I Love Lucy (1951–1957)
Trivia
Desi Arnaz invented the rerun during the pregnancy episodes of the series by re-playing some episodes (and change some of the scenery and lines) from the first season to give Lucille Ball time to rest and start to raise their new born son, Desi Arnaz Jr..
William Frawley, aka "Fred Mertz", had a well known and longtime issue with alcoholism. He was advised in the beginning of the series to stay sober, or be terminated. So, if you look closely, a majority of his scenes display his character having his hands deep in his pockets. This would therefore not show his hands trembling, due to his alcoholic withdrawals.
This was one of the first TV shows to be filmed in Hollywood, at a time when many shows were done live in New York. It pioneered the use of three film cameras simultaneously, and the results were high-quality prints of a classic comedy series preserved for future TV audiences.
Lucille Ball decided to go ahead with the series after having a dream in which Carole Lombard - the screwball comedy actress that died in a plane crash and who was a close friend of Lucy - recommended she take a shot at the risky idea of entering television, and to get off of radio.
Sometimes, Desi Arnaz's distinctive laugh can be heard on the laugh track, especially when he could not control his humor, or laughed extremely quick, just after a deep breath of inhaling air.
In the episode "Little Ricky Gets a Dog", both Ricky and Lucy separately try to sneak out of the house without the other knowing. During this scene, when Lucy is putting on her jacket you can hear a woman in the audience say, "She beat him to it."
The valentine heart figure in the opening credits, closing credits, and commercial breaks, shown in syndication, was not the original opening credits' scenery. When the series originally aired on CBS, the opening credits featured animated clay figures of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz along with the sponsor's product - Philip Morris cigarettes, for instance. The valentine heart figure was created and added for the opening credits and closing credits when CBS began rerunning the series in 1958.
When Lucy was pregnant with Little Ricky, (Desi Arnaz Jr. in reality), CBS network censors did not allow her to say the word "pregnant." She had to say "expecting" instead. The episode title itself opted for a French touch: "Lucy is Enceinte".
William Frawley had a clause in his contract that excused him from filming if his beloved New York Yankees were in the World Series, which they were each year the show was on the air except one (1954).
William Frawley and Vivian Vance in reality, deeply hated each other. On the show, displays of affection were forced. The main reason that the series lasted for six seasons was the cash bonus each one received, immediately, once both signed their name to an additional CBS contract.
The writers mirrored the actors' real lives in presenting the character back stories. Lucy Ricardo, like Lucille Ball was born in West Jamestown, New York, (as mentioned by the actor that acted as a doctor that delivered her, in I Love Lucy: The Passports (1955)), she attended Celeron High School, and came to Manhattan as young woman. Ricky Ricardo, like Desi Arnaz, was from Cuba, and both led their own Latin America bands. Ricky and Lucy, like Desi and Lucy, eloped to Connecticut to get married. Ethel Mertz, like Vivian Vance, was from Albuquerque, New Mexico where they got their start in show business by appearing in the Albuquerque Little Theater. Like William Frawley, Fred Mertz was a Mid-Westerner who was raised on a farm and enjoyed a successful run as one of the earlier vaudeville actors.
In 1990, a 16mm print of the original pilot episode was found. The opening titles and first few seconds of the opening narration were damaged beyond repair. This scene was reconstructed for DVD in 2002 with a re-recorded narration by Bob LeMond, 51 years after he originally recorded it.
The full names of Fred and Ethel are Frederick Hobart Mertz and Ethel Louise Roberta Mae Potter Mertz. (Ethel's middle names, Louise, Roberta and Mae, are 'collected' from several episodes, never used all together; Potter was Ethel's maiden name.)
For the rest of her life, Vivian Vance re-told the story about her contract with I Love Lucy (1951). Vivian said her contract stated she always had to weigh 10 pounds more than Lucille Ball. Even though Vivian and Lucille remained good friends, it was never confirmed if the contract statement was true or just a joke. The two of them were often seen laughing and joking about it on various talk shows and interviews.
There were plans to spin off the Mertzes on to their show after I Love Lucy (1951)s The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957)s show ended. While William Frawley was all for it, Vivian Vance was totally against it due to her hatred of Frawley. Because of this, their spats even became more furious.
CBS executives balked heavily at the casting of William Frawley, owing to his reputation as an alcoholic and general rabblerouser. After his hiring, Desi Arnaz informed him that if he came to work drunk or missed work for anything besides a genuine illness more than one time, he'd be written out of the show.
Frawley never arrived at filming drunk or impaired, and typically learned his lines quicker than the other series regulars. He and Arnaz became and remained close friends, even years after the show ended production.
Frawley never arrived at filming drunk or impaired, and typically learned his lines quicker than the other series regulars. He and Arnaz became and remained close friends, even years after the show ended production.
This show attracted numerous huge Hollywood names as guest stars who did the show not for the money (which was actually very little), but because they liked the show or were personal friends of the stars. The impressive list includes Tennessee Ernie Ford, William Holden, John Wayne, Bob Hope, Will Wright, Elsa Lanchester, Van Johnson, Orson Welles, Rock Hudson, Eve Arden, Charles Boyer, Harpo Marx, Barbara Pepper, Pepito Pérez, Peggy Rea, Herb Vigran, Barbara Eden, Arthur Q. Bryan, Janet Waldo, Richard Crenna, Cornel Wilde, Richard Widmark, Gale Gordon, Natalie Schafer, Hedda Hopper, Bob Jellison Louis Nicoletti, Richard Reeves, Doris Singleton, Hy Averback, Kathryn Card, Jay Novello, George Reeves, Mary Jane Croft, Jerry Hausner, Elizabeth Patterson, Aaron Spelling, Ross Elliot, Hans Conried, The Pied Pipers, Johnny Jacobs plus others, just to type out a majority of their public and most popular public names. Others were friends, of their apartment, and some were band or musical members.
To this day, many people still think that 'Little Ricky' (acted by Richard Keith in the last season of the series), was their actual son in real life. He wasn't. However, Desi Arnaz was very fond of him, and the likeness was remarkable, not least due to the fact that Richard Keith started learning how to play the drums as a three year old.
In March of 1977 a Disco version of the I Love Lucy theme became a hit single. It stayed on the dance charts for three months and on the pop charts for seven weeks.
You can always tell when Lucy is about to get hit in the face with something messy (pie, water, etc) because Lucille Ball would remove her signature false eyelashes.
There is a subtle hint in the series of the quick costume changes that go along with filming live TV shows: In many of the scenes where Lucy and Ricky are in bed, pay attention to when they are getting in and out of bed. Whenever they swing their feet in and out, you'll see that Desi Arnaz is wearing black dress socks with his pajamas and Lucille Ball is wearing stockings (you can see the reinforced toes and heels) under her pajamas or gowns, she was wearing, at their bedtime scenes.
I Love Lucy (1951) was voted number two in TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. Only NBC's program, Seinfeld (1989) topped the 1950 decade series of all programs, as it was rated number one.
Although they slept in twin beds throughout the entire run of the series, during the first two seasons of the show, 1951-1953, Ricky and Lucy slept in twin beds that were pushed together on the same box spring. Once little Ricky was born CBS suggested that the beds be pushed apart to diminish the impact of the suggested sexual history of Lucy and Ricky. The only time we see the Ricardo's in two bed pushed together again is when they first move to the bigger apartment into the Mertz' building, however, subsequently after that the beds are pushed apart again.
In I Love Lucy: Ricky has Labor Pains (1953), Lucy is reading a McCall's magazine. On the cover is a sketch of a baby, and next to it is this series' title, I Love Lucy (1951).
While the Ricardos and the Mertzes were in Hollywood, the backdrop of Hollywood outside of the Ricardo's hotel suite replicates the view as it would have been seen from the top of the stages at the Desilu lot on Cahuenga Boulevard (now Ren-Mar Studios), two blocks to the west of Vine Street where a majority of the I Love Lucy (1951) episodes were shot. Most of the landmarks at Hollywood and Vine that are on the backdrop (except for the Brown Derby Restaurant, which was demolished in the 1980's) may still be seen at that location today, over fifty years later. The Capitol Records Building was under construction when these episodes were being filmed and is not seen on the backdrop. The "Beverly Palms Hotel" is a false hotel name, but its interior and exterior set designs combined elements of the Hollywood Plaza Hotel, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and the Beverly Hills Hotel.
During the course of living in their New York apartment, the Ricardos had three different telephone numbers. The first was Murray-Hill 5-9975, (which is 695-9975). Second was Circle-7-2099, (which is 247-2099). Their third and final number was Murray-Hill 5-9099, (which is 695-9099). In reality, these numbers were unused telephone numbers of the New York Bell Telephone Company. When the numbers were entered into service, the Bell company would advise the show's producers and give them a new number to use. Murray Hill and Circle were also actual call names used in Manhattan, during the 1950's.
The back door, so often used in both the Ricardos' and Mertzes apartments was in actuality a common trait of older buildings in Los Angeles and not of those in New York.
Gale Gordon was the first choice to play Fred Mertz, but he was not available. Their second choice, James Gleason was also not available. When they came across William Frawley, Desi Arnaz wanted him, even though he was told that Frawley would be a poor choice because he was a womanizer, a gambler, and an alcoholic. Arnaz said, "He's perfect!". The reason of Desi Arnaz's remark is because both actors had the same type of personality, almost like identical twins, except their age difference and race. Frawley was an American and Arnaz was a Cuban Spaniard.
Mary Jane Croft played 3 different characters on I Love Lucy: Betty Ramsey, Evelyn Bigsby and Cynthia Harcourt.
The Ricardos' address was 623 E. 68th Street. However, E. 68th Street in Manhattan only goes up to 600 - which means that the Ricardos' building was in the middle of the East River.
The program began as a radio program in 1948 called, "My Favorite Husband". And during the program, it was Richard Denning who played Lucy's husband, on the radio. When CBS decided to take the show to television, it was Lucille Ball's personal idea to bring her real life husband, as of then, Desi Arnaz, so she could act more natural and be easier.
Lucille Ball wanted to prevent Ricky's Cuban heritage from becoming a source of racist ridicule. She created a rule for the series whereby only Lucy could make fun of Ricky's accent and occasional garbled English. No other character on the show was permitted to poke fun at him for his cultural background.
This show did not use any laugh tracks; all the laughter was authentically from the live studio audience. A handful of episodes presented practical impossibilities for filming in front of a live audience; these episodes were then screened for live audiences, and the laughter from those screenings was then edited into the audio track.
Bea Benaderet and Gale Gordon were the first choices of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz' to act as the Mertz household and their apartment landlords. Gordon was unavailable and Lucille Ball was unable to get Bea Benederet out of her contract on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950).
Frank Nelson appeared on the show in numerous roles, including that of game show host Freddy Filmore. (Also, as an uncredited police officer, very often). During the final season he took on the occasional role of Betty Ramsey's husband, Ralph Ramsey.
In "Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress" Lucy and Vivian Vance sing Cole Porter's "Friendship" together. Lucille Ball had previously performed this song with Red Skelton and Gene Kelly in the movie "Du Barry Was a Lady" (1943).
The producers of I Love Lucy, the Arnazes and the writing staff all consulted with three religious authorities at the time before airing the Lucy Is Enceinte episode; to make sure none of the material was objectionable. The religious authorities were a catholic priest, a rabbi and a reverend. Ironically, the religious consultants were less puritanical than the CBS censors were. The religious men had no problem with Lucy saying she was "pregnant"; but the censors made her say she was "expecting!" The episode title was even in French to avoid further controversy.
CBS cut approximately four minutes out of each episode (to allow for more commercials) when they prepared the 16mm television syndication prints. Much of this was accomplished by simply cutting footage from the beginning and end of scenes.
All three sponsors of I Love Lucy (1951), were Philip Morris Cigarettes, Procter & Gamble's Cheer Detergent and Lilt Home Permanent.
References to the series' original sponsor, Philip Morris, can be seen in some episodes. Especially the scene in I Love Lucy: Lucy Does a TV Commercial (1952) in which Lucy dressed up as Johnny the Bellhop, the Philip Morris icon.
The Mertzes, Fred (William Frawley) and Ethel (Vivian Vance) were absent from only a few episodes, all in Season 1 (1951-1952). Neither Fred nor Ethel appeared in I Love Lucy: Pilot (1951), I Love Lucy: Lucy Plays Cupid (1952) and I Love Lucy: The Young Fans (1952). Ethel appeared without Fred in I Love Lucy: The Quiz Show (1951) and I Love Lucy: Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer (1951). Fred appeared without Ethel in I Love Lucy: The Audition (1951) and I Love Lucy: Lucy Does a TV Commercial (1952).
Three of the four leads on this show would follow up this sitcom with another starring role on another top ten network sitcom. Lucy and Viv would famously go on to star in the successful sequel series to this; The Lucy Show. And William Frawley would go on to star as Uncle Bub in My Three Sons; another sitcom hit from the early 60s. The only one who did not go on to further sitcom stardom was Desi Arnaz; although his son and daughter would star in CBS's follow up to the Lucy Show; 1968's Here's Lucy; co starring daughter Lucie Arnaz and son Desi Arnaz Junior.
In 1951 CBS offered Lucille Ball a contract to transition her successful four year radio comedy program "My Favorite Husband" , into a weekly TV program, which was later renamed "I Love Lucy". She accepted on the condition that her real life husband (and real life band leader), Desi Arnaz, play her husband on the show. CBS strongly resisted the idea of using a Cuban immigrant on the show, fearing he would never be accepted by American audiences. However, Ball refused to do the show without him and the network eventually relented.
My Little Margie (1952) was I Love Lucy (1951)s "summer replacement" on CBS during 1952, because the reruns were not yet invented.
Lucille Ball, though perfectly trained in song-and-dance vehicles, had made a name for herself in the movies and on television, but never in a Broadway musical. Wildcat, written by N. Richard Nash, with a score by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, aimed to correct this oversight. The story of a would-be oil prospector, Wildcat Jackson, who hopes to find a gusher in 1912 Centavo City in order to provide for her sister, Wildcat struck gold when it opened to rave reviews on December 16, 1960 at the Alvin Theatre with Keith Andes, a popular television star, and Paula Stewart also in the cast. However, it closed unexpectedly after playing 172 performances when Ball, struck by a virus and debilitated by exhaustion, had to withdraw from it. It yielded one major song, "Hey, Look Me Over," which then Vice-President Lyndon Johnson used during his presidential campaign. First LP release: December 29, 1960.
It is often said to be the first television show to have the Three Camera System using film. But other television shows did beforehand such as Jackie Gleason's "The Life of Riley" (1949) which also was shot with the Three Camera System using film.
The final episode of the series, " The Ricardos dedicate a statue", was aired on May 6th 1957. The episode does not contain any sort of conclusion or wrap-up to the series as it wasn't known at the time of filming that it would be the last. CBS made the decision to end half-hour episodes and transition the series into the "Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" which lasted thirteen episodes and was a completely different venture from I Love Lucy.
[2020] Not surprisingly, the three boys who portrayed "Little Ricky" are the only surviving regular cast members.
Little Ricky's dog, Fred, introduced in the sixth season, was a Cairn Terrier, the same breed as Toto in The Wizard of Oz.
On Tuesday, August 11th, 2009, the US Postal Service issued a pane of twenty 44¢ commemorative postage stamps honoring early USA television programs. A booklet with 20 picture postal cards was also issued. The stamp honoring "I Love Lucy" pictured stars Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance in a scene from I Love Lucy: Job Switching (1952), in which Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz work at a conveyor belt in a chocolate-candy factory. Other TV shows honored in the Early Television Memories issue were: The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), The Dinah Shore Show (1951), Dragnet (1951), "The Ed Sullivan Show" (originally titled Toast of the Town (1948)), The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950), Hopalong Cassidy (1952), The Honeymooners (1955), "The Howdy Doody Show" (original title: Puppet Playhouse (1947)), Kukla, Fran and Ollie (1947), Lassie (1954), The Lone Ranger (1949), Perry Mason (1957), The Phil Silvers Show (1955), The Red Skelton Show (1951), "Texaco Star Theater" (titled Texaco Star Theatre Starring Milton Berle (1948), 1954-1956), The Tonight Show (which began as Tonight! (1953)), The Twilight Zone (1959), and You Bet Your Life (1950).
Quinn Martin, a film editor who later became an executive producer of the series "The Untouchables" for Desilu Productions, married one of Lucy's writers, Madelyn Pugh Davis.
Several of the show's celebrity guest stars passed away tragically in real-life: George Reeves aka Superman was either murdered or committed suicide in 1959; Charles Boyer committed suicide in 1978; William Holden died in a tragic fall while intoxicated in 1981 and Rock Hudson was one of the first celebrity casualties of the AIDS virus at the young age of 59 in 1985.
Three days after I Love Lucy premiered, in October of 1951, her sword and sorcery fantasy adventure epic Magic Carpet, co-starring Raymond Burr, and where she plays a mysterious middle Eastern princess, Princess Narah; (not unlike the "Maharincess of Franistan" Lucy pretended to be in The "Publicity Agent" episode on I Love Lucy, although that part was played for laughs and this was dead serious), premiered. Obviously I Love Lucy and Perry Mason had a much bigger impact than this long forgotten Sword and Sandals epic.
Lucille Ball co-starred with Tallulah Bankhead in the "Celebrity Next Door" episode of the Lucy/Desi Comedy Hour, as well as with Vincent Price in the "Lucy Cuts Vincent Price" episode of Here's Lucy, as well as with Ida Lupino in "Lucy's Summer Vacation" episode of the Lucy Desi Comedy Hour; as well as with Ethyl Merman on the Lucy Show's "Lucy Teaches Ethyl Merman to Sing." All of these actors were also villains on Batman (1966) as well.
Bea Benaderet was Lucille Ball's first choice to portray Ethel but Bea couldn't get out of an existing contract to take the role.
After I Love Lucy became a runaway success, several sitcoms soon followed that also had a three word title naming a female lead character. Among them were I Married Joan, My Little Margie, Our Miss Brooks, Life with Elizabeth, Heaven for Betsy, It's Always Jan, and Love That Jill.
Believe it or not, the original inspiration for this show was a book, Mr. And Mrs. Cugat, by Iris Rorick, which followed the misadventures of scheming suburban housewife Liz Cugat and her banker husband. This was eventually re-worked into a movie Are Husbands Necessary in 1942; and eventually into a 1948 radio show starring Lucille Ball and Richard Denning; which eventually was adapted into the legendary 1951 sitcom I Love Lucy. It's hard to think of I Love Lucy as being an adaptation of a book; but indeed it was! Be that as it may, all everyone remembers these days is I Love Lucy; and everything else pretty much faded into oblivion; including the source material.
