Comediennes Before Ellen DeGeneres, Tina Fey or any of today’s comediennes, there were two women paving the way for the future of funny ladies.  I had the privilege of knowing them, as psychic and friend.  They were Lucille Ball and Phyllis Diller. Though they were legendary for their comedic talents, there was much more to each woman – something much deeper – and I was fortunate to see this side of them. I encountered Lucille Ball first when I was very young and living in my hometown of Buffalo, New York. It was popular at the time, for promotional purposes and to increase attendance, for movie theaters to bring in musicians, singers or actors to perform onstage between screenings of a film.  And when the actual stars of the film could appear it was even better. I’d read in the newspaper that Lucille Ball and Maureen O’Hara were in town to promote their new film, “Dance, Girl, Dance”. I was excited to see them in person. But rather than attend their performance inside I chose to wait outside, near the stage door, for a more personal experience. Following the performance, the two redheads emerged – Lucille’s hair much more flamboyantly red and therefore more noticeable than Maureen’s. I will never forget Lucille. She was dressed in a fox fur coat with a plaid skirt visible below…and red shoes.  And she did something that I considered very daring and intriguing.  She stopped, pulled out a cigarette and lit it by touching a match to her shoe! Fans were calling their names, but in an interesting way.  They were calling “Miss O’Hara – over here, Miss O’Hara!” But by contrast, they were also calling, “Lucille – please look over here, Lucille!”  The use of her first name indicated that there was a sense of warmth and familiarity that somehow emitted from Lucille even then. As I looked at her I psychically saw her inside a box, though I admit I didn’t understand the symbol or the vision at that moment. It would be several years before I would encounter Lucille in person.  I’d moved to San Francisco after being discharged from the Army and had begun hosting a radio show.  I was walking past the Orpheum Theater one day when I noticed the marquee.  It advertised Desi Arnaz and his Orchestra with Special Guest Star Lucille Ball, whom he had married. I thought it would be fun to interview the pair for my radio show and since I was a frequent visitor to theater productions I’d come to know many of the backstage crew. I inquired when they were likely to be backstage and was surprised to have a maid come and usher me to their dressing area. Soon, Desi emerged and I spoke to him about doing my show.  During the course of our conversation to my surprise I saw him surrounded by a box…and then remembered my previous vision, years before, of Lucille, in that same type of box.  By now, television was in its early days and I realized that the “box” I saw was actually a television set. I excitedly told Desi that I psychically felt he was going to be very much involved in television and would become a highly successful producer/director.  He laughed heartily but also seemed intrigued.  Just then, Lucille poked her head around a doorway and he told her what I’d said.  “You’re going to be an enormous name in television, too,” I advised her. Of course, the couple later went on to form their own television empire, Desilu Productions, which was responsible nor only for “I Love Lucy” but also “Make Room for Daddy”, “Our Miss Brooks” and several other iconic television programs. Several years later I appeared on “The Merv Griffin  Show” and Desi was a guest.  He confirmed my psychic prediction to Merv and Merv asked what he thought of the message, which seemed outlandish when it was given. “I told Kenny ‘Let’s have another drink’, we’ll both feel better!” Desi laughed.  But he thanked me and said how thought-provoking the message had been for him. Lucille had a tremendous business sense, from my experiences with her, though she also had a softer side that not everyone saw. That side was often in view around her children, Lucie and Desi, Jr. In 1970 I received a call from Lucille inviting me to entertain at her daughter Lucie’s 19th birthday party, to be held at Lucille’s Beverly Hills home.  It was a costume party and sounded like a lot of fun so I gladly agreed.  During the event I spent some private time with Lucille and brought back in spirit her school teacher from Jamestown, New York.  She was thrilled and frightened at the same time.  It was an ongoing situation with her – she was both intrigued by and somewhat frightened of the spirit world.  I invited her to a séance in my home and she politely declined, though she said she was sure it would be wonderful. Then I began my performance, giving psychic messages and predictions.  I came to Lucie, who was accompanied by her boyfriend, Phil Vandervort, an actor and soon-to-be television producer. I told them they would be married within a year from the date of the party.  Oops!  It turns out they hadn’t told Lucille yet that they were actually becoming engaged, so party guests were the first to hear the announcement. And they were indeed married within a year. My last visit with Lucille was unfortunately just three weeks before her passing. Film musical star Gloria de Haven was opening a night club performance at the Cinegrill in the famed Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and I was among the invited guests, including Betty White, Bea Arthur, Jean Simmons and Jayne Meadows. Before the show I walked toward the bar and found Lucille there.  We spoke briefly and I told her I’d recently seen daughter Lucie at the Playboy Mansion. “What was she doing there?” she frowned, ever the protective mother even though Lucie was a grown woman.  Apparently her mom had visions of a wild party.  I told her it had been a fund-raising event for an animal charity and Lucille’s face eased into a smile.  “Oh – that’s fine,” she said.  “She’s a good girl.” It was a sweet, protective side of Lucille that was endearing. But something bothered me about her aura that evening.  As anyone involved in the psychic field knows, an aura is a magnetic field of energy that surrounds the body and reveals our mental, physical and emotional well-being.  Lucille’s aura was not bright or healthy-looking that night. I was unable to pull her aside after that, since the party following the opening was very crowded.  So I sent some healing thoughts her way. A couple of weeks later, I had a dream that Lucille had suffered a heart attack. And what’s worse, in the dream I saw a newspaper headline stating, “Lucille Ball Dies.”  Sadly, when I turned on the television the next day, the newscaster informed viewers that indeed Lucille had suffered a heart attack and was in Cedars-Sinai Hospital. Her doctor spoke for the news cameras and said that Lucille’s aorta had ruptured but surgery had been done to repair it.  This sounded like good news…except I read the aura of the doctor and knew that he was not revealing the entire truth. Days later I was in San Francisco on a lecture tour and had another dream, seeing the same headline.  As I left my hotel room the next day it pained me to pass a newsstand and this time see an actual newspaper, proclaiming simply “Lucille Ball Dies.”  My vision had become a tragic reality and I could only send peaceful thoughts to members of her family. I had another contact with Lucille – this time from the spirit world, when I was writing my book I Still Talk To…   Even though she’d been leery of the spirit world when she was alive, I’m happy to report she has not only flourished on the other side but is reunited with “the love of her life” as she called him, Desi Arnaz.  And I’m delighted to have known this legendary lady of comedy. My days in San Francisco played a role in my meeting another comic legend – Phyllis Diller. Some friends and I spent a night on the town visiting various night clubs.  We went to the Hungry I where an unknown comic named Mort Sahl was entertaining the audience.  Next, we visited Ann’s 440 to see a young male singer named Johnny Mathis.  And we visited the Purple Onion to see Phyllis Diller, who was just gaining popularity.  I made a prediction about all three to a top newspaper columnist in town and I said that Phyllis would become one of the biggest comediennes in the country. From that time on, I kept in touch with Phyllis at parties, on the telephone, while we were both taping guest appearances on the same television show, and several times at her Brentwood home once I’d moved to Southern California. Phyllis told me a wonderful story for my book The Moment about how she almost quit show business because she felt out of place telling stories about her home and family life amongst strippers in some less-than-stellar locations around the country.  And then one night her life was changed when a man came up to her after the show to tell her how wonderful she was and how he’d like to have her join forces with him on various projects.  His name was Bob Hope, and as many recall, they went on to do films, television shows and USO appearances together for years. In fact, in the music room of Phyllis’s 22-room mansion, she had a huge oil painting of Bob Hope on prominent display.  She never forgot the role he played in her career. A piano was also a major attraction in the music room, because, though many were unaware, Phyllis was a gifted pianist and had performed in concert many times. A visit to her home was always a treat.  And Phyllis herself greeted her guests at the door, that famous laugh ringing in the air. She was also a talented artist and a visit to her home included a tour of the art she had scattered in several rooms (all with price tags, I must say!). Her love of painting began, she told me, when she was searching for something to occupy her time while on the road, in-between stand-up appearances.  She thought she might enjoy painting and bought an inexpensive art kit to bring along…and a second career began. Her artwork was extensive and I am happy to have one example, titled “Flying Flowers” (it’s very colorful and whimsical), hanging in my living room. While many of her paintings were colorful and happy, there was another element at work in some of her work, especially some of the faces she was known to paint.  They represented a darker, very serious side of Phyllis, who was indeed a deep thinker beneath the comedic surface.  She was also compassionate and caring, spending great care to “counsel” my co-author and partner Valerie Porter one evening when we were at Phyllis’s for dinner and Valerie had learned that day of her mother’s cancer diagnosis. Phyllis loved to receive psychic messages from me and a transcript of a reading I gave her was published in an early (out-of-print) book of mine, Guide to Health and Happiness. But her interest in the spirit world was non-existent, oddly enough.  She told me on any number of occasions that she believed deeply in my psychic ability but thought that the other side was the stuff of fantasy, as much as she’d liked to have believed in it. One psychic message I gave concerning her was eerily accurate.  We’d attended a party in Beverly Hills and Phyllis was escorted by columnist Jack Martin.  Following dinner I pulled Jack aside and told him, “Please take Phyllis home soon.  She is very ill and should be resting.”  He told me, “Kenny – that’s nonsense.  There’s nothing wrong with her – she looks wonderful, doesn’t she?”  I had to admit she looked fine on the surface, but I was reading her aura and illness was all around her. Sadly, a couple of days later, she suffered a very serious heart problem and was rushed to the doctor.  To complicate matters, she was prescribed inappropriate medication that caused a reaction that nearly killed her.  It was a major health battle that she finally overcame. But from then on, she had a dislike of hospitals.  “There should be a sign at the door saying, ‘Welcome to the hospital – here’s your staph infection’, “she jokingly said to me one evening. I considered Phyllis a dear friend and was deeply saddened when she passed this year. I can only wonder what she thought when she found herself on the other side she’d doubted…for I have total confidence she arrived there safely!  I am sure she is surrounded by love, which by the way was her favorite word in my opinion. Every note she signed – every photo she sent – every book of hers that she sent to me closed with LOVE, Phyllis (and “love” was always in capital letters). She sent me a beautiful verse she wrote, surrounded by “L” for love, which stated: “On this happy day, I am thankful for my blessings. And I pray for renewed belief in myself and others…and hope this bond of love will expand to envelop the entire universe.”  I treasure it. One more thing I must share with you, since the holiday season is upon us.  The last Christmas card I received from this dear lady was printed on a vivid pink stock and featured one of her happy faced-ladies on the cover, wearing a beautiful hat.  Inside was a truly “Phyllis” type of greeting, which I’ll share with you: ‘Twas a week after Christmas And all through the house Nothing would fit me Not even a blouse. I searched through my closet For something to wear But my clothes had all shrunk It just isn’t fair. I didn’t indulge Well – maybe a little A few pieces of fudge A bit of nut brittle. But it’s not my fault It’s the Holiday Season I can’t say “NO” Without a good reason. So hope you’ll excuse The rather sad fact I’m writing this greeting Wearing only my hat” And it was signed, of course, “LOVE, Phyllis Diller.”  I loved you, too, Phyllis, and know that your Sweet Spirit is entertaining and filling the other side with much inspiration and joy.]]>