I Love Lucy – Television Sitcom – 1951
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom that originally ran on CBS from October 15, 1951 to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes spanning six seasons (including the ‘lost’ original pilot and Christmas episode). The show starred Lucille Ball, her real-life husband Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. It followed the life of Lucy Ricardo (Ball), a middle-class housewife in New York City, who either concocted plans with her best friends (Vance & Frawley) to appear alongside her bandleader husband Ricky Ricardo (Arnaz) in his nightclub, or tried numerous schemes to mingle with, or be a part of show business. After the series ended in 1957, a modified version continued for three more seasons with 13 one-hour specials; it 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.
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 (an accomplishment later matched only by The Andy Griffith Show in 1968 and Seinfeld in 1998). 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. A colorized version of its Christmas episode attracted more than 8 million viewers when CBS aired it in prime time in 2013, 62 years after the show premiered; CBS has aired two to three colorized episodes each year since then, once at Christmas and again in the spring.
The show, which was the first scripted television program to be shot on 35mm film in front of a studio audience, by cinematographer Karl Freund, won five Emmy Awards and received numerous nominations and honors. It was the first show ever to feature an ensemble cast. It is often regarded as 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.
Originally set in an apartment building in New York City, I Love Lucy centers on Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) and her singer/bandleader husband Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz), along with their best friends and landlords Fred Mertz (William Frawley) and Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance). During the second season, Lucy and Ricky have a son named Ricky Ricardo Jr. (“Little Ricky”), whose birth was timed to coincide with Ball’s real-life birth of her son Desi Arnaz Jr.
Lucy is naïve and ambitious, with an undeserved zeal for stardom and a knack for getting herself and her husband into trouble whenever Lucy yearns to make it in show business. The Ricardos’ best friends, Fred and Ethel, are former vaudevillians and this only strengthens Lucy’s resolve to prove herself as a performer. Unfortunately, she has few marketable performance skills. She does not seem to be able to carry a tune or play anything other than off-key renditions of songs such as “Glow Worm” on the saxophone, and many of her performances devolve into disaster. However, to say she is completely without talent would be untrue, as on occasion, she is shown to be a good dancer and a competent singer. She is also at least twice offered contracts by television or film companies—first in “The Audition” when she replaces an injured clown in Ricky’s act, and later in Hollywood when she dances for a studio benefit using a rubber Ricky dummy as her dancing partner.
The show provided Ball ample opportunity to display her considerable skill at clowning and physical comedy. Character development was not a major focus of early sitcoms, so little was offered about her life before the show. A few episodes mentioned that she was born in Jamestown, New York (Lucille Ball’s real-life home town), later corrected to West Jamestown, that she graduated from Jamestown High School, that her maiden name was “McGillicuddy” (indicating a Scottish or Irish ethnicity at least on her father’s side, though she once mentioned her grandmother was Swedish; there are sizable Irish and Swedish communities in Jamestown), and that she met Ricky on a boat cruise with her friend from an agency she once worked for. Her family was absent, other than occasional appearances by her scatter-brained mother (Kathryn Card), who could never get Ricky’s name right. Lucy also exhibited many traits that were standard for female comedians at the time, including being secretive about her age and true hair color, and being careless with money, along with being somewhat materialistic, insisting on buying new dresses and hats for every occasion and telling old friends that she and Ricky were wealthy. She was also depicted as a devoted housewife, adept cook, and attentive mother. As part of Lucy’s role was to care for her husband, she stayed at home and took care of the household chores while her husband Ricky went to work. During the post war era Lucy took jobs outside of the home but in these jobs she was portrayed as being inept outside of her usual domestic duties.
Cast
Lucille Ball as Lucille Esmeralda “Lucy” McGillicuddy Ricardo
Desi Arnaz as Enrique Alberto Fernando y de Acha “Ricky” Ricardo IIIVivian Vance as Ethel Mae Potter Mertz (alternately “Ethel Louise” and “Ethel Roberta”)William Frawley as Frederick “Fred” Hobart MertzRichard Keith as Enrique Alberto Ricardo IV (“Ricky Ricardo Jr.”)Twins Mike Mayer and Joe Mayer both played “Little Ricky” as a toddlerKathryn Card as Mrs. McGillicuddy, Lucy’s mother (also Minnie Finch in the earlier episode “Fan Magazine Interview”)
Mary Jane Croft as Lucy’s socialite school chum Cynthia Harcourt, Evelyn Bigsby (“Return Home from Europe”) and later as Connecticut neighbor Betty Ramsey
Frank Nelson as various characters and as Ralph Ramsey
Jerry Hausner as Jerry, Ricky’s agent
Doris Singleton as Carolyn Appleby (she was originally named Lillian Appleby; but after Singleton’s first appearance on the show, the producers felt that the names Lillian and Lucy sounded too similar, so her name was changed to Carolyn)
Shirley Mitchell as Marion Strong, a role originated by Margie Liszt
Elizabeth Patterson as Mrs. Matilda Trumbull (also the town mayor in the earlier episode “The Marriage License”)
Charles Lane as various characters
Barbara Pepper as various characters
Eve McVeagh as Roberta, Lucy’s hairdresser
Bob Jellison as Bobby the Bellboy (Hollywood Episodes)
Mary Wickes as Madame Le Mond, Lucy’s ballet teacher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia