Lucy Still Makes Me Laugh - Wiser Now Wednesday

The Quirky Quote
I’m not funny. What I am is brave. ~ Lucille Ball

The Quirky Observations

Lucille Ball was a brave risk-taker – willing to do risky things for a potential laugh, and also risking failure. Being silly is always a risk, because the outcome we intend – bringing joy to our audience – may not be what happens. There were hundreds of laughable moments in the “I Love Lucy” show’s six-year run, as shown here when the unexpected (and impossible) 8-foot loaf of rye bread pops out of the oven. There were also many iconic whole scenes in which she succeeded spectacularly.

Here are a few of them:

The Candy Factory – This was one of the many in which she and Vivian Vance, playing her neighbor Ethel Mertz, got into trouble together. This one even became a US postage stamp.
The Vitameatavegamin Commercial
The Mirror with Harpo Marx
One I had not seen before, but which generated a laugh so prolonged it had to be cut in editing, featured Lucy, having hidden dozens of fresh eggs under her shirt, being forced into rehearsing the tango with Ricky with the inevitable result that the eggs were slimily crushed.

On the other hand, the famous grape stomping scene, was a true risk that endangered Lucy’s life. The woman who plays her stomping mate spoke almost no English and didn’t understand their fight was supposed to be funny, not real. At one point she held Lucy’s head under the grape solution and nearly drowned her, so most of the scene had to be edited out. You get a sense of the lightheartedness in the first part here, and a sense of how serious it turned here.

There were also a few genuinely tender moments that had cast and crew tearing up, such as when Lucy finally gets to tell Ricky that she is expecting their baby. (It was a bit of serendipity that because the show was filmed before a live audience and then aired on Monday nights, Lucille Ball was able to schedule her C-section for the same day she gave birth to her TV baby.)

The Quirky Facts

Lucille Ball was the star of a radio show called “My Favorite Husband,” when she was offered a chance to adapt it for TV. She insisted on playing opposite her real husband – another show of bravery because initially the CBS network executives didn’t believe the public would accept a woman married to a “foreigner” with an accent, even though she had been married to Cuban Desi Arnaz for a decade. (Perhaps we’ve made some progress as a nation since then.) She also insisted that she would be the only one to make fun of his accent because it seemed mean-spirited from anyone else. There is one scene that points out the inscrutable rules of English as Lucy has Ricky practice his bedtime story-reading skills on her before reading to Little Ricky. As I’ve pointed out before, “ough” is unpredictable.

“I Love Lucy” was filmed in front of a live studio audience of 300 people that always included Lucy’s real-life mother, Dede Ball. If you listen closely, you will often hear her say “Uh-oh” as her daughter is about to step into a precarious situation. Both she and Desi Arnaz had distinctive laughs which can be heard in the background, not only on “I Love Lucy” but on other TV shows as well, because the sound engineer Glen Glenn became one of the leading providers of laugh tracks to later TV sitcoms that were filmed without a live audience. He used his preserved audio track from the “I Love Lucy” shows as the basis for others. (Even the few scenes which logistically could not be filmed in front of a live audience were subsequently scr

eened by a live audience.)

Another clue that something messy is about to happen: Lucy appears without her signature fake eyelashes.

It is common knowledge that Fred and Ethel Mertz, played by William Frawley and Vivian Vance, disliked each other intensely. Desi Arnaz was only 33 when filming began for the show. Lucy was 40 and Vivian was 42, and while Vivian and Lucy were genuine friends, perhaps Vivian was hoping to be cast with a younger husband, too. Instead, she got the curmudgeonly 64-year old William Frawley whom she called an “old poop.” He played the role well.

The Shameless Request

Now that WNW is an award-winning publication, we think even more people will be interested in it. Please share it, and if you represent an organization that would like a customized version, send me a note at Kathy@WiserNow.com.

The Questions

Have you seen the “I Love Lucy” show either when it originally aired or in reruns or on YouTube? Do you/did you find it funny? Do you have any favorite episodes?
Women’s roles and the relationships between husbands and wives have changed over the years. Does that make the show less funny? Why or why not?
Are there any contemporary female comics or performers you admire today? Who and why?

The Featured Product
“The Funny Side of Nostalgia TV” pdf slide show is certain to conjure happy memories of TV shows mostly from the 1950s and 60s. It features trivia quizzes and discussions about early situation comedies and their stars including Happy Days, Get Smart, Burns and Allen, Hollywood Squares, Candid Camera and Johnny Carson, plus TV pilots that didn’t fly. Smiles guaranteed. Order it now!

The Quiz

Here are a few more fun facts about ”I Love Lucy,” only some of which are true. (You can learn a lot more by looking up both the answers and the resources.)

1. The show was filmed in Hollywood rather than New York, which was unusual for a TV show at the time, because the U.S. wasn’t wired for television from coast-to-coast, meaning shows broadcast live could only be transmitted so far. Copies of the live shows were preserved on kinescopes, which were of inferior quality. A more expensive high quality option was to film the show using three cameras simultaneously, so Desi and Lucy eventually agreed to pay the cost themselves.
True ___ False ___

2. Because their first (and at that time only) sponsor was Phillip Morris, the actors were required to smoke on camera.

True ___ False ___

3. Creating a stage set, using a live audience and three-camera filming was complicated, but Desi Arnaz knew Lucy performed best in front of a live audience.

True ___ False ___

4. One of Desi Arnaz’s vanities was needing to always be taller than his wife. In reality, he was only 2-inches taller than Lucy’s 5’7”, so she is rarely seen in high heels.

True ___ False ___

5. TV censorship was a big deal in the 1950s, and the word ”expecting” was used in place of ”pregnant,” which was considered vulgar by the members of the clergy consulted for the show.

True ___ False ___

6. It was part of Vivian Vance’s contract that she would always be 10 pounds heavier than Lucille Ball.

True ___ False ___

The Resources

Answer to the Quiz
2, and 3 are true.

1. False. The executives only agreed to pay the added expense when their stars offered to take a big pay cut under the condition that they (Lucy and Desi) would retain ownership of the films. That negotiation made them millionaires as Desilu Studios went on to invent the concept of the “rerun” and use profits from the ”I Love Lucy” show syndication to fund the growth of the studio.

4. False. Lucille Ball wore heels, and her husband had 4-inch lifts in his shows. The love seat on which they frequently sat in the early days also had a subtle added cushion so Ricky would be taller than Lucy when seated next to her.

5. False. Lucy was the first pregnant woman to appear on a TV sitcom, so CBS executives were especially worried about causing offense. They are the ones who set the standard. A priest, minister, and rabbi sat were part of the live audience throughout Lucille Ball’s pregnancy, but they were not known to object to anything filmed or said.

6. Maybe true. Vivain Vance said it was, but we have no other verification. It is true that she was usually portrayed as less vivacious, less glamorous and more frumpy than her madcap partner, but it’s worth giving her a closer look in reruns.