Trivia / I Love Lucy

• Banned Episode: For a period of time in the 1960s, networks stopped airing the final season episode "The Ricardos Visit Cuba", due to the then-strained relationship between the U.S. and Cuban governments.
• Beam Me Up, Scotty!:
  • Though Ricky entered at least one scene with "Lucy, I'm home!", it wasn't in the memetically-overblown "LU-CYYYY, I'M HO-OOOME!" manner people are fond of affecting when doing an imitation of him.
  • "Lucy...you got some splanin' to do!" was created by parodies long after the end of the show, although Ricky does say "splain" in several episodes (eg, "Lucy! Splain!" from "Charm School").
• California Doubling: The show is set in the Big Applesauce, but it was filmed in Hollywood. However, almost everything on the show takes place on a soundstage before a Studio Audience, including exteriors (noticeable with wrinkled, canvas flats for scenery), so it's easily overlooked and forgiven. However, certain California specifics did influence parts of the set design. For instance, the back porch linking to the Ricardo and Mertz kitchen doors, while common in California apartment buildings, would never be found in New York City.
• The Cast Show Off: All of them to some extent, as Desi Arnaz's singing and his band featured heavily as the Tropicana/Club Babalu house band, while Vivian Vance and William Frawley's extensive backgrounds in vaudeville played into The Mertz sharing a similar history. Lucille Ball, aside from the obvious showcases of her impressions and physical comedy chops, often got to show off her honed talents as a dancer, having had a long history as a former showgirl.
• Corpsing: An occupational hazard of working with Lucille Ball, with Arnaz probably being the most frequent victim. Just look at him in the Vitameatavegamin scene. ^note  Although it isn’t technically corroding, Desi’s distinctive laugh can occasionally be heard offscreen, even in scenes he isn’t in.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Vivian Vance greatly disliked the Ethel Mertz character, who was the antithesis of what she aspired to be in real life. Though she appreciated that Desi Arnaz thought her a talented enough actress to bring Ethel to life, Vance later said that Ethel was made up of bits and pieces of many women she'd known, but none of whom she admired.
  • William Frawley was not all that fond of "Lucy's Show-Biz Swan Song." He so loved the song "Sweet Adeline," that it angered him to hear it getting so humorously mangled by Lucy's bad singing in the episode's plot.
  • In later years, Lucille Ball admitted that she wasn't especially fond of the series' early episodes, feeling they were too silly. She felt the show improved with each passing year.
  • "Lucy is Envious" was Jess Oppenheimer's least favorite episode, as he felt it was unrealistic for Lucy and Ethel to scale the Empire State Building no matter how much money was at stake.
  • Desi Arnaz and his band were not fond of "Lucy's Club Dance," due to the final sight gag of the band in drag, posing as Ricky's "all-girl" orchestra.
  • Lucille Ball did not like the Christmas episode, finding it "eerie and spooky."
  • Writer Bob Schiller was quite disappointed that "The Ricardos Dedicate a Statue" ended up being the last of the half-hour episodes, as he did not feel it was their best work.^note Season six wasn't originally planned to be the final season, but Desi's ever increasing workload as Desilu president ultimately meant he no longer had time to play Ricky each and every week, hence the transition to the sporadic hour shows.
• Creator Couple: Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz really were married for the entire length of the series, though their marriage was failing towards the end and they ultimately divorced in 1960. Had the marriage continued, the show would've as well.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: Though not her favorite overall episodes, the putty nose gag from "L.A. At Last" was Lucille Ball's favorite comedy routine to perform, while she felt the Vitametavegamin bit from "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" was her best routine. Likewise, her favorite moment from the show on pure emotion was Lucy revealing her pregnancy to Ricky, mainly for the fact that both she and Desi got so caught up in the moment that the happy tears the two of them shared in the scene were genuine.
• The Danza:
  • Lucille Ball as Lucy Ricardo. She did the exact same thing in her two later shows, despite being different characters. She also always gave her character a last name containing "ar" as a tribute to Desi Arnaz: Ricardo (I Love Lucy), Carmichael (The Lucy Show), Carter (Here's Lucy), and Barker (Life With Lucy). According to Lucy herself, though, she did the "ar" combo on the advice of Carole Lombard, who said the double 'ar' combination in her own name brought good luck. Lucy kept up the tradition after Lombard died as a tribute to her.
  • Vivian Vance (who played Ethel) grew tired of fans calling her by that name on the street. When she appeared on Ball's subsequent shows, she stipulated that her character be named Vivian (usually called Viv).
  • Cousin Ernie, played by Tennessee Ernie Ford.
  • Richard Keith as Little Ricky (this was an Enforced Trope, as Richard Keith was deliberately chosen for Keith Thibodeaux's stage name so that he could always be referred to as "Little Ricky").
• Dawson Casting: Lucy Ricardo was around 9 years younger than Lucille Ball, as evidenced by her stating her true age as 33 in “Lucy Tells the Truth” - Ball was actually 42 at the time.
• Edited for Syndication: As was common practice at the time, numerous episodes were edited for rebroadcast, and many of these cuts were made directly to the original 35mm negatives (for early episodes, these edits usually removed some of the more blatant sponsor plugs). Fortunately, most of the cut footage has survived through 16mm backup and original broadcast prints. Not only has this footage been presented as supplements on the DVD sets, some of it has even been remastered and reinserted directly into the episodes.
• Funny Character, Boring Actor:
  • While Lucille Ball is known as one of the funniest women on television, she actually didn't think she was that good at improvisation, and would often rehearse a scene endlessly until she thought she had it just right.
  • Contrasted with Desi, who was not a professional comedian but was naturally funny and had a knack for improvisation.
• He Also Did: Keith Thibodeaux, who played Little Ricky in the later episodes, would later become a drummer for the Christian Rock group David and the Giants.
• Hide Your Pregnancy:
  • Lucille Ball was around five months pregnant with Lucie Arnaz when she shot the pilot, resulting in vastly oversized costumes. As the pilot was not created for television broadcast, the issue hardly mattered, although it did necessitate some reworking of her professor routine, as she was in no condition to be flopping around on her belly at the time.
  • The Moral Guardians wanted her to do this with her second pregnancy, as pregnancy was a taboo subject in media at the time, but she and the creative team famously refused, and the episode where Lucy gave birth wound up setting a new Nielson record. Since the word 'pregnant' could not be used on TV at the time, the show coined (or at least popularized) the term 'expecting'. Also slightly zig-zagged because Ball started showing before Lucy Ricardo learned she was pregnant, leading to baggier clothing before the reveal. As well, several flashback episodes set before Lucy learned of the pregnancy show her in obvious maternity wear.
  • In a more subtle example, Janet Waldo was in the early stages of pregnancy when she played teenaged Peggy Dawson in “The Young Fans” episode. However, the costumer still made an effort to ensure Waldo’s outfits concealed any signs of her condition.
• Hostility on the Set:
  • Vivian Vance and William Frawley, who played Ethel and Fred Mertz. The contempt grew to such extremes that Vance would often memorize her scripts just to see how much screen time she had with Frawley. Despite the hostilities, both were said to be professionals on the set and were noted for their amazing chemistry with each other on screen, to the point that when it first came out, fans of the show could not believe it. However, part of why they worked on screen together was in part because the pair played an embodiment of Like an Old Married Couple. (If rumors are true, when Vance was informed of Frawley's death while dining at a restaurant, she ordered a round of drinks for everyone. Damn.)
  • There was also friction between Vivian Vance and Lucille Ball early in the show's run, as Desi Arnaz and Marc Daniels cast Vance without consulting Ball. Ball was initially expecting someone far less glamorous and pretty to play the role of "dumpy landlady" Ethel, and gave Vance a hard time early on. Ultimately, Vance's talent as an actress and a "script doctor" won Ball over, and her loyalty became so fierce that she insisted Vance join her on The Lucy Show in 1962. The two remained lifelong friends, with Lucy being one of the last people to speak with her, visiting when Vivian was on her death bed.
  • Likewise, as the marriage between the two deteriorated, so did the working relationship between Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. By the final episodes the two wouldn't even speak to one another, having to communicate through producers and crew members. According to Lucille Ball, however, their personal relationship did improve some time after the show ended, as co-parents and friends, and Desi would always send her favorite flowers to her during major events in her life.
  • Jerry Hausner, who played Ricky’s agent, ended up on the receiving end of an explosive tirade by Desi Arnaz, in front of the crew and audience, for missing his cue during a phone call scene. Hausner was so humiliated and angry that he refused to ever appear on the show again. He did make guest appearances as different characters on the subsequent two Lucy series in the 1960's however.
  • Lucille Ball intensely disliked Phil Ober, who was married to Vivian Vance and made several guest appearances, because of the way he treated his wife.
• Missing Episode:
  • The Christmas episode was not included in syndication packages in order to prevent the episode from airing out of season, and also because of a supposed lack of interest in Clip Shows. From 1990-1994, CBS had a yearly tradition of airing the episode in color as a special, which they revived in 2013 with improved colorization.
  • The Pilot was not intended for public broadcast, but it might also qualify. After CBS approved the show, Lucy and Desi gave a kinescope of the pilot to their friend Pepito Perez, who guest-starred. Since no one saw it afterward except for Pepito, his wife and their friends, archivists spent decades assuming it had been lost to time. Pepito's widow finally brought it out of hiding in 1990. It took over 20 more years for CBS to find the original 35mm negative for the pilot. Almost the entire plot was reused for an early episode, with Pepito replaced by a considerably less creepy clown.
  • While the whole series was released on DVD and Paramount+, not every episode is available on other streaming services and iTunes, which is a shame because some of the missing episodes are true classics like "Home Movies", "Lucy Hires an English Tutor", "The Handcuffs", "Men Are Messy", "The Freezer", "Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress", "Ricky Loses His Temper", "Lucy Does the Tango", the list goes on.
• Money, Dear Boy: Desi Arnaz wasn't very interested in playing second fiddle to his wife^note the series was partly conceived as a way for Lucille Ball to keep tabs on him out of fear that he was having affairs on tour, but became much more enthusiastic when he realized how lucrative the series could be and made sure he and Lucy had an ownership stake so they could reap the profits. Studio execs, on their part, weren't sure how successful the series would be^note among other things, the series starred a mixed-ethnicity couple and Desi and Lucy insisted on shooting on film in Los Angeles instead of shooting live in New York for East Coast broadcasts and using kinescopes for West Coast broadcasts (adding greatly to the costs) and were happy to share the financial risk.
• Pop-Culture Urban Legends: For years, it was reported that both Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr., appeared in the crowd scene at the end of “The Ricardos Dedicate a Statue.” Lucie Arnaz later confirmed that while Desi Jr. does appear, the little girl standing next to him is NOT her (though even she believed the story for years, as syndication reruns tended to remove that shot).
• Refitted for Sequel: Pepito the clown and his respective act were featured in the pilot episode as the performance Lucy replaced as "the Professor" clown character, with Pepito being injured and Lucy taking his place. When the pilot was adapted into the produced show as the episode "The Audition", the real clown Pepito was replaced with a character named Buffo who had much less screentime, serving more as a pure plot device than a guest star. Pepito's appearance from the unaired pilot would be re-performed with added new material, all unrelated to the episode's plot and purely as a guest feature, in the Season 2 episode "Lucy's Show Biz Swan Song".^note Pepito’s appearance in “Swan Song” came about because the rough cut ran short. His scene was shot around a month later during production of “Lucy Becomes a Sculptress.”
• Re Run: As mentioned, the show's creators invented this trope.
  • And made a damn fortune off it. CBS didn't know how much money could be made off of the reruns, and so they gave all the rights to Lucy and Desi. Enough for them to run their own major studio empire and be the executives in charge of shows like Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible, The Untouchables, and Star Trek: The Original Series. Lucille and Desi's family still makes royalties off the show, and considering it's never been out of syndication, well...
  • Lucy has been quoted to say "We figured we couldn't lose. We'd either make money off the deal, or at least we'd have the best set of home movies in the world."
  • Brought up at one of the various award shows she appeared in as a presenter. Bob Hope jokes that the show probably airs in Heaven. She quips "Well if they are, they're not paying for them!"
• The Other Darrin:
  • In most of his appearances, Ricky’s agent, Jerry, was played by Jerry Hausner. However, Hausner was not available for “The Handcuffs”, so Paul Dubov filled in for this one instance.
  • Marion Strong was first portrayed by Margie Liszt in the season 2 episode "The Club Election." Shirley Mitchell took over the role for three episodes the following season, most notably "Lucy Tells the Truth."
  • Charlie Appleby, Carolyn’s husband, was first played by Hy Averback in season 3's "Baby Pictures," then by George O'Hanlon for season 6's "Lucy & Superman."^note In the audio commentary for “Lucy and Superman,” Doris Singleton remembered Averback but had completely forgotten O’Hanlon replaced him.
  • Grace Munson was initially played by Hazel Pierce in "The Club Election," then by Ruth Brady in the final season.
• Throw It In!:
  • The 1952 episode "Cuban Pals" features Ricky attempting to translate Lucy's questions for his Cuban friends. Desi Arnaz mistakenly translates one question in English, resulting in him doubling over in laughter.
  • Another is the scene in Hollywood when Lucy's putty nose catches on fire and she dunks it in her coffee cup to extinguish it. The script had called for her to remove the nose and dunk it; her leaving it on and lowering her face into the coffee was an ad-lib. It's notable because Lucille Ball was a very strict perfectionist who rehearsed scenes tirelessly, and that was one of the few times where a Throw It In! moment wasn't thrown out. It probably didn't hurt that, reportedly, Lucy was very concerned about the safety of a lit wick so close to her face, and figured she better not push her luck with a second take.
  • In "Job Switching," producers brought in a real-life candy maker for the scene where Lucy tries her hand at chocolate dipping. When Lucy swats at a fly and ends up slapping the candy maker on the cheek, the woman, without saying a word, rears back and wallops her in the face—hard. The reaction slap isn't a scripted moment, and the two start flinging chocolate back and forth at each other to wrap up the scene (reportedly, the candy maker genuinely hurt Ball's nose, and she was too nervous to do another take).
• Wag the Director: Vivian Vance was never fond of Ethel’s frumpy outfits and overall dowdy appearance in earlier seasons. After the show became a genuine bona fide hit and her character an irreplaceable part of its success, she successfully lobbied for a more flattering wardrobe and hairstyles in the final seasons. Viewers can easily spot how much more glamorous Ethel looks later in the show’s run, especially during episodes set in Europe.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Before the writers settled on Mertz, many options were bandied about for Fred and Ethel’s surname. One candidate was Throttlebottom, which was deemed too silly.
  • Teitelbaum was considered for Lucy’s maiden name but was eventually declared too Jewish for the era. They opted for McGillicuddy instead.
  • The address of the Mertz apartment building was originally 323 West 54th Street, but was changed to 623 East 68th Street.
  • "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" was originally written to feature Ethel but not Fred; this was later swapped. There was also an unfilmed tag scene taking place the following day, showing Lucy with a massive hangover. To help cure her symptoms, Ethel would’ve brought her a bottle of…you guessed it…Vitametavegamin! Additionally, the Vitametavegamin tonic initially contained 11 percent alcohol before it was bumped up to 23 percent.
  • In 1953, three first season episodes were strung together to create I Love Lucy: The Movie, which wound up never being released theatrically to avoid competing with The Long, Long Trailer. Had the film seen a proper release, the static opening titles would’ve been replaced by a fully animated sequence.
  • “Ricky’s Life Story” was produced for the second season, and was supposed to air on June 15th, 1953 (between “The Camping Trip” and “Ricky and Fred Are TV Fans”). However, it was preempted by “The Ford 50th Anniversary Show” and was held back for the third season premiere.
  • Desi Arnaz demanded that the second act of the episode "Lucy Tells The Truth" be rewritten. The plot involves Ricky, Fred and Ethel betting Lucy that she could not tell the truth for 24 hours. The original second act involved an IRS agent coming to the apartment to audit Ricky, and Lucy being forced to tell him about Ricky cheating on his taxes. Desi balked at the idea of Ricky cheating on his taxes, and a new second act was written. (Funnily enough, the rewritten ending resulted in one of the most famous and recognisable publicity stills the show ever produced: an alarmed looking Lucy surrounded by knives.)
  • "Lucy Goes to Scotland" would have aired in full color, if not for CBS's inability to afford color film. The episode was later colorized in 2007, as a bonus feature for a complete series DVD set of I Love Lucy and the The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.
  • After the Hollywood Arc was over, Desi suggested a Spin-Off taking place in their Hollywood hotel with Bobby the Bellboy as the main character as he deals with guests (he'd be given a female costar to play his girlfriend and get him involved in hijinx a la Lucy), but nothing came of it. With this in mind, the episodes featuring Bobby could be considered a Poorly Disguised Pilot.
  • Toward the end of the run, Desi Arnaz asked William Frawley and Vivian Vance if they would like their own Spin-Off show after I Love Lucy's cancellation. Frawley readily agreed, sensing a very financially lucrative opportunity. Vance declined, however, in large part because of the hatred she and Frawley had for each other both on and off the set. Given that this quite surely would have been a big payday and time in the limelight for both, it had to have contributed to their already immense behind-the-camera animosity.
  • Lucille Ball originally wanted the roles of Fred and Ethel to be played by longtime friends and comic foils Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet. However, Gordon's salary demands were too high for the first season's limited budget (most reports erroneously claim he was unavailable because of his commitment to Our Miss Brooks), while Benaderet was already committed to play Nosy Neighbor Blanche Morton on The Burns and Allen Show (Gordon would later act as Lucy's foil on The Lucy Show). Another longtime friend of Ball's, Barbara Pepper, who later went on to play Doris Ziffel on Green Acres, was also considered to play Ethel. Unfortunately, Pepper had at that time been drinking very heavily after her husband, Craig Reynolds, passed away in a tragic motorcycle accident. After Frawley, whose fondness for the bottle was legendary, was cast as Fred, Desi Arnaz felt he couldn't take the chance of having the responsibility of keeping two people in line.
  • Mary Wickes was also considered for the part of Ethel but reportedly turned it down of her own accord, due to her fear that working with Lucille Ball every week would negatively affect their established friendship.
  • Per at least one report, plans were originally made for I Love Lucy to be filmed in color, only for that plan to be dropped due to the fact that the film would have been too expensive (as it was, the series used 35mm film during an era when most shows during the early days of television were shot live and if recorded at all, were done on kinescope).
  • MGM President Dore Schary was originally meant to appear as himself in “Don Juan is Shelved,” but had to withdraw at the last minute. Phil Ober (Vivian Vance’s then-husband) played the role instead. Schary commented that Ober would do a better job playing himself than he would’ve.
• You Look Familiar:
  • Elizabeth Patterson first played Mother Willoughby in "The Marriage License," then returned during the second season to play babysitter Mrs. Trumbull.
  • Charles Lane also had multiple appearances, usually as a different clerk at a government office or business each time. He played an excellent hard-nosed bureaucrat, and appeared in "Lucy Goes to the Hospital" as an expectant father.
  • Mary Jane Croft played Cynthia Harcourt in "Lucy Is Envious" and Evelyn Bigsby in "Return Home from Europe" before becoming a semi-regular as Connecticut neighbor Betty Ramsey in season 6.
  • Frank Nelson played eight different characters, including radio host Freddy Filmore and Connecticut neighbor Ralph Ramsey. He was the "Yyyyyyyyyessssss?" guy.
  • Ball's close friend Barbara Pepper appeared in eight episodes, each time as a different character.
  • Bobby Jellison, who played the Ricardo's milkman in one New York episode, returned to play Bobby the Bellboy in the Hollywood episodes.
  • Lucy fails to notice that the man she hired to teach the foursome proper English looks exactly like the guy she sold her furniture to a few months earlier.
  • Character Actor Jay Novello played a superstitious boss of Ricky, a timid man who witnessed a murder and is subleasing the Ricardo's apartment, and Mario, a gondolier driver the foursome meet in Italy.
  • Does the telephone operator in “New Neighbors” sound familiar? That’s because Lucille Ball provided the voice herself! (That particular scene was shot at the last minute when the episode ran short, so Desilu didn’t bother hiring anyone else.)

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