A Guide To I Love Lucy
Lucy and Desi were now in the TV show production business. They formed their own production company, called Desilu. And they started work on their first TV series, a show starring the Arnazes themselves. They hired Jess Oppenheimer, who had been a producer-writer for "My Favorite Husband", to be the producer-writer for this new show. Two more writers from "My Favorite Husband", Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Pugh, were hired as writers for the Arnazes' show.
The three writers came up with a script for a TV pilot. It was a show about the real life Arnazes. It was about Desi Arnaz the successful band leader, and his movie star wife, Lucille Ball. Jess Oppenheimer came up with the idea of a husband whose in show business, and his wife tries to break into the act. The pilot was essentially an expansion of their vaudeville act. It included the cello routine, the seal act, and the song "Cuban Pete". Then there were a few continuity scenes written around it to give it a feel of a "story". In the story, Lucy tries to get into Desi's act, but Desi wants her to be a housewife. The vaudeville act took up about twenty minutes of the half-hour show. It was more of a variety show than a situation comedy.
In the pilot, Desi had an agent named Jerry. Jerry was played by Jerry Hausner, an actor who had done parts on "My Favorite Husband". The character of Jerry the agent was intended to serve as the "best friend" role for Desi. But later it was decided that the character wasn't right. The producers decided to create other characters for the "best friend" roles. (Eventually the character of Jerry the agent did remain on I Love Lucy as a recurring role.)
On March 2, 1951 (Desi's thirty-fourth birthday), the pilot was filmed at Studio A on Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street in Hollywood, where all CBS radio and TV shows were filmed at the time. It was shot in front of a studio audience. There were only two sets in it: the Arnazes' home, and the nightclub. During the filming, Lucy was five months pregnant, but hid her condition. CBS saw the pilot, and loved it.
The Arnazes' agent, Don Sharpe, took the pilot to New York City to find a sponsor willing to finance it as a regular TV series. He took it up and down Madison Avenue, but was turned down several times. Then he met with Milton H. Blow. Blow ran the Blow Agency, an advertising agency. He had Phillip Morris Cigarettes as a client since 1933. Blow himself had created the famous "Call For Phillip Morris" campaign. Phillip Morris had sponsored two TV shows before, Truth Or Consequences and Horace Heidt's Youth Opportunity, both based on radio shows. Both shows had failed. Blow saw the pilot. He was wasn't overwhelmed by it, but he thought that it had a better than average chance for success.
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