Lucy’s Postcard to Lillian Appleby – original prop from the show offered for sale on eBay at http://www.ebay.com/itm/I-love-Lucy-Screen-Used-Prop-1954-Post-Card-Season-4-episode-18-Very-RARE-/391678032281 “Dear Lillian, Having a wonderful time. So busy every day at the studio. Will let you know when my pictures play New York, Lucy.” The right side is addressed to “Lillian Appleby, 1423 E. 67th St., New York City, New York, New York.”
Sold last November at RRAuction.com Item 7393 – I Love Lucy Screen-Used Postcard Catalog 488 (Nov 2016)
Minimum Bid: $300.00
Sold Price: $1,226.23
Original Description from RR Auctions: “Rare screen-used and handwritten postcard from the I Love Lucy show, 5.5 x 3.5, depicting two colorful images of Hollywood on the front, with the reverse filled out in an unknown hand in blue ballpoint, in full: “Dear Lillian, Having a wonderful time. So busy every day at the studio. Will let you know when my pictures play New York, Lucy.” The right side is addressed to “Lillian Appleby, 1423 E. 67th St., New York City, New York, New York.” In fine condition, with minor corner creases. Played by Doris Singleton, Caroline Appleby was Lucy’s snobbish rival, part-time friend, and fellow Fine Arts League Club member. Caroline, whose original character name was ‘Lillian,’ had her name changed by producers after her first appearance in season three, dating this prop to around 1953-54. Interestingly, this particular postcard also seems to correlate with a prolonged story arc from season four, in which the Ricardos and the Mertzes head to Hollywood for Ricky’s big break. A fantastic early screen-used prop humorously reflecting Lucy and Caroline’s competitive relationship.”
I wondered if handwriting on the card was Lucy’s – I do believe the signature looks like Lucy’s. According to one observer ” I think the overlay writing is hers .. In the lower right where it looks like someone went over the ink again. In the opening scene she’s finishing the card so I think she went over the letters for the camera.” There were a pile of cards that Desi picked up on the show and this card is likely one of them if not the card he is actually holding in the photo.
Comparison of the postcard at auction and the one Desi is holding shows some differences, such as the angle of the postage stamp but the handwriting looks mostly similar, notably the large loops of the capital L as we see in Lucy’s original autographs.