Memories of 1950's Television ~ "I Love Lucy" ~ a Classic

I know that my age is showing when I do these articles, but I grew up with television. We were both toddlers and grew into our teens together. When I was little we had fun and carefree programs about the difficult situations we could all get into and the consequences. None of these were critical, but the innocence of youth is something that today's television has taken away. Hope I can bring you back to the good old days.

This edition touches on one of the most beloved series ever made. It plays in reruns all over the world in several different languages and I am sure there is nobody reading this that has not seen or heard of Lucille Ball and the crazy antics she has gotten into.

Well I hate to admit it, but I saw these when they first ran on Monday nights on CBS and could watch them over and over again. I remember seeing the Vitameatavegamin one with my grandmother and we both laughed until we cried. The chocolates on the conveyor belt were another belly buster of a laugh fest, the giant bread Lucy and Ethel baked, the grape stomping in Italy, Lucy making flap jacks and flipping one on the ceiling that fell on Ethel's head when she closed the door, just to name a few. I'm sure we all have our favorite episode or two or more.
"I Love Lucy" ran from 1951 to 1957 for six seasons, but it has been truly eternal. It starred Lucille Ball and her then husband Desi Arnaz as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo with their friends/landlords Fred and Ethel Mertz played by Vivian Vance and William Frawley. Whenever Lucy was up to something, Ethel was usually involved. Ricky was a star and had his own nightclub, and Lucy was always trying to break into show business although she had no real talent.

Lucille Ball was born in 1911 and died in 1989 at 77 years of age of a dissecting aortic aneurysm. She was married to Desi Arnaz for 20 years and had two children. After they divorced she married Gary Morton and was married to him for 28 years until her death.

Desi Arnaz was a Cuban-born American musician, actor and television producer born to a wealthy family in Cuba, but came to the U.S. during unrest in Cuba when he was sixteen. He formed his own band after acting in a few movies and on Broadway. After the divorce from Lucille Ball, he married Edith Mack Hirsch and was married for 22 years until her death. He died in 1986 at 69 years of age from lung cancer.

Vivian Vance was a television and theater actress and singer and second banana to probably the most famous comedienne in the business. She was married four times with no children. She died of bone cancer in 1979 at 70 years of age.

William Frawley played Fred Mertz, the husband of Ethel even though he was 22 years older than her. They worked very well together but did not like each other because of Vance's resentment of playing a part with a much older husband. He went on the play "Bub" in My Three Sons and because of his age and health, they could not get insurance on him, so he was replaced by William Demarest. Frawley collapsed while walking down Hollywood Boulevard in 1966 from a heart attack at 79 years of age.

Please take a minute to leave a comment and let me know which one was your favorite episode of "I Love Lucy."

Sources:
http://www.crazyabouttv.com/ilovelucy.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucille_Ball
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desi_Arnaz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian_Vance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Frawley