By Michael Walsh
Yahoo News
They don’t love this Lucy.
Locals are not happy with this
statue of Lucille Ball in Celoron, N.Y.
Lucille Ball’s hometown, just
outside Jamestown in western New York, erected a life-size statue to honor the
beloved actress — but now it has some explaining to do.
Many take issue with the sculptor’s
unflattering depiction of the “I Love Lucy” star.
A self-described “big fan of
Lucy’s” from Jamestown thinks the statue needs to be replaced with one
befitting the comedy legend.
“Lucille Ball was not only an
amazing comedienne, but she was a stunning beauty. Her sense of humor only made
her more beautiful,” he said in an interview with Yahoo News. “This statue
looks nothing like the beautiful Lucy we all know. If for no other reason than
that... the statue should go.”
The Jamestown man, who wishes to
remain anonymous, started a Facebook page titled We Love Lucy! Get Rid of this
Statue.
“I don’t think this can be
repaired,” he said. “Take a look at the beautiful statues Nick at Nite created
for ‘Bewitched’ and ‘The Honeymooners’ and Bob Newhart… it needs to be
something more like those.”
The group organizer says that
he does not want to disparage artist Dave Poulin at all. In fact, he said, the
artist has other works that are quite good — he just missed the mark this time.
In this undated image provided
by CBS, comedian-actress Lucille Ball and her husband, musician-actor Desi
Arnaz, …
“I think it looks like a
monster. That is just my opinion,” he said. “When you see it at night, it is
frightening.”
The Jamestown area is immensely
proud of the classic television icon. Jamestown is home to the Lucille Ball
Desi Arnaz Museum & Center for Comedy, which hosts an annual comedy
festival the first week of August. Jerry Seinfeld will be headlining this year.
Celoron Mayor Scott
Schrecengost told the Jamestown Post-Journal that it would cost a lot of money
— between $8,000 and $10,000 — to have the original artist recast the statue,
which was unveiled in 2009.
Schrecengost told the newspaper
that he has no interest in using taxpayer dollars to fix it. Instead, a fund
has been set up to raise the money, according to the daily newspaper.
The artist did not reply to
Yahoo News’ request for comment.