August 6, is the anniversary of Lucy’s birthday. I don’t think I have to say which Lucy. She was born 101 years ago today. Although her name was Lucille, I don’t think there are many people that ever thought of her as anything but Lucy, at least once her first television show came on the air in 1951.
I Love Lucy was a trend setting show, being the first show to tape in front of a live audience using more than one camera (they used three cameras), and the first to tape with a live audience using several distinct sets adjacent to each other. She also became the first woman to be the head of a production company, Desilu Productions. Although she was well known for a large body of work in the film industry, once her television work hit the air, there was no way anyone would ever forget who Lucy was.
When I was growing up, we used to watch the repeats of I Love Lucy in the morning, before I started school. Once I had to go to kindergarten, family legend has it that I said I would not go to school because I didn’t want to miss watching I Love Lucy. I was quite relieved to be in the afternoon kindergarten class because I could still watch Lucy! I remember on the first day of kindergarten, my teacher, Mrs. Hart, asked us one by one as she was going through the roll call, if we had a nickname we wanted to use in class. When it got to my turn, I answered that I wanted to be called Lucy. She asked if it was part of my name and I said no but I loved Lucy and I wanted to be called by her name. Mrs. Hart said I couldn’t do that because it wasn’t part of my name but she offered to have the call use my middle name instead of my first name. I agreed and for the first two years of school, I was known as Joy instead of Corina. I still wish I could have been called Lucy!
I can’t tell you what my favorite Lucy episode is because there are so many that I remember vividly. One that comes to mind is, of course, Vitameatavegamin which is a favorite for many. Another one for me is the one where she and Ethel get a job at the chocolate factory and who can forget Lucy’s skin turning purple from falling in the grape vat during a fight while crushing grapes? There are just so many favorites!
I don’t know about you, but I still love Lucy! I always will!
all three my favorites too!!! i SO love lucy!!!!
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I never tire of her either. She was a genius. But so was Desi. I was reading recently about how he instituted methods of filming that are still used today, such as the three camera shots. Before that they used one camera. Together they wre so good for television. If only they put as much thought into TV today. I can think of only one sitcom that stands out today, The Big Bang. Though I will say The Office is innovative.
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