Lucille Ball in “I Love Lucy” and Ball with Lucy Arnaz. CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images; Michael Oks Archives/Stringer/Getty Images
In 1953 Lucille Ball was accused by the media of being a communist.
Her daughter Lucy Arnaz said she was “afraid” of losing her career and that Desi Arnaz “took charge”.
Desi Arnaz did call former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who publicly acquitted Ball.
In an interview for Amazon’s new Lucy and Desi documentary, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s daughter, Lucy Arnaz, talk about how things were going for the Arnaz family in 1953, when Ball was accused by the Los Angeles Herald-Express of being Communist, headline “Lucille Ball Red” in red ink.
Lucy said in an interview with Lucy and Desi that her mother was “afraid that people would not believe” that she was not actually a communist.
“It could destroy everything they had,” Lucy recalled in a documentary interview. “And my father took charge that week.”
Ball classified herself as a member of the Communist Party when she registered to vote in 1936. Ball’s brother Fred said in archival footage shown in the documentary that he and his sister “really registered communists” to “pacify” their grandfather Fredrik. Charles Hunt, who raised them and was “always for the working man”.
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.Michael Oks/Getty
In 1953, Ball was interviewed by both the FBI and the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was set up to enable members of Congress to investigate “disloyalty to the country by individuals, public figures, and organizations suspected of having fascist or communist ties.” ,” according to The Wrap.
“They questioned her for a long time about it and acquitted her,” Lucy said in a documentary about her mother’s experience on the House Un-American Activities Committee.
But that didn’t stop the Los Angeles Herald-Express from running the headline “Lucille Ball in Red.” Lucy, who was only about two years old at the time, said Arnaz took matters into his own hands to protect his wife.
The story goes on
I Love Lucy starred Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. CBS Films / CBS Television Distribution.
“He invited all the press to our house and told them exactly what my mother did, that she was never affiliated with the Communist Party,” Lucy said.
Arnaz has actually taken his wife’s name clearing to an extra level, as shown in Aaron Sorkin’s 2021 film Being Ricardo. He invited members of the press to a live taping of “I Love Lucy” and “took a phone call” to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Lucy reveals in a new documentary.
Lucy recalled Hoover telling Arnaz over the phone, within earshot of the studio audience, “Your wife is cleared of all charges. 100 percent.”
Arnaz then introduced Ball to the public, and according to Lucy, her father then delivered one of his most famous lines: “The only red thing about her was her hair, and even that was illegal.” According to Lucy, the audience gave Ball a standing ovation at the time.
Lucy and Desi is now available on Amazon Prime Video.
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