. Her
mother always had to tie a rope around her waist and hook it to the
clothesline in order to keep Lucille out of trouble. Most of the time she did
anyway. One morning her mother looked out the window and saw her all
tangled up on a tree branch, begging the milkman to help her get free.( Harris
Life seemed to go well for young Lucille. With a baby brother on the
way. It was supposed to be their happiest year. Until a tragedy happened to
the Ball's. In February, Henry Ball came down with typhoid fever and died.
After her father's death, Lucille and her mother moved to Jamestown to live
her grandparents, Frederick and Florabelle Hunt. Shortly after the move,
Lucille's baby brother Fred was born on July 3, 1915. Certain that Fred was
her mother's favorite Lucille hated her brother. Little did she know that her
mother dedicated her life to Lucille. Desiree had studied piano and wanted
Lucille to follow in her footsteps, but Lucille showed no interest despite her
mother's efforts to teach her.( Harris 21)
Lucille was in care of her grandparents most of the time. Her mother
still young and wanting to find a husband made it difficult to watch over
Lucille and Fred. Lucille was very close to her grandparents, especially her
grandfather. She got her first taste of show business from Grandpa Hunt.
Lucille loved watching vaudeville with her grandpa on Saturdays. When they
got home, she would reenact the show for her grandmother. She also used to
play theater with her friend Pauline Lopus. They used the barn as their
theater, stage, mansion, ranch house. Lucille and her friends often put on
one-act plays and revues, for which they made their own tickets, props, and
advertising posters. She loved playing a boy in her acts and the audience
loved it too. Her grandfather saw her love for acting, and he encourage her to
get involved in plays at school and c...