October 15this National I Love Lucy Day #ILoveLucyDay and it’s also my brothers Birthday. Gerald tunrs 55 tomorrow and all I can hear is I Can’t Drive 55 by Sammy Haggar which is one of my favorite singers and bands.
To celebrate #ILoveLucyDay I’m going to binge watch I Love Lucy. Would you like to join me? David will be at work and Charlie should be out looking for a job so there will not be anyone to disturb us although, I’ve sure Suzzane is celebrating I Love Lucy in Heaven with Lucille Ball, Ricky and the cast of I Love Lucy. Isn’t she one lucky dog?
I Love Lucy Day falls on October 15th. Who doesn’t love I Love Lucy a iconic comedy? Did you know at this very minute, somewhere in the world, Lucy and Ricky are arguing in 44 Countries? Today, we recall a simpler time when the family gathered around one (we repeat one) rabbit-eared, black and white TV set with only three channels. CBS was the only channel to watch I Love Lucy on Monday nights at 9 PM. So throw on your pj’s and bunny slippers to walk down memory lane.
I Love Lucy Day, which takes place on October 15th, celebrates the trendsetting sitcom of the same name, I Love Lucy. I Love Lucy premiered on this day in 1951 and lasted until May of 1957, the hilarious comedy I love Lucy was spearheaded by Lucille Ball as the bubbly, aspiring-star Lucy, and her real-life husband Desi Arnaz as singer and bandleader Ricky Ricardo. The show took America by storm.
I Love Lucy was shot in Hollywood. I Love Lusy show was innovative and fresh. I Love Lucy was the first sitcom to be shot in 35mm film in front of a live audience, those were real laughs we were hearing, not canned laughter.
Three cameras were used simultaneously to shoot the show I Love Lucy, allowing three different angles for each scene. After Lucy’s pregnancy, the reruns that were shown as a way to let her rest were so popular that it effectively started the concept of the rerun, revolutionizing TV as we know it.
Did you know I Love Lucy was the most-watched television show in the Country for most of its airtime, even becoming the first show to end while at the top of the Nielsen ratings. I Love Lucy won five Emmy awards and has consistently been called one of the greatest shows in television history.
Following the end of the original run of the series, one-hour episodes rebranded as The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show or The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour were broadcasted from 1957 to 1960. Starting in 1962, Ball starred in The Lucy Show, which ran until 1968, when Here’s Lucy started and broadcasted until 1974.
Today reruns of I Love Lucy are broadcast on several late-night networks, including the Hallmark Channel, TBS, Nick and Nite, and TV Land, as well as many streaming sites. I Love Lucy is credited to be the longest-broadcasted TV show of all time.
I Love Lucy Day Activities
- As sophisticated as people seem to be with cell phones, laptops, and iPads, “I Love Lucy” celebrates the pure comedy of life in a time when none of these items existed. The simple situations, many taking place in one or two middle-class Manhattan Apartments, showed versatility and creativity upon which modern-day humor with all its snarkiness can’t really improve upon. Celebrate National I Love Lucy Day with back-to-back to back episodes of this comedy favorite.
- I have a question for you. Who wouldn’t love to stuff themselves with pillows to be cranky Fred Mertz for just one day? Get creative with all your best buds and throw a theme party celebrating National I Love Lucy Day. Cook up Ricky’s favorite dish, Arroz Con Pollo (also known as Chicken and Rice), make up a punch of Vitameatavegamin
- Take the opportunity today and have some mid-week fun. Invent an episode for the show, play it out with your crew, and see what happens.
- You can’t be a true fan of National I Love Lucy Day without some Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel Bobbleheads scattered around the house. Check out your favorite sites like eBay and find out what kind of memorabilia is available and make a purchase. Many of these items are worth thousands of dollars so invest in Lucy and Ricky and don’t forget Little Ricky Fred and Ethel of course Fred the Dog.
Shocking “I Love Lucy” Truths
- Most shows were taped live in New York City at the time but I Love Lucy was taped in Los Angeles since the Arnazes didn’t want to move away.
- Producers thought of the innovative rerun concept as a way to give Ball maternity leave.
- I Love Lucy” was the first American television show to reach 10 million households.
- Ricky Ricardo almost was Larry Lopez but the alliteration of Larry and Lucy wasn’t deemed appealing.
- Scenes very rarely had to be re-taped; the live audience often had the start-to-finish experience.
Why People Love I Love Lucy Day
- One of the reasons why we all love “I Love Lucy” is that Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were a real, married couple.
- Lucy and Ricky met on the set of a 1940 film called “Too Many Girls.” The two eloped later that year and by 1951 were having some trouble in the marriage
- . The “I Love Lucy Show” was Lucy’s brainstorm idea to keep her marriage with Desi intact.
- Even today, scholarly types go back and forth over why the show actually worked when the reason is simple. The show was freakin’ hilarious!
- By 1951, Lucille Ball, a former B-rated glamour girl, was already 40 years old, considered past most actresses’ prime. The idea that someone still so beautiful would do anything for a laugh in the style of older slapstick masters like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or even the Three Stooges was revolutionary.
- Everybody who watches the show has a favorite episode where Lucy inevitably gets dunked, schmeared, frozen in a vault, or knocked around in a Wine vat full of grapes.
- I Love Lucy was cutting-edge even in the ’50s.
- The idea of a Latino band leader in an interracial marriage never even seemed to raise eyebrows.
- More than that, Arnaz was a genius of innovation with such ideas as using three cameras and 35mm film for the very first time,. A technological achievement that television shows still use today.
- When Lucy and Desi took a pay cut with the understanding that they would gain 100% of the rights to the show instead, this became one of the first and most lucrative syndication deals in history.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
