** SET  2. **

Q.   Hi Lucie. Do you have a favorite movie that your mother played in? If so, why do you like that movie?

Lucie:  The finest work my mother ever did as an actress was in Damon Runyon's, "The Big Street," with Henry Fonda. If there was ever any doubt that was more than just a comedienne, that performance put it to rest. I know she felt it was her best work, too. It's not easy to play mean and still be vulnerable, and I like this film because she accomplished that -- plus she looked gorgeous!

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Q.   Lucie, My all time favourite TV show is Here's Lucy. I loved all the musical numbers you performed -- do you have a particular favourite, or most memorable, or one that you really love to watch???

Lucie:  I am particularly proud of the numbers where I had to learn how to do something in 8 or 10 days that I'd never done before, such as riding dressage with Wayne Newton while performing "Got the World on a String," tap dancing (the "Bojangles" number, or "Nagasaki" on the Ruth Buzzi guest episode), the authentic hula I did in the Lucy Goes to Hawaii two parter with Robert Alda singing, "Keep Your Eyes on the Hands." My impression of Cher with Frankie Avalon is right up there, too.  So many fun memories and proud moments!  Thanks for asking.

Q.   Hi Lucie! This question may be a sensitive topic, and don't feel obligated to answer it, but I have always heard many stories of your father's infidelity to your mother. Are these stories true? Another question: Did your father ever teach you and your brother how to speak Spanish?

Lucie:  Honestly, put yourself in my position. What would your answer be? The truth is I wasn't born yet, or was too young to really know the realities of my parents' marriage. As I said in the documentary I produced, "He'd tell me to his dying day that he never fooled around the way they said he did." And I believe him because he's my dad.

There's a funny story about the speaking Spanish which I told in the "Lucy & Desi: A Home Movie" documentary too. If you don't have it and want to get one, let Laura know (try Cathy's Closet). The short answer is -- no, not very successfully.

Q.   At school did you get extra attention because your mom was Lucille Ball?

Lucie:  This is like a primal scream therapy question! I could write an entire thesis. The answer is, yes, and sometimes that was useful, but 9 times out of 10 it was horrible. Kids in school just want to be accepted for who they are, not for who they are related to. My own children suffer for their association to my parents' legacy, and they're two generations removed from it. Imagine what my brother and I went through! Having said that, I'm sure it has made me stronger and smarter and more appreciative of my real friends. I do not regret, ever, being thrown into the middle of this mad adventure.

Some days I remember that because my parents owned a studio, my high school was able to get a new 10 foot extension on their stage. Other days I remember Sister Martha Ann, my seventh grade teacher saying, "Lucie Arnaz I guess you talk as much as you do in class because you think you're funny like your mother. Well, you're not and you never will be!" You know, she may not have even said the second part of that, but that is what I heard.

Q.   Lucie, Will you be performing in the Detroit area any time soon?

Lucie:  I don't have any immediate plans to come to Detroit, but I promised Laura that I'd give her all my dates for appearances, so if I'm coming to your town you'll see it posted here first!

Q.   Did your kids get to know there Grandma Lucy, and Grandpa Desi?

Lucie:  My children were 4, 6 and 8 when their Nana Lucy died and 2 years younger when my father passed away. My sons remember certain things like Grandpa teaching them to Marlin fish and when he played his guitar for them, and their Nana hiding Easter eggs in her backyard just for them. My daughter treasures her few precious memories of my mother dressing her up and putting velcro rollers into her very short hair, and putting "big girl" make-up on her.

My mother was not as easy with children (even her own!) as my father was, but I am thankful that my kids got to know who my parents really were. Otherwise, they might have grown up believing that their grandparents were the Lucy and Ricky Ricardo characters that they portrayed on TV. Mostly I'm grateful that my parents got to know my kids. My kids are great people, totally unique and individual, and if they turn out well it won't be because they are related to me or my husband or any of our parents. It will be because they worked hard to become hardworking, valuable citizens of the planet.

Q.   Lucie, I know you have probably been asked this many times before, but it has been a topic of discussion lately so I might as well go right to the source. Did you appear in the last I Love Lucy, Lucy Dedicates A Statue? I know that Desi Jr. did, but the vote sways that you did, or did not.

Lucie:  I am so happy to lay this rumor to rest, once and for all. For years and years I was actually told by many of the "Lucy experts" that I was used in that scene. So, not knowing any different, I believed it. Then when Nick @ Nite ran the episodes in their original, uncut versions (which I'm sorry to say they don't anymore), I finally caught that previously edited footage.

Well, my brother, Desi, is definitely the little boy at the front of the crowd. But I am NOT any of the those little girls. Actually, one looks like Kathy McClay, the daughter of their publicity man, Howard McClay, and I think the taller one might be my best childhood friend, Susie Meyer. BUT, you've heard it from the horse's mouth -- I wasn't in that episode.

So, now I'd like to know the answer to this trivia question -- "Why wasn't I?"