| Los Angeles Times file photo It’s Friday, which means it’s time to identify our “mystery” guest. As everyone knows, she’s Lucille Ball. I have to say I enjoyed going through her photos so much that I have another week’s worth of photos. That’s right, two weeks of Lucille Ball. There’s lots of wonderful mystery companions.
For last Monday, we have, from left, Lucille Ball, Margaret Callahan, Joy Hodges, Anne Shirley, Phyllis Brooks and Molly Lamont. I believe Mary Mallory is the only reader to get them all. Congrats! |
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| Los Angeles Times file photo
Here’s our “mystery” guest. |
| As I expected, everybody — absolutely everyone — identified the mystery guest. I thought it would be interesting to post a series of pictures of her with people who are more obscure. Let’s see how many people recognized her mystery companions, some RKO starlets of 1935.
. Mary Mallory has now identified Mystery Companions No. 1 and 2!
Mystery Companion No. 3, left, was identified by Mary Mallory, Steven Bibb, Eve Golden, Rick and Dewey Webb. Mystery Companion No. 4, right, was identified by Steven Bibb and Eve Golden.
Mystery Companion No. 5 was identified by Steven Bibb. Here’s Tuesday's mystery photo:
Update: This was a nice surprise. Lucille Ball and George Raft? Really? This photo, stamped April 25, 1935, shows Ball, Raft, Virginia Peine, who performed as Virginia Pine, her daughter Joaney and Mack Gray. Gray was Raft’s stand-in and there were rumors that he was dating Ball, just as there were rumors that Raft was dating Pine.
Aug. 2, 1936: Lucille Ball and Broderick Crawford? Are you serious? Here’s our mystery guest with a couple of mystery companions.
Everybody recognized our "mystery" woman and Mystery Companion No. 1. What were they doing together? It had to do with Mystery Companion No. 2.
Update: Everybody recognized Mystery Companion No. 1. But only Mary Mallory identified Mystery Companion No. 2. Congratulations!
Hint: Mystery Companions No. 3 and 4 are mother and daughter.
For Wednesday, here’s our (totally not) mystery guest with two mystery companions….
Update: Ball with Martin Ragaway and Leonard Stern, receiving a trophy from the Jesters of America, Dec. 6, 1949. I’ll even give you a hint about the mystery companions…. Well! Nobody even tried for Wednesday’s mystery companions! And they have a generous number of credits on imdb.
I like Thursday’s mystery photo quite a bit. We have our “mystery” guest, but instead of a posed photo, she’s at work. What impressed me about this picture is how well-dressed everybody is, casual but stylish.
I'm sure everybody recognizes Mystery Companion No. 1…
…but how about our very businesslike Mystery Companion No. 2?
Or Mystery Companion No. 3, lurking
Or Mystery Companions Nos. 4 and 5 with the camera?
Unfortunately, the folks in this photo aren’t identified, so I’m hoping the Daily Mirror’s “brain trust” can help out.
And here’s Friday’s mystery photo with a mystery companion. Tune in Monday for more Lucy!
Sept. 25, 1955: Lucille Ball and Lydia Lane, The Times’ beauty columnist for nearly 50 years, from 1934 to 1982. Lane died in 1994 at the age of 90.
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ladailymirror.com 
The one on the far left is Lucille Ball.
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Good morning, Larry
Your column is great – can’t believe the archive – so much history! And your readers are a hoot!
The grand lady on the left is Lucille Ball. I don’t know the others for now.
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I think girl one on the left is Lucille Ball
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Lucille Ball (far left), Anne Shirley (third from right)
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Well, I see Lucille Ball over on the left. Which one is the mystery star of the week?
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There’s Lucy!
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Lucille Ball on the left. Her five chums escape me.
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Is that Lucille Ball on the left? I’ll work on the others.
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Isn’t that Lucille Ball on the far left?
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The one on the left is Lucille Ball. The third from the right is familiar, but I’d only be able to guess. This looks like the chorus line from some Samuel Goldwyn or Busby Berkeley production, like Roman Scandals maybe.
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Lucille Ball is on the far left. Everyone will ID her. The others are tougher.
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That’s Lucille Ball on the left end.
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OK, that’s Lucille Ball on the left and Ann Shirley fourth from left, and I THINK the others are Phyllis Brooks, Maxine Jennings, Kay Sutton, Jane Hamilton . . . all mid-30s RKO lassies.
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#1 Lucille Ball, in her blonde days?
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Hard to see as it is very small, but I can identify, from left, Lucille Ball, unidentified, unidentified, Anne Shirley, Phyllis Brooks, Molly Lamont.
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Anne Shirley is the fourth from the left, or third from the right. These are obviously RKO Starlets around 1936-1936. Lucy and Anne starred in CHATTERBOX in 1936 together, maybe that film?
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Lucille Ball
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I suspect this six-pack of lovelies are some of the Goldwyn Girls, with Lucille Ball on the left and Toby Wing with the sort-of bow tie. That’s my humbug, I mean humble, opinion, anyway.
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I’m guessing that this is an early ‘thirties publicity photo of the ‘Goldwyn Girls.’ The most recognizable is a young Lucille Ball, farthest to the left.
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Lucille Ball is on the far left – I’m guessing a Goldwyn Girls lineup?
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I’ll take a guess that two of these ladies are Lucille Ball and Olivia de Havilland
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I think two of these starlets are Olivia de Havilland and Lucille Ball
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Lucille Ball, Joan Crawford?, Katherine DeMille, Ann Shirley, don’t know, Gail Patrick?
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Are Phyllis Fraser and Harriet Hilliard two of the women?
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That’s not Lucille Ball on the left, is it? I know she was a blonde when she first came to Hollywood.
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Obviously, you aren’t after Lucy (on left), so I’ll wait for some more photos.
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Far left: Lucille Ball?
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Yes, it’s Lucille Ball on the left and Ann Doran on the right, #5. I’m working on 2 thru 4.
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George Raft is in the center. Please don’t tell me this is the wave of the future.
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Is Phyllis Brooks woman #4? And please post the comments again. Mike Hawks, my coworkers, and I get great entertainment from the wrong answers.
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# 3 looks like Gloria de Havelland to me.
Tuesday’s Picture
Lucille Ball?
George Raft
Jean Arthur
????????
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The guy standing in the middle is George Raft.
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GEORGE RAFT
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George Raft
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We all still love Lucy. George Raft was ultra cool then. Can the Latin looking man staring up at Lucy be a very young Desi?
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Is that her mother on the right?
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Lucille Ball?
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Lucille Ball
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George Raft and Jean Arthur
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Companion 1 is Katherine Mauk, companion 2 is Janice Jarratt
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obviously Lucille Ball
Companion #3 is Anne Shirley previously known as Dawn O’Day when a child. (Changed it when she played Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables.
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I am going to take a bunch of wild guess and say (1) Jean Gale (2) June Gale (3) Olivia de Havilland (4) Phyllis Brooks (5) Bonnie Bannon
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Here’s photo #1 from left to right: Lucy, Margaret Callahan, still working on #3, Anne Shirley, Phyllis Brooks, and Molly Lamont.
Is that Johnny Maschio with she, Raft, and her mother?
We have a copy of a LA Times photo in her file that shows her membership application in the communist party.
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man in the hat is George Raft
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The guy with the hat has to be George Raft.
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I won’t guess the obvious mystery guest and am instead trying for those other starlets.
Guesses:
#1 Kay Hammond
#2 Maxine Jennings
I’m going to kick myself for #3 and #4. Especially #3, she is the actress I saw recently and said “Hey, she looks kinda like Genevieve Tobin.” Curse my bad memory!
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Lucille Ball and George Raft
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tuesdays picture Lucys brother sister inlaw and niece
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I have been asleep at the switch. Lucille Ball, Margaret Callahan, Anne Shirley, Phyllis Brooks. The other two ladies I do not know. George Raft is with us on Tuesday.
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Mystery Woman #2 is Joy Hodges.
That is Mack Gray (Grey) with George and Lucy, and is that George’s wife, Grace?
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Funny. I recognized the mystery woman immediately but then assumed I must be wrong, because your mystery people are never that well known. Then, on day 2, when you said, absolutely everybody got her, I realized that I, and everyone else, was right all along.
I’m thinking companion 3 in the first picture, might be her friend Mary Jane Croft.
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On Tuesday’s photo, I believe Lucille Ball was dating mystery companion #2 (whose name I don’t know), who worked in some capacity for mystery companion #1.
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Lucy Olivia Ginger Eve Kate – not in that order
Looks like a “Stage Door” pub shoot.
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Madelyn Pugh?
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Of course that’s Desi eyeing everything, is that Karl Freund beside him, Sidney Hickox wearing the glasses, and is that Jess Oppenheimer standing with his hands on his hips?
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Madelyn Pugh with the script, Bob Weiskopf next to her, Bob Schiller next to the light and Karl Struss looking into the camera?
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Sid Hickox?
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Okay, for Wednesday, is one of the men Paddy Chyevski?
And for today’s – the couple standing together – Madelyn Pugh Davis and Bob Carroll, Jr.? And the guy with the glasses, is that Bob Ball, Lucy’s brother?
PS, we all know Desi!!
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Okay, I’ll guess that no. 2 is Madelyn Pugh, 3 is Bob Weiskopf, and 5 is Karl Freund. Of course no. 1 is Desi Arnaz. And I bet in the wide shot, the guy at the left is Jess Oppenheimer.
As for the previous mystery photo, I’m intrigued now about the two men. But I can’t really read the title on the award. It looks like something “of America, Comedy Achievement Award, Lucille Ball, 1949.” Is it Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher?
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Mystery Companion #2 George Raft
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In the original photo campanion number 5 …on the right …is Ann Doran …which I guessed earlier but my answer seems to have been lost.
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Is the business-like mystery companion #2 Jack Klugman?
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Toby Wing
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Oops. I thought the captions were above the photos, not below. When I said Jack Klugman, I meant the guy behind the light. But I guess I was wrong or you wouldn’t have published my guess.
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Comedy guys are William Asher and Frank TAshlin.
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!Aye, caruma! If even you don’t know who these people are, why bother running photo in first place? What fun is a puzzle without an answer? In words of Ricky Ricardo, “You gotta lotta ‘splainin’ to do.” (For what it’s worth, this appears to be episode where Lucy gets loving cup stuck on her head.)
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I thought that the Mystery Guest criteria was that it couldn’t be someone well known???
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Larry, this week’s photos are much more fun. Thank you for mixing it up a bit.
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Karl Freund squinting.
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For Thursday’s photo, how about a Mystery Episode? “Lucy and the Loving Cup”, with Mr. & Mrs. Johnny Longden as guest stars.
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Wild guess–Iowa homemaker Doris Schmidlap, third place runner-up in 1956 Pillsbury Bake-Off , meeting Lucy on set of Forever Darling?
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> What impressed me about this picture is how well-dressed everybody is, casual but stylish. <
The '50s. As a kid i remember being struck by the crowd in the Coliseum when the Dodgers arrived in LA. The men wore hats and suits, the women nice dresses. When people went out in public, it was as if for church.
Locally, the summer sun and the summer game ended all that. People were happy to got used to casual, and comfort, everywhere we went. The individual, it seems, does not need to impress anyone with how uncomfortable s/he is.
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On the first pic w/ the gentleman and the woman w/ her child, the man is definitely George Raft. Not sure who the woman is, but my guess is Marlene Deitrich and her daughter Maria?
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