Lucille Ball & Lela Rogers' Little Theatre

Lela Rogers, mother of Ginger Rogers, was not your typical stage mom. Apart from managing Ginger's career, Rogers had a successful career in her own right. She was a journalist, editor, screenwriter and producer, and from the mid-1930s through the early 1940s she worked as an assistant to Charles Koerner, Vice-President of Production at RKO. Put in charge of RKO's budding talent, Rogers ran her own workshop on the studio lot called the Little Theatre, where she trained promising young actresses like Betty Grable, Joan Fontaine, Ann Miller and Lucille Ball.

In her autobiography Love, Lucy (1996), Lucille Ball fondly remembered those early days at RKO with Lela Rogers: "It was such a busy, happy time for me. Lela took the dungarees off us and put us into becoming dresses; she ripped off our hair bands and made us do our hair right. If we went to see a big producer in his office, she cautioned us to put on full makeup and look like somebody. She made us read good literature to improve our English and expand our understanding of character. She drummed into us how to treat agents and the bosses upstairs... " 

Ball studied with Rogers for two years and would later give Rogers credit for turning her into the actress she became. Rogers was the first person to recognise Ball's potential as a comedienne ("a clown with glamour" she called her) even when RKO producer Pandro Berman had told her not to waste her time on Ball. Rogers also stood up for Ball when RKO wouldn't renew her contract and she was responsible for getting Ball a few of her early roles, e.g her first speaking role in Top Hat (1935) as well as her role in Stage Door (1937), the latter being Ball's first standout role.

Above: Lucille Ball and her mentor Lela Rogers whom Ball described as a "wise, warm woman". Below: Rogers shows John Shelton how to hold the gun in one of her Little Theatre productions while Lucy Ball looks on.

Below: Circa 1940, Lela Rogers is giving advice to her students Helen Parrish, Lucille Ball, Cathy Lewis and Anita Louise.

During two years Ball worked with Rogers in her Little Theatre, rehearsing and performing plays which attracted large crowds at 25 cents a ticket. The shows were a terrific opportunity for Ball and others to showcase their talent, especially since directors, producers and critics were often present in the audience. One of the plays produced and directed by Rogers at the Little Theatre was Fly Away Home in January 1936. Ball participated in the play, after which Rogers wrote her the following letter to thank her for taking part. Rogers called Ball's performance "excellent", her praise undoubtedly giving a boost to the young actress' ego. 

Source: icollector.com

Transcript:

January 23, 1936.

Dear Lucille:

I want you to know how sincerely grateful I feel for your participation in "Fly Away Home", and I want you to know that any time I can be of service to you in any way within my power please feel free to call upon me, as I felt free to call upon you.

Your performance was excellent and made "Fly Away Home" the success that it was.

Sincerely yours,

Signed "Lela E Rogers"

Miss Lucille Ball

1344 N. Ogden Drive,

Hollywood, California.

Above: Ginger Rogers and her mother Lela had a close relationship, both personal and professional. They appeared in one film together, Billy Wilder's The Major and the Minor (1942), where Lela played Ginger's mom.

Above: Lucille Ball and Ginger Rogers in Gregory La Cava's 1937 Stage Door (one of my favourite movies of all time). Ball wrote in her autobiography that La Cava didn't really like her but that he only gave her the part at Lela Rogers' insistence. Fun trivia: Lela Rogers was reportedly related to Ball on her mother's side which made Lucy and Ginger distant cousins (the two actresses were also lifelong friends).