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Lucy + Desi - still America's darlings until today!

posted 11 years ago by binapiraeus
8 replies | jump to latest

One of the most successful and popular TV show of the 1950s was undoubtedly "I Love Lucy", starring the hilariously funny real-life couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. They were tremendously modern for the era, NOTHING to do with the average married TV or movie couple: they quarreled, made up again, made fun of each other (almost a little like Nick and Nora Charles in the "Thin Man" movies) - and the show was actually the FIRST that dared to mention and explain pregnancy when Lucille Ball really became pregnant and they decided to include the story in the show!
At the sime time, in 1953, the two also made a really funny movie together, "The Long, Long Trailer"; and Desi even made a bet with their own studio that it would make even more money than the most-promoted movie of that year, "Father of the Bride" - and he won. The studio bosses weren't too sure about the success of the movie, because they thought that since people could watch their favorite couple every week on TV for free, why pay to watch them at the cinema? Because they LOVED them so much, of course!
And they still do. While in Europe you can only occasionally get a glimpse at some episodes, in the US the show is being repeated again and again; when I spent some time in L.A., I actually followed it every day! It may seem a little dated today, but never stuffy - and most CERTAINLY never boring!

[–] Thor-Delta 11 years ago

Actually, the late-1940s series "Mary Kay and Johnny" was the first TV sitcom to feature an on-screen pregnancy. It even had a similar premise to "I Love Lucy"...it was about a scatterbrained housewife and her "normal" by comparison husband.

"Mary Kay and Johnny" only ran from 1947 to 1950 though was quite popular at the time.

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[–] binapiraeus 11 years ago

But I think Lucy and Desi were MUCH more unusual, weren't they? I guess that's why people still love them so much today... (When I went shopping at the film souvenir shops in L.A. then, I came across all kinds of souvenirs from the show!)

Let's be realists, let's demand the impossible.

[–] joehrobertsjr 11 years ago

If I Love Lucy aired today the PC crowd would protest and demand it be taken off the air because they would deem Desi Arnaz's butchering of the English language on the show to be offensive to Hispanics.

[–] binapiraeus 11 years ago

It's true that Lucy sometimes made unneccessary fun of him about that - but I LOVED his cute accent, and since it was genuine, why should it insult Hispanics? There were, and are, LOTS of women who fall for that accent... (And I guess the Hispanics themselves know that best!)

Let's be realists, let's demand the impossible.

[–] phillyboots 11 years ago

Even though she was pregnant, they weren't allow to say pregnant.

That much had changed.

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[–] Iridescent_Phantom 11 years ago

I grew up watching the show when it was new. (Yeah, I'm older than dirt.)

I've always thought that Desi was cruelly underrated as an actor and comedian.

Lucy was the prime focus of the show, but she needed someone as strong as Desi to balance and augment her daffy comedy.

Favorite Desi moment: Ricky walks into the apartment to find Lucy singing "Skip To My Lou" while trapped in a huge packing crate as an old man dances in the living room. The look of total surprise and shock on Desi's face is priceless.

It was a splendid, surrealistic moment that makes me laugh just thinking about it.

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[–] binapiraeus 11 years ago

Yeah, Desi was great (and he was about the only one who could cope at all with Lucy, on AND off screen), he was a fantastic comedian, and also a magnificent musician with a lovely voice (with that charming Latin American accent in it) and a supreme feeling for rhythm!

Let's be realists, let's demand the impossible.

[–] sherryangl 11 years ago

I, too, laugh just remembering the man dancing around while Lucy sang from the crate. Some scenes are just wonderful memories.