She was put under contract to RKO and several small roles, including one in Top Hat (1935), followed. Eventually, she received starring roles in B-pictures and, occasionally, a good role in an A-picture, like in Stage Door (1937) or The Big Street (1942). While filming Too Many Girls (1940), she met and fell madly in love with a young Cuban actor-musician named Desi Arnaz. Despite different personalities, lifestyles, religions and ages (he was six years younger), he fell hard, too, and after a passionate romance, they eloped and were married in November, 1940. Lucy soon switched to MGM, where she got better roles in films such as Du Barry Was a Lady (1943); Best Foot Forward (1943) and the Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy vehicle Without Love (1945). In 1948, she took a starring role in the radio comedy "My Favorite Husband", in which she played the scatterbrained wife of a Midwestern banker. In 1950, CBS came knocking with the offer of turning it into a television series. After convincing the network brass to let Desi play her husband and to sign over the rights to and creative control over the series to them, work began on the most popular and universally beloved sitcom of all time.
overture
Lucille Ball Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The city of Vienna is experiencing the largest lightning storm in its long history.
Within a large disheveled room,
Ludwig Von Beethoven is slumped over his piano
And on the piano sits the just completed manuscript for his tenth symphony.
It is his final, and he is certain, his greatest work.]
Since the time when ra and isis
And apollo dreamed athena
And men began to understand
That when darkness folds on darkness
In the restless tides of night
And lightning raises shadows
And for moments gives them life
It's been said by those who ponder
That it surely is a sign
That a life touched by the stars
Is now running out of time
And that somewhere in that darkness
In the heart of that great storm
The world returns a soul
That the gods caused to be born
And this was such a storm
The kind one rarely sees in life
For in a room now filled with shadows
The great Beethoven was spending
His last night
[From the shadows a beautiful spirit, fate,
And her deformed dwarf son, twist,
Emerge to inform Beethoven of what he has already deeply suspected,
That this is to be his last night on earth.
They are accompanied by numerous spirits and ghosts from his past.]
The lyrics of Lucille Ball's song Overture begin with a vivid description of a stormy night in Vienna in 1827. It is said that when darkness folds on darkness, and lightning raises shadows, it is a sign that a life touched by the stars is now running out of time. In this darkness and storm, Ludwig Von Beethoven is slumped over his piano, in a large, disheveled room. On the piano lies the just completed manuscript for his tenth symphony, which he believes to be his final and greatest work. The scene painted by the lyrics is one of impending death and finality. The darkness and storm, as well as the various spirits and ghosts from his past that appear later in the song, all suggest that Beethoven's end is near.
Line by Line Meaning
Since the time when ra and isis
Since the dawn of history, when the ancient Egyptian gods Ra and Isis created the Sphinx
Raised the sphinx out of the sand
They lifted the Sphinx out of the desert sand, bringing it to life
And apollo dreamed athena
And the Greek god Apollo dreamed of Athena, the goddess of wisdom
And men began to understand
And from that moment on, humans started to come to grips with the mysteries of the universe
That when darkness folds on darkness
That in the depths of darkness, when everything is obscured
In the restless tides of night
In the turbulent waves of the night
And lightning raises shadows
And when lightning illuminates the shadows, giving them a fleeting form
And for moments gives them life
And for a brief instance, bringing them to life
It's been said by those who ponder
Those who contemplate these things have said
That it surely is a sign
That it is a sure indication
That a life touched by the stars
That a life that has been influenced by the celestial bodies
Is now running out of time
Is now approaching its end
And that somewhere in that darkness
And in that darkness
In the heart of that great storm
In the center of that monumental storm
The world returns a soul
The universe returns a soul
That the gods caused to be born
That the gods brought into existence
And this was such a storm
And this was indeed such a storm
The kind one rarely sees in life
The kind of storm that is seldom witnessed in life
For in a room now filled with shadows
For in a room that is now engulfed in darkness
The great Beethoven was spending
The great composer Beethoven was passing
His last night
His final evening on this earth
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JIMMY HOROWITZ, ROBIN MILLER, LEO ROST
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@judd442009
Wonderful montage and recordings. Thanks for sharing this video.
@terryhammond1253
🎹 I actually saw Lucy in Wildcat. I think it was at the Alvin Theatre . I was 13 years old.
@terryhammond1253
🎹 Fabulous!
@peteralfano4278
Great.....nice to see all the photos. Thanks
@jasonws1972
Love this
@dcdugger
I credit my like of musicals to my parents introducing me to them early, never saw the performance of Wildcat, but wore the needle down quite a bit playing the album. Thanks for the memories :)
@reginaldsims8897
This so special. I feel like I am getting a Christmas present
Thank you so much. Give us more. How about carol channing in dolly or lansbury in MAME
@neilwilburn6848
Thanks. Maybe I will do another one. I bought the Wildcat pics from the Lincoln Center Library but there are probably Dolly & Mame pics more available.