A new statue of the queen of comedy will be unveiled this weekend in her a hometown in Celoron, N.Y., and unlike the old one, this one actually looks like the Lucy everyone loves.
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Lucille Ball – and her hometown fans – received a much-welcomed gift today: A new bronze statue to replace the hilariously terrible one that made headlines around the world as “Scary Lucy”.
Williamsville resident Ray Ammerman was at the unveiling. Ball, who was born on August 6, 1911, is being commemorated with a brand new, life-size bronze statue in her birthplace of Celoron, New York.
Palmer has sculpted a number of other famous figures – her marble statue of Pope Francis stands at the papal residence in New York City, where the pope blessed it during his visit past year.
Palmer spent nine months working on the project, including watching countless episodes of I Love Lucy and hiring models to pose in 1950s-style dresses.
Lucille Ball fans can rest easy.
Celoron Mayor Scott Schrecengost said he’s hoping the work, which he’s seen, puts to rest “a very bad story that started a year ago”.
The terrifying sculpture of Lucille Ball (on the left), known as “Scary Lucy” will no longer haunt children’s nightmares. The current plan is to relocate “Scary Lucy” to a different part of Lucille Ball Memorial Park. He said Palmer was “the best sculptor we could have ended up with”. I didn’t mind getting messed up. “Get Rid of this Statue” which gained national attention a year ago.
Sculptor Carolyn Palmer hopes her tribute will please fans who demanded that another artist’s unflattering version be banished through a Facebook campaign with the name: “We Love Lucy!”
“Lucille Ball was one of the most talented, beautiful, amusing women who ever appeared on television; a pioneer, a giant of television. My only goal is to have a sculpture of her in Jamestown (Ball’s birthplace) which does her justice”, the group’s founder told CNN in 2012.
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Poulin offered to fix the statue but Schrecengost rejected the offer, deciding instead to solicit applications from artists for a new version. “I feel that I embodied a proud Lucy that’s confident”.
