956) and Lucy Carmichael in The Lucy Show (1967 and 1968), Ball was also a television pioneer and astute businesswoman. She and her husband, Desi Arnaz, pioneered the three-camera technique that is now the standard in filming TV sitcoms and the concept of syndicating TV programs. She and Desi also formed Desilu Productions, which was highly successful in producing other TV shows, and later purchased the facilities of RKO, where both had been contract players. RED SKELTON (1913-1997), a veteran of vaudeville since childhood, made his Broadway and radio debut in 1937. In 1941, he began The Red Skelton Show on NBC radio, airing on that network until 1949, when he moved to CBS radio. On that show, he developed most of the characters that he would later bring to television: Junior (the Mean Widdle Kid), Freddie the Freeloader, Clem Kadiddlehopper, George Appleby, Sheriff Deadeye, San Fernando Red and others. His TV show, The Red Skelton Show, aired on NBC (1951-1953), CBS (1953-1970) and NBC (1970-1971), ranking in the Nielsen ratings' Top 20 for a record 15 consecutive seasons (1955-1970). Musical groups were also featured on the series (the Rolling Stones made one of their first U.S. appearances in 1964). Skelton, who had made his film debut in 1938, appeared in several feature films, including two Dr. Kildare films in 1941, DuBarry Was a Lady (1943), The Fuller Brush Man (1948), The Clown (1953), Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), Ocean's Eleven (1960) and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965). Skelton, who used a clown as his trademark, was also a successful artist, once earning over $2.5 million annually for his clown paintings, which often sold for up to $80,000. He was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Radio Hall of Fame in 1994. Fine condition.