There are many diehard fans of the ’’I Love Lucy’’ show, and I am one of them! This show is a classic that can be watched over and over again and continues to bring laughter.
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz met in Hollywood when making ’’Too Many Girls’’ in 1940. Ball had come to Hollywood from New York in search of an acting career. Arnaz, having escaped from homeland Cuba during the Cuban Revolution in 1933, was a sometime band leader, sometime actor. They fell in love and married in November of 1940 and continued pursuing their own careers for the next decade.
In 1950 they produced a radio program entitled ’’My Favorite Husband’’ before setting to work on a television comedy show mirroring their real lives together called ’’I Love Lucy’’ which premiered on October 15, 1951. Lucille Ball and husband Desi Arnaz played Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. The misnomer Larry Lopez was going to be used until they came up with the name Ricky Ricardo.
The history making Desilu series followed the escapades of the lovable redhead, her band leader husband and their neighbors and chums, the Mertzes, played by Vivian Vance and William Frawley. His career in decline at the age 64, Frawley was guaranteed a place in Hollywood infamy when he was hired to play Fred Mertz. Vivian Vance was signed to the role of Ethel Mertz at the age of 42.
I am going to describe two episodes of the vintage television show to give you all an idea of what to expect. ’’The Kleptomaniac’’ is episode 27 and first aired on April 14, 1952. Lucy, going against Ricky’s orders, wants to take part in a charity bazaar and decides to volunteer to keep items in her apartment until the day of the sale. She has promised Ricky that she won’t get involved with the bazaar and he thinks the issue is settled.
Then he starts to find mysterious items like silverware, furniture, and money hidden around the apartment. He recognizes some of the furniture pieces as possessions belonging to their various friends. Ricky jumps to the conclusion that Lucy has fallen victim to kleptomania and can’t control her urge to pilfur. When Lucy is brought face to face with proof of her apparent misconduct, she must decide whether to confess to Ricky that she has gone against his wishes or involve herself in a ruse to keep the truth from her husband by pretending to indeed by a kleptomaniac. Hilarity ensues as Lucy and Ethel become partners in crime. This ranks up there as one of my many favorite episodes.
One of my other very favorite episdoes is ’’Lucy Tells the Truth’’ which aired originally on November 9, 1953. ’’Lucy Tells the Truth’’ is actually based on a similar episode of ’’My Favorite Husband’’ entitled ’’Absolute Truth’’ and aired via radio in 1949. The show starts in the Ricardo living room, where are gathered Ricky and the Mertzes overhearing Lucy on the phone claiming she once starred in a stage production of ’’Oklahoma’’ which is false. Ricky tells Lucy she has not been in Oklahoma, and Lucy says that she was in Tulsa once. Ricky, Ethel and Fred then bet the habitual fibbing Lucy $100. that she cannot go one whole day without lying to anyone about anything.
Wanting that hundred bucks Lucy cheerily accepts. She thinks she’s on easy street and just decides to stay home and not speak to anyone for 24 hours so she won’t be tempted to lie and thus lose the bet. But Ethel reminds her that they’ve promised to go to Carolyn Appleby’s house for a bridge game and Lucy looks ill. This has got to be my favorite episode of all. The premise is great. It shows us how much fibbing is actually a very common part of the way we often deal with other people without even thinking twice about it. Mostly they’re of the little white lie variety which keep squabbles to a minimum in our everyday social interactions.
My favorite scene is at friend Carolyn’s house where Lucy and Ethel go to play bridge. First, Carolyn has redecorated her apartment and wants Lucy’s honest opinion. She natural instinct is to tell her how much she just loves Carolyn’s taste in furniture, but not wanting to lose the bet, she blurts out that it’s the worst decorating job she’s ever seen and goes on to make some more derogatory comments about it. It gets funnier from that point on, when Lucy is cajoled into giving her true age, weight, and natural hair color. Lucille Ball is without question one of the great, if not the great, comedians of all time. Her facial expressions and line deliveries are perfect.
In its first run on CBS the show was on the air from 1951 to 1961. ’’I Love Lucy’’ is currently airing reruns in the U.S., at the time of this writing, on cable channel Nick-at-Nite, while also airing regularly all over the world in several different languages. ’’I Love Lucy’’ is a classic entertaining show that showcases the comedic talents of the dynamic, unforgettable Lucille Ball. I love Lucy.