'Scary Lucy' statue of Lucille Ball will be replaced this August

The actress will receive a much more flattering honor.

Everyone loves Lucy, but not everyone loves a bronze statue of Lucille Ball in her hometown of Celoron, New York. The sculpture, notoriously dubbed "Scary Lucy" due to its unflattering portrayal of the comedic icon, will finally be replaced later this summer. 

Yahoo! News reports a new statue will be unveiled later this summer at the same park where the current eyesore is on display. 

Last year, it was reported New York-based sculptor Carolyn Palmer would take on the task of replacing the statue created by Dave Poulin. Despite the reassurance that pretty much anything would be better than what is currently on display, Palmer was still nervous to do the television pioneer justice.

In order to make sure she stayed true to Ball's appearance, Palmer re-watched episodes of I Love Lucy and had models adorn dresses from the 1950s in order to get a sense of what she would have been like in her heyday.  

"You could get her proportions just right — her eyes, her nose, her mouth — and still say, 'Where is Lucy?'" Palmer told Yahoo! News. "I worked on moving some of the muscles around her features to really bring her out."

The push for a do-over started in 2012, when an I Love Lucy fan created a Facebook campaign dedicated to replacing the original statue. The page, We Love Lucy! Get Rid of this Statue, went viral last year when local media began reporting on it. After an extensive search by a committee of locals, Palmer was chosen to take on the commission.

Despite all the ridicule for Poulin and the original statue, Palmer says she understands why it might have turned out that way.

"I felt bad because every sculptor does not bat a thousand," she said.

It might not be so bad for Poulin after all. Celoron's mayor, Scott Schrecengost, says the original statue will stay in the city, and maybe even the same park, because it has become a tourist attraction. 

Schrecengost says every day people drive through the town and take pictures with Lucy. He adds, "It put Celoron back on the map. It's kind of iconic now."

The newer, hopefully more flattering statue will be unveiled August 6, on what would have been Ball's 105th birthday.

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