A new statue of legendary comedienne Lucille Ball was unveiled Saturday in the late actress’ upstate hometown to replace a controversial earlier version so frightening it was dubbed “Scary Lucy”.
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Ms Palmer’s statue is to be unveiled on Saturday in Lucille Ball Memorial Park in the western NY village of Celoron.
Sculptor, Carolyn Palmer, told CNN, “She is 100% bronze”. It is not so much a “goodbye” to an interesting, but rather scary statue, supposed to depict Lucille Ball after she has tasted the disgusting concoction, Vitametavegamin, as it is a hello to a newer, lovelier, smiling statue of the legendary comedienne, wearing a polka dot dress.
She worked on the new statue for nine months and studied Ball’s image in depth as it appeared in still photos, all of her movies and last but not least, all the episodes from her ever-popular sit-com from television’s Golden Age, I Love Lucy.
As for “Scary Lucy”, the Paris Review reported that it had been donated to the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York-Ball’s birthplace-to enjoy a long afterlife as a joke, but the Hollywood Reporter said Friday that it will simply be relocated elsewhere in the same park.
Finally, on Saturday, Celoron will unveil a new statue of Ball at Lucille Ball Memorial Park to replace the old “ugly” one, after complaints from residents went viral. The statue was so ugly and so unflattering to Lucille Ball that it became known as “Scary Lucy”. The statue is standing on a replica of Lucille Ball’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star.
“I think it’s a nice story”, she said. He said Palmer was “the best sculptor we could have ended up with”. “I know that there’s a lot of people waiting for this”, said Palmer. The original artist did accept his failure to please Lucy fans and told the press that he had received awful emails and even death threats about his work. “I find that the world was a little harsh on him”.
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Mayor Schrecengost says “Scary Lucy” will still have a place in the park, as it’s built an audience of its own over the years. “The response I’m getting is just heartwarming”.
