I’m calling this series of mystery photos “Lucille Ball and Friends.” In going through The Times’ files of Ball photos, I was struck by the number of unfamiliar images. We’ve all seen the stills of Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory. These photos were different – the unknown Lucy.
I especially like this photo because it shows Ball with a group of aspiring actors and actresses she had under contract in her project to provide the kind of training she received early in her career. Here they were in 1959, having achieved some measure of success, and yet I didn’t recognize a single one of them. And aren't the outfits great? So 1950s!
The Times’ clips provide the names of the Desilu Workshop Theater members, but the people aren’t identified on the back of the photo. See if you can match the names with the faces:
Jerry Antes, Bob Barran, Majel Barrett, Janice Carroll, Carole Cook, Georgine Darcy, Dick Kalman, Marilyn Lovell, Fran Martin, Gary Menteer, Johnny O'Neill, Bob Osborne, Roger Perry, Howie Storm, Mark Tobin and Bob Trevis.
And yes, there are 14 unidentified people and 16 names. Welcome to the world of unlabeled photos.