A Guide To I Love Lucy

Overview

Note: The summaries and notes on this page are original and written by me. Please don't borrow any parts of my summaries or notes without giving me credit.

     I Love Lucy was the first of five TV shows that was centered around comedy actress Lucille Ball. It was a sitcom centered around Ball and her first husband, Desi Arnaz. Arnaz was a Cuban immigrant who worked as a nightclub entertainer with his own band. They got together, and made a TV series loosely based on their life. The show was a sitcom with musical numbers performed every now and then. It was mostly a sitcom, but it had a little "variety show" in it.
     The show was owned and made by the Arnazes themselves. They had complete control over what happened on it. Desi produced the show. Many of the guests stars were old friends of the Arnazes, and people who had worked with them in the past. Many things that occurred on the TV series were connected to things that happened to Lucille and Desi in real life. This was their series.
     As the series began, the show's main appeal was to the average working class Joe. Of course, the Arnazes appreciated any viewer, but their show was meant to appeal mainly to the working-class people. In later seasons, the show featured more appearances by famous celebrities, mainly because it needed new ideas for episodes.
     I Love Lucy lasted six seasons, from 1951 to 1957.

Premise:
     The show is about Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, a married couple. Ricky is an immigrant from Havana, Cuba, and Lucy is an American woman of Scottish ancestry (her maiden name is McGillicuddy).
     Lucy is a wacky woman who is always getting into crazy situations. Whenever she wants to get something done, she is always coming up with crazy schemes to do it. She has quite a reputation for coming up with crazy schemes. Ricky is always exasperated over Lucy's shenanigans, and he often gets mad at her over the latest thing that she's done. But despite her constant crazy adventures, he still loves her. At one point, he mentions to her "Being married to you isn't easy, but it sure is a lot of fun."
     Ricky is a bandleader. He is a singer/musician who runs his own band. His trademark song is "Babalu". He and his band perform floor shows at a nightclub called the Tropicana Club. Lucy is a housewife. She would love to get a career in show business. Since Ricky is a bandleader, he puts on many shows at the nightclub, and Lucy is always asking to get a part in the show. But Ricky doesn't want Lucy to have a career in show business. Ricky is an arrogant man. He wants to be the star of the family, and have Lucy be his loving wife behind him, emphasis on behind him, not with him. He doesn't want to share the spotlight with her. "I want a wife who's just a wife. I just want you to cook, clean, and be the mother for my children."
     In addition to Ricky's male chauvinism, there is another obstacle that keeps Lucy from getting into show business: she has no talent. She can't sing or dance. In several episodes, Lucy tries singing, but it's clear that she can't sing. Ricky often uses this fact as an excuse not to put Lucy in his shows, and he does make a good point; Lucy really doesn't have any talent. But knowing Ricky, you can tell that that's not the only reason he doesn't let her take part in his shows. The audience gets the feeling that even if Lucy did have talent, he still wouldn't put her in any of his shows. He is a male chauvinist who believes that a woman's place is behind her husband, not with him.
     Lucy loves Ricky, but she really wants to get into show business herself. She keeps trying to find a way in. Often she will come up with a crazy scheme to sneak her way in and perform in Ricky's shows. And by the time Ricky realizes what has happened, Lucy is already performing on stage and it's too late to get rid of her. The scheme usually works.
     The Ricardos live in an apartment house at 623 East 68th Street in New York City. Their landlords, who are also their best friends, are Fred and Ethel Mertz. Fred and Ethel are an older couple who used to be in show business themselves. Fred is a World War I veteran who used to be a vaudeville entertainer. For some time, he was half of a song-and-dance duo called Mertz and Kurtz. Ethel also used to be in show business, and even today she still has a great singing voice. But today they have retired from show business. They run the apartment building.
     Although the Mertzes have retired from show business, they still get an occasional chance to perform. Sometimes Ricky will find a spot for them in one of his shows, and the Mertzes are happy to do it. Whenever this happens, Lucy is driven even more to get into Ricky's show because she is the only one in their quartet who is not in it, and she feels left out.
     Fred and Ethel Mertz have a strange marriage. They often insult each other. Fred calls Ethel old and ugly, and Ethel calls Fred a cheapskate who is never willing to spend money on anything. (Ethel has good reason for saying this. Fred really is a cheapskate. Occasionally, there will be a joke involving Fred's cheapness, especially in the later seasons.) It's rare when Fred and Ethel are ever romantic.
     Ethel Mertz is Lucy's best friend. Whenever Lucy cooks up another scheme, Ethel often helps her with it. But sometimes Ethel is reluctant to do it. Ethel is always saying that Lucy's schemes are crazy, and that "I should never get involved in them". But somehow Lucy always manages to rope her into helping her anyway.
     Often the scheme will involve deceiving Ricky. Often Ricky will find out about Lucy's plan, and then he and Fred will team up to teach Lucy a lesson.
     In the series' second season, the Ricardos have a baby. They have a son named Ricky Ricardo Jr. He is nicknamed "Little Ricky". Little Ricky is seen occasionally on the series. In the show's last season, he is now a child, and he becomes a regular character.

Regular Cast:
     Lucille Ball: Lucy Ricardo
     Desi Arnaz: Ricky Ricardo
     Vivian Vance: Ethel Mertz
     William Frawley: Fred Mertz
     Richard Keith: Ricky Ricardo Jr., a.k.a. "Little Ricky" (sixth season only)

1950s Background:
     I Love Lucy is a 50s sitcom. When watching it, you see that it's a little different from the shows of today. You have to remember that the show is a product of the 1950s.
     One thing you might notice is that today's women might get a little offended by the roles that women play in the show. You have to remember that back in the 50s, society was pretty male chauvinistic. Women were little more than housewives, and their husbands wanted them to stay that way. A basic plot to the show was that Lucy was a housewife who wanted to have a career, but her husband wanted her to stay a housewife. While Lucy does manage to get into some of Ricky's shows, her appearances are always one-shot. She never gets to have a career in show business. Ricky becomes famous, but Lucy can't become anything more than Mrs. Ricky Ricardo. That was the 1950s for you.
     Because the show takes place in the years when the husband was the breadwinner, you might notice something else about the relationship between Lucy and Ricky. In many situations, Lucy wants to buy something, and Ricky tells her to take it back because it's too expensive. In those days, the husband was the sole provider of the family, and he made all the money that the family spent. So whatever money the wife spent was used with money that he made. If a wife wanted to buy something, she had to ask the husband's permission to spend money that he had made. And if the husband said no because the item was too expensive, the wife had to comply. There are many times on the show when Lucy wants to buy something, but Ricky says no because she's spending money that he made, and the item is too expensive. That was part of a husband-wife relationship in the 50s, at least on TV.
     Another thing you would notice about the show is that, while it does take place in the 50s, most of it takes place in the pre-rock and roll era. Usually whenever one thinks of the 1950s, he gets images of teen rebels in leather jackets with D.A. haircuts and sunglasses, dancing at a sock hop, going to a drive-in movie theater in a Ford Thunderbird that has tailfins in the back, or going to a diner where they are served burgers and malts by waitresses on roller skates who wear poodle skirts and pony-tails while rock and roll music plays on the jukebox. What most people forget is that most of these images come from the late 1950s, when rock and roll was popular, and when teenagers had become a main part of the media. I Love Lucy originally aired from 1951 to 1957. It's a product of the early 50s, before rock had become mainstream. In the early 1950s, the music scene was still dominated by pop, jazz, swing, and show tunes. And the music was usually played by adults dressed in tuxedos, rather than by teenagers in leather jackets.
     In the days before rock and roll, popular music was played by "big bands". These bands were not like the rock groups of today. They were more like a small orchestra, with brass horns, woodwind instruments, saxophones, pianos, and a conductor. Sometimes these bands were even called orchestras. And its members were dressed in tuxedos. They often played regular gigs in nightclubs. If a person wanted to hear live music, he would go out to a nightclub and have drinks, and a big band would perform a floor show for the audience. They would play popular music of the day. Today, nightclubs are less prominent, and I Love Lucy's premise might sound strange. But in the pre-rock era, nightclubs were very prominent, especially in the big cities. The heyday of nightclubs was from the 1920s to the 40s, and they were even around in the 50s. But then in the mid-50s, rock and roll debuted, and it became the new popular music. The era of big bands in nightclubs was over.
     I Love Lucy takes place during the era before rock and roll, when the days of big bands in nightclubs was still going on. It takes place during the last years of the era, but the big bands were still very much alive. The show is indeed a product of the 1950s, but of the early 50s.

Common plotlines in the episodes (with examples):

  1. I Love Lucy's most famous plotline of all: Ricky is planning a show. Lucy wants to get a part in it, but Ricky won't let her. So Lucy comes up with a crazy scheme to get into the show (which usually works).

  2. Lucy's women's club is putting on a show. Lucy promises to get Ricky to appear in it. But Ricky refuses to take part in it. So Lucy schemes to get him to appear.

  3. Lucy and Ethel disagree with Ricky and Fred over something. The disagreement turns into a battle between "the boys" and "the girls".

  4. Lucy sees two single people, and decides to play matchmaker, fixing them up with each other.

  5. The Ricardos and the Mertzes have a disagreement with each other, which turns into a fight. They spend the episode fighting each other, but they make up in the end.

  6. Lucy wants to do something, but Ricky forbids her to do it. Lucy goes behind Ricky's back and does it anyway, and something happens. Now she has to hide this from Ricky.

  7. The Ricardos and the Mertzes visit some city or country. There, they get into trouble.
  8. Lucy meets a celebrity. Her antics drive the celebrity crazy.
  9. Lucy and Ricky make a bet over something, or the boys and the girls make a bet over something. Both parties try devious schemes to win the bet.
  10. Ricky works on something with another woman, and Lucy gets jealous.
  11. Lucy is in competition with one of her friends. They are rivaling over something.
  12. The whole gang puts on a show, which is featured prominently in the second half of the episode.

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