LOVING LUCY

Good grief! Yesterday was comedienne Lucille Ball's 100th birthday, had she lived that long. I hadn't realized she was in her 40s when "I Love Lucy" was in its hey-day. She had the energy of someone much younger.

I'm a Lucy Lover. Her humor is goofball clean, and I always liked how she tried to keep her clueless husband out of the loop of her loopiness. My favorite Lucy of all time is not from her TV show, where there are some true classics, but from an old movie called The Long, Long Trailer. Lucy and Desi are on their honeymoon at Glacier National Park, hauling a huge mobile home with their convertible. Like moi, she is a rock lover and she keeps picking up rock after rock after rock as souvenirs until the car can barely pull the trailer---especially up the hairpin curves. Desi finally orders her to throw out the rocks but, instead, she just hides them in various closets and crannies. And, of course, they don't stay hidden for long on the downhill portion of the ride. Oh, you just have to see the movie.

Thanks, Lucy, for all the laughs. Happy 100, you funny girl.