I LOVE LUCY

BY: Kathy Ritchie

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN BURCHAM ALLY DRYER IS A CELEBRITY, but you wouldn't know it by looking at her. From 1965 to 1969, Dryer was the voice of snarky know-it-all Lucy van Pelt in several Charlie Brown TV specials.

“My voice had a particular quality of crabbiness that [Peanuts creator] Charles Schulz liked,” Dryer says. Fortunately, her voice matured into something more measured and considerably less cantankerous.

Unfortunately, that meant her fame was short-lived.

“I was a has-been when I was 12,” she says, laughing.

Schulz wanted children to voice his characters, so Dryer was out and another little girl was in. But for those who love Peanuts, and especially the Lucy character, she's a big deal.

For Dryer, however, Lucy was a “fun little blip.” The voice work, she explains, was an extracurricular, a way to get out of class. These days, she's expressing herself in other ways, particularly through the artwork she displays at her shop - Jerome's popular Nellie Bly Kaleidoscopes and Art Glass.

IT'S THE DAY OF JEROME'S 49TH ANNUAL Historic Home and Building Tour, and Dryer, 57, has had a rough night. A pipe burst in the house she shares with her partner, Mary Wills, and the couple was up until 1 a.m. cleaning the floor in anticipation of the next big flood: visitors tromping through their home. Dryer left Wills and a handful of volunteers so she could give me a This Is Your Life tour of Jerome, starting at the shop, which she co-owns with Wills.

Housed in a historic four-story building, the Nellie Bly is the retail equivalent of a road trip with Ken Kesey - the blasts of color come at you from all directions. It's nothing psychedelic, but rather the flares from hundreds of brightly colored kaleidoscopes. Many are handmade, and some are created from stained or iridescent glass. Others are covered in semiprecious stones or carved from exotic woods such as bubinga. There are kaleidoscopes perched on amethyst crystals, and others that rest on Eiffel Tower bases. Visitors to the Nellie Bly are encouraged to play with the kaleidoscopes (the store boasts a “you break it, mazel tov” policy, according to Dryer), making it easy to get lost in the moving mandalas that are created when looking through a scope's eye.

According to Dryer, kaleidoscopes became an American art form about 25 years ago. There are 90 artists who display their work at the Nellie Bly, making it the largest kaleidoscope shop in the world.

Dryer knows this, she says, “because we know everybody in the business.” DRYER GREW UP IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. Her father left when she was 5, leaving her mother and older sister to care for the family. “That’s how [my sister] ended up working with Lee Mendelson, the producer,” she says. “That’s how it started.” When Schulz agreed to turn his popular Peanuts comic into a TV special, Dryer’s sister, who was Mendelson’s production assistant at the time, traveled to schools in the area to record children’s voices. She also added Dryer’s voice to the reel — Dryer was 8.

Dryer was picked to voice Violet in A Charlie Brown Christmas. The show was a hit, and she was promoted to Lucy for five more specials, including It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

“I’m thinking it was nepotism,” she jokes.

After Peanuts, life returned to normal. Dryer pursued her love of art and attended San Jose State University, where she earned her degree in installation sculpture. For the next 25 years, she worked as a custom picture framer and owned a framing shop.

Then, the phone rang. A friend told Dryer about a woman named Mary Wills who lived in Jerome. “She said, ‘Oh, you have to meet this woman; we call her Airstream Mary, because she collects Airstreams,’” Dryer says. “We ‘met’ over the phone, and within a week, I was visiting. It was a whirlwind.” Four years later, Dryer packed her life into five 25-foot Penske trucks and moved to Jerome. That was 14 years ago. We walk out the back of the Nellie Bly to Dryer’s studio, which she rents from the Jerome Historical Society.

“This is a place where I come to just putter and create,” she says. “So, it’s sort of evolved.” Her studio is her refuge. And with views of Sedona’s red rocks and the Verde Valley below, it’s no wonder she comes here every day.

Inside, there’s a 1960 Airstream Land Yacht, a vintage bar filled with stemware, corner samples for framing, stacks and stacks of books, tools, shards of glass... all manner of flotsam. There’s also a curio cabinet filled with Lucy and Charlie Brown memorabilia: Pez dispensers, figurines, even a Charlie Brown Nativity set.Dryer’s three-dimensional sculptures are also scattered throughout. She creates her structures by piecing together mirrors and glass to create optical illusions. She also uses everyday items, such as an old cellphone or vintage odds and ends, to create her works of art. “There are artists who add things and artists who subtract things,” she explains. “I’m an adder. I compile and assemble things.”Through each sculpture, Dryer communicates something. Sometimes, it’s intensely personal, like Osteo-Neurosis - inspired by her mother, whom she describes as a “very complicated person.” Other times, she’s cracking a joke: Waiting Room was created following a lengthy visit to the ophthalmologist’s office.

“It’s a shrine to waiting,” she says dryly. Humor is very much a part of Dryer’s personality. She’s always laughing. “You have to laugh,” she says. “I see humor in almost everything.” I ask Dryer how she created this life, filled with purpose and passion. “Pure accident,” she replies. “I feel like I’m the luckiest person on Earth. I live in the home of my dreams, surrounded by animals I love, a brilliant partner and a store that’s loved by many, many people.” AH Nellie Bly Kaleidoscopes and Art Glass is located at 136 Main Street in Jerome. For more information, call 928634-0255 or visit www.nellieblyscopes.com.