Lucille Ball’s hometown of Celoron, NY is welcoming a brand new bronze statue of the actress on Saturday, Aug. 6 and sculptor Carolyn Palmer is anxiously anticipating how her statue will be received. I had to do a little bit of exaggerating in certain areas to bring that out…”I just hope that all the Lucy fans are pleased and that Lucille Ball herself would have enjoyed this image of her”. Everyone joined in to sing the theme song to “I Love Lucy” and “Happy Birthday” to Ball, mobbing the sculpture and artist for a stream of selfies and portraits that stretched well into the afternoon.
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The new life-size bronze statue was created by noted sculptor Carolyn Palmer who won a national competition (involving more than 65 sculptors) for the honor of crafting a statue that will be unveiled on August 6. The new statue was created by sculptor Carolyn D. Palmer.
Schrecengost knows that might not sit well with the fans who wanted Scary Lucy gone. He said Palmer was “the best sculptor we could have ended up with”.
Palmer made sure Lucy had two-and-a-half inches of heels and hair to keep her true to life.
The version by sculptor Dave Poulin, was so thoroughly panned for looking absolutely nothing like the comic actress that fans launched a Facebook campaign previous year with the name, “We Love Lucy!”
Palmer also watched endless episodes of “I Love Lucy” in order to fully grasp the comedian’s legendary personality and appeal. But the original statue of Ball has become such a tourist attraction that it is actually being moved to a new location. Even the original artist admitted he didn’t quite capture Ball’s essence and apologized for the sculpture. Poulin’s statue – dubbed the “Ugly Lucy Statue” – received worldwide notoriety in the spring of 2015 after a Facebook page entitled “We Love Lucy, Get Rid of the Statue” went viral.
A new statue of Lucille Ball is being unveiled in the late actress’ hometown to replace one that was so hated it was dubbed “Scary Lucy”.
Among other commissioned work, she has sculpted busts of Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Franklin Roosevelt, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Pope Francis, according to her website.
In her own words: “She was a stunning woman”. Her version shows Ball in a polka-dot dress standing atop her Hollywood Walk of Fame star.
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“I think it’s a nice story”, she said.
