Happy 100th Birthday Lucille Ball!

HAPPY 100TH BIRTHDAY LUCILLE BALL!

Lucille Ball has been my role model and idol ever since I saw the “Dinner Reservations” episode on the living room floor of my Uncle Charlie and Aunt Sally’s home in Bernie, MO in 1996. When Charlie and Sally moved into a new home, they gave me their entire I Love Lucy collection on VHS. 60 tapes, 3 episodes per tape, 180 beautiful episodes of comic relief.

I watch on average three episodes per day; so I figure, since 1996, I’ve watched 16,800 episodes! And I have thoroughly enjoyed every second. I often refer to “apartment 3D” as my second home –

In many ways, America’s favorite television show has nurtured my upbringing, and saved me. Instead of watching trash, I watched I Love Lucy. Instead of following fashion fads, I wore what Lucy wore. The best part of growing up on I Love Lucy was what Lucille taught me about love, and the importance of laughter. Even though she was an icon, pushing boundaries for women all over the world during the 1950’s, she shared the experience with her husband Desi Arnaz, and the two of them became America’s most loveable sweethearts. Lucille says, “Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead.

Facts on our favorite episodes

Lucy Goes To The Hospital:

Why all the fuss? A pregnant woman had never been shown on television before. It was considered so close to the cutting edge of bad taste that they could not even use the word “pregnant”. The nation, already devoted to the show, was in a fever of anticipation by January 19, 1953, the night the episode aired. It was also the night Lucille Ball went to the hospital to have her own child by cesarean section. The episode received an unprecedented 71.7 Nielsen rating. This means that out of every ten households watching television, seven were watching I Love Lucy. 71.7 translates to 44 million people. When Dwight Eisenhower was inagurated President the next day, only 29 million people watched that…

Job Switching:

There were no known chocolate dippers in the Screen Actors Guild in 1952 and Jess Oppenheimer needed one for this episode, and badly! So he looked elsewhere, at Mrs. C’s Kitchen, in fact, and found stone-faced Amanda Milligan, who would let Lucy have it with a famous fistful in the show. Since Milligan was not a professional actress, Lucy set out to put her at ease in the alien environment of a television set. According to Oppenheimer, Lucy went up to her to have a friendly chat, “Do you ever watch the show?” she asked. “What show?” “I Love Lucy” . Milligan thought about it, but wasn’t sure, “When’s it on?” “Mondays at 9 o’clock” Then she was sure. “Oh, no,” she told Lucy. “I watch wrestling.”

L.A. At Last:

Even though Bob Hope appeared in a later episode called Lucy And Bob Hope, the booth scene with William Holden was Hope’s favorite episode. Bob Hope said, “One of the greatest gifts to mankind is laughter and one of the greatest gifts to laughter is Lucille Ball.”

Happy Anniversary:

My absolute favorite scene between Desi (Ricky) and Lucy; it’s vividly apparent how in love they are. When Desi was in the hospital dying, Lucy came to be with him, while they watched I Love Lucy re-runs until he passed away. Subsequently, this was the last full episode they watched together.

I love how he hums into her lips like that…

Quiz For Lucy Experts Only

  1. In “Lucy Visits Grauman’s,” whose footprints do Lucy and Ethel lift in a souvenir hunt at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre?
  2. What song does Harpo play in “Harpo Marx”?
  3. When Lucy is on-stage at the Tropicana singing “By The Waters Of Minnetonka” in “The Indian Show,” where is little Ricky?
  4. What story does Ricky tell little Ricky in Spanish in “Ricky Minds The Baby”?
  5. When Ricky is a contestant on a game show in “Lucy Gets Ricky On The Radio,” what is his amusing (but wrong) answer to question one: “What’s the name of the animal that fastens itself to you and drains you of your blood?”

ANSWERS:

  1. John Wayne’s
  2. “Take Me Out To The Ball Game”
  3. Strapped on Lucy’s back -papoose style
  4. “Little Red Riding Hood”
  5. The collector of Internal Revenue