Was Lucy Really a Commie, and Other "I Love Lucy" Questions?

Answer a series of forehead-slapping anecdotal factoids. It's up to you to weigh each fact in each anecdotal factoid. They're tricky. One might seem like total B.S. until it's revealed to be strangely and disturbingly "True." Another anecdotal factoid might seem to contain all solid and verifiable facts until it's revealed to be yet one more big fat garden variety "Bald-Faced Lie." And here's the trickiest part: an anecdotal factoid might even be "Half-True"; in other words, a mishmosh of truths and bald-faced lies, where you don't know where one ends and the other begins, much like the usual slop served by Madison Avenue, Washington D.C., and the Internet in its entirety.

Category: That goosey "I Love Lucy" trivia quiz

Decide for yourself, and mark "T" for "Truth", "F" for "Bald-Faced Lie" or "TF" for "Half-Truth" in the blank slot next to each factoid.

The answers will be revealed on the next page.

1) __ "I Love Lucy" was the first show to ever have reruns. This was Desi's idea. During Lucy's pregnancy (both on and off screen), the reruns served to give Lucy a recovery rest.

2) __ "I Love Lucy" was the first TV show to be filmed simultaneously by three cameras. This was cinematographer Karl Freund's idea. Twenty years earlier, Freund directed "The Mummy" with Boris Karloff.

3) __ In 1948, Lucy and Desi starred in the popular radio sitcom "My Favorite Husband". In 1950, they changed the name of the show to "I Love Lucy" and it went from radio to TV.

4) __ In 1953, when the U.S. House UnAmerican Activities Committee accused Lucy of being a member of the Communist Party, she admitted to it.

5) __ On March 3, 1960, Lucy filed for divorce against Desi. On April Fool's Day, 1960, the final episode of "I Love Lucy" aired.

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Here are the answers for That goosey "I Love Lucy" trivia quiz

Answers:

A reminder: "T" is for "Truth", "F" is for "Bald-Faced Lie" or "TF" is for "Half-Truth".

1) T: It's true that "I Love Lucy" was the first show to ever have reruns, and that it was Desi's idea to accommodate the recovery from her pregnancy.

2) T: It's true that "I Love Lucy" was the first TV show to be filmed simultaneously by three cameras. It's also true that Freund directed "The Mummy" with Boris Karloff. His long career began in German silent films. Often credited with creating German Expressionism's look, Freund was cinematographer on masterpieces from that period including "The Golem" and "Metropolis."

3) TF: This anecdote is both true and false. It's true that Lucy starred in the popular radio sitcom "My Favorite Husband". It's false that she co-starred with Desi. Richard Denning was her co-star on the radio show.

It's false that "I Love Lucy" was the television version of "My Favorite Husband", even though both sitcoms were about the misadventures of a housewife. The network originally didn't want Desi to co-star because of his Cuban accent. To win the network over, Lucy and Desi financed and shot their own pilot for "I Love Lucy."

4) T: It's true that the U.S. House UnAmerican Activities Committee accused Lucy of being a member of the Communist Party. She admitted that, in 1936, she only registered to vote as a communist due to the insistence of her eccentric grandfather.

5) T: It's true that the final episode of "I Love Lucy" aired one month before she filed for divorce against Desi.

SOURCES:

http://www.cbs.com/specials/lucy/timeline.shtml

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/ball_l_timeline_flash.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043208/trivia

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000789/bio

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000840/bio