MovieChat Forums > J. Edgar (2011) Discussion > Where in the film is Lucille Ball portra...

Where in the film is Lucille Ball portrayed?

posted 9 years ago by mcdemuth
5 replies | jump to latest

I finally got around to seeing this movie on DVD a couple of days ago...

Because when I heard that there were portrayals of Lela Rogers, Ginger Rogers, & Lucille Ball in the movie, I wanted to see how they were portrayed...

I was expecting that they were going to be in some scenes concerning Hollywood Blacklist Testimonies.

Makes perfect sense, based on the nature of this movie, right?

Instead, the only scene that I remember any of them in was the stupid scene with Lela & Ginger having dinner with Edgar, and Lela wanting to dance with Edgar because she was attracted to him, and both Lela & Ginger pinky swearing with Edgar so that he would tell them confidential information. Yeah Right! That seemed mostly made up to me... Somehow, I can't see Lela being attracted to Edgar so much, and being around 40 years old at the time...pinky swearing. Why bother with this scene at all... Two random girls would have worked better, and would have been more respectful.

After that scene, I was on the lookout for Lela & Ginger & Lucy later on in the movie... AND NOTHING...

Did I Miss Something?

Why not show their testimonies? I would have loved to have heard the part about how "The only thing that was RED about Lucy was her hair, and even that wasn't true."

Pinky Swearing? Give Me A Break! I could have done without that, and I would rather just know... Where's Lucy?

[–] ksperrye 9 years ago

There was no onscreen portrayal of Lucille Ball in the wide-release version of the film. She was referenced once, during the scene where young J. Edgar and Clyde were sharing a connecting suite of rooms at a hotel and J. Edgar makes a comment about seeing Lucille and Desi earlier that day at the races. He refers to her as a "fake ginger" and ridicules Desi for his choice in style of shoes. That is the extent of it, sorry.

[–] mcdemuth 9 years ago

She was referenced once

Hmm, Just curious why IMDb shows that an actress was cast to play Lucille, if she was only verbally mentioned in the theatrical release...

Are there some deleted scenes somewhere?

[–] mrwalrusq 9 years ago

Lucy and Desi are the couple sitting next to them at the horse race. We know this because in the next scene, Lucy's hat is described.

[–] mcdemuth 9 years ago

I pulled out my DVD and watched that horse race scene again, There was a guy sitting next to them that could have been hispanic... and there was a lady with him, who looked brunette. If those two were supposed to be Lucy and Desi, then Clint Eastwood failed miserably to capture their likenesses on Camera, because they looked nothing like them. Perhaps if "Lucy" had flaming red hair, I might have picked up on that.

Yes, right after that scene, they talk about Lucy and Desi being there.

Completely pointless if you ask me.

"Put A Little Love In Your Heart, and then Make Your Own Kind Of Music, on the road to Shambala!"

[–] ksperrye 9 years ago

Like I said, J. Edgar specifically refers to Lucille Ball's flaming red hair, calling her a Fake Ginger ....so she was definitely NOT portrayed by a brunette.

If an actress was cast in the film as Lucille Ball, then the scenes must have been cut. Maybe they're included on the DVD Extras? I don't know if there's a website that catalogs the contents of supplemental material on DVDs, but it might be worth searching for it.