Brushes with fame caught readers’ eyeballs in 2024, but none more than a pair of stories focusing on Lucille Ball and another focusing on the featured performer at the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival. Of course, readers also took note of American Pickers making a return visit, Marty Stuart and Blues Traveler coming to the Struthers Library Theatre and Company Townes going on tour with Dwight Yoakam, among other entertainment-related stories that were published in the Times Observer this year.

LOVING LUCY: THOUSANDS THRONGED TO JAMESTOWN TO WELCOME BALL, ARNAZ FOR MOVIE PREMIER IN 1956

FINAL RESTING PLACE: BALL REINTERRED IN JAMESTOWN IN 2003 AFTER NEARLY 15 YEARS IN CALIFORNIA

A pair of stories by former Times Observer reporter Josh Cotton were among the most-read pieces featured in the Times Observer this year. The first focused on Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz hosting the world premiere of their film, “Forever Darling” in Jamestown in 1956.

Pictured is Lucille Ball, at the left, when she returned to Jamestown, for the premie of her new film. The caption for this photo in the Feb. 9 Warren Observer read. “Between her and her husband, Desi Amaz, are two Warren residents who attended Tuesday’s afternoon reception. They are Mrs. Jack Seymour and Mrs. Leroy Schneck, left to right. Leroy took the shot.”

The story of the visit to Jamestown was picked up in newspapers across the region – and the country.

The Evening Blizzard (Oil City, Titusville), Feb. 7, 1956:

“More than 5,000 persons welcomed television and movie star Lucille Ball to her hometown today when she arrived in a helicopter with her husband, Desi Arnaz,” the Evening Blizzard, an Oil City/Titusville publication reported.

“A heavy drizzle failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the fans, who broke through police lines in the scramble to glimpse the stars,” that report detailed. “School pupils spelled out the words “Hi, Lucy, Desi” on the Jamestown High School athletic field, where the helicopter landed.

“Thousands more lined the streets as the party entered the city behind bands, banners and floats.”

Submitted photo Pictures is Nate Bargatzewho was the final headline performer at the 2024 Lucille Ball Comedy Festival on Aug. 3.

That report indicated that it was Ball’s first visit to her hometown in nearly a decade.

It shouldn’t be surprising that some Warren folks were part of that throng in Jamestown. A photo published in the Observer shows that.

“FOREVER DARLING was Lucille Ball, at the left, when she returned to Jamestown, her hometown for the premier of her picture by that name,” the caption read. “Between her and her husband, Desi Amaz, are two Warren residents who attended Tuesday’s afternoon reception. They are Mrs. Jack Seymour and Mrs. Leroy Schneck, left to right. Leroy took the shot.”

A picture book – Lucy Comes Home, published in 2018 and available on Amazon – recounts the story of the 1956 visit. It was written by Chris Olsen, whose mother, Janice Swanson, was “homecoming queen” during the visit, according to a story published in the Jamestown Post-Journal in 2019.

Included in the 200-300 photographs are the megastars’ visit to Lucy’s former home in Celoron, to Jamestown General Hospital and to Bigelow’s Department Store; their appearances at the Crystal Ballroom in the Hotel Jamestown and at the Temple Hesed Abraham’s Sports Night at the same venue; and the warm and enthusiastic reception they received from the Western New York town that Lucy once called home.

Submitted photo Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlative are pictured. The band will perform Nov. 17 at the Struthers Library Theatre.

Over 1,000 images were taken by Charlotte Brooks of Look magazine, whose job it was to capture every aspect of Lucy’s visit to her hometown. Those images are now in the collection of the Library of Congress.

“What I love most about the book and the photos is it really connects Lucy and Desi to Jamestown in a way that few people could really appreciate until you see the photographs,” Olsen told the Post-Journal. “Here she is, the biggest star in the universe, and if you look at her face there’s elation, there’s joy, there’s emotion. It says it all. … You really see in those photos and, hopefully, the book portrays how much it meant to her. You can clearly see what it means to the people in the town.”

Cotton also recounted the decision to move Ball’s remains from California to the Lake View Cemetery in Jamestown in a separate piece.

United Press International reported that Ball’s ashes were moved to Jamestown from California in 2003, over 20 years after her death.

“At the request of her children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr., the comedienne’s urn was disinterred from a grave beside her mother, Desiree Eveline Hunt-Ball, in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles and moved to Jamestown, N.Y.,” that story explains.

Submitted photo Show above from left members of Company Townes are Jody Aiello, Nate Blick, Sara Aiello, Eric Morelli in their first custom-made Nudie Cohen or “Nudie” style suits.

“I know she’s happier there, because she loved the seasons,” Lucie Arnaz told friends at the Little Babyface Foundation benefit …”

NATE BARGATZE TO HEADLINE FINAL NIGHT OF AUGUST FESTIVAL

Times Observer readers read with interest news that Nate Bargatze would the 2024 Lucille Ball Comedy Festival held in August in Jamestown.

Bargatze has been selling out shows and breaking attendance records around the world with his current “The Be Funny” tour. Last fall, he made his hosting debut on Saturday Night Live, receiving rave reviews and drawing one of highest television audiences of the season, with Vanity Fair calling him, “A Great Saturday Night Live Host,” and Entertainment Weekly exclaiming, “A frighteningly funny Halloween episode.”

His most recent comedy special, Nate Bargatze: Hello World, holds the record as Amazon’s most-watched comedy special of all time on Prime Video. He is widely known for his clean, relatable comedy for audiences of all ages, evident in his 13 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the most appearances by any comedian. He also appeared on Conan four times and has appeared on Seth Meyers’ and James Corden’s respective late night shows.

“I’ve had the pleasure of visiting the National Comedy Center and it’s just awesome. The interactivity of all the exhibits is amazing – there is nothing else like it. So, it’s a thrill for me to perform at the National Comedy Center’s Lucille Ball Comedy Festival this August. I hope everyone will come out to see us in Jamestown – and visit the Comedy Center before our show,” Bargatze said.

BRINGING THE BLUEGRASS: COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME MEMBER TO PERFORM IN WARREN

Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlative performed in November at the Struthers Library Theatre with special guest Company Townes.

Stuart was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2020 in the same class as Hank Williams Jr. Stuart is a five-time Grammy winner who started his career as a sideman playing in bands led by bluegrass legend Lester Flatt and Johnny Cash before starting his own artist career in the 1980s. Stuart charted six top 10 Billboard Country songs, mostly during the 1990s, with songs like “Hillbilly Rock,” “Little Things” and “Tempted.”

“It is the ultimate honor in country music,” Stuart told The Associated Press in a statement. “I’m so honored to be included in this class and I’m honored to be included alongside Hank Jr. and Dean Dillon. I love those people. To be officially inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame is beyond words. I’m usually not at a loss for words.”

He has won Grammys for his collaborations with Asleep at the Wheel, Earl Scruggs and Travis Tritt, including their well known duet “The Whiskey Ain’t Workin.'” Stuart is also a photographer, a producer and an archivist of country music history, with plans to open a museum in his hometown of Philadelphia, Miss. In August, Marty Stuart’s Congress of Country Music announced a collaboration with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, which Stuart said is a major step forward in the preservation and promotion of country music history.

“This is a top of the world moment for me,” said Stuart. “To have my collection live alongside the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is monumental, to be a part of a ceremony and witness the Congress of Country Music and its people formally welcomed into the family of country music is a spiritual high.

Stuart has assembled a collection of more than 22,000 items, the largest private assemblage of country music artifacts in the world. Items in the collection include significant artifacts from Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, Charley Pride, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams and many others. Additionally, Stuart’s collection includes items from his own career, including his collection of photographs taken by Stuart himself, which have been exhibited at museums and published in books.

‘VERY INTENSE’: COMPANY TOWNES TOURS WITH DWIGHT YOAKAM

Making a good first impression isn’t always easy. You never know who is watching or listening.

For Company Townes, Dwight Yoakam was watching and listening as his management team asked the Warren,Pa.-based band to perform as the opening act on three dates in 2024 at the Palace Theatre in Greensburg, Pa., the Maryland Theatre in Hagerstown, Md., and the American Music Theatre in Lancaster, Pa.

Company Townes guitarist/vocalist Eric Morelli said this is the second time the band has toured with Yoakam. The first time was in 2022, after Yoakam had performed at the Struthers Library Theatre.

“I guess we made an impression on them,” Morelli said. “”We’re pleasantly surprised to have been invited back for another run of shows. It’s validating in a way that a one-off could never be.”

Even though the band only played three dates, the members did meet Yoakam, and Morelli said that Yoakam did thank them for performing. Morelli said the performances were ones to remember.

“It was so potent an experience that it almost feels like a dream,” Morelli said. “It was very intense – in all the best ways.”

The rest of the members include guitarist/vocalist Jody Aiello, bassist/ vocalist Sara Aiello, and drummer Nate Blick.

BLUES TRAVELER MAKES TOUR STOP

Warren County was part of hitmaking band Blues Traveler’s 30th anniversary of its seminal, six-time platinum album ‘Four.’ The band’s cross-country tour visited the Struthers Library Theatre in October.

Regarded as the album that catapulted Blues Traveler into the mainstream, four was the band’s fourth and most commercially successful release to date. The record peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200 charts and generated two Top 40 hits including “Run-Around” and “Hook,” which charted at #8 and #23 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100. “Run-Around” also earned the band their first Grammy Award in 1996 for “Best Rock Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group” and set a record upon its release as the longest-charting radio single in Billboard history.