HAPPY 101ST BIRTHDAY, LUCY!

Whenever they were in the Bay Area, she (Lucy) and Harriet, who was not only her maid but her gin rummy partner and confidante, visited Harriet’s best friend, Dot. Knowing Lucille loved barbecue, Dot bought ribs, and they all sat in the kitchen eating them. “I kept staring at this beautiful lady eating messy ribs,” said Dot’s daughter, Barbara, who was ten at the time. “Lucille loved children and she always treated me like a princess. She had her dressmaker make me pinafores and she sent socks to match. My mother was afraid I would be spoiled rotten, and I was. Lucille made people feel important in her company, because if she liked you, she loved you.” 

The little girl delighted in seeing how silly Lucille and her aunt Harriet behaved together. “They tried on hats with feathers and veils and pranced around like college kids.” Harriet and Dot reminisced about being dancers together, and Lucille chimed in with tales of her Goldwyn Girl days. “The three of them would have a couple of drinks, then push the furniture back and form a chorus line, laughing and giggling and dancing,” Barbara recalled.