Lucy arrived in Hollywood in July of 1933 or 22nd birthday. It was just a few weeks away.

She took the train with some of the other new gold one girls. Here's Lucy from an interview from sometime in the

1960s. It was published in a digital scrapbook. I don't remember leaving New York. I don't remember arriving in California.

It was marvelous. There were a couple of mothers along and all these girls I had never met before and they were gay and beautiful.

I was quite an awe. We were all going into the wonderland together.

California did seem like a wonderland to Lucy. She couldn't believe how much cleaner the air was compared to New York.

There were orange trees and exotic flowers she'd never seen before.

The sunshine, the warmth, the easy living and the casual clothes. It pressed me right away and the beautiful mornings, the beautiful evenings.

Of course, plus being in the business, being around show people. It pressed me very much.

Lucy rented a one-room apartment on Formosa Street in Hollywood. It had one of those murphy beds that pop out of the wall.

I lived just like three blocks up from the gold one studio and I couldn't afford a car when I first got out there.

And other girls in my group were worrying about having cars to drive.

She bought a second-hand bike for $10 and wrote it to the studio every day.

I never bothered me a bit. I was delighted to ride a bicycle. It was great exercise but I was a little tired at night to ride it back.

So I didn't hire a cab to take the bicycle and I wrote in a cab.

Of course, a driver thought I was nuts but that didn't matter.

All the matter now was that Lucy was finally working in show business and this time she wasn't going to blow her chance.

She quickly figured out that the way to get noticed in a beautiful town with beautiful people was just make them laugh.

I'm your host Ben Macowitz. You're listening to season three of the Plot Thickens, a podcast from Turner Classic Movies.

This season we're telling the story of how Lucille Ball became the funniest most recognizable woman in America.

This is episode three, Hollywood.

Lucille Ball's first break in Hollywood was as a Goldwyn girl in the movie Roman scandals.

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