I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons.[2] The show starred Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz, along with Vivian Vance and William Frawley. The series follows the life of Lucy Ricardo (Ball), a young, middle-class housewife living in New York City, who often concocts plans with her best friends and landlords, Ethel and Fred Mertz (Vance and Frawley), to appear alongside her bandleader husband, Ricky Ricardo (Arnaz), in his nightclub. Lucy is depicted trying numerous schemes to mingle with and be a part of show business. After the series ended in 1957, a modified version of the show continued for three more seasons, with 13 one-hour specials, which ran from 1957 to 1960. It was first known as The Lucille Ball–Desi Arnaz Show, and later, in reruns, as The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour.
I Love Lucy
- Eliot Daniel (music)
- Harold Adamson (lyrics)
- Eliot Daniel
- Wilbur Hatch
- Marco Rizo
United States
- English
- Spanish
6
180[a] (list of episodes)
Desi Arnaz
Desilu Studios, Los Angeles
23–26 minutes
October 15, 1951 –
May 6, 1957
I Love Lucy became the most-watched show in the United States in four of its six seasons and it was the first to end its run at the top of the Nielsen ratings.[3] As of 2011, episodes of the show have been syndicated in dozens of languages across the world and remain popular with an American audience of 40 million each year.[4][5][6] A colorized version of its Christmas episode attracted more than eight million viewers when CBS aired it in prime time in 2013, 62 years after the show premiered.[7]
The show – which was the first scripted television program to be filmed on 35 mm film in front of a studio audience, by cinematographer Karl Freund – won five Emmy Awards and received many nominations and honors. It was the first show to feature an ensemble cast.[8] As such, it is often regarded as both one of the greatest and most influential sitcoms in history. In 2012, it was voted the 'Best TV Show of All Time' in a survey conducted by ABC News and People magazine.[9] In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked it #12 on their list of the 101 Best Written TV Series.[10]
Background and development[edit]
Background[edit]
Lucille Ball came to Hollywood after a successful stint as a New York model. She was chosen by Samuel Goldwyn to be one of 16 Goldwyn Girls to co-star in the picture Roman Scandals (1933), with film star Eddie Cantor.[15] Enthusiastic and hard-working, Ball had been able to secure film work briefly at the Samuel Goldwyn Studio and Columbia Pictures and then eventually at RKO Radio Pictures. It was at RKO that Ball received steady film work, first as an extra and bit player and eventually working her way up to co-starring roles in feature films and starring roles in second rate B pictures, collectively earning her the nickname "Queen of the B's".[16] During her run at RKO, Ball gained the reputation for doing physical comedy and stunts that most other actresses avoided, keeping her steadily employed. In 1940, Ball met Desi Arnaz, a Cuban bandleader who had just come off a successful run in the 1939–40 Broadway show Too Many Girls. RKO, after purchasing film rights to the show, cast Ball as Arnaz's love interest in the picture.[17] The duo began a whirlwind courtship, leading to their elopement in Connecticut in November 1940. Despite their marriage, however, their careers kept them separated, with Ball's film work keeping her anchored in Hollywood, while Arnaz's nightclub engagements with his orchestra kept him on the road.
Despite steadily working in pictures, Ball's movie career never advanced to the level of a headlining feature-film actress. Nevertheless, she remained popular with film audiences. Ball came to the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after receiving critical acclaim for her starring role in the 1942 Damon Runyon film The Big Street, which bought out her contract.[18] It was under contract with MGM, however, that Ball, who had previously been a blonde, dyed her hair red to complement the Technicolor features that MGM planned to use her in.[19] MGM cast Ball in a variety of films, but it was her work with fellow comedian Red Skelton in the 1943 film DuBarry Was a Lady that brought Ball's physical comedy to the forefront, earning her the reputation as "that crazy redhead,” which Ricky would later call her on the show.[20] Nonetheless, Ball's striking beauty was in sharp contrast to the physical antics she performed in her films. Throughout her career, MGM tried to utilize her in multiple different film genres that did little to highlight her skills. Given their difficulties in casting her, MGM chose not to renew her contract when it expired in 1946.[21]
Ball began working as a freelance artist in films and also began to explore other venues.[21] Before and during World War II, Ball made several notable and successful guest appearances on several radio programs, including both Jack Haley's radio show and bandleader Kay Kyser's radio program.[22][23] These appearances brought Ball to the attention of CBS, which, in 1948, enlisted her to star in one of two new half-hour situation comedies in development, Our Miss Brooks and My Favorite Husband. Choosing the latter, Ball portrayed Liz Cugat (later anglicized to Cooper), the frustrated and scheming housewife of a Minneapolis banker, played originally by actor Lee Bowman in the series pilot, and later by actor Richard Denning. Based on the novel, Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, by Isabel Scott Rorick, My Favorite Husband was produced by Jess Oppenheimer and written by Oppenheimer, plus scribes Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr. Premiering on July 23, 1948, and sponsored by General Foods, Husband became a hit for CBS.[24] During the run of the radio program, Ball also appeared in two feature films with Bob Hope, Sorrowful Jones in 1949, and Fancy Pants in 1950. Both films were box office and critical successes,[25][26] further cementing Ball's reputation as a top notch, first-rate comedian. They also highlighted her growing popularity with audiences, enticing CBS to further use her skills.
In 1950, CBS asked Ball to take My Favorite Husband to television with co-star Richard Denning.[27] Ball saw a television show as a great opportunity to work with Arnaz, however, and she insisted that he play her husband, much to the dismay of CBS, which was reluctant to cast Arnaz in that role, as he was Cuban.[28] CBS executives did not think audiences would buy into a marriage between an all-American girl and a Latin man.[28] To prove CBS wrong, the couple developed a vaudeville act, written by Carroll and Pugh, that they performed at Newburgh NY's historic Ritz Theater with Arnaz's orchestra.[29] The act was a hit and convinced CBS executive Harry Ackerman that a Ball-Arnaz pairing would be a worthwhile venture. At the same time, rival networks NBC, ABC, and DuMont were showing interest in a Ball-Arnaz series, which Ackerman used to convince CBS to sign the duo.
A pilot was ordered and kinescoped in Hollywood in March 1951, which coincided with Ball's first pregnancy, and the ending of Husband, which aired its last radio show on March 31, 1951. Ball and Arnaz used the same radio team of Oppenheimer, Pugh, and Carroll to create the television series that was named I Love Lucy. The couple's agent, Don Sharpe, brought the pilot to several advertising agencies with little luck but finally succeeded with the Milton H. Biow agency. Biow's agency presented the pilot to its clients and was able to convince cigarette giant Philip Morris to sponsor the show.[30]
In other media[edit]
Radio[edit]
There was some thought about creating an I Love Lucy radio show to run in conjunction with the television series as was being done at the time with the CBS hit show Our Miss Brooks. On February 27, 1952, a sample I Love Lucy radio show was produced, but it never aired. This was a pilot episode, created by editing the soundtrack of the television episode "Breaking the Lease", with added Arnaz narration (in character as Ricky Ricardo). It included commercials for Philip Morris, which sponsored the television series. While it never aired on radio at the time in the 1950s (Philip Morris eventually sponsored a radio edition of My Little Margie instead), copies of this radio pilot episode have been circulating among "old time radio" collectors for years, and this radio pilot episode has aired in more recent decades on numerous local radio stations that air some "old time radio" programming.[73]
Merchandise[edit]
Ball and Arnaz authorized various types of I Love Lucy merchandise. Beginning in November 1952, I Love Lucy dolls, manufactured by the American Character Doll Company,[74] were sold. Adult-size I Love Lucy pajamas and a bedroom set were also produced; all of these items appeared on the show.