Desi Arnaz was the son of a Cuban senator and a beautiful model.
He was born to great wealth, but he was forced to leave his homeland at
the age of 16 during the Batista revolution.
Lucille Ball dropped out of high school when she
was 15 to pursue a career as an actress.
The only reason that Lucy became pregnant on the
show was that she was pregnant in real life. The network insisted
the word expecting be used instead of the word pregnant.
After I Love Lucy came to an end, Desi Arnaz
produced the show The Untouchables. Mobsters responded by putting a
contract on his life. Boy talk about taking a tv show too seriously.
During the life of the show, the only other show
that ever had higher ratings was " The $64,000 Question."
The network initially rejected Lucy's request for
her real husband to play her TV husband. She threatened to move to
another network so they gave in.
Dwight D. Eisenhower made the mistake of
televising his inauguration during the same time spot as I Love Lucy.
Almost twice as many viewers tuned in to watch her show than to watch
him.
The "valentine" opening credits seen in
syndication were *not* the original opening credits. When the series
originally aired on CBS, the credits featured animated stick figures of
Lucy and Desi along with the sponsor's product--Phillip Morris
cigarettes, for instance. The "valentine" credits were added
when CBS began rerunning the series in 1958
Bea Benederet and Gale Gordon were Lucy and Desi's
first choice to play the Mertzes.
Cast
Lucille Ball as Lucy Ricardo
Desi Arnaz as Ricky Ricardo
Vivian Vance as Ethel Mertz
William Frawley as Fred Mertz
Richard Keith as Little Ricky Ricardo (1956-1957)
Jerry Hausner as Jerry , the agent
Elizabeth Patterson as Mrs. Mathilda Trumball
Doris Singleton as Caroline Appleby
Kathryn Card as Mrs. MacGillicuddy
Mary Jane Croft as Betty Ramsey (1957)
Frank Nelson as Ralph Ramsey (1957)
Series Run
First Telecast: October 15, 1951
Last Telecast: September 24, 1961
Broadcast History
October 1951- June 1957, CBS, Monday 9:00-9:30pm
April 1955- October 1955, CBS, Sunday 6:00-6:30pm
October 1955- April 1956, CBS, Saturday 6:30-7:00pm
September 1957- May 1958, CBS, Wednesday 7:30-8:00pm
July 1958- September 1958, CBS, Monday 9:00-9:30pm
October 1958- May 1959, CBS, Thursday 7:30-8:00pm
July 1959- September 1959, CBS, Friday 8:30-9:00pm
September 1961, CBS, Sunday 6:30-7:00pm
Theme Song
"I Love Lucy" by Harold Adamson and Eliot Daniel
