LUCILLE "LUCY" BALL - CONTRACT SIGNED 06/11/1948 CO-SIGNED BY: H. Y. MAYNARD - HFSID 171225

LUCILLE BALL
Lucille Ball signs a document agreeing to appear on the radio program Cavalcade of America.
Carbon Typed DS: "Lucille Ball" under "Agreed and Accepted" on page 2, 4p, 8½x11, front and verso. No place, 1948 June 11. On letterhead of Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne, Inc., New York City, in letter form to Ball c/o the Don W. Sharpe Agency, Beverly Hills. Headed: "Advertising". The agency, on behalf of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Inc., hires Ball to appear on the radio program, Cavalcade of America, to be broadcast on Monday June 21, 1948 over NBC radio. In part: "We, acting on behalf of our client, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Inc., do hereby engage you and you agree to render your services on the radio program known as 'CAVALCADE OF AMERICA', to be broadcast on Monday, June 21, 1948 over a National Broadcasting Company network of stations, with a rebroadcast the same evening. The broadcast and repeat broadcast will originate in the NBC studios in New York City from 8 to 8:30 PM, and from 11:30 and 12:00...As payment in full for all of the foregoing, we hereby agree to pay y ou, and you agree to accept the sum of THIRTY-FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($3500.00) payable on or before July 1, 1948. Check for the amount payable will be drawn to the order of Lucille Ball and will be sent to the above address...." Also signed: "H.Y. Maynard" for Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn, Inc. In the year she signed this contract, Ball began starring in the radio comedy series, My Favorite Husband, which co-starred her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz, whom she had married in November 1940. The radio show ran from 1948-1951, when it made a successful transition to television as I Love Lucy. 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. Lightly creased with folds. Staple holes at upper left blank corners. Nicked at upper and lower blank edges of first page. Overall, fine condition.